by J. W. Vohs
Between mouthfuls of steak he explained, “A few years ago the group we worked for purchased a large cabin cruiser for use in entertaining clients and business associates, and Cleve and I were taking a week-long vacation on the water when the virus was first reported. We listened to the radio for days until all the station disappeared in like a two-day period. After that we just motored around out there until we ran out of food.”
“What did you do for gas?” David inquired.
Lyle shrugged, “We’d left Detroit with a full tank, a forty-gallon reserve, and we did plenty of floating during the time we stayed away from land.”
Lori jumped in, “Are you two brothers?”
They both laughed at the question. They were both short and pudgy, with short hair and clean-shaven faces. After that, the similarities ended. Lyle had dirty blond hair and blue eyes, while Cleve looked Italian. Lyle shook his head and asked, “What made you think that?”
Lori forced a smile and explained, “Well, when we first met you earlier Cleve said that Brittany was ‘our’ sister. I thought then that you two didn’t look like brothers, but I figured you were probably half-brothers since you have different last names.”
Lyle opened his mouth to speak, then chuckled instead as he declared, “She’s my sister, but Cleve has been my best friend since we were old enough to walk, and we’ve always told people that we’re brothers.”
Lori nodded, but gave a look at Jerry and raised one eyebrow as soon as the two strangers turned their gaze away from her. David caught the exchange between Lori and Jerry before asking, “What did you guys do before the outbreak?”
Lyle smiled before explaining, “We had quite the little business going—and we were on the right side of American values to boot.”
He and Cleve both laughed in a way that sounded as if they were making fun of someone before Lyle continued speaking. “We started a lobbying group called G.A.E., ever heard of it?”
When everyone shook their heads he went on, “Yeah, we were on FOX News a few times so I thought you might have seen us there. We were the Governmental Accountability Experts, a family-values interest group working for responsible fiscal reform in the United States. Our main emphasis was getting the government out of the way so the private sector could bring efficiency to bloated government failures: public education, correctional facilities, resource management. We stood up against liberal unions and micro-managing government regulation. It was a great gig.”
Sal interrupted, “You guys weren’t the only ones doing that. How was it such a great gig, as you called it?”
Again Lyle chuckled before going on, “Man, I think we were on the donation lists of about every major corporation in the country, but we got about 70% of our revenue from charter schools and corporations that made all kinds of testing materials. Now there was a growth market.”
Cleve interjected, “Privatization of the correctional market—that was pretty lucrative too. When we worked out a deal for inmates with college degrees to grade state standardized tests, well, that was a real win-win.”
“What do you mean?” Lori asked, barely concealing her distain for the men and their self-satisfied boasting.
Cleve was more than happy to continue, “Nothing is more important than getting tax dollars into the hands of job creators and out of government coffers, and using inmates is more profitable than outsourcing overseas.” He sighed and continued wistfully, “American corporations will beat these zombies. That’s the way it always is—the government screws up and business figures out a way to turn the situation around.”
Lyle interrupted, “The real leaders have enough money to isolate themselves; the masses may succumb to this zombie epidemic, but the innovators, the important people, they will ride this out. This whole situation may just be a natural correction to rid the world of the riff-raff.”
Cleve took over, “Survival of the fittest.” He looked over at Lori and his eyes ran up and down her body. “You all seem to prove that axiom. You’re all fit, and you are certainly surviving this zombie epidemic.”
“Yeah, it seems we’re all doing pretty well,” Lyle again took over, “but I miss the good old days. Once we declared ourselves a non-profit and voted ourselves huge salaries and great benefits, we were really living the good life, and the icing on the cake was that most people thought we were some sort of heroic crusaders, fighting the good fight for freedom.”
Luke spoke up, “Didn’t bother you that you weren’t really helping anyone but yourselves?”
