by JE Gurley
“Smells like good vegetable soup,” he said. “Worth getting up for. How long has Mace been gone?”
“Since sunrise.”
Jeb checked his watch. “It’s after ten. Aren’t you worried?”
She looked up at him, her spoon poised in front of her mouth. “He’s a . . .”
“Yeah, I know. He’s a big boy, but he should be back by now. Where did he go?”
She replaced her spoon in her bowl, laid her arms on each side of the bowl and stared at him. “He said he wanted to pick up a few things from the hardware store.”
Jeb pushed his soup aside. He was hungry, but he was even more concerned about Mace’s prolonged absence. “I think we should go look for him.”
Renda opened her mouth to reply just as the garage door began to open. She smiled smugly. “No need.”
When Mace entered the room, Renda’s eyes went wide with concern. She placed her hand over her mouth and moaned when she saw the blood on his shirt. As she rose to go to him, he waved her to remain seated.
“It’s not my blood,” he said.
Relief flooded her face; then she said with a touch of irritation, “I knew I should have gone with you.”
Mace ignored her and looked at Jeb. “I see you’re up. How’s the side?”
“Nice stitch job. Maybe you could knit me an Afghan or something in your spare time. Where have you been?”
“I thought it might be nice to have a few options for close infighting. A time may come when rifles are too cumbersome.”
Jeb didn’t bother mentioning Mace’s preoccupation with weaponry. “What did you bring us?”
“Oh, a couple of machetes, some road flares and a Makita 14-inch power cutter for me.”
“Boys and their toys,” Renda said, shaking her head.
Mace looked at her with an expression of mock offence. “It has a five-inch cut, more if I remove the guard.” He pulled at his shirt to indicate the blood. “It works damned good.”
Renda stared at him, slowly shaking her head. Mace tossed her a small plastic bag bearing CVS Pharmacy logo. She quickly shoved it in her pocket.
“I have a couple of items that might interest you in my den,” Jeb said. Pushing himself from the table and rising without groaning was tricky, but he led the small procession into his den, unlocked a wooden cabinet, threw open the doors and said, “Ta da!”
Mace reached in and withdrew a long broadsword with a curved three-foot blade and long wooden hilt wrapped in silk threads. Using both hands, he cut the air experimentally a few times and smiled. “Nice balance.”
“It’s a dao, a Chinese ‘big knife’. Careful. It’s sharp.”
“I like it. It’s bigger and heavier than a machete or bolo.”
“A machete is for cutting sugar cane. The dao is for loping off heads and limbs.”
“What’s this?” Renda removed an object from the case, a long bladed weapon attached to a polished five-foot wooden pole with a shorter blade on the opposite end. “It looks deadly.” When she freed it from the case, she did not anticipate its deceptive weight and almost dropped it. “It’s heavy,” she remarked, surprised.
“It’s a Guan dao, or ‘long knife’. The larger blade weighs about ten pounds. It’s said that one of these once made a three-cut.”
“A three cut. What’s that?”
“It sliced through a man’s head, his torso and through the horse he was riding.”
She eyed the twin blades of the Guan dao with a mixture of reverence and fear. “Lord, what a nasty looking thing.”
“Where did you get these?” Mace asked.
“I picked them up in China a few years back when Karen and I went there on vacation. We bought a few antiques and I spotted these.”
Renda stood with the butt of the Guan dao pressed into the carpet held at an angle with one hand, the steel point almost scraping the ceiling. “I like this on,” she said. “I won’t have to get close to those horrid creatures.”
“I have a video somewhere that shows a few simple techniques. It’s a deadly pole weapon. With it, you can sweep either end for a slashing blow. I’ll find it for you.”
“Hand-held weapons are all nice and good,” Mace said, “but let’s hope we don’t have to use them.”
“That reminds me, I was thinking about a place a little more secure than my home.” Jeb looked around sadly at the memorabilia that had accumulated in the den during eight years of marriage. “I hate to leave this place, but I guess it doesn’t matter now.”
