Dawnland (Book 1): Pockets of the Dead

by Karen Carr

  The spare key was gone, so Huck picked the lock, a skill I didn’t know he had. He told us to wait on the porch while he checked inside. While we were waiting on the porch, I heard the distinctive noise of zeroes’ heads popping. I knew my aura had caught up with me. I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.

  Trevan looked around, obviously having heard the noise, but I just shrugged my shoulders and tried to appear confused. The zeroes in the yard were already dead, so I need not worry about them revealing my secret, but once we left I would have some explaining to do. Huck came out moments later, and ushered us inside.

  When I walked into Saudah’s, I was transported back to the last time I was there. It had been just a few days before the apocalypse, and our dishes from the spaghetti dinner we cooked were still in the sink. There was the cookbook, still opened to the recipe on the counter, the empty bottles of wine that we drank and the knocked-over cat food bowl that one of her roommates had spilled.

  Not wanting to dredge up anymore painfully happy memories, I went directly into Saudah’s room and began to look around. The room held her love of everything eclectic, including figures made from twigs, painted rocks, thimbles, and doll heads. What I found on her desk astonished and surprised me. There was a walkie-talkie lying on top of a note.

  The note read:

  Hella

  I know you are the one reading this because you would be the only one crazy enough to come find us. I am with Saudah. We are going to head north. There are supposed to be more survivors in Durham and we are going to try and find them there. We left one walkie here, and have the other one. Pick it up, keep it on the same frequency, and try to contact us. It should reach us; we are not going that far away.

  Love

  Stan

  “Love Stan?” Huck had been reading over my shoulder. “Who is Stan?”

  “My ex-boyfriend,” I lied. Technically, Stan was still my boyfriend. I tried to pick up the Walkie-talkie, but it fell from my sweaty hands. “Can you do it?” I asked Huck, feeling way too nervous and scared and dumb. I had never operated a Walkie-talkie.

  Huck picked up the Walkie and turned it on. A loud crackling filled the room. “Hello, hello? Is there anyone there?” Huck asked. He paused and repeated the question.

  “We should go soon,” Trevan said. He peered out the window with a panic-stricken expression. “Take the damn thing with you.”

  “No, we might get out of range,” I said, panicking myself. “Give it to me.”

  I took the Walkie and tried to make contact, repeating Huck’s motions and phrase. I tried again, and this time I received a crackled response.

  “This is Sergeant First Class Enroy, who is this?” A male voice asked. I was so astounded to hear someone official announcing their title, that I didn't know what to say. I leaned into Huck’s chest for support. He wrapped an arm around me, but kept his attention toward the windows.

  “I’m looking for Saudah. Where is she?” I asked.

  “She’s here. Let me get her. It won’t take a moment.” The line went dead.

  My jaw dropped with the echo of his words. Saudah was there. She was alive. Where was there? Was Stan with her? Thinking of Stan made my heart flutter. I was sure it meant that I missed him like I missed my brother, and nothing romantic.

  While I was waiting for the voice to return, Trevan paced around the house, looking out windows, and then gestured for Huck to join him. They engaged in animated whispers before Trevan opened the front door. Huck gestured to me with his hand, mouthed two minutes, and went outside with Trevan.

  Suddenly a voice came over the Walkie-talkie, a voice I recognized instantly and hearing it almost made me face-plant the floor.

  “Hella, is that you?” Saudah asked.

  “Yes. It’s me. Hella. Where are you? Are you safe? Saudah I have so much to tell you. You have got to get to the village. It’s safe there. I mean really safe. You should come, at once. Now. Like pack your bags and hightail it.”

  “We’re fine, Hella. Stan’s here too. I’m glad you’re safe, but you don’t want us there.” Stan and Saudah were both alive, but there was something puzzling about Saudah’s tone. She sounded like she was on drugs, slurring her words and talking slow.

  “Yes, we do. We want you here.” I stamped my foot. “Of course we do.”

  “Don’t tell them where you are, Hella,” Saudah whispered, suddenly her tone was crystal clear.

  I heard a muted conversation and a scuffle. Huck came back into the house just as the Sergeant came back on air.

