“There are too many. You have to move them. Get them away from me. It’s too much. They won’t stop yelling at me.”
“I can’t make them move. You know that. I can’t even hear them with the new Pacize running through them. You have to do it. You have to get up.”
Leekasha started shaking and stammered, “There are too many of them. They’re too close. I need space. Just a little space.”
Christa pulled Leekasha to a corner to get her a little further away from the zombies.
Leekasha regained some composure. “Christa, you have to try. Get them away.”
Christa tried focusing on the nearest zombies, but every time she did she lost her grip on the guards watching from the control room. The guards would start to move towards them until she focused on them again. None of the zombies responded to her. They were drawn to Leekasha. Hang on, she thought. Why didn’t I think of this before? Christa put a new notion into one of the guards’ heads. Instantly, the guards hit buttons and all the cell doors surrounding the common area opened. The guard then picked up the microphone, and issued the command “Go home. Go home. Go home.”
The zombies obeyed as obediently as any drugged-out zombie would. They all shuffled back to their cells and closed the door. The cell block was at least a hundred yards long, so by the time they were all settled in their cells, the screams diminished to a manageable level in Leekasha’s head.
“That’s better,” Leekasha whispered. “Finally they’re quieter. I can hear myself think a little.”
Christa helped her to her feet. “This is better. At least they’ll all be locked in their cells when you revive them. At least that way if things go bad they can only hurt themselves.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Should have thought of that in the first place.”
“It’s not like we’ve done this before. No reason to think this would go perfectly smoothly.”
They walked past a number of cells. Leekasha moved slowly and gingerly, like every step was on broken glass. Most zombies didn’t behave much differently now that they were locked up. They paced their cells, some just stared into the corners, while others lay in their bunks rocking back and forth. A few violently threw their belongings around their cells and screamed. Those cells didn’t have much in them to start with. Just a small pillow and some blankets on the ground. Apparently, there was a reason they didn’t have much in their cells.
“Can you tell which is which?” Christa asked. “Can you tell which ones are like us?”
Leekasha leaned against Christa. “Not really. There are too many of them. Too much noise.”
“I guess we’ll just have to try one and see. What’s the worst that could happen?” She stopped in front of one cell with the zombie lying on his bunk with his back turned towards them. “This one looks like he might be OK. At least he’s not raving like a maniac. Try taking your focus off me, and put it on him. Focus on his cries. He’s just one zombie. You should be able to handle that.”
“OK, help me get closer to him.”
Christa helped Leekasha over to the zombie’s cell. Leekasha placed both her hands on the bars of his door, steadying herself. “It’s OK, Christa. Just back away from me a bit so I can focus on him.” Leekasha stared intently at the zombie on the bunk. The zombie stopped rocking, but his cries increased. It was like he could sense her now, watching him through a crowded room. Get up, she urged. You need to get up and look at me. I need to see your face. Stop screaming, and show me your face. Now. The zombie slowly rolled over and sat up in his bunk. He walked to Leekasha and reached through the bars and took hold of her forearms. Not tight or rough, just gently holding on. Leekasha looked at his hard, angular face with a sharp chin and hollowed-out cheeks. I can help you reconnect if you’ll let me. Show me where it hurts the most. Show me where you can’t go. Where you’re afraid. His green eyes blinked and closed. She could see in his mind where he was, and she followed him till she got to a bridge he wouldn’t cross. She went ahead, and halfway across the planks leading to the other side were falling out of the bridge into the canyon below. Leekasha knelt down, and waved her hands where the missing planks used to be. Everywhere she waved, the planks reappeared. She moved across the bridge to the other side, creating new planks and healing the bridge as she went.
Eventually she reached the other side, and beckoned for him to cross. The zombie opened his eyes and smiled. He squeezed her arms through the bars and managed a hoarse “Thank you.”
Leekasha, overjoyed with her success, and for just a moment not hearing the other zombie screams, turned to share her excitement with Christa. Christa however couldn’t reciprocate. Instead she lay on the floor, eyes closed, while a small trickle of blood poured out of her ear then down her cheek.
“Christa!” Leekasha yelled, turning away from the zombie in the cell. She knelt by Christa, urging her to wake, but Christa didn’t respond. The zombie in the cell saw trouble coming. He tried yelling to Leekasha to warn her, but the words were too faint. Leekasha was too focused on Christa to notice that both guards had left their office and were moving towards her with weapons drawn.
Setback
Between her concern for Christa and the sounds of zombie screams in her head, the guards easily came upon Leekasha before she noticed them. One placed the muzzle of his pistol at the back of her skull while the other kept a safe distance, covering his partner.
The closest guard spoke. “The paperwork for shooting you is just as long as the paperwork for throwing you into a cell. I’d suggest you stand up real slow and keep your hands where I can see them. If you can’t manage that, then either myself or my partner will be quite happy to put a bullet in your head.”
As Leekasha stood up, the guard took a few steps back, keeping his weapon pointed at the back of her skull. The guard checked that his partner still had him covered, then pulled both Leekasha’s hands behind her and secured her wrists with tie straps. Grabbing her right shoulder, he pulled her around to face him. Again he raised his weapon menacingly at Leekasha.
