“The dead gotta go somewhere,” Marv said, stabbing the cutting edge of the shovel into the ground.
“Yeah I know that,” Cody said. “But that’s what cremation is for. Right? Burn the bodies and scatter the ashes. Doesn’t take up any space either. I don’t know, there’s something about just leaving a body in the ground to rot and letting it turn into worm food over the years. No thanks.”
Nick stopped digging and looked over at Cody. “You scared of waking up in the box or something?” he asked.
Cody shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Yeah well I don’t care what happens to me,” Nick said, resuming the task of digging Rita’s grave. “Put me here. Put me anywhere. I’ll be dead. Who cares?”
Nick stopped digging again.
“On second thoughts, maybe a little sunshine overhead,” he said. “That’s all I ask. After all this neverending darkness, I’d like a few rays shining over my last resting place.”
Cody looked at Rachel. “Don’t ever put me in the ground kid,” he said.
“Don’t call me kid!” Rachel said.
“Alright, alright,” Cody said. “Rachel. When my time comes, you can leave me on the side of the road for the birds to gobble up for all I care. Just don’t put me in the ground. Yeah?”
Rachel looked at Cody with a frown. “I don’t want to think about that.”
Crazy Diamond kneeled down in front of Johnny Boy and Laney’s graves.
“If the Exterminators are as good as we think they are then you don’t have to worry about it Cody,” she said. “There won’t be anything left of you to bury or scatter.”
“Right,” Cody said. ‘’I feel so much better now.”
There was a noise behind them.
Cody spun around and looked over the wall towards the street. Although he couldn’t see anything he heard the sound of an engine humming in the distance.
Everyone else stopped what they were doing.
“What the hell?” Lance said. “What is that?”
Cody spotted a pair of narrow headlights edging down the street. The vehicle rolled down the road in slow motion before coming to a stop.
Nick dropped the shovel and grabbed his rifle off the ground. Then he ran over to the wall as fast as he could without slipping on the snow. Lance did likewise, his fingers wrapped around the handle of a Smith & Wesson.
“That’s a school bus,” Nick said, looking over the wall. The vehicle was by now lingering about a hundred meters from where Nick and Lance were perched. Its engine was still chugging away at low volume.
Nick looked at Lance. “Don’t you think?”
“You’re not wrong big guy,” Lance said. “It’s a school bus alright.”
Cody walked over to the wall and peered over the edge. His Glock was pointing towards the long bus, which had to be at least twenty-five feet in length, if not more. The headlights lit up the front grill and dark fender at the head of the vehicle.
“Looks like our old pal Mackenzie has come to pay his respects,” Nick said.
“What an asshole,” Crazy Diamond said. “He’s stalking us now?”
Nick snorted in disgust. “That’s just plain old disrespectful,” he said. “This is Rita’s funeral for God’s sake. He won’t even let us bury our dead in peace now? Well that settles it. This guy’s going down and the only burial he’s getting is the one that takes place underneath my goddamn foot.”
“Not now Nick.”
It was Marv who spoke. He’d stayed by the half-dug gravesite while the others had gone over to check out the bus. Beside him, Rita’s casket was a solemn ornament, reminding them of why they were there.
“We’re here for Rita,” Marv said in a quiet voice. “Remember?”
‘You know I think I’ve seen that school bus before,” Crazy Diamond said. “Or I’ve seen a school bus, one just like that. Parked near the Rand. Might be a different one but I don’t know.”
“He knows where we’re staying?” Cody said.
“Maybe,” Crazy Diamond said.
“We’re going to have to start putting two people on watch,” Lance said. “Either that or we think about moving someplace else.”
“All our supplies are stored in the Rand,” Cody said. “Moving is kind of a big deal.”
“Not being safe in our home is also kind of a big deal,” Lance said, scratching at his fluffy beard. “If Mackenzie’s watching us, we gotta do it. He could go after us, after our supplies – I don’t like it.”
“Better if we dust this asshole now,” Nick said. “And all his little ragtag groupies. Then we don’t have to move anywhere.”
As Nick dropped back down off the wall, Cody watched him pacing back and forth like a caged lion.
“What do you say guys?” Nick said. “Do we finish it? Right here, right now.”
Before anyone could answer there was a noise on the road.
The school bus was reversing slowly down the street. Nick held both hands in the air as the glaring headlights began to shrink from view.
“Hey shithead!” he called out. “Leaving so soon? Don’t you want to come over here and admire your handiwork?”
Nick turned to the others. There was a look of desperation on his face.
“He’s getting away,” he said. “Listen to me guys. That son of a bitch isn’t going to stop – not until we’re all dead and he’s handing Rachel giftwrapped over to those Exterminator sons of bitches.”
Nick looked at Cody. Then at Crazy Diamond.
“For God’s sake people!” he said. “Let’s finish it. We’ll regret it if we don’t.”
“Nick,” Marv said, leaning on the shovel. “Nobody wants to see that bastard dead more than I do. Look around you. Three of my friends are here because of Mackenzie and the things he’s done. Countless others lie in unmarked graves all over the city.”
The narrow headlights were by now a faint glow in the distance.
