by Evans, Mike
Phelps hit his radio, giving Tina a look of disgust as the others laughed under their breath. Greg looked at Tina. “And they say I don't know when to keep my mouth shut.”
Ellie laughed. “I don’t think any of us can. You are extra gifted at it though, Greg.”
Phelps walked over to Tina, taking the extra keys, and then walked away to the side of the woods. He hit his mic and radioed up. “You guys done getting him undug? For god’s sake, we got shit to do and limited time left to be getting it done.”
Clary came back, “We’re almost done, sir. We were just finishing. We will be down soon.
“What the hell took so long to dig him up?”
“Sir, we had a hell of a time with the camera. Clare messed with it for at least fifteen minutes.”
“So no one disobeyed a direct order and decided that they should rebury Frank Fox?”
“Sir, we would never do anything like that. We will be there in no time. Come on boys; we need to do double time down this hill.”
As they started their run down the hill, Aslin yelled, “You think that we can get down this hill in no time, Clary? Because if not, Phelps is gonna skin our asses!”
Clary was focused solely on the hill in front of him, trying to not lose his balance and break a leg. He called over his shoulder, “I don’t know, but remember, everyone, when we get down there, as far as anyone knows, Frank’s body still needs to be taken care of. Don’t tell Phelps anything.”
When they made it to the bottom of the hill, each of them said a silent thank you that they’d never have to climb it again. Clare handed the camera to Phelps and Shaun looked away, not interested in seeing the pictures. Aslin walked over nonchalantly and gave the kids a thumbs up. “Don’t say anything, but we put him back exactly as we found him; I promise. You kids don’t need any reason to go back up there. It seems you are going to have a long night, anyway. Do you have anyone left in town who you can rely on?”
Greg shook his head no and shrugged. Patrick said, “Uh, well, that Andy guy said that if we needed more supplies when these ran out, we could come back there and if he was still alive, he’d set us up.”
Shaun said, “We will have to see if he is still there. He probably has a bugout shelter somewhere in the woods and will stay there forever.”
Ellie said. “Yeah, if he’s still alive—he might be one of them. We brought hell to his front door with those things. Hopefully he will let us in.”
Phelps looked at the pictures in his files, comparing them to Frank’s body and nodded his head, content that there was no scientist to bring back with him. He walked to the truck and climbed in. His men didn’t need orders; they got into the back again, and the kids all looked at each other. Shaun said, “I’m not sitting by him again. Someone else do it. He’s a dick.”
Greg shrugged. “Best seat in the truck besides the driver’s. He won’t get under my skin. He’ll probably kick me out after a few blocks.”
Shaun and Ellie climbed into the back with the other soldiers, while Kristy, Patrick, and Tina filed into the rear cab of the pickup. Tina said, “You need to go back out to the main road and head east. We can be there in about a half an hour. If we don’t run into anymore of those things, that is.”
“Well, what other way can we go to make sure we don’t see any, honey?”
“I’ve already told the young one, who was kind enough to strike my friend—”
“The friend who was trying to kick the shit out of my SEAL?”
“Yes, okay… well, maybe that makes a little sense. But we don’t go by ‘kids’ or ‘honey.’ We have names and we expect you to use them. You don’t want me calling you ‘hey, asshole’ all the time, do you?”
Greg couldn’t resist. “Oh god, please let’s resort to nicknames; you can call me whatever you want. It’s absolutely impossible to offend me.”
Phelps said, “God, I wish we didn’t have any use for you damn kids. If it wasn’t important that we had those papers, I’d leave your asses behind so fast.”
Kristy, who had said little, finally snapped. “You would have left us behind? You would have left us… are you insane? We helped you guys. We gave you a ride when we didn’t have to do anything for you. They sent you all this way to get the papers; well, guess what, asshole? We were already on our way there. We would have been there and back by now if we hadn’t had to waste two hours proving to you that Frank Fox is dead. He might have done something absolutely horrible, but you know what? He saved us. When people were abandoning the school, it was everyone for themselves. Frank came to the school to save people. He might have come for Greg to start, but he saved us all. Everyone ran. Everyone. They abandoned us, but Frank took care of us. Frank made sure we got to safety. He could have taken himself, Shaun, and Ellie up there and left all of us to die.”
Phelps kept his eyes on the road, trying to think of what he could or what he should say. He had only thought of Fox as the man who had destroyed the world. He was having a hard time dealing with the man from a different perspective. Finally, Phelps said, “So you were already going to get the papers. How’d you know about them? How did you know any of it?”
Greg said, “After we heard the broadcast from the CDC, we realized that it started in Des Moines at the hospital Ellie’s mom was at. Shaun knew that his dad was working on something, but Frank told Shaun it hadn’t been done yet. This morning, when they got back, we explained what Kristy and I had heard on the radio’s emergency broadcast channel. Shaun’s dad left a note for Shaun. I think it was the last thing he did before he started to… to turn. Shaun confirmed it to us on the walk down. That’s why Mike, who was one of our group, set the house on fire.”
