Unrest

by Reed, Nathaniel

  “Aww, now why’d you have to go and do that?” Morris said. He looked in the rearview. “That your

  friends back there?”

  “Yes! Please, just let me go! You can take the vehicle if you want, but leave me with my friends.”

  Morris Beckel seemed to consider it for a moment, and spoke slowly, measuredly. “Mmm, sounds like an interesting proposition, but a pretty little Philly like you? I might have uses for you,” he said, languidly licking his chops once more.

  ***

  “I’m getting hungry,” Jomo said.

  “Me too,” Lupe agreed. There was a rest stop off one of the exits up ahead. “We’ll stop there and rummage through the bag.”

  “Maybe we’ll find food there as well,” Jomo said.

  “There’ll be vending machines at least. Sadly though, I’m all out of change.”

  Jomo smiled.

  “Right,” she said. “There’s probably no one there and we can probably just break into them.”

  “Bingo!”

  “Don’t be a smartass Stud Man.”

  They entered the plaza, parking in one of the slanted spots. Trucks sat there passenger-less like prehistoric behemoths from some bygone time. They arrived at the small area with wooden benches and a small booth with visitor information, but no food, either in the booth, or the vending machines. The four previously lit dispensers of all things snacks had their front ends shattered, the doors had been pried open and the racks emptied of their contents. Someone had beaten them to it. The same went for the Coke machine and the Pepsi machine. At least the water fountain still worked.

  They sat down at one of the benches opening

  the garbage bag, feeling dejected. Jomo opened one of the cans of tuna and tipped its contents slowly toward his mouth. Lupe opted for a granola bar, dipping it into the jar of peanut butter. When they were done eating they went back to the water fountain and drank greedily.

  “There has to be more people,” Jomo said as they walked back toward the car. “They can’t all have gone or turned. Not this soon.”

  “One would think,” Lupe said. “Whatever this thing is, it took a hold quickly.”

  “To Virginia then?” Jomo asked.

  Lupe nodded, “To Virginia.”

  ***

  Once the truth of what happened hit and broke their temporary paralysis they ran for Kamara’s car. Kamara had the key this time and she leapt into the car, with Ian beside her and Marina and Samir riding in the back. Gunning the engine they flew in pursuit of the man who had taken their car and Xinga. He was already just a dot in the distance, having accelerated rapidly before they had even exited the woods.

  “We have to get her,” Marina said, “We have to get Xinga back!”

  “I know,” Kamara said. Marina had taken a shine to the girl. They all had. She was the little sister of the group, who they all wanted to take care of and look out for, and she was gone from their sight, unprotected. “We will.”

  “Can’t this thing go any faster?!” Ian said. She was already practically hitting the floor-boards. Kamara shouted back at him, “It tops out

  at 100! I’m already doing 90!” The car was protesting with several lurches and a tiny shriek that sounded as if it wanted to develop into something more seriously terrified.

  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Ian said. “I just, I don’t want us to lose someone else.”

  “None of us do,” Samir assured him.

  Kamara topped out and was still trying to push the car further. It felt as if it were going faster, like maybe she’d reached 120, and it sounded as if the gears were being thrown around in a mixer and being ground together into a vehicular smoothie. Still the car and Xinga were no where in sight.

  “What if they parked somewhere and went off the road into the woods to hide?” Marina suggested.

  “We’d never know if they did,” Samir said, “Or where.” The situation seemed more and more desperate the longer they went without the car in their sights. “Kamara, you keep looking straight ahead, everyone else look to your side of the road. Maybe we’ll spot them.”

  It was a pretty big maybe, but they had to try everything they could.

  ***

  “What are you going to do with me?” Xinga said.

  Morris grinned, watching her in the rearview. “What won’t I do with you?” he said.

  Xinga remembered her Sai, lying on the carpeted floor of the backseat where she’d set them down as she rested. She crouched down and picked one up, bringing it to bear on his neck, but Morris had caught the sudden move and had already unsheathed his hunting knife.

  Xinga pressed the tip of the Sai into the side of his neck, and said “Pull over.”

  He brought the Bowie knife up with his left hand and kept steering with his right. It pointed right underneath her bottom eyelid. “Don’t play with those things; you’ll take an eye out.” Morris laughed, and then turned more serious. “Drop it, now. You so much as draw blood I swear you’ll lose one of those pretty eyes.”

  She fell into the back seat, her sudden courage deflated. He ended up pulling over after all, taking a turn off into what appeared to be some sort of State Park trail. He couldn’t very well have her surprise him with one of those things. He opened the back door, pointing the long knife at her.

  “Get out, and bring whatever weapons you have out with you and drop them in the dirt here.”

  The dirt was really hard packed golden sand. She took the Sai out. She considered hiding one of them for a moment, but he would check her and check the back seat before he went anywhere with her. She dropped both on the dusty ground.

  “Good,” he said. “You have the keys to the trunk?”

  Again, she considered saying no, but he would check her. If only she’d given them back to Samir, but she’d been driving and did indeed still have them on her. She nodded.

