“Alright ladies, let’s talk about this,” said Zach calmly. “I think there may have been a misunderstanding.”
“I saw what’s going on in that shack you’ve got back there Zach. I know that you are eating people,” said Rose, gun aimed at Zach.
“Wait, what?” said Jamie, the sleepiness from her voice being replaced with panic. “They’re eating people?”
“That’s right,” answered Rose to Jamie without taking her eyes off Zach. “I found Nick all chopped up and their shack is full of dismembered people. They’re hanging from hooks…”
“Oh what the fuck…” started Jamie.
“Look, guys, lets talk this out. I’m sure we can come to an understanding. We’re surviving just like…” Zach started, but then stopped and shook his head. “You know what? Fuck you, I’m sick of this nice guy bullshit. We helped you out and then you just had to go snooping around. This is how we survive. I don’t seem to recall you complaining when you ate your soup tonight, did you? Look, you two seem like strong, headsmart women. You can either join us, or we’ll just kill you. It’s five on two, it’s just that simple.”
“We’re the ones with the guns,” pointed out Rose.
“Well, not for long. Once we kill you, we’ll have your guns,” said Zach flippantly waving his hand, as though he was bored with them.
Before anyone could retort, Jamie let loose a blast that made Rose jump. One of Zach’s men on the end of the semicircle let out a yelp of pain and tumbled to the ground away from the group. “Four on two now bitch,” said Jamie racking another round into the chamber.
“You’re going to pay for that you little cunt,” said Zach starting toward them but then somersaulting to the side. Rose had pulled the trigger after “cunt” but Zach had seen it coming and the shot meant for his head instead blew off the right forehead of one of his men as he moved in to attack. The man dropped to the ground without a word other than the thump of his face connecting with the ground. Three on two.
Zach and his two men were able to get to Jamie and Rose before either could fire another shot. One of Zach’s men had produced a bat while the other had slipped on some brass knuckles. Zach hung back while the remaining two men fought. The man with the bat targeted both Jamie and Rose swinging wildly, the brass knuckle man focusing on Jamie. Rose dodged a swing at her head, the bat instead connecting with the passenger side mirror; shattering in an explosion of glass. Rose rolled away. The follow-up swing connecting only with the ground. The man turned and raised the bat over his head to bring it down on Rose, but Jamie slammed the man in the small of his back with the butt of her shotgun sending him sprawling, temporarily out of the fight. Zach came in for a kick aimed at Rose’s chest but she rolled away, hopping up into a squat. Eyeing an off-balance Zach, she swept his feet. He crashed to the ground and rolled away. Now it was two on one in Rose and Jamie’s favor.
The brass-knuckle man had landed a shot to Jamie and she’d lost her shotgun. Jamie was doing her best to avoid the man’s wild swings. The man was going a knock-out blow with haymakers instead of beating Jamie down with jabs and punches. It proved to be a fatal mistake. The man was so focused on Jamie, he never saw Rose come up front behind. After one particularly wild swing, Rose stepped up behind him, pressed the gun to the back of his head, and pulled the trigger.
She had no time to savor the kill however. As soon as the blast rang out, Rose was tackled by Zach and slammed into the ground. Two on two. The bat man was back and was focused on Jamie. Rolling around in the dirt, Zach was trying to get on top of Rose and get his hands around her neck. Almost managing to slid his fingers around her, Rose brought up her gun and smashed Zach in the face sending him tumbling into the dirt. Following the momentum, Rose turned toward Zach and aimed a wild shot at him, hitting him in the lower leg as he scrambled away. He cried out in pain and collapsed into a heap.
Rose turned away from Zach and brought her gun around to bear on the bat man. As Rose took aim, the man’s midsection all but evaporated in a spray of bloody mist and gore. Jamie had regained her shotgun and was able to get off a shot. The man collapsed in on himself with a wet thump as he hit the ground.