Tina said, “Well, that and he’s a total ass. I don’t know what we’re going to do if we ever see him again.”
Greg smiled. “I hope for his sake that Shaun never sees him again. I don’t know if he could handle his emotions.”
Phelps laughed. “Well, screw me, if you were already doing what I was sent to do. There is nothing better than being sent on someone else’s missions, just to find out how pointless they were. The only thing that I can think of as a positive is maybe it’ll get the information through the proper channels a hell of a lot faster, and then they can begin whatever research they need to do.”
Kristy, the scholar of the group, asked, “So, you don’t think those things can be cured?”
“I don’t know, kid… I mean, Kristy. I just know those things that got up were missing limbs or had holes blown through them by Clary’s bombs. There just doesn’t seem to be a chance in hell that they can cure them. If they can fix the ones who are just Turned, or whatever you call them, great; if they can’t, well, I guess the alternative is something I’ve been getting better and better at over the last twenty years.”
Greg said, “What? Killing?”
Phelps nodded his head. There wasn’t anything else that needed to be said aloud.
*****
Ellie looked up as they drove on the highway, letting the cool breeze blow through her hair. Shaun watched the countryside passing by and he leaned over, putting an arm around her. He kept coming back to the fact that they could have a cooler in the back of this truck and could be headed to the beach. Ellie leaned her head on his shoulder. “You doing better?”
Shaun laughed. “Considering everything we’ve all been through today? Yeah, I’d say that I’m doing great. I’d say that we are all doing great. I was just thinking that… thinking this could just be another day. We could be on our way to a beach somewhere to roast.”
McClellan leaned over. “There ain’t gonna be no hot dogs at this party, kids.” He pointed over at the massive factory coming up, “So, that’s where all the death came from, huh?”
Shaun looked at E&T, nodding his head. “There’s a good chance that’s where it came from. He didn’t have any lab equipment at home. They gave him everything he could ever need at the factory to do his research.”
“Your da
d had a free ticket, huh?”
Shaun said, “No, he was a slave to that place. Everyone who worked there was. There aren’t that many places to work around here.”
“Smart son of a bitch like that, why didn’t you just move to some big city where he could rake in the money?”
“He stayed here because my mom wanted me to grow up in a small town… where she thought it would be best for me.” Shaun put his boot out, looking at the dried blood on it.
Aslin watched him looking at the dried blood—something he had seen more times in his life than he would ever want to try to count. He pointed at the boot and said solemnly,
“Unfortunately, kid, you can wash all the blood that you want from your boots, but your soul is a little harder to get at.”
“I think it’s already got some issues of its own.”
Aslin leaned in close to them. “You two make sure that once this is over, you get somewhere safe.” He pointed at Shaun. “You and the smartass are the only ones who can actually shoot, right?”
Ellie said, “This gun Greg gave me has a laser sight on it.”
Shaun looked at her. “What happens when the battery is dead, or the thing breaks? If you can’t hit with the sights on the top of the gun… well, you’d better be able to run like hell.”
“You know I can run.”
Aslin said, “Honey, they can too. I’ve seen those things run and they can run a lot faster and probably a hell of a lot longer than you can. I think you need to learn, and do it soon. I do not see a lot more help coming for a long time—if ever.”
Shaun said, “If I remember right, you guys aren’t actually here to help. You are still going to leave us once you have my dad’s research, right? There is no ride for us?”
“Shaun, we don’t have choices in life sometimes. When you are in the military, you do what you are told to, even if you don’t agree.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night. Our chances of survival went from ‘somewhat shitty’ to ‘obsolete’ if we don’t get a place to stay, new supplies, and more ammunition.”
Aslin sat back as they pulled up to the parking lot. He knew the kid was right and didn’t have anything to say. “I’ve left plenty of strangers behind, kid. Never an American though. I’m not promising shit, but let me ask. You guys aren’t infected, right? You aren't going to start ripping people’s heads off of their shoulders, are you?”
Shaun shrugged. “No, not yet.”
“All I can do is ask. Don’t get your hopes up.”
Shaun stood and climbed out of the back of the truck, using the tire to step down, took Ellie’s pack, and helped her do the same. “Don’t worry; we’ll just continue considering ourselves screwed and alone until we hear back from you. How does that sound?”
Phelps pushed out of the truck. “Get your hopes up about what?”
Aslin made a motion to keep it down with his hands. Shaun knew that there was never anything to gain if nothing risked in life. “We were talking to the sniper here about getting a ride out of hell and to some nice, cushy base where we could be safe. We could, you know go with you, as a little payment for services rendered.”
“You haven’t really done anything but confirmed Frank Fox’s death and advised that he was doing his research in a laboratory, which probably passed our analysts who put together our report for us.”
Ellie said, “So, what you’re basically saying is, we haven’t done anything to help you yet, but if if we do something that, in your eyes, is useful you’ll get us out of here, right?”
Phelps looked at Aslin with fire in his eyes. “Let’s talk, now!”
