Jacob listened intently, searching for any holes or contradictions; anything that would have led him to doubt their authenticity. As the story neared its close, Emily squirmed back into Anders, nuzzling her head against his chest and wrapping her arms around his body. Though Anders welcomed her affections, his attention was fixed squarely on Cox.
Unblinking, he stared at her as she reclined comfortably.
She smugly returned his gaze.
‘So, these soldiers,’ Jacob finally added, motioning to the corporal at the back of the room. ‘She’s one of them?’
Daniel was visibly wearied by the story, painfully relived in its sordid entirety. He merely nodded as he lied back and interwove his fingers behind his head, staring blankly at the ceiling as he hoped to crowd out the more sinister of his memories.
Jacob drew another mouthful from the bottle and rose to his feet.
Madison looked at him, silently pleading the line of questioning didn’t advance where she knew it would.
‘Why are you here?’
The corporal turned to assess her interrogator, but didn’t speak.
‘How did you find us?’
The faint tracings of a smile were her only reply.
Jacob stared expectantly.
‘You need to start fucking talking.’
It was evident Cox was at least partially considering playing this out.
But maybe now was the time for diplomacy.
‘I left,’ was all she said.
Jacob placed the whiskey on the desk authoritatively.
Cox drew a deep breath and adjusted in her seat.
She clearly felt no need to explain her actions.
Jacob was containing his agitation, but his patience was being tried.
‘Why?’
The corporal rolled her head back on her shoulders in a half circle.
‘Orders,’ she lazily proclaimed.
‘Orders?’ Jacob reiterated.
‘At first,’ she mused.
Growing tired of the stalled conversation, Anders sat up.
‘Orders to find us and bring us back… or orders to track us down and kill us?’
Cox grinned wickedly; someone was finally asking the right questions.
‘The latter,’ she mocked, allowing the admission to settle over the room.
Sully’s bandaged hand curled into a fist.
In the dim orange flicker of the candlelight, Cox seemed thoroughly amused to be continuing her role as the antagonist.
‘You can relax. If I wanted any of you dead, I would have done it by now.’
‘So why are we here?’ Jacob interjected, seeking to gain control of the room once more.
‘Because I’m not the enemy now,’ she chided. ‘There are far worse people out there.’
The words struck Jacob.
‘Far worse people,’ he began.
Cox regarded him suspiciously.
‘Let me tell you what I know of people,’ he continued.
Jacob recounted the story of the night the line broke, when he and Samantha and countless others ran from the terminal to the supposed safety of the Coast Guard site – only to be greeted by gunfire.
Jacob’s eyes welled with tears, but none fell.
His voice was constant.
Cox admired it.
Keeley held her breath and hung off Jacob’s every word, weeping silently for his loss.
But there was something else.
It was subtle, but unmistakable.
Isaac’s embrace grew cold in the retelling, as if all the warmth had been bled from him.
In her incomprehension, she turned her head to look at his face.
It was severe; uncompromising.
Fixated on the corporal.
Not yet fully understanding, she caught momentary eye contact with Cox. It was only for a second, faster than anyone else could have picked up on, but it was all she needed.
In that moment, she realized what he had done.
In her horror, she froze. Imprisoned by his alien embrace, her eyes vainly searched the floorboards for an escape to his vacuous gravity.
But none came.
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ Daniel lamented from his post prostrate on the floor, ‘truly.’
Jacob turned his head and managed a weak smile in acknowledgement.
Cox wisely held her tongue. Though she herself wasn’t on the walls that night, she understood the order. She would have given it herself.
Some eggs get broken.
‘All bullshit aside,’ Sully interjected, ‘how did you find us?’
Cox smirked.
‘Without much difficulty. We never ventured this far south after the fires tore through the area; I figured you’d camp in the one section we didn’t thoroughly canvas. And if I was wrong, I figured my chances of evading pursuit would be better here. Maybe I’d make for the barracks, see if anyone was home.’
‘So why leave in the first place, abandon your post?’ Jacob asked.
Cox didn’t like the insinuation of dereliction of duty, but she let it slide.
‘Quinn lost it.’
Anders sneered.
‘That’s an understatement.’
Daniel found no levity in their jabs.
Cox shrugged off the comment.
‘It was a fool’s errand; a poor use of resources.’
‘You would have done it differently?’ Sully piped in.
‘Yes,’ she leveled. ‘He risks too much to save face. The assets he has looking for you would be better spent scavenging, guarding the walls.’
The confirmation they were being pursued was not missed by anyone – least of all Jacob and Madison, who now more completely realized what they were becoming tangled up with.
‘How did you get away?’
‘Recon,’ she casually replied, mournfully removing her pistol from its holster, ‘which is why I’ve only got a .45 as opposed to some more serious hardware. I was to find signs of your passing and narrow the search.’
