by Brown, TW
“And is somebody going to explain what happened to their arms?” Nickie added.
I took a deep breath. After a glance at Jon and Jesus, I figured that they had relived this situation enough for now. I related the story as it had been told to me. I forced myself to relate even the worst details. Everybody needed to be aware of what we were doing and why.
When I was finished, I scanned the room. Everybody seemed to have drifted off into his or her own private little world. The children were huddled together and whispering to one another. I had no idea what that conversation might sound like, but it was clear that they understood at least some of what was going on.
“I will need a couple of you to volunteer to help Sunshine. Since I have to bring Dr. Zahn with me, she will need a few helping hands.” I considered my statement just long enough to wish I’d used different words.
“So will you be going solely to pick up the other survivors, or will this also be a supply run?” Doug Coates, Cheryl’s husband, asked.
“This is simply a rescue mission,” Jon answered. “There would not be enough room for anything else, and even if there were…it is paramount that we get these people transported here as quickly as possible. The ones here represent the healthiest with the exception of the two we deemed to be the most able to take care of the others.”
I don’t think I had made it clear that the rest who had been left behind were even worse off than the ones with us. I saw a lot of winces in the crowd.
“So what is the deal with the left arm?” Christina asked a very reasonable question that I hadn’t really considered up until that point.
“It was considered the least useful since all of them were apparently right-handed,” Jon explained. “From what they told us, each week, somebody’s name was drawn at random. That person endured the amputation and then the cauterization by the blade of a machete that was left in the fire for however long they saw fit.”
“So what would they do after they ran out of left arms?” All heads in the room turned. Levent stood there behind Rabia with his hands on her shoulders and a questioning look on his face. “Would they make more babies?”
“Oh my God,” Nickie gasped with her hands to her mouth.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But we are going to help them.”
I headed for the door and was pleased that everybody fell in on my heels. It took less than an hour to get all of the food unloaded. It looked like so much, but I already knew that it was not nearly going to be enough. For one, it was less than we had currently in our stores. That did not bode well, but I could only deal with one crisis at a time.
With everything unloaded, I went back to get Dr. Zahn. She was bustling around her five new patients with an energy that I had not seen in a while. I almost hated to pull her away from it.
“Time to roll, Doc,” I said. She looked up for just a second and then returned to whatever it was that she was doing with her current patient. I cleared my throat and she continued to tie off something that she had wrapped around the stump of this patient’s left arm.
“Hey, Doc, I said—” I started, but her head popped up and she cut me off with a tone of voice that I did not realize I missed so much.
“I heard you, Steven, but unless you want to return and find all four of these men dead, I suggest you wait the ten minutes more it will take for me to finish cleaning and redressing these injuries.
“No problem,” I said, raising my hands in surrender and backing out of the room. I stopped to kiss all my girls and assure them that I would be careful; then I returned to the Snowcat and climbed in with Jon.
“Don’t expect to see too much zombie action until we get down the hill,” Jon said. “I don’t think they can make it up here without a lot of difficulty. Which reminds me…how much activity did you guys get when we left?”
I related all that happened, including the bit about the child-zombie. He nodded thoughtfully a few times and didn’t say anything for a few minutes.
“Are you totally sure that you should be out?”
“I am probably slowing down the healing process, and I may be doing a bit of damage, but the days of being able to convalesce for any reasonable amount of time are long gone.”
Jon didn’t have anything to say to that. I think he knew damn good and well that he would be acting the same way…if not worse. Dr. Zahn did not take ten minutes, it was more like twenty. She gave us both a look that dared either one to say anything.
Once we were out of the campgrounds and had made it up to where I guess the road should be, Jon filled us in on some other aspects of this run. For one, we would not reach their location until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Also, we would need to stop and refuel. He already knew of a tanker that would do nicely.
Also, they had seen signs of human activity in the vicinity that we would have to camp at tonight; but the only other option was to forge an entirely different trail and hope that there were no nastier surprises. Having not been out in a while, I had a hard time recognizing anything and absolutely deferred to his judgment.
“Besides,” Jon said with a shrug, “we don’t know what the nature of these people are, and may just be worrying about nothing.”
He had a good point. It was just that we’d had some bad luck with the living lately. I did not want to put any of us at greater risk than need be…especially Dr. Zahn.
The rest of the day was driven in relative silence with only the steady growl of the engine as our travel soundtrack. When we did finally stop, I noticed that the huge fuel tanker was obviously being used by any who passed. There were all sorts of cryptic messages painted or etched all down the side of the vehicle.
Jon and I climbed out. I was surprised to see an elaborate and obviously handmade setup for siphoning the gas out of the tanker. Not only had somebody gone through a great deal of trouble, but they had left it behind for others. I was amazed and ashamed, because I hadn’t realized how pessimistic I’d become about my fellow man.
The entire time we filled up our tanks, I kept hearing the animal kingdom type show’s British narrator. “The tiger waits in the high grass beside the watering hole as he watches for the perfect victim to act as the evening meal.”
