by M. Lorrox
When Charlie finishes his meeting with the Council Guard’s senior officers, he notices a text from Sadie asking to see him. He checks the time and replies that he’ll let her know when he’s free. He returns to the room, changes into some sweats, and heads to the gym to blow off some steam.
As he’s walking in, he sees JD coming out of the locker rooms. “Hey man. JD, right?”
“Yup. Charlie?”
He nods. “Think you’ve got time for a spot?”
JD shrugs. “Sure, but I’m not sure you need it.”
They cycle through some exercises on the free weights. Instead of always upping the weight when it’s Charlie’s turn, he just does a set with three times as many reps in it.
JD shakes his head. “Damn, someday I hope to be able to pull that off.”
Charlie sits up after his last set of bench presses. “All that matters is that you keep making improvements. The numbers don’t even matter—they’re just numbers.” He stands up and moves out of the way for JD to lay down.
“Can’t argue with that wisdom, Bro-fucius.” His grin nearly reaches his ears.
Charlie shakes his head. “Wow.”
After a half-hour of lifting heavy things then putting them back down, JD crosses the line of bro-2-bro personal sharing with a simple question. “So, Charlie, tell me about yourself.”
Charlie clears his throat. “You first.”
“I went to college on a football scholarship, hoped to make it into the NFL. Studied education. I didn’t make it pro, but I did make it into tutoring special needs kids. Later, I picked up bodybuilding. That’s about it.”
Alright, three-quarter-truths engage. “I grew up in the mountains and always loved nature. I went to school to study environmental sciences, and when I was younger I did boxing and some martial arts. Did some competitive lifting and bodybuilding back then for a few years, and I guess I never lost the strength.”
“Where you from?”
“Near Asheville. You?”
“Originally around Detroit. My family left before the city fell to economics, long before it fell to the zombies.”
Charlie finishes his set and sits up. “Well that’s good, at least.”
“Asheville… That’s over near The Line, isn’t it?”
Charlie nods. “It’s over that way. I hear on the news they’re pulling The Line back. It’s gonna be even closer to Asheville, soon.”
-clang- JD slaps another forty-five-pound plate on a bar for the leg press rack. “Hope your people get out of there—you know, before things get messy.”
Charlie shrugs. “I don’t really have anyone down there anymore. The whole clan came up with me, and we probably won’t be going back.”
JD nods. “Sad to say I’ve heard that a few times—the not going back bit.” He sits on the reclined leg press chair and lifts his feet up to the platform to lift. “Me and my family are lucky; we moved up here a long while ago, so we’re still all together.” He presses the weight up and disengages the safety catch. Shit this mother’s heavy! ...Don’t show it! He starts to press the weight.
Charlie smiles at his new friend. “Glad your family is safe. That’s all we can hope for these days.”
After JD wobbles out of the seat, Charlie sits down. He puts both feet on the platform, but only uses one to actually push the weights. Nice, now that’s more like it. “I think my legs need a little more work than my arms. I’m only going to do a double set.”
JD notices only one sole of Charlie’s sneakers is squashed against the plate. He shakes his head and chuckles. “You’re an asshole.”
When the shuttle bus returns to the hotel, Beatrice looks at June. “So, dear, how are we walking in?”
June stands and extends her hand to help Beatrice up. “Through the front door.”
She smiles and takes June’s hand. “Very well.”
Inside, Candace is staked out in the lobby. When she sees June, she jumps up and gleams. Then, embarrassed, she sits back down as June leads Beatrice toward her.
“Hello, Candace.”
“Hey you, I’ve been looking for you… I wondered if we could have a chat.”
June nods and drops Beatrice’s hand, glancing at her. “I’ll try and stop by later.”
Beatrice smiles and pats June on the back of her shoulder. “If not today, then tomorrow. Bye-bye, dear.” She walks back to the courtyard and her chess set.
Candace leads June into the room she set up as the infirmary, then closes the door behind them.
When Charlie returns to the hotel, he heads up to the suite and is surprised to see Sadie there. “Oh, you’re here! What’s the rest of your day like?”
She crosses her arms in front of her chest. “Nonstop meetings starting in about ten minutes, until six o’clock, when you have your mission briefing.”
Charlie takes off his shoes. “Oh, shoot, I guess I’ll see you after then?”
She nods and clears her throat.
Charlie stands and heads to the fridge. “Everything alright?”
She turns and leans on the counter. “No. I wanted to talk to you about this mission and what the High Council discussed after you left, but I see you had more important things to do.”
Charlie swallows some of his drink. “Sorry, I really needed to get some frustration out.”
Sadie sighs. “Well, now I have to head back downstairs. I would have really liked a chance to talk to you.”
“I said I’m sorry, and I am sorry. What else can I say?”
“Nothing.” She sighs. “Good luck at the mission briefing. Please take notes so you can fill me in.” She grabs a notebook off the counter and tears a bunch of sheets out. “Here’s my notes from your meeting and from the one after.”
Charlie takes them. “Thank you, dear.”
