by P. S. Power
"I have this. Get this man some pain killer." He practically screamed the words, but it didn't hurt that much.
Jake knew that, because real pain made you pass out. It was a moot point because they didn't have anything all that strong anyway. Colleen bled a bit, once the bone was taken out of her leg, the man carefully removing her jeans with a pair of scissors to get at the wound, then taking a good bit of time to get all the fibers out before actually stitching her up. that was something new. Someone that actually knew how to close wounds.
Then he moved back to Jake, asking if he'd gotten that medication at all. He smiled and shook his head.
"It's alright. Just a few flesh wounds."
"Right..." The man didn't ask if he was going to change his mind, just pulling them out one at a time, then digging in the wounds for fibers of his own shirt. He didn't yell or wince in pain, though he did pant a bit. Quietly. Screaming was controllable. It was a choice you made. Maybe not in the first seconds, but even then, if you were prepared, you could decide not to do it. The only one that made noise, other than some hissing, was Nate.
It wasn't fair to tease the man though. He was kind of a homebody and hadn't seen a lot of injury yet. Maybe, if they were lucky, he wouldn't later either.
"Freaking exploding people. I thought suicide bombers were bad, Back Before. Oh, the death toll was higher, but this... They could be anyone."
Worse, the new tactics had been layered. It was like they had fail-safes in place, counting on the first thing not working. If that was so, they needed to get ready for the next one too. Vicki already had some people out there on it, but they really needed to get a head count and to have people ready to fight. Jake had no clue if they could actually manage it, or if it would make sense or not, but they could ask for volunteers.
He sent one of the Vals for it. She clearly didn't think that anyone would really help, just being Humans, but a good thirty people crowded into the mess that was the dining room, looking around not more than fifteen minutes later. Ok, so half of them looked to be boys and girls hardly big enough to hold a weapon, but they were being led by a girl that looked about seven, so it kind of fit.
Darla.
The Vampire. She was pushing eighty though, appearance aside, and didn't seem to have normal emotions. Most of the House didn't know that though, since she fit her role perfectly. Jake didn't know if it was true, but she was probably a lot stronger and faster than she looked.
He waved at her, regretting the movement seconds later. The guy treating his wounds had decided he didn't need stitches, but was busy pouring alcohol into his flesh. It burned a bit, but Jake didn't let it show.
"Darla, get with Vicki and Matilde. Set these folks up in the upper windows and in strategic locations outside. We need to watch the sky tonight. Also, if someone can come up with a way to take down a blimp, that might be a good idea. I shot at it, but nothing happened."
Darla pointed at the people around her, half of them at least, mainly the older ones.
"Get weapons from down in the armory. Rifles and extra ammunition. Then find some warm clothing. We're headed outside for the night. If we can find the engine compartment of the craft we can make it pretty hard to fly. It should be on the bottom. Keep your eyes sharp." She said it like it was real, but as far as Jake knew she hadn't been outside or even at a window while it was overhead.
As soon as he could, Jake slipped his shirt back on and moved outside himself. He was injured, which would slow him down, so he did it with his nine already drawn. Not pointed though. It was a risk, but chances were better that someone he knew would startle him than that some super-Z would come bounding out of the dark now. If they started dropping those though, they were in a lot of trouble. The things were fast, strong and hard to kill once frozen. Same with some of the other races if they got turned. It had happened a few times and while they'd gotten through it, the situations had been close. The undead were bad enough, the new types had just about pushed him too far.
He mainly walked around for hours, trying to stay warm and failing for the most part, but not wanting to go in when anyone else had to stay on duty. Nothing was happening now, though they couldn't move the bodies until they had light. Not most of them. They were actually dead though, or at least hiding any other status pretty darned well, not making any noise. Things went still at about four in the morning, with only the occasional crunch of boots on snow to keep him alert.
At first light they all went in, being relieved by the next shift, mainly made up of Cleaning crews. Carl was in charge of that, along with one of the other members of the hunting crew, an older guy that was a war vet. Barry. Cam had managed to get some sleep though, so even though he was about to drop himself, Jake figured that he could make some rounds with her.
Not the traveling to the military base like they'd intended, because he wasn't sharp enough for that, but checking out the distribution centers and whatnot. It took most of the day, but he scored some coffee off of Morris when they went there to visit, the man nearly having a fit when he saw the state of Jake's clothing. It was what he'd been wearing the night before, some of the stuff Willa had collected for him. After half a minute of yelling in whatever language it was that they used, Teleporter or what have you, several people flooded into the tent he used as an office.
Tansy was the first one in, holding a knife. Poorly, but it looked like she was ready to cut someone at least. Morris came in after her though, right fist clenched, with a few others he didn't recognize crowding the doorway.
For her part Cam yawned and poured Jake's cup for him, like she lived there.
"Relax everyone. It wasn't a good thing, but the Ba-Dehist is fine. After a fashion. Another of those exploding people. We did have zombies dropped on us first, from a big balloon thing, a bimp." She said it casually, as if she knew all about it.
Jake nodded.
