Another laugh.
“For my part, I had teams out sweeping for your family when the balloon went up. We never found Rose, bless her heart, but we did manage to get a team on your Marty here. Funny thing, too, my report said the agents released a zombie which attacked her private nurse, Angie I believe, who then went in and killed Martinnette Peters. The report said she was dead. That might have been the end of the story, and we'd have never known, but her name showed up as 'alive' when Hayes entered her information into his reports from under the Arch. Can you imagine the good luck? I sent two agents to check her house to find out why the paperwork was falsified, and they reported her body was gone. Somehow she escaped an infected right in her own home. I wish she were awake so I could congratulate her.”
He bent over Grandma and shouted at her, “Are you awake?” She didn't stir.
Liam knew she had survived because she ran outside her house to escape the sick nurse.
Seemingly satisfied, the agent continued. “Hayes said he was keeping an eye on her for his research, but we were keeping an eye on her, too. It was only after your name came up when I took your picture on the bridge overpass—Mr. Sam Stevens—we put it all together how she got away and where she was going. From there, we tried bombing her, we asked the Marines to grab her, and we even embedded some Special Forces guys into a small group of troublemakers straight out of Mad Max to liquidate her in her Boy Scout tent. In the end it was Doug who brought her to us.”
“Not to you.”
“Well, it's the same thing.”
“If the President's dead, why are you still following his orders?”
Duchesne looked at Victoria. “You really think the President is the only one in charge? There are over 500 representatives in the halls of power, not to mention scores of judges, generals, and powerful executives in the defense industry all willing to do anything to protect their way of life. They're probably all sitting in their bunkers somewhere, just waiting for their fresh start. The government is going to go on, plague or no plague. My mission doesn't stop just because a few of them are dead, or because things are bitey out in the world. We each have our parts to play. Mine is to terminate troublemakers with professional efficiency. Hayes' is to ensure the plague wipes out the malcontent citizenry. I think he's done a fine job, don't you?”
Yes, bully for him.
2
Grandma was with Al. She was also asleep in the room with everyone standing around her—she could hear them if she focused on their voices—but she was in a dark space, standing outside the door she'd seen before in this place.
“Hello, Marty. Are you ready to open this door?”
She looked inside. The huge ugly computer was still sitting on the wooden table, just as it was on a prior visit. Al called it an 8088.
“What's changed? Why will I be able to open it now?”
“Ah, an excellent question. And one for which you deserve an answer. Walk with me a minute.”
Al turned from the door and strolled away. The darkness fell back as if it were smoke, and she could see a whole universe of stars above her, just as she had before. He took her out into the open space near the foot of the waterfall.
“Yes, prior visits I showed you what I needed to show you. This time, you will see it all. Or as much as human eyes can see.”
As she came out of the darkness she was overcome with emotion at the scale and beauty of this “Heaven” as she understood it. Where once there was one bright waterfall pouring into a pool ensconced in a picturesque patch of grass and flowers, now there were separate and distinct waterfalls of all sizes and shapes stretching off to the horizon in on either side of her. They glowed like beacons in the night. It was hard to see the darkened land behind the waterfalls, but each had a middle landing like the one on which she was standing. From there, a second shorter waterfall spilled from the landing down to a choppy sea—which also stretched in both directions as well as directly away from them to the horizons. Above it all were stars. An impossible number of stars. So many that the whole scene was well lit by them.
It took Marty's breath away. She stumbled and felt the desire to sit. A rocky bench was off to one side, and she sat heavily and faced the waterfalls along the coast to her left, away from her own. Away from Al.
“Is this really Heaven?”
“This isn't your Heaven I'm sorry to say. This is the multiverse. Mind you, this is still an internalized representation your mind can accept. But it's a grand reflection of reality I must admit. Your brain truly is a wonderful place.”
“This—is real? Not just in my head?”
“Yes my dear. Each waterfall is a completely separate universe. Each waterfall has its own rules. Is run by its own caretaker. Some are young and fresh. Others are more mature. We meet at homeowner's meetings and have tea.”
She turned around and gave him her best stink eye.
With a curt laugh, he said, “I'm sorry, Marty. I don't want you to get too taken with what you see here. Some people can't handle it.”
“Others come here?”
He smiled. “Let's talk about you coming here.”
“All right,” she said as she looked back to the coastline, “do all the waterfalls drain into this ocean?”
“Yes, all roads lead to the ocean if you will allow me to mix metaphors. And this ocean gives back to all the waterfalls in ways that are hard to describe with simple words. The ocean is the engine which drives the universes. Perhaps if you observe for a while you will see.”
Marty sat there for a time. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she became aware of flashes of light under the water of the ocean. At times bright and moving, as if lightning was striking under the surface. Sometimes a dim explosion of brightness seemed to encompass the entire ocean at once. It was impossible to see any patterns, but she was content to say she saw the lights. The energy flashes made the water appear as a deep translucent green color.