“There’s a lot of blood on that man’s hands,” Marv said. “And I promise you, we’re going to make him pay for every last drop. But this isn’t the time. More than anything, I don’t want to turn Rita’s funeral into another shootout. She deserves better than that.”
The fire in Nick’s eyes cooled a little as Marv spoke. With a grunt, he lowered his rifle to the side and watched the school bus disappear into the thick web of darkness that surrounded San Antonio. Then he walked back over to the gravesite and picked his shovel up off the snow. For the next five minutes, Nick cut through the solid ground as if his life depended on it. With such enthusiasm, it didn’t take them long to dig Rita’s grave and lay her to rest. But once or twice during the job, Nick would stop digging and his eyes would stare off into the distance.
Cody knew that look.
Nick was still chasing the school bus, at least in his mind.
That night they awoke to something like thunder.
It was a deep bellowing sound and it felt like King Kong and Godzilla were fighting on the roof of the building. It was close too – like the thunder coming from other places besides the heavens. Almost like it was coming from below, from somewhere underneath the Earth.
There would be no sleep after that. They were all sitting up in their sleeping bags, lost in their private thoughts. Candles had been lit. Worried faces glanced across the room at one another while the thunder escalated outside. Eyes drifted towards the windows, inevitably drawn towards the distant light of the gates.
Cody glanced at Rachel who was sitting up in bed. She’d gone to sleep with her winter coat on, forced to do so by yet another drop in temperature. The hood was pulled over her head and her blonde hair poked out at the sides, spilling down to her shoulders. She was blowing into her hands to warm them up. Her eyes looked tired and far away – the eyes of a much older person stitched onto a young face.
“Rachel,” Cody said.
“What?”
“You okay?” Cody asked.
“Yeah” she said.
He n
odded. “You sure?”
She looked at him. “Won’t be long now.”
Cody felt a tight knot forming in his stomach. “Better go to sleep if we’re going to get up for practice tomorrow,” he said.
Rachel nodded slowly.
“It won’t be the same without Rita,” she said. “I miss her.”
“I know,” Cody said. He glanced over to the far corner of the room where Rita used to sleep. It was just an empty space now. “I miss her too. We all do.”
Rachel put her head back down on the pillow. She let out a long sigh and pulled the sleeping bag over her head.
“Night Dad.”
“Night Rachel.”
Cody knew he wouldn’t get any sleep that night. Instead he sat up, thinking about Rita and listening to the raucous sounds shaking the night outside. At the same time, he tried not to think about what the future might bring.
On more than one occasion he looked at Rachel beside him.
She was shivering as she slept.
5
The next day they were back on the roof of the Robert E. Lee building.
Black snow had been falling all night and it was still going strong. The snowflakes were almost invisible in the darkness but Cody could feel them landing on his hood as they walked from the Rand to the building where Rachel did her daily training.
Everyone was there as an armed guard for Rachel. They weren’t taking any chances after what had happened with Rita yesterday.
Rachel was standing near the edge of the roof. She turned towards the city and turned on the lights. As she practiced, Cody stood by her side, as quiet and as constant as her shadow. He was thinking about Rita and feeling her absence, especially so in this place where they’d spent so much time together. Behind Cody and Rachel, the armed guard, which consisted of Nick, Crazy Diamond, Marv and Lance, patrolled the rooftop with guns and flashlights, looking out for movement on the street and on the tops of nearby buildings.
The gates were getting bigger. There was little doubt about that now. It was a hard thing to admit – like watching a wound that was progressively getting worse. Cody spotted countless shafts of light spilling out of the circular suns. It was expanding and pushing outwards. It was as if there was something behind the gates, trying to force its way through.
“That’s a helluva sight,” Marv said, looking up with a blank expression. “All this to get their hands on that little girl, huh?”
“And to finish the rest of us off,” Cody said.
Nick was staring at the gates, a look of disbelief on his bearded face.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be pointing my rifle at,” he said. “Down at the ground or at those things up there.”
“I don’t think a bullet is going to be much use up there,” Crazy Diamond said, calling over from the opposite side of the roof. “Save your bullets for the ragtags. For the guaranteed mortals. Leave those things up there to Rachel.”
As they spoke amongst themselves, Rachel continued with her exercises. Cody turned back to the front, watching the city blink on and off at her command. He’d gradually come to notice some of the subtle things she was doing during these practice sessions. It wasn’t just an automatic orchestration – she truly had the concert fully under control. He watched as Rachel’s left-hand index finger stretched a little to the left. At the same time, the buildings in that direction would shut off entirely while everything on the right would continue to blink in the same steady rhythm. She’d then switch hands and turn it around and back again. If her finger jerked restlessly, the light show in San Antonio would speed up and slow down. Both of Rachel’s fingers would occasionally push down like she was tapping two buttons on an imaginary keyboard. The light would then go on and off, mimicking her plodding beat, and when she stopped the city was plunged into darkness. Then she’d start tapping again and the entire city would light up, as if coming back onto the stage for an encore.
Cody couldn’t help but smile. She’d come a long way from the girl in the airport who’d charged at the Black Widow. But no matter how good she was, he couldn’t stop thinking – would it be enough?