"Maybe a dirigible, it was dark and we couldn't see it very well. The compound worked, but it took a while. Then they had the exploding guy. It was a trick. If they drop people on you, just get away and wait for the nanos to take effect. I don't know if they could reach you here or not, but it wouldn't be a horrible idea to put out a watch, just in case."
Morris nodded, but Tansy looked horrified.
"They tried to kill you?"
Jake blinked. A lot of people had tried to kill him. It might not even be personal this time. It seemed geared toward the whole House after all. Several of the others started muttering, and then people kept repeating "Ba-Dehist". It didn't sound friendly. Cam finally stood up and took his hand, ready to run it seemed like, if they attacked. Why they'd do that he didn't get at first, until she explained.
"They want to take you into hiding Ba-Dehist. To one of the most secret places. We have things to do though, so say the word and I'll get us out of here. Even if it means being cast out forever." She didn't let go of his hand though and Morris waved everyone else back.
"No, no. We'll be good, don't worry. No one will steal you, even if we should. We can't let you stay there though and the little baby, Hope... Her mother too. They should come here... All the smallest should. I was remiss in not offering before. Perhaps in more than one location? I'll take care of that. With the advent of these... Bimps?" He looked at Cam who nodded solemnly that he had it right.
"With this new kind of threat, we need to be extra careful right now. We'll find you a tent here. Or you can go and steal your own. Then no one would be likely to try and take you away like a child." He smiled and translated his own words, which got a few considering nods. After all, that was what they did, how they made it in the world. Theft.
It was what they respected, more or less.
"Fine. I'll go and take one then. Be back in a bit."
There were some in the sporting goods store at the mall they stole their Christmas presents from, or at least there had been.
Cam had them away seconds later.
Chapter six
As was always the pr
oblem with the mall, other people seemed to find a large building that had been cleaned of the dead somewhat attractive as a place to stay, at least for a while. This time though the nearly twenty people they found weren't cannibals. At least their go-to move when seeing a young and succulent Cam and a more than stringy and tough looking Jake was just shock, mixed with fear, not a discussion of cooking techniques.
Jake waved, not pulling weapons, though several were pointed at him. It was probably a mistake, but no one fired, or even spoke, until a little boy, who might have been ten or so, walked forward, sniffing the air like a dog.
"Do you have food?" The voice was a lot more reasoned than scared, which got almost all of the rest of the rag tag group to relax, even as they shivered in the cold.
Shrugging Jake waited for a few seconds to see what the next move would be. He didn't have anything on him, but hungry people might do anything, right.
"Not on me." It was just the truth, which got the boy to look back at the others, nodding several times.
"We... don't have much. Some animals we caught. Would you like something to eat?" As strange as it seemed no one told the kid to shut up about their food, even though Jake was obviously armed. Weapons actually even went away, hidden from view.
Tilting his head he felt like crying for a few moments, eyes actually tearing up. After a bit he smiled though, and stared at the people, who looked to be of mixed type. No one race being a mixed group, about half of them male, but they had an old woman with them that looked stooped and tired. He realized that staring was impolite after a few seconds, even though no one said anything.
"No thanks, we've eaten today. Just came to get a tent from Sport's World. Do you folks need anything though?" He didn't add a lot more, not knowing what they were going to really do, but the boy stepped forward, moving all the way across the fifty or sixty feet between them on his own, smelling the air in an inhuman fashion.
The kid froze though, about ten feet away.
"You don't eat people?" It wasn't a rude thing, just curious. His youthful sounding voice continued, but the words seemed older than they should.
"We don't either, but you know, even the good people still do sometimes now. I'm Ricky. We're following the directions on the radio, looking for a place called "The House" in Westwood. Have you heard of it?"
"I'm Jake, this is Cam. Um... We're both from there, so yes. It's about twenty-five miles away from here, to the west. I... Look, I'm going to be honest with you, since you seem to be doing things that aren't exactly normal yourself, but don't be too shocked alright?" He waited, but no one said anything, the adults getting worried, but not enough to draw on them again yet.
One of the men at the back sighed.
"What? Is that place just a pipe dream? It kind of sounded like it on the military show, but what else did we have to do? This area seems pretty calm, not a lot of dead walking around at least, just some real corpses on the ground..."
Jake nodded.
"No, the House is real and still there, it's just that, well, there are some different kinds of people in the world, ones that have always been here, but that we didn't know about before, the regular people, because there were so many of us. One of the groups came up with a way to shut the zombies down. Little capsules that you dump into the air. It makes the animated dead stop and drop forever. It also makes you immune to bites I hear. I haven't tested that one myself though. The thing is... there are people that can do some other things there. Wild stuff. Move things with their blood, read minds, that sort of things..."
The kid leading them, Ricky, nodded, looking back at the others.
"Like I was telling you. I'm not a regular person with a good nose, I'm something else. A type of person called a Bawdri..." He stared at Cam and then nodded at her.
"Just like I see that you're a young Scalliwagga." He didn't seem to be insulting when he said it, but Jake rolled his eyes.
