by Brown, TW
“You are not doing a very good job of convincing me,” Rose quipped. “And if you say split up—”
“We have to split up,” Aleah said in a rush, cutting the girl off. “But hear me out.”
Aleah laid out her plan. Rose didn’t like it, but she saw the sense in what was suggested.
“So who gets to do what?” Rose asked, returning her gaze to the endless nightmare that stretched out for as far as the eye could see. This neighborhood had not fared well.
She wondered if maybe this was one of the first locations to fall. It did not look like anybody here made it out alive…or tried to escape.
“I want you to stay up here in this ridge and start making noise once I get down by that little white house with all the boards in the yard like somebody was going to try and secure the place but never finished. I am going on a hunch, but if somebody was going through the trouble of trying to secure that house…maybe they had some supplies inside.”
Rose made no effort to hide her skepticism. Still, what did they have to lose at this point? She was so hungry that dizziness was almost a normal state. It was like a continuous hangover with none of the fun stuff from the night before.
“Move south about a hundred yards and start as soon as you see me wave my hand,” Aleah instructed. “I am going to get down to the house next door and try to get over the fence without drawing any attention.”
Aleah took off her pack and dumped its meager contents on the ground. A few scraps of paper and her piece of flint along with a well-used sharpening stone were all that tumbled out. Removing her canteen, she gave it a shake to show that it still had at least a few swallows left.
“What are you doing?” Rose hissed; her voice a mixture of anger and suspicion.
“If I don’t make it…this is not much, but we really can’t afford to waste anything.”
“But—” the girl started to protest; Aleah put her gloved hand up to silence any arguments.
“This is just being practical. I’m not planning on getting eaten…but I doubt many people do. It’s not like there is much to begin with.”
“What is on those scraps of paper?” Rose picked one up and unfolded the wad, flattening it out on her knee so that she could read it.
“Just some notes to Kevin. These are all the things I want to say to him the next time we see each other.”
“So why aren’t you taking them?” Rose picked up another and read it. “If you aren’t planning on being eaten, then you should keep these. They don’t take up any room and they weigh nothing. Shove ‘em in your pocket or something.”
“I said I wasn’t planning on being eaten…but if something happens, I want these safe. If you do ever see him again—”
“No!” This time it was Rose who did the cutting off with a raised hand. “You keep these. If something goes wrong and we get split up…you may need them. In case you forgot…I am the bait in this little plan.”
Aleah looked at the crumpled pieces of paper. At last, she reached out and took them, stuffing them into the pockets of her jeans that were barely staying on even with the piece of rope she had used to create a makeshift belt. Of course that only served to remind her of how hungry she was and how long it had been since she’d eaten.
“No sense waiting around or putting this off any longer,” Aleah said with a forced laugh. If she was being honest with herself, she did not really relish the idea of going down there. She knew very well how tired and weak she was; also, she worried about how her lack of food might affect her reaction time in a pinch.
Rose moved away to where she had been directed and Aleah slid down the berm as slowly, quietly, and carefully as she could. By the time she reached the bottom, a handful of nearby zombies had already turned and were moving in her direction.
Getting to her feet, Aleah rushed to take them out before their moans could start up and alert the others. By the time she finished, her hand was buzzing from the series of blows she’d dealt. There had been no time to aim or go for the easy shots. She had to work fast and efficient; that meant downward strikes to the tops of the head where the skull was the hardest.
At last she was clear and made her run. Coming to a sliding stop beside the house next to her target, Aleah turned to find Rose and give her the signal. She was a little shaken by how far away and small the girl seemed. Shaking off the sense of dread that was trying to build, she waved her hand.
Rose wasted no time. Aleah was actually surprised at first by how loud the girl was as she started yelling taunts from her place up on the ridge. From where she hid crouched down low, she watched as dozens of zombies stumbled past on the street out front.
The sound of gravel being scuffled underfoot caused Aleah to jump. She almost fell on her face as she caught her feet on each other in her attempt to stand and turn at the same time. Less than five feet away, a single zombie was coming for her…hands outstretched. She was just raising her machete to strike when a deep and thundering explosion caused the ground to shudder just a bit.
She had to swing twice to end the zombie as the explosion caused her aim to be off the first time. Her swing came down and bit into the shoulder, shattering bone and biting deep into the flesh, but otherwise having no effect on the zombified teenage boy missing a large chunk of his left bicep. The second shot hit solid on the crown of the head and dropped the creature. Aleah jerked her weapon free and spun in the direction the blast had come from.
To the east of the neighborhood—in the direction of the compound where Kevin and Heather were being held—a black plume of smoke rose skyward. She noticed that Rose had stopped her efforts to draw the attention of the zombies and was turned and looking off in the direction of the ominous black cloud. She also noticed that the zombies had altered their course as well and were moving a bit more easterly. However, she also had at least a partial understanding of why it seemed that so many of the zombies had stayed in this neighborhood; they could not climb the berm. Some would make it almost halfway up before tumbling back down the steep incline, taking out any other zombies that had been behind them.
