by Lara Frater
“Bullshit.”
“Surprised at the language from a lady.”
“Things have changed. You’re a murderer Joel. Get that through your insane head. You murdered people in cold blood. All they wanted to do was live in peace.”
“It had to be done--” He said, then walked out the door, slamming it shut. I heard it lock.
I began banging on the door. “Murderer!” I screamed, hoping it would unnerve him. I could play tricks like the rest of them.
When I figured he couldn’t hear me anymore, I went back to the stilettos and wondered if I could make them sharper. I wished I had a knife but if I did it would be in Joel’s chest. I imagine that and smiled.
I picked up the shoe and aimed it at a picture. It hit it dead on.
I picked it up and realized how I could escape.
I could become a gun—a shoe gun. I broke out in nervous giggles. I wondered if I was going as mad as Joel.
I went back to the closet and began pulling out shoeboxes. Joel had taken the sensible shoes, probably to keep me from escaping but I’ll run barefoot. I figured I can knock out the kid and grab his rifle. I shoved all the shoes under the bed. Before I went to sleep I would put them under the pillow and whack that kid good. Better than what these monsters had in store for me.
I didn’t get a lunch and dinner was the same thing as last night, rice and beans and a cup of water. It came early while there was still plenty of light outside. No one took the paper plates and cups from yesterday. I stacked them on a dresser far from the door.
I took the food back to my bed and ate it, then sat on the bed Indian style waiting for Joel to arrive.
He came not long after, opening the door then closing it. I could see an armed man outside. This wasn’t the time for shoe throwing.
“Good news,” he said.
“You remembered to take your medication and now realize you’re insane.”
Joel laughed. I was being serious.
“I’ve decided to punish you and not kill you out right.”
“So I’m getting a spanking?” I said and looked at him slyly.
He didn’t take the joke. Instead he grabbed my arm and yanked me over to the window. I didn’t resist.
“Look outside Grace—“ he said. “Can you see the flag poles?”
I searched the ground watching the people work in the fields when my eyes caught the flagpoles near what looked like a guard house. Someone was lying against one.
“We decided that you will be on display in the courtyard with your back against the zombies and your front to the hot blinding sun for three days while everyone watches you. No food. No water. The zombies will be so close they can touch you. Not biting, of course, just touching.”
I didn’t respond. I remembered when that thing touched me.
Joel smiled. He found my weakness and knew it. “You like to shoot them, but not be near them without a weapon.”
I didn’t want him to see me scared. I stared at him defiantly.
“Your punishment starts tomorrow if it’s hot. I suggest drinking as much water as you can.”
I would, but didn’t say anything.
“If you survive, you can join the rest of people in the fields. We decided that while you share some responsibility of the virus outbreak, your father was the one who was guilty.”
“I realized what this is all about? It has nothing to do with my family. It’s because I told you no. You have a real problem with women, don’t you? You don’t have women as leaders at all.”
“I got no problem with women,” he said. “Even though I don’t how you survived with Rachel in charge. She had one job with me, medic. She couldn’t lead her way out of a paper bag. Not that Tanya seems much better, she’s uneducated thug.”
That bothered me. I saw Tanya reading books every chance she got. She cared about our group more than Rachel and Abe ever did.
“Is everything that comes out of your mouth a lie?”
“Not all.” He said with an amused look on his face.
“Dan said that your house burnt to the ground. He figured you were attacked.”
Joel didn’t say anything.
“You’re not the best leader either. Good leaders don’t need slaves. Tanya’s good enough, she even got me picking in the field.”
“She wasn’t there to help you when we took you. That’s what Big Bill said. He killed everyone in your Cantina, every single one. She was out having fun.”
“There were two kids in there. You think good leadership kills children?” Jim had also been there.
“Collateral damage.”
I knew I was dealing with a mad man.
“Joel, how did your former house catch fire?”
“I set it when the zombies got in. Got four of my men.”
“Were there a lot of zombies?’
“A few.”
I smiled, “So you couldn’t shoot fast enough to save your house? Couldn’t handle a few zombies? I know you have assault rifles. I took out about fifty of them once that way. You don’t even need to be a good marksman when you use one. You just let it rip and hope for the best.
He didn’t respond but he was getting mad.
“What did happen? I’m a good shooter, one of the best. A few zombies would have been nothing. Look at the way we cleaned out Harbor Heights. You call yourself a hunter? You’re a lousy hunter, lousy leader, and all around nut.”
He was mad now. I stuck a nerve. I wanted to keep him off balance and it wasn’t that unexpected when he slapped me hard across the face. Hard enough that I fell to the floor. It hurt. I’d never been hit before.
“I suggest you drink a lot of water,” he said and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
I smiled when he left even though my cheek hurt. I touched it and it felt warm. I started to tear up because it hurt and I didn’t like to be hit.
Not that I looked forward to burning in the fields and being pawed at by zombies, but I unnerved him, which cause him to make a mistake. If that gets me a gun, all the better.
I did listen to his advice and used the plastic cup to drink my fill of the stale water.