"Teleporter. That's if you're like me and can't say their proper name. Anyway, my point is that we're all working together now, so if you can vouch for your group and will submit to some mind reading, we can find a place for you. Either at the House or in some other places."
It took a while for the seeming boy to explain to the others what it might mean, with some explanations from Jake and Cam thrown in. They didn't all jump up to go though, even when Ricky explained that Cam might be able to take them to the House using... Magic.
Jake had to admit, it did sound pretty unlikely.
"Or you can stay here for a while, it's a safe zone, as you noticed. I can get you some food, more than you have and you could make up your minds slowly. No need to rush if you don't want. We have time." He wanted to sleep pretty badly, but this was more important. These people needed at least some hope after all. Honestly they might not want to go to the House right then, since attacks might continue.
It took a bit to explain that too, but Ricky listened closely, nodding the whole time.
"Do we know who did this then? Who are we at war with?"
Cam grimaced, but answered pretty firmly.
"A group of Technologists went all batshit on us. Most of them ran off to another world to protect themselves, which makes total sense, but some stayed to fight this thing. They got us the fix for it. The original group is still trying to take us all out though. They can make bombs that look like people and have bimps that they can drop things from. Last night it was zombies. The cleaned areas will take care of those after a while, since the technologist magic things stay in the air and on the ground and stuff for a long time, maybe forever, but it takes a few hours to work, so it was pretty scary for a while."
From the back the old woman, who must have been close to eighty, shuffled forward slowly, her eyes looking far away.
"Did you say "bimps"? I'm not certain I know that one."
Jake nodded though, not wanting to embarrass his friend.
"It was dark so we don't know if it was a blimp or dirigible. Or something else. So for now we're calling them "bimps". New term." It came out dead panned and serious, but the older woman just nodded, as if it actually made sense.
Cam blushed a little though.
The explanations took a lot longer than they should have, especially when Jake told Ricky about Princess Alyssian being kidnapped, infected and returned and how she'd died. He shook his head slowly, looking sad but not grief stricken.
"Bit out of my social class, of course. I did meet Princess Samantha once though. Bit of a bitch, to tell the truth. Kind of snooty."
Cam laughed, moving a bit closer to the guy.
"No doubt! You know, the first time we met she tried to kill me? She really isn't that bad once you get used to her though. She was at my ceremony. Darian didn't show, but his main guard Robert did. Stood as my friend and everything."
The boy looked at his people and gave a low whistle, it wasn't a sign of anything, just a show of appreciation.
"Damn. That's something then. Robert is famous. Raised himself up from among the lowest to very near as high as one of us can go, and in just a few hundred years. Kind of an example for the rest of us. Makes sense that he'd go where the little Princess did though. So you have contact with people at the Lake? I have an extended cousin that might be there, working as a cook."
They talked for a while about things that no one else could understand, Jake getting the idea. It was both proof that Ricky was who he claimed, or at least had the right memories, and a chance for them to show that they weren't lying either. It was just possible that they could have heard a few names and were using them as a trick after all.
Finally Jake waved to everyone.
"Um, not to be a pain, but I need to get off to bed. What do you want to do? It's still light out here, but cold, we can't just take you to the House right now, not directly, but we could start things going, if you want? Or I don't know, get you all off to somewhere else, if you have a place you'd rather be?"
They didn't have anyplace though. Cam lef
t and came back with a slightly injured Nate who wasn't whining anymore. He questioned them all pretty hard for a long time, but after a while turned to Jake and nodded.
"They seem good. Of course so did the guy that blew up last night, right until he triggered the explosive. That was weird. So... Do we chance it or not?" He looked at the group in front of him and wasn't whispering at all, but clearly addressed the other two from the House looking for a consensus.
Shrugging Jake just smiled and looked at the people in front of him.
"Everything is a risk, right? I say we let them in and hope for the best. Chances are they aren't all bombs, right? If so, we're screwed, but... if we start turning people away because we're scared, then we can't hold everything together. We have to trust sometime, even if it's based on nothing."
Ricky was nodding along at least, as if that made sense and wasn't the dumbest thing ever heard, but then, he probably wanted a warm bed for the night.
Organizing the whole trip took time, about half an hour, since they didn't know how to teleport and didn't really believe it would happen at first. Jake remembered to get a big tent though, as well as a mattress from the bed store and a few warm sleeping bags and pillows. It was possible to sleep on the ground, but not as restful as all that.
It took forever, it seemed like, to set his tent up, which he had to do for himself because it was a rule. No one offered to help him, just standing back and waiting. It wasn't that hard though, having flexible poles that bent to make a huge dome. It looked a lot different than the other tents, but he wasn't one of the Teleporters, so no one seemed to think that was strange. They'd probably seem them before after all. They were, as a group, well travelled.
A short, or very long depending on how you thought about it, forty some minutes later, Jake was settling into his own bed, planning to not get up until he had to or someone pulled him out of the warm cocoon he'd made for himself. That worked, for about seven hours, until the daylight coming through the thing blue and red roof forced him up. He didn't feel rested at all really, his head hurting a little from lack of sleep and eyes feeling gritty still. It was enough though.