Just then, another blast shook the ground. This one was even larger than the first. Aleah had no doubts as to the origin.
“What are you up to, Catie?”
***
Catie moved down the side of the building. She had some serious doubts as to how these people had survived this long. Morning had come and Latricia arrived with breakfast. Catie had asked about why she had been locked in at night.
“We lock down the entire facility at night,” the woman answered a little too quickly. “Just a precaution…still got a lot of bad things out there.”
After wolfing down the meal—she no longer feared that her food might be drugged and those eggs were simply too tasty looking to resist—Catie was told that she could come outside and take a tour. The pair ambled about the compound and Catie decided it was time to press for information.
“So where is everybody? All I see are the sentries. That seems sort of strange.”
“We had an incident recently and the entire population is going through a quarantine process,” Latricia said smoothly.
“But if everybody is immune…” Catie let that last word hang like a question. It would be better if she could remain as open ended as possible. That usually was the best way to garner tidbits of information. If you gave specifics, then you got specifics in return; if not absolute denials and deceptions.
“Actually, it was not zombie related.” Latricia looked around and then lowered her voice conspiratorially. “We had a bit of a rebellion. A few people tried to take control and started a bit of a riot.”
“Wow,” Catie breathed. She did not have to fake her reaction; she was actually semi-impressed with the cover story. Now to see if she could get in a bit deeper. “Was anybody hurt?”
“Actually, the people responsible killed a few of our women.”
“Harsh.” Catie sensed an opening and tried to pry it loose. “But why would they
kill women? Were the women part of your council or government or whatever it is you have here?”
“Worse,” Latricia said with what was almost a sob. “They killed a pregnant woman. Poor thing had an infant daughter.”
“So now everybody is locked up?”
“It is only temporary until we are certain that we have dealt with those responsible. We are keeping everybody updated as best we can and hope to have it all wrapped up in a few days at the most.”
Catie listened to the spiel as they walked. She was trying to see how it all tied together with Kevin and Heather. They walked past a series of large capsule-shaped tanks that were lined up along the back of the building that housed the auditorium.
It was at that moment that she realized there was just not anything she could hope to accomplish here. Aleah would probably hate her for it, but the reality was that Kevin was lost. It would take a miracle for her to do anything to save him. Her best hope was that she could wreak a sort of vengeance that might provide at least some sort of closure.
Not for the first time, she cursed Kevin and his repeated mantra of how the real zombie apocalypse had nothing in common with its film version. The movie version of Catie would be the hero, rescuing her comrades from certain death or whatever these freaks had in mind. The real Catie was simply going to have to cut her losses. She was staring at a golden opportunity that she could not pass up.
Latricia never saw it coming. Catie struck the woman a solid blow to the temple that stunned her. The second punch to the jaw put the woman out. Standing over the sprawled figure, she looked around and was glad nobody was in eyesight. She quickly stripped the weapons from the woman and scanned for her best way out.
About fifty yards and barely visible over the roof of the auditorium was a watch tower. She quickly dragged the limp body of Latricia over and behind one of the large metal capsules. Ensuring that she was not being observed, Catie made certain that her jacket covered the Uzi she had just liberated and then hurried for the watch tower.
When she reached it, she scrambled up the ladder. A woman peeked down just as Catie reached the rail and was about to pull herself over.
“What the hell!” the woman said with a start, but that was all she managed as Catie vaulted over the rail and punched her in the throat as hard as she could. She felt something crunch under the blow and the woman went to her knees making a whistling and wet sound as she tried to suck air in past her ruined wind pipe. Grasping the woman by the head, Catie gave a violent twist and laid the body to the side.
Giving the body a quick pat down, Catie discovered a flare gun. She also noticed that a large hand cranked siren was mounted in one corner of the watch tower. This was no doubt the extent of their “intricate” security. She was about to climb over and exit the facility when a thought struck her.
These people would no doubt send somebody after her. And with all the open ground, she would be an easy target. What she needed was a good diversion. She looked back into the compound and watched as a roving two-person patrol rounded a corner of the auditorium. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for stashing Latricia’s body. The fact that the two were walking along and engrossed in their conversation meant that they had obviously not discovered her handiwork.
Scurrying back down the ladder, Catie jogged to the corner of the building and peeked around. She knew propane tanks would cause a nice distraction. She recalled an episode of Mythbusters that had debunked the whole thing about how they would blow up just by having a bullet or two fired at them. She pulled out the flare gun and smiled.
“Hey!” a voice from behind her called. Catie felt her smile grow bigger.
Maybe Kevin was right about things not being like the movies, but sometimes life threw you a bone or two. She recognized Jordan’s voice and turned. She already had her pistol in her hand, so he never really stood a chance. Catie saw no need to talk things over, so she fired two rounds into the man’s chest. He was dead before he hit the ground; a look of confusion etched permanently on his face.
