by Mark Clodi
Jess came at Katie first, the girl was in rough shape, it looked like maybe she had been fed on by two zombies, she was missing a large part of her stomach, her bottom rib was bare and showed teeth marks from some viscous biting. The girl was slow too, to get a clean shot Katie had to step towards her and fire. The noise of the rifle thundered through the house and brought the other three out of the basement in short order. Katie shot Bobby before he reached the top of the stairs, then shot Kent as he came into the kitchen.
Robert was faster and warier than the others, but then he had died first and probably had the most food of all of them. More food meant he was a smarter, faster zombie. He stood on the steps just out of sight and called up to Katie, “I don't want you. I hate you for what you did, but I won't bother you.”
Katie didn't say anything, the idea of talking to him was repugnant to her, he had just eaten the ones he loved and was mad that she had killed them. 'What a douche bag.'
“I get it now. I understand what happened.” Robert said.
Silently moving to the top of the stairs Katie aimed at the man's head, he didn't shy away from her.
“I don't think you understand, do you?”
Katie pulled the trigger and blew out Robert's left eye, he fell backward down the stairs and lay silently. 'Huh, I was aiming for the bridge of the nose. I better sight in this gun in today.' She added it to her list of things to do, turned and packed the things she wanted to take with her. Her shotgun was already in the van, in fact most of her stuff was in the van. Katie looked around the kitchen and debated going into the basement to look over the group's other equipment. 'Two guns are enough. Fuck it, I'm outta here.' Katie entered the garage and pulled the emergency release for the garage door, then hefted it up so she could pull the van out.
'I don't even know where I am going. South, but where and why?' Her mom had moved to Florida, but Katie hadn't seen the woman in two years and had never visited her there. Getting behind the wheel of the car she pulled out carefully and nodded in satisfaction at the almost full tank of gas she had to travel on. She didn't have any trouble getting back to the highway and after debating one last time she headed south, 'Where the hell else do I have to go? Mom will sure be surprised. If she's alive.'
The day went by quickly, she made excellent time and left Illinois by the time the sun was setting that evening. She had been forced to detour around several of the larger wrecks and there were only a few sections of highway she could drive over forty five miles an hour, but in general she was surprised at how well things went. She didn't see many zombies at all, not even in the larger towns and cities she passed through. 'It's like they all left. Maybe they headed for greener pastures?'
She had stayed on highway fifty seven until she was almost out of Illinois, then turned off on highway twenty four, which she thought should take her almost the rest of the way to the coast. She had stopped twice for fuel, the first time she had been lucky, the power was still on and she was able to figure out how to get the gas pumps switched on to fuel up. She had also found an empty gas can behind the counter of the convenience store and filled that up as well. The second refueling had been on the highway, next to two sedans that were pulled just off the road. One of them had a tube with a manual pump stuck into its gas tank, there was another two and a half gallon can there too, filled up, but just sitting there. Katie didn't see anyone close by and stood there for a minute, looking into the heavy brush by the side of the road, wondering if it was some sort of ambush.
Cautiously she had gotten out of the van and examined the pump and can. It looked simple enough and Katie dumped the fuel from both cans into the van's gas tank, then pumped the rest of the fuel out of the red sedan to fill the cans again. She repeated this a few times until the van was full again and both the gas cans were filled as well. Then she threaded the hose out of the sedan and stowed it in her van.
As night fell she left Kentucky and passed into Tennessee, she wasn't feeling drowsy, but didn't want to travel at night either. The thought of finding a house or hotel to spend the night in didn't appeal to her, so she decided to pull over into a rest stop instead. The rest stop was completely empty, not a single car in the lot.
'And fuck if mine will be the only one either!' Kate thought, driving the van up onto the sidewalk. There was a central building that advertised vending machines and bathrooms, and behind that there were a series of sidewalks and picnic tables, as well as several play areas for kids. Katie pulled the van around to the back of the building and parked it with the passenger's side inches away from the stone wall. Satisfied that she was as hidden as she could be she pulled out her flashlight and shotgun and went in to use the bathroom.
The building was not locked and appeared to be empty. The lobby was simple and open, with an information desk and a huge map of the state hanging on the wall, which included a 'you are here' pin along the highway to indicate where the rest stop was. The vending machines were across from the lobby desk and doors to either side of the desk led to the bathrooms. Katie entered the women's room and shined her light around looking for threats. 'It's cleaner than the one in Chicago, but doesn't have a shower.' It was also empty. Katie was surprised to find that the water was still on too. Before heading back to the van she used half the paper towels to clean herself up, and then looked herself over in the mirror.
“I look like shit.”
“You sure do.” said Randy from behind her.
“You've been better too.”
“Won't get any worse now.” he agreed.
“So what is it like, being dead?”
“I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you afterward.”
“That might not be too high a price to pay. It's not like I have anything left for me here now.”
“Poor little Katie, all alone in the world!”
“No shit.”
“You never sighted in your new gun.”
