by Hamrick, R M
“I do. Just not with who you think. This whole place is coming down.”
She gave Marcos a nod and he ran over to the trailer Satomi had pointed to. Looking inside, he gave another nod confirming its contents. He unstopped and lit a couple Molotovs before throwing them in.
“Noo,” cried out Satomi, rushing forward. Audra grabbed her. Satomi was slick with blood and tears. Her arms flailed as she tried to gain traction and reach the trailer.
“Greenly’s scientists won’t have anything,” explained Audra.
“Greenly?” Another large explosion at the front of the convoy sounded. Satomi’s body went still. “You went to Greenly?”
“I told them there was an army on the road. I figured they wouldn’t care for the threat. I’m taking care of things, like I promised. Now come with me. We have to go.”
“To hell I’m coming with you! God, I have to go save Peter.”
Satomi ripped herself away from Audra. Audra couldn’t grab hold again of her slim limbs. Satomi took off down the road, heading toward Greenly’s people. Audra gave one last look at the laboratory to make sure it was burning, then chased after her rescue. She had never imagined Satomi would be so uncooperative. Who was Peter? She had no option but to follow the dark-haired woman, who was making distance, fast.
Audra passed burning vans, the work of Greenly’s men after they decided they had no use for them. She was glad Marcos had burned the laboratory. They would have spared that one. Audra turned to look behind her to see Marcos trying to keep up. Audra looked down to see familiar dark curly hair and the young man zombied and dead on the ground.
Dennis.
Satomi didn’t notice. She sprinted until she skidded to a stop in front of a strange stoop attached to a trailer.
“Don’t hurt him!” she warned as she knocked on the door. “He’s innocent.”
‘Innocent’ was a funny word. Was Dennis innocent? She didn’t know.
There was muffled shuffling heard inside. Audra put her hand on her dagger despite Satomi’s warning. Slowly the door opened and an older man poked his head out.
“Time for tea?” he asked.
“No, Peter. I need you to come with me,” said Satomi, holding out her hand.
Peter looked around. The commotion was farther up the road but here it was quiet. He seemed to be left on his own.
“Peter, please?” she asked again.
He looked confused, but he put his hand in hers.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going into the woods to gather dandelion for the tea,” Satomi offered.
His face perked up at her suggestion. Who the hell?
Audra shook her head and muttered, “We can’t take him. Too slow.”
Satomi wheeled around, his hand still in hers. “You might be bent on destruction, but I’m not. Do what you need to do. I’ll take Peter home myself.”
Audra glared at the person she had done all this for. Satomi seemed to have no appreciation for their current condition. The place was burning down around them.
“Get away from him!” someone shouted behind them.
Damn.
Jack. Peter let go of Satomi’s hand and scrambled down the stoop, pushing both women out of the way.
“Thank God you’re OK,” said Jack, crying.
“Where’s your sister?” asked Peter, comforting the younger man.
“I’m, I’m not sure. We got separated. There was an explosion...” Jack shook. They didn’t let go of each other.
Maybe Satomi would be OK to leave this Peter with Jack. “Look we need to go,” encouraged Audra.
The squealing of tires and a merciless laugh filled the air as a jeep came barreling down the road. They were too late. Audra and Jack steered Satomi and Peter off the road and toward the woods. Jack and Marcos started to follow, but noticed Audra wasn’t leaving. Audra couldn’t stand to let Greenly see her run.
She was surprised Greenly had left the safety of her fences.
“Audra. Pleasure seeing you here.” Her eyes gleamed.
She stood up on the platform on the back of the jeep, one of her feet raised on something. Her guards stood near her. Two more men came around the jeep and lowered the tailgate.
There lay a body with a blond braid, Greenly’s foot firmly on her head.
Jack cried out before falling to his knees. “No, no, no...” he pleaded.
“Glad we could work together,” Greenly continued.
Jack was not too stricken to hear the words. He looked to Audra. “You brought this on us?”