Sully couldn’t help but feel the response seemed rehearsed.
‘What’s coming for us?’
Cox’s mischievous demeanor turned suddenly grim.
‘You know what’s coming.’
The room fell solemn as each considered the implications.
Madison surveyed their little hovel, recognizing the fact they would soon need to abandon its shelter.
‘We can’t stay here.’
None could deny the obvious logic.
The group debated their next steps deep into the night. If they were to leave the city, they would need significant provisions – more than they could likely scavenge on the move.
They would need a big play.
Most of the obvious targets would long have been pillaged, and they were a significant distance from the major retail and shopping district of the eastern parts of the city. They could place little hope in finding pharmacies, department, hardware or sporting goods stores that weren’t picked clean already, or otherwise settled by less-than-friendly sorts.
No, they needed somewhere they could hit with a reasonable chance of finding most every vital supply.
Somewhere they were reasonably confident wasn’t occupied by anything but the dead.
Somewhere nearby.
The barracks.
Chapter 25
Sleep proved evasive.
Unable to find rest, Madison and Emily occupied their time by sketching the layout to the barracks interior as best they could remember.
Despite the late hours of planning, the group was early to rise.
The plan was simple enough. Break into a building with a decent line of sight, clear it, and hole up. There they would split the group.
Madison, Emily, and Jacob would stay put and guard the vantage. Though they protested the assignment, Daniel’s combination of charm and insistent ‘doctor’s orders’ were sufficient to silence their argument. Whereas most wouldn’t be able to differentiate between medicines and other desirables in the medical supply department – should there be any – he would volunteer in their stead.
Though Jacob hated the feeling of being relegated to the sidelines, he understood he was certainly in the worst shape among them. His body ached, his breath was labored, and his head swam if he moved too quickly. He cursed himself for being so liberal with the whiskey the night before.
The rest would clear the yard to ensure safe access to the site, with Anders and Keeley sifting through the exterior for anything useful. Sully, Isaac and Cox were natural choices to breach the halls of the barracks. Each was experienced in their own right, and in any event no one trusted Cox alone. If they arrived and the courtyard looked insurmountable, or it became obvious they would be unable to get in or out safely, they’d simply move on and head east.
Hope for the best.
As the group packed their limited belongings and suited up, Madison offered a solemn farewell to their hermitage.
While her eyes rolled over its contents for what would prove the final time, she regarded its simplicity with a strange fondness. These simple trappings had provided shelter in the storm, a home for a time in what would prove a nomadic and brutal future.
As she stepped out and reverently clicked the door closed behind them, she forced such nonsense from her mind.
Isaac stood at the head of the staircase as the column filtered by.
Keeley didn’t make eye contact as she stepped past.
She had withdrawn from him; recoiled from his touch and rebuked any attempt he made to speak with her. Mercifully, most of their group was too preoccupied to have noticed the behaviour.
Isaac hated to make a spectacle of their problems.
He was used to it. When she was like this, he couldn’t control it. It may take a long while to wind her up, but once she was there – she was immovable.
Like stone.
Her stubborn determination was infuriating; frustrating to no end.
He took a long breath, staring straight ahead into the wall.
Everything he had done since the outbreak, he had done to ensure their safety.
She would see that someday.
As the last among them rounded the staircase, Isaac slowly followed behind them, twisting the black titanium ring about his finger.
***
The sun was already gathering strength despite the crisp air.
As the group crossed some of the larger open expanses they attracted the attention of the occasional wayward ghoul, but they remained focused on their path and made good speed to their destination. They worried little of the stragglers that caught their sight, believing they’d cover sufficient distance and find shelter before the threat would build to uncomfortable proportion.
They advanced in pairs – with Cox running point alone – almost parallel to the line that Sully and Isaac had run the day before until the barracks was almost in sight. As they neared the target, Cox veered them sharply to the east, towards the rail lines and the causeway, darting between several short and squat residential units.
The Armouries loomed ahead, its imposing mass of stone and steel muted the morning sun.
They settled on a two storey building, a combination of red brick and vinyl siding. It was positioned diagonally across the street that served as the third point in a triangle between the Armouries and the remnants of a church. The church would have been a significant parish once, probably the epicenter of the community in the early days of the city.
But as with all things, the faithful waned, and the building fell into disrepair.
Emily would never have identified herself as religious, though her time spent at the family’s funeral home had exposed her to a wide variety of faiths and funerary customs. Looking at the church, something about its architecture was unsettling. As she considered the failing brick and pockmarked roof, she couldn’t help but to question its complacency.
What kind of god would have sat idly by as the world descended into such horror?
Almost on cue, the possibility dawned on her that perhaps this wasn’t the failure of inattentive hands, but rather a deliberate hammer stroke on a corrupted anvil.
