Sorrow

by Brian Wortley

  Val courageously knelt down to Liz’s face and tried to say a few encouraging words. But Liz made no reply. Her mouth only hung open.

  Val left her and discovered Connor. He had been given one of the few beds in the building. She stood there staring at him for some time. His wound seemed altogether minor now after walking through the other rooms. She could not see his actual missing leg because a sheet soaked red blocked it. He seemed more peaceful than she could ever remember him looking. Her anger subsided and she honestly pitied him.

  ∙ ∙ • ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙

  The next two days were spent clearing out the bodies from the city. A small group suggested evacuating the city. Before Connor was able to address them, a few trickled off into the mountains or further west. Most waited for Connor’s decision.

  Connor’s wound was treated as well as they could manage with their rudimentary medical procedures. Luckily, by the next day, it still hadn’t shown any signs of infection. He spent his time adjusting to life with one leg and also learning to manage the pain. He became obsessed with showing no weakness or pain while in the public eye. Finally on the third day, he addressed them. Since he had remained in seclusion, most were shocked at his missing appendage. Once the astonishment wore off, they praised him all the more.

  “We have survived! They brought their full forces against us and they could not overtake us. Strong we are when we bind together! Nothing now can repel us! We will rebuild America. This is our home and we will restore it. Armies will not stop us. Zalac cannot contain us. Ash and fire cannot break us. We are outlanders now. We know how to survive in the wasteland. We are tough as steel. Our skin is made of leather and our hands of iron! Build up this city. Here is our home!”

  “Brady is gone! He has been entirely corrupted by this new king. As far as I know, he is dead or among the ranks of the enemy. Do not concern yourselves with him. He is dead to us now! But our battle proves we do not need his corrupting influence. We survived without him and will continue to do so. I will lead us into our new home!”

  Cheers roared throughout the crowd. Hope again took up residence in the hopeless. With even more determination than before, they rebuilt. The walls were repaired and the defenses were made stronger than before. Connor ordered scouts to investigate the sewers and surrounding country looking for remaining groups of zombies, their king, or the mysterious humans from the attack. When reports of no one, zombie or otherwise, came back, Connor finally started to be at ease.

  “I don’t understand,” Connor’s second in command asked him the next day. “What has happened to the king and his men?”

  “No one reports seeing him during the battle unless he was that beast that took away Brady. I guess that could have been the king. I've never seen one but he meets the description of muscular and powerful."

  "I didn't see the thing myself," Connor replied, "but from the description of it, it sounded like something new. The king Brady destroyed to save Sara was maybe two to three hundred pounds. From people's description of this thing, it sounded much heavier than that. It tore apart a building with its own hands. I doubt the king we encountered before could have accomplished that."

  "Perhaps the king commanded his troops from afar and when we killed them, he retreated. If so, he's miles away from here and probably looking for a new town to corrupt.”

  “Some of the scouts reported some strange happenings in Pueblo to the south.”

  “We would be smart to check things out. We’d want to know if the king has taken up residence there. But keep the men on the task of rebuilding the defenses. We’ll check out Pueblo later.”

  ∙ ∙ • ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙

  A few days after, a messenger arrived. The guards saw his streak of dust heralding his approach in the distance long before he stood at their gate. He set down his motorcycle and called out to the watchman. When Connor heard the news of his arrival, he immediately went out to talk to him.

  As it turned out, the man came from Pueblo. A small band of humans had been living there for some months and recently came under attack from a large group of zombies in the area. The group witnessed the approaching zombie army and two of their scouts followed it and witnessed the battle in Colorado Springs. Previous to this, the group in Pueblo had no knowledge of the presence of a human settlement in Colorado Springs. Now they wished to join the town. Connor took this as very good news. His head swam with the possibilities of other human groups that might have heard the news of their victory. The messenger asked for an escort from their frequent foes. Connor was thrilled to comply.