“Uh-huh.” She grabs the soft-sided briefcase from the table and walks out the door, nearly slamming it behind her.
Charlie winces. Whoops.
“Is Mommy mad at you, Daddy?” Minnie looks up from her book; she’s sitting with Skip on the couch.
Charlie forces a smile. “Only a little. Daddy was a dummy.”
Minnie tisks her finger at him. “Don’t be a dummy.”
Charlie nods and walks toward the bedroom. “I’ll try.”
Skip chuckles.
“Where are the kids?”
“June went to the mall, and Eddy is... Did he ever text you?”
Charlie stops and pulls out his phone. “Oh. I didn’t notice, but yeah, he did.”
Skip shrugs. “I told him to check with you or Sadie.”
Charlie rolls his eyes. “Thanks for trying. Kids’ll be kids.” He walks into the bedroom and closes the door, then checks the message.
Mom/Dad, going to meet a guy in DC. Doing Research. Related to Sophia. Be back in the afternoon.
-E
Charlie sets the phone down. Maybe he found a relative? Hopefully the kid doesn’t get too emotional.
Charlie takes a shower, then he sits down to read through Sadie’s notes. Wow, these are thorough. Is she expecting me to do as good a job later? He smirks. She knows better than that. He skims the notes and misses a note Sadie wrote in a margin:
Charlie sees a big thick line and some text noting that the knights were dismissed. Alright, so what happened next?
He reads through her copious notes for a minute, then decides he should make some tea.
As he nukes some water, Skip takes a break and walks into the kitchen to join him. “Hey, bud, remember Katlyn?”
Charlie nods. “Did you get any sleep last night? You look pretty wrecked.”
Skip shakes his head. “There were three distinct times last night when I was afraid she was going to accidentally dismember me. It was...really crazy.”
Charlie laughs and slaps him on
the shoulder. “You kids play safe now, you hear?”
Skip nods. “Listen though, I was hoping to see her later, for dinner. Think somebody else can be on Minnie-detail?”
“Sure, we’ll figure something out.”
-beep, beep, beep-
Charlie pulls the hot water out of the microwave.
“And have you and Sadie discussed the field trip tomorrow? It sounds like Minnie would have a blast. I could go as her chaperone and hang out with Katlyn at the same time.”
Charlie raises a finger. “Ah-ha! The true motivation reveals itself.”
Skip shakes his head. “No! It would be fun. Have you and Sadie discussed it?”
He pours the water into his teacup. “Not yet. I’ve been voluntold to go on a mission with the U.S. military tomorrow, so she and I have been preoccupied.”
“Oh wow. Yeah, I can imagine.”
Charlie raises the teacup with the satchel of green tea up to his nose and inhales. Tiny bubbles tickle the hot water’s surface, and a delicate scent rises. “Ah, that smells so good.” He returns to look at Skip. “I’ll talk to her tonight. You know what? Why don’t you send a text to both of us, so we’ll both have a reminder to discuss it later.”
“Sounds good.” Skip returns to Minnie on the couch, and Charlie returns to Sadie’s notes in the bedroom.
Candace opens the door for June to exit the infirmary and steps aside. “Think about it, and June, thank you again. You’ve done so much.”
June walks out and gives Candace a half-smile. “Remember: please don’t call me at my number. Just text.”
“Of course.”
June walks down the hall slowly, thinking about what Candace told her. At first June was angry, but then, understanding. At least they don’t know about the sunlight thing. She walks to the courtyard to see if Beatrice is there, but she isn’t. June sits down where she normally does, across from where Beatrice normally sits, and she sets her bag of books on the table.
She stares for a moment, then texts Eddy to see if he can meet her. A few minutes later, June still stares, and her phone buzzes.
Just switching trains now. Won’t be back for another 20 or so.
Wow, I guess his lunch ran long.
K. Meet me on the roof.
When she gets up there, she does a lap around it. There’s only one other person outside with her—a vampire man who is vaping. She dodges the light as much as she can on her way to the same bench she rested on before, and she lays down on it in the shade. She pulls out one of the books she bought and starts to read.
Later, when Eddy arrives, he scopes it out through the windows of the elevator room. Then he takes another sip of his drink, then he walks over to her bench. “Wow, this is really cool up here. Is this where—”
She drops her book and glares at him. “Shush!”
Huh?
She sits up, making room for him to sit beside her, and whispers, “We’re not alone up here, and yes this is where I was.”
Eddy looks over his shoulder. Oh, that was stupid. He looks back. “Sorry I disturbed you, can I sit?”
She nods.
He sits. “So you won’t believe what happened after the meeting.” He shakes his head. “I’m not convinced, but I’m pretty sure that somebody was trying to follow me.”
She looks stunned. “Really? In the city?”
“In the metro. I was slick though, and I pretended to be on the wrong train, then I jumped out when the doors were closing.”
She sniffs. “Wow. But you’re not sure?”
“No, but I lost him in any case. Crazy, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s... Actually, that’s concerning. Do you think it had anything to do with your meeting, and the umm, item?”
