"Now, I know you're thinking we should tell her about the door. I was thinking that to, then I thought, if we tell them about the door, that neat little, six passenger, four wheeler sitting outside that door will be gone and we'll have to walk off this mountain. Four hours is NOT enough time to walk away from a nuclear explosion and survive. So, we have to keep the door a secret for the time being whether you're comfortable with it or not. Okay?"
"No, it is not okay. But I just don't know what else to do. We need to find George and Riley, right now." I looked down one end of the corridor and then the other, then I looked at Mason. He was smiling which made me smile. Yep, I was lost again. He had me right where he wanted me, so we headed back towards the lab. I let him lead the way.
After much twisting and turning we found the labs first set of stairs and stopped. Mason said, "I'm going to leave you here on these steps..." I removed my mask ready to argue. "...so I can get George and Riley and bring them back here. I don't want you any closer to the lab than these stairs. You wait here. Please, JD, I beg you don't leave. Just wait, suck air and I'll be back with your cousin. If I find Ken I'll send him back to sit with you but I want everyone together when we leave. OK? No arguments?"
"Bring me back a bottle of air and a flashlight. I don't know why but I'd feel better with a weapon of some kind. So, find me one and I'll wait for you to come back. I promise."
He looked around for a minute and found a glass encased, ax at the other end of the hallway. Near it was a small chain about a foot long with a small metal cylinder hanging off the end. He used the cylinder to break the glass and pulled out the ax. He presented it to me like a gift. That works to. I lifted it like a baton, then took the mask away and said, "Go and conquer, just do it fast."
He threw me a kiss and ran back down the hall. I started sucking air again when he was out of sight, but he sent me images of Montana, and blue skies and I relaxed, settling back against the handrail. While I sat there, I thought about those damned freezers. I was positive that idiot wasn't going to shut them down. One part of me hoped he didn't because the idea of being down here with thawed out walkers walking around the corner any minute was too much for me to bear. I sucked some more on the mask. When had I become such a puss? I was the fearless zombie fighter wasn't I? Well, I used to be and then I met Mason and left everything up to him while I sat in a stairwell and sucked in oxygen like a starving baby. I should man up, grow a set. I may die any minute so... Should I just sit here and cower like a baby bird? No. Well? Okay. Give me a minute. I grabbed the handrail, stood, took off the mask and the lights went out. I froze and sure enough the red lights glowed like in the horror movies. Why did I have to think of that? Mason! I shook like a drunk three days from a drink. Mason!
It's ok. I found Ken and he is on his way. George is with Riley but they're in the dorms, so I may be a minute. Calm down, brat, it's ok. Wait for Ken but don't hack him to death. It'd ruin the clean get away.
Smart ass. He actually chuckled back at me, then blew me a kiss.
OK, now I wait for Ken, but those damned freezers were bugging me. Was the door secure? Was the door to the outside secure? Would the four wheeler be waiting or has someone taken it? Will we have to walk? Come on Ken, I'm waiting.
Yea, ok, I'm coming as fast as I can . I froze. Did he just say that mentally? I saw him round the corner, sliding head first into the wall, and making his way at a dead run at me.
STOP! said mentally. He did. Then his eyes got big and he smiled at me.
"You big faker."
"I'm not really. Honest. I didn't know I could do it till just now. Cool."
Loud bangs and creaking metal sounds make the hairs stand up on my arms . Get ready, brat, we're on our way. The power just went out in the dorms and we're on our way through the command center. We're nodding and trying to act like it's a wonderful day so no one gets suspicious. Shit, the general wants to talk to me. Hang in there. I'm sending George and Riley on towards you. I'll be there as soon as I talk to the general. I'm not leaving here without you.
Good. Hurry.
"What's up with the air?" Ken asked gesturing towards the mask.
"Panic attack. No big-gee. I don't know if you caught that but George and Riley are on their way. Mason got stopped by the general and will catch up. Or I will kick his ass." Then looking down the red corridor, I yelled, "You hear that Mace. I will kick your ass."