Cleve smirked, “Now I wouldn’t say that. We were instrumental in writing a lot of bills that our sponsors were very pleased with. Who’s to say that we weren’t concerned citizens working for a noble cause? Besides, if people are idiots that’s their problem. You know what they say, ‘A fool and his money are soon parted,’ or something like that. Works with more than one fool at a time, too.”
Luke just stared at the man with a serious expression that betrayed no emotion, but David knew that look—the teen was angry.
Lyle jumped back into the conversation, “Oh well, sad to say that none of that matters anymore. How about another round? Brittany,” he shouted, “bring some more beer out here!”
When the woman came out of the office with an armload of cans Luke noticed how young she looked, and how pretty she was in spite of her sad expression. She made eye contact with him and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head toward the office as she handed out the last of the drinks before retreating to the building. A few minutes later Luke furtively glanced at the back window and saw Brittany looking out at him, and when she realized that she had his attention she beckoned for him to come in.
David and Christy were telling Lyle and Cleve about their law careers when Luke took advantage of a momentary silence by asking, “Where can I use the restroom?”
Cleve looked at him with an expression of exasperation, but Lyle just smiled again and explained, “We don’t use the restrooms in the office because there’s no running water in there. Just go around to the front of the boathouse and find a place there.”
Luke stood up and excused himself then slowly headed to the area Lyle had suggested. Brittany had been watching from the office and met him in front of both buildings, looking around fearfully before urgently whispering, “My sister and I need your help. Follow me!”
Luke followed the young woman along the walkway fronting the small harbor until they came to what looked like an old warehouse. She slipped through the open receiving bays and led him over to a closed door with a large padlock on it. There was a small, rectangular window above the knob and Brittany told him, “Look in there; that’s what they’re doing to my sister.”
Luke peered through the dirty glass and saw a girl in her early teens handcuffed to a desk. She was dirty, with tangled and matted hair, and a strip of duct tape was strapped over her mouth. “What the hell?” he muttered without taking his eyes from the girl.
Suddenly a strong hand grabbed him by the back of the neck as he heard Cleve snarl, “Not your lucky day, kid!”
Luke didn’t hesitate for even an instant, swinging his left elbow hard into the man’s solar plexus as he pulled his long knife and spun, slashing Cleve’s bicep to the bone. The injured man howled with agony, dropping a gun he’d been holding in his left hand as he tried to clamp the edges of the wound together and move away from Luke at the same time. The teen kicked him in the side of the knee, hearing a satisfying “crack” and sending the now-screaming Cleve sprawling to the floor. With the threat neutralized for the moment, Luke picked up the pistol and immediately pulled back the slide to make sure it was loaded, not surprised to see that Cleve had forgotten to chamber a round.
Just then Lyle came running into the building, followed by Jerry, David, Christy, and Lori. Luke pointed the pistol at Lyle’s face and shouted, “Turn around and get your hands up! Now!”
The man did as he was ordered as a shocked Jerry asked, “What the hell’s going on, son?”
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“Make sure he isn’t armed and tie him up, Dad,” was all Luke said for the moment. He returned his attention to Cleve, white-faced and whimpering in a growing pool of blood, and made sure he was carrying no more weapons. Then the boy turned back to Brittany. “Who has the key to the lock?”
“Lyle,” she quickly answered. “Lyle always has the key.”
“Dad?” Luke called out.
“On it, son,” Jerry replied before demanding the key from the frightened man whose hands he’d just tied with a piece of cord from Lori’s pack.
A few seconds later they opened the door and Brittany rushed to her sister’s side, gently pulling off the duct-tape and soothingly telling the sobbing girl that they were safe now as she hugged her. Jerry found the handcuff key on the same ring as the key for the padlock, and he carefully released the girl’s hands and backed away from the crying sisters. Lori took one look in the room before walking over to Lyle and viciously kicking him in the ribs. “Bastards,” she shouted. “They’re just girls!”
Christy hurried over and pulled Lori away from the man. “Wait till we figure this out,” she gently urged. “We need to find out everything.”
