“Got it!” Allison said.
She wrote down something on a piece of paper and put it into her shirt pocket. She also locked the workstation with a password.
“What?” General and colonel turned to her at the same time.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your forensic analysis, Colonel Driscoll, but I located Amy and the others.” Allison replied. “Her little head does work as a locator. She’s such a cutie pie, don’t you think?”
“Well…” The general spoke incredulous. “Then tell me where they are, so I can take care of business.”
Allison stood up and headed for the exit.
“That’s a no-no, general.” She said on her way out. “I handle this with my team in non-military terms. You guys are too violent. But don’t worry. I’ll keep you posted.”
And she left the war room.
General Prentiss only resisted another urge to break her neck because Karl signaled him to calm down.
“That cocky little brat will get hers!” The general barked.
“Sure she will.” Karl agreed. “And sooner than she thinks.”
10th MOVEMENT
“Where are we going after all?” Nancy asked Lily with a bit of impatience.
“We go to wherever the road takes us.” Lily replied. “Why are you worried about this all of a sudden? Do you have an appointment or something?”
“No. It’s just that we need to have a purpose.”
“We do have a purpose.” Lily said.
“And what is it?” Nancy asked.
“The next rest stop or small town,” Lily answered “to pick up supplies.”
“I’m serious!” Nancy muttered.
“You know, she got a point there.” Mate Clarkson intervened. “What happens if the road leads us to a great abyss? Can this truck fly?”
“It might.” Lily answered. “Maybe my dad installed some wings in here. All we have to do is find out how to activate them.”
“Do you know anything about piloting?” Mate queried.
“Not quite.” Lily replied. “But don’t worry, the truck is insured in case we crash. Daddy always thought ahead.”
“What about us?” Mate asked.
“We break each other’s fall.” Lily answered.
Amy giggled.
“We can always find another city devastated by tyranny.” Mate spoke.
“Do you really believe there are other sites like that one?” Lily asked.
“I do. Shane was basically a human enhanced inside a lab, right?”
“Right.”
“What if they made others?”
“Others what?”
“You know, other Shanes.”
Amy and Nancy exchanged looks. The baby gurgled.
“I consider that.” Lily said. “But I don’t really think they manufacture Shanes in a production line.”
“Don’t they now?” Mate spoke.
Lily shook her head. In the backseat, Amy frowned for a moment and brought a hand to her head.
“Is there something wrong?” Nancy whispered to her.
Amy signaled as to say it was nothing.
“A civilization gone with the wind…” Mate sighed.
“What?” Lily asked.
“History repeats itself.” Mate replied. “The civil war almost devastated this nation. Now, a zombie plague nearly destroyed the whole world.”
“Let me guess.” Lily spoke. “I’m Scarlet O’Hara and you are Rhett Butler.”
“So, you did watch the movie.”
“Once or twice, with my father.”
“So, you do know who Clark Gable is.”
“Oh, that was Clark Gable? I thought it was Cary Grant.”
“No, Cary Grant was the Charade guy.”
“As in Batman?”
“That was Riddle!”
“All the same to me.”
“Charade was a movie with Cary Grant, also with Audrey Hepburn.”
“Who?”
“The Moon River girl!”
“Oh, she was an astronaut.”
“Jeez! You Aussies do live in trees!”
“And we also ride Kangaroos to work instead of cars.”
“And you have koalas for pets instead of dogs, right?”
“Yes! And we use boomerangs to deliver the mail. But for some strange reason, the letters keep coming back.”
Both Nancy and Amy laughed at that one.
“See? Lily said. “They do find me funny after all.”
“Well, you’re no Yahoo Serious, but you deliver.” Mate replied.
“Yahoo who?”
“You are an Aussie and you don't know Yahoo Serious? Are you serious?”
“I am serious. The only yahoo I know is you.”
“Right. What about Crocodile Dundee?”
“What about him?”
“Well, do you know him?”
