“Then it was a real stroke of luck you guys being there like you did.” Nancy spoke. “How come you were there, too?”
“Some idiot blocked the main road with a lot of cars and we had to take that little detour around the riddled with corpses mountains.” Lily answered.
“The same reason we ended up there.” Nancy spoke.
“Funny how so many living cadavers wound up in such desolate place.” Lily divagated.
“And the guys in the van just pulled anchor and left you behind.” Mate stated.
“Not everybody has the same common sense as you.” Nancy replied.
“How come the baby was in a crate?” Lily queried.
“Hum…” Nancy mumbled. “We needed to keep him safe.”
Lily and Mate looked at each other again.
“Lily…” Clark whispered, which was by the way a futile exercise of privacy, considering that everybody in the truck could hear each other clearly, never mind how low one spoke.
“Yes…” Lily answered.
“You did notice that the girl got a bite wound, right? And I don’t think it was a raccoon.”
In fact, twisted teeth marks became visible from time to time on the girl’s right thigh every time her shorts rolled up a bit.
“Yes, I noticed.” Lily answered. “I guess that’s why they got ditched.”
“Well, I don’t mean to be a pain in the neck, but what are we going to do about it? You know, in case she gets sick and turns into…”
“We get her some ice cream.” Lily interrupted.
“Right” Clark grunted.
“I like chocolate!” Amy cheerfully said.
“Figures” Mate murmured.
They arrived at the rest stop.
“Alright, next floor ‒ food, drinks, female lingerie and flesh-eating blokes.” Lily announced. “Keep your eyes peeled and your voice down.”
Lily stopped the truck in the parking lot of a restaurant that also doubled as convenience store. She and Clark left the vehicle first. After investigating the vicinities for any danger, Lily signaled to Nancy and she got out of the truck with the baby in her arms, followed by Amy.
They reached the restaurant door, which was closed. Clark tried to open it. It was locked.
“Are they closed in broad daylight?” Mate asked.
“It could be just a precaution.” Lily replied.
Lily knocked on the door as smoothly as she could, not to wake up any drifting undead.
“Say something!” A male voice requested from inside.
“Something” Lily responded.
They heard the door being unlocked on the other side. A man opened the door and practically pulled them in. When the whole group was safe in the restaurant, he closed and locked the door again faster than a race car.
“I’m sorry about that.” The bartender spoke. “But one can never be too careful these days, with all those goddamn critters all around.”
The place was nearly empty, only two booths occupied at the corners of the restaurant.
“Yes, I can understand the cautiousness,” Clark said “but I doubt that reanimated bodies would have knocked.”
“Some of them did!” The bartender retorted. “Damn bastards seem to be getting smarter. Anyway, welcome to my humble tavern, please make yourselves at home.”
“As you can see, we got a baby that needs some attention.” Lily said. “A few diapers should do the trick.”
“I can arrange that.” The bartender assured.
“We are much obliged to you, sir.” Nancy said.
“Think nothing of it. It’s actually refreshing to see youngsters again after all that butchery out there. And my name is Fred.”
“We owe you something, Fred.” Mate spoke.
“Remember that when you tip me, young man. In the meantime, have a seat. Besides the diaper, what else can I get you folks today?”
“Soda pops to stay and to go if you got them, a bottle of moonshine for me, and a chocolate ice cream for the little lady with everything you can find on top.” Lily said.
“Oh, I got them.” Fred responded. “Now, If you lady with the baby could follow me please, I’ll introduce you to my wife and she’ll help you with the little guy. Don’t worry, our restrooms are perfectly safe. I even installed soundproof foams in there, so you can feel free to do whatever else that you want.”
“Soundproof bathrooms!” Mate said. “This is something that should’ve been made even before the plague.”
“I’ll be back in a minute with your order.” Fred spoke.
“Take your time.” Clark said.
“I’ll help you.” Amy spoke and followed Fred and Nancy to the restaurant facilities.
Mate and Lily waited until they were out of sight before commencing a conversation.
“So, what do you make of all this, Lil?”
“They are not telling us the whole truth,” Lily answered “unless they deliver babies on boxes now.”
“My very thought exactly. And now that you mentioned, the story on the baby is really weird. Woman and girl just come into possession of a nameless baby boy in a crate. Does that look right to you?”
“No. I also noticed that the bite on the girl’s leg is strangely clean and uninfected.”
“Why, do you believe the wound is actually healing, that she won’t turn?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, it’s not like we can force the truth out of their throats.”
“Then, how do we approach this little dilemma?”
“Give or take one or two eccentricities, they look good eggs. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
“Here’s everything you need.” Fred’s wife gently said.
