by Mark Clodi
'What now?' Jack signed.
Leaning in Jeff whispered very quietly into the boy's ear, “Go back? What do you think?”
Jack edged up to the top of the crater, Jeff could see his lips moving in the all too familiar mantra most of the scouts used, 'Do not see me. Do not see me.' and smiled. Sliding back down he leaned over and whispered, “I think this is weird. The watchers. The supers. Something is not right. What do we do?”
“Can you distract them? You and Will make some noise and run, shoot them only if you have to?”
Jack nodded, “Then you and Nadine go through the hole, right?”
Jeff nodded.
“Piece of cake for us, what will you do when they come back?”
Jeff grinned again, “Kill them.”
Jack's face fell into a frown, they all knew how unlikely it was for a human to win against a super zombie. The things were fast and strong and did not feel pain. Only a blow to the head could kill them and they just kept coming until that blow was landed. The boy shook his head 'no'.
“Okay then you keep them distracted for long enough for me to get a few blocks over and we will circle around and come back another way.”
Jack nodded agreement with this plan, then whispered, “We will go back to the first line and make a distraction, not too close to here.”
“Good plan, do it.”
Jack went to explain the plan to Willy while Nadine came up to Jeff. He gave her the brief synopsis of what they were going to do and made sure she was ready. Jeff was certain this was a risky maneuver, but he was equally sure that this strange behavior was no good for the inhabitants of Doraville, they needed to find out what was going on.
Chapter 28
“What the fuck is it?” Dora yelled into a walkie-talkie. She was still not feeling good and sure she was about ready to throw up again. It was past midnight and she was supposed to have been asleep two hours ago at Mary’s orders. Her yell brought Mike running in his boxers to her room, with Roger's military rifle in his hands. She waved him off in the dim light of the single LED she kept lit on the dresser next to all the walkie-talkies. Mike mumbled something incoherently and moved over to sit on a chair next to Roger's dresser.
The radio crackled and static made the words hard to hear, “Do- problem you nee- with. Over.”
“Problem. I got that there is a problem, where at? Who is this?”
“Sharon, Peter, Willy out at th- -land. Over.”
Sharon? Dora thought for a second, Paige moved in from the hallway to stand in the doorway. “You hear that? Sharon, where is she tonight?”
“The trench, with Mary's kid and...uh, Sally, I think she is giving them breaks tonight. Willy? He was out earlier with Jeff on a scout, they hadn't come back yet. They must have found something.” Paige disappeared from the doorway, Dora did not doubt for a second she was going to get dressed and head over to the wasteland trench.
Speaking slowly and clearly into the radio Dora said, “Sharon we are on our way over there now. Do you need more help than the three of us?”
“May-. Coul- bring coffee and bandages?”
“Do you need the doctor?”
“Negative. No Mary needed. Just -f ban-ges.”
“Affirmative, we are on our way, be there in ten.” to Mike Dora said, “Get dressed lover, time to go to work. Paige! Put a pot on will ya?”
Sammy Jenkins came running up the stairs to Dora's house, almost colliding with Mike. The little boy was eight years old and had the formal 'night shift' manning the clinic. This meant that he was supposed to wake up Dora if anything happened and that he had to try and stay awake as long as he could. Dora had come up with the idea for using the little kids for duties like this to stretch their manpower as far as possible. Even if the kid fell asleep it was rarely a big deal, they would wake up when the doors started getting pounded or when their walkie-talkies went off. One universal trait all the survivors seemed to share was sleeping light and waking up fast.
That didn't mean they weren’t grumpy though, thought Dora, pulling on her clothing with reluctance and looking at her bed with longing. Sammy just stared at her as she changed, not saying anything. The boy didn't react to Dora's casual nudity or turn away. ‘He’s a strange one,’ she though, then asked, “You got hot water down there?”
He nodded. Sammy was not big on talking and looked as if he had been sleeping too. “Got cocoa. Just made it before you started yelling.”
