Before anyone could ask why she opened the door and was gone.
The others all looked at him and he nodded for everyone to follow her. He got out too and walked around to where Fallon stood by a large sign. In the distance he cold see what looked like a large building, many feet across and two or three stories high. He looked up at the sign, it was faded but obviously cared for with hand painted letters meticulously maintained.
‘Welcome to Mira Loma Sanctuary – Enter only those with peace in their hearts – tread lightly friend and only upon the yellow road’
“Yellow road?” he said aloud.
“You must only walk here” Fallon said, raising her voice for all of them to hear as she pointed to a narrow path painted a faded yellow.
“Follow the yellow road? What is this The Wizard of Oz?” Greene said snidely.
“If it is don’t forget to ask for a heart, or a personality transplant” Tommy replied.
“Screw you Scarecrow – I just wanna know why the hell we aren’t just riding up to the front door.”
Ira walked up beside Greene, making sure to catch his eye, then, he picked up a stone and threw it out into the unmarked dirt. It skittered and skipped until it hit something and there was an explosion of dirt that shot twelve feet up into the air.
“This is where the ‘peaceful’ Monks of yours live?” Robert asked.
“It is for the Walkers mainly or any other unwelcome guests” Fallon answered.
“I thought they cherished life.”
“They do, they see the Walkers as lost, tormented souls. When they slay a ghoul they are releasing them from a life of torture.”
“Sounds like some real interesting people you’re taking us to see Howard.” said Greene.
“You can always wait with the truck”
“As a matter of fact that sounds like a plan to me, I’d rather not go on a hot ass hike to see the crazy zombie killing holy men thank you very much. I’ll just stay here in the shade, oh and I’ll take the keys.”
“I don’t think so John.” Robert said calmly.
“We wouldn’t want you to accidentally drive away now would we?”
Greene just smiled his viper smile and walked back to the Hummer and climbed inside to get into the shade.
“Ramirez, do you mind staying here too? You can keep trying the radio… and keep an eye on him”
“Sounds fine to me, I wouldn’t trust him alone out here anyway”
Ramirez walked back over to the Humvee and the others grabbed their packs and started to walk single file down the narrow yellow road.
Fallon took the lead and guided their way along the crooked, winding path as it made its way through the bleak landscape like a snake. Baudoin explained that they made the path so crooked because the ghouls usually only traveled in straight lines, if one of them should happen to stumble onto the yellow path it wouldn’t be on it for long before the path turned to one side or another and they would wander off into the mine field.
As they drew closer to the building, or what Robert had thought was a building he saw that it was actually a small complex of buildings joined together by lower walls topped with rusted barbed wire.
The main buildings themselves looked well maintained but there were other buildings that where rotting and dilapidated, overrun by weeds and sand drifts. After a while Robert noticed that they kept walking on and off of what had once been a paved road and there were large areas off to the sides that were concrete slabs were other, larger buildings had once stood.
In those areas the slabs were cracked and broken through with weeds and he could just make out a spider web of interconnected cables a few inches off of the ground. He traced some of the cables with his eyes to their ends and saw small canisters. Some were more obvious then others, a few were out in the open but others were hidden in patches of weeds. He didn’t know whether they had all been out in the open once or not and the brush had crown up around the little containers over time but he had an idea what they were.
In the areas where they had not been able to bury mines the peaceful Monks of the sanctuary had laid out trip wires connected to homemade fragmentation bombs, devices filled with explosives and shrapnel designed to shred anything caught within it’s blast radius.
Someone suddenly grabbed his clothes. He stopped dead and turned to look, Ira was holding onto his jacket and shaking his head. He looked down and noticed that he had been studying the Sanctuary’s defenses that he had nearly walked off the safe path.
“Oh, thanks,” he said letting out a breath. Ira just smiled, shook his head and bounded off. Robert stopped to try and get his heart back under control letting Jackson and Tommy pass so that he could talk to Baudoin who was bringing up the rear.
“What’s his story?” Robert said, motioning towards Ira. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say anything.”
“He has taken a vow of silence. He very much wants to be one of the Monks here but they do not often allow outsiders to live here and learn their secrets. He is trying to prove to them that he can be trusted and would not speak of anything they taught him”
“Secrets? What kind of secrets would holy men have?”
Baudoin shrugged, “The same as any man.”
Ramirez tried the radio again and got no response. Setting down the microphone he put back his head, sighed and rolled his neck to relieve the tension.
“You should move up here in the front, they have a lot more room up here” Greene proffered smugly.
“That’s okay, I’m perfectly comfortable where I am” he replied from the raised rear section of the Humvee.
“Suit yourself, if you want to relegate yourself to the ‘back of the bus’ that’s no concern of mine. It certainly is fitting though”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“For someone of your… stature. The vertically challenged.”
“Whatever.”
“I much prefer the view from up here.”
“Yeah well don’t get too comfortable, you’ll be back here soon enough.”
