The Apocalyse Outcasts

by Peter Meredith

  ...You need to stop listening to his voice in your head...that’s what Sadie had said. Whenever she thought about it, she would feel queer inside and Ipes would be extra good for a little while.

  He was in that mood now. We could get it working, you know.

  “Get what, working?” She blinked suddenly, feeling like she had missed something. What had they been talking about?

  The speargun, silly.

  “Oh, right,” she said somewhat distantly. Her attention was now on a clothes rack hung with pink bikinis; some were for kids. She pulled down the smallest and held it up to her rail-thin chest, thinking that if the weather warmed up anymore she’d like to take a dip in one the zillions of lakes and ponds that dotted Georgia.

  “What do you think of this bikini?”

  Ipes ruffled his mane, thinking. I know what your mommy would say.

  “That I’m too young for a bikini, I know, but she isn’t here and I don’t think Neil or Sadie cares.”

  I don’t think they do either, however that doesn’t mean we can disregard your parent’s advice. They told you no bikinis for a reason. Remember pedofilers? Remember stranger-danger? We have to be more careful than ever.

  “I guess,” she said, putting the hanger back on the rack. Stacks of shorts caught her attention next. “I can wear shorts in the water. I know that.”

  What about the speargun? Ipes said. It can still be shootable. There are pulleys and a lever that you have to crank down. You may not be strong enough to use it, but the grownups are. And you know we could use more weaponry in this group. Of course a speargun isn’t the best weapon. A gun would be better, but it sure beats running around with only a hope…

  Suddenly the sound of Ipes’ voice became vague as though she was hearing him through a long tube. Jillybean shook her head to clear her ears as Ipes went on...and a prayer. Sadie doesn’t even have her bat anymore, which is crazy…

  Now his words were overlapped by a strange vision: she was kneeling, looking at a tiny gun, the one she had found back in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It sat in the thick grass next to a house, its metal twinkling up at her. She reached out her mud-daubed hand and covered the gun over so that it was hidden, and then, very oddly, the vision seemed to go in reverse. She brushed back the grass, gazed for a second at the shiny metal and picked the gun up. It was so peculiarly heavy…

  Jillybean! Ipes cried, suddenly. Look, a monster. Get Mister Neil, quick!

  She came up out of the vision rattled and alarmed but, true to her nature, she didn’t jump or react in a panicky way. Instead, she slunk low, bending at the knees, ready to spring in any direction.

  “W-where is it?” Her ears perked and attuned for the telltale signs of the monsters: the low moans, the shuffling feet, the objects clumsily knocked over. Nothing came to her.

  Just outside, he told her.

  Jillybean slowly raised herself and saw the monster in question; it was halfway from the water’s edge and munching contentedly on rhododendron blossoms. “Oh that one,” she said, relaxing. “I saw it before. Looks harmless enough, for a monster that is. So…what we were we talking about?”

  Uh, the speargun.

  She felt somewhat jumbled in her thinking and was sure it was something else entirely that had been on her mind, but it wouldn’t come to her, especially with Ipes yapping.

  You should try it out on the monster.

  “You think so?” She took another look at the monster and noted the distance between them: ninety feet. “You’ve gone soft in the head, Ipes. There’s no way the speargun will kill at this range. We’re too far away, and besides, I never have shooted one of these before, I’d probably miss.”

  We should at least tell Mister Neil about it. You don’t want it sneaking up on him. Everyone knows he’s got worse hearing than a snake, and they don’t even have ears.

  She had to agree that Neil was about as out of tune with his surroundings as a man could be. A warning seemed reasonable, so they went around to the shed and found him struggling into a form-fitting, ladies-juvenile, neoprene wet suit. He was out of breath and pink in the cheeks from his exertion. His color matched the collar and cuffs of the suit nicely.

  “There’s a monster on the other side of the building,” Jillybean said. “Just wanted to let you know.”

  Hurriedly, Neil picked up his ax and, due to the constricting nature of the wetsuit, waddled out to do battle. He came back, huffing to an even greater extent. “He’s dead. You’re safe now, Jillybean.”

