by Matt Ryan
“Then a group of those things came and washed over the town one night. If I hadn’t been working the night shift. . . .” he appeared to drift off into old memories. Shaking his head, he said, “They all thought I was crazy, building this bunker. Now look at them.”
Harris interrupted his rambling. “We’ve had a long night and day. Is there any way we can have some sleeping arrangements here?”
“Oh yes, yes,” their host said, opening a cabinet next to the TV. “So many, so many, I don’t have enough.” He rummaged through the cabinets, tossing blankets behind him.
“We’ll sleep in the family room if it’s okay with you,” Harris said.
Ferrell turned around and faced them, holding two blankets. “Sure, no problem. I have some blankets in here, not enough for everyone, but the nights are good, just like the days are good. Nothing ever changes down here.” He whistle-laughed as he passed out blankets and pillows.
“Thank you much for this hospitality.” Harris smiled.
“Nothing to it,” Ferrell said. “I don’t have much, but does anyone need something to eat?”
Joey perked up in his chair at the mention of food. Perhaps he could stay awake long enough for food.
“Very kind of you, but we brought our own supplies.” Harris pointed to the large bag of food they took from the houses. He pulled out the cans of food and passed them around like Santa. Joey ate his potato soup.
Ferrell stood near Joey, watching everyone eat. His hands shook and he bobbed up and down. The corners of his mouth moved and Joey heard soft laughter from him. He may have been having a discussion with himself. Perhaps it was a funny joke.
“How long has it been since you’ve seen another person?” Joey asked.
“Oh, not long. People come and go.”
“Really?” Lucas asked.
“Sure, just a few weeks ago my daughter visited.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask any more.
After everyone ate, Joey moved his chair back into the kitchen and found a spot under the TV to lie down.
“Well, I’ll be right in there if you need me.” Ferrell pointed to a door that wasn’t part of the tour. Must have been his bedroom. His gaze hung on Julie for a moment. “Good night,” Ferrell said and left the room.
Joey relaxed with that creeper out of the room. Harris gave him a nod, as if to say that it’s okay to sleep. Julie stood from the couch holding an empty can. She looked around for a place to throw it away. She shrugged and walked toward the kitchen.
Lying down, Joey watched her cross the room and pass Ferrell’s door. In a flash, his door flung open and his wrinkled arm grabbed Julie. She screeched as he yanked her into his room and slammed the door. For a split second, Joey thought he had seen it wrong, that he’d imagined it. Then her muffled screams came through the door, and the reality of it hit him hard.
Ferrell had just taken Julie.
Joey jumped to his feet but a second slower than Lucas. Lucas bolted to the door, grabbing the handle and throwing his shoulder into it.
“Open this door.” Lucas twisted the handle and slammed his body against the door. “Open this goddamned door, now!”
Joey saw the panic taking over his friend. He nudged next to him and put pressure on the door, but it wouldn’t move. It felt solid as a stone. Another scream from Julie sent Lucas into a fresh fit.
“Hank!” Lucas called. “Kick this door in.” It came out in a high-pitched scream.
“Don’t touch me,” Julie called out.
Hank ran to the door and kicked at the handle. He kept kicking, but it held. Joey felt the panic overwhelming him as well, a completely helpless feeling. A stupid two-inch thick door stood between them and a friend.
Lucas and Hank pounded the door with their feet. “Let her out of there,” Lucas howled.
Joey pulled out his gun with a shaky hand. He pointed it at the door but didn’t know where Julie was on the other side. She could be leaning against the door for all he knew.
Lucas spotted his gun and stepped back. “Shoot the door,” he demanded.
“Don’t shoot it, it’s steel,” Harris said.
Joey slowly lowered the gun and breathed out. Lucas looked at his gun for a moment and Joey stuffed it into the holster. Lucas had lost all control of his emotions as he punched at the door and screamed into it. He continued to kick at the handle with Hank.
“Julie!” Lucas yelled, pulling at his hair.