“Will I? The way things are going I’m not so sure. Howard is leading us along a twisted path to destruction. All these detours and distractions, we should have been in Los Angeles by now.” He turned to better focus his rhetoric at Ramirez. “Think about it, all that trouble back at camp, all that time wasted and what did it bring us? Damn near our doom.”
“Robert had no way of knowing what would happen, he was doing the right thing waiting for Smith.”
“Bull! They were never going to send Smith back out, anybody with half a brain knew that. If we had stuck to schedule we’d have been in L.A by now getting ready to head home.”
“Maybe, and maybe we’d be dead. Fallon and the others did more then just save our asses from the ghouls, they warned us about what a pit Los Angeles is going to be.”
Greene rolled his eyes, “A pit – who’s to say what these primates’ idea of bad is. For all we know it could just be a busy metropolis again like it used to be, with cars and trucks driving around spewing exhaust. Flashing lights and signs just scaring the shit outta’ these simpletons.”
Ramirez thought about it for a second, maybe Greene was right. Who knew what kind of a life or an education these people had? Sure they spoke well enough but what would they know of the ways of the past? Cars and trucks and trains, television, electricity, neon… they had never seen any of these thing and they hadn’t said what it was that made Los Angeles a bad place; only that it was.
“If I were in command like I should be we’d know already, we would be meeting with the people in charge, instead of crazed hermits and their exploding weed garden.” Greene continued.
“Whatever – they’ll be back soon enough and one way or another we’ll head to L.A. and maybe we’ll have a guide.”
“What in the hell do we need a guide for, a map isn’t good enough? We were doing just fine on our own except for an under abundance of leadership.”
“Tha
t’s all this is about for you isn’t it, you want to be in charge… probably just so you can take all of the credit. Well you can stop wasting your breath and my time. I’m not gonna revolt against Robert period, let alone for you.” He smiled sideways at Greene and tried not to laugh out loud.
“I’m not suggesting insurrection here, merely voicing valid concerns with the current status quo.”
Sitting back Ramirez tried not to let Greene’s words poison him any more then they already had. “Yeah well don’t, if you don’t like the status quo, I still like the idea of you sunbathing on the roof rack.”
“Now there you go again with the threats, you know physical violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
“You know, if I wasn’t so incompetent I might be offended by that.”
“You mark my words Ramirez no good is going to come from coming to this place.”
XI
They stopped still some way off of the two large gates baring entry into the Sanctuary. The area was a little wider here and they could assemble more as a group.
On either side of the gate a long tall wall stretched off in both directions, above the wall were watchtowers where lone silhouetted figures stood.
Fallon raised her right arm and waved in a large arc.
Nothing happened.
“Now what?” Jackson asked.
“We wait.” Fallon answered.
Fifteen slow, hot minutes passed before a small walk through gate opened in one of the larger metal doors. Robert had not known what to expect but he was not prepared for what stepped through the gate.
He had seen a picture once that looked something like this.
The Monk wore loose fitting clothes under a full suit of overlapping plate armor. It took a second but he recognized similarities in the Monks clothes to Ira’s, they were bound tighter around the wrists and calves with cords just like Ira’s but the similarity ended there. There were several narrow plates bound together with ribbons of fabric covering his thighs and upper arms, gauntlets and larger chest plates but the strangest thing of all was the helmet. It completely covered the monks face with a twisted caricature of a demon.
“What brings you to the Mira Loma Sanctuary?”
His vice was calm and serene, contrary to anger of his demonic visage.
“We seek an audience with the abbot” Fallon said stepping forward.
“For what purpose?”
“To ask his aid and guidance on a journey to Helheim.”
The demons head cocked to a quizzical angle.
“Very well. Please wait here.” He tuned away silently and walked back through the gate.
“How long will we have to wait?” Robert asked quietly.
“Not long.” Fallon answered.
About ten minutes passed before the little walk through gate finally opened again.
The Samurai Monk stepped back through, this time without his intimidating headwear and ushered them forward.
After they stepped through the door they had to wait off to one side for the group to gather again. As they stood there several runners came by in pairs always one larger, older then the other all wearing the same simple under-robes similar to Ira.
When they were all inside the Samurai gatekeeper addressed them again.
“Welcome back Fallon, how is your father?”
“He is well thank you.”
“Good, good” he smiled warmly. Stepping forward he greeted Baudoin and Ira by saying their names, his hands clasped together as if in prayer and bowing to them each in turn.
He turned to greet the others. “Welcome friends, I am Brother Lucas.”
They introduced themselves one at a time, saying their names and bowing to Brother Lucas as he bowed to them and repeated their names.
“Welcome all, please if you will come with me. The Abbot is busy at the moment but he will be with you shortly, he has asked me to give you a brief tour while we wait.”
They walked in a clockwise path around one of the large courtyard inside the Sanctuary. Lucas explained that there was another identical counterpart on the other side of the center buildings were they had entered.