“It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Al. Or whoever you are. Thank you for showing this to me.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, as it became too much to take in. Between the infinity of stars above, and depth of the sea below, it defied description.
“Please Marty, don't be upset by what I'm showing you. Take solace that you are only seeing a tiny fraction of this shoreline. It goes on in each direction, pretty much forever. Your mind couldn't handle seeing more of it at one time.”
He sat next to her and changed tact. “You've succeeded Marty. You, Liam, and Victoria were able to work together to get you here. To talk to me. The final piece is to get inside that door back there.”
“It isn't really a door, is it?”
“You're catching on. The door represents something blocking you from doing what you need to do. The computer is the answer to your problem. A problem that should be fixed as soon as possible.”
“What problem? And why the delay? Why not tell me this two weeks ago?”
“The balance is delicate, my dear. Zombies roam your world with impunity. Bad men are hastening your collective destruction. Each minute lost is irreplaceable. But as I've said before, the answer must come from you, not me.”
Marty sighed. Every visit to this place was more frustrating than the last. She'd seen Liam's memory from one of his books—”
“The book was Earth Abides. It's one of Liam's favorites. You'll have to ask him why it's so important to him.”
“And why show me Victoria's death?”
“I think you already know that. Your memory of your own daughter's death those many years ago is a big reason why you and Victoria bonded. That and Liam liked her.” He laughed. “All right, that was probably a big part of why you all bonded.”
Marty searched her feelings. The dream she'd seen had indeed shown her a memory from her own deep past—one she'd like to forget. When she was a young girl, freshly married, she got into a car accident in which her young daughter died. It was something she had tried to forget for over eighty years, though
every day she thought about her. Of course meeting a young girl named Victoria would affect her judgment.
“Did you put her there, Al? Victoria, I mean. Put her under that tree that day?”
He smiled, but said nothing.
“And when I saw her in the backseat of that SUV. I saw—”
“Yes, you carry your painful memory and she carries hers. She was assaulted by her fiance—a real dirtbag as she discovered—just after they were engaged to be married. That's what drove her to leave Colorado and go to St. Louis. But the pain was fresh when you first met her. I think you and Liam saved her in more ways than one.”
So many questions.
“What about when I saw her in that dark alley? She left a friend behind. She was about to be bitten.”
Al took a long time to reply. “Not every vision is an exact representation of reality. She may not have been bitten when she ran that night, but she wishes she was. That's what she sees when she dreams of her escape.”
“Oh my. Poor girl.”
Victoria had told her and Liam she ran all night to escape the zombies in downtown St. Louis. It made sense if she imagined herself getting caught, it would be while leaving a friend behind.
“Al, please tell me. How will this help any of us in curing the plague?”
Al smiled. “That, my dear Martinette, is the right question, at the right time, for the right person. Come with me and I'll show you.”
They stood up, striding for the window.
3
“That's not true. Liam, I admit I released the original virus, but you have to believe me when I say I never intended for it to be this effective. I'm really trying to reverse it.”
“You're doing a piss poor job of it. That's why I'm here to clean up your mess. Get this research,” Duchesne nodded to the bed, “to the fortress over in Illinois where some real scientists can look at the data.”
Hayes seemed beaten. It was a look Liam had never seen, for real anyway. He feigned it several times.
“Is there rescue over in Illinois? Can we all go to the fortress?”
“Well little lady, what do you think? Do you think the government is just sitting out there somewhere in a bunker just waiting for its citizens to show up so it can feed and clothe them in this time of need? Is that really your view of what the Federal government is for?”
“I always just thought...you know, they'd want to help out.”
“There's a fortress all right. And the US of A Army is parked there right now with its tanks and Humvees and every weapon you can think of pointed outside their walls at all the fine citizens that stumble their direction. Living or dead, it don't matter in the least. The whole city of Chicago must have gotten a memo because the dead are stacked ten-deep in the fields north of the fort. They built it too close to population if you ask me.”
He turned to face her. “And no, you can't go there. They don't let in just anyone.”
Duchesne leaned over Grandma, checking to see if she was awake.
Or alive.
The thought prompted him to ask. “Is she doing OK? Why isn't she waking up?” He felt his heartbeat downshift and start to spin wildly.
“Liam, that's an excellent question. But before I tell you, I need to give you something.”
It happened so fast Liam could only reconstruct it after the fact. In one fluid motion Duchesne sidestepped along the bed and swung his fist. He connected with his stomach, sending him to the floor. When he was down, the agent kicked him hard in the face. He missed connecting with his nose by a couple inches, but the sole of his foot scraped painfully across his cheek. He stayed down, hoping that was all.
Victoria and Hayes both moved in his direction, but the bodyguard yelled something and everyone froze. He couldn't remember because he'd hit the floor pretty hard and his ears rang like mad.
His mind came back into focus as Victoria lifted him. Duchesne had gone back to his chair, but was hunched over with his elbows on his knees, rubbing his hands together. He spoke in a low voice.