The next morning it rained. Not hard, but enough for a reprieve. The man lying at the flagpole was still there as were the field hands. No yellow slickers like at our camp. Joel actually brought me my breakfast but there was still a guard at the door. He moved into the room, putting the tray down on the dresser.
He looked at me through the mirror. “I think we’ll have rain all day today, but it will get hot again.”
I sat on the bed and didn’t move.
“Did you burn your house down to kill the men you didn’t like?” Because he looked at me through the mirror I was able to see the double take he did. He turned around to face me.
“I burnt it down after zombies got inside,” he explained. “They killed four of my men. I already told you.”
“Did that happen before you stumbled on the lab?”
He looked mad. I really was unbalancing him.
“My men knew about the lab.”
“That’s not what I asked. Did you find the lab and went so insane you killed your men?”
“Zombies got into the house so I burnt it down.”
“You know exactly how many zombies you killed but you don’t remember how many broken into your house and killed your people? Weren’t you a good enough shooter? Or didn’t you secure the house well enough? In Costking only one zombie ever got in and it was by accident. They didn’t even need me. If you’re so tough, how did those few get in and why couldn’t your men take care of it? The zombie that got into Costking, Tanya killed it. Even she did better than you.”
“Your people got killed in an ambush and we got the jump on you.”
“My people got killed in the great pull. You got the jump on us because you betrayed our trust because you are a liar and a killer who took advantage of good people. Why couldn’t you keep your house safe, Joel? Is it because you’re a
bad leader? Or you wanted to kill your group? A clean sweep.”
“I’m a good leader. My men follow me without question.”
“Of course they do. You allow them to rob, murder and rape. How many people has raping Bill attacked? The women in the field; how many have woken up with him on top of them? I’ll take Rachel and Tanya’s leadership any day.”
Then Joel laughed. “Every time I see you, you don’t talk except to laugh or say no but you got a conniving little brain, don’t you? You’re plain mean and here you were pretending to be virtuous.”
“I never said I was virtuous. I merely said my family had nothing to do with the flu. You are a murderer Joel, just like me. Do you think your wife and children would approve of what you’ve done?”
That got another hit, expected, and it hurt but I was winning.
“I hope it’s100 degrees when we put you out. I can’t wait until you’re dying out there, feeling the cold fingers of the dead on your shoulders.”
He left again, slamming the door.
And whoever was going to bring me my dinner was going to get a shoe flung at their head.
There wasn’t much to do but drink water, walk around the room and watch the people in the fields toil in the rain. I don’t know if they shared in the food or got a small part of it. I was sure Joel and all his men were well fed. Joel thought daddy was a monster, but he gave a fair salary to our staff, especially the exceptional ones. There was a reason our staff had stayed with us for a long time. I thought about Edina and shooting her.
I saw two younger girls walking to the field. They seemed younger than the others. They couldn’t see me because I was on the third floor.
One girl wore nothing over her clothes like the others, but she had a smaller child with her who wore a black garbage bag she fiddled with.
Because the bigger one wasn’t wearing anything over her clothes, I could see her clearly. The last time I saw her she had long hair that Maddie braided. Now it was all cut very short. She had gotten a little taller but not much.
Aisha. I wanted to open the window and yell, let them know I was here and that Tanya had been looking for her. If I did, would that draw attention to her? Joel already knew Aisha had been in our group, but would he torture her to get to me? Instead I stood silently by the window enjoying the slight breeze coming in with the rain.
I watched them walk to the fields. Even though I hadn’t seen Aisha in more than a year she looked years old. She walked like an adult, carefully looking after the girl I assume was her sister.
Joel lied again. Aisha wasn’t learning how to be a hunter, either human or animal, she was also a slave. He had the two girls working the field. Aisha was only 15 and her sister barely looked 10. Did she even know Joel was in contact with Tanya? I doubted she knew I was here. At least now I know why Joel never brought Aisha.
I wondered if Aisha ever woke up to find raping Bill on top of her. Did her sister? I don’t see Bill caring about age.
She had always been friendly to me. Tried to say hello as when I used the bathroom. I usually dismissed her or never responded. Too much in an addled drug haze to care.
I hoped she wouldn’t hold that against me when I escaped. She was going to come with me.
Chapter 22
I almost breathed a sigh of relief when the kid opened the door. Both stilettos were under the pillow and I had one in my hand. Before he even realized something was going on, I threw it and wacked him right in the nose. The kid yelped and dropped the tray which scattered the rice and beans all over the floor. He grabbed his nose which was already gushing blood. I had meant to get his eyes but shoes weren’t a rifle. I then tossed three more shoes including the other heel at him in rapid succession aiming for his head, which knocked him over and caused the gun to fall to the floor. When it didn’t discharge, I rushed to grab it. The kid didn’t even notice. He held his nose to stop it bleeding.
I was disappointed to find it was a 20 gauge shotgun, a pea shooter, great for clay pigeons and home defense, but not much else. I checked the chamber, two shots. I had to make them count.
The kid realized I had the gun and screamed: “Please don’t shoot me!” He lifted his hands up which caused more blood to gush. It covered his mouth, chin and the top of his shirt.
