by P. S. Power
Otherwise they'd probably shoot him. He made trip after trip, the shamblers mainly old and slow, their feet less steady sounding than during previous encounters. After half an hour of this they all just... stopped. After a bit he realized that they weren't moving at all. Just bodies now. He didn't know what to make of it, but moved a crew out with axes, taking the heads anyway. It was just starting to become light.
The flesh was hard and brittle, the impact on his arms painful in the cold, but nothing stirred or moved at all. They were just... dead. Like they were supposed to be.
Jake didn't trust it.
After months of constant struggle with the undying he knew that they didn't just turn back into regular corpses. Something had happened to these, and that meant that someone had done it, most likely. If his guess was right it would mean that someone outside the House was there, doing it. Jake couldn't make out anyone yet. Slowly, almost as if someone was waving him in, he started to move toward the woods. It was the only place to hide after all, other than in the House. They had telepaths to stop that from being too easy tough.
A small hand touched his arm.
Sammi.
"No. It might be a trap. We can't go in there until full light. We need to be careful here Jake..." She sounded ready to keep arguing the point, but she was just right. It would be a stupid thing to do, running off into the woods at night. Even if there were no zombies, which was far from assured, there could be cannibals left. There almost had to be.
"Got it. Let's pull back then and get things ready for the day? We can send out a team later." Maybe someone that could tell the difference between a zombie, a cannibal and whatever had turned the undead back into true dead? Whatever that trick was, Jake needed it. They all did. it was amazing.
Depending on how it worked it might just be the thing that could save them all. Even if it was just one guy with the power to do that, he'd take it. After all, it was about a million times better than not having someone around that could do that.
Still, the work had to be done, and that meant more forge work. Today he planned to assemble his first air rifle. It was meant to be a little more powerful than what they could have gotten in a store Back Before, but the air cylinder wasn't that great, he didn't think. It was an early effort, but even a weak rifle would be worth making for the experience, he figured. That was what he worked on until breakfast, or nearly then. He had to wash first, because of the dead people.
Nate and Carl joined him for a scrub up, which meant they both saw the bite. Carl just grunted.
It got Jake to grin.
"Human bite. Cannibal from the first wave of the attack. I just have to watch for infection, not zombie-ism. Wait... is that a word? We need a phrase for that." He thought about it while scrubbing the wound. It stung but it wasn't all that bad. He'd had worst wounds and it wasn't going to make him change, so no big thing.
Nate acted like it was a big deal, though.
"What were you doing out alone?" His voice was low and dark sounding. Pissed. Like he was about to really lay into Jake. Maybe physically. "The rules are there for a reason. Hell Jake, you made them up! No one goes alone. What if you'd died out there? Do you think I can keep this mess together alone?"
Jake shook his head but didn't speak. There really wasn't a great reason for anything after all. He'd been out alone because he was feeling frustrated sexually. It wasn't so bad if he kept busy, but it was a chore getting anyone else to keep working like he did most days. Saying that wouldn't help anything however. No one could do anything about it. The problem was his. He needed to finish killing off the part of himself with any interest in things like that. It was just a little harder to manage than it seemed like it should be.
If he was really the Very Good Man or whatever, it probably would have already happened, but he wasn't that, so had to do things the hard way.
"Sorry, just trying to get some work done. Everyone else was sleeping." He didn't add that if he hadn't been in place they all probably would be roasting about then, but Nate gave him a hard look anyway.
"Sure. That, or the night guard detail would have stopped them instead."
Nate had been reading his mind again, which got him to immediately stop thinking. It worked to keep the telepaths out, but was kind of like saying he had something to hide. Which he did. He didn't know if Nate was in on the whole thing to put him forward as their hero or whatever. Lamont, the leader of the telepaths most likely was, but he denied it still. It didn't matter that much, but it was kind of working, so Jake didn't want to ruin the whole thing. Nate might just feel honor bound to tell everyone if he knew. Maybe not, though.
Honor wasn't such a big deal anymore.
He washed and dressed again, getting into a new shirt this time, so the blood from the bite wouldn't show. Then he went off to breakfast, trying to enjoy the corn pudding stuff they had. Food was about his favorite thing anymore. It used to be music, video games, and Rachel. Those things were gone now. Well, not music, but it was hard to find time for something like that, even though he should. They could play instruments after all, even if singing was a bad idea.
Food though...
It was definitely the best. He savored the dish in front of him, canned vegetables having been worked in, after being sautéed with various spices. Those actually belonged to him, having bought them off of Morris, the leader of the Teleporters. A group that had a real name, but it was something he couldn't pronounce properly, so he didn't try. He was supposed to make four knives for the man, once he was good enough. It would take a bit.
Colleen sat next to him at the table, but didn't speak to him, just giving him sullen glances from time to time. He didn't ask why, knowing that it would be about him having left her sleeping. Technically he wasn't supposed to do that, but Heather hadn't come to hit him for it yet, so maybe it was all right this once. After the meal he started to head out to the forge area when Cam and Sammi came running up, both dressed a good bit more nicely than he was.
It was the Bawdri Princes that got to him first, her hair golden in the morning light.