Standing, Rose slowly walked over to Zach now whimpering in the fetal position on the ground nearby, clutching his leg. Joined by Jamie, they stared down at Zach in disgust, Jamie angrily working the pump on her shotgun loading another round into the chamber.
Chapter 8
The base had an abundance of fresh and canned food to which Rose and Jamie helped themselves loading their car to near-capacity. It was about mid-morning and the sun was bright, the sky a light blue with only a few wispy clouds drifting by. The front yard of the base was still, the bodies of Zach’s men still strewn where they’d fallen, untouched. There were no trees or other obstructions to block the hot sun shining down and the men’s bodies which were already starting to bloat. The only shade cast on the yard was a single wooden beam off the front of the base used to haul up supplies from below that were too large to fit in the front doors. Instead of hauling, today this pole had another purpose.
Zach had put up almost no fight as Rose and Jamie had dragged him into the base and up to the second level. He’d mumbled something about “survival” and “no choice” but Rose had not paid much attention. There was always a choice. Rose understood doing what you have to to survive when you life is on the line, but the abundance of his base was the flaw to that defense. No one who was surviving, or better yet flourishing like Zach and his men were, had any excuse to kill and eat their victims. That was not surviving, that was cannibalism. There were some lines that Rose would never cross and that was one of them.
Even as the noose had slipped over Zach’s head and his wrists were bound behind his back, he didn’t actively resist. Maybe deep down he knew what he’d been doing was wrong. Maybe some part of him knew that this was exactly what he deserved for the choices he’d made. Jamie, having seen the shed out back for herself, guessed there were at least ten separate people in there, possibly more, she couldn’t be sure. Rose knew Zach’s execution would not bring those people back, but at least there would be consequences for his actions. Rose could provide them some closure.
Using some hearty weeds from the fenceline as a paintbrush, Jamie was able to fashion a sign with a scrap piece of cardboard she’d found. Fittingly, she used the dead men’s blood for paint. The sign had been tied around Zach’s neck before he was unceremoniously kicked off the ledge by Rose who didn’t even glance back at him as she went back inside the base. Jamie lingered briefly, but joined Rose soon after at the car. Rose had been surprised how long Zach jerked and kicked as his body fought to preserve his life, his singular shadow dancing in the dirt below. After some time, the only movement in the rope was from the wind which had picked up slightly as Rose and Jamie leaned against the car watching Zach die, fresh carrots standing in for movie-theater popcorn. Rose gave the sign on Zach’s body one last inspection before they drove away, their journey south resuming.
“Justice.” A simple sign but effective, Rose thought, as they drove away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rose had expected the road from Portsmouth to Boston to only get worse, but she was surprised to find exactly the opposite. Once they made it out of the Portsmouth area, there was clear evidence of maintenance on the roads. They weren’t clear by any means, but most of the cars had been pushed to the sides, only the most mangled car wrecks remained. Care had clearly been taken at some point to make traveling between Portsmouth and Boston easier. Maybe parts of Zach’s story had been true? Everything was suspect, but the idea that Boston had survived and that teams had been dispatched to outposts seemed like a sound military decision.
As they traveled, Rose didn’t see any sign of the infected. Or rather, any recent sign. Despite the relative ease they were having traveling on the roads, on either side of the highway and as far into the distance as they could see, destruction reigned. Nothing looked fresh, many destroyed structu
res were overgrown and cars were rusted inside and out.
Shortly after what they believed was the New Hampshire/Massachusetts border, Jamie sat up in her seat and pointed at something far in the distance. She’d been staring out the window, likely daydreaming about this or that as the scenery streamed by, but something had caught her eye.
“Out there! Did you see that?” Jamie exclaimed.
Rose hadn’t seen anything, she’d been driving, keeping any eye out for the next obstacle. Getting another flat tire somewhere between Portsmouth and Boston was not something Rose wanted to deal with again.
