LZR-1143 (Book 4): Desolation

by Bryan James

  Kate’s brow furrowed as she located another car further down the rural road, its top barely peeking out from behind the overgrown grass in the front yard of the trailer it was adorning.

  “I thought the ending of a Midsummer Night’s Dream was a bit … stunted. It could have used a tighter conclusion. Kind of ruined it for me. Is that what you mean?” Her voice was distant, and she had closed her eyes for a moment before pushing back against the car and starting forward toward the next target vehicle.

  Ky sighed loudly, kicking a stone into the road absently and putting the last piece of protein bar in her mouth before shaking her head and joining Kate on the road.

  “Yeah, I guess,” she muttered, missing Mike even more.

  They had spent nearly three hours in the thick woods that ran away from the campground, away from roads and tacking first northeast, then northwest, trying to stay away from a due north heading. They avoided the main roads, and had probably covered around fifteen fast miles before their energy and sense of urgency had started to wane.

  Once, they heard the roar of an engine pass slowly on an adjoining road, and the raised voices of a group of people. But they had flattened themselves in the underbrush, quiet and slim against the darkness, and the searchers had passed by. They had passed no towns, only single homes, abandoned and dilapidated. No zombies. No people.

  It was as if the earth had swallowed everything.

  They came upon great, yawning ravines; pieces of road that no longer aligned; crumbled buildings; felled trees. The world had torn itself asunder in so many ways, of late.

  As Ky passed many of these new sites, she found herself marveling at the randomness of it all. In some locations, an entire grove of trees had fallen to the ground, the earth was churned into a maelstrom of loose dirt and exposed roots, and crevasses split roadways perpendicular, leaving, in some cases, opposite sides that were more than five feet higher or lower than their counterparts.

  And in some locations, nothing seemed to have happened. Houses stood in relative calm, having lost facia or decorative adornments; roads were cracked but navigable; trees stood tall and straight.

  As far as she was concerned, it just proved the randomness of life. It proved that she was an anomaly.

  Someone who had survived when others had died.

  Someone who had been inoculated against this plague while others still succumbed.

  To someone whose life had until very recently revolved around texting and video games, with a small piece devoted to her archery practice, none of it made any sense. She was still struggling with her parents’ deaths. It had seemed so random and senseless.

  So arbitrary. So violent and quick.

  She squinted now against the rapidly rising sun, despite its weak rays being diluted in the ash of the atmosphere. Shivering, she watched as Kate moved forward, cautiously parting the grass in the yard as she approached the next vehicle, a large SUV parked crookedly on the driveway, driver’s side door open to the elements. A crust of dried blood was matted on the driver’s seat, and across the pavement.

  But the good news was that it looked recent.

  Kate hurried forward, clearing the front of the car before checking the seat.

  “Keys,” she said shortly, and Ky heard her try the starter. It clicked several times before going dead.

  “It’s a start,” Ky said, knowing the drill. She grabbed the back gate and pulled up, even as Kate yelled sharply.

  “No!”

  But it was too late. The gate flew up, followed by the writhing corpse of a teenage boy, which flailed clumsily to the ground, its arms finding Ky’s shoulders and pulling her to the hard driveway.

  Kate’s footsteps were heavy on the ground as she turned the corner, but Ky had pushed the zombie up and away, using her strength to create distance. Her left hand found her knife and, turning the creature to the side so as to avoid the rush of blood or brain, slid the blade into the boy’s temple as she held him at arm’s length with one hand.

  Allowing the body to drop heavily on the ground, she took a deep breath and grabbed Kate’s extended hand, pulling herself up.

  She knew better. Shit.

  Rookie mistake.

  Kate’s eyes were assessing, then she nodded.

  No one needed to say anything.

  The message was clear. Check your corners, dumb-ass. That was all.

  Ky leaned into the rancid rear compartment and flipped up the floor panel, searching for the kit that could help them start the car. None of the previous cars had been prepared, and judging by the look of this house, this car wouldn’t be either.

  Moving the jack around the spare tire, she saw a road emergency kit, which was actually a good sign. Digging with a little more energy, she found an air compressor that plugged into the cigarette lighter—also useful—a toolkit, and … there! A battery starter kit!

  Bingo.

  She leaned back, looking through the glass in the front of the car and the sides for Kate.

  The older woman was peering through the front windows of the ratty trailer, preparing to open the door.

  “Hold up, I got something,” Ky said, jumping out and holding up the starter kit.

  Kate smiled widely, pulling her hand away from the door and jumping down the steps.

  “Awesome, great work. Let’s get it set up and see if these guys have any food inside. I’m starving.”

  Ky looked over her shoulder and grimaced, taking in the dingy panelling and the overly crowded front lawn, adorned with exactly three toilet-planters and seventeen garden gnomes.

  “You sure you want to eat anything left in there? Other than a freezer full of possum and road-squirrel, you’re not likely to find anything appetizing.”

  Kate pulled the hood up and quickly attached the wires from the starter kit, flipping the switch on the large battery and then returning to the driver’s seat and reaching in to the ignition.