“I didn't really have time. I sure as shit ain't going to do it here and now. Maybe in the morning before I leave.” Katie said to his mirrored reflection. She didn't dare look back, for fear that he would disappear.
“You shouldn't forget, you'll need that gun before this is over.”
“Before what is over?”
Randy waved his hands, gesturing around himself, “This. All of this.”
“There isn't any 'this' anymore. It's already over.”
“Not quite yet.” Randy came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, then rested his head on her shoulder. Slowly he kissed the side of her neck, then nibbled on her ear.
Katie closed her eyes and enjoyed the embrace for a moment before shaking him loose, “You're not real.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“How can this be real? I saw you jump. I heard you hit. You didn't even scream.”
“I couldn't give away your position and I knew you wouldn't shoot me if I turned.”
“I would've.” she said flatly.
“There's the Katie I know and love. But you see? I do love you and I thought I should spare you that. It was the very least I could really.”
“You could have taken me with you.”
He shrugged and stepped back from her. “We walked different paths.”
“Such bullshit. You'd think, because you are in my mind, I would do this to myself. I should make you answer me straight.”
“I don't think you are ready for straight answers.”
“And you're the decider?”
“No, I'm the spotter, I pick the targets, you shoot them. I call down the artillery, you cover my back.”
“Pulling rank again?”
He stepped back further into the darkness, “You outranked me.”
“But I wasn't the forward observer, in the field you had command.”
Randy was barely visible now, he lingered for a moment and said, “It was never about control.”
Katie's eyes flickered to her own for a moment, leaving his reflection, when she loo
ked back he was gone and not there to hear her whisper, “It was always about control.”
Chapter 17 – Max
Max stared at the small video screen on the backpack. When they had been shown how to operate the bomb they were impressed with the interface, which they could unlock using the codes provided by the military. The controlling computer allowed them to actually scale up or down the bomb and set a time delay and was incredibly easy to use. The screen they were looking at now didn't show any of the same options. It showed Draper, his large grin with white teeth gleaming in contrast against his black skin. The group had bundled back into the truck and driven to the interstate before stopping and investigating the beeping noise coming from the pack. The video had paused about halfway and Bill had restarted it from the beginning using the interface on the touch screen.
It showed Draper sitting in one of the rooms on the ship, his back to a gray colored wall.
“Sorry to do this to you.” Draper did look slightly guilty, averting his eyes for a moment from the camera that was recording his words, “First things first, if you are seeing this message it means you opened up the pack to take a look at why it is beeping. I set an alarm to get your attention, I hope now is not a bad time. This device is still a bomb, it is still very dangerous. No offense to any of you, but it is naïve to think the military would put a nuclear bomb in the hands of people who are essentially civilians. No disrespect is meant to Sergeant Ostling and his fine record of service. Before you get riled up let me tell you what you do have. For the record we have one too, so you are not the only Guinea pigs on this run.”
Draper paused and swallowed, the wiped his hand across his brow before continuing, he looked tired, “What you have is known as a positronic bomb. It has been in development by the Air Force for over fifty years and cost us....well, money doesn't have the same meaning now, does it? Suffice it to say a large portion of the research and development money has gone into making a non-nuclear alternative explosive device. You ever wonder why we agreed so readily to the bomb cuts in late eighties and nineties? Or why nearly every president can cut our stock pile of nukes even further for political gain? Well wonder no more, these weapons are a state secret, I don't even know how many exist or in what forms.”
“So what does it do? I can reassure you that it is just as devastating as a nuclear device. The effects will be almost identical with one small difference, there will be no fallout. The one you are carrying is equivalent to ten kilotons of TNT. For a frame of reference the bomb we dropped on Hiroshima to end world war two was approximately fifteen kilotons. So why the bait and switch to give you a more powerful bomb? The funny thing about Military regulations is that this bomb is classified as experimental equipment, which you are authorized to test. The other quirky thing is that you are not, as drafted and retired soldiers, authorized to use nuclear weapons, not without years of training. So there you go. We could have broken the rules, but in a civilized society rules and regulations are what set us apart from the animals.”
“The bomb can still be used as you were instructed with two exceptions, first you cannot change the yield, it only has one setting; 'Big Boom'. Second, you will want to get much farther away from the device before you set it off. A mile would be good. At that distance you will need to be under cover from debris, but, as I said, there won't be any radiation to worry about. Don't worry about the technology; we tested one of these babies in Denver three weeks ago; it worked just fine and took out the main aggressor there, I believe Max and Stewart can vouch for that.”
“Good luck soldiers, fulfill your mission.”
The screen faded to black for a moment then automatically reset back to the first frame.
“Who is Sergeant Ostling?” Stewart asked.
“Me.” Ruben said
“Really?”
“All my life.”
“Is no one upset about this?” asked Max.
The five of them stared at one another, then Bill shook his head, “Not really, we have a more powerful bomb, we have to get far away to use it if we want to live. It's experimental. Big surprise coming from Draper. I am more surprised they sent us five yahoos out to get this job done alone.”
