She found she rested on a bed made mostly of food boxes. As soon as she shifted her weight, she found a severe ache in her back and neck. Letting her eyes wander more about the room, she came across cluttered piles of more food boxes, survival gear, electrical equipment, and dozens of souvenirs. And then her eyes came to rest on something that stole her tranquility.
She found two staring eyes glaring at her in a shameless gaze. They widened as hers met them and eventually darted away to the floor.
“I-I’m sorry.” The man started still not looking up from the floorboards. “I just… umm… haven’t seen a woman in a long time. At least one that’s not – infected.” He almost brought his gaze up to hers again but found himself unable. “I’m not a pervert.”
Under different circumstances, Val would have laughed at this. But instead she looked the man over angrily. The newness of the situation and her discomfort with it kept the atmosphere somber.
“You change my clothes, pervert?” Val asked.
“No! I didn’t! Brady,” he said raising his hands and finally meeting her gaze. “I haven’t seen –“ he paused realizing the ending of that sentence took him no place good. “My name is…” he started but she cut him off.
“Where am I?”
“In the Rocky Mountains in Colorado,” he replied. “Brady and I have lived here since the virus. Ever since he took off a month ago and returned with you.”
Val took the opportunity to look again around the room. Warm natural light flooded in through curtained windows above her. Her mind rejected such beauty at first. The brilliance outside seemed clearer than anything she could recall. Almost magically, the sunlight danced across the surface of the rustic timbers as it pushed gently into the room. Ignoring her guest for a moment, she found the peace of the place soothed her soul again. She moved to bring her legs off the bed and found the solid wood reassuring against her bare feet.
“Do you have a change of clothes? Apparently I peed myself.”
The man stood hurriedly. “Yes. We’ve got a shower and I’ll put a change of clothes in the bathroom for you. By then breakfast should be done and you can have some.” He awkwardly ran towards the bathroom.
When she’d finished, she rejoined him in the kitchen adorning her masculine clothing.
“Sorry about the clothes. I’m afraid it’s all we have. There’s a town about an hour away where we can go shopping.”
“A town of people?”
“Oh, no. It’s abandoned. I mean, there are some zombies there but that’s about it.”
“Honestly, I don’t mind. These clothes will do for now. So it’s just the two of you?”
“Yes, our families died in the infection. Brady’s wife was a teacher and faced losing her job when they began pushing it through the school systems. My wife took it willingly and had the kids immunized even though it went against my wishes. I buried them all on the eastern plain.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Seems like so long ago now. I’m Connor,” he said offering her his hand.
She looked at him a little disappointed he’d shared his name. “I’m Val.”
“You’ve been travelling with Brady?”
“Not for very long. We picked him up in Kansas City and then came straight to Colorado Springs. I don’t even remember how long that’s been. Maybe a week? How long have I been here?”
“You’ve been asleep for two days.”
“Guess that’s why I peed myself, huh? Always thought it would be restful to sleep that long. But I feel like I got hit by a train.”
“You’ve barely moved positions since Brady hauled you in.”
“You would know, huh?”
Connor threw up his hands. “I’m not a pervert!”
“Calm down! I’m just messing with you.” Her face dropped as she continued, “But seriously, did you do stuff to me?”
Connor, turning red in the face, looked her squarely in the eye. “I swear to you-”
“I’m kidding! Have a sense of humor!”
At this Connor grew frustrated and stood up to finish cooking.
This gave Val a chance to eat in peace. The taste of bacon proved better than the memory of it. She let it roll around her mouth savoring the taste. She found the kitchen’s appearance similar to how she’d expect a bachelor pad to look. The dirty dishes stood overshadowing the right side of the sink. Wrappers and other trash lined the countertops.
“How’d you guys get bacon?”
“Brady and I ran around collecting all kinds of things here right after the infection happened. We’ve got a large room we dug out to keep several years’ supply worth of meat. We originally kept it cool with ice and water but finally we just moved in refrigerators.”
“You have electricity here?”
“Generators, yes. We keep them running during the night to keep bare essentials going and otherwise just run them when we need them. Most everything is all nicely tucked underground. Luckily, we haven’t had any visitors up here. We haven’t even seen any humans. It’s too remote.”
“Do you know how I got here?” She changed the subject abruptly. “Can’t say as I remember much. I feel like I got my brains kicked out.”
“I don’t know details, but Brady came back to save what was left of your party and found only you.”
“How’d he get me out? There were dozens of zombies.”
“It’s on his wall. We can go look after this.”
“His wall?”
“Ya, Brady paints. It’s a hobby of his. He’s been painting your escape for the last two days.”
“Awesome. I love artists.”
Connor could not decide if she was being sarcastic or not.
After a lull in the conversation, he asked, “So what happened to your family in the infection?”
“Dead. Never found them.” Connor could have pulled out her cold words from his face like icicles. “Even if they survived in the beginning, they’re zom chow now.”
The conversation abruptly ended leaving Connor to lean back in his chair contemplatively. He guessed her to be ten years his junior. They sat together in silence for a time with Connor glancing over to her as often as he risked it. Then silently Connor stood and returned to the stove.