Curious, Mace asked, “Where did you have in mind?”
“Biosphere2 in Oracle,” Jeb proposed.
Mace cocked an eyebrow. “The big glass building north of here? Would it be safer than here?”
Mace sounded hesitant so Jeb tried to recall all he knew about the complex to sell his idea. “The place is massive with separate domes and has both passive solar heating and natural gas for heat and cooking. The U. of A. recently installed an experimental solar cooling unit. There’s water and plenty of space to plant crops when canned goods run low.”
“But it’s glass,” Mace insisted, still doubtful.
“The panels are thick safety glass, not easily broken. The entire complex is secluded with one road in and a gate. We can dismantle the security cameras here and place them around the grounds. We need to think ahead toward a goal of more than simple survival. It’s clear we shouldn’t stay here. We don’t know if those gang bangers told anyone where they were going. I would hate to fight off an army. Four of them were bad enough.”
“I like the idea,” Renda said. “I was there once. It’s pretty.”
Mace smiled. “Well, I guess that settles that doesn’t it. It’s been three days since the attack. We may be pushing our luck at that. Besides, things are getting worse in town. Zombies are beginning to move out of the city to escape the fires and in search of prey.” He shook his head. “I saw a fire truck with only two firemen trying to put out a blaze in a home while two cops stood guard against zombies. The house was almost gone already. They had more balls than brains, but it made me feel good to see them there.” He shook his head again. “How long would it take you to pack up?”
Jeb listened to Mace’s firemen story with a sense of pride. “There are still heroes out there,” he commented. “There’s nothing here I want. We’ll take the food supplies, the weapons and bedding. They have a dorm area at Biosphere2 but I don’t know if it’s in use. We can leave later today. We need to get settled in before dark.”
Renda leaned the Guan dao against the wall. “What if it’s not empty?”
“I doubt anyone’s there,” Jeb replied. “With all that’s happening and so near the holidays, I’m sure everyone left. Even if a few people took refuge, there will be room. Besides, we could use some help.”
Mace grunted. “Hmm. Let’s hope we don’t have to evict anyone.”
“Evict anyone? What do you mean?” Jeb asked.
“If someone is there, they may claim squatter’s rights. I don’t intend to walk away unless we’re outgunned. We need a safe place to stay. If this Biosphere place is as good as you say it is, well it sounds ideal.”
Mace’s hardcore attitude concerned Jeb. He had not considered the possibility of a confrontation with others and didn’t share Mace’s eagerness to kick ass. “You mean you would kill them or force them out?”
Mace stared at him. “We just killed four men who had the same idea. Just how thin a line are you willing to draw between survival and death? You need to get your priorities straight.”
“But killing innocent . . .”
“If they’re innocent, we have as much right there as they do. We cooperate if possible. If they want a fight, we give it to them.”
The two men stared at each other. Jeb didn’t want an argument with Mace, but before they went, he needed Mace’s assurance fighting would be an option only in self-defense. Before he could say anything further, Renda cleared her throat. Both men turned to look at her.
“If anyone is there and they just want a safe place to start over, we need to work with them, but if they try to keep us out, I’m with Mace. Unless they outgun us, I’m for fighting. I don’t want to sleep the rest of my life with one eye open afraid of zombies and gun-toting trash. You saw what happened to your friend Reynolds.”
Jeb nodded, somewhat surprised by Renda’s attitude.
“Well, I don’t want to be like him,” she continued. “If the world’s gone to shit, I want to be somewhere nearer the top of the pile, not on the bottom.”
Mace chuckled at her analogy. However, Jeb was a little worried about her and Mace. They seemed to have found it easier to accept conditions than he had. He had tried diligently to help people deal with everyday stress and extraordinary situations in their lives, but had never dreamed of entertaining the possibility of killing to survive a plague of zombies. It was something for which he was certain his books could not provide a solution. If he wanted to locate and rescue Karen, he might have to do things, he had once thought unimaginable. He did not look forward to that.
“Oaky, we go,” he replied.