"OK, so we wait here. Hmm, this red glowing light reminds me of a horror film I watched once..."
"You finish that sentence and you die. I saw the same movie and that's why I'm having so much trouble. I don't even want to even hear about Snow White right now so, we wait for them, quietly. OK. Can you do that Ken, be quiet for a damned minute?"
"Wow." he said before he sat down on the last stair step and cracked his knuckles while we waited. I can't begin to tell you what that sounded like.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry. Gotta leave right now, hurry hurry get a move on, come on, come on, come on."
"Shit, JD. You call that helping?"
"Where are they for Pete's sake? " The they question came around the corner at a run, bouncing off the wall again and sliding to a stop in front of us.
"Mason's on his way. He said wait."
"Wait, wait ,wait. That's all I hear. We're sitting on a fucking bomb and he says wait."
They looked at each other then back at me. OK, they were right, I was getting out of hand. I forced myself to calm down, sit on the steps and wait. How do people do this?
I'm on my way. Walking, cause I don't want to alert anyone to what we're doing. People are getting ready to leave so we need to get out of here before they come down the mountain and find the four wheeler. Thing is, they have to climb out the elevator shaft since it doesn't work anymore. So I'll be there in about 3 minutes. You okay?
Yep, never better. Me and George, Riley and Ken are waiting on the stairs where you left me. I love you.
Back at ya, Brat.
"He'll be here in few minutes."
A year later, he came sliding around the corner, bouncing off that damned wall and sliding to a stop nearly on top of me. I just held him. He held me back. Then he looked at me, smiled and kissed me on the nose. Better than oxygen.
"Okay, guys lets blow this joint." Riley said, and we began the trip to the lower level of the Lab. The door to fresh air and freedom was behind the last set of stairs hidden behind some filing cabinets. We looked everywhere for Northern Uncle Bill as we progressed but there was no sign of him. The walker room with the thawing walker strapped down under walker proof glass was still locked but there was no sign of the professor. The window was uncovered and we could see it, under the glass body shield just like the other one, but this was a female. Yuk.
When we arrived at the last stairwell, the door was closed, unlike the others. When Riley pushed on it nothing happened. So he and Ken pushed on it together. Still nothing. Then I realized what the banging was earlier. That bastard had locked the door leading to our exit and coincidentally, the freezer. I couldn't believe it.
"No. No way. Move out of my way." I brought the ax up and began wailing on that door, the urge to get out of this place spurring me on. When I tired out, Mason took it and started in on it too. Then Riley must have found another ax cause he was pounding on it also. In the middle of all this shit, the strobe lights started flashing. The guys renewed their efforts.
George started screaming for her dad. I knew he had to be in there, cause we looked everywhere else. About the time the guys were going to give up, a sound on the other side of the door caused them to step back with axes raised high. The door opened, and Northern Uncle Bill appeared. "Hurry, you're almost out of time." He went down the stairs, and with help, moved the cabinets aside. Riley had the key to the padlock and in time I was outside almost giddy with excitement. I rushed out into the predawn light followed closely by Mason, Ken, Riley and George pulling on her dads arm.
They stopped at the doorway. George kept pu
lling on his arm. "Come on dad, hurry". He held back, silently pleading with Riley. He stepped up to George and put his arms around her. "You take care of her for me and make sure she gets to her paradise. I love you Georgia girl. Keep up our work. Don't let me down." I saw his bloody hand a moment before the door closed. " No!" screamed George, and tried to get away from Riley. When he refused to release her, she just collapsed. Riley picked her up and put her in the four wheeler, and we started to drive away when we heard someone yell, "Wait." The pixie general was almost propelled out the door then it slammed shut behind her. She jumped in, held on and yelled, "Go, go, go." We went.
