DEAD: Reborn

by TW Brown

  “So?”

  I didn’t see the problem with having a few people keeping things running smoothly. If we all just ran about in our own direction, nothing would be done. Also, there was the whole deal about having to make some agreements with these other local factions if we were actually going to secure the entire city of La Grande.

  “Your name is on that list.” Jake let that hang in the air for a few seconds. “I guess everybody watched you try to save Jon. They even saw you put him down.”

  “Even Sunshine?” I gasped. Crap, that must have sucked.

  “Yep…I guess she has been asking about you almost every hour since the doc finished patching you up.”

  “Why?” I was not too sure that she was one of the people I wanted to see right away.

  “You took care of her man,” Jake said with a shrug. “Best I can figure anyways.”

  We sat there quiet for a few minutes. I was trying to let all this stuff sink in. Then a thought hit me almost like that blast that had knocked me for a loop.

  “Winters?”

  “That bastard had this place set for self-destruct.” Jake shook his head, but I could swear that I heard admiration in his voice. “He had walkers, partials…hell, one spot he had nothing but a bunch of heads that dropped from above when you tripped the wire.”

  “And is he…” I let the question hang in the air.

  “Dead?” Jake snorted. “Damn straight. I put the bullet in his brain myself.”

  “I just don’t understand.”

  “Can’t really say anybody does. He managed to survive because he was immune…go figure. I guess the bastard was trying to build a secret army of immunes. Only problem that he ran into was that his cohorts were not on board with whatever sick master plan he was scheming.”

  “Cohorts?” I said with a raised eyebrow. “You say words like that in front of the others and your cover is blown for sure.”

  Jake actually seemed to consider what I had just said. He grimaced, nodded, and then continued with the narration.

  “We found two survivors, but they were chained up in a locker and on the verge of death. They haven’t been able to say much, but we will see what we can get out of them once they come around and are more lucid.”

  “Jesus,” I breathed.

  “Yeah, I guess Winters was one of the bad guys.”

  “So how did you and Jon know him?”

  “By reputation mostly,” Jake admitted. “He pulled some pretty hairy shit in Afghanistan…rescued like a hundred guys who were caught in a nasty fire fight. I guess he rolled in solo in an APC. Came out like freakin’ Rambo or something.”

  “So the guy was a war hero.”

  “Yep, except he was part of a Spec Ops team. He wasn’t supposed to be there and I guess his CO busted his ass over the deal. Endangering the mission or some such nonsense. He was all set to retire just before this crap went down. If you believe the scuttlebutt, the Commander-in-Chief called him at his home and asked him to join some secret detail that was supposed to go in and extract his daughter.”

  “So what the heck is he doing way out here?” I asked. “Last I heard, the president’s daughter was in Ohio or Iowa or some such place.”

  “He told the president to go screw himself.”

  I tried to imagine the stones it would take to tell a normal boss something like that…much less the President of the United States. I wasn’t sure if it was bold or stupid.

  “I still don’t really get why he was way out here.”

  “Actually, that was something that Jon and I couldn’t figure out either. Maybe if one of these people he had in his little gang comes around enough to be questioned, we can find out.”

  Jake got up to leave. I was already feeling a little tired, but by the same token, it was kind of nice to have somebody to talk to for a while. It sure seemed like a lot was happening at a pretty fast pace.

  “Could you do me a favor?” I asked as Jake shook my hand and turned for the door.

  “Sure.”

  “Could you maybe come back tomorrow and update me on what is going on around here?” I asked. “I feel like I am missing out on stuff.”

  “Lots of cleaning…not what I would be all that excited to be jumping in to after getting almost blown to bits.”

  Jake left and I sunk down into my pillow. He had a point. If all I was missing out on was the clean-up of this place, maybe I could lay around a bit longer. Besides, I hadn’t been in an actual bed in almost a year. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

  ***

  “How ya been?” Shelly sat down on the chair next to my bed.

  She was dirty and grimy and—I guess you really notice it once you have been cooped up and kept relatively clean—she had some serious funk going on. Whoever said that “women don’t sweat…they perspire” never counted on the zombie apocalypse.

  “Can’t really complain,” I said with a shrug as I pushed the tray with a few bits of today’s lunch off to the side.

  “Good, then you need to get your ass out of that bed pretty soon and get out here where you belong.” She reached over and plucked the corners of my sandwich that I’d left and popped them into her mouth. “We got a lot of work to do, and the number of people that can actually do a half-assed job are greatly outnumbered by those who can’t do squat.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said as I sat up straighter.

  It had only been three days since Jake’s visit. I kept hoping that he would show himself again, but so far…nothing. The only other person that I had seen since then was Dr. Zahn. She came in twice a day to check on me, but they seemed perfunctory and there was not even a little small talk.