  Although she had never been in any real danger she thanked him and then asked, “When we’re done saving Nico, can we go swimming?”

  “Maybe,” Neil said. “I guess it depends on how long it takes. I’ve never done surgery before. But first we have to find a better suit. This one’s too…girlie.”

  “Oh stop,” Sadie said. “Who’s going to see you? And we don’t have time to be picky. Nico is fading.” This was true although they were mega-dosing him with antibiotics and keeping the tourniquet on as long as they dared.

  Neil agreed to the “girlie” wetsuit and was cheered slightly when he found a pair of size seven rubber boots in the boys section. Once he was suitably attired for underwater exploration, Neil folded himself in the driver’s seat as the rest of them piled back into the Tercel where Nico was dozing in a damp sweat with the copper smell of blood around him like a cloud.

  Because of his anxiety over the Russian’s health, Neil went at a fearful pace. Though there seemed nothing to fear. The roads were relatively free of zombies, and there weren’t any black Jeeps or Humvees spitting hot lead at them. There weren’t even any white-robed crazies thumping their reworked and reworded bibles.

  It was such an easy ride that Jillybean fell asleep in the front seat and didn’t notice when Neil covered her with a blanket. She slept for the hour-long ride, using the very soft Velveteen Rabbit as a pillow.

  “We’re here,” Neil said. “Wake up everybody.” Jillybean came instantly awake; Sadie was slower and Nico, who had his head in Sadie’s lap, could only find the strength to crack a red-rimmed eye. Neil took a shaky breath and pointed. “The CDC is just down the road. Hopefully I won’t be gone long.”

  “Good luck,” Sadie said. “Be careful.”

  “Yeah, good luck, Mister Neil,” Jillybean said.

  “Luck,” Neil said, as though he didn’t quite understand the word. “Ok, here goes nothing.” He took out the gas mask from its carrying case and began to put it on.

  Ipes practically went berserk. Stop him! He can’t get out yet.

  “Why not?” Jillybean asked.

  Has he checked the strength of the wind and its direction? He could end up killing all of us if he’s not careful.

  “Oh,” Jillybean said. She tugged on Neil’s arm until he pulled his head back out of the mask. “You have to check the wind. If we’re not up in the wind from the CDC the germs could get us.”

  Neil was red-faced and had been all set to be cranky at her, but now his eyes bulged as he looked about trying to see which way the wind blew. For the most part the air was stagnant and hot, but when it did blow it went from their left to their right.

  Ipes didn’t like it. Tell him to leave the keys. We’ll come back for him in an hour.

  “I don’t think I will,” Jillybean huffed. “Ipes wants us to leave you here, Mister Neil and come back for you, but I don’t think we should.”

  “I know I won’t,” Sadie said. “First off, we’re too far away for anything to really happen to us, and second, not all germs are airborne. Look at the zombies, they’re doing ok.” There were a few of the undead stumbling around, all of whom seemed just as horrible and grey as always.

  That doesn’t prove anything! They already have the Super-soldier virus in them… Ipes stopped when he realized Jillybean wasn’t listening as much as she was glaring. At least have him hide us. We can’t just sit out here on the street. What happens if the bounty hunter comes strolling on by?

  Thi
s bit of common sense was something they all agreed to. Neil drove to a parking garage and found a spot on the highest level where they could see all the way to the CDC, a quarter mile away. Neil was ashen-faced and his hands shook as he tried to adjust the mask on his face.

  “I can’t see worth a darn in this thing,” he said. His words came out muffled. From the backseat, Sadie tried to help adjust the straps, but the problem was more than just the fit and the plastic hood. Neil was hyperventilating. His own breath cast a fog over the lenses.

  “Slow your breathing,” Sadie told him. “Try to control yourself. It’ll be alright. The clinic is in a different building from the lab; it’s probably completely safe. Just get what you need and get back.”

  Neil took slow breaths and gradually he calmed and the lenses cleared. “I wish I could go with you,” Jillybean said, when he didn’t look so panicked. “You need someone to watch over you.”

