Parish

by Nicole Murphy

  “Artemis, you son of a bitch!” The soldier was beaming as he embraced Artemis. Wade and Wren looked confused as they watched.

  “Juan, you old asshole! I thought you were dead!” Artemis laughed as he returned the man’s embrace.

  “Uhh…hello?” Wren interrupted.

  “Who do you got here?” Juan asked as he looked Wade and Wren over.

  “I saved them. We’ve been traveling together. That’s Henry and this here is Jackie but we call her Jack.” Artemis introduced them.

  “Nice to meet you.” Juan nodded before turning back to Artemis. “Man, last I saw you was right before the city went to shit.”

  “It wasn’t easy getting out, that’s for sure.” Artemis nodded.

  “Come on. We’ll talk once we get back behind the barricade. Sarge is going to shit a brick when he sees you! Not to mention you managed to bring back two survivors who look like they can handle a weapon or two.” Juan turned to walk back the way he came.

  “Our stuff is in the truck.” Wade pointed to the cargo truck.

  “Oh, yeah grab your stuff. Be fast though, Sarge doesn’t like us to be out beyond the barrier too long.” Juan looked over his shoulder back to the barricade.

  Wade and Wren ran back to the truck and grabbed their bags. Artemis walked over and grabbed his too, not forgetting his gun. They walked back and met up with Juan who was waiting for them.

  “How many you got here?” Artemis asked.

  “We got a good many. We got a lot of civilians though.” Juan laughed and shook his head. “Damn civilians, trying to act like this is the Wild West or some shit.”

  “Is there any news?” Wade asked.

  “Yeah, the first cities that fell, they’re reporting the zombies are just falling over dead, well deader. They ain’t walking no more and they sure as hell ain’t trying to eat a person.” Juan flashed a toothy grin to Wren. “No one is sure what caused it quite yet, but we got people working on it.”

  They passed through a small opening in the barricade. People waiting on the safe side closed the opening behind them as fast as they could. It wasn’t much, but people weren’t running or hiding and there was no one stumbling towards them trying to devour their flesh.

  “We got separate sleeping quarters, Artemis. Come on, I’ll show Henry and Jack here where they can put their stuff then I’ll take you to where we’re set up.” Juan walked a bit faster.

  “If it’s okay, I’d rather not be separated from these two. We’ve been together for a few days now, I’m kind of responsible for them. They’re teens and they’re orphans.” Artemis explained.

  “You ain’t got nothing to worry about. They’re safe in here.” Juan shook his head and pointed to a tent set up in the street. “Go on in there, and there’s a lady name Beatrice in there. Tell her that Juan sent you and she’ll help you get settled in. Me and Artemis here will come back in a bit and check on you, take you to get some chow, ok?”

  “Yeah.” Wade nodded. Wren watched as Artemis walked away from them with Juan. He didn’t even look back at them. “Come on let’s go meet this Beatrice.”

  “He didn’t even look at us, did you see that? What the fuck was that about?” Wren pinched her mouth together in anger. “It looks like we can only rely on each other, Wade.”

  “He didn’t mean it that way, come on now. Did he let us down at all since we met him?” Wade asked, grabbing Wren’s shoulder and spinning her so that he could look her in the eyes. “He didn’t leave us after Jamie and Dad, he didn’t leave us after Mom, and he protected us from that weird family. He isn’t going to leave us now.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it.” Wren huffed as he turned and made her way into the tent. As soon as they walked in they were greeted by a little old lady who had short white hair.

  “Hello, I’m Beatrice.” She smiled kindly.

  “I’m Henry, this is my sister Jackie.” Wade held his hand out to shake the old woman’s hand. She took it gently.

  “You can call me Jack.” Wren forced a smile as the old woman extended her hand to her. “Juan sent us in here.”

  “Oh, Juan! Of course, of course! Follow me! Now it isn’t a fancy-shmancy hotel but it’s comfortable and warm.” Beatrice smiled as she took them through a flap into a large portion of the tent that contained rows of cots. “Go ahead and get settled. I’m sure Juan will be back in a bit to take you on a tour. He sure does like showing this place off.”