The ride down that mountain seemed to take forever. The hairpin turns and washed out, gutted road nearly dumped us numerous times. I noticed the general kept looking at something in her hand but I was too busy holding on. Something made me turn around and I saw the pickup truck we'd left at the entrance gaining ground. "Get off the road quick." We made it onto a small patch of ground just off the road when they blew past us. There must of been 20 people in that truck and most were barely hanging on, choking on the dust the truck threw up. We did our own choking and coughing from their wake.
The truck turned onto the interstate and disappeared while we turned onto the road leading to the tanker making that four wheeler do things it probably wasn't designed to do. We slid to a stop at the semi and piled out. While the truck warmed up, Mason unhooked it and I took the opportunity to go to the restroom behind a big bush, joined by the general who blushed prettily, then we piled into the truck. There was six of us were stuffed in there, four in the bunk but no one complained.
"Three hours." The general said. George, wrapped in her husbands arms, was still crying. Ken was in the passenger seat and Mason was driving. He yelled hang on and we did but the bunk area didn't provide hand holds for four people so, slipping and sliding, I climbed into the area made for the small fridge and braced myself as we headed north. Riley managed to throw me a pillow from the bunk and that helped me avoid some of the bruises. The road was flat after we got off the mountain, so we made good time. "Two hours." Yelled the good general, who was starting to get on my nerves.
When the truck slowed, I started to climb out of my "We're coming off the interstate and onto the highway leading to Moab. Might want to stay low for a bit longer." I did just that. The vibration of the motor through the floor, though, lulled me into a nap for at least another hour cause I heard the general yell, "One hour." Ken opened the atlas and was flipping through the pages when I yelled, "The bridge leading to Arches National Park. There's a missile silo nearby." Mason nodded and floored the engine. I came out long enough to adjust the air conditioning in the bunk. I wasn't sure about the rest of them but no one complained so I settled back into my nest.
George had fallen asleep so Riley gently lay her in the bunk. The general's eyes were bulging so I figured her blood pressure was about as high as mine. I climbed back out of the hole and stood next to Mason with my hand on his shoulder. The muscles were knotted into a ball so I gave him a mini massage while we watched the scenery fly by.
When we passed the Hole in the Wall point of interest I got back into my hole again and held on. The bridge was about half a mile away at this point. "Fourteen minutes. We have to do whatever we are going to do real soon."
I was going to kill her. I couldn't take anymore of this damned countdown. I saw the bridge about the same time the Jake brake came on. Everyone held on as the truck made the turn without turning over. We parked under the bridge and started piling out the door. "Five minutes." I made a grab for the damned timer at the same time Mason grabbed my hand and started hauling me toward the river.
"We don't have time to make the silo, we'll have to get up under the bridge and hold on." You could hear everyone panting for breath and small rocks rolling to the river. Mason put his arm around me and held me close. Ken didn't have anyone so he grabbed the general and held onto her. She didn't seem to mind too much. Riley was squeezing George, bent over her head. We waited. I felt the ground rumble under my butt first. "Shut off everything electronic. The electromagnetic pulse will destroy anything still running," Mason said, then the world exploded. Wind and debris blew past us, then was sucked back. Rocks and dirt was so thick you couldn't see and it got dark quick. We were all choking on the dust, then something hit the back of my head and I didn't remember anything else.
Chapter 8
The first thing I was aware of was a headache. Like a million miners pounding away in my skull. When I opened my eyes there was a black face hovering over mine. I closed my eyes and opened them again but the black man was still there. I wondered briefly where he came from and where Mason was. "Mason!' I said, so hoarse it hurt. The black man said "I'm here."
"Where!"
"Here," the black man said.
"You're not Mason. Where's Mason? What did you do to him?" I struggled against his hold on me when another familiar voices spoke. "I think she might have amnesia."
"There's not a damned thing wrong with my memory, Ken. Tell this black bastard to let me go. Mason!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, but started coughing up dirt and stuff.
The black man took his sleeve and wiped his face and I saw a very dirty Mason looking back me. "Damn, hon, what happened to you?"
