by Brown, TW
“Why would they use a toy? There have to be thousands of abandoned real guns around.”
“No idea. And they won’t be telling us anything, so let’s just get out of here.” Pointing to a dozen or so undead beginning to wander into the area, Rose started jogging down the street.
Aleah hurried to catch up.
***
Catie walked down the aisle of the auditorium. She noticed a few small clusters of people scattered throughout, busy at work. From the looks of things, they were scrubbing. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust, and once they did, she realized that they were cleaning up blood.
Up on the enormous stage was a large table with several people seated around it. She recognized Jordan and Latricia. Standing between them with a folder was the doctor who had stitched her up and drawn blood. The rest of the individuals seated were not familiar, but were all looking at her with an odd scrutiny.
Thinking that she might actually be in deeper than she could handle, Catie decided that her best weapon at the moment was to simply pretend to be what she considered an average woman to be. She would not go so far as to play the lilting rose, but she would certainly not tip her hand as to how capable she was at taking lives; that was going to have to be a surprise they discovered the hard way.
“We hope you slept well,” Latricia spoke first, standing as Catie stepped up onto the stage.
“Pretty good.” That wasn’t a lie, and Catie had actually wondered if the bread had been drugged, but after the piece she had that morning, she was okay with chalking it all up to the fact that she actually felt safe.
“So, we have some good news.” Latricia nudged the doctor.
“Yes…it seems that you have absolutely no signs of any infection. I still suggest a few days of antibiotics, but you should recover perfectly.”
“Sweet,” Catie said with forced relief. Surely they did not convene a council to bring a person in and tell them they were fine. There was something else, and she had an inkling as to what it might be.
“However,” the doctor cleared his throat and shuffled through the file in his hand, “we have some more news that you may find very interesting. Certainly by now you must realize that there are some who do not succumb to the bite of the zombie. We have managed to create a test that can predict with almost total certainty whether or not somebody has that ability or immunity if you will. It seems that you are such a person.”
Catie decided to go with the “Beauty Pageant Winner” emotional response. Hands to her face, she forced tears to fill her eyes—a talent that she had honed and used as her most effective method of coercion against her dad.
“Are you serious?” she said, running over to grab the doctor in a big hug.
“The doctor is quite serious,” Latricia assured. “Which brings us to our next point.” The woman looked up and down the table at the others who remained oddly unemotional and almost apathetic. “We would like to offer you a place here…with us. We sent patrols out to look for any signs of your group and found nothing. I am afraid that you might be all alone at this point. However, you could stay here…become a part of the community.”
Catie looked from one face to the other; in turn they nodded as she made eye contact. That was actually the most response she had seen from any of them since she’d arrived before this odd council.
Catie did not want to sound eager for fear that it would perhaps raise some flags. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and wrung her hands.
“Do you think I could maybe go out and have a look for myself? Maybe they hid from you.”
“We called out and used your name saying that you were safe and that we could offer them safety as well,” another older woman spoke up, leaning forward in her chair. “Our group was eight women and two men to try and show a less threatening display. I am sorry, dear, but I do not believe any of your group remains in the area.”
Catie dropped her head. She would need to show an appropriate amount of emotion, but she actually believed that her plan was now working better than she could have dreamed. If they were offering her the chance to be a resident, perhaps she would be able to have a little more freedom.
There were still some things she wanted to know; like where everybody was; she had been led from one section to another of what had once been a thriving compound with a population that supposedly numbered in the thousands, but she had not seen anything other than security patrols and this little council.
“So…I could live here?” Catie hated how her voice sounded as she added a tremor to it while keeping her eyes on the floor.
“Actually, we have a little more news that you may find very exciting,” Latricia said. “Everybody here shares that same trait…all of us are immune. You would be living around people just like you.”
“And you better believe that is a benefit,” Jordan said with a good old boy laugh that reminded Catie of every cheesy used car salesman stereotype. “There are some folks out there that see that as a bad thing…and they are hunting folks like us down…executing them in cold blood just because they are different.”
Catie feigned shock. Of course Aleah and Rose had related the spiel that these folks were giving and knew all about the war between these immune people and the group calling itself The Guardians. If she had her way, both sides would simply wipe each other out completely and do the world a favor.
“Now, staying here will have some responsibilities, but we can delve into that later,” Latricia said as she moved around the table and draped an arm over Catie’s shoulder. “For today, how would you like to just get a look at your new place, find something that you like from our available rooms and perhaps start setting up your very own home?”
Catie clasped her hands together and smiled her best smile. “That would be wonderful…but are you saying that everybody here is immune to the zombie bite?” She did not want to make it seem like this revelation was no big deal.
“Everybody,” Latricia confirmed.
