by S. Wolf
“Something’s going on here you’re not telling me about. I need to know all the information.”
“Why do you think there’s something going on?” Trax asked.
Strang turned in his seat to listen to the conversation.
“For one thing, there’s the way you two keep looking at each other, as if you have a secret. And then there’s your reaction to all of this. Instead of disbelief, you’re just taking it all in like it’s something you do every day.”
Trax looked at him as if he was mulling over a decision. Finally he said, “You’re right Chief, we have been keeping something from you.”
“Sir, I don’t think–” Strang began, but Trax held up a hand to silence him.
“This isn’t the first outbreak of this we’ve run into,” Trax said.
Moore looked at him curiously. “Not the first? When did it happen before?”
“Sorry, but that’s classified information Chief.”
“I don’t understand, why weren’t people told?”
“Sometimes, in order to keep the peace, it’s best if people don’t know certain things.”
Moore shook his head. “That’s wrong. People should have been warned. Did his happen around here?”
“Again, that’s classified information.”
Moore paused to think. “Was it an animal that caused that one too?”
Trax considered his answer. “No, it was a pair of spelunkers – a man and a woman. They showed up back in town in that condition after one of their caving trips.”
“Son of a bitch. And did you contain that epidemic?”
Trax smiled. “That’s what we do.”
“Did the Governor know about this when I called him?”
Trax shrugged. “You’re going to have to ask him that question.”
Moore sat back in his seat, trying to digest this new information.
After a few minutes of silence, Trax turned to him and asked, “Anything going on this early in the morning?”
“What do you mean?”
“Any groups meeting? Sporting events? Movies? Anywhere a crowd would be?”
The Chief stopped to consider the question. “I don’t think so. Nothing’s usually planned for Sunday mornings because most people go to church.”
They both looked at each other as they realized what he had said.
“How many churches to you have in town?” Trax asked.
“Hard to say exactly,” Moore replied, “If I had to guess, I’d say nearly twenty. One’s right around the corner here.”
The driver followed Moore’s directions and they pulled up to the church.
“Let me check,” the Chief said and hopped out the door before anyone could disagree.
He walked up the concrete path to the church’s doors and opened them a crack. The congregation was singing a hymn and everyone looked normal. A few people turned and waved him in, but he nodded and closed the door.
“Nothing going on there,” he said to the General as he sat back in the Hummer.
“Where’s the next closest one?”
Again, Moore gave directions to the driver, and a few minutes later they pulled up in front of the next church.
The Chief was getting out of the vehicle when Father Gardner came out through the front door of the church. Moore knew something was wrong right away. The Father was fully dressed, but the front of his robe had a large bulge, and he was grinning like an idiot.
Moore turned back to the General. “We’ve got a problem.”
Hearing this, both Trax and Strang got out.
Gardner was walking slowly towards them.
“Come inside!” he said loudly. “We always enjoy welcoming new parishioners.”
Trax and Strang stood on either side of Moore.
“Father Gardner,” Moore shouted back, “please stop where you are. Don’t come any closer.”
The priest kept walking. He pulled up the front of his robe to reveal his erect cock, arching out stiffly. He draped his robe over the base of it, like it was a hook on a wall.
“Today,” Gardner continued, “I’m meeting all the new people personally, and fucking them.”
“Damn,” Moore muttered. “I’m getting tired of this shit.”
“Stay back!” ordered the General in a clipped voice.
Again, Father Gardner paid no heed. He was within twenty feet of them and showing no signs of slowing.
Moore stepped forward and stuck out his hand. “Father Gardner. If you take another step, I’m going to be forced to cuff–”
Before he could finish the sentence, a loud shot blasted past his ear, and simultaneously a small dark hole appeared above the priest’s left eye, and a red cloud of blood and brain matter exploded behind his head.
“What the fuck!” Moore exclaimed, startled by the blast. Father’s Gardner’s head snapped back and his eyes went out of focus. He took a few more stuttering steps before slumping to the ground.
Moore snatched his pistol out of its holster and aimed it at Trax’s head. “Drop the gun, General!”
Trax’s steely eyes stared back at him. “That’s not happening Chief.”
“You fucking killed that man! Put the gun down before you kill someone else. Now!”
Moore felt something cold and hard pressing into the back of his skull, and heard the click of a hammer being pulled back.
“You’ve got two seconds before I pull this trigger,” Strang said, his voice calm and even.
“He shot one of my citizens!”
“Now you’ve got one.”
The man didn’t sound like he was bluffing. There was even a touch of disturbing eagerness in his voice. Moore lowered his gun.
“Hand it to me,” Strang commanded. “I’m not asking twice.”
Moore frowned and held out his gun. Strang took it and placed it in the waistband of his pants.
Moore stepped close to the General. “You murdered him. He was no danger to us.”
“I disagree,” the General replied, leaning into Moore, “We have no cure for this, and we’re not taking any chances.”
