by TW Brown
“She has been through a lot, sweetie,” I said, squeezing her close for reassurance—whether hers or mine I wasn’t sure.
“Jake filled me in a little.” Melissa looked up at me with an unspoken question in her eyes.
“Well it was worse than that.” I failed to suppress the shudder as the image of the things I saw in that camp came in a rush: skeletal bodies with intact heads; a barrel of what was, in essence, human stew; the partially stripped bodies hanging from beams; and that child zombie…
“…wouldn’t even speak about it,” Melissa was saying.
“What?”
“I said that whatever it was, it must have been bad because Jake will only give very brief details and Jesus won’t speak about it at all.”
“Thalia,” I leaned down and set her on the floor, “will you be an angel and go get me a bowl of whatever that is that smells so good?”
In truth, I knew that it was some sort of stew and it was actually the last thing that I wanted to eat. However, I could tell that Melissa really wanted to know what I had seen. Thalia gave me one more squeeze and skipped to the table to find me a clean bowl.
I explained—omitting considerable detail—what we had found. I also let her know that I was not Misty’s favorite person and why.
“That might become a problem, Steve,” Melissa warned.
“How so?”
“Thalia won’t let somebody talk bad about you.”
“Well—” I began to speak, but Melissa was adamant.
“You don’t understand. When that whole drama unfolded between you and Jake and Jesus, she let Jesus have what for. I guess he made some comment or other in her presence and she tore him up and made him apologize.”
I was more than a little surprised. When I was being honest with myself—not a common occurrence lately—I was jealous of Thalia’s and Jesus’s ability to communicate in Thalia’s native tongue. Throw in the fact that he is a real-life soldier, and my inferiority complex gets quite a workout.
“Steve?” Dr. Zahn seemed to appear at my elbow as if by magic.
“Did you find them?”
“Sunshine set them up in a corner in the back so they could all be together. It looks like they are all going to make it.”
I know that was supposed to be good news, but I was having trouble feeling good about anything with the whole situation involving Emily. I gave her a nod.
The rest of the evening was a blur. We brought in everything that we’d managed to scavenge, along with the two elk, and let Fiona, Cheryl, and Nickie sort through it.
It was while everything was being brought in that I received a rather pleasant surprise. It seems that, in our absence, Billy and Jake had built five wooden tubs out of what looked like a huge tree. Each one was set up on a pedestal so that they could be drained completely after each use. To add to the surprise, a huge fifty gallon drum was constantly kept full of water and atop a bed of glowing coals just out back.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I gasped when I was led into the, until now, mostly useless public bathroom.
Already, Jon and Dr. Zahn were soaking in their own personal baths. Melissa drew the sheet so I could undress in privacy, but I wouldn’t have cared in the slightest if there had been a curtain or not. Modesty flies out the door when you are presented with a hot bath for the first time in forever. I sank into the water and let out a huge sigh. It was wonderful.
“Sunshine said that we needed to be more conscious of our hygiene or we would be compounding our health risks,” Melissa explained as she soaped up a sponge and began scrubbing at my back. “Billy and Jake went to work. It seems that Billy was a teacher’s aid in shop class. He found the right tree, cut it down, segmented it, and then hollowed it out with fire. He said it won’t be permanent, the wood will start to deteriorate, but it should get us through till summer.”
“Where did he find the plastic tarps?” Each “tub” was lined with heavy duty plastic sheets.
“In the tool shed, folded up and stuffed in a corner.”
I didn’t care if these things only lasted a few weeks, to soak in a hot bath was absolutely amazing…until I got out and saw all the crud floating on the surface. It was like a disgusting oil slick or something.
“Yeah,” Melissa said with a nod as she handed me a towel, “none of us realized how much grime had accumulated on our bodies until that first bath. Taking those one-bucket-showers is apparently about as effective as using a single Handi Wipe to mop your kitchen floor.”