“What happens when somebody who isn’t immune shows up?” Catie scanned the faces staring back, trying to gauge which one might have a reaction in his or her eyes and she chose Jordan Cranston. Bingo! Just a slight tightening that hinted at disgust.
“We offer help if needed and direct them to someplace that would be safe,” Latricia said after only a slight pause.
“You don’t let them stay?”
“It would not be in their best interest.” Latricia was now choosing her words carefully and, for Catie at least, it was very noticeable. “We have learned that, while a person can be immune to the zombie bite, it remains in the blood and can still be transmitted to others much like an STD.”
“Are you serious?” Catie blurted.
Her mind went back to Kevin and his recently odd and distant behavior. She now had a good idea as to why. Kevin was a smart man; it was very likely that he had figured all of that out on his own…perhaps when they had spoken with those pathetic captives that had escaped The Guardians.
“Very,” Jordan said with a touch of menace. “For somebody who is not immune to remain here, they would be in danger and that would also lead to the residents here being in danger as well. We also confirmed that, even if you are immune, once you have been…infected…whatever…you will still turn when you die. We don’t know why, but an immune person can still become a zombie when they die if they have been exposed.”
“Wow!” Catie breathed.
“So…will you stay?” Latricia asked with a syrupy sweetness.
“I would be an idiot to refuse,” Catie answered truthfully.
“Great,” Latricia guided Catie towards the rear of the stage and to a metal door, “then let’s go show you a few open rooms. You can pick the first one that strikes your fancy.”
***
“This is ridiculous,” Rose huffed as they exited what had to be the hundredth house they had searched. As with all the prior houses, this one had been stripped of absolutely anything useful.
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“I think this has to be where that compound has been searching,” Aleah flopped down in a metal chair that sat on the porch of their most recent failure to locate any food.
“You think there was any truck?” Rose asked referring to the spiel that boy had been giving them.
“Maybe several months ago,” Aleah said with a shake of her head. “I doubt that anything like that is still lying around waiting to be found.”
“We found that school fully stocked,” the girl reminded.
Aleah was too tired and hungry to respond. Looking out across the street at a pair of zombies trapped on the other side of the fence surrounding the front yard, she was ready to just head back. They had already been gone much longer than they intended; if Catie had returned, she would no doubt start to worry if darkness fell before they got back.
Climbing to her feet, she began the trudge back to the warehouse complex. Along the way, they headed up streets that they had not come down. The houses looked no different and they resorted to simple spot checks of every third or fourth residence, but the results continued to be the same.
At last, they reached the maze of warehouses. The absolute silence made everything just that much creepier as darkness began to extend the shadows until the entire place was shrouded in black.
Morning came and they scanned the compound at first light. There was still no sign of Catie, and the continued lack of activity throughout the campus was as ominous as ever.
“What about over there?” Rose pointed. It was actually in the general direction of the compound and looked to be a neighborhood consisting of townhouses.
“Doubtful,” Aleah sighed. “That is even closer than the neighborhood we searched yesterday. “That was probably the first place they hit.”
“Well…” Rose scanned with her binoculars, “…there is that neighborhood on the other side of those train tracks.”
Aleah adjusted her scan to where the younger girl indicated. It looked no different from where they had just searched, but doing nothing was a guarantee that they would continue to go hungry. Also, she was not sure about Rose, but she had less than a half of a canteen of water.
It hit her out of the blue. For the first time since all of this had begun, they were in danger of suffering from hunger and thirst. While there had been times when things were slim, nothing compared to their current situation. How had she survived over a year without this happening?
“I guess we don’t have a choice.”
“Sure we do,” Rose said with forced good nature. “We can just lay here and starve to death.”
Once again, the two set off in search of food. The scattered clouds were beginning to crowd together to provide a gloomy overcast that matched Aleah’s mood. She was really glad that she did not believe in omens as a roll of distant thunder announced their departure from the warehouse complex.
***
Catie looked around the place that she was told she could call home. She had to admit that she was just a little impressed. They had obviously put in a lot of hard work to get this place in the condition it was in currently. What had once been a large classroom had been turned into four apartments; each separated by a dividing wall that went from floor to ceiling.
The “apartment” had a small living room and bedroom. The bathroom facilities (outhouses like the kind she remembered from the county fair) for the entire compound were centralized and one was just inside the main foyer of her building. Showers were inside as well, and each resident was allotted one every other day.
She had a window that was barred on the outside (she was told that there was no sense not taking precautions when it came to simple security). Her bed was just a cot, but it had a small foam mattress. The compound supposedly ate in shifts at the cafeteria. She was anxious for the first meal in order to actually get a look at some people and hopefully catch a glimpse of Heather until she was told that there had been an accident in the kitchen and meals were being delivered for the next few days.