  When the call for an escort went out, Sara signed up. Initially, Connor was not planning on coming along. Sara had been looking for an excuse to get out of the city since everything happened. Val, Sara, and Moses had taken up residence in an abandoned building not far from Sara’s old house. When Val heard Sara was going, she reported in as well. And since Moses went wherever Val went, he enlisted also. He voluntarily bound himself to the promise he made to Brady concerning Val. Moses had grown very fond of her and considered her a sister.

  Everyone was eager to get out of the city. Even though the bodies had been removed, death seemed to hover over the city like a dark cloud. The haze had returned, overshadowing the dim sun. Despite the efforts to repaint, blood stains covered the ground and building walls. Despite the reinforced defenses, the city had a broken, dingy appearance.

  They departed with the messenger leading the way. They came to the southern gate exiting the city and there awaited Connor. He stood leaning on his crutch and one leg. The convoy stopped allowing him to climb into the first vehicle. Sara almost exited. If she held a seat by the door instead of Val, she might have. But as Sara rose to leave, Val put her hand on Sara’s leg reassuring her that it would be alright. Against Sara’s better judgment she let her friend’s opinion win out.

  Immediately upon passing through the southern gate, Sara felt a consuming sense that something was terribly wrong. She couldn’t decide if it was just because Connor came along or if some other thing taunted her mind.

  She fought the feeling for several minutes before she asked the person in the front seat to radio Connor. Even though she hated their leader, she felt obligated to speak her feelings for the sake of the company. “Connor, it’s Sara.” Connor started to reply but she cut him off. “Keep a close watch on the messenger. I don’t know what it is, but something is wrong here. Perhaps they’re planning to ambush us.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Just trust me.”

  Sara awaited Connor’s reply expecting something harsh. But Connor replied, “Do you think they may be human zombies? Would Val be able to tell if they were?”

  Sara looked at Val. Val became furious at Connor’s comment. “What? Because it takes one to know one? Asshole!”

  “He’s just asking,” Sara tried to calm her down, then Sara got back on the radio. “She says she wouldn’t know.”

  “Thank you for the heads up, Sara. We should talk when we’re back.”

  This reply gave Sara a sinking feeling and she regretted saying anything.

  ∙ ∙ • ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙

  They continued on without incident to the outskirts of Pueblo. The humans they were after had setup on the west side in a small collection of buildings. The messenger told them they moved around often to avoid groups of scavenging zombies. As the team arrived, they drove into a skirmish between the humans and zombies.

  The zombies, at the sight of armored vehicles, dispersed running as fast as they could in the other direction. The gunners shot a few but most escaped. The team parked the vehicles and found the humans in disarray. Many of the humans were gangly appearing like they had not eaten in weeks. When the team found the sick, things seemed even worse. Several had untreated wounds infected with gangrene. A strange sickness ravaged others.

  “Greetings,” a man said as he stepped forward and offered his hand. He seemed the most well-fed of the humans.

  “I am Connor,�
�� Connor said, obviously ignoring the man's attempt at a handshake.

  “I am Jordan. I lead these people.”

  “What sickness is this?” Connor immediately wanted to survey the risk to his own men. “Are you all contagious?”

  “No! No. We’re fairly healthy despite our appearance. We just haven’t eaten in a while.”

  “Don’t mess with me,” Connor replied. “That’s gangrene. These people are dying.”

  Jordan leaned in closer to Connor. This gesture repulsed Connor and he stepped back. A vile smell emanated from him. “Then let’s just leave them. My fighters will work for you. Let these people die. We’ve been with them for months but they’re worthless.”

  “I won’t leave them to become food for the zombies.” Connor obviously seemed crushed at the sight of these people. He expected a much more robust group. “Bring the healthy. Kill the others,” he ordered coldly.

  “You can’t be serious!” Val spoke to him directly for the first time in days.

  “We barely have the medical supplies and expertise to mend our own people without taking on this scum. Look at her,” he said pointing to a sick woman in the corner, “who knows what disease she has. What if it’s contagious? It could kill everyone. We have to be careful.”