  “Don’t be so classist,” she said, turning the keys and hearing the satisfying roar of the engine as it came to life. She checked the fuel gauge and nodded.

  “Half a tank,” she said happily. “Now for some breakfast.” She quickly packed away the starter kit and tossed it in the back of the vehicle before moving to the front door.

  Ky groaned and followed her to the front door as they allowed the idling engine to help charge the battery.

  ***

  “Where do you think Mike is right now?” Ky asked, sipping the last of the juice from her pineapple cocktail as Kate frowned into her chili. It was far past its expiration date, but smelled decent. Other than being canned, store-brand chili, that is.

  They were sitting on the porch of the trailer, backs against the wall and watching the street as the car battery charged and the engine idled.

  “Hopefully he’s behind us somewhere, but avoiding those insane bitches,” she said absently, sniffing the dubious meat stew.

  “We left our packs, and he won’t find our bodies back there. He can see the tire tracks and I hope he understands that we would move heaven and earth to stay on a northern route. There are only a few roads moving north in this area, and if he stays away from following the convoy, and we stay away from their routes, we should meet up closer to the city.”

  “How will we find each other?”

  She took a tentative bite and grimaced, but then swallowed anyway. Protein was protein, after all.

  “I figure we’re probably still ahead of him, based on the map. If he was washed downstream, he’s going to have to make his way back to where we were separated first, to try to find us. Plus, he doesn’t have a car. So he’s going to have to locate transport and then start north. If we move up to the Trans-Canadian highway first, and find the rest stop we had discussed as a layover point, I’m sure he’ll think the same way. We’ll meet up there before going into the city.”

  “You think he’ll remember that? He’s not very bright.”

  Kate smiled, slightly wistfully.

  “I
think he’s smarter than you give him credit for. Besides, he doesn’t like being alone. He’ll make sure he gets there.”

  Ky pondered that for a moment, tossing her can into the high weeds in the front yard before nodding once.

  “I suppose so. Now all we have to do is avoid those murdering creeps for a little while longer, and we’re home free.” She paused, giving Kate a sideways look. “So what happened last night with Starr?”

  Kate’s face became wooden, and she shook her head, forcing down some more food before locking eyes with Ky.

  “When you’re older, we can chat.”

  “You’re as bad as my mom,” Ky said petulantly, standing up and stretching her sore legs.

  “Good, then I’m doing something right.” Kate’s voice was amused.

  “You’re so full of it.”

  Kate grunted as she rose, stretching her arms as she groaned slightly. She was also sore from the intense mileage on foot last night, and not a little bit wary of Starr’s people finding them now, even though they were well off the grid that Starr would assume they would follow.

  “Yep. That’s me.” She looked into the sun that was now fully above the horizon, still marveling at the fact that the ash kept them safe, deflecting the most intense UV light and making it possible for them to move in the daylight again.

  “You ready?”

  “I was born ready.” Ky said, voice sarcastic.

  “That’s what she said,” said Kate, tone even and face unreadable as she got into the SUV and shut the door.

  “God. Make it stop.”

  “Also what she said.”

  Kate chuckled softly as the younger woman groaned and they turned to the north, ready to find Mike and move on.

  ***

  Starr walked slowly through the remains of her camp, eyes scanning the faces of the dead, assessing the damage and searching for a single face.

  Sergeant Sherman found her as she was kicking the bitch’s tent, seeing no evidence of blood or death, noting the absence of their weapons.

  “Captain, we’re down ten women. No children, thank god. But we’re going to have to leave a couple vehicles if we want to maintain force protection.” Sherman shifted in her battle rattle and looked apprehensively toward the forest.

  The creatures had emerged like ghosts, spiriting through the thin sentry lines and into the camp before they could react quickly enough. She had had to put one of her friends down herself.

  It had been sloppy. Lazy.

  But they were already short staffed, and after the confusion of the quake, no one counted on a small herd appearing without warning. And it had cost them.

  Starr looked up, anger smoldering in her dark eyes.

  “Redistribute the loads and pick the oldest vehicles. Park them somewhere hidden, in case we need to find and use them again. Siphon off all but a quarter tank of gas and shift the team leads accordingly.” She turned away and stared north, mind churning. Her anger and urge for revenge was battling with her sense of responsibility for her people. While she knew that Kate hadn’t cause this disaster, she never let anyone leave. Never.

  Only through death could you be released from this sisterhood.

  And Kate wasn’t a normal woman. There was something special about her. Aside from the burning desire to control her that Starr was able to repress underneath her more intense hatred, she knew that Kate represented something new. Something different. Something that, if it were harnessed and controlled, could mean more control and an edge in this battle. A battle that she and her people were slowly losing.

  She had to find her.

  “And Sergeant?”

  The woman turned, awaiting an order.

  “I want the ops officer to set up a moving search grid heading north by northeast. Movement in one hour.”

  Blinking once, the woman saluted briefly and turned on her heel.

  No one fucked her like this, thought Starr. She would find this bitch, and she would find out what she knew. And then, she would have some fun.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  On the road again ...