After dressing, I went in to check on Emily again. Thalia was on the floor beside the bed in her sleeping bag with Buster snuggled at her feet. The dog only opened its eyes long enough to see who had intruded, and then closed them after what sure seemed like an exasperated huff. Emily’s chest was rising and falling in the slow steady rhythm of sleep. Jesus was in a chair against the far wall keeping watch. I noticed a set of straps around Emily’s wrists and ankles.
“We have always kept an adult on watch,” Jesus whispered. “Thalia hasn’t left her side for longer than a few minutes at a time, so we started keeping her in restraints this morning.”
“I didn’t notice any when I came in earlier,” I said.
“Sunshine had them taken off when you arrived. She didn’t want you to walk in and see her all trussed up…figured that it was going to be rough enough on you just seeing her in this condition. Melinda slipped in as soon as you left and put them back on.”
“I can watch her now.” I appreciated the sentiment, but I wasn’t too sure I liked the idea that somebody thought I couldn’t handle the situation.
“You look like you are about to fall over,” Jesus countered. “Get some rest. I promise I will come get you if there is any change. And I will make sure that Billy knows to do the same when he relieves me.”
He was right, I felt like somebody had tied weights to my eyelids. Even standing, I struggled with each blink. My eyes really wanted to shut. Melissa took my hand and somehow I ended up in our sleeping bag.
13
Geeksicles
Kevin peeked between the slits in the tent flap. The person standing guard—it was impossible to tell if it was male or female—was leaning forward and rubbing his or her hands together over the fire burning in the barrel. A few flakes were drifting lazily. That wasn’t a good sign. Fresh snow would be an automatic tracking device. He turned back to the expectant faces that, with the exception of Erin, all showed signs of being ready for action.
“It is dark enough,” he barely mouthed the words.
Matt nodded and took his place at the entrance of the tent. “I owe you one,” he mouthed back.
“Screw you!” Kevin yelled. He let his punch fly, catching Matt on the shoulder. Aleah timed slapping her hand on her thigh almost perfectly.
Matt fell backwards and through the flap. There was an exclamation. Kevin thought it sounded female. He shoved that piece of information someplace in the back of his mind where, hopefully, he wouldn’t find it again. He bobbed his head once…twice…a third time and charged out of the tent, tackling Matt. The pair rolled twice, coming to a stop with Kevin on top.
“Clear,” Matt whispered. His job, after being hit by Kevin and “knocked” through the tent flap, was to take a quick look around and see if there were any other guards in the immediate vicinity.
Kevin waited until he felt the hand on his shoulder and quickly grabbed the wrist, jerking the person forward and over. She—he saw her face clearly in the glow from the fire in the barrel—landed with a graceless thud on her back. He brought one hand over her mouth and the other came down hard on her throat. He would never forget the feeling of the windpipe crushing under the blow. It took a little longer than he would have liked for the thrashing to cease.
Getting to his feet, he turned to find everybody staring with open mouths and wide eyes. He tried not to feel like an animal. Briefly he wished that Shaw hadn’t been so damn altruistic at the end. If he’d survived, then it would not lik
ely be his hands getting so damn dirty.
“Okay, lead the way,” Kevin whispered to Matt.
The plan he’d come up with was not elegant. He was familiar enough with the grounds and had observed the camp enough to have a basic idea of the layout. Plus, he’d been very vigilant about identifying possible paths to take when the time came to make a hasty exit—he’d never doubted that it would come to such a thing. The others had helped him refine things as he drew a basic sketch of the camp on the dirty floor. He doubted that Lee Marvin or the other guys from The Dirty Dozen would be envious of his map…or his plan for that matter.
The idea he’d come up with was simple: Run away. After being assured that they knew exactly where Shari and Valarie were being kept, Kevin laid it all out. There were very few questions with the exception of the one that Erin blurted out while she was leaning in over his shoulder.
“What makes you think they will just let us get away?”
