“Let’s go home!” Damon shouted to Harper when they reached the vehicles.
“Well that didn’t go as planned,” Riley mumbled as he jumped in the Space Jalopy.
chapter 13
The sun blurred into colors of tangerine and lavender by the time they reached the compound, and Damon was never more excited to see those towering gates. He spied Patrick atop the single guard tower, his lengthy form disappeared down the ladder and reappeared out the gate mechanism. As the gate cranked open, Damon rolled through with the new vehicle, waving at Patrick on the way. Patrick’s scrunched face brightened when he recognized Damon and Victoria in the front seat.
“Where’s Chloe?”
“Where do you think?” Patrick rasped.
“Tell me she ain’t outside the walls or with what’s his nuts?”
Patrick sighed. “Well…she stayed in today if that tells you anything.”
Damon groaned. He steered the unsightly van to the apartment building, skipping the observation steps for Mathias and the others since they had spent over a day with him already and hadn’t turned. The building was three stories high and painted a pale yellow with the base sprayed in light brown. The brakes squeaked as Damon parked by the entry door. Harper pulled the white truck up behind Damon. The three men stepped out.
The door opened, and Kya swept out. The dark skinned woman dressed in a tank top, showed off her shoulders in the burning sunset. He flashed a bright friendly smile at Damon. She volunteered to be responsible of survivor housing to show her appreciation for her rescue.
“Hey Damon. Good to see you back.” Her voice was sweet and warm.
“Afternoon. It’s good to be back, believe me. I have a few new people that need to be hooked up rooms.”
“Hey Kya,” Riley managed to say as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Kya passed her gaze over to the marine, “Evening Riley.”
“How have you been?”
“This really isn’t the time,” Damon muttered and jerked his chin towards the occupants. “Everyone out. This is your new home if you’ll have it.” Then he let out a laugh. “Well it’s all we got at this point.”
“Well see ya around Kya,” Riley murmur in the background and turned towards home.
“See you,” she said. Her eyes lingered on his form as he padded away, then returned to the others.
The van heaved to the side when Mathias exited. He smiled at Kya, then shook her hand. “Thank you very much for this. My name is Mathias. I’m so grateful, and so are my friends.” The others followed him out of the van.
“Nice to meet you Mathias. I’m Kya. It’s wonderful to be here. It will feel like home soon, I promise. Damon and his friends rescued me too.”
“I would like to hear that story one day,” Mathias said with a warm smile.
Damon coughed, then winked at Mathias. He looked at Kya. “This is Jaz, Mia, and Neal,” he introduced the two young women and young man.
“Please come this way,” Kya urged, ushering them inside.
“Don’t worry you’re safe now,” reassured Damon as they passed.
The petite dark haired woman known as Jaz spoke. Her voice was shaky and quiet, “Thank you for your kindness Sir. My sister and I owe you everything.”
Damon shrugged. “Well thank Harper and Riley too, and Mathias.”
“Oh well, thanks again,” she said quietly then turned to follow Kya inside.
Mathias held back for a second then held out his bear sized hand. “I am thankful for the day we met.”
“Me too,” Damon said. He wasn’t sure if he felt exactly the same way. His time with Hagerty wasn’t the greatest moment in his life, but he was thankful to have someone like Mathias at their safe zone now. Damon smiled. “I’m sure there is an apartment with a big enough bed for ya.”
Mathias nodded and turned to follow the rest inside. With the newcomers taken care of, he rushed to drop off the supplies so he could meet with the scientist. He met Harper at the fire station to unload. They made quick work of it and said their goodbyes. Harper knew where he was going, shook his head, but said nothing.
Damon left the van at the firehouse and moved down the sunset road, his boots clicking against the sidewalk. It would only be a few more minutes before he would arrive at Dr. Dellinger’s place. He found himself playing with the two vials and slid them out of his pocket. He held them up to the sun, clear fluid swished around, the glass clicked against each other. It was amazing that something so simple could possibly mean the difference between a cure, or the continued destruction of mankind. By bringing Dr. Dellinger to the safe zone he may have played a role in the salvation of man. The end of the apocalypse. Damon heaved a deep breath of mountain air in his lungs. The thought was a heavy one.
The ranch style home assigned to the doctor sat nestled at the end of the road. Damon broke out in a jog, eager to hand over the vaccine and excited to see what he would be able to accomplish with it. He kicked himself for leaving the vehicle at the station. He would have been there by now.
A dog bark pulled his attention toward the yard between his and Harper’s home where he saw Boomer bounding toward him. His long floppy brown ears flapped in the wind, and his mouth was open like a smile.
“Hey boy!” he greeted the dog and slowed down to give him a quick pat before starting up again. Boomer set in with his pace, bounding clumsily, tail wagging happily. Damon stopped in front of the scientist’s door and knocked.
“You’re gonna have to wait out here buddy,” he told the dog.
Big brown eyes stared up at him. His elephant ears perked up, listening to his human.
There was no response from inside the house. “Dr. Dellinger! You in there?” He knocked again.
No response. He tried the knob. It was locked. He knocked another time, this time a little harder.
