According to Felicity, the second wave of soldiers was there almost immediately with flamethrowers. They advanced on the pit, burning everything in their path to charred ashes. Once the initial danger was contained, a small group of soldiers broke ranks and began picking up the wounded and carrying us back to the medical stations. The force of the explosion had knocked me off my feet and left me with a mild concussion. While I was sure I was going to die, it turns out all I really needed was some rest. Felicity stayed by my side the entire time, refusing to leave. The last thing I wanted after being bitten and surviving was another stay in the infirmary, no matter how short. By the time I came to my senses, Moto was standing over me with tears in his eyes.
“What's going on?” I asked, disoriented.
“That's two close calls, little brother,” Moto said, rubbing my freshly shaved head like he was trying to get a genie to pop out of my nose.
I tried to sit up and push him away, but my head felt like a chapel bell being rung at high noon on a Sunday.
“Easy there,” Moto said. “The medic says you have a mild concussion. You're going to be down for a few more days.”
“What about the horde?”
“It's all under control,” Moto assured me.
“How?”
“The explosives were designed to cut a deep trench around the base, like a moat,” Moto explained. “Zoms that weren't blown to pieces were then incinerated by the next wave of fighters. We had teams scour the grounds for crawlers as well. Any infected biomaterial was thrown into the fire pit and burned. Everything has been taken care of. You're safe. We all are. You can relax and take some time to heal now.”
“Good,” Felicity mumbled. “Send them back to hell where they belong.”
I couldn't help but think how many of them were just like me, or Moto. We'd both been bitten and brought back. Was there a point when it was too late? Was there a point where you stopped being you? A point when you couldn't come back again? The thought sent a shiver down my spine.
“We're reporting zero casualties,” Moto said, ignoring Felicity's comment. “We have you to thank for that in no small part.”
“What?” I felt queasy as I sat up. How could I have been part of the solution when I just got here? How could I have helped at all? As far as I knew, I'd been locked up as soon I had arrived on the base, hallucinating for days on end, then knocked out again. I'd spent more time lying in the sick bay than I had standing on my feet. “How is that possible?”
“We learned a lot about how the horde operates from what you told us,” Moto said, “and also from Benji. General Conrad took that into account when he designed our defenses. He began digging the day you arrived. Everything went according to plan. The front gate is heavily fortified, and you'd need a pick ax and mountain climbing gear to get across the burning chasm.”
“And a whole lot of zombie repellent,” said a voice behind him as Benji shoved his way in. It felt good to see his smiling face. I couldn't figure out what it was about him, but he seemed different now, older somehow, more mature in spite of his youth. He wasn't the same comic-book-loving kid he'd been just a few weeks ago. He'd found his place in the world when they let him enlist. He was a soldier now, and it really suited him.
“You and I both know that doesn't exist,” I said with a grin.
“That's why I am working on it,” Benji replied.
“Good luck with that, kid,” I playfully teased him. “Sounds impossible if you ask me.”
“Oh I don't know,” Benji shrugged. “I once saw a guy walk through an entire parking lot of biters just to save my best friend, and all he used was a couple of mirrors. I'd say there is still a lot we don't know about them.”
“He's right,” Felicity rejoined. “We've still got a lot to learn.”
“Well, then I guess it's a good thing we went back for him,” I joked.
Benji had come close to being sacrificed by a freaky cult in Ojai, to a pit of zombies as part of a religious ceremony. They'd brainwashed him into staying, then drugged him the minute we left. Felicity and I had barely made it back in time to save him. We'd risked our lives to get him back. It was worth it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. There was never a question about saving him. Still, I felt an amazing sense of pride as I realized what we had done, what it meant. Things had been happening so fast, I hadn't had time to think about my actions. From the minute we left Vandenberg until the minute I woke up in Hueneme it seemed like I'd been in react mode. First it was neo-Nazis and bikers, then rock stars and child celebrities, then cult members and cannibals. All the while, there were zombies right up until I'd been bitten. It's hard to process things when nothing ever slows down.
“Thanks again, man,” Benji said sincerely.
“If I'm gonna live, then why are you ready to cry me a river?” I turned on Moto who was caught off guard by my unexpected shift in conversation.
“What are you talking about?”
“You look like you've been cutting onions in the mess hall all afternoon,” I taunted.
“It's dusty out there,” he said defensively. I fought back a laugh. It felt good to be able to give him a hard time again. It felt good to be with my brother. “Plus there are zom particles in the air, that can't be any good for us to be breathing, and…”
“I told him,” Felicity interrupted at last. “They know we're getting married.”
“What are the odds of my little brother getting married before me?” Moto laughed, wiping the corners of his eyes. “Not even time for a proper bachelor party.”
“Good,” Felicity chimed in. “The last thing I want is a bunch of girls fawning over my man the night before we get married. I never understood the whole last night of freedom ritual.”