  “Saudah’s safe, I assure you,” Sargent Enroy said. He sounded stiff and strained. “We’re collecting all survivors. We have a military compound. We would like to come and rescue you. What is your full name?”

  Huck joined me. He shook his head, back and forth, no.

  “Let me talk to Stan,” I said, holding the Walkie with both hands so I wouldn’t drop it.

  “Not now,” Sargent Enroy said. “We’ll have a reunion here, at our base. Just wait there. You are at Saudah’s apartment, right?”

  Huck grabbed the Walkie-talkie out of my hands and turned it off. “We have to get out of here,” he said, and then added, “Never trust anyone.” He looked at me like he was mad at himself for not taking that advice, like he could no longer trust me.

  “Huck,” I said. “There’s something I want to tell you.” I gazed at him through lowered eyelids.

  “Not now,” he said. “We have to get out of here. Those folks, the liars—I hate liars, will be on us in a minute.”

  Suddenly, Trevan appeared through the front door, exhilarated. “They’re all dead,” he said. All of those freak-things are dead! Did Huck tell you?”

  Huck looked at me. He knew I was hiding something, I could tell. I began to speak, but he cut me off. “You can tell me later,” he said.

  “Fine, let’s go,” I said and followed them out the door.

  I was nervous. Saudah’s words scared me. Huck’s eyes scared me. He looked like he was going to say something, but only grabbed my arm and pushed me out down the walkway. There, in the front of the house, on the lawn, and in the street, lay several dozen dead bodies. We had attracted quite a crowd during our short visit.

  “What’s going on?” Trevan asked.

  Huck had already started his bike.

  “It’s you, isn’t it?” Huck said. There was anger in his voice. “You did this.”

  “Yea,” I said. I felt suddenly cold, like a corpse.

  “It’s you, what? What did you do, Hella?” Trevan asked. His gun hand was twitching, almost like he was trying to stop it from pointing the gun at me.

  “I killed the zeroes. I have a virus that kills them.” I smiled like an idiot and lowered my eyes.

  “The village isn’t protected at all, is it?” Huck asked.

  I shook my head no.

  “You left those people unprotected?” Huck asked.

  I couldn’t speak. I nodded yes.

  “Get on,” Huck growled. “If anyone is dead on account of you…” He didn’t finish his sentence.

  I climbed on the back of Huck’s bike, and he took off. Trevan got on and started his bike, but Huck didn’t wait. Huck was going fast, too fast for my liking, so fast that my stomach felt upset. He must have figured it out, but did he also figure out that my aura takes a while to catch up to me? We’d be back in the village in minutes, and my aura would follow minutes after that.

  I prayed that nothing had wandered into the village, suddenly feeling so stupid and selfish in my decision to try and find my friends, and for lying to Huck. Would he tell everyone? He’d have to understand that I was only doing it to protect myself. Everyone had to understand that I didn’t want to put their lives in jeopardy.

  Chapter 22: Immunity

  March 26th

  700 Oval Park Place

  Pizza Adamo

  Haverlyn Village

  We arrived back at the village with a roar, Trevan closely following be
hind us. At first, everything looked peaceful, but when Huck zoomed around Oval Park Place my heart skipped a beat. There, in the middle of the green, was the Professor and he was fighting a couple of zeroes with what looked like his fire poker.

  “Shit,” Huck said as he parked his bike. He pushed me off the back and I landed on the ground. He drew his pistol and went into the green without helping me up.

  Trevan pulled up next to me, turned off his bike, helped me up without saying a word and then ran to the green. The Professor was waging a failing battle against the flesh dolls.

  I ran toward the Professor to see if I could help. The zeroes, one was a big jock and the other a waifish female, were on top of him clutching his shirt, fighting over it. We were going to be too late. The Professor was trying to swing the poker, but couldn’t get enough momentum because those things kept yanking his shirt back and forth. I would never forgive myself in anything happened to the Professor, and neither would anyone else once they found out what I did. I left them there to die.