  “We can quarantine them for a time while we treat them or something. Gangrene requires amputation not killing! How can you be this heartless?”

  “I have spoken,” he dismissed her as if he were royalty.

  “You’re a monster and I don’t even know you anymore.” She pulled off her ring and threw it at him. He tried to catch it but it slipped between his fingers. He awkwardly tried to bend down on his one leg and retrieve it and almost fell over. Instead of trying again, he ordered one of his men to pick it up and hand it to him. “You’ll need this for the next girl. Maybe you’ll actually love her.”

  Jordan looked over to one of Connor’s soldiers. “Anyway,” he said drawn out for dramatic effect, “you’ll take the rest of us, correct?”

  “Of course,” Connor replied. “Anyone who is not sick and has the will to fight can come.”

  Val returned to the vehicles and leaned against one of them fuming. Connor went into the building with Jordan and the others followed. Val could not stand to be in the same building as Connor and so remained outside. Val stood fuming as Sara came to her. The two women stood there huddled together listening to the shots ring out. One by one, Connor and his men murdered the wounded. With every sound of a gun, Sara started clinging more desperately to Val. Val covered Sara’s neck with her arms. In a few seconds, Connor stepped out with the new fighters following. Val looked into his face with an expression of complete hatred.

  “Burn the bodies,” Connor ordered, “so the zombies can’t use them for food.”

  As Connor passed by, Val rested her head on Sara’s and refused to meet his gaze. Connor passed by callously and asked the newcomers about their experience fighting the zombies.

  When Connor and the men had passed, Val whispered to Sara, “Let’s get away from here. I don’t want to be a part of Connor’s nightmare anymore.”

  Sara almost agreed, but before she could speak, Connor’s voice overshadowed them as he asked, “Coming?” The two women turned to find Connor standing by the vehicle holding open the door.

  Sara took Val’s hand and whispered, “When the moment is right.” With that, Sara climbed into the vehicle.

  When Val started to get in, Connor looked her over. “You will please me tonight,” he said in a crass tone loud enough for his new recruits to hear. The men hooted and cheered. “I think you’ll like how I run things in Colorado Springs!”

  Moses came in third and cast a glance at Connor. “I don’t want anything from you,” Connor joked. At this his men laughed anew.

  “I will not leave your side,” Moses told Val as soon as the door was shut. “If he wants to harm you, he’ll have to kill me.”

  “I don’t want you dying for me.” Val said shaking. “He’ll be watching closely but we’ve got to get out of here.”

  ∙ ∙ • ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙

  The ride home started off quietly. A somber mood hung over Sara’s vehicle. The sun had gone down over the horizon and with the dark came fear. Val spent the trip worrying about the future. With Brady gone and Connor drunk with power, fright seized her heart. She thought losing his leg may change his attitude, but he seemed mostly unaffected. In fact, if anything he appeared worse. Losing an appendage seemed to drive him deeper into his moodiness and thirst for power.

  While they were still a ways from Colorado Springs Sara sat up straight with a frightened look. A panicked scream escaped her lips.

  “Stop!” she screamed.

  “What is it?” Val asked in a similarly panicked voice.

  Too startled to reply, Sara leaned forward grabbing the radio ordering the convoy to halt. With the vehicle no longer moving, Sara burst out the door into the darkness outside. In frenzy she walked back and forth scanning the dark horizon.

  “What is going on?” Connor asked leaning out of his window.

  Sara could not respond but could only place her hands on her head screaming like a crazy person. Moving her hands to her ears she let out a bloodcurdling cry. This unsettled everyone around her.

  Val finally grabbed her attempting to wrestle her to the ground. Val looked in her crazed eyes screaming, “What’s wrong?”

  “Dream in flames,” she blurted out in a voice unlike her own. Val leaned back not sure how to respond. Everyone now stood outside the vehicles and Val looked to someone near her for help.