“With all due respect Lieutenant, I think a small team like ours stands a better chance than a combat brigade. Plus they need all the men they have to help in the fighting out in Iowa.” Ruben said.
Bill shrugged his shoulders, looking unconvinced, “I know we have Max, but would it have killed them to send a few Special Forces guys with us too?”
“We are ‘special forces’, untrained, unconventional. Special.” Stewart said.
“I am not sure I like what that implies.” Bill said, “Ruben you said something about knowing why they didn't infect you back there, what do you know?”
The old man nodded his head, “Yeah, the one guy with the messed up mouth, he wanted to start in on me right away. The other warned him not to.”
Stewart rolled her eyes, “Sure, I had to kill the rational one, instead of the freak.”
Ignoring her comment Bill asked, “So what did you hear?”
“Apparently this part of the country has some sort of law again, and it involves not eating anyone still alive.”
“What do they do with us?” asked Max.
“There is a camp in town here. I guess, from what I heard, there are camps all over the place.”
“That’s…disturbing.” Stewart said.
“We gotta go get them.” Ruben rubbed his eyes, “You can imagine what it would be like, people crowded together, every once in a while someone disappears. It could be your wife, your neighbor.” Ruben looked at Bill, “Your kid.”
Shaking her head, Stewart said, “No. No way. I am all for saving people, but we have to keep the larger mission in mind.” She pointed to the bomb. “If we take out the big guy, the rest will fall like dominos.”
“That’s what I am afraid of. Without the big guy keeping them in line, who’s to say what will happen to the people in the camps?” Ruben asked.
“It’s my call.” Bill said, “I can pull rank if I have to. But…as we are ‘special’ forces I want your opinions too.”
“We should find them.” Ruben said firmly.
“Kill Sentry, come back here and help them.” Stewart said.
Max looked like he was thinking things over, he knew what he would do if they were his kids. “Where are they? Did they say Ruben?”
Ruben shook his head.
“We can’t be running all over trying to find them and who knows how many zombies there are? I think we have to go on.”
“Javier? You have an opinion?”
The young man, nodded, “Yeah. I keep thinking, what if it were my family? My little brothers or mom and dad? I think we have to try and help if we can. Like Max said though, we don’t know anything. We can’t fight an army.”
“We barely managed to fight out of this mess.” Stewart said, waving her hand around the front of the hotel.
“Okay, let’s get back in the truck. I didn’t want to travel at night, but we are heading further down the road.” Bill said, when everyone stared at him he added, “That’s an order people. Let’s move.”
Ruben stood still, as if contemplating saying something. Javier stood behind the old man, then brushed his shoulder with one hand and turned away. Shrugging Ruben gave Bill a sloppy salute and turned to get into the truck.
“It’s gonna be a sucky ride with no windows. Do you want to try and get a different vehicle first?” asked Max.
“No, we need to get moving before the zombies over there get organized and come after us. Can you see them Max?”
Max looked towards the other hotel, “They are there. More are coming from the west. Fast. Maybe in cars.”
“Then I’ll risk driving this. How many Max?”
“Fifteen. Twenty. Enough. If this is what they are sending our way, imagine how many they have in town. No way we could rescue those people Bill.”
&nb
sp; “That is about what I figured. Still, it hurts. We gotta keep our eye on the prize.”
Chapter 18 – Katie
“I had to drive through the night.” Katie berated herself.
Katie had been careful to avoid the many wrecks along the highway, however, the deer that jumped out in front of her was a surprise. She swerved to avoid it and ended up smashing into the guardrail and wrecking the van. The front of the vehicle was smashed in and the driver’s side front wheel had been broken off and pushed up into the wheel well. The door on her side was crumpled so badly from the impact that Katie had to get out of the van on the passenger side.
She looked at it and shook her head in disgust. “Why am I even out here? What am I doing and where am I going?”
“Now you are asking the right questions.” came Randy’s voice from the side of the road. He was dressed casually, in his old leather jacket that was a size too big for him. He was smoking a cigarette and looked like he was enjoying the night air.
“When did you take up smoking?”
Shaking his head, Randy answered, “Don’t get distracted, that’s what they want. I haven’t smoked since high school.” He took a final drag off the butt of his cigarette and flicked it over the guardrail into the median between the twin ribbons of concrete highway.
“You’ll start a fire doing that.”
“Pretty doubtful, don’t you think?”
She smiled at that, then hefted her bag from the van and started walking down the road. “I suppose so. For someone who is dead you are looking pretty good.”
“Thanks. You too.”
“Ouch. I cleaned up at the rest area, you saw me.”
“Here we go with the not thinking again. I liked your first question the most.”
Thinking about it, Katie’s brow furrowed and she repeated, “Why am I even out here?”
“It bears thinking on.”
Katie trudged down the road in silence for a few minutes. Finally she asked, “What else am I supposed to be doing? Crying? Hiding in a house somewhere? Heading back to die in Iowa with the rest of humanity?”