Glancing down at Christa, who still wasn’t moving, he asked, “What’s wrong with your friend there?”
Leekasha’s knitted brow and closed eyes suggested to the guard that she was in some sort of pain. The guard looked back to his partner, who just shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m not going to ask again. What’s wrong with your friend?”
“I don’t know. She was just fine a few minutes ago.”
“Fine? You’re both in a maximum security prison block, exactly where you’re not supposed to be, and you think she’s fine?”
“Ah, yeah. We were just visiting someone today, and somehow we got lost on the way back to our car I guess. Sorry about that. If you could just point us in …”
“Mmm, no. There are no visiting hours here today. Especially not in a cell block of freaks. Nobody visits freaks in this place. Nobody’s even supposed to know they’re here.”
“Oh, yeah, I suppose that explains how we got lost.” Leekasha smiled somewhat sarcastically.
“Your friend down there isn’t doing very well, and I wasn’t kidding about the paperwork, so I suggest you try a little harder not to piss me off.”
Leekasha tried to get into the guard’s head, but every time she tried, the zombie screams just got worse. I need to just forget about them for a second and get in this guy’s head. She tried, and the instant she did her head felt like a pin cushion from all the screams. It took everything she had not to pass out from the pain and block the screams again.
“Actually, Officer … can I call you that, Officer? I don’t know this girl at all. I was just on my way over to find someone helpful like yourself when I saw here lying there. I was doing the Good Samaritan thing, trying to help out, when you came by. If you really want to shoot me for trying …”
“That’s it, you’re done.”
The guard pulled his weapon to eye level just as Leekasha noticed the zombie she had revived staring off into the distance
. She followed his gaze and realized he was looking at the other guard. The guard kept lowering his weapon then raising it again. Every time he raised it, it seemed like his weapon weighed hundreds of pounds. His arms shook as he brought it back up. Once more, he raised his arms, trembling. Beads of sweat poured down his face as his finger fought to resist pulling the trigger. The zombie in the cell was shaking as well. He eyes were closed as his hands gripped the cell bars.
The backup guard pulled the trigger, shooting his partner square in the back of the head. The guard crumpled in a heap at Leekasha’s feet. The backup guard walked slowly to Leekasha, his face in shock, his weapon lowered. The zombie in the cell still focused his will. The backup guard handed his weapon to Leekasha, his hands shaking.
“Please,” he said. “I have a family. Please don’t.”
Leekasha reached into his utility belt, took a pair of tie straps, and quickly restrained his hands and feet. She pushed the guard to the floor and up against the wall before returning to Christa. Christa hadn’t moved through the entire ordeal, but at least the blood had stopped flowing from her ear. Leekasha put her hand close to Christa’s mouth till she felt her breath.
“Oh thank you!” she said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Leekasha went to the cell of the revived zombie.
“What’s your name?”
Straining to speak, he said, “Jed … I think. Yeah, it’s Jed.”
“Jed, I’m going to get you out of there just as soon as I figure out how.”
Jed nodded his head in agreement.
“Then we’re going to get some help for my friend over there. Did you see what happened to her?”
“No, sorry,” he whispered.
“When I get you out of there, you’re going to help me. You’re going to help me get help for my friend. Can you do that?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good.” Leekasha shook her finger at him. “Because if for any reason you think you can’t, I’ve got no problem leaving your ass here and moving on to the next guy.”
“I’ll help. I promise. I will.”
Cell Block Blues
“Jed. First things first. We need to get you out of there, if your going to help me. How do I open your cell?”
Jed pointed towards the guard office.
Leekasha went to the tied up guard that was still alive. He was looking at his partner still bleeding on the ground. The look in his eyes was a mix of fear and panic. Fear for himself, and panic for what he had done.
“Alright buddy, I need your help getting my new friend there out of his cell. You’re going to open his door for him.”
“I shot him,” he said as his lower lip trembled. “I’ve never shot anyone. Not anyone, or anything. I don’t even hunt. Everyone around here is a hunter, not me. I just started last week. Is he still alive? Maybe we can save him.”
Leekasha looked back to the guard lying in a pool of blood with a gaping hole in the back of his head. He wasn’t moving, and from where Leekasha stood he didn’t seem to be breathing either.
“I don’t know,” Leekasha lied. “Maybe we can help him, but I need your help. I need you to get this cell door open.” She indicated Jed’s cell. The guard couldn’t take his gaze off his fallen partner. “Hey, c’mon now listen to me. I’m gonna try and help your partner, but you need to help me first. We need to get the doctor. Let’s get back to your office. From there we can call for help OK.”
“Yea, OK. Call for help. That’s what I need to do.”
“Great, let’s do that.” Leekasha grabbed the guards arm helping him up. As he stood, he raised his tied hands and pressed the radio mic pinned to his uniform.
“Shots fired in Z block. Officer down! Officer down! Send assistance urgently.”
“Ah hell!” Leekasha looked to Jed in his cell.