  Huck put his gun away, and grabbed the big jock zero, pulling him from the Professor in mid-bite. Lily appeared on the green, racing from the church, just as Trevan grabbed the female zero. The Professor managed to back away, but his face was bloody and I feared the worst. Trevan annihilated the female just as Lily reached us. I ran to the Professor to see how he was hurt.

  Huck was still trying to overcome the big jock zero and Trevan rushed over to help him. I looked at the Professor’s wounds as Lily pulled her gun and rushed over to the guys. I wished my aura would kick in faster.

  Lily grabbed the thing’s hair just as it was going to bite Trevan. Huck took his knife and slit its throat. Lily let go of its hair and Huck stabbed it in the head. It dropped to his feet.

  Everyone turned on me and the Professor sitting on the ground. Huck looked angry, Trevan puzzled and Lily scared.

  “Are you alright Professor?” I asked. “Were you bit?” The wounds on his face looked like scratches.

  “No, I don’t think so,” the Professor said, sitting up. He appeared remarkably happy and excited. Huck pointed his gun at the Professor’s head.

  “What about these scratches?” I asked, trying to ignore the rage in Huck’s eyes. It was almost like Huck wanted to kill the Professor out of vengeance because he was my friend and this was my fault.

  “Oh these?” The Professor touched his face and wiped his arm. “I fell through the hedge as I was trying to get into the green.” He laughed. “I must say it was a bit of fun to get out, but, Hella, what’s going on? I thought this place was supposed to be zombie proof. Come on, help me to my feet.”

  I pulled the Professor up. Trevan had his arms around Lily. I felt flushed, knowing that she might have been killed too. How could I have been so stupid?

  “The protection, it’s worn off?” Lily asked. Her face was wane. “We’re not safe here anymore?”

  “Oh, hell. I hope not,” Trevan said. His eyes glazed over. “I’m not living in fear again. I’d rather…” his voice trailed off.

  “Trevan…” Lily said in warning.

  “Why don’t you tell them, Hella,” Huck said. He was scanning the green, most likely for more zeroes. “Tell them how it’s not the village, right? It’s you.”

  “What is he talking about?” Lily asked. She regarded me like a stranger.

  “Huck’s right,” I said as I stood up. “It’s me.” I pulled up my shirt to show them my zero bite. They all gasped.

  “What do you mean?” Lily asked. Now she looked mortified. I wasn’t sure if it was for me or because of me. “What is that?”

  “It’s a zero bite,” I said, and then added, “Zombie, for clarification, undead.”

  Trevan pointed his gun at me. Huck noticed, but didn’t do anything to protect me from Trevan’s bullet.

  “I was bitten right after it happened, in October.” I kept my shirt up so that they could take a good look.

  The Professor came forward to examine my wound. “It’s healed nicely, perfect teeth marks.”

  “Keep talking,” Huck said. Trevan still had the gun pointed at me.

  “After the bite, when I didn’t die, I realized I had some sort of immunity.” The Professor outlined the bite with his cold fingers.

  “How do we know you’re not a zombie?” Trevan asked.

  “I still eat. I still drink. I do all sorts of things zeroes can’t do. Plus I kill them.” I looked around at their woe-stricken faces. “Several weeks after the bite, I ran into a pack of zeroes on the green and their heads exploded right when they came in contact with me. It seems like if a virus makes people turn into zeroes, then I have a virus that kills the zeroes. Payback. I think it was something that the first one, my neighbor Mark, gave me when it—he bit me…” I thought of my neighbor and how I had killed him, and the time I had spent in the bathroom thinking I was going to die. “Or something in me, that makes me zero proof. They all die when they come within a thousand feet of where I am.”

  “Why didn’t it work now, then?” Trevan asked. He had lowered the gun.

  “It only works if I am in one place, or if I walk at a slow pace. If I run, or ride on a bike, the virus bubble, or aura as I think of it, dissipates, leaving me and everyone around me unprotected. It takes about five minutes to catch up to me.”

  “You left the village knowing we were in danger? You left us here to die?” Lily asked, putting the facts together. Her voice was puzzled and not angry.

  Huck grimaced. Trevan raised his gun again. “What if Lily had been on the green?”