"We're off to see my mother. Can you have Heather in with you two today? She said that wouldn't be needed, but it isn't just about safety, she needs to feel wanted too, just like everyone else."
Colleen looked to be drawing a blank on the topic, but Cam made a face and then smiled about it as if she held a joke inside.
"She keeps making the Bawdri leader mad, telling him he isn't all that important to the future. I'm almost positive she doesn't really know that, and is just messing with the guy. He doesn't want her around for some reason anyway. Go figure?" It was clear that she thought it was secretly hilarious, but Sammi looked a little more serious about the whole thing.
"Especially with mother, and all that."
She didn't elaborate and didn't need to. Jake had seen the woman himself. A zombie. Dead and infected, which shouldn't have been possible for a Bawdri, since they were immune to all disease, healing as fast as they did. Alyssian had been captured by someone and turned forcefully, transfusions of zombie ichor given until she transformed. It was a horrible thing, and for someone to have done that to her on purpose was even worse.
As far as he could tell it was the Technologists that had done it. A group of people totally dedicated to science, and making positive advances. Why, or even how, he didn't know. They'd looked pretty guilty though, having tried to blow him up using a biological robot double of his mother. His already dead mom. He kind of hated them now.
Just a bit.
Unfortunately he didn't know where they'd gone, if he'd ever known where they were at all. Jake had been invited to visit with them and met five of the group, but when they'd gone back it had just been the bomb that looked like his mother trying to hug him. The rest were gone. It had obviously been a real city at one point, and had a lot of technological looking stuff was left just sitting around, but they were gone.
All of them.
For the time being he w
as trying to be good, and not blame an entire group for what had happened, but it wasn't easy. Really, if he could find out where they were Jake probably would have tried to go in and take them all out. Just in case. They were probably behind all of the problems. The zombies... and the other things too. Maybe even the bad weather. Not that he could prove any of it.
That was something to deal with later though. Right now he was needed to act as a babysitter, for a pregnant crazy woman.
"OK. She can keep Henry company. I'm sure they have a lot in common." For some reason that got a laugh from Colleen who didn't say why, and a baffled and slightly unfriendly look from the boy that was working the bellows.
"Do not mock me, smith. I won't put up with that, even if it means my death." He sounded so serious that everyone else had to look away.
Jake didn't though.
"Wouldn't dream of it. She can see the future, and does constantly. Plus, you mentioned having some strange ideas about Human women and since Colleen wants to keep the peace she's been silent on the matter. You and Heather can have a conversation there, no doubt. She's pregnant." Shrugging he adjusted the coals. "It was by rape. Just so you know. I wouldn't call her a slut because of that, would you? It will be good practice for you, learning to deal with her." He pointed to the door just before she came in, her feet announcing her on the snow by making slow scritching sounds.
She didn't look upset or anything, but it was clear that she got that she was being treated as a burden. It was true, so Jake just kept working as the others moved to get to their journey. That was a pretty strange pairing right there, since the two girls, Cam and Sammi, weren't really friends. Their people kind of hated each other, and they weren't really able to trust fully yet. That would take time, no doubt. They were trying though and that was a good sign.
Jake gestured for Heather to have a seat in the corner of the room on a heavy stump he'd put in to act as a low work bench. It meant cleaning the tools off of it first, but he had a real rack for them, and could learn to use it for the day instead of being lazy and sloppy. She sat quickly enough and for once didn't start right in on berating him for anything, or suggesting that they be the best friends ever. It was hard enough to tolerate her most days, much less have to be that responsible for her. There was actual silence for a long time even. For once.
It wasn't any of them that broke it either, other than some pointing and trying to work together to fit the new air rifle together. It would look a little funny, the barrel made of a narrow pipe and the stock carved by hand like it was. If it worked correctly it would hold ten shots and take its air pressure from bending it in half and then forcing it straight once. It wasn't ideal, but it would do for the moment. He'd put sights on it too, but didn't know if that would help at all.
It was after lunch that they had it out shooting at a cardboard target and some pieces of wood. Jake wasn't happy with it. It was decent for what it was, meaning it actually fired, and did so pretty consistently. It also reloaded itself each time, which had been something he hadn't really expected to work, even thought the book he'd had on it claimed it was possible. It just wasn't strong enough for anything except light hunting. Squirrels and rabbits maybe. It would work for that though, and do it silently enough, so that was a plus. The next one would have to be a lot stronger.
He heard a strange noise behind him, one that came in bursts, almost like hands clapping. When he turned his mind wouldn't make sense of what was going on at first.
It was a boy with what seemed to be a stick hitting the ground over and over again. A very funny looking boy. Or, rather, he looked normal enough in his own person... White skin, brown hair and small, about five foot, tops. What made him look strange was his clothing.
It was a tight pair of brown pants in a stretchy material and a jacket that would have looked right on an aviator from the nineteen twenties.
In short, he was dressed like a Technologist.
Chapter two
It was probably overkill, since the boy looked to be about twelve or so, and small for his age, but Jake looked down the black, slightly scratched metal of his nine millimeter at him anyway. After all, the last person he'd seen dressed like that had been a bomb. For that matter he decided to keep his distance, even as people moved from the House to see what the new sound was.
