Foamers

by Justin Kassab

  “I have a Ph.D.,” Victoria said.

  Mick ignored her and kept filling his bag. Regardless of how long the time with her felt, he didn’t want to add to it by having to listen to her complain. Robbing his own police station already cast him in a somber mood, like he was present at his own funeral.

  “I don’t do manual labor,” Victoria continued.

  Mick tried to block her voice out of his mind, but her smooth delivery was almost impossible to ignore. There was some quality to her voice that even he appreciated. There was a confidence in every word she spoke that made it ring true to the ear.

  “How was this a good idea?” she said.

  On that topic, Mick agreed with her, but he wasn’t going to speak against Kade’s plan. He didn’t like the idea of stealing from the police station in case things would rebound and Kade had been wrong, or if there were more officers left alive they would be coming here for supplies as well. Overall he’d rather have left the police station untouched so it could serve to protect others. Mick zipped his bag shut and hoisted it over his shoulder. Making his way for the door he could already feel the sore muscles in his body from the multiple loads he had taken to the car.

  “I don’t understand Kade,” she said.

  Mick dropped his bag with a huff and squared up to Victoria.

  “Well, generally when you hate someone you don’t take the time to understand them,” Mick said.

  He regretted speaking before he finished the sentence. Engaging her in conversation was the worst thing he could have done to get her to shut up.

  “I don’t hate Kade,” Victoria said.

  Mick wasn’t going to debate her and decided his best option was to exit the conversation, so he slung the bag over his shoulder.

  “How could I hate him? I thought he and Damian were identical the first time I met him. He has mental capabilities I am jealous of, and wish he wasn’t such a waste with them. We might not get along, and I might ride him pretty hard, but I don’t hate him,” she said.

  Mick put a hand on his forehead as he continued for the door. He hoped she would be assigned a different vehicle for the rest of the trip

  “He saved our lives. How could I hate him?”

  Mick pushed the door open.

  “Mick?”

  He stopped.

  “Does Kade hate me?”

  Mick closed his eyes wishing he had never said a word. This was not a topic he wanted to get himself involved in.

  “Mick?”

  “What?” he snapped.

  “There’s a gun pointing at your head,” Victoria said.

  Mick opened his eyes and looked to his right.

  “Quintin, put the gun down,” Mick said.

  Quintin’s gaze took in Mick’s uniform and Mick could tell he was trying to put everything together. Quintin was their newest officer, who had just moved into the area a week ago to cover their empty shifts. He had a few years on Mick, but below him in rank.

  “What are you doing?” Quintin asked.

  “Gathering everything up for a training exercise,” Mick said, lying as best he could. “Did you not get the e-mail earlier today?”

  “I came off night shift and passed out all day. My phone is the only access I have to my e-mail right now and that isn’t working,” Quintin replied.

  “So, put that gun away?” Mick asked.

  Quintin holstered the pistol. “Sorry about that. I thought we were getting robbed. I’m gonna go settle in at my desk, but I’ll come see if you need a hand with getting this stuff together in a couple minutes.”

  Quintin continued on his way down the corridor, muttering. “Who would rob a police station?”

  Mick ushered Victoria to grab the bag and follow him. They made their way through the station to the front door.

  Mick was torn between escaping without being arrested and explaining the situation to Quintin, who clearly slept through the transition. The walking stride he tried to maintain felt more and more like a jog. He couldn’t tell Quintin now, but they could get safely to the car and he could radio to his fellow officer. Then if Quintin believed him they could come back and finish looting, and if not they wouldn’t be trapped behind bars while Kade and the others started the journey.

  “Freeze!”

  All options went out the window.

  “Hands on your head.”

  They did as they were told. Mick didn’t have another option, other than drawing his own gun, but that was way out the realm of possibility. He couldn’t draw on a fellow officer, nor did he want to take the chance of getting shot.

  “Quintin, listen to me, the country is dead or turning into monsters. You need to come with us,” Mick said, and immediately heard how stupid his words sounded.

  “Right. Lie to me once and I catch on, so you’ll lie to me twice. Let me guess the reason you didn’t lead with the X-files approach was because I wouldn’t have believed it? I don’t,” Quintin said.

  Mick lowered his head. He had never wanted to be on the wrong side of a jail cell. The Primal Age was already proving to be a place that wasn’t meant for him.

  * * *

  It was 12:45 a.m. at the sporting goods store and Kade was soaked in sweat as Argos watched him pack. They worked in a supply line and had decimated most of the useful areas of the store. Kade loaded bags with everything from field hockey sticks to hunting gear and placed them in shopping carts.