Still nothing.
While Damon was knocking he noticed Boomer went rigid. Then his nose met the ground, sniffing the threshold. The dog’s behavior changed. He began pacing the edge of the home, he would stop occasionally as if he heard something with his giant ears. He let out a whine and went back to the door with Damon.
“Yeah, he has some critters in there I bet you’d like to get your paws on. Oh well he must be sleeping,” he explained to the bloodhound. “We’ll try again tomorrow.” He fiddled with the vials in his pocket. “Tomorrow morning.” He gave the whining dog another pat, then headed down the road to his back yard.
The next morning he rushed out before Victoria was up. The spring morning had a winter’s chill, but Damon hardly noticed as he hustled across his back yard and down the street to the scientist’s home. He jumped onto the stoop and knocked on the door. He held his breath for a second; the vials were in his hand, waiting for Dr. Dellinger to open up.
After a few seconds he heard, “Well come in, won’t you?”
Hearing the old man’s rasp he turned the knob and entered. He found the doctor behind the dining room table, drinking a cup of instant coffee, flipping through a thick book. Every now and again he would stop to scribble notes on a yellow notepad.
“Morning. I hope I’m not too early.”
“Not at all my boy, I am up am I not?” he rasped after a quiet sip.
Fester and Chester ran across the table as the doctor pulled a hunk of bread from a saucer set next to him. With his skinny fingers he dissected the bread, then took a small bite.
After a second Damon spoke, “Right, so I got the vaccine you asked for.”
The old man shot up unusually fast, nearly spilling his cup. The ferret and rat scurried out of the way. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?” He rushed over and snatched the vials from Damon’s outstretched hand and disappeared into the kitchen.
Damon swallowed a you’re welcome. He would have snapped if it were someone other than the doctor. The old man was different. Damon followed the scientist into the small kitchen and was somewhat shocked when he saw beakers, flasks, and hot plates strewn over
the countertop and table. It was set up much like the warehouse where they found him.
“This is vital to research,” the old man muttered over the counter.
“You said that. Now what do we do?”
Damon watched the old man’s fingers run over the two vials, gently swirling the liquid. He set them down with a tiny clink then pulled a syringe and needle out of the drawer to his left. He drew a minute amount into the syringe then placed it on the counter.
“What’s that smell?” Damon asked when a stench hit his nose.
“Tissue. Now Damon I work better without chatter.”
“Sorry.”
Dr. Dellinger then opened an airtight container that had been sitting next to the basement door. Inside was a hunk of rotting meat.
“Is that from a zombie?”
The scientist huffed. “Yes it is, now please.”
Damon started to pace behind the doctor as he sliced a section of the tissue and placed it on a slide. He passed close to the basement door and noticed the tissue smell intensified.
“It smells worse over here, like it’s coming from the basement.”
“Of course! That is where I keep my samples.” He started to sound exasperated.
“Smells like you got a whole zombie down there,” Damon joked.
Dr. Dellinger didn’t get the joke. “Only pieces,” he hissed.
He didn’t really know how he felt about that, but what harm could it do? Pieces of zombies can’t hurt anyone. How did he expect the scientist to work if he didn’t have anything to experiment on?
It was late afternoon before he left the doctor’s home. He was on his way down the street when he saw Chloe and Boomer strolling toward him.
“Hey Chloe. What are you up to?”
“Looking for you,” she said as she smoothed out her ponytail.
“What’s wrong now?”
“I don’t know if anything’s wrong. Have you seen Hank?”
Damon raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t seen Hank in days. Then again, he didn’t make regular visits to most of the inhabitants of the safe zone. After they installed the solar panels to the fire station and hospital he saw the middle aged man less.
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Well, Marley came to me today and said that she or Keagan hadn’t seen their dad all day.”
“That’s strange. We don’t have any parties out, and he isn’t part of those anyway.”
Chloe blew air over her lip, “Duh. I know, that’s why I came to find you. I’m worried.”
“Where would he be? Did you check the hospital? Maybe Dr. Brunson had him working on the panels.”
“No, I checked everywhere. Everyone I talked to said they saw him this morning, but not since then. Victoria and Patrick didn’t see him leave the compound.”
This was not a problem he had handled before. “Well let’s talk to Harper and Riley and send out a search party on the off chance he left the safe zone.”
“I don’t think he would do that.”
“Well honestly, I’m not sure what else to do, except check the safe zone again and then send out the search party.”
“Well let’s get started.”
Damon sighed. His brain was tired, but he really liked Hank, and he was in charge of keeping people safe. “Alright, lead the way. I’m sure there is a good reason for this. He’ll be fine. I’m sure of it.”
The two of them walked down the street towards home, their feet padding against the pavement rhythmically. They waved at a mother and daughter that passed by on the sidewalk enjoying the warm night. They shared brief hellos, and they were on their way again. Damon listened to robins sing in the trees as they crossed into the yard. He opened the back door, letting the teen through, then disappeared inside.
chapter 14
Two weeks had passed by and multiple search parties had been sent out without Hank being found. His two children were devastated, and Damon couldn’t offer an explanation. They never found a trace of him, no note, no body, nothing. The worst part was that Damon had been notified of two more disappearances. It was very unsettling, and the safe zone citizens were starting to accuse each other. What was happening? Were people leaving? Did Hagerty find them?
