The Undying Apathy Of Imogen Shroud

by White, Ben

  "Just get HERE!" Imogen yelled—Chris and Zack were coming towards her, Cheena behind them, she couldn't see Zed or Null—

  "Imogen—"

  "Keep close to Chris," Imogen told her brother, shoving him back as he went to support her. "I'm fine, we don't need to move fast—be careful going past these ones, they're still dangerous, they could still bite you."

  Imogen led them forward, glancing back every few steps—she couldn't see Keenan or HK but Trevor was there, and Jen was attacking a zombie with her sword, and there was screaming, horrible screaming from—

  "EAT IT!"

  Suddenly Zed was in front of them, somehow just there, slamming his baseball bat into a zombie's head with a running strike, and beside him was Null, expressionless as she drove her gun-sword hard into a zombie's chest, bearing it to the ground, and from nowhere she had a knife, was calmly and efficiently slashing its wrists before moving to the next—

  "Imogen!"

  Imogen looked back and now Trevor was gone, she could only see Jen, further across the room, being driven back against the wall by the encroaching zombies—

  "The stairs!" she yelled, as she limped towards the shutter, as Zed took down the last of the zombies near it with a crushing blow to the head. "Get to the stairs!"

  Jen looked around, clearly confused—

  "To your right!" Imogen called. "Then straight, just straight, just RUN!"

  There was a hand on Imogen's arm which she went to shake off, but its grip was too firm—she saw Zed, and the others behind him, and only then did she realise that she'd stopped, that the zombies behind her were getting closer—but Jen was moving now, as Imogen watched she saw her leap, a long, graceful jump that sent her over some unseen threat, and then she was at the stairs, and then she was up them, then she was safe except for the dozens of zombies below—

  "Come on, girl, work with me here," Zed grunted, dragging Imogen back. "You got one good leg, use that at least!"

  They were at the shutter now, Null and Cheena and Chris were all struggling to get it up—it wasn't locked, just heavy, and Zed pushed Imogen against a wall before joining them, grunting in effort as he helped them work it up—Zack was first to crawl under, then HK was through as the gap widened, then Zed was tugging at Imogen as she continued to stare helplessly up at Jen, as Jen stared helplessly down at her—

  And then she was under the shutter, and so were the others, and Zed was pulling it down but it was stuck, they could already hear the scratching and purring on the other side, and a claw appeared beneath—

  With a grunt of effort Imogen brought the blunt side of HopeKiller down on the zombie's hand, crushing it, then she limped forward to help with the shutter, pushing down with everything she had to help seal the zombies—and Jen—on the other side.

  There was a sudden release, and with an echoing metallic thud the shutter slammed down against the ground.

  "Great plan, 'Zed'," said HK. This new room was a warehouse, concrete floor and high red metal shelves stretching into the distance. "Real nice leadership."

  "Well now that just ain't helpful," Zed said. "Didn't exactly hear you piping up with any good god-damn ideas."

  "Keenan's dead, you know that?" HK's voice was high, close to breaking. "Trevor too, he was trying to help but they both just ... they just got—"

  "Yeah, I know," Zed said, his own voice lower now. "Ain't nothing no one could do about that. Just ... just some god-damn shit that happened."

  Cheena was looking at HK suspiciously. "And why are you not dead along with them?"

  "He crawled under the desks," said Null. She gestured with her gun-sword; more zombies were between the warehouse shelves, none of them close but all of them moving slowly forwards. "We're not out of danger."

  "There is an exit over there," Cheena said. "The way is clear for now, if we move—"

  "Hello? Are you guys okay?"

  Jen's voice was muted, but the quiet hope it contained was clear.

  Zed swore quietly, then raised his voice—"We're good, you just hang tight there, darlin'!"

  "'Hang tight' for what, exactly?" Chris asked. "I'm certainly not going back in there."

  "Well neither am I," Zed said, his voice low, "but what am I gonna say? 'So long, dead meat'?" He glanced at the zombies in the warehouse—most were crawlers. "Jen honey!" he called. "There a door or something up them stairs?"

  "It's locked!"