  The work had been continuous. However they had cleared most the valuable sections of the store. At their current speed, they shouldn’t have a problem being ready to shove off by two a.m. when Mick should return.

  Kade froze, his hand tightening around the grip of a bat. He thought he heard footsteps. This was the thirteenth time he thought he heard footsteps. Searching the darkness he didn’t see any motion. He stood and took a spin to make sure he was alone. Argos watched him with a puzzled expression, and Kade took that as enough evidence to resume packing.

  He went back to work, as he heard the familiar squeal of shopping cart wheels from the far side of the building.

  Ashton arrived with an empty shopping cart. “Tiny wants to see you.”

  Argos ran over and licked sweat off her legs.

  “Too much to do to take a break,” Kade replied as he continued to pack a bag with baseball bats.

  “Kade, Tiny wants to see you. We’re running out of space,” Ashton said.

  “Will you—”

  “Yes. Now go.” She grabbed a baseball bat and slid it into the bat bag.

  Kade jogged through the store, past the empty shelves in hunting and camping, and out the back, where the vehicles waited. When he got there, Lucas was passing the last load of bags up the steps of the bus to Tiny.

  “The SUV is crammed to the brim. All I’ve got left is the aisle in Old Yeller,” Tiny said. “I can fill it, but we won’t be able to access anything until we get there.”

  “Fill whatever space you can find. I’d rather take too much than too little,” Kade said.

  Flash
ing emergency lights and high beams blinded them. The emergency vehicle continued down the loading lane. Tiny drew her pistol. Kade shielded his eyes from the bright lights and hoped these were looters and not police. A sporting goods store was a high ticket commodity for looters, and if these weren’t police he might be able to broker a deal that would avoid violence.

  Tiny aimed her pistol at the vehicle, which came to a screeching halt and all of its lights shut off. The dots in Kade’s eyes left him disoriented, but he fought to focus on the driver.

  A black cowboy hat extended out the window.

  “Please don’t put a hole in my hat,” X shouted from the driver’s side.

  Tiny holstered her pistol behind her back and shared a relieved sigh with Kade.

  “Still want me to fill the aisle?” Tiny asked Kade.

  “And the ambulance,” Kade replied heading toward X, who was climbing out of the vehicle. X strolled toward him nonchalantly, wearing a pair of blue jeans, dark shirt, black cowboy hat, and a leather weapons belt with a .357 in the holster. X’s appearance, combined with his weathered features, made him look like a farmhand from an old Western. However, X was far closer to being the villain: Car thief, small-time con artist—he was a jack-of-all-trades.

  X and Kade hugged quickly.

  “I was getting worried,” Kade said.

  “There’s stealing to be done, and you thought I’d sit it out?” X replied with a wink.

  Kade turned back to the store. “We could use your—”

  “Looks like you guys got this under control. There’s a sports car in the lot across the street that I’ve had my eye on.”

  “There’s things—”

  “I know. I’ll be back in a half hour,” X said, clapping Kade on the shoulder.

  “We—”

  “Look, I’m coming. That doesn’t mean I’m taking orders. I brought you an ambulance. Be happy.”

  Kade watched X disappear into the night, wanting to be mad at him, but unable to be anything but happy. His friend had turned up after all, complete with a stolen ambulance.

  * * *

  At 1:15 a.m. X returned to the group, as promised, with a shiny silver sports car. By 1:45, with X’s added manpower, they had finished packing the vehicles with everything they’d looted from the sporting goods store. By 2:00, they had taken the time to eat, but were on edge because Mick and Victoria hadn’t returned from the police station and weren’t responding on the walkie-talkie.

  At 2:02 a.m., Kade decided to go to the police station. At 2:03, X refused to let him go alone. At 2:05, Kade conceded, and told everyone else to head to a gas station north of town and wait no more than two hours before commencing the journey. At 2:07, X drove Kade in the shiny sports car to the police station.

  Kade held out a set of spiked knuckles that had a long curved blade.

  “Would you stop waving that in my face?” X said, shifting into fifth gear.

  “It’s a predator knife,” Kade said. “And it’s all yours if you take Ash with you.”

  “No. I’m a solo act,” X replied.

  “Just until we get to the campus.”

  “I’m not babysitting for you.”

  Kade let out a sigh and slid the predator knife back into its guard. “I’m not asking you to babysit. I’m asking you to make sure she gets there alive. I trust you more than myself.”

  X snatched the blade from him. “Fine. But I’m only signed on till we get to Houghton.”

  They rode in silence the rest of the way, but Kade was breathing easier. He had just bought Ashton the best bodyguard he could. X slowed the car as they passed the police station.