The door shut and Catie waited a few minutes before trying the knob. She was surprised to discover that it was not locked. Venturing out to the corridor, she was also not surprised to discover that the other apartments were empty. She reached the doors that opened outside and stopped in her tracks.
Standing just about twenty feet away were a pair of armed guards. They might be trying to look like they were just engaged in casual conversation, but Catie knew sentries when she saw them. With a sigh, she returned to her room.
Once there, she watched out her window. It only took her an hour or so to get the timing down on the roving patrols. Still, she did not understand what could have happened here that was so drastic. This place was on lockdown, of that she was certain.
As night came and her meal was delivered by a man and woman she had never seen before, but both made it a point to go above and beyond the concept of friendly, Catie decided that it was likely that she would have no choice other than to escape. She would have to leave Kevin and Heather behind. She did not like the idea, but she also knew that she could not remain here much longer. Rose and Aleah would definitely be worried by now.
She did not relish the idea of returning with this news; but once again, Kevin’s mantra proved prophetic. If this were in fact the movies, she would have walked by Heather in a corridor and been able to exchange a secret glance of recognition, or perhaps she would have passed a partially open door where she would catch just the briefest glimpse of Kevin on a gurney or something. All she had to show for her trip was the news that she was immune to the zombie bite and a few hot meals.
“This sucks,” Catie grumped as she flopped down on her bed and began to plot her escape.
When night fell, she crept to the door. The corridor was pitch black. Stepping out into it, she made her way to the double-doored exit. What she saw was a blessing and a curse. A light rain was falling. That meant there would be little to no ambient light to guide herself by. This place had limited electrical power, but they were very frugal with the use. They did not seem to see the need to light up the compound by night. She imagined that was probably a wise choice; lights at night would make them a target for miles around.
Scanning the area, she was amused to discover that there was a pair of sentries standing in almost the exact same location that she had seen earlier. Just as before, they looked to simply be passing the time in conversation. She watched for a few minutes and eventually felt confident that they were far enough away that, if she was quiet, she could at least get out of her building unnoticed.
Pressing on the metal bar that would open the door, Catie felt her heart sink. She had not even considered trying to open the door to the outside in broad daylight; that would have drawn attention. However, she had also failed to ensure that the door was not locked.
The frustration welled up. Suddenly, the feeling of claustrophobia began to invade her senses. She was a prisoner. They could guild the cage in any way they chose, but facts were facts. Catie was trapped.
She would need to come up with a new plan.
***
Rose slid down the hill on her butt. When she reached bottom, her ankles jarred a little. She had not realized the drop off was quite that steep. She was about to warn Aleah when the older woman burst through the brush on her butt and dropped that last eight or so feet to the bottom of this cut where the train tracks sliced through the area.
In either direction only a few lone figures could be seen shambling in the distance; none close enough to warrant concern. The pair crossed the eight sets of tracks and reached the other side. Getting up would prove a shade more difficult, and Aleah boosted Rose up first. The girl turned and sprawled on her belly as soon as she made it up over the lip. She was not thrilled that she was forced to lay sprawled on a hill that had her body at a perilous slant; so much so that she could feel the blood starting to rush to her head. Reaching down, she gave Aleah a hand up.
Once the two crossed the tracks, they had another steep sli
de down. But neither moved an inch as they looked out over the ruins of a neighborhood that had obviously seen some hellishness in the past year.
This is what I imagined every neighborhood to look like, Aleah thought as she took in the scene that unspooled before them. Houses were a mix of burnt shells, graffiti-tagged, or sites of massive death. Corpses were everywhere in varied states of decomposition. Some showed obvious signs of having been turned and eventually put down with a variety of head wounds that went from a single clean shot to a close range shotgun blast that left little remaining above the neck. To compound to the scene, there were zombies wandering everywhere. Some would stumble into one house or another and vanish from sight, while others seemed content to peek inside and then drift away; it brought to mind a macabre version of a block party as Aleah took it all in.
“I don’t know if we are gonna find anything here,” Rose breathed as she watched a legless zombie dragging itself along with hands that looked to be missing most of their flesh.
Yards as far as they could see were a mix of litter and bodies. In front of one house a child zombie sat with legs spread and a suitcase between them. It seemed intent on trying to get at the contents, but lacked the dexterity to operate the zipper and so it would alternate between pawing at the large leather rectangle and a tentative gnaw on one corner or another. For some reason, Aleah was transfixed by the scene. There was something in the act that was more curious and sad than frightening.
“I think this is the best chance we have,” Aleah finally whispered as she sought a way down to the first house that would offer cover. “So much zombie activity…I doubt many people would venture too far into this neighborhood.”
“Yeah,” Rose snorted, “and that is probably for good reason.”
“We can do this.” Aleah turned to the girl. “But it is going to call for something that might be more dangerous than normal.”