Audra blinked. She had brought all of this down on all of them. How else would she keep her family alive? Smoke and the smell of fuel wrapped around the highway.
“Don’t worry,” comforted Greenly. “She’s not working with you, or me. This girl murdered her own sister to get out of some debts. She’s out just for herself.”
She turned to Audra with a new nastiness. “I know you’re destroying what we’re trying to create.”
“A world under your thumb?” she retorted. She glanced behind her to see if anyone was approaching from behind. Fighting could be heard off in the distance.
Greenly and her crow’s feet smiled. “A stable world. Where no one is hungry. Where no one is threatened by others, sick or otherwise.”
“They aren’t threats. They’re people. We work together, eat together, and fight together. We don’t hide behind our corporate walls and milk the people.”
“Sure, you just kill them instead,” she referenced her lost corral. “I’m afraid you won’t be doing much of anything anymore, either. You’re wanted for breach of contract and crimes against Lysent. You’ll be tried and punished,” said Greenly.
They should have been long gone. Greenly’s men encompassed them. Audra noticed Manny and Blue in the group. Manny winked at her. He licked his lips and left spittle on his mustache.
“Let them go,” said Jack. “I own this army and I’ll give them to you in return for us here.”
“I’m sorry. I believe your army is already mine. I took out your sister. I can take out others,” said Greenly dismissively.
Tears streamed down Jack’s face.
“I’ll tell my men to stand down. You’ll lose no one else. Please just let me take them.” His voice cracked.
“An army for you five?” Greenly nodded her casual agreement.
Jack immediately stuck his fingers into his mouth and gave a shrill whistle. The commotion died down as the men surrendered.
“Leave,” she commanded.
Jack, Marcos, and Audra walked into the woods to meet Satomi and Peter. Audra kept her hand on her dagger. Had Jack sacrificed his entire community just to kill Audra with his bare hands? It didn’t matter much. It was important to leave before Greenly realized how nearly worthless her spoils were.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said before they got within earshot of the others.
“Why not?”
Tears streamed, kept streaming. He had lost his sister. The place he had called home.
“I’m not like that. We were never like that,” he said simply. Audra was surprised that her heart believed him.
Chapter Seventeen:
Outbreak
The sun hung high in the cloudless sky, but the tall pine trees provided cover. Spots of scattered light fell on the ground as they made their trek to Osprey Point. Audra’s concern about Peter’s speed was unfounded. Both Jack and Peter were strong hikers. They marched along without complaint.
“You didn’t have to surrender for us,” ventured Audra as she rounded her way around a rock outcropping. She’d have found a way out. It did seem like a peace offering, but Audra wondered why he wasn’t more dedicated to his uninfected men.
“We had already lost. Whoever that lady was - she had our army. I just wanted to walk away with my dad. I’m sorry we ever picked this fight.”
“That lady’s Greenly and she doesn’t have your army,” shared Audra. “We cured th
em.”
Jack didn’t look to her. Instead he laughed and shook his head.
“What?” asked Audra.
“When we figured out the cure wasn’t permanent, we decided to go a different route. That’s how the soldier serum and the byproducts came about.”
“Dr. Bren-?” said Peter, stopping. Satomi gently nudged him along. He didn’t finish his question. Jack helped his father navigate the rocky terrain.
Jack continued, “The cure especially doesn’t work on the soldiers. They’ll be back to themselves in two days tops. That Greenly will figure it out. You handed her an army.”
“The notes were true?” asked Satomi, looking to Jack as she put a supporting hand on Peter’s shoulder to help him keep his balance.
“What notes?” asked Audra.
“Dr. Bren’s notes,” she said as if that explained things. “At first I thought your soldier serum was a detour in your attempts to cure people, but I realized you already had a cure.”
“That’s right. We had an antidote to the z-virus immediately. Things weren’t too bad, but when people eventually reverted, all hell broke loose. That’s when Dr. Bren created the soldiers to protect us.”