  "Damn it," Zed muttered. Once more he raised his voice. "How're them zombies in there?"

  "Do you have to ask?"

  "How many, you reckon?"

  "How many were outside? They keep coming in!"

  "Hm," said Null. She was looking at one of the nearer zombies—both its arms had been crushed, and it was just barely pushing itself forward with its legs. "HK," she said. "Stand in front of that zombie."

  "Hell no I won't!"

  "Fine." Null walked down a short ramp and into the warehouse proper, towards the zombie. It raised its head as she came near, purring gently. She prodded it with the end of her gun-sword, then took a small step closer. Its shoulders twitched and its legs kicked pitifully against the floor, and then the zombie opened its mouth wide and let out a crackling howl.

  "These are simple creatures," Null said, as she walked back to the others. "Manipulating them is not difficult."

  "I get it," said Zed. "Get 'em all away from the stairs, yeah?"

  "Possibly. The shutter is closed so there is no threat to us—"

  There was a loud squeak as Imogen wrenched at the shutter.

  "Sue, what in the hell are you doing?"

  Imogen didn't reply. She'd already gotten the shutter up an inch.

  "How in the world are you doing that on your own?" Chris asked. "Does sullenness translate to strength now?"

  "The shutter was jammed before," Null said, watching Imogen with amused eyes. "Now that it's unstuck, even one person—"

  "Come on now," Zed was saying, his hand on Imogen's shoulder—she wrenched it away and glared back at him.

  "Your rules," she said. "We don't leave anyone behind who doesn't deserve to be left behind. It's not Jen's fault she got trapped in there. She was trying to help Keenan."

  "Look, I know you and her got a little thing going, but this is—"

  "You can go ahead," Imogen said, before wrenching the shutter up another inch. "All of you can. Zack, stay with the others, do what Zed tells you. I'll follow behind."

  "You can't go in there—"

  "I'm not going in there," Imogen said, interrupting HK. "I'm letting the zombies through into this warehouse."

  "They'll follow us!"

  Imogen stopped her attempts to raise the shutter, turning to fix HK with cold, pale eyes.

  "So?"

  "I mean ... we're already gonna have to deal with more outside, and adding these ones—"

  "So?"

  "Come on," Zed said. "Before them crawlers down there get too close. Null, Allecchina, all of ya, you get on over to that exit and hope like hell it ain't locked. Maybe hold off on opening it 'til Sue and I are over with you, hear?"

  Imogen had returned to the shutter. It was jammed again, just a couple of inches off the ground. Already broken fingers and bone claws could be seen beneath, scrabbling at the concrete and leaving purulent brown marks.

  "Gotta say, I do admire your loyalty," Zed murmured, as he crouched beside Imogen to help her with the shutter. "Kind of surprised, though. Wouldn't have picked you to care about no one but your brother over there."

  Imogen said nothing, just kept pulling at the shutter—with a screech it came up another inch. She stopped and cocked her head to the side, listening. "Jen?"

  "I'm here!" came the immediate reply. "Imogen, just go, you can't come back in—"

  "We're gonna try leading the zombies away!" Zed yelled. "You know where we're headed, right? Grove Station! Out the north entrance, we'll wait there until dawn, hear me? We'll wait!"

  "No, don't wait! Just ... just leave me
—don't open that shutter, just—"

  "You can get out, Jen," Imogen called. "You're strong enough."

  "Don't wait for me!" Jen repeated. "Just look after yourselves!"

  "Don't matter what you say now, we're waiting, girl!" Zed yelled, before swearing as the shutter suddenly wrenched up—Imogen had given it a hard tug, was trying to push it up further before Zed grabbed her, she barely had time to retrieve HopeKiller before he was pulling her away.

  "No, I'm not—"

  Jen's voice became inaudible, with distance and the purring of the zombies now pouring into the warehouse. Imogen's mouth was thin and she clutched HopeKiller tight as Zed dragged her towards the others—

  "It is not locked," Cheena said, as they neared. "But we do not know—"

  "Just get it open, girl, we ain't thinking about 'to' right now!"