“You know how to make coffee?”
The boy shook his head.
“Ah well hot water is good. You were still awake?”
Sammy nodded his head and said softly, “Yeah.”
“Pretty good. Pretty damn good, kid. Anything else happen tonight?”
“Just talk. Willy came back. With Jack. No Jeff. No Nadine.”
“Oh.”
“I liked Jeff. He was teaching me to sign.”
“I liked him too, doesn't mean something happened to him.”
Sammy just looked at her with his big brown eyes, then turned and went down the stairs without nodding or saying anything.
“Fuck.” Dora said softly. Jeff was a decent guy, had a way with the kids, like Alex and Mary. And he wasn't all religious and crap like they were. Going to her closet Dora pulled on some tennis shoes and headed to the kitchen.
In the kitchen Paige already had a large thermos filled with coffee, she had used a French press and taken the hot water from Sammy to brew a quick pot.
“Any left?”
Paige handed her a medium sized travel mug, then another to Mike, before the trio headed out the door she grabbed a third mug for herself. Dora noted with some disgust that her cup was the smallest.
“How come I always get short straw these days?” she asked Paige while lifting her mug up.
“I didn't see any point to wasting it, you got the flu right? Chances are you are just going to toss it back up. How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” Dora said in an even tone, “Thirsty, in need of caffeine, but otherwise fine.”
The small group made their way up the street and greeted one of the men walking around on watch, he was smoking a cigarette and nodded as he passed. On the rooftops Dora could see other people on guard and tracking them with their scopes.
“I feel so secure. Remind me to be really, extra nice at the next town meeting.” Dora said.
“Why?” asked Paige.
“Well in our new democracy everyone has a gun and takes turns pointing it at people from a rooftop. I wouldn't want there to be any mistakes.”
“Everyone loves you, Dora. You got nothing to worry about.”
Dora shrugged her shoulders and said nothing in reply. She was getting angry however, as the coffee went down her desire to puke it back up had grown stronger. Finally she could not hold it in anymore and took two quick steps off of the sidewalk to vomit on the grass where it would not be noticed.
“You okay? You better see Mary about this, it’s been two days already.”
Dora waved her hand, shooing Paige away as she stood up and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “It'll pass, it always does. I wonder how many people the flu is going to kill this year with no vaccinations?”
“God, why would you say such a thing?”
Shrugging again Dora stood up straight and started walking. “We will have to think about it eventually, we are lucky half of us are not down at once, what would we do for the perimeter guards then?” Tapping the side of her head, Dora continued, “See? Your beloved leader thinks of these things so you peasants can just play and have fun all day long. I am lucky my hair isn't gray yet.”
They turned right at the end of the block and headed towards the inner fence. There was one kid on guard there and he was dozing in his seat. Dora thought he looked about eight years old.
“Wakey-wakey and open the gatey-gatey.” she said to him poking his chest with her rifle barrel. The boy barely moved at first, and then groggily stood up and started turning a crank th
at slid the gates open about three feet.
“This the best use for our kids?” Dora asked Paige after they had passed through and the chain link gate clanged shut behind them.
“Like Mike is much more than zombie walking right now.” Paige said.
Dora looked over and it was true, Mike looked like he was asleep on his feet, just shuffling forward slowly beside them.
“Mike? You awake?”
He turned his face towards her and winked, “Not sleeping. Just thinking.”
“You? A hidden talent! Tell us what you are thinking about!”
Mike gestured towards the next gate, which was only about half a block out from the first one. “I am thinking there should be a guard there. And there isn't, so I am wondering why not.”
The little group scattered, going to ground in the uncut grass next to the sidewalk. Scanning the rooftops Dora could not see the sniper who was also supposed to be watching the gate as backup.
“Fuck. Where are they? It looks like the gate is closed to me.”
“It is. I will go on point and see what I can see, cover me.”, Mike hunched over and ran a zig-zag pattern towards the guard house.