“Unless they have completely changed their patrol plan and have in-camp sentries, I don’t think they are worried about us getting away,” Kevin said in a voice just under a whisper to avoid the possibility of being overheard. “It is below freezing out there. They probably don’t expect us to try and make a break for it…and if we did, they wouldn’t expect us to survive. They took our coats and our boots. We would have to run through the snow and risk exposure…frostbite…”
“So why are we doing this?” Erin had pressed.
“Because it’s not that far away to that housing development,” Kevin replied. “And a few minutes of misery beats a lifetime of being somebody’s prisoner. They could decide to kill us in the morning.”
Kevin didn’t think it would come to that. He had a feeling that the major truly wanted them to join her band of raiders. Kevin had more than just the logical, moral reason for not considering that offer. The “Bad Guy” never triumphed in the books or movies. Sure, he had told them all time and again that this was not the movies, but it was a nagging feeling in his gut that wouldn’t go away. He’d never bought into karma or any of that other mumbo jumbo, but something told him that staying with Major Beers would cost him more than he could afford.
“So where do we go after we rummage houses for shoes and coats?” Erin pressed.
Kevin had bitten his tongue. For one, all the points that she was making were valid ones. He was actually surprised and just a little impressed with Erin and her line of questioning.
“The farm house,” Kevin had answered.
The funny thing was, until that exact moment, he hadn’t really known where they would be going. Her question demanded an answer, and thankfully, he had one. Several weeks ago, they had stopped at a remote farm house. It was there that they had met Aleah. During their stay, he, Aleah, and Heather had made a supply run. When they had eventually set out for the country club, Kevin had insisted that they leave a cache behind. Partially in case they came back that way—which seemed unlikely at the time—and partially to provide for a possible passer-by in need.
That’s karma, you idiot, the voice in Kevin’s head practically screamed.
Now that they were out, everybody huddled together, waiting for Kevin to lead the way. He took one last look at the face of the young woman he’d just killed. He didn’t think he would ever be able to forget her…or what he’d done.
“Hurry up, Erin,” Aleah urged.
It had been quickly decided that Erin would take the shoes and coat from their sentry. This would hopefully keep her griping down to a minimum. The girl was surprisingly quick about it. Of course, Kevin chalked that up simply to the fact that it was so painfully cold. Finally, she was finished and he and Heather dragged the body into their tent.
“Okay, Matt, lead the way,” Kevin whispered.
The first several steps were made worse by the fact that the old snow had frozen and thawed and re-frozen so many times that is felt like walking on cold shards of glass. Kevin was a little surprised by how quiet the camp was. He had sort of expected them to encounter at least somebody. However, as they flitted amongst the shadows on the way to where Shari and Valarie were supposedly being held, there was absolutely no movement. Sure, they could hear the occasional muffled conversation coming from within the tents scattered about the rather unmilitary-like encampment.
They were passing one tent when a low moan sounded causing everybody to freeze. Kevin had taken the small crossbow from the soldier and Aleah had taken the machete she’d had strapped to her thigh. However, it was only Kevin who brought his weapon up, fully expecting a zombie to come stumbling out.
“Easy,” Aleah whispered. The others had to put hands to mouths in order to muffle their snickers—even Erin. “That is the brothel.”
Kevin was thankful for the dark as he felt his face heat up in what was probably a serious enough blush to cast at least a little glow in the darkness. The warmth on his face served as a reminder that his feet were very cold. He prodded Matt, and they wove through the dozen or so vehicles scattered about the parking lot.
Finally, they came to a stop at the small tool shed that sat just off from where the main club house had once been. There was no sentry, but a chain with a huge padlock was wrapped around the handles of the double-doors. Kevin was confused.
“I don’t get it,” Kevin whispered. “If they took their shoes and coat like they did ours, why bother with the security?”
“The soldiers insisted on it. They figured if Valarie could burn down the country club, they didn’t want her wandering around,” Matt explained.