  “I didn’t think you’d come out. That’s why I told you to watch the people church. I didn’t’ think it was a big deal. I thought we’d be back in time. Professor, why did you come out?”

  “I saw those things walking through the green. No one else was around. I had to do something,” the Professor said. “It is really nice being outside, though, dear, you should have told us. You could have told me, confidentially. I am able to help you through these types of things.”

  “No, I couldn’t have. Don’t you see? I don’t know you. I don’t know any of you.” I glanced at Huck; there was fire in his eyes. “I couldn’t tell anyone because I was afraid of what you might do to me. I didn’t want to be trapped. I didn’t want the wrong people to find out. I don’t want anyone to know because they could use my powers. I might be locked up in a cage. But, I still protected you. I stayed in the village, invited you all back here, did all this stuff for you. For all of you. I didn’t mean to kill anyone.” Why couldn’t anyone understand?

  “That’s right,” Huck said, coming forward. “You didn’t need to tell us. You don’t have to trust us. Why would you?” He glared at me before he continued. “But you put everyone’s life in jeopardy when you left—when we left—today. That wasn’t right.”

  “I promise I will never leave again. Just don’t tell the others.” My temper was burning up. These people wanted to cage me like an animal. It was not fair. It wasn’t my fault that this stupid virus picked me as a host.

  Trevan and Lily exchanged wary glances. Huck did not take his eyes from mine.

  “Those people, that sergeant, the military, the ones Saudah warned us about,” I continued. “What if they find us? What if they find out? What becomes of me?”

  “Who?” Lily asked. “Did you find Saudah?”

  “I won’t say anything,” the Professor said. “And we should get rid of these bodies before church gets out.”

  “Fine,” Huck said. He didn’t look any happier though. “We’ll keep your secret, but you are not leaving this village again.”

  My imprisonment began and Huck was the prison guard.

  “Gimme the keys to your pick-up,” Huck said.

  I dug in my pocket and threw the keys at him along with everything else that was in it. The keys landed in the grass. Huck picked them up and turned to Trevan without giving me a glance.

  “Help me get these corpses out of here,” Huck asked Trevan
. “Then we’re going on patrol to make sure no other undeads are out there.”

  “Wait,” I said. I went over to the bodies, searched their pockets, and removed their identification. The jock had a wallet, but the waif-woman had nothing.

  Huck glared at me while I took out the guy’s wallet. “Why are you still doing that?” Huck asked, his voice filled with contempt.

  “Don’t you want to know where he came from? We need to track these things,” I said. If everyone was going to hate me, at least I was going to continue my research project.

  “I’ll help you,” Lily said. She moved to the woman and took a necklace and watch from her.

  Huck and Trevan dragged the bodies away, put them in the pickup, and then drove off.

  “If it ok with you, I’m going to go back home.” The Professor observed the sky. It was crystal-clear blue.

  I hugged him. “Thank you, Professor, for so many reasons.”

  “You are welcome. And thank you for protecting us. It’s so nice out here, I might actually venture outside more often.”

  The Professor walked away and I turned to Lily. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I really didn’t think.”

  “It’s ok,” Lily said, cutting me off with her hand. “I mean, if I can forgive Trevan for trying to kill us both, I can forgive you for accidentally putting us in danger. But what a freaky thing to happen to you.”

  “I know. Why don’t we catalogue this?” I looked at the wallet. It was canvas and had a camouflage pattern on it. The Velcro fastener was undone and revealed a military ID. He was a United States airman, Carl Sandhorn. He was twenty nine years old and was stationed at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville. The fact that he was military surprised me, because he was wearing civilian clothes.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Lily said.

  I felt a little lighter as I walked toward Pizza Adamo with Lily. Finally, I was able to talk to someone about my virus. Lily and I talked about it all the way across the green and over to the pizza parlor. We talked about the possibilities, about all the things I had already planned, about wandering the earth, one step at a time, and killing all zeroes. We talked about how others might have the same virus I had, about how they might be able to find a cure using my blood. But I didn’t want to be a medical experiment.