He smiled and said "Same thing that happened to the rest of us. We were in a nuclear explosion."
"We were? Cool." He laughed out loud, then started coughing too. I tried to sit up, and Mason helped me get upright but the headache got worse so I lay back against him. The scenery was weird. The sky was greenish like before a tornado and the air was heavy like before a rain. I would've thought storm and tornado but there weren't any clouds in the sky. There was an odd smell like dead fish, but we were in the dessert so that didn't fit either. I figured it was the hit on the head and decided to ignore it for the time being.
"How long have I been out".
"About an hour. We're all ok, except for small cuts and bruises. You got the worst of it."
"Of course, I always get the worst of it. It's written in stone somewhere." I frowned as I looked at a scrap metal heap in front of me. "Where did that come from?" Pointing at the mess in case he hadn't noticed.
"That was on the road above but the explosion put it nearly on top of the semi. The semi is behind it. It looks like it used to be a semi too. It was on the wrong side of the river evidently. The wind caught it, wadded it up and tossed it there. Our semi is toast though. The electromagnetic pulse fried everything. Looks like we're on foot."
"That ain't good."
"Not with you in the shape you are. The rest of us can walk the two miles into Moab, but not you, so we're trying to figure out how to manage this."
I didn't like the sound of this. I knew as sure as I had a hard head that they planned to leave me here and walk into town to find a ride.
"I can walk," I said trying to sit up. As soon as I did I threw up. Mason barely got out of the way while I heaved up nothing. I hate the dry heaves. My stomach was cramping and my head pounding. Not walking anywhere.
"Give up, brat, you got yourself a nice little concussion and you ain't walking anywhere." Like I said.
Ken showed up about then and his face was dirty to. I finally noticed the others down at the river, cleaning up it seemed. Ken had a wet rag he was holding out to me and I snatched from him and began cleaning Mason's face. I was feeling needy which meat I needed to see his face. He laughed and took the rag and began cleaning my face and when I saw the rag I understood. I was black to. Ken laughed and headed back to the river to clean up. I settled back against Mason's chest as I waited for the headache to pass and my stomach to settle.
"Who you planning to leave with me while you go to town?"
"You aren't going to argue with me?"
"You're right, I'm not able to walk anywhere and would probably hold you up. So, the sooner you get back the better."
"Gosh, I need to bang you on the head more often."
&
nbsp; "Don't push it cowboy, or I'll sic the general on you.
"Her name is Jill. She doesn't want to be called general anymore. Besides, she's the only one armed so I say humor her."
"OK, humor her we will. I'm thirsty, is there anything cleaner than that river to drink?"
"Yep, got some water. Hang on a sec."
I watched his fine backside go to the river where he pulled up a netted bag and fished out two bottles of water. I was desperate for a drink but he wouldn't let me have much. Wanted my stomach to settle a bit first. Everyone sauntered back to the shade of the bridge with water bottles and sat next to me.
"Well, we need to decide who gets the gun."
"You all do, I'll just hide out in the semi in that nice bunk, until you get back. No, now don't argue, you know if I'm quiet, no one will bother me. That's the way walkers work. Leave me a club or something and I'll be fine. Oh, yea and a can to pee in."
"I don't like leaving you unarmed. Even if you do have a club.
"I don't care. You're heading into populated territory and we know what that means. You need a weapon."
"I think if I stay here with JD and George then you all can take the gun and go to town. We'll be fine." The general, Jill, was being very cooperative. I was beginning to reassess my opinion. She handed the gun to Riley who didn't look to happy about it but I decided to trust the man anyway. He pocketed the gun, accepted the ammo and then bent to lift me up. That was too much for Mason. He elbowed him away, picked me up instead and stomped towards the semi.
Relax. He was trying to help.
I know but no one touches you but me, brat. I can't help it.
You're such a manly man, cowboy, that it turns me on sometimes.
Sometimes? He kissed me before leaning into the semi to put me on the bunk.
Walkers (Book 2): The Rescue Page 7