  “This place covers a lot of area. That bastard Winters was making it unlivable…sort of the “If I can’t have it, nobody can” approach from what it looks like. He rigged traps and destroyed a lot of stuff. Jake has been going almost non-stop, and that guy Simon Paul has been there step for step with a few of his people, but most everybody seems to be in a daze and has to be told exactly what to do.”

  “And me being out there is going to make what sort of difference,” I joked.

  “Listen, Billy, I think you underestimate your pull here. After that little stunt with Jon, which I maintain was absolutely stupid, you are like some sort of damn rock star. The entire community saw it and they all know who you are now.”

  “But I didn’t do anything,” I insisted.

  “And every single one of us who has been out in the field knows this…but most people have been sheep it would seem. They are led and do what they are told but can’t be expected to go out there and actually be a part of the solution.”

  “So then why all the fuss?” I asked in absolute confusion.

  “Because…they saw you do what you did with their own eyes. Zombies coming…bullets flying, and there you are carrying one of our own to safety. Then…the guy dies and you have to put him down. Meanwhile, the fight is still going on all around you.”

  “I just did what I thought needed doing at the time.”

  “Sure, but for most of these people, that was like watching a real life action hero movie.”

  I shrugged. It didn’t make sense to me. I suddenly got it when the news used to come on back in the old days after some crazy event. There would be a person who pulled a child or helpless animal out of a river or burning building. That person would often seem so perplexed by the attention. They had simply done the right thing. It was never for the accolades or the attention. It was simply because they were in the right place and acted.

  “Well I don’t need a bunch of folks making a fuss.” I laid back and closed my eyes. “Perhaps if I stay here long enough, something else will come along and they can fixate on that while forgetting all about me.”

  “Then I have just the thing for you…but there is no way that is going to happen if you don’t get out of that bed. That Dr. Zahn is no joke.”

  “Huh?” My eyes popped open again.

  �
�They are assembling a group to go meet with the other factions holding different parts of this city. Plus there is talk about a team going into some local college. I guess nobody has had the sack to take the place yet because the rumor is that it was a pretty crowded FEMA center that fell early on before anybody really knew what was up. Supposedly, there is a huge cache of weapons, ammo, and medical supplies. But nobody who has ever climbed that fence has made it out.”

  “That sorta sounds fun,” I admitted.

  “Well, I don’t know that I would use the word ‘fun’ to describe it. Still, it would be nice if even half of what they say that is supposed to be inside there is true. And the icing on the cake is that there was apparently a fairly in depth agriculture program. That means the possibility of serious farming stuff. It would be just in time for this coming spring.”

  “I am definitely interested.”

  “Oh…and did I mention that the local National Guard Armory is right there as well,” Shelly added wistfully.

  “How has that place not been hit?” I asked with more than a hint of dubiousness in my voice.

  “That’s the thing,” Shelly said with a shrug, “Jake thinks that is where Winters and his flunkies got all the stuff they had in their lockers. But it is inside that fortified wall. We need to at least see for ourselves. The general belief is that the main haul will come from the college, but while we are there, we just cover all our bases.”

  “It must be pretty bad if nobody else has tried to hit this place in strength.”

  “That is the other thing, Jake believes that the other factions are much smaller. He believes that they number less than fifty bodies total,” Shelly said.

  “So how have they managed to last this long?”

  “Probably by running and hiding,” Shelly said with a non-committal shrug. “They were not really a threat to Winters and his gang, so there was probably no need to waste resources to root them out.”

  “But they were hitting those other folks in the surrounding area.”

  “Which is another reason that Jake feels these other factions are small potatoes. Winters was probably prioritizing the threats and dealing with them accordingly.”

  “Sounds like a lot of guessing and supposing.”

  “Jake feels pretty confident about it.” Shelly looked at me funny. “You thinking that there might be more to it?”

  “Have the prisoners that we managed to find come around enough to be interrogated yet?”

  “No, in fact, one of them finally died. The one that is still alive might make it, but Dr. Zahn isn’t giving up too much information.”

  “That is who we need to get our information from,” I said. “We are getting ready to mount major operations here with little to no real intel.”

  “Intel? What world are you living in, Billy? Those days are long gone. These days, we do almost everything by the seat of our pants.”

  She had a good point. I guess I didn’t come to that conclusion until that very moment. We were constantly in a state of reaction. Everything that we did was in response to somebody or something that set us in motion. Perhaps that was what we could eventually find here in La Grande.

  “Go ask Dr. Zahn if she has a minute?”

  Shelly nodded and left the room. I sat up and my ribs immediately punished me for my hastiness. Once I regained my breath, I eased very gently out of the bed. When my feet touched the floor, my legs initially buckled just a bit. I had not been on them for a couple of days and they did not enjoy this new dynamic.

  I went over to the small pressboard closet with the handle that was hanging on by one partially stripped screw and opened it to see if there might be clothes inside. Luck was with me. A pair of coveralls, boxers, socks, gloves, and my boots were waiting.