  The door came open easily—but rather than the expected street, it led to a long, narrow corridor.

  "Oh good," said Chris. "More corridors. Just what I wanted."

  "I hear that, Fancy-Pants," Zed muttered. "Left or right, right's gonna lead us back where we—"

  "We will go this way," Cheena interrupted, already heading to the left. "If you follow then we stay together, otherwise I will say 'so long, pilgrim'."

  Zed chuckled as he followed Cheena, glancing back to make sure everyone was with him. Imogen looked back too, to judge how close the zombies were, and how fast they were moving—in both cases, 'not very'. She breathed out as she looked forward again, barely aware that Null had her arm and was helping her along.

  The corridor led straight through to another exit door—there were other doors to the left and right, but nobody gave these more than a glance—and this led outside to an alleyway, free of zombies, which in turn led to a street, full of zombies.

  "Well, crap in a handcart," Zed said, as the nearest began shambling forwards. "This neighborhood just ain't safe!"

  Imogen was looking around—there were only a few zombies nearby, but dozens could be seen along the street, lit by the flickering glow of the few working streetlights. But it's not the ones I can see that are the problem, she thought. It's however many hundreds are beyond the light, waiting in the darkness ...

  Null was gazing up at a nearby streetlight, as it fizzed and dimmed then brightened again. "Power," she said, before looking at Zed. "The substations are likely down, perhaps there is no one left to monitor them. The energy from solar arrays is running out; soon the lights will fade."

  "Well that's just god-damn great news, ain't it," said Zed. He ground his teeth a moment, then suddenly broke into a run, slamming his bat full-force into the face of the nearest zombie, sending it sprawling to the ground. Zed stepped up, his bat raised—

  "That doesn't help anything," Imogen said. She didn't speak loudly, but Zed heard her. He batted away the zombie's hand as it clawed for him, then spat on it before striding back to the others.

  "Know you're right," he said. "Hell if it don't make me feel a damn hell of a lot better though—"

  "We should be moving," said Cheena. "If we do nothing but stand here talking about our feelings they will eventually reach us."

  Zack was at Imogen's side as they started up the street. Most of the zombies were in the middle of the road, none close enough to reach them even with the slow pace set by Imogen.

  "Damn it," Zed said, after the nearest light had flicked out for two full seconds. "We should've scavenged for flashlights—"

  "Where?" said Null. "There weren't any at the convenience store and we haven't seen any other shops—that electronics store may have had some, but we weren't in a position to browse."

  "Guess you got a point when you put it like that—"

  "We should go underground," Cheena said. "It would be safer than these streets, I am sure."

  "What 'underground'?" HK said. "There IS no underground in this city—"

  "Yes, he's right," Chris said. "The 'subway' plans have been floating in the breeze since I was Zack's age—"

  "Fools. There is no subway, but there are the underground paths. These are very much in existence. They reach many places, walking from my apartment to my college I need only spend one minute above ground."

  "I can see how that might appeal to you," said HK. Cheena shot him a sharp look.

  "One other thing," she said. "The underground lights are chemical. They will stay lit whether there is power or not."

  "Okay," Zed said, after a few seconds of thought—and after they'd headed down another street to avoid the pack of zombies ahead. "I can see how travelling underground could have its advantages."

  "I'm not entirely sure I love this idea," said Chris. "We all know that these zombies tend to gravitate downwards—"

  "There are many zombies up here, can it be much worse below?" asked Cheena. "I do not think so. In the worst possible case we will have as many zombies to deal with, but at least we will be able to see them! And I will say one more thing about the underground walkways. Near where I live they come out exactly near the station. Perhaps it is the same here."

  "Well I'm sure sold," said Zed. "So how do we get down to them?"

  "That, I do not know," Cheena said. "I live near the cliffs, far from here."

  "So maybe there ain't even—"

  "There are underground walkways in this part of town," Imogen said, quietly. "There are some near the main station. I think they might even connect to Grove Station."

  "Hell," said Zed, "could've maybe used that bit of information back when we was near the main-damned-station, don't you think?"