He gestured Dora and Paige up a few minutes later. They crept up at a slower pace and saw nothing amiss, other than the guard was gone.
“Who is on outer ring tonight Paige?”
“Leroy, with Susan Bower on sniper.”
“You put them together?” Dora asked, Paige shook her head, “Well I know where they are.”
Dora set off for the closest house, the door was no longer on the front and she walked through, carefully avoiding broken glass and the few fall leaves that had blown in. Paige and Mike followed behind her, with a gesture Dora set Mike to watching out the front door while Paige and Dora worked their way into the house. Creeping up the carpeted stairs like ghosts the two made their way to the former master bedroom, there was still a bed there and there was a dim glow of LED light in the room. This house was used as a sort of rest and relaxation area for the second ring guards, so the windows had all been painted black on the second story to prevent any light from getting outside. From inside the room came some animal grunting noises and the quiet slapping of flesh against flesh.
This was not the first time Leroy had been caught away from his post, it was not even the second. The man liked to fuck, pair him up with a female and the odds were good he would make a play for her before his shift ended. How he managed to flirt the distance from the rooftop to the guard station, Dora couldn't figure out.
No one had ever heard the man on the walkie-talkies, and the women he hooked up with never discussed what happened either. The last time Dora had come down on Leroy hard, or rather Leon had, at Dora's request. The guy didn't listen to women well, apparently he didn't listen to his elders much either. Susan was Leroy's latest conquest, a Caucasian woman about forty years old, she would not have been much to look at six weeks ago, but the available choices had dwindled Leroy's options down quite a bit. She didn't seem to mind the attention either. It was almost love, or so the gossips speculated.
Paige looked at Dora's face and the older woman flashed her a keen smile and gestured for them to go forward. The made it to the doorway and silently stood watching as Leroy pounded into Susan in a classic missionary position. He was a noisy love maker, while Susan just clawed his back and threw her head back on the pillows until she was almost facing the head board. Both were completely nude, their clothing was piled on the floor at the foot of the bed. Dora almost giggled, but managed to stop herself, looking at Paige she saw the other woman staring curiously at the couple on the bed.
Dora leaned over, “Never saw an African American naked before in real life?”
“Just the kids, when we bath them. I saw some porn on the internet. I thought, well...I don't know...that he would....”
“He’d be hung like a horse? Me too! I am glad that myth got cleared up.”
The two on the bed were not finished yet, in fact they hadn't noticed their audience. Leroy was talking dirty to her now, which caused Paige to blush fiercely.
“I really hate to stop them before they finish, but it looks like it might be awhile and we need to get out the gate.” shrugging her shoulders Dora straightened and cleared her throat loudly.
Leroy looked back over his shoulder at her, reaching over for his rifle while balancing on one hand. The fact that he kept grinding into Susan at the same time amazed Dora, if only Roger had displayed such dexterity!
“Oh, it’s you.”
“Yeah Leroy, me. Are you on gate duty tonight? Oh, hi Susan! I didn't notice you there!”
Susan looked like she wanted to shrink into herself and clawed frantically at the bed covers trying to pull them up over herself. Leroy didn't get up off of her and indeed, kept making moving up and down on her as she struggled.
“Oh don't stop fucking on my account, Leroy! We just needed to get through the gate. The one you are supposed to be guarding. If you want to give Susan a lift down there hanging off the front of you while you open it up, that'd be fine.”
Finally the man gave one last thrust and then rolled off of Susan, who wrapped the blanket around her. “Shit, Dora, I am sorry. You know? I, we didn't mean anything by it, but there isn't anything going on tonight and we were bored.”
