by T. W. Brown
Her mind sorted out the possibilities. They could be out foraging; Catie knew they were low on supplies when she’d left them. However, the possibilities were infinite. Perhaps it was time to strike out on her own. It would save her the job of delivering the bad news about Kevin and Heather.
Mind made up, Catie climbed up onto a shelving unit that was bolted to the wall. It was sturdy enough and had wide enough shelves that she could catch a quick nap before heading north. Her mind began to catalog all the things that she would need as she brushed away at least the worst of the dust that lined the shelf she would call her bed before climbing in and collapsing. That had to be the reason she did not hear anything until it was too late.
“You there,” a male voice barked, “put your hands out to the sides where we can see them and climb down real slow.”
***
Dr. Miriam Reno had grossly misjudged the number of people who were part of the group ready to leave. Of course some of it might have had something to do with the now raging inferno. She and Kevin were standing outside the auditorium before a crowd of several hundred.
The coup had been very anti-climactic when it was all said and done. As it turned out, Latricia and Jordan were the main force behind the rebellion. Their only advantage had been that they had gotten to the weapons lockers and armed their side first. It was basic math as far as Kevin was concerned. Thirty people with guns against a population with none was almost an even odds fight, but arm the other side and it was a non-issue.
“What about The Guardians?” a voice called from the throng of people gathered around.
“They are concentrated to the south,” Adam Scott, a young man with long blond hair that reminded Kevin of something from an 80s hair band answered. “That leaves every other direction if you want to get away from them.”
Kevin moved away from the group and could not help but stare with heartbreak at the conflagration that was the building Heather had been confined to. To think of all she had done, all she had become…and to see it all snuffed out so pointlessly. Even worse, she died alone. Kevin could think of nothing sadder, and he had certainly seen his share of sorrow in the past year or so.
“So, you say you have a spot where you might be able to meet up with others from your group?” Miriam was standing in front of Kevin with arms crossed and a raised eyebrow that invited an answer.
“Yeah, so that is where I am headed.” Kevin spun and started off, but a hand gripped his forearm.
“Hold on, brother,” Adam said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “You got nothing. Not a weapon, food…heck, not even a bottle of water. You wouldn’t last the day.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I made it this far. I know what I need to find.” Kevin turned on the man and glared at the hand still grasping him.
Adam released his grip and stepped back with a look that Kevin almost thought might be apologetic. “No disrespect intended, fella. I was just saying that you should probably grab some gear. We got plenty to spare. No need to start off in the hole.”
Kevin glanced at Miriam who gave a curt nod, but it was obvious that she was lost a bit in thoughts of her own at the moment. Kevin looked around and realized that, while it looked like almost everybody was loading up an assortment of carts and wagons—including what looked like a near perfect replica of an old prairie schooner—there were a handful of individuals still gathered around that showed no inclination of going anyplace.
“Sorry,” Kevin finally apologized with a deep sigh. He turned away from the fire and faced the man. “I just…” His voice trailed off and he realized he had no idea what to say. The events of the past several days had been too surreal to get his mind around. And now that it was being compounded with the loss of Heather, he was simply speechless.
“A few of us would like to join up with you if you don’t mind,” Adam said after the silence had dragged on for several seconds. “Got a couple of the guys tossing some stuff in a wagon as we speak. Figure we got about another twenty minutes before the undead start converging in huge numbers…that fire will bring ‘em for sure. Plus, we got enemies in the area…they will be in soon enough to pick through our remains.”
Just then, a young man of about sixteen sprinted up. He took a few deep gasps before he could talk. At last, through his labored panting, he managed to say, “That woman who done this went over the north wall. A few sets of eyes saw her headed toward the Dorchester industrial warehouse complex.”
“Wait!” Kevin’s head popped up. He now had a focus for his pain. “Somebody did this on purpose?”
“Yeah,” the young man spoke after getting a slight nod from Adam. “Rumor has it some gal come in just a couple days ago. The doc had a look at her. Guess she had a stab wound or something.”
“That little thing did this?” Suddenly Dr. Reno was back in the conversation. “I was there when Dr. Billings stitched her up and ran the tests to see if she was immune. Turned out she was, but I have a difficult time believing that slip of a girl could be responsible for all of this.” She waved an arm in the direction of the fire which actually seemed to be burning out.
“Then you gonna flip when you hear she is the one who supposedly took out Latricia and Jordan,” the boy said with a shake of his head, indicating that perhaps he did not believe it either.
“Which way did she go?” Kevin stepped forward, grabbing the boy by the arm and turning him so that they were face-to-face.
“Over the wall just on the other side of Propane Row…or what used to be Propane Row.”
Kevin did not wait; spinning on his heel, he took off in a wide arc around the blast zone. As he passed the outer edge of the buildings affected by the blast and ensuing fire, he could not help but look that way one more time.
“I will get whoever did this to you, Heather,” Kevin vowed.
He was up and over the wall before he realized he had a dozen people, Dr. Miriam Reno and Adam Scott among them, in tow. Once they made eye contact, Adam quickened his pace and fell in beside Kevin.