She yelled out an intelligible sentence, but the tone in her voice told Joey they needed to hurry. His mind ran wild with what the old man could be doing to her in there. The panic swelled and he moved his hand to his gun again. He had to get through that door no matter what.
“Joey, grab the tool box in the next room over,” Harris muttered to him.
He breathed hard and took his hand away from the gun. A toolbox . . . Joey knew where it was. He ran to the mechanical room and grabbed the metal toolbox. “Here.” He handed it to Harris.
Harris grabbed a hammer and crow bar from the box. Lucas took half a step back but hovered over him. Harris shoved the crowbar between the jamb and door. He pushed against the crow bar and hit it with the hammer, wedging the crow bar deeper into the jamb. Harris pushed hard, letting out a groan as he strained.
Lucas pushed Harris out of the way and took a hold of the crow bar. He screamed as he pushed against it, his face turning red. Hank grabbed the crow bar with Lucas and for a moment Joey thought the bar itself would fold over before the door opened but then the door popped open.
Joey ran in the room behind Lucas. One lamp on the nightstand next to the bed gave enough light to see Julie and Ferrell on his bed.
Julie sat on the bed, sobbing. Ferrell sat behind her in his underwear, one arm holding her in place; the other ran over her hair as he brushed it. He didn’t look up as Lucas lunged at him.
“You sick bastard.” Lucas punched Ferrell.
The old guy fell off the bed and landed on the floor. Lucas pounced on him and kept beating him. He raged with incoherent words and flying punches. Julie hadn’t moved and kept sobbing. Joey rushed to her side and took her hand.
She wiped a tear from her face and looked back at Lucas. “That’s enough, Lucas.”
Ferrell moaned. Lucas stood over him and kept kicking him.
“Stop it!” Julie yelled.
Lucas’s cheeks flushed red and his matted hair stuck to his face. He regarded Julie for a moment and then Ferrell. He kicked him one last time before bounding to Julie, pushing aside Joey. “You okay? Did he touch you?”
“He didn’t do anything but comb my hair. Kept calling me Janice.”
“Janice,” Ferrell cried out.
“Shut up,” Lucas warned to the man over his shoulder, before turning back to Julie. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I just want to get out of here,” her voice shook and sounded weak.
Lucas hugged her and helped her to her feet. Joey watched them leaving the room. Ferrell moaned on the floor, and Joey thought about going over there and finishing what Lucas started.
“What’s wrong with your leg?” Lucas asked, noticing a limp.
“When he grabbed me, I fell and twisted my ankle,” Julie explained as she lifted her leg.
Lucas turned with fresh rage and Joey wasn’t about to stop him.
“Leave him.” She grabbed his hand and stopped him.
He huffed and left the room with her.
Ferrell cried on the floor and rocked back and forth.
Harris walked over to him and propped him into a sitting position. “I’m going to tie you up so you don’t cause any more problems. If you stay quiet, I’ll let you loose in the morning.”
Ferrell nodded his head. Blood trickled from his nose.
“Good.” Harris tied him to the bedpost. Joey paced behind Harris, watching the knots, making sure the sick old man had no chance of getting free. Satisfied with the knots, they went into the family room.
L
ucas paced in front of the girls, as Poly sat on the couch, holding Julie.
“We should just kill the guy,” he said.
“We’re not killing him,” Julie interrupted him before he went too far. “He’s just some sick old man.” She left Poly’s shoulder and crossed her arms. “I think he thought I was his sister or some other family member.”
Lucas walked toward Ferrell’s room.
“Stop it, Lucas.”
He turned around and paced once again. “Well, I’m not staying here . . . with that guy sitting in the next room.”
“He’s not going to harm anyone,” Harris assured. “I’ve tied him up and I’ll stay up all night, watching over him.”
Lucas grumbled more, but Julie was able to calm him down from murderous rage. They took their positions back on the floor. Joey made his bed under the TV and stared at Ferrell’s open bedroom door. He thought he heard Ferrell sobbing. He rolled over and faced Harris.