  He held out his free hand and she placed the keys in it. Was he planning on putting her in the trunk?

  “Move over there where I can watch you without worrying about you springing up on me.”

  She moved to the side of the car where he motioned her. He opened the trunk and laughed. It was filled with supplies, including rope, duct tape, scissors, and lighters, not to mention a hammer and a drill. “This is too fucking good to be true!”

  Xinga did not like the smile that spread over his face. She didn’t like it at all.

  ***

  “Maybe we should be heading to D.C.,” Jomo theorized.

  “Right,” Lupe agreed, “Because if anyone saved their own asses it would be the politicians. They’ll know something. They’re probably holed up in some bunker right now.”

  “I imagine so, if they survived the first attacks.”

  “Who do you think shut down all broadcasts, cut off the signals to the cell towers?”

  “Indeed. But we still have to pass through Virginia first. I suppose we’ll see soon enough how far this plague reaches,” Jomo said.

  Lupe shivered at the use of the word plague. But she supposed that was exactly what this was. They continued through North Carolina, stopping once to gas up the car. Three quarters of the way through the pump went dry. “Crap,” she said.

  This was a dingy old forgotten town, though they all appeared to be going that route, and it was the only gas pump at the station. They would have to travel a little further to get more gas at one of the big name stations. She was amazed that her bank card still worked, figuring all the banks would have been shut down, but she was glad as she had no idea how to siphon fuel out of a tank without paying. She had to wonder who was collecting. There was no convenience store at this station either, which was practically a given with nearly every place that supplied gas nowadays. They needed to find more food and supplies as well.

  “Out of gas,” Lupe said as she got back in the car, and they drove off.

  “How much gas do we have?”

  “¾ tank.”

  “The next stop is about 25 miles,
” Jomo said. “We should be fine. I saw an Exxon sign.”

  “We’ve been far from fine for some time now,” Lupe commented.

  He placed his hand over hers on the steering wheel. “We’re going to be fine. We’re going to make it,” Jomo said. He didn’t just mean to the gas pumps.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because we have to.”

  ***

  TWO MONTHS AND THREE WEEKS EARLIER

  FBI LABORATORY, DEPT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, MARINE CORPS BASE

  QUANTICO, VIRGINIA

  The serum had the same effect on the horse. It got better for a time, and then it worked its way through the good cells and tore the horse down from the inside, little by little, eating away at its brain, making it violently ill.

  Then the General came back with his troops. Though Dr. Fielding had a team of scientists now working with him around the clock to create a deadlier dose of the serum, it still wasn’t fast enough. It still wasn’t strong enough.

  “I think you’re wasting our time,” General Beaumont said. “I think you’re still trying to save the world.”

  “No,” Fielding shook. “It’s not true. I’ve been doing exactly as you said.” The truth was he was having the other scientists do the dirty work while he tried to improve its capacity to heal.

  “We have orders,” the General said.

  “Sir?” one of the troops asked.

  “Shoot to kill.”

  “But sir, they’re civilians.”

  “They’re dissenters.”

  “No please, they’re doing what you asked. If you’re going to shoot anyone, shoot me!” Fielding said.

  “Kill all of them, except for Dr. Fielding here. Let him learn the price of betrayal.”

  There were a dozen soldiers and the General. Three of them followed through with that order and began blasting through the scientists with their semi-automatics. Blood flew as they were mowed down, staining white lab coats red. The other soldiers turned on the General and his three loyalists, shooting them down in turn.

  Dr. Fielding stood in the middle of the carnage, shivering and crying.

  “Sir, we’re sorry sir,” said the private that had questioned the General. “We need to get you out of here.”

  Theodore Fielding only nodded. He had the blood of the murdered on him.

  “What General Beaumont did was wrong. I don’t care if it came down from the president himself. It’s our duty to protect you. It’s our duty to dissent when the commander in chief threatens the lives of innocents. We’re sorry it came to this. We never thought he’d take it this far.”

  “Thank you son.”

  The private put his arm around the doctor, steadying him, helping him out the door.

  “Wait, the formula!” Fielding said. The troops let him gather up all the vials and beakers of the liquid. He didn’t need this to get in the wrong hands again.

  The soldier led him by the waist, now that his hands were full. The other troops took some of the glass containers from him. “I’m Private Wilkes. It’s a pleasure to meet you sir.”

  twenty

  He bound her hands and feet with the rope, placed duct tape over her mouth, and laid her across the back seat.

  “There,” Morris said. “Snug as a bug in a rug.”

  Driving further into the woods, going off the main path he found an empty cabin. The universe was finally blessing Morris Beckel.

  Xinga shifted in the back seat as the man went inside to inspect the cabin. The cabin was dim and didn’t have any electricity. He found some pillar candles on the wooden table and used one of the lighters to light them. There really wasn’t much in the way of furniture. The table and its chairs in the kitchen, a small kitchenette which appeared to run off a gas powered generator outside, a sofa and bed in the combination living room/bedroom, with a nightstand on either side, and a small door-less closet. More than enough for what he needed. There were only the two main rooms to go through so he established quickly that the place was vacant. He found a jug of water in the mini-fridge and quickly gulped some down, not offering any to his captive.