“Have you had much action?” Connor attempted a conversation again.
“Not in months! All the guys are all focused on the war now. No one just wants to have meaningless sex anymore.”
Connor turned around to see she smiled slyly back at him.
“I meant,” Connor said in a different tone, “have you been in much combat?”
“I knew what you meant. As much as anybody else, I guess. We went through a lot of the major cities between here and the East.”
“Where in the East?”
“When I joined, we were in New York State. We travelled around for a while and eventually decided to head west. We thought things would be easier out here. Probably would have been fine if we hadn’t gone underground. In a lot of ways, it’s Brady’s fault. He talked us into going into that hellhole.”
“I’ve wondered about that mountain from time to time. I half wanted to live there myself a few times but lacked the courage to enter that place.”
“That’s just what Brady said. So is that what he did? He got a group of us together to go in there and die for him? The Captain was right. He did all that on purpose, huh?”
“I don’t know,” Connor said looking directly at her. “He’s been gone for a while now. I’m not sure exactly what he’s been up to. Going into that mountain was never part of our plan.”
“So what is your plan?”
“I’ll let Brady tell you.”
“You’re pretty much his lackey, huh?” Connor made no reply to this.
She joined Connor at the stove and scooped herself a second serving. About this time Brady came inside letting the screen door slam behind him.
“You’re finally up,” Brady greeted their guest. “Have a good nap?”
Val found it comforting to see a familiar face again. “Not particularly but the food makes up for it. The company is so-so. If this guy could keep his eyes off me,” Val said slyly to Brady.
Brady decided to ignore this remark. “Connor is a good cook. What’s on the menu this morning?”
“Bacon and eggs,” Connor replied.
Val coughed the word, “Lackey!”
“The usual!” Brady said. “We’ve been collecting animals for a while and have our own farm now.”
“Nice,” Val replied. “What do you raise?”
“Connor manages that stuff.” He gestured to his friend, “What are we raising?”
“Some cows, pigs, and chickens. Not much. We stopped by a farm right after the infection to pick up some livestock. We had quite a run in with the farmer.”
“Aw, farmer Zom Zom. Good memories.”
The two laughed and Val could tell she misjudged their relationship. A deep friendship bridged between them. Even Val’s negativism could not overshadow their relationship. Val stared at Brady as he laughed. She had never seen this side of him. She knew only the stoic, purpose driven man. The two moved on to another shared experience of theirs that brought even more laughter.
“How long have you two known each other?” Val asked.
“I don’t even know,” Brady replied.
“Teenagers, I guess.”
“So,” Brady’s voice took a more serious turn. He leaned in on his elbows closer to Val. “I bet you’re wondering what we’re doing here and how we escaped the mountain.” Val listened intently. “You’ve gotten yourself into quite a story by outliving your teammates. It wasn’t my plan to bring any of you along but somehow I just couldn’t let you die."
A series of emotions flooded Val's mind. The most prominent of which seemed to identify itself as shock - with a dose of wonder. Her face betrayed the confused emotions within her though she tried not to show it.
“Instead of telling you, why don’t I show you? Follow me.” He led the way outside with the other two following. Outside Val found herself in a land of pine trees and open spaces. Although heavily wooded, she could see the end of the forest just beyond and a great plain. It stretched between the end of the trees and the next ridge of hills. In the clear sunlight, she noticed a shimmering body of water in the grassy plain that brought an immediate peace. Something in her couldn’t help pausing to take in the wonderful sight.
“Is that a lake?”
“Yes, Connor and I fish there often. He’s been teaching me.”
The thought of a hobby seemed altogether foreign to her but she loved the idea of it.
“I’d like to go with you sometime,” she announced.
“Are you any good?” Connor asked.
“No,” she said in soft reply. She never realized it before, but Brady emanated a calming influence on her. She felt a reassurance come over she hadn’t felt in a long time. From this vantage point, the destruction of the world didn’t seem so complete. In fact, she thought this sanctuary remained almost untouched. “This place is amazing.”
“Pretty good for a bachelor pad, huh?” Brady commented.
They resumed their trek to a nearby mound. Just before the grassy hill, they came upon a set of concrete stairs leading downward. At the bottom a metal door awaited them.
The three passed through the doorway and for a moment Val saw nothing for her eyes had not yet adjusted. As she began to perceive things around her, beauty stole her breath. The interiors of the structure were lined in paintings as Connor had mentioned. But these surpassed what she imagined. Elaborate murals of wonder shone out before her. Vivid colors echoed a time that seemed long gone. Val couldn’t help gasping. The paintings testified of a time before such reckless violence crowned the earth. A part of her swelled up and she viciously fought back tears.
Val found the story of Brady’s family leading the procession of art. At first, she discovered them to be a happy family of four. When the confusion of the virus hit, Brady searched for them for countless days. In the next painting, Brady found the precious remains of his children and buried them. But Brady would not give up hope for his wife and continued searching. From there the paintings turned darker as Brady came face to face with one of the zombies. He struggled against it for a time in hand to hand combat without either one killing the other. Brady dealt a powerful blow to the monster knocking it backwards and then screamed in painful agony towards it. Despite her not understanding the painting, something about it moved Val deeply.