Jerry returned to police officer mode and took over the informal investigation. He waited for Brittany and her sister to calm down a little bit, then asked them to come out and explain what had happened to them.
“We docked here nine days ago,” Brittany began to say before she was cut off by Lyle.
The now-tied man shouted, “They showed up here crazy and tried to kill us so they could take our stuff!”
Jerry looked at Luke and jerked his head in Lyle’s direction, “Gag him.”
The teen grabbed the roll of duct-tape hanging from a large nail outside the office-door and ripped off a large strip which he then roughly secured over Lyle’s mouth in spite of his attempts to squirm away and continue talking. When quiet retuned to the warehouse Jerry asked the girls to resume their story.
Brittany was regaining some composure now, and she angrily explained. “We told these scumbags that we were looking for supplies for our family back on South Bass. Our dad was really sick when we left, and Mom asked us to try to find food and medicine. We’d been seeing zombies around our house and figured the island was overrun, so we ran down to our dock and used the cabin cruiser to come here. These scumbags kidnapped us. They kept Beth locked up in here and said they’d hurt her if I didn’t do what they told me to do.”
“How old are you girls?” Jerry asked.
“I’m twenty and Beth is thirteen.”
“Did they, uh, hurt you?” Jerry’s meaning was clear to everyone.
Brittany stifled a sob as she nodded, “Me, not Beth. At least I don’t think . . .” The young woman collapsed to the ground and began to cry uncontrollably.
Lori moved over and put a hand on her shoulder, “I’m an EMT, and Vickie’s a doctor. We’ll take care of you, honey.”
Brittany leaned her head against Lori’s leg and her sobs began to subside. The former soldier promised ominously, “And I’ll also take care of these two.”
Christy went over and knelt down by the two girls, “We’ll get you home and check on your parents. Okay?”
The sisters looked up at her through their tears and nodded appreciatively.
Lori then asked quietly, “Christy, will you take the girls back to the boat? Luke, please go with her, and tell Blake and the adults what’s going on. Don’t let the kids overhear.”
Christy helped the girls to their feet and they left the warehouse with Luke. As soon as they were out of hearing range, Jerry asked David and Lori, “Well?”
Before David could say anything, Lori declared, “You two know what we have to do. I’m not leaving these bozos free to do this again, and we’re not taking them with us.”
Jerry mused, “Maybe we could toss them overboard in Toledo? We know the hunters will get them, but we could also always tell ourselves that there was a chance they could have made it.”
Lori squinted at Jerry, “And you think that would make us feel better?”
Again, David tried to imagine what Jack would do in a situation like this. He held a hand up for silence. “I want to hear from Lyle.”
He walked over to the bound and duct-taped criminal, not even bothering to try to rouse Cleve who was either dead or passed out from blood loss. Reaching down behind the man’s head, David pulled the tape free with a quick tug. Lyle started babbling immediately and David slapped him viciously. “Shut up, Lyle, just answer my questions. Did Brittany agree to do what you guys wanted or did you force her?”
“She’s lying to you guys; I swear to God she’s lying!”
David calmly explained, “If you lie again I’m going to let Lori put a bullet through your head. She wants to.”
Lyle looked over at the former soldier. Lori held up her Glock and smiled a terrible, ice-cold smile. He started to hyperventilate as he hastily promised “All right, all right, I’ll tell the truth, just don’t let her shoot me. Look man, those girls snuck in here at night and tried to rob us. We heard ‘em sneaking around and captured them. I was just joking around and told Brittany that maybe we’d let her live if she did everything we said. I was just joking around, but she threw herself at us after that. Kept saying that she wanted to party, hated life back on the island with no guys around or anything.”
David nodded as if he understood then asked, “So did you guys do anything with the little sister like you did with Brittany?”
“No way, man, she’s just a little kid! We kept her in here to keep her outta the way. Even Brittany thought it was a good idea; she asked us to keep Beth in here, I swear to God she did. I would have helped her out if I would have known that Cleve was keeping her tied up like that! I mean, that does seem a little perverted.”