  He smiled at this. She could tell because his eyes crinkled behind the lenses of the mask. “Honestly, I wish you could, but it’s too dangerous.”

  “I can at least walk you down to the street so you don’t trip on the stairs. I think Ipes is being too paranoia. That’s what means being afraid of everything. I mean we were right in front of the main lab just a few weeks ago when everything was fresh and we didn’t get sick, and it’s not like this car is magical, you know? I don’t think it’s germ proof.”

  In the back seat Sadie’s dark eyes grew larger. “Shit. I never thought about that.”

  Neil tried to glare but it wasn’t all that noticeable. “Watch your language, please.” He shifted in his seat, a laborious process in the extra tight wetsuit; the gas mask didn’t help. “You can walk me down, but I don’t think you should go any further.”

  Jillybean had no plans on going further. The idea of breathing in killer germs was unsettling, mainly because she misunderstood the concept on a fundamental a level. In her mind it seemed to be the same thing as breathing in poison and that she would die instantly. Another fallacy that skewed her thinking was that she expected the air to smell different with germs floating about in it.

  After opening the Tercel’s door she took an exploratory sniff. What struck her first were the odors of concrete, fading diesel, and the dusty smell of a garage. Beneath that was the scent of Dogwood blossoms drifting in from the west and the slight rank odor of zombie that underlied everything else. Big cities always had that odor.

  Neil watched her pause and lift her little nose. When she gave him the thumbs up, he nodded and started toward the stairs that would bring them to ground level. He carried the shotgun in his left hand, his axe in his right, and on his back was an empty pack. With all this and a heavy mask on his face and hood that went from his eyebrows to his shoulder blades, he didn’t seem to realize he wasn’t being quiet in the least.

  The little girl ran around in front of him and put up both hands and then put one of her fingers to her lips. “You’re being too loud,” she admonished.

  “Ok,” he practically yelled.

  Jillybean lifted up the hood and said, “Just nod.”

  He nodded at this and she gave him a strained smile. She led the way to the staircase and, once the door was open, she paused again, sniffing and listening. When her senses indicated it was safe to proceed she started down the stairs with Ipes in one hand and a magic marble in the other. Neither was needed.

  They got to the bottom and Neil patted Jillybean on the head with one of his gloved hands and then waved. She waved as well and since she didn’t know a hand signal for good luck, she blew him a kiss instead. He returned it clumsily and then opened the door.

  Fearful of both germs and zombies, Jillybean slunk back and this was why the man in green camouflage, who stepped out from around the outside wall of the stairwell and stuck the business end of an M4 right up to Neil’s eye, didn’t see her.

  Run! Ipes commanded in a voice that was part Daddy and part Ram. The order came without the least panic, instead it held such authority over her that, against her will, she took three steps back up the stairs before she fought for control of her own body. It was a terrifying experience. It was as if her body belonged to someone else.

  “No,” she hissed through gritted teeth forcing herself to turn around; she moved as if she were loaded down with lead. “Ipes, I swear I’ll drop you right here and leave you forever if you don’t let go of me.” Just like that, her body was hers again to use and move about, though at that moment all she could do was shake.

  How had the zebra done that? It wasn’t supposed to be able to do that.

  I am just trying to save you, Ipes said, again using the Daddy/Ram voice, but this time softer.

  “Don’t you do that anymore,” she warned under her breath.

  Her whispers went unheard as the army man pulled the weapons from Neil’s hands and yanked off his mask. The man paused and then exclaimed in a low dangerous voice, “You! You’re that funky little pervert I caught back up in Maryland. What the hell are you doing here?”

  Neil’s answer was spluttery and practically nonsensical. “I-I, uh, the germs. M-my mask, I n-need it.” Neil was standing in the partially closed doorway and Jillybean could see the army man wasn’t the bounty hunter, which was a relief.

  “What do you need a mask for?” the man demanded, again his voice was pitched low. “And the rubber suit? Were you thinking of raiding the CDC for some more little girl panties? Or…” his voice raised angrily, “Or were you after some good germs to sell?”