Eddy glances up to see if the other person on the roof is eavesdropping. The man seems well occupied by the vaporizer in his one hand and the phone in his other. Eddy shrugs. “I think it’s the only explanation that makes sense. Why else would someone want to follow me?”
“What about the guy you met with? Did you show it to him?”
“Oh, I didn’t bring it with me; Jambavan said to be careful. Remember? I just asked a lot of questions about the legend and got background info about the jewelry. He seemed to think that the original items may not even exist anymore. He did mention some specific details that match with, uh, the item, but I played dumb. It all makes me think that it’s real though.”
June shakes her head. “That’s so crazy.”
“I know.” Eddy watches June. She fidgets with her hands and stares off into the nearby rhododendron’s dark leaves. He reaches over and puts his hand on hers. “You wanted to chat? What’s up?”
She sighs then looks at him with wet eyes. “I think I messed up.”
He puts his arm around her. “It’s okay, you can tell me.”
She wipes her eyes. “I tried to get sleeping medicine because I can never seem to sleep, and I gave the doctor here a blood sample.”
Eddy tenses his neck and sucks air in through his teeth, making an airy hissing sound. That’s not good.
“It was just a drop, but it survived being sterilized, somehow, and then in the lab, they noticed the umm, other virus. They were able to use it to make some medicine to help prevent infection.”
Eddy relaxes his neck and weighs the information. “That seems kinda like a good thing.”
June shrugs. “Candace—the doctor—is so nice, but they want more blood to experiment with. They made the temporary vaccine from the sample I gave, but it’s all used up and she says they need more blood to make a permanent vaccine.”
Eddy leans over and whispers as quietly as he can into her ear, “What about light?” Then he straightens back up to receive her response.
She shakes her head.
He exhales. “Whew, that’s a good thing.”
“What do I do?”
Neither moves for a moment; they just stare at each other.
June sighs. “What if I’m the key to a permanent cure? Err, vaccine—you can’t cure being a zombie, only prevent it.”
“But what if they found out?”
“I know, and…I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.”
Eddy leans back. He takes her hand again. “Me neither.” He clears his throat. “You know what, June? I think you should talk to my mom.”
She lets out all but a dozen molecules of air from her lungs and uses those last few to add, “And Dad.”
Eddy nods and squeezes her shoulder. No way he’ll be happy about this.
She leans her head on his shoulder. He’s going to be angry at me.
Eddy looks down at her hair and finds himself smiling. I really like this. He leans his head onto hers.
At five-thirty, Charlie leaves the suite. The mission briefing will be taking place at the nearby Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, and a shuttle is picking up the volunteer knights. In the lobby, they all meet up, and they are soon picked up by a nondescript white bus.
On the ride over, Tiger gets his attention. “Sir?”
“Yes, Tiger?”
“Just so I’m clear, Sky will report to guardsman Korina while I’m deployed?”
“Yes. I imagine that in all our absences, she’ll have Jambavan and Sky taking care of some important tasks. I hope they’ll be up for it.”
Tiger winks. “Can’t speak for her lad, Jamby, but Sky is, yessir.”
Charlie nods, then he looks out the window and thinks about Eddy. He’d make a great squire, but somehow, I don’t think that being a knight would be enough for him.
The bus pulls off the highway, but they’re not at the base yet. It makes a turn onto a street and stops in front of a café with outdoor seating.
Tiger scratches his head as he watches out the window.
Two vampires that were seated und
er an umbrella outside the café, walk to the bus and get on—a man and a woman. They are both dressed in business suits, the man with short, curly black hair, and the woman with long brown hair. The woman takes a window seat toward the front of the bus, and as the man sits down beside her, he locks eyes with Charlie and waves.
Schermer glances at Charlie and raises an eyebrow. “A friend?”
He shrugs and clears his throat. “Excuse me, are you on the right bus? Do we know each other?”
The man doesn’t turn around. “We’re on the correct bus. But sir, you don’t know me, not yet.”
At five minutes to six, Sadie is finally released from her meetings. Raúl walks up to her and slings his bag over his shoulder. “Sadie, do you have any dinner plans tonight?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “I’d enjoy dining with you, but first I need to drop some things off upstairs. Where should we go?”
He smiles. “I’ll have a car. Meet me out front.”
“See you soon.”
Upstairs, Eddy and June are playing with Minnie and joking. The books June bought are piled on the coffee table.
Skip picks one up and reads the inside jacket. “This one looks pretty good. June, have you read anything else by this author?”
“No, but I heard somebody talking about it somewhere. They seemed to really love it, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”
He sets it down when he hears the door’s electronic latch unlock. He stands and walks over, eager to be relieved for the evening. When Sadie walks in, he greets her and is frustrated when she mentions she’s going out for dinner with a colleague. He glances over to Eddy and June, then back to Sadie. “Charlie seemed to think that someone else could watch Minnie tonight, so I could go to dinner as well. Maybe Eddy and June could watch her?”