Jed just raised his hands and shook his head. “I Didn’t know he was going to do that.”
“Well, control him now. Make him open your door damn it. I can’t do everything. Those extra guards will be here any second.”
Suddenly, a loud piercing alarm sounded, and red lights above the exit doors started flashing. Leekasha looked to Christa, who was now shivering on the floor. Oh crap. She thought. Christa, don’t do this now. What are your doing? Is that shock? Are you going into shock now?
Jed was doing his best to control the guard. The guard entered the office, sat in a chair and picked up the phone.
“Jed!” Leekasha called over the sounds of the alarm. It was piercing. Between the screams in her head, the alarm and the flashing lights, Leekasha wanted to just bolt. Instead, she looked to Jed, and said, “Control him damn you. Make him open your door. Get him off that phone. We’ve already got enough trouble coming.”
Jed focused his control, and the guard put down the phone. He turned to a panel on his right and pressed a series of buttons. Jed’s door popped open, but as it did another door opened at the end of the block. A half dozen guards in full riot gear came charging in. Behind them, were two paramedics also wearing riot gear. Leekasha grabbed Jed by the hand, and they fled into the guard office. There was a door on the other side of it, that led to the adjoining cell block.
“Jed, make him open all the doors. We need to slow down those other guards. Quickly.”
Jed did his best, and the guard opened every cell door in the block. The advancing guards had their hands full making it through a mob of drug addled zombies, while Leekasha and Jed made their escape into the next cell block.
Cellmates
Jed and Leekasha raced through the deserted cell block, past rows of open cells. The smell of too many people living in too small a space still permeated the air, but neither of them paid much attention amidst the sounds of alarms and flashing lights. They passed all the cells and reached a dead end at a locked door leading to the yard. They’re only available route was stairs leading to the upper row of cells in the block.
“Up the stairs.” Leekasha said.
Up top wasn’t much better. There was still no way out, and moving past these cells would take them closer to what they were running from. All the blocks led back to the central guard office like spokes on a wheel.
“In there.” Leekasha said motioning to one of the empty cells.
They ducked into the cell, which was sparse. Nowhere to hide. It had two bunks anchored to the walls with tattered green mattresses. A small work table also attached to the wall and a stool missing a leg were the only other fixtures.
“There’s hundreds of cells in here. It’ll take them a while to search all of them.” Leekasha said.
“Not long enough.” Jed replied.
Leekasha frowned. “I know. I know. Give me a second to catch my breath. I’ll figure something out.”
Leekasha sat on the lower bunk, while Jed peered out the cell down the block.
“Get your head back in here. What do you think your doing? They’ll spot you from the other end of the block. Don’t bother watching for them. We’ll hear them coming long before they get here. This place is quiet as a tomb.”
Jed sat himself down at the wobbly stool across from Leekasha.
“Sorry, this is all new to me. I’m not used to making decisions on my own.”
Leekasha smiled. “Welcome to the world of grown ups. You’ll get used to it. I was where you are a few months ago.”
“Really? You don’t look like it. Your like me?”
“Yea, just like you.”
Jed looked Leekasha in the eyes. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For getting me out of that horror. I felt like I’d been trapped for years.”
Leekasha turned her head. “Hate to tell you this, but your right. The Pacize drugs have been controlling you for years. Ever since the war ended.”
“Damn. That long? What about my family? My wife. We just had our second kid, what happened …”
Leekasha interrupted. “Look, I feel really bad, but we don’t have time
for a trip down memory lane. My best friend is back there all messed up, and we’re about to be found by a bunch of pissed off prison guards looking to avenge the death of a fellow guard. We need a plan.”
“Right.” Jed answered standing up. “That was your best friend we left behind?”
“Don’t give me that. I know what I did, leaving her there. I didn’t have a choice. There was too much screaming, too much blood, and too much damn noise. Christa can take care of herself. She’s not as helpless as she looked.”
Leekasha punched the mattress. “Shit. Shit. Shit. Your right. I shouldn’t have left her back there. She wouldn’t have done that to me. She would have figured something out. She’s smart that way.”
“It was a friggin’ mess back there. You did the best you could. The paramedics will take care of your friend. They’re not just going to let her die or anything. They’ll want to talk with her.”
“Right. I know.” Leekasha smiled at Jed. “Look at you being all calm and collective. Waking up from the big sleep just minutes ago, and already your making more sense than I am. I don’t know what happened to her, and I freaked out. We could still use some help though. How well do you know your fellow inmates?”
“Know? I’ve been doped out for years according to you. I can’t even remember what I did yesterday.”
“Don’t worry. It comes back. Give it time. All the horrible details come back, and you’ll wish they never did.”
“Great. I can hardly wait.”
“If you saw the other inmates again, would you like … hate … trust any of them? Try to think what it was like just before I helped you across the bridge.”
“The bridge?” Jed thought for a second. “Yea I remember a bridge. You fixed the bridge. I remember that. It was foggy, but I remember that.” Jed closed his eyes for a few seconds thinking, then opened them. “Maybe, I might remember some of them.”
Rising: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction Page 6