  As heavy as he was he still struggled to carry the lightweight Xinga inside. It didn’t help that she was squirming in his arms the whole time.

  “No worries princess,” he panted, “It will all be over soon.” He plopped her down in one of the wooden chairs against the wall.

  She sobbed behind the duct tape.

  “Aww, don’t do that,” Morris said. “Don’t you see? It’s just my turn to win.”

  Xinga stared at him.

  “You don’t understand. I see that,” he nodded. “There’s that saying, finders keepers, right? And I found you, so the universe said I get to keep you. Losers weepers, that’s your friends back there. Now my mom had her own saying. She used to say losers keepers. Yeah, I didn’t get it either until she explained it. She said only when you’ve been broken down can you find the strength to rebuild yourself stronger than before, getting rid of the parts of yourself that tore you down. Only in losing yourself do you find what’s really worth holding onto, what’s worth keeping.

  “Well, I’ve been a loser all my life, and now thanks to this zombie flu bullshit I’ve lost everything else, but as long as I have hope, I’ve still got me. And now that I’ve got you, I’ve got more than hope. I can be who I’ve always wanted to be. A man that takes what he wants, without remorse, without pity. I can strip away all of the pretense, and embrace my true animal. I’m a loser, but I’m a keeper. I’ve found all I need to keep me alive, to give me hope, and finally make this loser a winner.”

  Xinga coughed. He thought she was choking so he took off the tape gag. The little bitch was actually laughing.

  “What’s so fucking funny?”

  “You!” she said. “You are a loser! You think this makes you special? That you can take someone and tie them up, and use them! That’s not special. Anyone can do that!”

  “Shut up.”

  “You’re just a monster, like any other crazy person.”

  “Shut up!” Morris yelled, slapping her across the face, rocking her head violently. He put the duct tape over her mouth again. “Stupid whore! I’m going to have fun using you!”

  That hit was going to leave a big old purple

  welt, but it had been worth it. Xinga smiled beneath the tape.

  ***

  They missed the entrance to the park that Morris had taken Xinga into; there were several entrances into the woods on both sides of the highway (it would have been anyone’s guess if her abductor had taken Xinga into any of them) and continued north. The group was quickly becoming disheartened. They looked for anything that might point to where he had taken her but they found nothing, not a trace.

  “Poor Xinga,” Marina said. “I should have kept watch on her.”

  “Don’t do that to yourself,” Samir said. “Guilt can be powerful, but none of us could have predicted this. You’re not at fault here.”

  “We should all stick together from now on,” Ian said.

  “I agree,” Kamara said.

  “We should keep looking for Xinga,” Samir said, “But we should keep heading north to Virginia as well, to find Ian’s family. The more numbers we have the better.”

  Kamara frowned and began to quietly cry. Ian looked over at her. He didn’t have to ask.

  “I hope you find your family,” she whispered quietly to him. “I don’t know that I’ll ever find mine.”

  Ian nodded, placing his hand on her shoulder.

  “I miss my best friend Lupe too. I hope she’s doing okay.”

  Samir must have heard that last part. “Ian’s

  right. We’ve already lost Klaus, and we’re missing Lupe and Jomo, and now Xinga. We can’t afford to

  split up anymore.”

  “At least we still have all our weapons,” Marina said. “Thank God I put them in Kamara’s car. All we’re missing are some supplies and we can get more of those.”
/>   Everyone knew she was thinking about the big guns; the heavy firepower she’d left in the trunk.

  “There is that,” Samir said.

  They reached the Virginia border with no sign of Xinga.

  ***

  The Exxon station had sufficient fuel to fill the tank. They found cans of food and snacks behind the jimmied open door of the convenience store as well that they could take with them and three plastic fuel containers they filled with gas and placed in the trunk. Otherwise the shelves and stands were picked clean; the owner, workers, and clientele all gone. They’d keep running into the same thing time and time again.

  “We need to do something else,” Jomo said.

  “What do you mean?” Lupe asked.

  “This isn’t working; driving nowhere, living off of scraps.”

  “What else can we do?”

  “We need to find people, people that know something, anything.”

  “We’ve been trying to do that,” Lupe said. “There’s no one. Our best bet is D.C. so we’ll keep heading north.”

  “I know, I know. This is just frustrating.”

  Lupe understood. “Yes, for me too. We’re going

  to make it. Wherever it is we need to be, to be safe, to be taken care of we’re going to make it Jomo. You’ll

  see.”

  “I sincerely hope you are right.”

  She put her arm around his shoulder as they walked out the door. “Come on Stud Man. We’ve got places to go and people to meet.”

  ***

  When he came back he placed the hammer and drill on the table. Xinga wasn’t sure if it was only meant to intimidate, or if he intended to use them, but she knew she had to find a way out of the binding ropes. He placed the scissors, the superglue, the lighters, bags of snacks they’d picked up in other places, even the first aid kit out on the table after, laying them out like a buffet.