Renda nodded. “We go.”
Preparations for the trip went smoothly and quickly. They loaded most of the food supplies into the Explorer, with Mace and Renda doing the bulk of the work after Jeb’s aching side forced him to the sidelines. Into Mace’s jeep, they loaded the ammo and bedding. Jeb wanted to take only one vehicle, but at Mace’s insistence included it in the small caravan headed north. For perhaps the last time, Jeb locked the house, not bothering to look back as they passed through the gate.
Mace led the way with Renda riding with Jeb. Twice, they had to work their way around wrecked cars blocking the road, once by driving onto the shoulder and the second time by crossing the median and using the opposite lane. They saw no zombies or live humans until the passed through the small town of Catalina. A pack of eight zombies rushed at them from the parking lot of a strip mall. Renda took down two with her shotgun, while Mace ran one down with his jeep. The remaining five took no heed of their fallen comrades and chased the caravan for almost a mile before falling behind.
Just south of Oracle, they turned onto the road leading to the Copper Canyon Mine and Biospshere2.
“It seems isolated enough,” Renda said as she stared out the window at the narrow canyons populated with cacti, mesquite, palo verde and bufflegrass and very little else.
“One family, the mine owners, lives up the road, but that’s it. We should be safe here.”
“I hope so.”
The gates were open, but no cars were in the parking lot. He pulled up beside Mace and got out. A tall earth berm hid the complex from view.
“The entrance is through the souvenir shop and ticket counter. Once we check it out, we can use the first road we passed that leads to the complex itself. I suggest this parking lot first, because I thought having a gate between us and whoever might be in there would be prudent.”
“Wise precaution,” Mace agreed. He surveyed the high berm and the metal gate. “I like the layout so far. Easily defended.” He pointed to a security camera on a tall metal pole. “We can monitor the entrance and parking lot and I saw another camera at the main gate. With the gate locked, we eliminate anyone entering by vehicle. Individuals on foot are easier to deal with.”
Jeb looked askance at Mace. “You sound like you’ve had experience.”
Mace smiled. “I was in Iraq with Blackstone Security for three years, but most of what I know comes from reading military books.”
“Kind of like an armchair general.”
“Something like that,” Mace agreed.
“I want to see our new home,” Renda said, reminding them of why they had come. She pushed on the black metal gate. It was locked.
“Someone locked up behind them,” Mace commented. “Power’s on, though.”
A light shone inside the souvenir shop. That door was secured as well, but Mace produced a small jimmy tool from his pocket and inserted it between the door and frame near the lock. With one quick jerk, the door snapped open. Renda went straight to the display of candy and picked up a bag of cactus candy. She opened the bag and popped a piece in her mouth. At Jeb’s questioning look, she replied, “I love this stuff.”
Mace walked around the room checking doors and then peered out a window. “Seems safe enough.” He opened an outside door. “Let’s see if anyone is home.”
* * * *
It took two hours of touring the entire structure before Mace was satisfied that Biosphere2 was empty. He seemed fascinated by the varying biodiversity of the several connected domes, nodding in approval at the million-gallon ocean tank complete with coral reef.
“You were right,” he said as they rested from the long walk in the resident area. “This place is ideal.”
Jeb’ side was screaming at him, so he sat in a chair beneath the spiral staircase leading to the upper level, but he did not complain to the others. Renda had already picked out her bedroom and was busy changing sheets. She had started coffee brewing before she left and the aroma of fresh perked coffee wafted throughout the room lending a homey feel to the place.
“It certainly seems safe enough,” Jeb agreed, but something about the openness of the domes made him uneasy, as if he were walking around outside.
Renda came back down the stairs and went into the kitchen. She leaned on the pass-through counter and offered, “It could hold dozens of people.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Mace warned. “First, we set ourselves up comfortably and then we look for others.”
“I can’t afford to get too comfortable,” Jeb said with a touch of frustration tinting his voice. “I’m going to California to find Karen.” He knew he had spoken too brusquely, but he was restless.