“But Valarie didn’t—” Kevin began.
“But the major has everybody thinking that she did,” Heather reminded.
“It would have been nice to know this ahead of time,” Kevin snapped.
“In all the excitement, I just didn’t think about it,” Matt admitted sheepishly. In the darkness he was able to make out heads nodding in agreement.
Kevin scowled and approached the padlocked door. By now, his feet felt as if they were on fire. He noticed everybody else—with the exception of Erin—dancing back and forth and rubbing their exposed arms. Now what? He thought. It wasn’t like he had his lock pick set with him. Hell, he didn’t even have a bobby pin or a piece of wire.
“We will have to come back for them,” Kevin sighed.
“What?” Erin pushed forward, her voice just on the edge of too loud.
“We don’t have a choice,” Kevin hissed. “There is no way we can get past that chain, and all of us need to get something on our feet or we are going to end up losing toes.”
“Kevin?” a voice whispered on the other side of the door. “Is that really you?”
“It’s all of us, Shari,” Kevin whispered.
“He says we are gonna have to leave you behind,” Erin blurted, causing everybody else to look around nervously as if they expected a sentry to pop up out of the snow and shoot them all.
“The door is chained and padlocked,” Kevin explained. “I don’t have any way to get you out of there, but I promise we won’t abandon you. I’ll come back…tonight if possible…but we won’t just bail on you.”
“You need to just run, Kevin,” Shari whispered. “You can’t come back. You and I both know that would be foolish.”
“I won’t leave you,” Kevin insisted.
“And Valarie,” Shari added. “I know, Kevin. But we also both know that you will be lucky to sneak out of here alive. Coming back is asking for trouble.”
“But I can’t—” Kevin protested.
“I will take care of Valarie,” Shari said. “The major sent over some of her medications. I read all the labels and I will make sure that she is okay.”
“I can’t just leave you with these people.” Kevin swallowed a huge lump in his throat. He knew what she was saying to be true. Even worse, he didn’t have time to stand here and debate the issue. They needed to run. “I won’t abandon you…I will find a way to come back for you both.”
“I’m not leaving,” E
rin insisted.
“Shut up and do what Kevin says,” Shari’s voice hissed from the other side of the door. “You need to grow the hell up, little sister. Nobody has time for your crap anymore.” Erin let out a gasp in the darkness. “If you want to have any chance to survive, you need to stop thinking that this is all going to be over some day and start doing what it takes to be a part of the group.”
“But—” Erin whimpered.
“No!” Shari snapped. “Get your asses moving!”
Kevin took a tentative step away from the shed, and then another. Pretty soon, he was plowing through the snow, heading down a gentle slope that ended at a wall of leafless trees. He thought he heard an occasional sob behind him, but he was in too much discomfort to pay that much attention…or care.
They spotted the six foot high brick wall on the other side of a clearing as they emerged from the thin strip of woods that once divided two fairways. By now, his feet felt like a pair of ice blocks attached just below the ankles. He and the other barefoot runners were starting to stumble, having lost all feeling in their feet. This, in turn, was leading to frozen, numb hands as they kept having to catch themselves as they fell.
When they reached the fence, they encountered a new set of problems. Everybody was so cold, that their bodies were sapped of strength to the point that getting over the wall posed an even bigger obstacle.
“I am going to get on my hands and knees,” Kevin said through chattering teeth. “Matt, you get up on that wall and help the girls over. Erin, then Heather, then Aleah.”
“No,” Erin insisted.
“We don’t have time for this,” Heather managed, biting her tongue twice with teeth that were clicking so hard, Kevin wondered how they weren’t shattering.
“I am the only one in a coat and shoes, I go last,” Erin said, pushing Matt forward. “That way, I can help pull Kevin up.”
It took far more effort than any of them could have managed without working together. In fact, by the time it was Kevin’s turn, it was Erin almost single-handedly pulling him over the wall.