She turned to Brady, “What is this about?”
“Follow me and I’ll show you,” he said stepping onto a little two step set of stairs leading up to the painting. To her amazement he stepped inside the painting leaving his extended arm awaiting her hand. She shot a curious glance over to Connor.
“It’s perfectly safe,” Connor assured her. “It’s like the movies in the Neon Age. You step inside and experience them.”
“Huh,” Val said not sure of what to think. Taking Connor’s word, she grabbed Brady’s hand and stepped inside.
Val opened her eyes to find herself engulfed in a brilliant world of colors. A scene of stunning similarity to reality unveiled itself before her. But more than reality met her eyes. As if the painter overlaid every brushstroke with not only the physical features of the objects but the significance and meaning as well, Val perceived emotions as poignantly as the person in the narrative. She immediately understood the purposes and motivations of the characters without ever being told the back story of the scene.
Within the externals of the painting, Val perceived Brady. He had resumed his somber demeanor and the expression in his eyes betrayed the fact that what was about to be revealed was of great significance to him. He turned his gaze from her, slowly looking into the scene as if silently asking her to do the same.
As she gazed onto the empty scene before her, she became aware of a character making its way from the void off to the left of the set. Without environment the scene had been drawn so the character walked in as if from nothing. But when Val examined the person closer, Val became aware that wherever the person stepped the undrawn surrounding drew itself as if to keep the individual from falling through vacancy. Observing the newcomer, Val discovered it to be a zombie. Immediately she recognized it to be the monster Brady struggled with in the painting before this one. The Brady within the painting crept up behind it with a large log in his hand and a crazed look on his face. Successfully approaching the zombie without it noticing, he proceeded to crack the log over its head causing the foe to fall motionless to the ground. Brady immediately dragged her by the wrist to a nearby post and clasped her hand in half a handcuff welded to a metal chain like a prisoner.
Then, to Val’s surprise, the Brady in the painting proceeded to sit with the unconscious monster cradling its head in his arms. There he rocked it back and forth as the thing slumbered in a troubled sleep. Brady closed his eyes and for a moment the world seemed whole again. “I love you so much,” he whispered into its ear as he ran his fingers through what remained of the thing’s hair. “If there is any way in heaven or earth, I’m going to save you, Sara.”
Val turned to the Brady outside the painting. “Your wife!” she said half in surprise and half in question. With eyes full of tears Brady nodded in agreement. The emotions of the scene took on a new agony in Val’s heart when she turned her attention to it again.
And then for a fraction of a moment, the zombie began to stir and Brady swore he saw the old Sara in her eyes. If only for a second, she recognized him. But as soon as it came, a red rage replaced it. Brady threw her from his arms and scurried out of her reach. She lunged and clawed at him with a hissing noise.
“Sara, Sara!” Brady screamed at her. “Do you remember me?” At first Sara let her curiosity get the best of her. She looked at him with limited interest unsure of why he hadn’t killed her. “I’m Brady. I’m your husband.” Brady waited a quick moment to see if there wo
uld be any recognition in her eyes. To Val’s amazement the Brady outside the painted mouthed every word spoken by the characters. “Do you remember anything from before this? Can you speak at all?” Brady took a step closer and moved his hand toward her in a loving gesture. She frantically bit at his approaching hand like a savage animal.
“I love you,” he yelled at her. “I love you!” She began clamoring uncontrollably in her very limited native tongue as if the words he spoke burned her and she desperately wanted to be rid of them. Brady began getting anxious as he started to realize just how great the rift was between them. “Be still. Be still,” he screamed over her jabbering, “I am your husband! I want to bring you out of this madness if only you are willing.” She yelled louder and louder until he could not speak over her. Falling to the ground, he stretched out his arm to her weeping over the terror she had become. He attempted a few more gestures but received only her gnashing teeth. Knowing he couldn’t leave her there, Connor crept up behind her knocking her out and together they undid the handcuff hindering her. Brady sat watching her as long as Connor would allow. His mind raced with possibilities. He desperately wanted to take her with them, but knew he could not sustain her life. She was altogether feral now and could only survive in the wild. He had to trust his luck that she would survive while he searched for a cure.
Like blurry images through a rainy window the people around Val dissolved. She never would have admitted it but a tiny tear found its way to her cold eyes.
When she turned to Brady, he stared off into vacancy. “I realized here that there was only one way I could effectively communicate with her or have any chance of saving her. For the last several months, I have been devising a plan to become one of them. It’s the reason I was in Kansas City where you found me by the road. It’s why I wanted to go into the mountain complex when I discovered they’d tested an infected man.
“I got your entire team killed, and for that I am truly sorry. But I do not take their sacrifice lightly. And it is not without reward. I discovered in the tunnels of the mountain the extracted virus I sought. Now Connor has something he can work with to infect me but help me maintain my sanity. If we can find a cure for this madness, the sacrifice of your team will be well worth it. I promise.”
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