“I’m going to tell the Governor about this,” the Chief replied as his eyes locked on Trax, “I’m going to recommend that you’re overstepping your bounds here. Get out of my town.”
The General laughed. “You’re not getting this, are you Moore? I don’t need the Governor’s approval, and I certainly don’t need yours. My orders come from the top: control this town and the spread of this disease. By any means necessary.”
Moore glared at him. “You mean by murdering people.”
“I was assigned to this job because my superiors understand that I know how to eliminate problems.” He lifted his gun and pointed it directly at Moore’s forehead. “Are you going to be a problem, Chief?”
Moore stared at him without answering.
“Either way,” continued Trax, “I’ll do this with you or without you. The only reason I haven’t pulled this trigger already is the damn paperwork I’d have to fill out.”
Moore stared at him another long moment before stepping back. “Fine,” he said, “but when this is over, I’m not staying quiet.”
The General laughed again. “When this is over, I’ll be at the White House getting another medal pinned to my chest. As I told you, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to chase down these fucking mutants.”
Moore stared at him. “And this is how you handled it before?”
Trax ignored him and turned to Strang. “Get a cleanup team on this church immediately. No one gets out unless we’re bringing them out.”
“Wait!” interrupted Moore. “You’re going to kill them all? There must be over a hundred people in there.”
Trax turned to him and made an impatient gesture. “I wish I could waste them all, but no, we need them for research.”
“Research? What the hell does that mean?”
The General ignored him and said, “Get back in the vehicle Chief. You and I need to have a disc
ussion about how we’re going to handle the next phase.”
“What’s the next phase?”
“Get in the vehicle.”
Chapter 26
Josh was having a dream. In it, he and Emma were back in the bathroom at the drive-in, and were kissing. When they separated, he glanced into the mirror and saw his reflection. He was wearing that same terrible grin and lustful stare that Carly and Haley had. He startled awake.
Sitting up, he could hear the sound of a siren wailing in the distance. He looked around his room to get his bearings. Something was off. The sun was too bright or at the wrong angle. Checking the clock, he realized what was wrong. It was almost noon.
Shit! Why hadn’t his mother woken him up when she got back from church? He could dimly remember her waking him up earlier to ask him if he wanted to go with her, and he had declined, asking her to get him up when she got home.
Damn, he remembered he had promised Emma he would call her. He picked his cell phone up off the table and dialed Amber’s number. The phone was silent. He checked the display and saw there were no reception bars. That’s odd, he always got good reception in his house.
After putting on jeans, he went downstairs.
“Mom?” he called. No answer. He looked in the garage but her car wasn’t there. He checked the house phone for messages but there were none. Holding the phone to his ear, he listened for a dial tone, but none came.
He stared at the phone blankly as the first twinges of worry crawled into his stomach. Something was wrong. He thought about the events of the night before. Yeah, it was weird, but why would the phones be out? And where was his mother?
He checked the television and internet, and they were both out also.
Through his window, he saw his neighbor, Mr. Crawford, walking through the yard between their houses. He ran upstairs, put on a shirt and shoes, and hurried outside.
“Mr. Crawford!” he yelled as he reached the yard.
His neighbor turned to face him with a mild look of surprise.
“Josh, why are you still home?”
“I just woke up. What’s going on?”
“The Army is rounding up everyone in town. You better get out before they get here.”
“The Army? Why?”
“Some kind of sickness is going around. But Josh, they’re rounding up both the sick and healthy. It doesn’t matter to them.”
“My mom is missing.”
Mr. Crawford grimaced. “Josh, I have some bad news for you.”
The fear inside of him tightened. “What?”
“There was some kind of incident down at the church. I know your mom goes there.”
“What kind of incident?”
“They all got the sickness. Then the Army showed up and dragged them all off. They even shot and killed Father Gardner.”
Josh stared at him in shock. “Did you say killed?”
His neighbor put his hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Yes. They’re serious about this. But from what I’ve heard, the Father is the only one who was shot. They took the rest of them away unharmed. I can’t say for sure, but it’s likely your mother was among them.”
“Do you know where they took them?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t. I have to be going Josh. There’s a no driving order in effect, and I want to get my family out as soon as I can.”
Josh finally noticed what was in the man’s trunk. There was a large pile of guns and food.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re going to try to make it up to our cabin in the hills. We’ll stick it out there until this is over. Damn army isn’t taking my family anywhere.” He waved to his house, and his wife and two young girls came running out of the front door, heading for the car.
“They’ll be here soon Josh. If you’re here, they’ll take you away.” Before closing the trunk, he removed a pistol from the pile and shoved it in his pocket.
“Thanks,” Josh said.
“Take care.” Mr. Crawford got into the car and sped away down the street.
Josh walked back to his house, wondering what to do next, when he heard the sound of gunfire erupt from down the road. He ran back to the street to see, but the Crawford’s car had gone around the bend and was out of sight. But the gun shots he had heard gave him a bad feeling in his stomach.