Ellie said, “Wait, don’t you want to talk to me anymore, sir? I mean, we haven’t really came to a deal yet, have we? I really want to do something that you think is worthy of riding out of here… on a plane that you probably don’t own and flown… by a guy who probably doesn’t work for you… and left at a base where you most likely won’t have to see me or my friends ever again.”
Phelps smiled with no warmth in it. “Yes, that is correct. Aslin, follow me over here; I’d like to talk about these kids out of earshot.”
“Wait, what’s correct?”
Phelps was already walking away. “Yes, you are correct that I do not want to talk to you anymore about this. I am quite confident that even if we were on a military base, and I didn’t have to take care of you, that you would still in some way be the biggest goddamn pain in the ass I have ever met. Aslin, over here now.”
Ellie went to follow Aslin and Phelps. Shaun placed a hand on her backpack, gripping the handle and pulling her back. “Let them go. You aren’t doing any good pissing him off any further.”
Greg got out, stretching and looking around. “Well, I’m just super excited. We get to go look around in the lab where whatever turned those people into monstrous freaks was created.”
Kristy said, “Are we all going to go in there, or are we going to stay out here while they go in?”
Shaun shrugged. “Hell if I know, but there could be things in there. That’s why Greg’s dad went in there and why they came to my house. At the least, I want to mention it to them. It seems like an important detail to point out.”
Clary walked up to them. “What detail did you want us to know that you think is important?”
Shaun pointed to the building, but Greg cut him off. “Yesterday, my dad left a note saying that he had to go to work. He never has to go to work on Sundays, so he mentioned that he was at E&T for a murder. It was his dad’s assistant, Rogers, who got taken out. That note was the closest thing to a goodbye that I had from my dad. I left it on the table, thinking that I was going to see him that night… and every night after.”
Kristy put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. “It’s okay, Greg. We all thought we had another day available with those at home. How could we know what was to come? We went to check out a homecoming rally and ended up with a bus full of bloodthirsty volleyball players, for god’s sake!”
Clary couldn’t think of anything to say. The one thing he was able to do that these kids couldn’t is be flown to a destination and dropped off. The problems weren’t his to deal with. “You kids do what you have to so that you can survive after this. It could be months before they figure out something, and that is if they ever do. You do whatever you have to, and I wouldn’t trust anyone out of your group of friends here. Don’t trust them if they haven’t earned it. You understand what I’m saying here?”
Shaun nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly what my dad told me. Stay safe, trust those who’ve earned it, and take care of Ellie. I guess almost the same.”
Clary looked at the other men waiting to go in and said, “You make sure you do what you need to. There are going to be some people who survived and they are going to be out to hurt others and to only take care of themselves.”
*****
Aslin followed Phelps out of hearing distance and everyone’s line of sight. When they got out of sight, Phelps gripped both straps on Aslin’s chest, lifting and slamming the man up against the back of a dumpster. “Are you fucking insane? Are you? What the hell is wrong with you? Do you need to seek medical attention?”
Aslin opened his mouth to defend himself, but Phelps, out of character and sitting right at his breaking point, cupped his mouth firmly. “You know what a fucking rhetorical question is. You can’t go promising those kids shit that you aren’t able to deliver on. Do you want to really take them on the plane back to the base?”
Aslin reached a hand up, knocking Phelps’ arm away, moving his hand from his mouth. Phelps reached back for him, and the younger, more fit Aslin blocked his arm and shoved him with both hands, stepping with his momentum. He laid a hard-as-hell punch into Phelps’ chest, making the man stumble backward and off balance to the ground. Aslin was ready to kill; he stood over Phelps with fists clenched. “What is the problem with taking them back? What harm can they do, for god’s sake? Are you that fucking heartless?”
Phelps pushe
d himself up to the ground, holding a finger up towards Aslin. “You touch me again, and I’ll snap your fucking neck. You’ll be lucky if I don’t have you court-martialed, you ignorant son of a bitch. You think I’m some heartless son of a bitch, don’t you?”
Aslin screamed back, uncaring at this point what anyone could hear. “Prove me wrong! Am I?”
Phelps tried to regain some of his composure, taking a long, steadying breath. “When I was on the phone earlier talking to the base, I told them I had found his son and a small group of his friends. I told them that they were healthy and that they were on their own.”
“Yeah, and what the hell did they say?”
“They said that if I brought anyone but Frank Fox back, they were going to take them off the plane and put a bullet in their head! I tried to tell them that they were just kids and they needed our help, and you want to know what the cold-hearted bastards said to me? Huh? Do you? They said that if they were just kids, that we’d be doing them a favor just taking them out ourselves. That if we brought them back with us, they wouldn’t even be considered as cleared to stay there. They stay here. If we take them with us, they die for sure. I think the best thing we can do for them is leave all of our gear and say that we lost it when we get back. There’s no way anyone is ever going to come back here checking for it. What the hell will they care?”
Aslin said, “This is the American government we are talking about, right? You don’t have anyone else that we can ask about this?”