“Thank you!” Nancy replied. “You’ve been very helpful. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”
“Oh hush! It’s the least we can do for good folks such as yourselves. If you girls need anything else, just holler.”
And the old lady showed herself out of the restroom. Almost at the same second, Amy threw very punitive, intense blue eyes at Nancy.
Nancy could feel that look as if it was eating her entrails, almost to the point of hitting her soul. Even so, she kept focusing on the task of changing little Moses.
“We have to leave them.” Amy finally turned her anguishes into words.
Nancy remained silent and did not take her eyes off the baby.
“Nancy!” Amy insisted loudly.
“I heard you!” Nancy replied. “But please keep your voice down! We can’t leave them! We’re never going to make it on our own! We’re sitting ducks out there.”
“As long as they stay with us, they are in terrible danger.”
“We won’t survive without them. And we have to think of the baby!”
Amy lowered her eyes, almost in despair.
“They are too important.” The little girl said. “I don’t like this.”
“Me neither. But we must take this chance. We have no choice.”
Woman, girl and baby came back to the main hall. A melting ice-cream was already waiting for Amy.
The TV in the restaurant was on. Only there was nothing to see other than black dots on a white screen. Fred changed channels and found the emergency broadcast system, announced in clear letters on the screen. Unexpectedly, the image suddenly changed to show a man impeccably dressed, talking on a microphone with a deep voice.
“What’s happening there?” Lily asked. “I never thought somebody would have something to say at times like this.”
“Here we go again.” Fred whispered.
“What goes again?” Lily queried.
“Some guy talking in the emergency broadcast channel.” Fred answered. “It’s been happening more frequently now. Maybe the government, or whatever is left of it, is trying to reassure the population.”
“Just the usual then,” Lily spoke “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.”
“Turn it up, please.” Clark requested.
“It’s already up.
” Fred replied. “It’s just that you were not paying attention.”
“Oh, alright.”
Man on TV:
“This is a situation that requires strength of character, but most of all it’s a test to our resilience. We all had losses. We all had to make sacrifices. But you can be sure of one thing, we are with you!”
“And Armani is with them.” Mate joked and Lily smiled.
Man continued on TV:
“Fortunately, our group is prepared for this kind of contingency. That’s why we are broadcasting now.”
“Well, they’d better be prepared, considering they caused all this.” Lily said.
Man continued on TV:
“We have places, sanctuaries that can provide shelter and protection against attacks from the infected ones, until a cure for this terrible disease is found. The world famous Svalbard Global Seed Vault is under our administration now, so are all available food reserves. Right now, the most brilliant minds of the planet are being chosen through a very fair system of lottery to populate the sanctuaries, which will be supplied with the stocks from the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It may sound unfair that only a few will be selected, but you must understand that such people will work day and night to save this world, to save you. All we ask of you is a little patience until we can control this plague...”
“Can you believe this crap?” Mate blurted out. “That makes no sense at all! A lottery!? How can we know who was selected if all communication means are going down? And what the heck is this Asdrubal Global Seed what its name?”
“Hum, Clark…” said Lily “those are very good points, but all academic, since we got zippo chances to be in anyone of those things.”
“Yeah, guess you’re right.”
“But we can try to find these sanctuaries and turn them into some kind of park accessible to the general slobs.” Lily suggested.
“That’s some idea!” Clark agreed.
“Yes, like they will place billboards saying where those damn places are.” Fred grunted.
“Nobody cares for what you think, dear.” Fred’s wife spoke to her husband.
“I know, but I like to hear myself talking.” Husband replied.
“What’s going on in there?” Lily suddenly asked, nodding at the TV.
The starched man in suit slowly faded away, to be replaced by black dots. Fred moved the antennas on top of the TV, as if human touch could actually fix transmission problems. The figure of a person started to take shape on the screen, but the image appeared deliberately pixelated to hide the identity of whoever that was.
“That never happened before.” Fred said.
The new anchor began to speak. Clearly, it was a man. His voice was way more cavernous than the previous speaker’s.
Pixelated man on TV:
“Oh, sorry to interrupt my dear colleague, but there’s nothing to worry about, since we only have to add to the wonderful nonsense he was vomiting on your ears. And yeah, we now control all remaining food supplies in the planet. As far as we know, there are only seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, so we hope you birds are veggie, ha, ha. Actually, most of you regular tax payers won’t even see the color of such seeds.”
“Somebody is definitely screwing with the official broadcast.” Lily pointed out.
“I’m not sure if this is brave, or simply suicidal.” Clark commented.