“Of course! Paul Hogan, he is a genius!”
“Then you know two yahoos.”
“Three, if you count me. By the way, I was kidding. I do know Audrey Hepburn and the song Moon River, music by Henry Mancini, the Pink Panther guy.”
“Henry what? Pink who?”
“Who lives in a tree now?”
“We’re all living in trees now.”
“You always talk to each other like crazy parrots?” Nancy asked.
“It helps us to relax.” Mate answered.
Amy massaged her temples real hardly. Suddenly, her big blue eyes goggled, almost jumping out of the sockets.
“This is not fair!” Amy exploded. “They’re in danger! And we need them.”
Lily and Mate frowned.
“Honey, you need to calm down!” Nancy talked to Amy.
“No!” The girl retorted. “Not this time. They’re in my mind. I’ve had it with them!”
With amazing speed and agility, Amy jumped to the front seats and out of the window.
“Whoa!” Lily shouted and brought the truck to a very abrupt halt, causing it to sideslip.
“I told you they were hiding something.” Mate commented.
The baby was crying. Nancy tried to sooth his infant soul.
Lily jumped out of the truck and went after Amy. The little girl ran surprisingly fast. Even so, the Australian gained on her and got close enough to grab the girl’s right arm, forcing her to stop.
“Please, let me go!” Amy begged. “It’s for your own good.”
“It’s time for you to tell me what’s going on, lass.” Lily retorted.
The strong whir of a helicopter emerged above the women, rumbling as a thunder and blowing like a tornado. Wild dust swirled everywhere and engulfed woman and child.
“Too late” Amy said. “You’ll find out the worst way.”
Men in suits invaded Lily’s truck, taking advantage of the open door. With machine guns in hand, they quickly surrendered its occupants.
Allison Forrester opened the helicopter side door and climbed down the air vehicle even before it completely landed.
“Now, everybody be in your best behavior!” She shouted. “I don’t want to hurt anybody! Please, don’t make me.”
Forrester saw Mate Clarkson trying to furtively touch a button on the truck dashboard.
“Don’t bother killing the engine just yet, my good man.” Allison said to him. “I’d hate to cut off a finger of your friend to start it again. By the way, I also know about the spikes, so just keep your hands off the dashboard.”
Frustrated, Mate Clarkson obeyed her and put his hands up.
Allison walked to Lily and Amy.
“My people are pointing guns at your friends and they got itchy fingers.” Allison spoke to Lily. “If you try anything, they won’t hesitate to shoot.”
“I’m sure they won’t.” Lily replied.
“You don’t talk to her!” Amy yelled at Ally. “You talk to me!”
The little girl took two steps ahead to be face to face with Allison.
“Yes, ma’am!” Ally replied wit
h a smirk.
“I’ll go with you, but only if you let them go.” Amy said.
“They’ll receive a fair treatment.” Forrester promised. “You know how I do things.”
Allison looked at the girl’s leg.
“Your bite wound is healing fine!” She said. “You have no idea how special you are.”
“And yet, you left me to die.” Amy pointed out.
“Not at all,” Allison said “I had to make sure you were immune. I couldn’t take that chance. Now I realize how badly we need you. Besides, I knew you could get out of that one.”
“I’m not strong enough to fight those many beasts.” Amy retorted. “I’d be dead if Lily and Mate hadn’t come for me, so would Nancy and the baby. That’s how badly you need me?”
“I’ll make it up to you.” Allison said. “I promise.”
“Yes. You’ll make it up to me by letting them go. You owe them for what they did.”
“And I won’t forget it. I give you my word. Now, let’s go!”
Amy did not move and kept staring at the dressed up lady in defiance.
Allison waved a hand to the men near the truck. Two guards pushed Mate forward and forced him to kneel down before Ally. They pointed their weapons straight at the man’s head. Lily looked anguished at the scene.
“Get to the chopper, missy.” Allison ordered Amy firmly.