“We all will,” Mace said, “but we can’t drive. The roads might be blocked and there will probably be military units around as well. Any cities we pass through will be full of zombies. We’ll have to walk or ride bikes or something, maybe motorcycles. It will take time to get there and it’s winter. It might not be cold now, but it can get cold at night, especially in the mountains.”
“Just as long as we don’t get too comfortable here,” Jeb replied. “You two can save the world. I’m just interested in my family. My wife,” he corrected himself numbly. My son is dead.
“Coffee anyone?” Renda asked, breaking up the conversation. “There’s a good supply in the cupboard. The refrigerator is working too. They even have ice cream.”
“Any beer?” Mace asked hopefully.
“Sorry, no.”
“Oh, well, coffee it is then.”
Jeb agreed with the idea of coffee, but he still had not come to terms with the Biosphere2 complex. Though it had been his suggestion, the place had not seemed as large on his last visit a few years back. Maintenance was going to become a problem with just the three of them. They would have to locate some of the procedural manuals and technical drawings to keep the complex world-under-glass operating properly. None of them had much technical training and they would have to learn from the ground up, from lighting to cooling and from plant care to cleaning the aquarium.
Renda’s fascination with the aquarium tucked away in an underground grotto had amused Jeb as she had dipped her toe in the water and watched the small fish swarm to her investigating a possible new food source. “Poor hungry things,” she had complained and found a container of fish food and tossed handfuls in the water. Jeb hoped she hadn’t overfed them as he had a small goldfish he had bought for Josh. Three-year old Josh had cried when he found the fish, floating belly up in the tank. She seemed equally taken by the rain forest in the big, steep pyramid dome with its myriad collection of tropical species of trees and plants, some as tall as seventy-feet. His favorite location had been the tower and its glass dome. It was an ideal place to relax and survey the entire grounds; though the glass floor above the stairwell made him a little dizzy as he stared into its depth
s and the long climb up the stairs had been responsible for his aching side.
“We have to make sure to keep all the outside lights off and as many of the inside lights as we can,” Mace cautioned. “If we don’t then this place will glow like a Christmas tree at night and draw every zombie for miles.” He took a sip of his coffee and set the cup on the floor by his feet. “That main dome is awesome. We can build boxes to hold dirt, set up an irrigation system and plant crops.”
Jeb recalled the enormous open area. “Why not just rip up the concrete floor.”
“We don’t know how deep it is and there probably won’t be anything but sand and rock beneath it. We can truck in bags of potting soil from a nursery that will be richer than Arizona dirt.”
To Jeb it sounded like a massive undertaking. “In the future,” he said.
Mace looked at him and nodded quickly. “Yeah, sure. In the future.”
“In the meantime, what would you gents like for dinner?” Renda asked. “I found steaks in the freezer. How does that sound?”
Jeb looked at her and smiled. “Sure, sounds great. Make mine medium rare.”
* * * *
After dinner, Jeb accompanied Mace as he made the rounds, checking that all the entrances were secure. Walking the entire complex was the last thing he wanted to do, but Renda had cooked and cleaned up and he felt the others might construe his begging off, because of his injury, as a play for sympathy. He noticed Mace glancing at his limp, but he did not mention it.
“Tomorrow we start installing more video cameras and alarms,” Mace said. “Tonight, you and I should take shifts patrolling the grounds.” He pulled out a coin. “Heads or tails?”
Jeb waved his hand. “Oh, I’ll take first shift. I drank too much coffee, so I can’t sleep anyway.”
“All right,” Mace agreed, putting away the coin. “I’ll relieve you at midnight.”
It took an hour to check all the doors. Satisfied they were secure, Mace left Jeb in the security office, and he returned to the dorm area. Jeb took a seat in front of the bank of video monitors that scanned the exterior and much of the interiors of the domes, much relieved to be sitting. He still had the vial of sedatives in his pocket, but he resisted the urge to take one. For a while, he played with the cameras, panning them to alter the view, but boredom soon set in and left him alone with his thoughts.