Pixelated man continued on TV:
“Where was I? Oh yes, the lottery thing. As my distinguished colleague was saying, only the most brilliant; therefore, the most useful men will be allowed to populate the so called sanctuaries. As we speak, such lottery is in progress to choose such individuals. As for the women, they have to be in their twenties and hot to qualify for the lottery. After all, the brilliant men will need to reproduce. Let’s just hope the intelligence gene is the dominant one, although it’s been proven several times it is not. We’ll have to fix that. Celebrities in general, like movie stars, rock stars, porn stars, corporate executives and politicians can go to the sanctuaries without going through any lottery. It’s part of life, you know.”
“It seems we have an ally.” Lily said.
“How can you say that?” Mate queried.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” She responded.
“Well, I’d surely like to meet these guys.”
Pixelated man continued on TV:
“However, if you are neither a celebrity nor hot somehow, you can still make it to the sanctuaries without any of the red tape. All you have to do is pay us ten million dollars… no wait, ten million Euros… no wait, make it ten million pounds… Well, ten million of whatever currency has the most value right now and you’re in ‒ cash payment only, we don’t accept checks or credit cards, even because there are no longer electronic means to process such transactions. I don’t even know how we are broadcasting right now, but that’s not the point. Uh oh! Time to go now! Thank you very much for listening and always remember ‒ we do care about you! We give you all our sympathy and pity you deserve in this difficult moment. Good day to you.”
And the broadcast system went down.
3rd MOVEMENT
George and Beatriz rose to a beautiful morning. The sun shone high in the sky. Beatriz woke little Jill up, so she wouldn’t be late for school. It’s always kind of hard to wake up early in the morning, but nothing that the love of a caring mother cannot handle.
In the breakfast table, all was joy and happiness. Corn flakes for Jill, fruits for mommy and cereals for daddy, no eggs or bacon, everything had to be healthy, perfect food for the perfect family. When the most important meal of the day was done, mommy went inside and came back carrying in her arms yet another pearl in the family other than Jill – little baby Daisy.
Mommy kissed daddy goodbye before he went to work.
“Today is a very special day!” Beatriz said tenderly.
“Every day is special when I’m with you.” George replied.
“But today is even more special.”
“Indeed it is. We will finally know how very precious our children really are!”
“I thought we were precious anyway.” Jill said.
“To us you are, bunny.” Daddy replied. “And today, everybody else will know that, too.”
“Come on, Jill, don’t be late for school!” Mommy smoothly reprehended the girl, but always keeping the gentle tone.
After all, raising such a good girl as Jill was not only a delicious task, but also an honor and a privilege to any parent.
“I’m going, mom.” The girl promptly assured.
She grabbed the schoolbag with all important items to her education neatly organized inside, strapped it to her back and to school she went.
Security was not an issue whatsoever in that safe zone. Children could freely walk the streets without a care in the world.
One more shining day in the city of Brokenville had just started.
A last wave to George before the car left the house front yard and Beatriz could finally go back inside and spend some quality time in the company of little Daisy. She unbuttoned her shirt and carefully brought the baby’s little mouth to her right breast.
“Drink, my dear little one, drink. So the Big Mambo King will also know how special you are.
At school, Jill and the other students were focused taking notes, while the teacher gladly exposed the day’s topic.
“Alright children,” She said “next in our agenda is a little bit more of history, one of my favorite subjects and I’m sure yours too, especially the lesson about how our founding fathers are helping rebuilding not only this city, but also the world, after the underdeveloped areas nearly ruined it. Bad administration and lack of birth control policies caused the population of the poor zones to grow out of control, exhausting almost all natural resources and creating a sanitation crisis. As a consequence, several diseases spread even beyond such areas, including this terrible virus that ultimately ended civilization as we know it.”
“Why poor people are so ugly?” A little boy asked while flipping the pages of his approved schoolbook.
The comment provoked laughter around the room.
“Quiet children!” The teacher angrily intervened. “This is no laughing matter! You know I won’t tolerate prejudice of any kind in this class!”
The students quieted down and the teacher turned to the boy who had asked the question.
“It’s not their fault, Jimmy.” She immediately clarified. “It’s just that their genes are impure, causing some imperfections sometimes. But this is a thing of the past now.”
When the classes were finished, it came the moment many of the children, especially Jill, had been waiting for. A very serious hall monitor led the students to the infirmary, where a team of doctors were waiting for them.
At downtown, the proud mother of Daisy made her way inside the city medical center, together with other proud mothers and their adorable babies. Things over there worked so fine that no lines at all needed to be endured by the citizens. They all had an appointment with destiny, and naturally there were more than enough rooms and doctors available to accommodate all those lucky ones who shared the privilege to participate in such unique event.
Practically all mothers talked cheerfully to one another. After all, there was no such thing as strangers or outcasts in their beautiful little community.
Apocalily Series (Book 2): The Almighty Lady of Tomorrow Page 3