  Finally, Sara stopped thrashing about and stood still. As if searching no more, her head turned to an exact location to the north. “Get down, Val” she ordered in a much calmer voice than she had previously used. When Val didn’t comply, Sara yelled over her shoulder to any who would listen, “Get down!”

  A dread came upon Connor and he obeyed as did many others. An unworldly silence filled their ears as if all of nature ceased. Every soul, no matter its condition, felt poised on the edge of a vast emptiness. A grand vacuum of feeling nudged all eyes to the north. Sara stretched out her hands to the horizon as a brilliance sliced the night. Those that had not complied with Sara’s order were blown backwards by the sheer intensity of the brightness.

  Those able to lift their heads and open their eyes saw a terrifying explosion casting its light as far as the eastern plane and towards the top of Pikes Peak. The haze receded in a circle giving over its dominion of the sky to this new power. Through all the company’s many trials, none was equal in their minds to this. It was the single most terrifying display of power anyone had seen. What they witnessed in movies or read about in textbooks couldn’t prepare them for the horror of the overwhelming destruction before them. Sara braced herself against the intensity with her arms stretched out like a tree majestically defying a raging forest fire. Silently, the proud flames grew higher in the sky collecting into the dreadful form of a mushroom cloud. On the ground, nothing repelled the flame. The downtown skyscrapers blew over like grass in the wind to its force. In humiliating terror, the proud mountains were humbled before the ominous cloud.

  The deafening shockwave screeched through them like freed spirits from the bowels of hell. All the nearby windows shattered in the shockwave. Walls, doors, and millions of pieces of debris, blown out from the city, washed over the landscape like a tidal wave. The others curled up into balls attempting to shield themselves from the wreckage. Alone, Sara gazed on intently at the explosion, careless of the flying particles around her. The tears on Sara’s face glowed orange in the fiery light as they streaked horizontally from her eyes. The grief, she had only previously known in Brady, flooded her heart like poison. In an instant, she understood a side of him she hadn’t been able to comprehend in years of marriage. The future stretched out before her like a solitary hallway. By barely focusing on the present, she could feel the entire lifespans of all the people who had just died in the
explosion. She held all their dreams in her fist like a child grasping sand. As she spread her fingers, they spilled out slipping in-between her fingers. She saw aspirations, memories, hopes, and loved ones all passing away in their death. The overwhelming agony of their unrealized dreams forever fading away hit her like a bullet to her heart.

  The feeling overwhelmed Sara’s mind.

  As if to save Sara from drowning in the emotions, Val wrapped her arms around her and pulled her to the ground. In reaction to being rejoined to reality, Sara cried out. Tiny needle-like pricks covered the front half of her body. Val examined her to find the whole front side of Sara’s body slashed by thousands of building fragments and glass splinters. Val glanced up at the menacing cloud as it towered into the night sky. She looked for leadership but found Connor shaking in complete shock of the situation. Grabbing those she could, she desperately made her way to one of the vehicles. The rest, following her lead, helped others.

  Away from the towering death they drove as fast as the vehicles would take them. In an instant, everything they worked for and all their friends vanished.

  Madly, Val drove down any road that would take them away from the explosion. When Val could afford it, she glanced over at Sara to see how she was doing. Slumped over in the passenger seat she shook in her pain. To Val’s confusion, she repeatedly made a fist and opened it as if expecting there to be something inside.

  Part 4

  All That Remains

  At first, Val hoped the sickness people felt was just a reaction to the horror. But after they had pulled over so that everyone could vomit one by one, she started to get worried. She had no idea what the symptoms of radiation poisoning were or what treatment plans should be. They had no medics with them. They had all been back in the Springs.

  Everyone was too frightened to care about where they were headed. They just wanted the horrifying cloud as far away from them as possible. After the initial explosion, most of the cloud disappeared into the night sky. All they could make out was the base lit by the remains of the city burning. Val knew enough to be as afraid of the cloud as the initial burst. With as few stops as possible, they fled south.