  "Don't yell at her," said HK. "She didn't know then."

  Zed grimaced. "Yeah, okay, maybe not. Sorry, Sue. Still don't know how we're gonna find one of these 'entrances' though."

  "In my part of town they are clear and easy to spot, especially at night," said Cheena. "For now, we should continue moving, taking as little risk as possible."

  "Amen to that," said Zed. He looked around, his eyes glinting sharp in the flickering light. "Is it just me, or are these zombies thinning out?"

  "It's probably just a lull before we run into a horde one thousand strong," said Chris, dryly. "We all know of their love for 'clumping'."

  Zed didn't reply—he was staring down the street, and then he was running ahead, Cheena close behind, then both stopped and exchanged glances.

  "Fancy-Pants," Zed said, looking back, "you ever gonna learn to shut that damn mouth of yours?"

  "Don't tell me—"

  "Reckon we ... hell, I dunno." For the first time since his dramatic appearance hours ago, Imogen saw Zed lost and utterly unsure of himself. Not that she blamed him. Ahead, as Chris had joked about, was a horde of zombies, standing still and silent along the width of the road. How far back they stretched was impossible to judge.

  "Those behind us are coming closer," Cheena said, after running back to check. "It is hard to judge numbers but I would say close to a hundred, far and near."

  "Trapped," HK said. He looked hopefully at a nearby building. "What if we—"

  "Hear what you're saying, but don't reckon it's worth the risk—crap, we gotta do something, though."

  He looked around, forward and back, and then he looked straight at Imogen.

  "Sorry, Sue," he said. "But I reckon you're the weak link here. With you and that leg of yours our pace is just too damned slow."

  "Wait," Imogen said, "you can't just—"

  Zed had already pushed his bat into Zack's hand. "Hold this for me, would you son? Get your sister's too."

  Zack took HopeKiller from Imogen's hand as Zed closed on her. "What?" she said. "What are you—no, don't!"

  Imogen gasped as Zed swept her up, holding her in his arms like a baby.

  "Put me down!" Imogen said, her voice almost panicked. "Put me DOWN!"

  "Sorry darlin'," he said as he started walking, his voice too close, his smell of sweat and splattered zombie goo thick in Imogen's nostrils. "Reckon this ain't too good for ya, but I figure it's e
ither this or leave you behind—and like I told y'all right at the start, I ain't leaving no one behind if I can help it. Don't wanna live with no regrets, y'hear?"

  Imogen could hear Chris talking, too: "—off your bag and those bats to Cheena and Null and HK there, and I'll carry you a while. You're so small I doubt I'll even remember I'm carrying you after a few paces—"

  "This ... I ..." Imogen trailed off, her cheeks burning with humiliation and anger, her expression one of pained distaste. She knew there wasn't any other choice, but still she couldn't help but rebel. "You left Jen behind, don't you regret that?"

  Zed was focused on moving forward, weaving through the zombies crowding the road, and it took him half a minute before he could spare the concentration to reply:

  "Hell yes I regret leaving that sweet girl behind, but I don't see how I could've done nothing different." Zed fell silent again as further zombies threatened him from ahead, but he broke into an easy run and was soon clear once more. Imogen had managed to look back while Zed ran, and she saw that Chris was carrying Zack, piggyback style, Cheena carrying Zed's bat, Null carrying HopeKiller, and HK lugging Zack's bag.

  "Left!" came HK's voice, and Imogen almost gasped as Zed jinked to the right—there was a car nearby and a crawler had grasped out from beneath.

  "That was damn sloppy, sorry about that, darlin'," Zed said. "Should know better than to get near no wreck."

  The road ahead was clearer and Zed slowed his pace, the few zombies around distant and slow, easily avoided.

  "Reckon that's the worst over with," he said, but he made no move to put Imogen down, just continued on, his arms strong and his stride long and steady, and Imogen had to admit—privately, of course, very privately—that having pressure off her injured foot was nice. It had been steadily growing in pain over the last hours, even now she could feel it pulsing, light but steady, and her other leg wasn't in much better condition, aching from having so much asked of it for so very long.