  I had to go sit in the musty cloth-covered chair to dress, and by the time Dr. Zahn showed up, I was dressed and sitting there waiting for her. Fortunately, she had taken a few minutes and I was able to get my breathing under control. My ribs were going to be a problem, and the armpit-to-waist shrink wrap Spandex corset or whatever this fresh torture device might be called made breathing a real chore.

  “Mr. Haynes,” the doctor said by way of greeting. “I see that you have decided to listen to all of the knuckleheads and get out of your bed far too early.”

  “Seems to me that a lot is going on out there,” I said. I braced myself for the poking and prodding as the doctor leaned down to examine me. I even managed to bite back the first few winces of pain.

  “And what do you hope to offer to this circus of insanity?’ the doctor chuckled as she peeled down my overly snug rib protection and looked at the various shades of blue, purple, and green that swirled together to form some hideous bruising.

  “I just need to be doing my part.”

  “Yes, well, I have some news for you, Mr. Haynes.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “You will be doing nothing that takes you outside the relatively secure confines of the walls around our new home for the next few weeks at the very least.”

  “Weeks!” I exploded. Actually, it only came out as “Weeee—!” before the pain cut my words off in my throat and shut me down.

  “You will not be cleared by me to engage in any of this nonsense when it comes to running around a zombie-infested campus in hopes of finding a few things that we can just as easily scavenge from some of the homes in the area with much more control of the environment. There might be as much as a quarter of the fifteen thousand or so former residents of this town on the other side of those barricades.”

  Part of me wanted to argue. However, if I had learned anything at all in the several months that I had been around Dr. Zahn, it was that going against her was a futile endeavor. I did the only thing that I could in this situation.

  I nodded my head.

  “And if you are going to be up and about, I want you wearing that rib protector as well as this.” She pulled out a pretty sturdy vest. I’d seen them before, usually worn by the sissy quarterbacks on the football team.

  “A flak jacket?” I moaned.

  “If you insist on being up and about, you need to protect yourself. If your lung goes down again, it is quite possible that you will die. You have endured a pneumothorax.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that at all. I didn’t recall anything like that in any of the updates when the doctor had been checking me out.

  “A collapsed lung, you oaf,” Dr. Zahn said with a shake of her head.

  “Yeah, well—”

  “Dr. Zahn!” a woman I had never seen before burst into the room out of breath. “Hurry…it’s Melissa!”

  “What’s the matter?” Dr. Zahn was already pushing the woman out the door.

  “The baby…I think she is in labor!”

  14

  Vignettes XLI

  “It came from over that way,” Vix pointed to a cluster of non-descript flats just past a scorched petrol station.

  “Well I’m not going in there,” Gemma said. “That place is brimming with zeds.”

  Vix scanned the windows of the five-story building. Sure enough, window after window had dead faces peering down at her. As she scanned she began to notice something else.

  “Hasidic Jewish community…” she said, more to herself than to the others. “We are in the Stamford Hill district,” she explained. “We had a few students come in for a three day workshop at the hospital. They were all from here in the Stamford Hill area.”

  “How did you figure that out?” Harold asked. “Most of the signage is gone or nearly destroyed.”

  “The clothes,” Vix pointed to one of the walkers that had attacked Gemma. “They have a very distinct way of dressing.”

  Another scream sounded. This time, they were able to pinpoint the actual building. Vix looked at the others and saw them quickly avert their eyes.

  “You want to just leave whoever that is to whatever is going on?” Vix asked them.

  It took a few seconds, but f
inally, it was Gemma who looked her in the eye and spoke. “I don’t want to leave that poor soul…but what good would it do for us to go running in to a building that might have hundreds of those things trapped inside just waiting to take a big bite out of the first breather that comes along? We cannot save the world, Vix. Hell’s bells, we can hardly save ourselves these days.”

  “What if that was you?” Vix challenged.

  “Then I obviously put myself into a position that went poorly.”

  Vix could not help but stare at this girl with amazement. She was willing to simply hop back on her bicycle and pedal away from somebody in need without a moment’s hesitation. She looked at Harold who had finally stopped staring at the ground.

  “And you?” she demanded. “Do you think we should simply ride away and leave this person to their fate?”

  “I’m sorry—” he began, but she cut him off.

  “Unbelievable! After everything…after we have fought so hard, we finally find another survivor and you both want to just walk away!”

  “We have no idea what is going on, and by the time we get there—” Another scream interrupted Gemma.

  This one left no doubt as to the fate of the victim. The screeching rose in pitch and intensity for a few seconds before ending abruptly. Silence fell for several seconds before the occasional moan of the undead broke it up. Every so often, there would be a weak pounding on one of the countless windows that were miraculously still mostly intact if not horribly smeared with filth on the interior side. Some could not be seen through at all, but there were still plenty where the dead, pale faces on the other side could be seen staring down at them.

  “There!” Vix glared at Harold and Gemma; both were still fidgeting before her. “Are you happy? I hope that does not weigh too heavily on your conscience.”