What should he do now? Maybe if he went with the Army they would take him to his mother? He considered this possibility, and decided he didn’t want his fate resting with anyone who would shoot a priest. He had to get out of here, and right now.
But where? He could only think of one place. He had to find his friends.
Amber’s house was six blocks away, and driving was out of the question. No problem, he knew the back way through yards and was confident he could stay out of sight for the trip. After going back into the house to get the rest of his things, he set off for his friends.
He made his way through the back yards, jumping fences when he had to, hoping there weren’t any more nervous neighbors with guns. When he reached the streets, he waited behind a bush or tree, making sure there weren’t any soldiers or Army vehicles in sight before dashing across. One backyard had a dog that almost got a piece of his leg as he leaped over a fence, but he didn’t encounter any more people. A few helicopters flew over, and he ducked under trees until they passed.
When he arrived at Amber’s back yard, he was about to enter the garage when he heard a commotion near the front of the house. Ducking behind a row of bushes, he crawled forward to get a better look at what was going on. As he got close, he could hear angry voices.
“Get on the bus!” Josh didn’t recognize the voice.
“Fuck you.” That one was familiar. It was Billy.
Josh scooted forward slightly until he could see. There was Billy with Amber’s arms around him, standing defiantly in front of a soldier. The soldier’s rifle pointed straight at his head.
“Last chance motherfucker,” the soldier said, “I’m not going to tell you again.”
Billy stared at him, and Josh could see Amber was crying. She was talking to Billy in a low voice, obviously trying to convince him to listen.
Josh went over his options. He could distract this guy, and give Billy a chance to overpower him. But that would be too risky. Someone would probably get shot. He could try to sneak up on the soldier, but it didn’t look like he would have time for that.
“Billy please,” Josh heard Amber say, and Billy finally relented. His shoulders slumped and he walked towards the bus. Josh caught a glimpse of someone inside the bus’s door. Was that Emma? Or was it Amber’s mom?
His mind worked furiously. He had to stop this. He couldn’t let them take his friends away. But what could he do?
As Josh stared helplessly, the soldier got on the bus, and the door closed behind him. The vehicle pulled away from the curb and drove off.
Fuck! Now what? He was alone. He wondered if the best thing to do now was turn himself in. That way he would at least be reunited with his friends. He would be able to be with Emma and help her through this.
He needed to think, and he needed a place to hide. It occurred to him that the perfect place was right behind him. The garage. The Army would think it’s already cleared of people, so they probably wouldn’t be back.
Keeping low under the bushes, he crept back to the garage. Looking around to make sure no one was near, he moved to the door and tried the handle. It was unlocked.
Slipping through, he closed the door behind him and locked it. He walked slowly up the stairs, his mind trying to figure everything out. He had to do something. He couldn’t abandon his mom and friends.
The door at the top of the stairs was closed, and he pulled it open and stepped into the darkness, reaching for the light switch. Before his hand could reach it, something hard came down on the back of his head, and there was a flash of pain before the world went black.
Chapter 27
“I don’t know why we’re wasting our time with th
is,” Private Burke said, “This neighborhood has already been cleared.”
“Sergeant says we got to do it, so we got to do it. That’s why they call it the Army.” Private Padowski removed his cap and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Let’s just get it over with, ok?”
“What are we looking for anyway?”
“Stray people.”
“The zombies?”
“Either. Everyone’s gotta go.”
“Are we allowed to shoot any of them?”
“Sarge said no, unless our lives are in danger.”
“Any of those freaks come near me, I’m going to consider my life in danger and waste their ass.”
“Burke, just calm down. We’re not shooting anyone.”
Burke shook his head in frustration. “This is fucked up.”
“It is that, my friend, it is that.”
They walked down the center of the street, looking for any signs of life. As they reached the end, they turned back and scanned the road.
“That street’s done,” Burke said.
“No, we have to go through the back yards too.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“Do you have somewhere you have to be?”
“Anywhere would be better than this.”
“Let’s go.”
They made their way through the back yards, hopping chain link fences when they came to them. Halfway down, Burke spoke up.
“Can we take a break? We keep passing all these nice picnic tables and I need to rest.”
Padowski stared at him. “You really are a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“Just five minutes. That’s all I need.”
“Fine. Pick one then.”
Burke looked around and settled on one. “Up there.” He pointed to a yard two houses further on. “Looks like a nice shady spot.”
“Ok, let’s go.”
They hopped the final fence and plopped down on the lawn furniture under a large oak tree. Padowski wouldn’t admit it, but he was in the mood for a rest himself.
“Ahhhh,” Burke breathed, “this is more like it. All I need is some lemonade and I’d be all set.”
“Don’t even think about it. We’re under strict orders not to eat anything out here. That’s how most of the sickness has spread.”