For his part the boy kept slapping the stick in his hands on the hard ground. It was nearly bare in that area, since it had high foot traffic, so he was connecting with frozen dirt with each blow. The stick itself seemed normal enough at first, but when the young man stopped and looked at him, eyes going slightly wide, it was clear that the thing wasn't just a piece of wood. It had a strip of metal down one side, and a copper looking handle around the end that was being held. The other end was also metal, but had a silvery sheen to it.
"Freeze." Jake said it with menace, ready to fire, little kid or not. The way he looked was probably meant to slow him down, get him to not react at all. If it hadn't worked with the look alike of his own mother though, an unknown child wasn't going to do the trick.
Especially if that youngster wasn't really what it seemed.
The kid looked at the weapon, then around him as the others got the idea that he might be a threat. There were a lot of weapons pointed at him suddenly.
The boy did freeze though, rather nicely in fact.
"I come in peace." The words sounded so serious and adult that Jake nearly had to smile. It was a line from every "B" science fiction movie ever made after all. Normally what the aliens said, just before they tried to take over the world. Then, those movies might have been just a little paranoid. After all, the aliens, if they existed, had left them alone as far as he knew.
He held the expression in though, so as to not confuse anyone, and kept his weapon trained without wavering much.
"I see. OK, can you tell me why you're dressed like a Technologist if that's the case? The last person of that type I saw blew up, trying to kill me, and the group of people I was with." He didn't add the stuff about his mother figuring that part wasn't really needed.
The kid tilted his head to about fifteen degrees, a subtle movement and sighed.
"That... was unknown to me, and my people. We've come to aid you as we may, traveling from our home on the Southern American continent. My name is... well, call me Hal. I was sent out to find the one known as Mickey. The one called Very Good, not the mouse. That came as a shock, we spent weeks traveling to an abandoned amusement park." He spoke clearly enough, if with an accent that said he wasn't speaking his native tongue at all.
Everyone took a few seconds to look baffled, but Jake nodded.
"All right. I'm the one you're looking for, I guess. Call me Jake. It will cut down on confusion. My real name is Mickey Robson, but I don't go by that." Everyone had heard him called that by now, all the people that had been around for Christmas at least. The newest people didn't get it, not the Human ones that had wandered in, but Jake didn't really care about them anyway. Not as more than numbers. Not yet. They weren't his friends, or anything.
The kid, Hal, slowly set down the stick in his hand then pointed at it. The gesture was probably supposed to be reassuring, but it nearly got him shot. Not just by Jake either. Vicki was clearly tightening her finger on the trigger of her own handgun.
"This is an earth... radio. I need to bury it at least two feet into the ground. The initial power is generated by an internal piezoelectric crystal in the top." He looked at the weapons again, got that he was speaking in gibberish to most of them and stopped.
Burt explained from the porch, his face covered with a scarf to keep the cold out of his lungs. Some of the people did that now. It wasn't a bad idea overall, but Jake had never noticed Burt doing it before. He was pretty old though, so maybe it was easier on him or something?
"It's... an abandoned technology. Basically the idea is to send radio waves through the ground, using naturally existent energy for the process. A piezoelectric crystal takes physical force
and turns it into electricity. It would explain pounding it on the ground like that." The older man rubbed his scarf a little, as if it itched, then shook his head. "I'd always thought it was just a pipe dream, kind of like free energy, or cars that run only off of water."
The boy smiled, as if Burt's words meant he wouldn't be killed or something.
"Those are things that can be done. However, it has been deemed that using personal conveyance is inefficient and leads to social decay. Public oriented transportation is preferred. That, or walking, which promotes fitness and attractiveness. Those are both important for mental stability."
It was a risk, but Jake knew that he'd have to either kill the boy out of hand, before he could prove a threat to them all, or trust that he was who he said. It was, of course, easier to trust a child than an adult in the same situation, which made the whole thing far more suspect. Who'd let a kid make first contact with people that might just kill him? It was insane.
"So Hal, what I'm going to do is this. Everyone else is going to step back a good way, in case you explode or something, then I'm going to put my weapon away, and walk over to you. If you start to kill me... well, I'm betting that you won't, but I don't know if I can trust you yet. So far that hasn't gone to well with your people. I kind of think your kind are behind the zombies that have nearly destroyed the world as well as a bunch of other things. I know that sounds harsh, but it's what the evidence I have seems to say."
Oddly enough that just got a blank stare for a while from the kid. Then he looked at the "earth radio" in his hand and finally glanced back up.
"I'm not supposed to try and explain anything, but it seems that you require an explanation of some kind to feel comfortable with me. Please don't kill me." This got addressed to Vicki, not Jake. It seemed strange though, as if he didn't think Jake was the real danger. Of course he'd already offered to put his weapon away, so maybe that had reassured the kid. "I know that you may feel bound to, but I give full word and bond that neither myself or those I travel with have created this plague. However, some of my people did. I cannot explain that portion of things, but if you allow me to call for the others I believe it will be explained. I promise you that we do no harm to anyone. It is our way. It is why we have come, to help undo this... bad thing, done to the world."