“I think it was an infected,” explained Jamie, turning down “Stairway to Heaven” on the stereo. “It looked like a naked guy sprinting between a couple buildings. I’m not positive, it was quick, but he wasn’t moving like a person you know? More like an animal, like how the infected move.”
Rose nodded, causally speeding up. “How much further is it to Boston?”
“I think that was the border we passed a little while back so it’s about half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes or so. Depends on traffic I suppose,” added Jamie smirking and elbowing Rose.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’ll be an issue,” said Rose sarcastically. “If the road keeps being clear...Do you think this is a good idea?”
“What do you mean?” asked Jamie, suddenly confused. “Going to Boston?”
“Yeah, I mean we haven’t had very good luck with people lately. Jacob and then Zach’s group and everybody before…” said Rose trailing off.
“Rose,” said Jamie, for once serious. “Boston isn’t going to be a city full of people like Zach or Jacob okay? Most of what Zach said was probably bullshit, but of all of it, I think the stuff about Boston making it wasn’t. Or at least I hope so; it’s our best option right now.”
“I feel like we’re rushing into this,” pressed Rose. “Should we really just be driving into a city where we have no idea if people are living inside it or if it’s filled with infected?”
Jamie paused, thinking. “Yeah I guess you’re probably right Rose. Well, how do you think we should do this?”
“I think we should stop nearby and take some time to observe. Are there any places outside the city that we could stop for the night and observe?”
Jamie thought about it for a minute before answering. “Cambridge is a pretty good spot, right across the Charles River from downtown Boston and we’d be able to tell if they were a functioning city from there. If they had power, it would be pretty obvious.”
“Alright,” said Rose. “Let me know if you see any signs for Cambridge and we’ll spend the night there. If it still looks like bad news, then we’ll go around to Cape Cod.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using Jamie’s knowledge of the area and a map of Boston in Rose’s phone, it only took them an extra hour to find their way to Cambridge. The clear roads had been great getting them to that point, but trying to leave the highway was not an easy task. Picking their way through the debris and off-roading through overgrown medians and shoulders in their Subaru was not an easy task. GPS would have made the trip much easier but Rose didn’t have a cellular signal, nor would she likely have one ever again. Off-line maps on her phone were the closest thing she had to GPS. Rose figured the satellites were probably still in orbit, but without infrastructure on the ground to support them, they were just floating space junk.
It took most of the afternoon to navigate through Cambridge to a place that was near the river with a good view of downtown Boston. Countless times roads were so impassable that Rose and Jamie had to double back and around hoping for an alternative route. It was frustrating and time consuming and if it wasn’t for Rose’s seemingly endless playlist of classic rock songs on her phone, maddening. By the late afternoon, they spied a block of apartments that were less destroyed than others and as such, provided a near unobstructed view of the Boston city skyline.
Parking nearby, Jamie and Rose both filled backpacks with some water and supplies before donning them and slinging their weapons over their shoulders. The building they chose appeared to be brick and cement, not the most attractive building but was the least destroyed and had the best view. A victim of what Rose guessed was a fairly major fire, the front facade had fallen off leaving a large rubble pile that covered most of the area between the building and the street. Exposed floors and walls were all visible as if the building had been bisected.
Because the building had been so heavily damaged, Rose and Jamie were able to enter the on the first floor and easily cross in between apartments inside. The building was eleven stories stories tall with a large flat roof that might have once been used by its residents as a terrace when it was still whole. The building appeared to have been U-shaped at one point, but one section was just rubble leaving it L-shaped. Rose and Jamie selected a bedroom on the eleventh floor that had most of its four walls still standing and a roof covering them incase it happened to rain. Three of the walls and the door into the room were near-undamaged, but the fourth wall, the one facing Boston, had large bay window set into it at one time. This wall was only about half there. The window, its frame and part of the wall seemed to have been taken with the front of the building when it fell off. The fire damage and two years of exposure to the elements had made the room dingy but dry. Rose and Jamie salvaged what they could from surrounding apartments: a destroyed and weathered table, some rickety chairs, and a slightly charred coffee table.