Lance called out from behind.
“Holy shit!” he said. “Look up there. You guys see that?”
Cody spun around and pulled his Glock out the holster.
Lance was pointing to something in the sky.
Marv – who was usually the epitome of calm – gasped out loud. He was pointing at the same thing as Lance, his face a picture of shock and excitement.
“Good God,” he said, lowering his gun. “What is that?”
Cody walked over and stood beside them. It took a moment, but eventually he managed to focus on what they were looking at.
Something was traveling towards them.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of tiny circles of white light were floating through the air. Down they came, drifting towards the Robert E. Lee building and leaving a thin trail of white dust at their backs. Cody might have been looking at some type of underwater creature floating in the sky – a giant swarm of jellyfish, transparent and jewel-like.
They floated towards the rooftop, both gentle and menacing. Even though it looked like they were moving slowly, they were covering an incredible amount of distance at great speed.
The lights came down and converged around Rachel, like moths to a light bulb. They circled her at a safe distance, almost as if they were cautious of the girl. After a couple of minutes the lights moved across the rooftop and glided past the five adults, all of who were watching this spectacle with their mouths hanging open.
Nick was pointing his rifle at the circles as they took a close look at him before drifting off towards Crazy Diamond.
The adults were deemed worthy of the briefest of glimpses. As the swarm of lights lingered around Cody he could sense their lack of interest.
When it was over, the lights glided upwards again. They moved away from the roof, drifting back towards the gates and in a matter of minutes they began to disperse, as if sliding through an unseen door in the sky.
“What the hell was that?” Lance said, as the white circles slowly disappeared from view. “I mean, what just happened there?”
Marv rubbed the back of his hand off the jagged stubble on his chin.
“Don’t know,” he said.
“They’re taking a closer look at us,” Cody said. “What do you think Rachel?”
Rachel’s shield slowly fizzled out. She turned to look at Cody and the others. Behind her, the city lights gave way to a thick wall of blackness.
“Scouts,” she said.
Cody looked at the darkness behind them.
“You know,” he said. “You shouldn’t have stopped what you were doing. Doesn’t matter what’s coming at you, you can’t let yourself be distracted by anything. It’s important that you keep your concentration at all times. You understand?”
Cody felt like a prize shit for scolding her. Easy for him to say, right? He’d been distracted by the lights like everyone else – why would his eleven year old daughter be any different? And yet she had to be. She had to be better, stronger and more focused than any of the adults. It wasn’t fair – it was anything but fair. It was downright shitty. But that’s how it was. Rachel was their only chance and who else was going to discipline her if not her father?
Rachel looked embarrassed by Cody’s rebuke.
She turned her attention back to the city. With a nod, the shield crackled open. The lights switched on in almost every building as far as the eye could see. It reminded Cody of looking out of an airplane window at night while flying over a major city. How the plane would glide over a sea of electric light – a reminder of mankind’s presence and its refusal to stay in the dark.
Rachel turned to her right and pointed a finger towards the nearby car park. There were about twenty or thirty vehicles in the car park, some parked neatly in the allotted spaces while others had been dumped at random, as if the owners had been in a hurry to dit
ch them. At Rachel’s signal, all of the cars began to rock back and forth in a clumsy puppet-like dance. Their headlights flickered on and off while their horns blared in loud protest of this violation.
Lance and Nick laughed at this unexpected source of entertainment.
But Cody wasn’t amused. He had a feeling that Rachel was straying from the task at hand – that she was perhaps trying to outdo the white circles, almost as if they’d triggered her competitive streak. Either that or she was deliberately trying to piss Cody off, to get back at him for embarrassing her in front of everyone.
The wind was blowing harder now.
Cody pulled the collar of his coat together at the neck even though it was already zipped up as tight as he could get it. He glanced up at the gates, feeling like an ant that was staring up at a giant foot. More than ever their task felt like a hopeless one. What the hell was he thinking about putting Rachel in front of all this? What sort of man would throw his daughter to the lions? Mackenzie had been right about one thing yesterday – when the Exterminators arrived it would be a lot different than it had been at Brackenridge Park.
Cody looked at Rachel. She was still making the cars tremble and she was clearly having fun while doing it. Rachel was laughing as the vehicles rocked back and forth like they were caught up in a major earthquake.
“Stop,” Cody said.
Nothing happened.
“Rachel,” he said, raising his voice. “I said stop it. Now!”
The cars stopped. Silence.
Rachel looked over her shoulder at Cody. The shield fizzled out again like he’d poured cold water all over her fire.
Cody walked over to Rachel and put a hand on her shoulder. A surge of heat was gushing out from underneath her coat.
He took his hand away and stepped back.
“This is too much,” Cody said. “We can’t do it.”
He looked around at the others, hoping for some sign of agreement on their faces. Some indication that yes, they’d tried their best but the reality was they were screwed if they hung around San Antonio for much longer. Up until then, their only hope had been to stand and fight. But as noble as that was, Cody saw now that it was a false hope. The fog had cleared. This was too much for Rachel, too much for all of them.
Mega Post-Apocalyptic Double Bill Page 78