The outer ring of buildings making up the perimeter were all separate, the five two story buildings all joined together with lower walls all topped with the rusted barbed wire that Robert has seen coming in.
Each building had an unusual shape, from outside the complex they had just seemed square but on the inside they had an indentation that funneled inward to a central entrance door. These were the dormitories Brother Lucas said as they passed the first one.
On their left they passed by a large garden with dozens of long rows each with different vegetables growing and over to the far side closest the central buildings was a small orchard of fruit trees.
“You have quite the garden here” Robert said admiringly.
“Yes, we are completely self reliant here. We grow a great many things; carrots, potatoes, onions and tomatoes to name just a few. On the other side we grow rice and beans, and as you can see we have trees for apples and pears, lemons and oranges”
“That is amazing, where we live we are very limited for space, we cannot grow nearly as varied a garden as this, it is very beautiful.”
“Thank you. We all spend time tending to plants here. I am sure that we could spare some supplies for you if you wish.”
“Well, Yes, thank you that is very generous of you.”
He glanced back over his shoulder at Tommy who smiled and nodded eagerly, he would be more than willing to try his culinary hand at some produce that hadn’t been grown under special light bulbs.
They were walking against the flow of traffic on the running track which looped around the entire sanctuary in front of the dormitory buildings, when more runners passed them Robert’s curiosity peaked.
“The runners, they all run in pairs?” he asked quizzically.
“Yes, the older students monitor the younger ones, mentoring them to expand upon their lessons. This not only increases the knowledge of the children it serves to reinforce the education of the older students as they must remember their own instruction.”
“And they do that running?”
“Sometimes yes, physical education is as important as the development of the mind. To grow one without equally nurturing the other would bring imbalance.”
“Is that what you teach here then, balance?”
“We teach many things, but balance is always at the heart of everything.”
“It sounds very Eastern, I guess that is why your Samurai armor.”
Lucas smiled and rubbed a hand gently over his chestplate.
“Yes. The Yin and the Yang, ever since the fall of mankind we have strove to make amends for the dark deeds of our forefathers”
“I don’t understand, do you mean all mankind? That is a lot of darkness to have to make amends for.”
“Yes and perhaps one day we will, but no, for now we have to atone for our literal forefathers, the original inmates of this place.”
“…Inmates…?”
“Yes, Mira Loma was once a maximum security prison.”
XII
Robert tried not to let his surprise show too much but deception had never been something that had come easily to him. These people are not criminals he told himself, their ancestors were and they fought to make up for their crimes generations after the perpetrators and their victims had both died.
They had almost completed the walk around the one side of the bisected complex when a younger monk came jogging over from one of the central buildings.
“Brother Lucas, The Abbot will see you now.”
“Thank you Kevin” he addressed the novice before turning to them “please, let us move inside – this way.”
“There is limited space inside, perhaps some of you might like some refreshments while we meet with the abbot?” he asked as he paused outside the Abbots door.
“Kevin, if you would please escort our guests t
o the refectory”
Jackson, Tommy and Baudoin all walked with Kevin down the hallway. Ira looked up at Lucas hopefully and was greeted with a crooked smile.
The Abbot’s residence had once been some sort of office, it had frosted glass panes inside of and flanking the entry door.
Lucas knocked and waited.
“Enter” a muffled voice called form inside.
He entered first and held the door for the others. Ira dashed inside and waited next to the Abbots large wooden desk which dominated the simple room. The Abbot was already getting to his feet to greet them and stopped short when confronted with the eager child.
“Well, Greetings Ira. How goes your silence?” he asked and waited expectantly for an answer. Ira crinkled his face as if to say ‘do you think I would fall for that?’ and the old man bellowed gentle laughter at the boy. They hugged warmly and Ira dashed from the room.
Lucas had been waiting by the door and gently closed it after him. The abbot continued around the desk to address them directly without its width dividing them.
“Fallon.” He clasped his hands together and bowed to her.
“Abbot.” She mirrored and stepped aside.
Lucas stepped forward to make the introduction.
“Abbot this is Robert Howard.”
“Master Howard.”
“Abbot Sir, a pleasure to meet you.”
The Abbot clasped his hands, bowed and held out a hand to indicate two chairs.
“Please, sit. So, what brings you to us today Master Howard?” he asked as he sat on the edge of his desk.
“Well Sir, my people have lived in an underground bunker further out into the desert since the time of the great Cataclysm and we are now exploring the world outside”
“That is a long time to be without the sky”
“Yes Sir. And one of the places we were supposed to visit is the city by the ocean, the place now known as Helheim?”
The Abbot sighed nodding gravely.
“There have been a great many surprises for us in the last few days, we have found ourselves regrettably ignorant of the way of things now but we have traveled a very long way and I do not wish to leave empty handed.” He glanced at Fallon who just sat there quietly staring out of the window.
Long Live The Dead Page 7