“That's for making me look like an ass back on the bridge. I've been wanting to do that since the minute you left my sight. I never dreamed I'd have this chance. I have to say, that felt pretty good.”
He sat back up, talking to the room.
“This is what's going to happen. My team and I are going to take Ms. Peters here down to our boat. We're going to get into said boat, motor to the far shore where our chopper is waiting, and live happily ever after in the cornfields of Illinois.” He paused with a little drama before continuing. “Well, most of us will live happily.”
“Will you try to take care of her? Keep her alive?” Liam had asked the same question of Hayes not long ago.
“Are you kidding me? I don't care what happens to your dear old grammy. They can rip her apart as far as I'm concerned. As long as someone who knows what the hell they're doing is analyzing the results—and not this goof—she'll have proven her worth. If she has to suffer so the rest of us can live, so be it.”
The pain in his stomach was intense. He wondered if he ruptured his stomach or other internal organs. It felt that bad. While hunched over and being supported by Victoria, he continued to press Duchesne. “Take us with you. We'll help you take care of Grandma and go to your fortress, or whatever, and not cause any problems.”
“Ha! Not cause problems, you say? Like you didn't cause any problems when two of my agents died in your Grandma's house? Like not cause any problems when you sent a whole army of refugees into the quiet hinterlands of southern Missouri? Like not cause any problems when you skillfully avoided the US Marines and the bombing of your neighborhood? Is that what you mean by not cause problems, because if that's not causing problems I think I'm genuinely afraid of you if you are trying to cause problems. You're a lone boy, and you've cost this country millions of dollars, maybe billions of dollars, in terms of lives lost, damage to property, and long-term financial ruin of a significant portion of the population of St. Louis. That's all you and your 'not causing problems'.”
“Liam also helped destroy a perfectly good railroad bridge over a river when we came out of St. Louis. You might want to charge him for that.” Victoria seemed to revel in goading Duchesne. She did the same back on the bridge.
“Very funny, young lady. I'd punch you, too, if you didn't already have two black eyes.”
On his feet Duchesne said something to the bodyguard and the big man left the room. He then turned to Hayes. “I'm outta time. Do you want to tell them, or shall I?”
Hayes had a downtrodden look. He was either still sulking from his earlier embarrassment or this was something new. When he looked up he wasn't looking at Liam. He was looking at Grandma. He moved in her direction, reached behind her pillow, and pulled something into view.
“Liam, I'm real sorry to have to tell you this...”
Liam didn't hear the rest of the statement. He knew. Grandma had already been infected with the deadly virus. The reason she was so quiet was that her body was absorbing it into her blood, just as Bart had done back at Elk Meadow. When Bart woke up he was sentient for a while, but devolved into a zombie not long after.
Grandma had minutes to live…
4
Marty walked with Al for a few moments, then she entered her own memory.
“Al no. Not again. I can't bear it.”
“You must, my dear. You must face your darkest fear before you can look ahead.”
“But...”
She fell into the dream.
“I'm so happy! Al just bought me a new car. Well, he bought it for us. Mr. and Mrs. Aloysius Peters. I just love saying the name.” She twirled in the grass of her backyard like a giddy schoolgirl. She wasn't much older than one.
“I can't wait to drive it. Al showed me the controls. I'm sure I can. But he said not to.”
She ran on tip toes from the yard and into her garage. It was fresh and new. She was looking at a polished black Model T Ford. Her mind registered it as a 1926 Runabou
t—they had just bought it used from Al's father.
She eyed the driver's door of the vehicle. “What would it hurt to drive it? I could take a quick ride around the block. Al would never know I was gone.”
“I shouldn't.”
“Should I?”
Her emotions became confusing here. Marty recognized both restraint and abandon in her younger self. The straight-laced young lady had never done anything so illicit.
“I'm an adventurer!”
She jumped in and looked at the spartan controls. She walked through the starting process Al showed her, ending with stepping on the starter on the floor. Her happiness was through the roof.
She proceeded to back out of the garage, deftly working the three pedals on the floor while adjusting the spark and throttle on the steering column.
“I can do this.”
She rolled the car forward down the narrow alleyway and paused at the edge of the cross street.
Her elation fused with dread as she wondered if anyone would recognize her, and if they did would they tell Al his wayward wife was on a joy ride in their prized new Ford.
The confusion and danger thrilled her. She released the brake and turned right with a little boost to the throttle. Youthful Martinette's long blonde hair began to flow wildly behind her. She was now in second gear and loving life.
“I'm doing it. I'm so proud of myself.”
While the car never really got going too fast, it felt like riding a bolting stallion to her young self. She controlled all that power.
She could see into the backyards of houses as she passed. More often than not a woman was tending laundry on the drying lines, or holding a baby or two. Those women were securely tied down just as surely as those laundry cables.
“I am, too.”
“But in this moment I'm free.”
Marty recognized the struggle of her younger self.
Stop the Sirens: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 3 Page 24