  Mick’s cruiser sat in front of the station with the doors open. Kade figured things hadn’t gone exactly as planned and his cop got arrested. There must have been an officer around who didn’t get the flu shot. X circled the cruiser once and then parked the car on the street.

  They got out and looked around to see if anyone was watching them, but it appeared they were alone.

  “Let’s go get the little piggy back,” X said.

  “How?” Kade asked.

  X picked up a handful of rocks from the shrub line.

  “Still got an arm?”

  X explained his plan and Kade went to the far end of the parking lot, while X moved into position.

  Kade aimed his shoulder at the door. He wound up and released the first rock. It cracked off the door. He wound up again and launched the second, and then the third. After the third a cop opened the door, his pistol free of its holster.

  “Keep your hands where I can see them,” the officer said.

  Kade launched the fourth rock, which contacted the cop’s boots. The officer lifted his pistol, but X came around the building and hacked his arm, sending the gun skidding across the macadam.

  In a flash, X grabbed the handle of the cop’s Taser as he pushed the safety release button on the holster with his other hand. The terrified police officer reached for X, but he chopped the cop’s arm away and shot the handheld lightning onto the man’s chest. The cop fell to the ground like a fallen tree as the volts poured through him. X followed him to the ground and took the handcuffs from his belt. Rolling the officer over, he cuffed his hands behind his back. The officer’s body was serving as the door prop.

  “Smells like bacon,” X said as he pulled a key ring off the man’s belt and handed the Taser to Kade. “Watch him. I’ll go get our poe poe.”

  Kade was stunned to silence but was thrilled to have X with them, if only until Houghton.

  He didn’t have time to enjoy his happiness, as the police officer attempted to get to his feet. Kade pulled the trigger again, sending a crackle of electricity through the man’s body.

  “Please, just hold still,” he said. Shocking a cop was causing a conflict between his old world and primal self. Kade had felt that same conflict embracing the stolen ambulance. He knew that it would serve his group better than shuttling comas to the hospital, but at the same time he had taken away someone’s safety blanket. He doubted these would be the last conflicts he had to face, but the Primal Age would take more adjusting than he had thought.

  X arrived with Victoria and Mick in tow.

  “You can’t Taze a cop,” Mick said upon seeing his comrade on the ground.

  “I just did. And if you hadn’t got yourself pinched I wouldn’t have had to,” X replied.

  “Did you even try talking to him and explaining the situation?”

  “I figured if he hadn’t believed whatever you told him, what chance would I have? I’m not a man for diplomacy; I’m a man of action.”

  “The longer we stand here the more danger we put the others in,” Kade said.

  X stepped over the Taser wires and left the station. Victoria followed X, but Mick stayed beside his fellow officer.

  “Can I ask him?” Mick said to Kade.

  Kade nodded.

  Mick knelt so he could see the cop’s eyes. “I know what I am about to tell you is going to sound crazy, but everything we know has changed. Most of the country is eit
her dead or monsters. You should come with us.”

  “I won’t be party to whatever scheme you guys are pulling. I’ve seen all your faces. You just wait until the other units get back.”

  “No one will be coming.” Mick pressed his hand to the cold floor and stood, taking a deep breath to clear his mind. “Last chance.”

  “I can’t wait to see the look on your face when we arrest you.”

  Kade set the Taser between the officer’s shoulder blades, then ushered Mick through the door.

  “Forget about it, bud. You tried,” Kade said as they split for opposite vehicles.

  “Yeah. We tried,” Mick replied, avoiding his friend’s eyes as he climbed into the driver’s seat of the cop car.

  Kade felt a pang of worry for his friend’s ability to cope with the realities of what they would have to face in the Primal Age.

  CHAPTER IV

  THE STORM BEFORE THE HURRICANE

  ___________

  Kade regrouped his friends and they began their journey shortly after four a.m. The trip had proceeded smoothly, no signs of foamers, and they only had to navigate around two road blockages.

  Sunrise neared as the convoy approached their first scheduled stop. Kade tried not to get comfortable with the time they were making, knowing that at any moment, they could be faced with a major obstacle.

  “You should have let someone else go after Mick,” Tiny said.

  Kade leaned his tired head against the bus seat. “Why?”

  “We can’t lose you.”

  “I’m the only one of us that’s already dead. Might as well be the one in harm’s way.”

  Tiny’s warm eyes drew him in like a set of magnets. “You’re the one everyone is looking to. The Primal Age is no longer a fun idea to kick around while you drink and watch movies. This is for real. Like it or not, we need you.”