So fixated on her thoughts and the church opposite her, Emily inadvertently stuttered in her steps, causing Anders to collide with her. Not understanding, but sensing her unease, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and urged her on. Her face reddened as she graciously squeezed his hand, and they bounded along to rejoin their cohort, waiting for their next signal.
With her sidearm readied, Cox peered into the basement-level windows, trying to find an angle around the tattered blinds. Once satisfied the unit was clear, she rested her back against the building and waved everyone forward.
As they converged on her position, Cox kicked out the window, which shattered with surprisingly little complaint. A few shards clattered off the sill but the majority of the glass bounced across the carpeted floors within. Pushing the blinds aside and content there was no other movement, Cox lowered herself in.
For the first time in many weeks, fresh air filled the room. Cox kept her Colt 1911 at the ready and was already sweeping the second room as the rest of her party was getting inside. She knew there’d likely be nothing of value here – the immediate proximity to the barracks virtually guaranteed the place had been looted several times over – so she focused her attentions on identifying the signs of unfortunate refugees who may have succumbed to the infection after fleeing the Armouries.
They would need to clear each apartment individually to be sure.
The door to the unit was splintered, obviously having been kicked from its hinges by scavengers. Completing her sweep, Cox peered out into the hallway and determined every door had met with the same unceremonious end.
Obviously the salvagers saw no reason to be delicate.
Isaac, Sully and Anders fell in behind Cox and began sweeping the remaining apartments while the rest got settled. Daniel and Keeley took one last opportunity to check over Jacob’s sutures and ensured he, Madison and Emily had everything they needed.
Satisfied they were alone, the group moved upstairs to a ground floor apartment. It had windows on two sides of the building, one facing the Armouries and the other overlooking the street with the church opposite. The apartment itself was bare – most all the furniture was missing, likely carted away by the barracks crews for makeshift bedding and comforts.
The group fidgeted as they settled in; no words were shared between them.
Keeley fumed and paid no attention to Isaac, who stood in one of the dark corners, rolling his knife back and forth in his hands.
Though the tension wasn’t missed, most believed it to be immaterial; little attention was paid to their squabble.
Only Jacob questioned it.
He studied Isaac, mind turning with possibilities despite the fog that dulled his thoughts.
Sully parted the blinds, drew his binoculars and surveyed the yard.
From here, he could get eyes on the other side of the structure and complete the general layout of the site. He had a better line of the jagged rows of vehicles parked in the yard, and they seemed relatively unencumbered. The only real ghoul presence was at the far end, towards the rear of the structure. A few stragglers milled about, but they were scattered, oblivious – dead for some time.
It felt like more than yesterday, but the combination of their need to leave the city and his confidence that they were collectively due for some good fortune spurred him on.
Sully lowered the binoculars and glanced over his shoulder. The rest took his meaning.
Madis
on pursed her lips and watched anxiously as the scavengers slipped out the unit and crossed the street at full sprint.
The group fell in behind a large military transport truck with an open back, covered with a canvas fabric stretched over metal ribbing. The canvas was riddled with tears and holes and the sides of the truck were peppered with small arms fire. Anders and Keeley needed to move quickly; they would dart between vehicles, plunder anything useful while making every effort to not attract attention. If they were spotted, they would take the path of least resistance to their nearest allies – either into the Armouries or back to the apartment.
Cox held everyone back while she scanned the grounds, carefully assessing their odds of advancing without announcing their presence.
The appointed time would be fast upon them.
‘Good luck,’ Isaac whispered as he reached for Keeley’s arm, ‘stay safe.’
It killed him that she wouldn’t stay in the vantage with the others, but she was adamant. He held out his knife out to her, handle first.
She met his eyes briefly before turning away.
‘We’ll be fine.’
Isaac nodded and buried the blade to the hilt in the snow beside her.
Cox waved them on; it was time to go.
Anders popped the door to the truck and started sifting through its contents while Keeley watched over him. Cox led them across the yard to a large, wooden door with brass rivets. She positioned herself to the side and held her sidearm to a low ready as Sully tried the handle, finding the door to be heavy but unlocked. Cox leaned in with her sidearm, angling off the opening as she slipped inside.
Keeley watched as the massive door closed behind the group, wondering if perhaps she had made a terrible mistake.
She pulled the knife from the snow.
***
The interior was a warzone.
Dozens of bodies littered the floor in a morbid tapestry of blood, bone and sinew. The sickly sweet perfume of slow decay filled their nostrils and choked their breath even with the shattered windows ventilating the place.
The corpses lining the floors seemed to be mostly the inedible bits and bones, what flesh remained spared only by synthetic fibers that presumably couldn’t be gnawed through.
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