Eating a dinner of cold canned soup, cucumbers and water, Rose and Jamie sat at their table and watched the sun as it slowly set over Boston. If there was anything happening in the city, it wasn’t apparent from where they sat. The evening was quiet and from this distance, they couldn’t see any movement. Rose had her phone on the table and Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” was twinkling in the background. It was a warm night, possibly the warmest yet. Having a chair to sit in, a room with a view, good music and a full belly was more than Rose could’ve asked for. Having Jamie by her side was just icing on the cake. Leaning back in her chair and putting her feet up on the table, Rose reached over and took Jamie’s hand holding it softly in her own. Looking over at Jamie, Rose couldn’t help but smile, Jamie returned a smile full of warmth and tenderness. It was the happiest Rose had been since they’d left Quebec.
Jamie’s warm eyes were drawn away from Rose’s by something in the distance. Jamie let go of Rose’s hand and stood, silently pointing. Jamie’s expression was a mix of shock and excitement. Letting her chair fall forward onto its four legs as she stood, Rose followed Jamie’s gaze. Towering in the center of Boston’s skyline was a large boxy building, a flat rectangle seated on top crowned with a cluster of antenie. Rose gaped at the building, not because of its size, but rather its lights. Most of the building below it was still black, but the box on the top was lit up with lights at all corners defining it in the darkening sky. In the center of one side of the box were bright yellow letters spelling out “PRUDENTIAL” and the largest antenna on the top was pulsating with a red light.
“Holy shit Rose,” said Jamie quietly.
Rose was speechless, after two years in exile, the possibility that there were people here with power floored her.
“Holy shit,” repeated Jamie.
Rose looked to Jamie but she wasn’t looking at the light anymore, she was looking down onto the road eleven stories below. Even in the gathering gloom of dusk, Rose could see what looked like a military vehicle. It’d stopped and was unloading a team of heavily armed soldiers nearby. Instinctively backing away from the ledge and squatting down, Rose and Jamie watched the group of about six soldiers move in formation away from the truck and down the street toward their building.
When the men were about 100 yards away from the truck, Rose could hear the engine rev and begin to drive down the road behind the soldiers. The truck pulled even with them, slowed, and Rose could hear words being exchanged, along with laughter, before the truck continued on leaving the men behind.
Rose and Jamie waited anxiously as the group of soldiers got closer and closer. They were in two lines, three soldiers in each, on either side of the street. They seemed to be on patrol, one line searching Rose’s side of the street while the other was searching the side of the street closest to the Charles River. Shrinking back, Rose tried to move slowly so no one would notice. She knew at eleven floors up, her being spotted was unlikely, but based on her previous encounters with the military, she decided on an abundance of caution.
“Should we call out to them?” asked Jamie in a whisper.
“What? We know nothing about them,” snapped Rose, also whispering. “They look like they are military, they have guns and truck. Zach’s group was living in a military base and had lots of supplies too.” Rose softened her tone. “I think we should just observe. Last thing we need is an encounter with soldiers on patrol in the dark, itchy fingers on their triggers.”
“Yeah you’re probably right, it’s just...we’re so close now. I can see Boston and they have their lights on! It’s hard to not just run over there,” said Jamie in a hushed voice, slightly resigned.
“We’ll get there,” said Rose reaching over and rubbing Jamie’s leg.
The group of soldiers slowly moved past their building and eventually disappeared into the night as the darkness closed in. Looking over to Boston, several more lights in other buildings had come on, beacons of light burning in the darkness. They were so close, yet still so far.
“Why don’t you get some sleep,” said Rose to Jamie, breaking the silence. “I’ll take first watch. I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”
“You won’t hear any argument from me,” said Jamie, already moving over to her backpack to unload some blankets. “I’d prefer a feather bed, but I suppose this spot of floor will do nicely.”
Jordan Rose Duology (Book 2): Homecoming Page 9