“But their cure is different,” stated Audra, attempting to understand.
“Formula-wise, they’re the same,” said Satomi. “Lysent stockpiles.”
Jack helped his father over a large fallen log. “That thing we asked for - Satomi said she could help our father with it. I’m sorry we put on such a show. Jill’s idea, but I followed along. It seemed the safest. I didn’t think...”
Audra thought on Satomi’s pleas to work with Jack and Jill. She thought of a family, not unlike her own, that did whatever they could to survive and protect themselves. Had she built up her real enemy at this family’s expense?
* * *
They heard the shouts before they had even reached the fences of Osprey Point. Fear flashed in Audra’s heart. She took off in a sprint down the gravelly road.
“What is happening here?!” Audra shouted as she waved to them to open the gates and to allow the others behind her to come in as well.
“An outbreak!” shouted the woman above.
An outbreak? How?
“Where is he? In the lab?”
“You mean ‘they’. They’re in the mess hall,” the guard shouted at her back. Audra stopped to turn to see if she was serious. Her stomach sank. How did it get into the mess hall? That didn’t make any sense.
“Is Dwyn back?” she shouted up to them.
“No, you’re the first ones back.”
Her heart sank. Dwyn and the others should have been back by now. She felt a sudden urge to run out and find them. Her crew appeared through the gate, breathless with their run. It brought her back to reality. She needed to deal with this, here.
“Satomi, clear the lab lobby now,” she ordered. Satomi nodded.
Audra hesitantly pulled out her dagger for what seemed the hundredth time today. She couldn’t help but look at the sun reaching its last arc - it was dinner time. The mess hall would be full. Jack came up beside her, his armor now looking much more appropriate. They stood on either side of the door.
“You don’t have to,” said Audra.
“I know.”
With a nod, Audra opened the door wide enough to see inside. No one ran out. Were they all already...?
“Help!” someone called out. No. Some person was still in there.
Audra slipped through the door and entered with her back against the wall. Jack came up beside her and closed the door securely behind them. The tables and chairs had been turned and toppled over. Remnants of food joined blood splatter on the floor and walls. This couldn’t be happening. Not here. Not now. Audra fought the urge to close her eyes and wish for a different world. She got a nudge from Jack. She took a deep breath.
Three, no, four zoms. Zoms. That’s what they were. They weren’t her friends, her new community. They were a threat. Two people cowered in the corner fending off one of the zoms with a chair. A second zom careened toward them. Another pair clawed at the kitchen door.
“I’ll take the four.” She motioned to the kitchen door. “That leads to the kitchen. I bet everyone is in there. Come out with me then slip back in. Subdue or kill any threat in there.”
“I’ll try to capture them.”
“Thank you,” Audra whispered, steeling herself to be bait and to encourage a chase.
“HEY Zs! Here Zs!” she yelled out, clapping her hands. The zom reaching for the two men behind the chair paid her no mind. This emboldened her. She picked up a leg of a broken white pine chair, jumped over a long thin table, and jabbed it into the zom’s ribs. Blond hair whipped around. The face looked ragged with emotion and hunger.
Lisa.
Shit. Audra had stumbled upon her the day they cured Gordon. She was one of their first outside cures and she still reminded her of her sister. Audra took care not to slip on the red sauce or blood. She ignored the two’s fearful faces as she drew Lisa toward her.
She shifted and found the wall opposite her exit, two clambering for her now. They tripped over chairs and dived after smacking into a table. She followed the wall until she reached the kitchen door with two zoms beating and scratching at the space where their prey had disappeared. How had they transitioned so quickly?
She swung and hit shoulders. They turned their heads at crooked angles in twin-like unison, veins spread from their cold eyes. Grayness tinged their skin except for the bright red spots on a forearm and a shoulder - a declaration of what had taken them over. Audra sighed relief at the sight of their clean mouths. Maybe this would be it.
Yells from the kitchen.