Of course that also brought with it a few shouts of alarm. Firing a gun tended to do that, Catie mused as she sighted on the closest tank and pulled the trigger a few more times. The hiss of propane was instantaneous. Waiting a couple of seconds for some of the gas to hopefully pool up in the air around the tanks, Catie drew the flare gun and stuck her arm around the corner, firing blindly.
She turned to run as the first explosion erupted with a violent ‘WHUMP’ and a wave of heat that sent her sprawling on her stomach. Scrambling to her feet, Catie hurried up the ladder of the watch tower. She kept detecting something in the periphery of her hearing and it took her a moment to realize that it was the sounds of bullets plinking off the guard tower.
She threw herself over the rail and flopped down beside the corpse of the woman that she had killed. Catie screamed when the woman opened her mouth and let loose with a mewling growl. Kicking away, Catie fumbled for the handgun and shot the female sentry-turned-zombie in the forehead.
Another explosion, this one larger than the first, shook the ground and caused Catie’s ears to ring from the violence. Struggling to her feet, Catie staggered to the rail of the tower and threw her legs over; pushing off, hit the ground and rolled, coming to her feet just as a third explosion sent another jet of flame skyward.
Taking off for the barricade of vehicles about a hundred yards away, Catie made it a point to zig and zag at random in case somebody was trying to get a shot at her. When she reached all of the crammed in vehicles, she hauled herself up on to the hood of what turned out to be a school bus. Taking one last look over her shoulder, Catie could not help but feel a bit of sadness as well as the sense of failure. She would really miss Kevin.
***
Heather stared out through the bars of her window. She was now certain that something was not right. It had been almost a week and she had not been able to see one of her friends. The excuses she was being given were making no sense. From what she was being told, Aleah was suffering from complications involving her miscarriage, Kevin was in a coma, and Rose had run away.
Of all of them, only the bit about Rose might be true. Kevin had fainted, there was no reason that he should have gone into some sort of coma. Also, she had been with Aleah initially and the woman had been heartbroken, but other than that, she was about as healthy as they came. And if there were complications as she had been told, then why couldn’t she go and at least sit bedside?
The second night, there had been what sounded like gunshots and some screaming, but she could not tell where from. Latricia had claimed that a small attack had been launched against the compound, but that it had been handled.
Then that storm had come. Heather knew a tornado when she saw one. She had actually been disappointed when it passed well to the east. Latricia came that evening and said that she would have to remain confined for just a while longer because of security issues and the fact that recent events had kept her from being processed and allowed out in the general population. The thing was, ever since the night of the so-called attack, she had not seen any of the general population going about their daily business from her window. It was like the entire compound had vanished except for the roving guards.
She was tired of hearing all the excuses. She was going to demand to be let out, and if that Latricia woman tried to stop her, well then she was going to discover that Heather Godwin was no pushover.
Only…nobody had come yesterday. When she woke this morning to discover a tray set inside the door, she had banged on the door, yelled, screamed and even trashed the room. None of it brought a single person to tell her to quiet down or anything.
Now, she stared out the window. Every so often, a team of roving guards would pass by. They didn’t even glance her direction when she pounded on the glass.
With nothing to do but wait, Heather had pulled a chair up to the window. When she saw Latricia stroll into view, she was about to pound again.
Then she spied C
atie!
At first she had not believed her eyes. She was now confused more than anything else. How had Catie found them? And more importantly, why was Catie allowed to be out and about while she was locked up?
She pounded on the window, but neither of them so much as glanced in her direction. They were engaged in some sort of conversation…and then Catie hauled off and punched Latricia in the head! Heather renewed her pounding, but apparently they were not able to hear because Catie connected with another punch that knocked Latricia out cold.
Heather could only watch as Catie performed a pat down, removing a few things before dragging the unconscious form over to the large white tanks that were in a row along the rear of the auditorium building. Then…Catie vanished around a corner.
Heather felt tears welling up in her eyes. She slid down the wall and hung her head in despair. If Catie was here and taking people out, then this place was as bad as she had come to believe. What did that mean for her? For Aleah? Kevin? Now she hoped that the rumors about Rose running away were true; at least that way, one of them would escape whatever hell these people had in store.
A sound that reminded her of muted bubble wrap being popped came. One blister…a second blister…
A muffled ‘WHUMP’ came a few seconds later…and then the ground shook violently. Somehow, Heather had been slid across the floor of her room. She looked up at the window and realized that it seemed to resemble what she imagined a portal to hell would look like. What added to the peculiar vision was that the glass had turned white. It took her a few seconds to realize that it must be some sort of safety glass, and that it had come close to shattering.
She climbed to her feet when a thought struck her. That was a single explosion…but there were at least a half dozen of those tanks in a row! Heather dove. Sliding under her bed just as the second blast came. This one was too much for the weakened window and the glass shattered inward, spraying the room in little square-ish cubes of glittering shrapnel. Her room became unbearably hot for a few seconds and then it felt as if all the air was sucked out that gaping hole where her window had once been.