Harper and Riley had their own hunch, and the two of them were on their way to Dr. Dellinger’s house. Harper remained silent while Riley yammered on, about what he hadn’t the slightest clue, he wasn’t listening. He was thinking about what Nikoli said about what the scientist was up to while they were out. He’d reported the scientist mostly stayed in his home, aside from one time he left. Nikoli followed him out of the safe zone, but lost him down a street. He was a slippery son of bitch, he remembered the accented man saying. Harper wondered what the old man was up to.
“-And that’s when he tossed her cookies,” Riley finished.
“Ha, funny.” Harper tried to sound amused but failed.
Riley sniffed, “You weren’t even listening,” he accused. “What’s going on in that big bald head of yours?” he asked, kicking a stone down the street and into the growing grass of the neighbor’s yard.
“Just think there is something up with this guy.”
“Well that’s why we’re gonna have a little party at his house. Does Damon know what we’re doing?”
“No. Promise to keep it under control.” Harper passed a concerned expression at the gangly marine.
Riley squawked, “Me? You’ve been against this dude ever since we picked him up.”
The conversation stopped when the marines stepped onto the doctor’s doorstep. They could hear the record playing a tired old tune. Harper wasted no time with niceties, his huge fist banged against the white door. When nothing sounded from inside Riley pounded.
“Open up Dr. Strangelove!”
There was some scuffling. “What the devil is all the ruckus about?” the scientist asked when the door swung open. “I’m very busy Da-” He stopped himself when he noticed that he was staring into the Harper’s chest. He raised his chin to glare at Harper. “Oh it’s you,” he hissed. He then looked to see Riley standing next to him. “Oh and you, Riley. What a pleasant surprise!” He clapped his skeletal hands.
Harper cut him off. “Yeah it’s me. Now we are gonna ask you a few questions, and it would be wise to tell the truth.”
The old man’s wrinkled face glanced back at Harper. His wizened lips trembled slightly then set firmly in a frown. “Well then come in. You are letting all the heat out, and for the sake of science it is chilly out there.”
Harper pushed passed the wild haired old man, who recoiled like a serpent to avoid contact with the hulking marine.
“How are you feeling Riley? Do you suffer from any lingering pain in the affected appendage? Any fever?” he questioned, closing the distance between the two reaching out his hands towards Riley’s right arm.
“No need to get handsy.” Riley snatched his stub away.
“My apologies.”
Riley heaved, making sure to keep his stub against his chest, he slid closer to Harper.
“How long ago were you bitten?”
“A while.”
“No symptoms, no fever, no delusions?”
“No.”
“The old man massaged his chin with his lengthy fingers. “And yet, here you are infection free. How peculiar?”
Harper wrapped his tree trunk arms about his puffed chest. “Enough with the interrogation. Now we need you to answer a few questions.”
Dr. Dellinger reluctantly pulled away from Riley, crossed the foyer and into the dining room. He sat behind the large table and took out a notebook. He flipped through a few pages until he found what he was looking for. He then sorted through some glass slides and put one under the microscope.
“Did you have something to ask me or were you going to just supervise all day?” he rasped sarcastically.
“Feeling pretty brave aren’t you?” Harper growled. The old man ignored the question which made Harper growl again. He
was beyond annoyed with the arrogant old man, “I don’t know if you are aware or not, but people have been going missing.”
“I was unaware. I do not concern myself with matters outside these quarters. It is a shame to hear. I do not, however, see how that would involve me.” He looked up from his microscope only to look down once more after changing slides.
“We have been here for months without disappearances. And now you’re here and people are turning up missing.”
“Are you accusing me of something?” he hissed.
Riley groaned next to Harper, unsure what the big man was going to do. By the look on Harper’s face, the old man’s neck was about to be wrapped in his sausage fingers.
“What are you doing here?” Harper asked next.
“Research.” He changed the slide again. “Of course,” he said with a sneer.
“Don’t play dumb with me. What are you doing here in the safe zone? Why did you come?”
“I was invited. It would have been rude not to accept. This living environment is more pleasing than the one in which I was in. It is quite simple, really.”
Riley was getting itchy, and for some reason he couldn’t make a joke. He jumped back when he noticed something crawling across his boots. Chester and Fester scattered when his feet moved.
Harper was running out of questions, but looked around the table then disappeared into the kitchen. “What’s this?”
Dr. Dellinger sighed heavily. “Experiments, instruments,” he said without emotion.
There were storage containers and test tubes with oddly colored fluid in them. Two small vials lay empty on the counter. Harper looked to a door to the left of the counter. “What’s down there?”
“That would be the basement, Mr. Harper.”
“No shit wise ass. You wouldn’t mind if I had a look?”
His skinny shoulders shrugged as he changed the slide, “By all means. If it makes your time here shorter, then please, enjoy yourself.”
The Beginning of the End Page 15