“All night?”
“All night.”
Joey closed his eyes, but it would be a long time before the adrenaline left his system. After more time passed, he got used to the sounds of a whimpering Ferrell and eventually exhaustion overtook him.
JOEY WOKE TO SEE HARRIS rubbing medical goo on his gut wound. He didn’t notice Joey’s stare and winced in pain. Harris closed his eyes and pulled down his shirt. Joey sat up, making sure not to wake anyone.
“Is it morning?” Joey whispered.
Harris looked at his Panavice. “It will be soon.”
He took a seat next to Harris on one of the folding chairs. Soft thumps above reminded him of the danger overhead.
“That bastard try anything last night?” Joey nodded toward Ferrell’s door.
“Nah, I heard him crying for a while, but he’s been silent for a long time. Lucas did a number on him I think.”
Joey took in a deep breath; Lucas’s rage was still fresh in his mind and thinking of it made his pulse race.
“We can’t stay here,” Harris stated the obvious.
“Who would want to?” Joey didn’t want to be in this hole for any longer than necessary. Chills ran down his arms as he thought about where he was.
“What happened yesterday? You moved faster than I could see,” Harris said.
Joey leaned forward on the steel chair, placing his elbows on his knees. How could he explain something he didn’t understand himself?
“Has it happened before?” Harris prompted.
“I don’t know, maybe back in Watchers Woods?”
Harris nodded his head, looking into his Panavice. “What’s it like?”
Joey thought of the chills that swept over his body. “It’s like the whole world is in slow motion. I don’t feel like I’m moving any faster. Everything else is slower.”
“Fascinating,” Harris said.
“What’s going on? Did Isaac do this to me?”
Harris put his Panavice in his jacket and looked at him. “They did something to you, to all of you, but I think it hit you more than the others.”
Joey shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Harris took a deep breath. “You know Isaac and Marcus started their experiments on the few natural people left on Vanar—the ones who lived were sent to Mutant Isle. But the experiments all came to a halt when they found Ryjack.” He looked to the ceiling. “They had a whole world to mess with and not a person or thing to stop them. That is until Isaac messed something up and created these zombies. They rule this planet now.”
“What’s a natural person?”
“On my planet, everybody is a product of genetic modification. Early on, they put blockers in our DNA. You can’t adjust it. But naturals, such as you, can be played with.”
Joey buried his face in his hands, rubbing his forehead. “You’re joking, right?”
Harris laughed. “This planet is a product of Isaac’s testing. You tell me.” He stared at Joey with his piercing eyes, full of wisdom and pain. “I don’t believe in fate, but I think it’s too large of a coincidence that out of the endless possibilities, we ended up on this planet.”
“Bad luck seems to run through our families.”
“Now you get to see the failed versions of what eventually became of you. It’s important to know who we are up against and how far they are willing to go to get what they want,” Harris said.
“I just want to get home and back to my old life. I want to make sure Samantha is okay and my parents . . . their parents.”
“We will.”
They didn’t speak for a while and the thoughts of the zombies above being some kind of precursor to what he was sent shivers down his body. He didn’t feel comfortable in his own skin, thinking of what was running through his blood.
How could his parents have kept so much stuff from them? He remembered his dad saying the truth would probably sound like a lie and maybe he was right. How could you explain jumping to different planets, or that a person from another planet changed their DNA? He wouldn’t have believed it even if his dad told it with a straight face.
A thump on the steel door resonated through the family room.
“What’s the plan?” Joey asked.
“Let find another way out of here. I don’t think we got the full tour.” Harris said.
After some searching, they found another way out—a ladder hidden behind boxes of dried food. Joey climbed the ladder and opened the hatch. The hatch thumped against the concrete floor of the garage. He pushed himself out through the hole and stood, gawking at the vehicle filling most of the space in the garage.
“Get the others. We’re getting out of here.”
JOEY STARED WITH WONDER AT the vehicle in front of him for a while before taking in the rest of the garage. Cabinets lined both side walls, and a large steel roll up door filled the back. Light poured in from windows at the top of the door.