Less than thirty minutes later, we were back on the road without incident. By the time we reached the rickety looking apartment complex that would serve as the evening’s camp, I was exhausted from being so vigilant the entire time. When I climbed out, my butt still buzzed from the vibrations felt while sitting in the hard plastic seat of the Snowcat and trundling over the uneven and snow-covered terrain.
The place was only ten units. One two-story building housed six of the apartments and a long, one-story building on each side housed a pair. We went upstairs and into the one in the middle. I was only a little surprised to discover that a small cache of supplies was in place. After getting a fire going in the bathtub—a small hole was cut in the ceiling to allow the smoke to vent, obviously Jon has staged a few runs from here—we drew straws for watch rotation. I have the second shift. Time for a nap.
7
Geek Attack
Kevin pulled himself forward just a few inches on his belly. The snow was making him numb and a bunch of it had just gone down the opening at the neck of his coat and was sending cold trickles down his chest.
From where he had positioned himself, he could see all of the entries to the country club’s main building. Two figures stood at each set of doors. Of course it was impossible to tell the gender from where he was at, but he had to keep telling himself what Willa had drilled into his head all of last night.
“They are not men or women…they are soldiers and they will kill you and your friends without hesitation.”
Of all the days, the sun had chosen today to shine. The crystal clear skies were only allowing the temperatures to plummet further. Any time he stayed put for longer than twenty minutes, he had to break free from the crystallizing snow. The surface was almost a sheet of ice as the sun
warmed it enough to melt slightly and then the near zero temperatures re-froze it. Thank goodness for the military grade arctic gear that Willa had for the two of them.
As the sun began to set, the world was turning a reddish-purple. Within an hour, the front of the building would be completely shrouded in shadow. Kevin kept checking over his shoulder. Behind him, a tree-lined fairway unfurled a couple hundred yards before hooking left. He was in the perfect position to see all the way down the slope, and could even see part of the grounds of the dogleg as well as the tattered flag marking the hole’s oval green. It was from there that he expected the foot patrol to appear.
Twice he thought he saw her. Twice, a figure paused at one of the expansive windows. Of course he could no more see the details of that face as he could the sentries at the doors, but he knew it was her.
Aleah.
He knew that the primary motivator for him was to not fail Valarie. Yet, when he was being honest, it was Aleah’s face that he saw every time that he closed his eyes. It was her voice in his head telling him that she believed in him.
His head snapped and he realized that he had drifted off. He scanned the area and looked back over his shoulder. Still nothing, but he couldn’t be sure that they hadn’t passed by while he had been asleep.
It was the cold. It was sapping him of his energy. Already, even though he knew he needed to be alert, he could feel the lure of sleep tugging at him. He scooped a handful of snow and rubbed it on his face. He hoped that darkness would come soon.
Less than fifteen minutes later he saw a team of ten leave the country club. That was not part of the plan. They had waited this extra day because Willa insisted that they let them discover and react to the missing sentries that they had killed.
Of course there was no way that they would find the bodies. Kevin had made sure of that by lugging them to the wall and tossing them over and emptying his pack. He and Willa scooped up all the bloody snow and carried it out like the garbage. Using a branch to brush the snow and obscure their tracks, they had made their escape and hauled the bodies away.
Of course he realized that there was no way to completely erase their tracks, but it looked like there had been a lot of foot traffic by the soldiers as they obviously had been searching the area. He hoped they were simply scavenging for food; he wanted to have the complete element of surprise. If they were searching for him, that might prove to be a problem.
The ten soldiers were all equipped with an impressive array of weapons and split up into two groups of five. One group headed up the driveway. They looked to be heading out of the golf course’s entry drive. The other five were headed almost directly towards him!
He held his breath, afraid that the fog created by it might give him away. Fortunately, they veered to the left. They would be heading down the fairway at his back. He could hear them talking, but was unable to make out anything being said.
Not long after the darkness laid claim to the land, he saw a single flash on the far left of the main building. That would be Willa. She had some of those glow sticks and had determined that the signal to move would be her setting one of them off. Of course she would cover it and bury it immediately after activation; they didn’t want to risk the chance of it falling out of a pouch or pocket at an inopportune time and giving them away. That was just another one of the beauties of a dead world. With such complete darkness, something so small as a glow stick grabbed immediate attention.
Kevin pushed himself up from the snow. His entire body felt as if it were in the throbbing stage after a bee sting. He had to grab ahold of a nearby branch to keep from sinking back to his knees. After stomping his feet a few times to get his circulation jump-started, Kevin ducked down low and moved along the tree line. He needed to stay in the shadows because the moon had the entire landscape lit up in a soft blue light.
Now that the sun was gone, he could see into the shadows of the country club enough to know that there were still sentries out. He wasn’t sure if whoever was in charge in there had made the decree after two of their own came up missing, but it was ‘lights out’ inside the huge building.