  “Thank you Beatrice.” Wade smiled as he dropped his backpack from his back. It landed with a thud atop the cot. Wren smiled her thanks to the old woman who turned and walked away from them, softly humming to herself.

  “How long do you think it will be before they come back?” Wade asked, as he sat down. Wren walked to the cot opposite him and sat down.

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to lay down until they do. If I fall asleep you better wake me up to go along with you all. If you leave me behind I’ll kick your ass when I wake up.” Wren pointed her finger at Wade as she tossed her legs up onto the cot and laid down.

  “Alright. I’m not laying down just yet. I don’t feel comfortable so until I do, we keep the watches going. You sleep first this time, and I’ll take the second sleep shift.” Wade folded his hands and looked around the sleeping area.

  “Good plan, boss.” Wren stretched and closed her eyes.

  Wade sat looking around. There was only one way in, and that’s the way they had come in. The other cots had blankets neatly folded sitting on the middle of the cot a pillow atop each one. He frowned. There were no personal belongings, no bags, no nothing. He mentally added the lack of belongings to the list he would ask Artemis about when he returned.

  Beatrice walked in, holding two empty mugs and a carafe. She smiled kindly.

  “I brought you some hot chocolate. I didn’t think she would be asleep just yet.” She indicated Wren with the hand holding the two mugs by the handles.

  “She’s really tired.” Wade stood up and walked over to the old woman. She handed him the mugs first.

  “It’s very hot so be careful not to burn your mouth.” She handed over the carafe.

  “Thanks, I’ll be careful.” Wade nodded. “Have you seen Artemis?”

  “Artemis?” Beatrice looked confused for a moment. “Oh, the tall gentleman that was with Juan? I saw them both in the canteen. They were talking shop, you know how soldiers are.” She laughed airily for a moment. “Go on, enjoy your hot chocolate and make sure your sister gets some too.”

  “I will, thank you.” Wade smiled as he walked back to his cot. He tossed one of the mugs beside him onto the cot and poured himself some. He could see the steam rising from his cup as the dark liquid filled it.

  Wren moved onto her side in her sleep, tucking her hand beneath her newly darkened hair, and sighed. Wade lifted his eyes from his cup and looked at his twin. They were the last of the family. The last tie to his life before the zombies was fast asleep three feet away from him. He inhaled deeply and made the choice to protect her no matter what, even if that meant laying down his own life in process.

  “Hey!” Wade spun around on his seat and saw Artemis walking towards him.

  “We were wondering where you went.” Wade turned back.

  “Juan was showing me around a bit.” Artemis sat down on the cot beside Wade, moving the mug Wade had tossed there. “A few of my fellow soldiers are here.”

  “That’s great.” Wade chewed on his bottom lip. “Did they ask about us?”

  “No,” Artemis shook his head. “No one mentioned either of you. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving you though, so I told Juan I needed to come back here.”

  “What did you find out?” Wade lowered his voice, Wren had turned and now had her back to them.

  “They have communication set up with other groups all over. Some of the zombies appear to just be dying off on their own. If it keeps up at the rate it’s going, assuming that they’ll all just die like that, then as of this time tomor
row the world should be back to being zombie free.” Artemis explained.

  “Has anyone figured out what caused it yet?” Wade closed his eyes dreading the reply.

  “Yeah, a doc over in Georgia, with the CDC said it was Nazarene.” Artemis gave the response Wade hadn’t wanted to hear but knew would come out eventually.

  “It was just a matter of time I guess.” Wade replied.

  “Yeah, I suppose it was.” Artemis agreed. “When she wakes up though, Sarge wants to see you.”

  “Why?” Wade asked as his brow furrowed with sudden concern.

  “I think he just wants to know what weapons you can handle. He may want to train you, ask you both to stick around.” Artemis shrugged.

  “Well isn’t that nice.” Wren interjected, as she rolled back over and looked to them.

  “You were supposed to be sleeping.” Wade frowned.