Benji and Moto exchanged looks, uncertain of what to say, as the room fell into an awkward silence. I'd never seen Felicity act jealous, but then again there was never a reason before today. We weren't really together back then, and aside from the underage wives of Bryan Crowe, there hadn't been anyone else to flirt with. Call me crazy, but I find it hard to see the attractive qualities of a woman holding an automatic weapon ready to cut you in half the minute her revered spiritual leader gives her the word. Then again, Felicity Jane had pointed a shotgun at me the first time we met.
I knew it was up to me to break the tension, so I tried a joke.
“Who needs a bachelor party when you've got medical grade pain killers?”
They all laughed as the tension melted away at last.
It felt good to have something to celebrate. It seemed for once that the tide was turning. For the first time since the whole zombie nightmare began, it seemed like we had something to look forward to – a real future.
We were married a week later at the chapel on the base. It was a small group, and a short ceremony. Moto and the General were there, along with Benji. There was a gaggle of recruits, all fans of Felicity, that made their way into the back of the church during the vows, but I couldn't be mad at them. The joy I felt inside was like nothing I could ever explain in words. It didn't matter that outside those walls, out beyond the trenches, there were still over a thousand undead monsters who wanted nothing more than to sink their teeth into us and drink every last drop of our blood. We were inside, we were safe, and I was in love.
A guy named Tom, who everyone called Badger, gave us his instant camera as a gift, with what may very well have been the last pack of film on earth for all we knew. Benji did the honors, snapping a shot of our first kiss as a married couple.
It's crazy to think that was just six months ago, I thought.
Felicity began to snore. I looked past her to the nightstand in the trailer we were living in, and caught a glimpse of the photo from our wedding day.
If only our happiness could have lasted just a bit longer, I thought.
So much had changed after that. General Conrad had died of a heart attack in his sleep shortly after our wedding, and despite the fact that Moto was on the short list o
f people who would take over at Hueneme, he'd grown increasingly paranoid about his safety – and ours.
Slowly, I crept out of bed and pulled a t-shirt on. I tiptoed across the bedroom floor of the mobile home and out into the living room, sliding the flimsy retractable door shut as I went. I peeked through the blinds. The sun was just coming up on the horizon. I could see signs of life in the camp as the day began. I was only half an hour early from the time I usually got up.
Civilian Defense Coordinator. That was my new job. Instead of fighting zombies head-on, or working on a plan to mass produce enough antidote to end the nightmare once and for all, we'd been shipped off to the middle of nowhere in a clean camp to help with survivors. It felt more like a punishment than anything else.
I've never felt this kind of resentment toward my brother, I thought. Not even when he arrived at our house and stole some of my father’s attention away from me.
Back then, I would have just been happy to see something lift the veil of sadness that had descended over our house since my mother’s death from cancer. In fact, the day we officially adopted Moto, the day he became Patrick Macnamara, was one of the best of my whole life. It was the day we became a family again. It wasn't until later that I realized how much he changed the family dynamic.
“You're a married man now,” Moto had said. “This is the best thing for you two. You've got to think about what she needs as well. Living in a combat zone isn't healthy for a relationship.”
I wanted to shout in his face, tell him he hadn't had a girlfriend since he was in tenth grade and he didn't know what he was talking about, but he wasn't just my brother anymore. He was my superior officer now, and I had to take it. I bit my tongue, but a slippery green demon of bitterness twisted in my stomach like a poisonous eel.
That's how we'd come to be in Freedom Town, a colony established between Edwards Air Force Base and Barstow. We'd been shipped out by rail to the unified military base in the middle of the desert extremes, then after a short two weeks of training, we were placed in charge of things in a community of survivors. Sure, Freedom Town had its own leaders, its own structure of social power, but when push came to shove they deferred completely to the military. It was wartime, after all. We could all be attacked at any moment by zombies or bikers or any number of rogue forces at work. The people looked to us as authorities. I often had the final say on how to handle matters.
We are the last remnants of true military might, I thought. And just maybe, the only hope this country has of ever being put back together again.
It felt weird to be in charge. Some of my men, my soldiers, were older than I was by several years. Not one of them challenged me. I had a few things going for me. First off, I was in charge of martial arts training and they'd seen me in action. Second, I was the brother of Patrick Macnamara, and people knew who he was. Last, but far from least, I was married to an actual celebrity. People may not have known who I was, but they sure knew exactly who Felicity Jane was. They lined up to stare at her. Eyes went to the ground and loud voices became a field mouse’s whisper the minute she entered a room, as if everyone had just been talking about her. I was sure it had earned me more than my fair share of admiration, at least in the first few weeks, before it began to sour into jealousy and backbiting.
Felicity may have been a celebrity, but she wasn't the only one in the camp. As luck would have it, Jamie Friendly was also a resident. He ran the makeshift school in Freedom Town, which oversaw the gaggle of young kids and rowdy teens. As the days began to pass and I settled into a routine of long days overseeing the camp, Felicity grew more pensive and withdrawn. When I suggested she take a job to pass her time, she had jumped at the idea.