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t going to waste a shell on the kid, so I whacked his head with the butt of the gun which I didn’t know if it would kill him or even knock him out. Turns out did something because the kid stopped talking, his eyes closed and he crashed down. It looked like he was still breathing.
I came out in a long hallway but I could see a staircase which I ran too. My foot steps were quiet because of my bare feet, but the silent house made my running sound like thunder.
When I reached the stairs, I tiptoed down. I made it the second floor when I heard someone yelling. I looked behind me but didn’t see anyone. They must have found the kid. I had to get out quick. I stormed down as fast as my bare feet could carry me.
I made it to the bottom, which led to a gigantic room that looked like a large meeting hall. I saw another room with an open door. I looked inside and saw a chubby middle aged white woman wearing jeans and a tee-shirt. She looked at me with wide eyes. She wasn’t wearing fatigues. The room was filled with empty cots. It looked like an infirmary.
“Please help me.”
The woman didn’t say anything or move.
“Are you deaf?”
When she still didn’t say anything, I went back into the big room. I couldn’t see a front door but I did see a window. When I tried to open it, I discovered it glued shut. I grabbed a chair nearby and threw it against it. The stupid thing bounced off.
I turned back to the woman.
“How can I get out of here?”
“You can’t,” she said, her voice shaky. “Just do everything he says and it won’t be that bad.”
“Grace!” a voice yelled. I knew it was Joel.
I spun around. Joel and four of his men had guns on me. I kept the gun on Joel but didn’t fire, although I almost did because I really wanted to. The safety was off, the hammer was pulled back and I was ready to kill him.
The five rifles including an assault one trained on me kept me from firing. Joel was in front.
“Sam, close the door now,” I heard the door shut behind me. “We thought you might try something,” he said. “You can kill two of us right now but you’ll go down in a hail of bullets. You have nowhere to escape.”
“You’re going to kill me anyway.”
“Possibly not,” he said. I knew I was beat but I didn’t put the gun down. I looked around the room, looking for anything that could help me.
“What? You’re gonna shoot the chandelier on us? What do you think this is? A movie? Do you think a posse’s going to come and rescue you? They won’t be able to find us and we murdered a bunch of their people pretty easily. Tanya knows she’s outmanned and out gunned. What does your group have? A bunch a rifles and handguns? They’ll be mowed down before they get even close.” He was wrong at least about the last part. Mike had a massive arsenal. Tanya had been very clear that we don’t tell strangers what we have. He was right about the first part, I could be anywhere. I knew Tanya wouldn’t have the time to comb the island looking for me.
“I’m not going to spend my life toiling in the fields.” I was tempted to pull the trigger. Tempted to watch Joel’s body fly back before his men let loose on me. However I didn’t want to die. I didn’t survive this long to die this stupid. I knew if I shot him, it would be over but if I surrendered, I had another chance to escape.
Joel didn’t answer my question about toiling in the fields. I didn’t expect I would live that long and suspected Joel was toying with me.
“Grace, even if you got your hands on a rifle, I’m sure you could take a bunch of us down, but not all of us. Could you take down all the zombies guarding this place?”
I looked at his men.
“Joel, did you tell your men
you burnt down one of your houses rather than kill a few zombies. How you murdered your own people?”
Joel moved closer to me. I wanted to shoot him, I really did but I wasn’t ready to die yet. The men didn’t respond to what I said. He grabbed the shotgun out of my hand.
“Grace,” he said. “They don’t care.”
Then he whacked me in the head with the shotgun like I did with the kid. Everything got hazy then black.
When I woke up, I was tied to a chair in the room, my shirt had been changed but there was no Bill on top of me. I wore a pink tank top now, revealing my pale shoulders and back. I was by the window at least. The rain had stopped and a low sun peaked up behind clouds. I had no idea how long I was out but it must have been all night. It wasn’t quite 100 but I woke up sweating, despite being seated by the open window. Next to the chair was a table with a glass of water with a straw in it and a note in front that read drink. I couldn’t grab it because my hands were tied, so I leaned over and sipped it through the straw.
I didn’t get startled when the door burst open soon after. I didn’t know how I managed to sleep in a chair but I did. Five guys including Bill and Joel carrying various firearms came with my meal. I guess they weren’t taking any chances. One was the kid whose nose was bandaged.
My head hurt, a lot and I felt a bit nauseous.
The dinner tray was still messed up on the floor but the shoes were gone, just a stain of blood remained. I didn’t know if they found the stash under the bed.
Joel had another plastic cup of water. Instead of putting it next to me, he splashed it in my face.
“I should do worse.”
“Why did you set your house on fire?”
He ignored my comment. “I do admit. I admire your spirit and your creative way to escape. I don’t blame you. There’s a reason why the people who bring you food only carry shotguns. If you had gotten a rifle, it would have been the end of us. Although Big Bill is an excellent shot. That’s why I keep him around, despite his occasional foray into the bunkhouse at night.”
“You keep him around despite that he rapes women in their sleep.” The other men including Bill didn’t seem to notice what I said or care.