  “I would have been if two people hadn’t decided to be all loud and ignorant waking a person up.” She groaned as she pulled herself up to a seated position.

  “Sorry.” Artemis replied. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

  “It’s fine.” Wren held her hand up. “So this Sarge wants us to stay, does he? What if we decline?”

  “I don’t know.” Artemis replied as truthfully as he could. “He may ask us to leave.”

  “Us?” Wade shook his head. “You’re a soldier. He won’t ask you to leave, just us.”

  “Well, I ain’t gonna let him just throw the two of you out there with nobody.” Artemis stood up. “Come on, let’s go see Sarge and that way we can get all the info and decide what to do from there.”

  Wade and Wren grabbed their bags and made to follow him. Artemis looked down at what they were carrying, opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it again deciding against it.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  They followed Artemis out of the tent and down the street. A few people milled about, one kicking the curb with the toe of his boot. Wade and Wren looked at the buildings, seeing a few people looking down at them through the windows. Something about it made them uneasy, but they had never been refugees before, so it was hard to tell what was normal and what wasn’t.

  “In here.” Artemis pointed to a white building that appeared to have been some sort of sweets shop. They quickened their pace and followed him in through the door, which had a tiny bell rigged to it to ding and alert the workers that had once worked there that a customer had come in. As they walked in they saw three armed men standing in between the glass cases. Artemis led them past them and into the back, where the office was.

  “I brought them.” Artemis nodded back towards them.

  “Hello there.” A broad man stood up, his hair was snow white and buzz cut in the familiar military fashion. He pointed to the two chairs that were sitting in front of the desk. Wren and Wade sat down slowly, not taking their eyes from the man. Artemis stepped back and stood near the door. “I’m Sargent P.J. Peabody. You can call me Sarge, it’s what all of my men call me.”

  “I’m Henry.” Wade lifted his hand up a bit.

  “Jack.” Wren lifted her chin.

  “It’s nice to meet you both. So Artemis tells me that you two are twins, eh?” Sarge sat down and leaned forward with his arms atop the desk, his fingers clasped.

  “Yeah, we’re twins.” Wade nodded.

  “How old are you?” Sarge asked.

  “Sixteen.” Wren replied, giving her brother a side glance.

  “Sixteen.” Sarge nodded as he sat back in his chair crossing his arms. “Old enough to use a gun I’d say. What weapons have you been using so far?”

  “Crowbar.” Wren answered.

  “Knife.” Wade replied as he fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat.

  “Good. Good.” Sarge nodded. He lifted his eyes and looked beyond them to Artemis who was standing behind them. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your family?”

  “You don’t see them do you?” Wren raised an eyebrow. “What do you think happened to them? Kidnapped by ponies? Fell through a wormhole? Oh, no that’s right they decided to stay back with the Snow White and the seven dwarves, someone’s gotta go into the mine.”

  “Aren’t you a feisty one?” A creepy smile slithered across the man’s face, a strange sparkle ignited in his eye as he regarded Wren. She crossed her legs and her arms in response.

  “What can my sister and I do for you?” Wade scooted up on the edge of his seat as he spoke.

  “Nothing just yet. I think I’ll go on and let the two of you get acquainted with the place, grab some grub, a hot shower and have a nice rest. We can talk again tomorrow.” Sarge stood up, leaning towards them both over his desk. He never took his eyes from Wren. “Artemis, would you be so kind as to show our guests where the canteen and the lavatories are located? Make sure they have everything you need. After all it would be a damn shame for me to be a poor host to our guests.”

  “Follow me.” Artemis stepped to the side and allowed Wade and Wren to walk past him. They went back out past the armed guards and out through the door into the street. Artemis slowed down so the twins could catch up to him.

  “He was a creep.” Wade huffed.

  “Yeah, dammit girl why did you have to bait him like that?” Artemis starred at Wren.

  “Whatever.” Wren shrugged.

  “The whole reason you changed your hair and all that was to go unnoticed. What in the hell did you think you would accomplish by drawing the attention of the man who has the run of this place?” Artemis shook his head and continued walking.

  “I don’t like the way he was looking at you…Jack.” Wade looked at his sister.