“That's perfect,” Felicity practically shouted. “I've been thinking about teaching.”
“Teaching?” I shook my head dismissively. “You sure you want to expose yourself to those kids? They're not too far off from zombies, some of them anyway. You have no idea the headaches they've been causing around here since we showed up.”
“All the more reason,” Felicity said with a tilt of her head. Resolve and satisfaction were glimmering in her eyes as the idea of teaching took root. The last thing I wanted was to be away from her all day and have her with one of her own kind, a Hollywood insider. I told myself I didn't want her falling back into old patterns and bad habits by reliving the glory days, but something darker nagged at me from the pit of my stomach, something ugly and unrelenting. The truth was, I was terrified of losing her to him.
She never belonged with you and you know it, a voice deep down inside loudly whispered. She will realize that the minute she spends time with him. He's the kind of guy she should have married, not a kid with a sword.
The words in my head sent cold chills down my spine, worse than the apprehension about a zombie horde. I had to stop her, to keep her away from him, but I didn't know how without giving away my insecurity. I knew I was already too late, but I made one last feeble attempt.
“You think you've got what it takes to teach kids? Seriously?”
“So you don't? Is that it?!”
Fire burned in her eyes as she glowered at me. I felt like a deer frozen in the harsh headlight of an oncoming train.
“Of course not,” I quickly said, hoping to fend off another fight. “I just...”
“Good,” she interrupted. “Then it's settled. I'll let Jamie know you said so.”
Great, I thought. I've sent her running into his arms. Perfect.
Jamie Friendly had become famous from one of those singing competitions on reality television. He'd crooned his way through Killing Me Softly and all the girls had lost their minds. He was the favorite, guaranteed to win, but then at the last moment his ratings took a dip as his voice cracked during a long, high note and with that he came tumbling back to earth.
What was that story about the guy who flew too close to the sun? I wondered, unable to remember much more of the myth than the Led Zeppelin Zoso poster.
Jamie had then gone on to do a few endorsements for lame duck products, cashing in on his fame. Just when it looked like his fifteen minutes were up, he was cast in a previously canceled sitcom that had been picked up and put on Netflix. The show became a cult classic and even though he never became a top-tier celebrity or a bona fide A-lister, his newly revived popularity (along with a high-powered agent) had gotten him a few well-placed cameos in hit summer movies. He was always in the supermarket tabloids, being linked to one newly single actress or model after another.
How am I not supposed to think of about that every time she goes off to work with him?
I couldn't tell if Felicity was picking up on my vibes at first. If she noticed my apprehension at her mingling with the world she came from, she never showed it. Maybe she was just too excited at the thought of doing something new. She was a welcome addition as far as the camp was concerned. After her first week, parents began stopping us as we moved around the camp together in my few off hours to congratulate her and insist she continue. Felicity had taught at the school ever since. She was a natural. The kids loved her from the start, unlike their responses to me. She seemed to bloom after discovering a way to reinvent herself from child celebrity on a pedestal to a productive member of the colony.
Just as I suspected, she grew closer and closer to Jamie, and it put a distance between us, a coldness I tried to swallow down. Several times a week, I would drop by the school unannounced to check up on her in the hopes of catching them being inappropriate in some way. It never happened mind you, but she got the idea I was up to something pretty fast. Felicity isn't a dummy. She knew that, for some reason, I didn't trust her completely and eventually she stopped trying to convince me things were okay between us.
Funny, I thought, looking at her as she slept, Moto thought sending us out here would be good for our marriage. I think it's the exact opposite. If we had stayed on the base, far away from Jamie Friendly, none of this would ever have happened.
My train of
thought was interrupted just then by a bloodcurdling scream. This one wasn't a bad dream – it was real. To underscore the seriousness of the situation Felicity Jane shot up in bed, wide awake and ready for battle.
“Which direction did it come from?” Felicity was yelling. Her eyes were wide with fear and adrenaline.
“It came from near the south entrance from what I can te...,” I started.
“The schoolhouse,” she said in a panic, cutting me off. She was out of bed and running out the door seconds later, still dressed in her nightgown. I grabbed my sword and raced after her as fast as my feet could carry me.
Chapter Three
My eyes are playing tricks on me, I thought. They have to be!
There was a semicircle of people standing around the front of the schoolhouse not saying anything. In the middle was one of my soldiers, Andrew. He was now a fully turned zombie. His face was smeared with bright red, fresh blood. He had something small in his hands, something delicate looking, a fresh kill! It didn't make any sense at first.
What is that thing? I thought. And why is everyone just standing around?
It felt like I was still dreaming. There was a sense of shock and terror as we listened to him slurping away on his meal. I saw lace. I saw flowery print. I saw soft, auburn hair with a silk bow.
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