“Yeah, yeah, lunch break, okay. Look I don't mind you two going at it like rabbits, but in the future could you do it on the roof or in the guard house? At least then you might see the zombies coming.” Susan pulled the covers more firmly over her as Leroy disengaged causing Dora to giggle, “Don't bother, Susan I've seen you naked already, and nothing will ever take that away from me now. Get dressed and let us through, then get back to your positions, I mean back to your posts. We are plan on heading back through here within fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks Dora! Thanks! In the guard shack? Okay, okay, we can do that.” Leroy said as he quickly pulled on his clothing. In a moment he was done except for his shoes and socks, which he picked up and carried with him back downstairs and outside. They left Susan wrapped in her blanket and followed Leroy out to the guard house.
“Nothing happening out here. Glad you found them okay.” Mike said as they came out.
Leroy stopped and propped his gun against the plywood shack that served as the outer guard station. They waited while he pulled on his footwear and then waited a little longer until Susan appeared on the roof of the house overlooking the shack. Waving to her they moved through the gates.
“Leroy, we are coming back through here in a few. Do not disappear on us, there is something going on tonight. You got it?" Dora tried to sound stern.
"Yes, Dora. Thanks again for being so cool about the lunch break."
The three of them walked towards the final fence where the trench was dug in along one side of the wasteland. The 'outer fence' was really not much more than a loosely strung together set of chain link running from building to building. There were holes in it, it did not run all the way to the ground in some places and it was not very good at keeping out slinkers or the wonder twins, as the little girl super zombies were called.
Fortunately the girls had not been seen for about four days and there had been a noticeable lack of slinkers in the past week as well. Dora suspected most of the tougher zombies were fighting it out with the Iowan National Guard further to the east.
As they approached the trench a voice cried out ahead of them, it sound to Dora like it was Peter.
"Run! Run! They are coming!" The voice got closer and Mike and Paige had their rifles raised and aimed towards the trench. Gunfire erupted ahead of them; the flashes from the gunfire were oddly muted, except for one rifle, the M16, if Dora guessed right. Normally the three of them would have gone prone and started looking for targets, but when someone yells 'run' they tended to mean it. Risking a light Dora flashed one towards the trench.
Directly in front of them, running down the street towards them was Peter, he was not carrying his w
eapon. Behind him all she could see were zombies, the trench was either overwhelmed or had been surrounded. Dora's light was not that powerful so the shapes moving around were more like shadows than definable people. That detail did not stop Paige and Mike from firing, even on the move they both scored hits.
“Don't the fuck shoot our people!” yelled Dora.
They are done for, no one can get out of that.” Paige replied calmly.
Dora flicked her light off and turned around to run for the inner gate, Paige and Mike kept up a steady rate of fire while walking backwards behind her. Peter ran past Dora and reached the second gate before she did. A shot rang out from the guard house and Peter fell over backward. A low voice called out from behind the shut gate, but Dora could not make out what it said. Veering to the side Dora worried less about Peter and more about why the gate was not opening.
Reaching one side of guard shack where she could not be easily seen from inside of it, Dora peered up to see what was happening inside the inner gate. On the ground Peter was twisting around in pain, he did not cry out, in the dim light Dora saw he had one hand pressed to the top of his head, with the other he was trying to push himself up.
Inside the guard shack Dora saw Leroy, his back was to the firing slot cut into the shack. The man was yelling up to the rooftop and raising his fist in the air.
“I got her, the bitch is dead, a clean shot into the head baby!” Leroy yelled back at the house where Susan was.
If Susan replied it was lost in the gunfire behind Dora. She had heard enough, there was no mistaking who the 'bitch' was.
‘That fucking bastard.’ Dora thought, ‘and here I was cutting him slack about the sex and all.’ She dropped her coffee cup and brought her rifle up, aiming it through the gun slit she fired three shots into Leroy's back. The young man pitched forward and lay on the ground with his feet facing the door. Leroy was not moving and Dora could not see any sign of him breathing either.
Bracing the rifle carefully she put a final shot through his head for good measure. From where she was at Dora could not get a shot off at Susan on the roof, in fact she could not even see the woman at all. Dora could hear the woman's long, loud scream pierce the night, and bullets started peppering the guard shack.