  “I didn’t much care for it myself, but oh well. Don’t worry about me, I can protect myself. I ain’t afraid of him.” Wren hiked her bag up higher on her shoulder and lifted her head.

  “You may not be but you should be.” Artemis replied, lowering his voice as they grew closer to another building. “I’ve known that man for about four years. You should be damn scared, and now because you decided it was a good idea to sass him like that you just made my job a shit ton harder to do. Now I have to pull double duty, babysitting you to make sure you stay safe.”

  “What will he do?” Wade asked.

  “I don’t know. That man…ain’t no one that can predict his actions. I just know he was looking at her awful funny…like how a dog eyes up some hamburger or something. This ain’t the old world, these people ain’t gonna act how they did a week ago. The rules, you know the rules everyone lived by, the laws and shit, no one is gonna be following them to the letter now. Have you seen any police officers at all since this went down?” Artemis was whispering now, harshly.

  “No.” Wren replied, bowing her head.

  “Exactly. Ain’t no one to call anymore, ain’t no one gonna run to rescue you. All you got now is me and your brother. Start using that lump on your shoulders for something other than a place to hold your hat. Girl, you need to start thinking so you can add yourself to the list of people you got to protect yourself.” Artemis quit speaking abruptly as they walked through a door into what appeared to be a cafeteria to a school.

  “What is this place?” Wade asked.

  “The cafeteria to some private school, I guess. This is the canteen.” Artemis explained. They looked around and saw about a dozen people sitting at tables eating. There were a few people who appeared to be doing the cooking and serving. Artemis led them over to the start of the line. “Three of the stews.”

  “Three stews!” The man yelled. His face was covered in stubble, his black hair slicked back with a hair net shoved on. He wore a dirty white apron over his clothes. Another man walked up and began putting bowls of the stew on the tray. It looked like mud with lumps in it. The same man came back and shoved some rolls onto the tray. “We got soda, luckily. Want three of those too?”

  “Yes.” Artemis nodded and the man put three cans of root beer on the tray.

  “It ain’t free
pal.” The man held out his hand.

  “What do you want?” Wade asked. Artemis put his arm out in front of Wade’s chest indicating he should be quiet. Artemis dug in his pocket and pulled out a bottle and thrust it in to the man’s hand.

  “Alright. This’ll get you two more meals a piece. What’re names so I can write them down, so we know?” The man pulled a pencil from behind his ear.

  “Artemis, Henry and Jack.” Artemis replied. They watched as the man scribbled down their names. He reached over and took the tray and led them over to a table.

  “What did you give him?” Wren asked as she took the seat across from Artemis, Wade sat next to her.

  “Nothing really. It was a bottle of antibiotics.” Artemis shrugged.

  “Was that all we had?” Wren asked as she took the bowl that he was offering her. Wade took his too.

  “No. We got more, don’t worry.” Artemis shook his head and passed out the root beer before grabbing the plastic spoon and digging into the food. “You know, for something that looks like mud it actually tastes pretty good.” Wade laughed as he took a tentative bite of his muddy stew.

  “I’m not too sure I want to stay here.” Wren whispered. She saw Artemis tense up for a moment before taking a deep breath to gather his thoughts and his emotions.

  “I knew you’d say that.” He finally replied, setting his spoon down into his bowl. “What do you have to say on the subject?”

  “Me?” Wade raised both of his eyebrow.

  “I ain’t talking to that poster behind you.” Artemis replied. Wade looked over his shoulder and saw a poster encouraging healthy eating habits, he turned back to their group.

  “I don’t know” Wade shrugged.

  “Alright.” Artemis sighed. “Just think on it, I guess. This is a team effort. Just because I’m older doesn’t mean I want to be the dictator around here. We need to be unanimous in our decisions.”

  “Agreed.” Wren nodded as she looked over at her brother. He had set his eyes back to the food in front of him, hunching his shoulders. She knew he was uncomfortable making a decision, now more than ever. It was apparent that any choice they made at this stage of the game could cost them their lives, which made the decision process that much more intense.