“You may want these,” he handed a holstered pair of Glocks to Kevin along with a small pouch that looked to contain four spare mags.
“Why would you do this?” Kevin finally asked. “I know my reason, but what is yours?”
“Despite the dysfunction, that was still our home,” Adam finally said with a shrug. “Of course…a bunch of us was fixing to leave, but that is beside the point.”
They had made it through the maze of interlocked vehicles when Kevin spotted some movement ahead. A single person was in the midst of at least thirty of the undead. He was initially fascinated by the person’s fluidity as this individual took down zombie after zombie with a series of kicks, sweeps, and shoulder charges. He knew anger when he saw it, but there was something else. He needed to get closer to be sure.
Turning to face the people who had fallen in with him for whatever reason, he spoke quickly. “We split up and come in from both sides, but nobody is to hurt this person. I want to see them for myself.”
He noticed some looks being exchanged, but he could not be concerned with perception at the moment. Without another word, he took off at a jog in a wide arc to the right. He could hear some sort of conversation taking place as he did so. They were either deciding who was going which direction, or if they would be abandoning the crazy guy; either way suited him fine.
Kevin reached the large expanse of giant warehouses and quickly found one with a ladder lying beside it. He chose not to question his good fortune and quickly set it against the building and climbed up. Just as he reached the roof, he spotted the lone figure making its way in between two buildings that ran parallel to each other. He stayed low and followed along until the person stopped at a door, looked around—obviously wary that somebody might be following—and then ducked inside.
Kevin noted which door the person used and then climbed back down. Just as his feet hit the ground, Adam stepped out from behind a Dumpster with four other individuals. Each
was wearing what looked like prison riot gear, and each carried an automatic rifle which he was almost confident enough to assume to be M4s. There were a variety of other weapons dangling from belts and holsters, but those rifles were enough to make anybody pause.
“Follow me,” was all Kevin said. He turned and headed for the door he had seen the person duck inside.
Opening the door quietly, Kevin peered into the shadow shrouded open room. It was about fifty by fifty and the walls were lined with big metal shelves that had been bolted into place. His eyes immediately tracked to the figure that had climbed to the fifth shelf and was busily wiping away a cloud of dust.
“You there,” he barked, “put your hands out to the sides where we can see them and climb down real slow.”
“If I put my hands out to the sides…I will probably fall,” a familiar voice replied. Kevin could hear the fatigue and absolutely apathetic tone. It was so foreign coming from…
“Catie?” Kevin stepped into the room.
The face that turned to greet him looked awful. It was splattered with flecks of dark nastiness and streaked from the obvious tears that had come in a rush. The eyes were red and puffy around the edges and it took Kevin a moment to recall that she had been tested like he had and found to be immune.
Good thing, he thought. That much splatter, she had to have gotten some in her eyes…maybe even her mouth. That last thought made him shudder.
“Kevin?” Catie said with obvious disbelief. However, a second later, that emotion was replaced by another and the young woman launched herself from the shelves. She landed with catlike agility and sprung into his arms.
“I was sure you were dead…or that I would never see you again.”
“Yeah,” Kevin said, agreeing with both sentiments.
The two hugged each other close until Catie finally pulled back and looked up at Kevin with tears in her eyes. “Heather?”
That name hung in the air, and Kevin wanted to answer, but he had to try and figure out a way to do so that would not send this woman into a spiral of self-incrimination. He knew firsthand just how bad that could tear a person up on the inside. Eventually, he did the only thing he could think of; he shook his head.
“Aleah and Rose were here,” Catie finally said with a sniff. “I had them stay behind so that I could try to find you…but it all went so wrong. Nothing worked…and when I got back, they were gone.”
That news actually brightened Kevin’s outlook. That meant it was still possible that he could find them. Everybody had been well versed in the route he would be taking to South Dakota. He would follow it and look for them along the way.
***
Room after room, Heather opened doors using the set of keys she had found on the desk just inside the long corridor-lined with doors on both sides to discover groups of individuals huddled within. Some darted past her and outside without so much as a word of thanks. Some cowered in the corners and stayed that way after she left them. Others hugged her and told her she was an angel sent to deliver them.
Of all the reactions, while she appreciated the sentiment, the smell made her wish they would just hurry on their way. After opening the last door, she fell in with the group and followed. She had no idea what to expect and wanted to try and simply meld in with the crowd.
The first breath of fresh air was perhaps the sweetest that she could remember in a long time. Now that she was outside, Heather scanned for an exit. She could not believe her luck. The watch tower closest to her was currently empty.
Not wanting to question her good fortune, or give it time to change, she took off at a sprint. Quickly scaling the ladder, Heather was up, over, and out before anybody seemed to notice. The only problem now was that she had no form of protection, no supplies, and absolutely no idea where the others might be…if any of them still lived. Her only choice was to make the big circle around the compound and hope that she could eventually catch Catie.