David seemed to have gotten the answer he was looking for because he suddenly reached down and pulled the tape back over Lyle’s mouth. He looked over at Jerry and Lori, “Either of you want to question him?”
They both shook their heads with grim expressions so David got up and grabbed the duct-tape, then went over and covered Lyle’s eyes with it. He slowly stood up and asked Lori for the gun, but she just shook her head and said, “You two get the hell outta here. I’ve had to kill before, and as a medic and EMT I’ve seen the worst gore you can imagine. Since I already have nightmares, I’ll do it. Go on, get outta here!”
Jerry nodded once and placed a gentle hand on David’s shoulder, then guided the younger man out of the warehouse and continued walking him toward the docks. As they passed the marina office they heard a shot, followed by another a few seconds later. Even when they heard Lori jogging to catch up with them as they approached the yacht, neither man looked back.
They pulled up into a wide bay off of South Bass Island a few hours later, just off the coast from a large home that Brittany said was theirs. David and several other members of the group took turns glassing the place from two hundred yards out but saw no signs of life, human or hunter. Finally they decided to send a fighting team ashore in the motorboat. David, Christy, Jerry, Luke, and Lori packed into the small craft and headed toward the house. They used the electric motor to avoid noise, though they did scrape the hull on rocks trying to land on the rough shoreline in even a gentle Lake Erie.
The team quickly disembarked with weapons drawn and ready, but again, no sign of any hunters was present. They kept low and carefully maneuvered their way toward the house, finally reaching the back door and tapping the plywood-covered structure as quietly as possible. To their astonishment, they almost immediately heard a woman softly call out from the inside, “Who is it?”
David looked over at Lori through his visor and jerked his head toward the door. The EMT responded in a hushed tone, “Mary Tenet?”
A moment’s silence was followed with a simple, “Yes, I’m Mary Tenet. How can I help you?”
“Mrs. Tenet, I’m Lori Alberts, an EMT with the Westlake, Ohio Fire Depa
rtment. I have with me Officer Jerry Seifert, from the Garfield Heights Police Department, as well as two Cleveland lawyers who volunteered to help me return your daughters from Middle Bass Island. We have Brittany and Beth out in the yacht you can see just offshore. The motorcycle gear we’re wearing is for protection from the infected. Do you want to let us in or do you want us to just bring the girls up here to you.”
The door opened and a thin, pretty woman of about forty stood staring at them, seeming almost stunned as she asked, “You have the girls? Are they okay?”
Lori said, “We have them, ma’am. If you look out there at the yacht I’m sure you can see them waving from the deck.”
Mary squinted and looked out for a moment, then started to weep, “Oh my God, I thought they were dead . . .Oh my God, oh my God! Bring them up, please just bring them up. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She continued to weep as Christy gently urged, “Mary, can we come in with you while we send Jerry and Luke back out to the yacht for the girls?”
Mary seemed to be gathering herself together a bit. “Oh, yes, of course. Please come in.” She turned to Lori, “Can you look at my husband? He’s so sick….that’s why the girls left.”
Lori asked Jerry to bring Vickie in with the girls, then followed Mary inside to see what she could do for the man while they waited for the doctor to arrive.
Bob Tenet was in an upstairs bathroom, lying on his side and shivering under a mound of blankets. Lori placed her hand on his forehead and said, “He’s burning up. How long has he been like this?”
Mary wrung her hands and explained, “He was almost this sick when the girls left to find help. When they didn’t return after about five days he seemed to be getting better and started getting things together to go look for them. A day later he was back in bed, and it’s just been getting worse since then. Bob started to cough really hard, finally subsiding into labored breathing as Lori asked, “Does he have any open wounds or punctures? His body’s trying to fight off some sort of infection.”
Mary shook her head, “No, he doesn’t have blood poisoning or anything like that. You heard him coughing; he’s been doing that since the beginning, and for the past couple of days he’s had a lot of trouble breathing.”