“Hush!” Audra called out. “I’m trying to lead them away!”
“It’s Audra,” she heard in hushed voices. “Oh thank heavens, it’s Audra. It’s going to be OK...”
Audra pulled away to let the twins join her other two. She now had her small herd.
“That’s impressive,” said Jack from the door.
“Clear out the plaza,” she instructed him. It was a dumb and dangerous idea to lead a herd into the open air of their community, but she didn’t want her community to think that if they got bit again, she’d just sink a dagger into their brains. They were over that, weren’t they?
The command was unnecessary. The plaza was already empty. She appreciated everyone tucked away with their doors shut. This could be the end of the outbreak here. Jack waited on the wayside to reenter. The guards watched from above, no longer looking to the outside but to the creeping threat inside, the safety of the complex imploding. Audra saw the door to the lab lobby stood open. And she began to head that way.
Maybe their transition wasn’t complete, but still the zoms’ open mouths seemed unnaturally long, as if they could unhinge and swallow her whole. Saliva fell from their chins. Behind them, Jack slipped back into the mess hall to help those previously trapped in the kitchen.
“Oh my god!” cried someone from Audra’s left. Shit. “Is that-?”
“Back inside and be quiet!” Audra shouted as her zoms found new trajectories.
The person scrambled to get back inside, but someone held the door shut on him, apparently having seen what lay outside.
“Holy hell! Let me in!” he cried. The door slammed open and shut in its frame, causing a racket. Audra raced to the four. They were no longer interested in her, no matter how loudly she yelled. She threw her baton at one of their heads; it did nothing but push them forward.
“Run to another door!” Audra called out. He turned at the command. Seeing the four scrambling toward him, he braced himself against the door and yelled out. His mouth and eyes were wide with fear.
“GO NOW!” barked Audra as she sprinted to get between them. The boy finally came to his senses and ran off toward another building. Feet kicking high. Audra scooted right behind him to create a visually large moving mass. Someone opened the door in the next building to receive them. He ju
mped onto the concrete stoop and raced inside.
“Not me,” called out Audra as the boy’s heels disappeared into the building.
Audra confirmed the door closed with a dry click before she trotted past it. Now they were back on her. Audra pulled away from the buildings and did a wide circle back to the lobby. The mess hall’s door was closed, but people watched from the windows. Jack had pulled them out of the kitchen.
Audra ran straight through the front lobby of the lab, not stopping to admire the outdated panel wood walls. Satomi shut the door behind her as she scooted into the laboratory’s main area. Audra sprinted through and out the back door to round the building. All four were in the lobby, scraping on the interior door.
Audra closed the exterior door and slid down against it. Her hand arrived at her brow to wipe the stinging salt from her eyes, but she found it covered in someone’s blood. Down her arm was just as messy. She didn’t get to clean up or rest. Satomi came around and gave her a hand up. She had tears in her eyes, but that wasn’t surprising. She watched Satomi leave for the medical office to go see Ryder. For Audra, it was time to find out about the kitchen. Was anyone else bitten?
* * *
“Satomi, clear the lab lobby now!” Audra yelled to her as she and Jack ran off to the mess hall. Marcos climbed up to speak with the guards. Peter stood with her, dumbfounded. She felt the same.
Infected in the mess hall? The thought filled her with fear. She had done so much to take precautions. What had happened here?
Satomi nodded but she wasn’t sure that Audra saw. They used to keep infected in the lobby before they established the medical office. The medical office - Satomi’s mind flashed to Ryder, who would be in there, just a building away. She yearned to see her, just a glimpse of her form to make sure she was all right - that she was real. Both her time at Osprey Point and at Jack’s and Jill’s convoy seemed to blur. Which was her life? Satomi shook her head clear. There were higher priority tasks right now. And Peter was one of them.
She ushered Peter through the plaza. He stopped at the fountain.
“Why isn’t it on?”
“Um, we turned it off in preparation for winter,” she said to give him a simple answer.