She knew where the first meet up location was, and so that would be her goal. Making her way through the bumper-to-bumper vehicle barricade took time, and when she came out, she realized that she was very near to where they had originally met up with the residents of that compound. The overpass was just ahead. She would make for that and use the elevation to hopefully get a better look at her surroundings.
As she neared, something underneath the overpass caught her eye. She recalled when they had first arrived and Kevin had sent them up the overpass while he went to investigate something. Seeing the bodies with the signs around their necks swinging in the steady breeze, now she knew why he had looked so drawn and pale when he had caught up.
Making her way up the surprisingly steep grade, she at last reached the crest and paused to look. The plume of smoke from the compound was already diminishing. Maybe the damage was not as bad as it had seemed. Of course the entire stock of propane was gone, but maybe that was just a setback. No matter, she was not going to be sad to put that place behind her.
Movement in the distance caught her eye, and Heather had to cup her hands to block out the little bit of glare that the afternoon sun was providing. It did not help much, but it was something. Spotting a huge warehouse complex in the distance, she made that her visual landmark and set off in the direction of where she had seen something that was moving way too fast to be a zombie.
It ended up being farther away than she first thought, and soon, Heather was forced to slow her pace to a brisk walk. She was thankful for that when a group of armed people popped up into her field of vision.
“Probably from that damn compound,” she hissed as she crouched low and watched them split into two groups.
She moved up beside a derelict delivery van and observed the one group that would pass closest to her. For some reason, one of their group was way ahead and did not seem to have any intention of waiting for the others.
Heather rubbed her eyes. It couldn’t be! She was about to jump to her feet and shout Kevin’s name when something grabbed her ankle. Heather choked on the name that never made it past her lips as a mouthful of saliva went down the wrong pipe.
Choking and sputtering, she crab-walked away from the legless zombie that pulled itself out from under the van. It had been a very emaciated Asian man, and that had to be the only way he’d fit under that van sitting on four flat tires.
By the time she recovered herself, Kevin and the people who appeared to be following him had vanished into the warehouse complex. Giving a nasty glare to the zombie that continued in futility to try and reach Heather, she gave it one kick for good measure and took off at a run.
She reached the entrance to the rows of long warehouses and slowed. This would be a terrible time to run into a zombie or three unawares. She’d just had a reminder about how a person needed to remain vigilant at all times.
Looking down the long, empty alley that ran between two huge gray buildings, Heather instantly spied one door that was wide open. That seemed like as good of a place to start as any. Slowing as she reached the door, Heather chanced a peek inside. A hand reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, yanking her off her feet and sending her sprawling on her belly.
Heather glanced up to discover herself looking up at the barrels of several assorted rifles. Oddly enough, she only gave the weapons a cursory glance.
“Kevin!” she exclaimed.
A moment later, she was swept up in a three person hug. She noted that both of them initially stared at her with open-mouthed amazement like she had performed some miraculous feat before they rushed her and wrapped her in their arms.
“I think we can stand down,” a voice said, but none of the trio noticed.
“I thought…” Kevin looked at Heather, his eyes darted to Catie and then away. Heather had no idea what that was about. Maybe she would ask later, but at the moment, all she cared about was being back with the group. Only…it still wasn’t the group.
“Where are Aleah and Rose?” she asked. She also wanted to ask Catie where the rest of the
kids were, but she did not want to spoil the good vibes that were being shared at the moment. Besides, she had a feeling that she knew.
Catie briefly explained everything up to where she departed to be captured. She was vaguely aware that the strangers from the compound had gathered around to listen as well.
“You actually let somebody stab you?” one of the riot gear clad men asked with obvious awe in his voice. “Damn…remind me not to ever piss you off. You are one bad chick.”
At that moment, the door swung open wide. Guns came to bear on the opening which revealed two females being escorted at gunpoint; each with looks of surprise on their faces. Those expressions quickly shifted and the trio became a quintet. More tears spilled and each of them talked over the other as the onlookers stepped back and watched the scene unfold.
“Finally!” Aleah crowed through her tears as she kissed Kevin for at least the twentieth time.
“I know,” Kevin agreed. “I thought that I might never see you again.”
“No” Aleah shook her head, the smile on her face growing even wider. “We get a happy reunion…”
“Just like in the movies!” Rose, Catie, Heather and Aleah all sang together.
The group paused for a second, and then they all burst out laughing. The gang who still stood back a bit watching it all shared looks of confusion.
“Must be an inside joke,” Dr. Miriam Reno said with a shake of the head.
“Well I hate to break up the happy reunion,” Adam whispered, “but we need to put some distance between ourselves and this place as soon as we can. That blast will have drawn every zom for miles…and if that massive horde from before comes back…” He left those words in the air for the others to ponder.
“I think we can give them a few minutes,” Miriam whispered. “Considering what they’ve just been through, five minutes won’t kill us.”
“Maybe that used to be the case back before the zoms,” Adam quipped, “but these days, I’m not so sure.”
“Five minutes,” Miriam insisted.