Lucas climbed from the hatch and into the garage. “Yes,” he called out as he jumped next to the car. “There is no way in hell I was walking past the things out there.”
The others emerged from the hole in the floor and filled the space around the vehicle. Joey slid his fingers across the paint and the emblem H1. Large steel bumpers lined the front of the massive SUV, perfect for plowing through those zombie things outside.
“It’s like a Hummer,” Joey said. He’d seen one a few years ago in Preston. A monstrosity on wheels his mom had said.
“Think it’ll run?” Hank asked.
“I don’t know. I bet Ferrell planned on it running. Look, it’s some kind of diesel hybrid.” Joey shuffled through the empty boxes of fuel stabilizers sitting on a workbench. “Here’s a fuel drum and there’s a pump on top.” He had used a pump like this once to fill a tractor his dad rented. He pulled the handle over to the gas cap and stuck it into the tank. “Pump it—on top of the tank.”
“Wow, a combustion engine,” Harris said. A wide grin spread across his face as he touched the back of the Hummer. “I have a collection of combustion vehicles, but nothing like this one.”
“Who’s going to drive?” Julie asked as she held onto Poly.
“Let’s have Poly drive. She probably has more experience than the rest of us,” Joey suggested.
Poly’s face lit up. Harris eyed at him, but didn’t say anything.
Gas spilled out of the cap. “It’s full,” Joey said. “Hank, once we’re all in, open the garage door.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Lucas said as he opened the car door and helped Julie get in. Harris climbed into the third row back seat.
“Amen to that. I never want to see this place again,” Julie said. “What about Ferrell?”
“Let him rot down there,” Lucas seethed.
“I untied one of his hands and gave him a case knife to cut the rest of the rope. It will probably take him a half hour to get loose,” Harris said.
Lucas huffed and crossed his arms.
Poly clapped her hands and climbed
into the driver seat. Joey ran to the front passenger side and slid onto the tan leather seat, elated to have an option other than walking to death in the desert. The keys dangled from the ignition.
Poly stared at Joey and placed her hand on the ignition. “Okay, here we go.” The SUV growled as the motor cranked, and for a second, Joey’s heart stopped, thinking it wasn’t going to start. Then the motor roared to life and smoke puffed out the back.
They cheered.
Joey leaned out the window and looked back at Hank standing next to the garage door. “Okay, Hank, let’s get out of this hell hole.”
Hank slid the sliding garage door up and ran to jump in the car, slamming the door behind him. The sun barreled into the garage. Joey squinted at it and felt the heat blazing on his face.
“Turn on the AC,” Lucas said, wiping the sweat from his face.
Joey turned the dial and felt the warm air blowing on him. After a few minutes, the air started to cool. He let the cool air blow into his jacket sleeves. He pulled his jacket off and tossed it to the floor. He turned his arms over, looking at all the dirt and filth on them. His shirt stuck to his chest and the straps holding his holsters left sweaty marks on his body. If alone, he might have torn down to his underwear and let the cool air blow over his whole body. It wasn’t as good as a shower, but he somehow felt cleaner.
“There are water bottles back here,” Hank mentioned from the back of the car, holding a case of Aquis water.
Spotting a camera pointed at them through the windshield, Joey leaned forward far enough for the camera to see his middle finger.
“This must be that creeper’s bug-out vehicle,” Julie said.
Poly reversed the Hummer and a pair of zombies hit the back window.
“Floor it!” Joey ordered.
The Hummer accelerated and the two zombie rolled under the tires, bouncing everyone inside. Poly glanced at him as she turned the wheel. She backed up, swinging the front of the car around, hitting another zombie and knocking it to the ground.
Joey watched Poly; her expression was one of cold determination as she shifted into drive and ran over a few more bodies. He kept his eyes on her as she drove around the side of the store, steering around a small group running at them. She shot him another glance and smiled as she saw him watching her.