  “Uh-uh,” Neil replied. “No, I just need some supplies: f-food and medicine. That’s all.”

  “Dressed like that?” the soldier asked before kicking Neil’s legs out from under him and sending him to the concrete, first to his knees and then down to his belly. “You’re a liar. No one dresses like this unless they plan on going down into the labs.” The man stepped on the back of Neil’s neck. “Now, you’re going to tell me what you were after and who you’re working for.”

  Please run, Ipes begged. Go warn Sadie and Nico first if you want to, but you can’t just stand there!

  That was the best bet; it was good ole’ herd mentality: sacrifice one for the sake of the rest. Jillybean figured she could probably hide the three of them somewhere in the parking garage until the danger had passed. That was the safest move, the instinctual move. But it wasn’t the move of someone with the precocious mega-watt brain power that Jillybean possessed.

  Hiding meant Neil would probably die. And Nico as well; he needed help in the next few hours or he was doomed. The concept of bleeding out drifted through her subconscious, it meant certain death.

  To save him was predicated on saving Neil. How could she accomplish that? Certainly not by relying on some simple misdirection with a magic marble. This soldier carried himself as Ram had done. He was quick and alert; he had recognized Neil despite the passage of days and his wild, pink-wetsuit-covered appearance.

  The soldier was disciplined as well. He could have hurt Neil badly when he had tripped him, but he chose not to. Not only that, his right index finger had never once slipped down to the trigger of his rifle. It had sat straight along the barrel just above it, ready to kill, but only with purpose.

  Finally, though he was one of the Colonel’s men, he seemed to be a soldier with at least some honor. He had not robbed Neil when he had the opportunity to the first time they had met. He had also seemed angry that Neil might be a pervert, a word that was linked in some way with stranger danger and the reason why her mother had always warned her not to take candy from people she didn’t know. Perhaps the soldier had a protective streak, again like Ram

  So all this meant: what?

  First off, the soldier may have been after Sadie and Nico, but he wasn’t after Neil and certainly wasn’t after Jillybean since he had no idea that she even existed. Secondly, he thought Neil was trying to get into the lab for germs. He didn’t believe Neil was going for medicine, because Neil wasn’t sick.

  Ahhh!
There it was; her solution for saving Neil, and hopefully, Nico as well. All that was needed was for Neil to produce someone, other than Sadie and Nico, who was sick. He also needed someone to vouch that he wasn’t a pervert, but was in fact just a nice guy. Jillybean could handle both roles.

  After a deep breath, she coughed. It was a little sound, not at all what she was hoping for. She tried again and had only just barked the first of what she had figured was to be a chain of coughs when the door slammed fully open and the soldier was there, crouched, using the cement wall to shield his entire body except for the edge of one shoulder.

  Practically all she could see of him consisted of his rifle which was aimed dead on her forehead and now she coughed for real.

  Chapter 29

  Jillybean

  The Center for Disease Control Atlanta, Georgia

  Against the gun pointed her way, all Jillybean had to protect herself with was her zebra, which she held up in front of her face.

  Jilly, what are you doing? Ipes said, with a shaky little laugh. I said I was sorry about that little mix up we had with me taking over your body. It won’t happen again, so how about you put me down.

  In answer she coughed harder, really trying to dig deep and bring something up. It was her wish to emulate how Sadie had been coughing when she had pneumonia, something that turned out impossible to fake. Jillybean had to settle for a dry cough and pathetic look. The soldier seemed both unimpressed and unsympathetic.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. Without realizing it, the two words were a stroke of genius. Perhaps nothing else could have softened the man’s hard look as well as they did. The army man had hazel eyes with heavy brows the same deep brown as the very short hair on his head. His jaw was strong and scruffy. Over all, he looked to be about as tough a man as she had ever seen, but at her apology that toughness eased slightly.

  He crouched low, looking at Jillybean, this time not as though she were a target for his gun, but as a little girl. He then looked beyond her up the stairs, then again at her, scrutinizing her pink jeans with the dirt on the knees, and the crumpled yellow shirt that she had picked out days before when Sadie was finally getting better and they had made the decision to travel south.