Eventually he came to the tree-lined path that would lead up to the country club’s small bar, not surprisingly named ‘The Nineteenth Hole’. As expected, there were two sentries here as well. Here is where the plan’s success hinged. Kevin was able to get within ten yards of the doorway and remain unseen.
He squatted down and pulled the six bottles from his knapsack. It took him a while to unwrap them. Willa had insisted that they bundle them with cut up blankets to prevent breakage or noise. His hands didn’t want to do exactly as he directed because, despite even the best gloves, his hands had gotten cold and were slightly numb. Next he pulled out the collapsible wind screen. After he dug a small pit in the snow and lined up the bottles, he wedged the screen into place.
The idea was to keep his location a secret for as long as possible. Of course, if the sentries were paying serious attention, then this entire elaborate set up was all for naught. Willa said that it was typical for the folks on the night watch to be lulled into a bit of a stupor by the lack of activity.
Kevin thumbed the wheel of the lighter. The rasp of flint and steel sounded like an explosion in his ears. He looked up and instantly remembered Willa’s other word of caution.
“Don’t look into the flame when you light it,” she warned. “You are gonna lose your night vision any way, but every extra second that you can be aware of your surroundings is to your benefit.”
He also remembered his response. “I know!”
At least he didn’t hear anybody yelling or sounding any sort of alarm. Once Kevin lit the first two Molotov’s he snatched them up. He cocked his arm and launched the first one. It sailed high and slammed into the wall just a few feet away from the entry.
In the flash of near blinding light, Kevin saw both of the sentries duck and dive away from the flames. Human instinct is a wonderful thing. No matter how well trained most people believe themselves to be, the instinct of self-preservation kicks in on its own before training and discipline has a chance.
Kevin didn’t wait to admire his work for more than a second before he hurled his second fire bomb. There was a crash of glass and an orange glow began to illuminate what had once been a huge dining and reception room. As he knelt down to grab the next two, he heard a muffled cry. When he looked up, a third shadow had joined the sentries—that would be Willa.
Selecting another large window to the right, Kevin hurled one and then another of his Molotovs, and then quickly scooped up the last two. This would be the trickiest part, and also the part where he might unknowingly injure his friends. He targeted the second-floor balcony windows of the spire-topped circular portion. The first one crashed into the railing and Kevin adjusted his second throw accordingly.
The flaming missile smashed through the window and an additional crash was heard seconds later. Just as he’d tossed that last one—the entire operation had taken less than twenty seconds up to this point, but felt like an eternity—the guards from the front of the building came running around the corner. That was his cue; Kevin turned and ran back into the woods that bordered the long fairway.
He had gotten a decent distance when he heard the yelps. That would be the trip line he had strung between several of the trees catching at least one of his pursuers. A few seconds later, he heard a yelp of pain. That would be Willa nailing one of his pursuers in the back with her crossbow. She had made it clear that she would try and take a couple of shots if the sentries went after him and didn’t bother to look back her way.
They still had no idea how many people they were dealing with, and any chance to pare down the numbers had to be taken. Kevin ducked just before he reached the edge of the tree line. This was the most dangerous part for him. He would have to run all the way across the open ground of the dog leg. He hoped that he’d built enough of a lead.
As he reached the halfway point, he heard a strangled cry as an
other of his pursuers apparently ‘discovered’ the line he had rigged at about throat level. He dove into the waist-high, snow-covered shrubs when the first arrows flew past. The solid ‘thok’ of one of the projectiles burying itself into the trunk of a nearby tree made Kevin scramble to his hands and knees and keep moving.
He knew that there was no way he would be able to give his pursuers the slip. His only hope was that Willa had everything handled on her end. A few moments of running in the snow was worse than an hour of just plain running, and his lungs were on fire. He came out into the open once more and took stock of his position. As he passed a ball washer, he cut left and saw the long, gentle downhill slope just ahead.
His mind went back to one of his favorite James Bond movies, For Your Eyes Only. There was a really great chase on skis where Roger Moore’s hair barely moves. What he was about to do would not be nearly as cool, but he was willing to put it up on the fun-meter with the water slide scene from The Goonies.
He spied his target and veered just slightly. Grabbing the Snow Disc, he took two more steps and flung himself forward, landing belly first on the round, metallic disc and taking off down the hill. He kept his feet up just enough so as not to drag in the snow and slow him down. A glance over his shoulder allowed him to see three dark forms reach the crest of the hill. He was almost in the clear. Kevin looked forward just in time to notice that we was starting to veer towards the small frozen pond to his left. Leaning slightly, he corrected his course.
As the slope leveled out, he coasted to a stop. He did not see the trio of pursuers any longer. That could be good or bad. However, there was a pronounced glow back towards the country club. The fire had caught, and if he could make his judgment based solely on the brightness, he would guess that it was well past out of control. He just hoped that all of his people made it out. In the back of his mind, he still struggled with taking such a drastic measure, but Willa said that it was either this, or else leave them to their fate. When Kevin had asked about going back to her people for help, her explanation had been simple.