  The explosion was spectacular. And a little larger than we had planned.

  The center of the dam, of course, disappeared.

  Weakened already by the repeated assaults by mother nature, the battered structure finally gave in, cement and steel no match for explosives and millions of tons of water eager to be released.

  Chunks of concrete shot out of the dam like bullets and water poured out of the elevated position like a firehose, blasting thousands of feet horizontally before falling to the valley floor below. The small river leading toward the town and feeding into the larger stream of water ahead, already swollen with the leakage caused by the prior quakes, surged up and over its new banks.

  Then, the rest of the dam crumbled. Almost in one single motion, every piece of concrete between the two sides of the canyon fell into the powerful surge of dark water, disappearing in the night like a sandcastle washed away in a storm.

  In the several minutes it took for the water to remove all traces of the manmade structure and force its way into the valley below, the massive volume of water formed a tidal wave of crushing speed and size. Water that had until now been part of a placid lake in the arms of lonely mountains was now a battering a ram of implacable destruction, taking trees and rocks and hurling them forward, like a phalanx of soldiers going to war. The water and debris hit the roadway to the dam first, washing away hundreds of zombies that had nearly reached our position, taking all but a dozen with the turbulent water and surging waves. Beneath us, the town of Concrete simply ceased to exist.

  Between the surging tidal forces of the tsunami, that had already pushed in on the town from the south, where the river was twice as wide as it had been before, and now the force of the water flooding in from above, desperate to equalize itself and find a new home in the valley below, it never stood a chance.

  Nor did the thousands of zombies who were washed away in the tide of final death.

  We were under no illusions that they were neutralized or that they had found a true and final end. But we knew that they were no longer a threat to us in the here and now. Maybe they would find peace in the sea, when the tidal surges final receded. Maybe they would flow up the river, and find a new home before the sea stopped pushing water against the natural flow of the river. And maybe they would sink to the bottom, writhing there for eternity until time released them.

  I laughed once as I remembered a line I would always mutter when we wrapped a shoot: “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

  Either way, our path was now clear. For the survivors, to find a new respite. And for me, to find my friends.

  Ethan, Rhi and I took out the final stragglers—fewer than we had feared—in a matter of seconds. Then, once the cries of the children had subsided, the noise of the explosion having rattled their cages even more than the threat of zombies and earthquakes, we made our way up and around the debris of the dam, to the shores of the lake behind us.

  We navigated a steep drop down, avoiding the fallen trees and large chunks of cement that had been thrown off by the earthquakes and explosions, and we found the former shore of the lake, which was now nearly empty.

  It was a humbling site. Fish floundered on the wet sand, rocks and lichen and all other manners of submerged debris were visible in the rising sun, even diffused as it was behind the clouds of ash. For a moment, I feared we would not find what we needed.

  But a small recreational enclave, disused for months, and with no one in need of fishing boats in such a remote location, yielded the fruit we sought. Three identical blue boats with simple oars. Enough for our small group to make our way up river.

  As Reggie and Ethan checked each boat for defects or damage, I turned to the rest of the group, where Eli stared at me, his eyes focused and bright. He spoke suddenly, his voice carrying in the hush that seemed to have taken hold of the group since the explosion.

/>   “Where to now?”

  I looked to Rhi and she returned the glance, eyes questioning.

  “Well, I for one am heading back to find my friends. I suppose I’ll need one of the boats for that.”

  Rhi chimed in immediately after.

  “And Ethan and I are going with him. We made a promise, and he delivered. Now it’s our turn.”

  Behind her, Reggie spoke up, leaning against the side of the closest boat, running his hand through his hair.

  “Me and my kids—we’re with you too. You did us something huge back there, and I can’t hope to pay you back, but I reckon we’re stronger as a group.” He smiled widely, then. “And if your friends are anything like you, well…shit. Sounds like we got our own army of special folk.”

  He paused as I smiled in response.

  “You know, not like, short bus special. ‘Cause I guess that wouldn’t be so helpful. But …”

  “I got you man, thanks.” I turned to the rest of the group.

  “I can’t ask any of you to come with me. I need to find my friends—and I think it will be difficult and dangerous. We’re traveling north. Trying to find her daughter. We’re going toward Vancouver, and there are bound to be thousands of those things between us and them. You’d all be safer out here, where there are fewer of those things. I wont lie to you, with the earthquakes and the tsunami, I don’t know what we’ll find as we go further north. But we have to try.”

  At this, Greg stepped forward, breaking from a conversation with Jean as his eyes flashed with annoyance.

  “If it’s just the same to you, I think we’d like to go our own way. Way I see it, we barely made it out of there alive, no thanks to you.” He motioned to Susan who had begun to speak, twisting and frowning at her in irritation.

  “No, you listen. We wouldn’t have been trapped down there if not for him. We wouldn’t have needed to go through the pump room if not for him. And I’m not sure blowing up that dam was a great idea. What if the sound brings more? What if the river isn’t safe for boats? No thanks. You guys feel free to stick to him. I was never crazy about traveling with a bunch of losers and kids anyway.”