Amy looked at Lily, then at Mate. The machine gun barrels were nearly touching his head. She walked to the helicopter.
“We’ll be joining you shortly, dear.” Allison spoke to the little girl.
“So, what happens now?” Lily asked.
“Now we take you and your friend here in a little charter flight.” Allison answered.
“Great, I’ve always wanted to ride in one of those. What do you say, partner?”
Mate just nodded. He was given permission to stand up.
“What about Nancy and the baby?” Lily queried.
“Nancy will resume her duties.” Ally replied. “I’ll let her take care of the baby.”
“What about my truck?”
“We’ll take good care of it.”
“One tiny scratch in any one of them, including the truck, and I’ll kill you.” Lily said.
Allison smiled at such smugness, but loosened her collar.
11th MOVEMENT
Ike stopped the limousine.
“Okay.” He said. “I think we got somewhere.”
“Do you think that’s the place?” Ivy asked.
“It has to be.”
“Cool. Now all we got to do is finding out how the heck we get in.”
The large, long vehicle looked like a tiny little toy compared to the monstrously big walls stretching in all directions.
“Let’s circulate it.” Ike proposed. “Maybe we find a door.”
And they drove around the walls. Fifteen minutes passed with no entrance whatsoever. The gigantic barrier seemed to last forever. Ike stopped the car again.
“I don’t think we’re going in.” Ike whispered.
“Are you sure this is not Condor City?” Ivy divagated.
“How am I supposed to know what this is? Why people in Condor City would need that much protection?”
“I don’t know; protection against zombie attack perhaps.”
“It looks a little excessive to me.”
“I wonder what they are protecting inside.”
“Or keeping from going outside.”
“That’s a good point.”
“Anyway, there’s only one way to find out, by going in. And I don’t think we can. Maybe it’s a good thing.”
“I’m hungry.” Jill said on the rear.
“Don’t worry, honey. We’ll get you something to eat.” Ivy comforted the girl. Then she abruptly turned to Ike. “We need to get in!”
“Are you sure?”
“We got nowhere else to go. I say we do some exploring by foot.”
They left the limousine. Jill started to run around in her new playground without a care in the world.
“Don’t go too far, peach!” Ivy screamed.
“Hum, Ivy…” Ike held her arm and pulled her to one side. “I think we should take this moment to have a little talk.”
“About what?”
“About the girl. The more time we spend with her, the more she’ll believe she’s staying with us.”
“It’s not a belief. She is staying with us. Her whole family is dead. We’re all she got.”
“We know nothing about taking care of kids.”
“Neither did our parents for that matter. And yet, we turned out… not so screwed up.”
“Look, this is not cold feet or anything. It’s just that we have to think of what’s best for the girl. Maybe we can find somebody with more experience in this sort of thing.”
“Where? How? Just take a look around!”
“Why are you so determined to do this?”
“She came to us by accident. This is a sign.”
“How so?”
“My parents treated me like garbage because I happened by accident. You have no idea how it hurts, being reminded everyday of the terrible burden I was and how things would be so much easier if I didn’t exist.”
“Yes, you told me you were conceived during a rock concert.”
“Well, not as cool as it sounds. So, I kind of made a point to myself that I’d make it up for my horrible childhood somehow. And Jill over there is the answer. I’ll keep her and I’ll give her a lot of love!”
“Okay.” Ike agreed. “I also got some making up to do.”
“Your old man beat you up pretty good, uh?”
“Yes, and he never stayed sober long enough to give a damn. And mommy just looked the other way. After all, daddy got money and life was just too comfortable to be wasted on something as trivial as the happiness of her boy.”
“Life sucks, huh?”
“Very much.”
“So, let’s give this girl a try?”
“We might. The problem is she seems to have very peculiar ideas about race and stuff.”
“She was just taught all wrong. That can be fixed.”
“You know something, you’re right. Let’s do this! And if we ever hurt that girl’s feelings, may the earth swallow us through a hole on the ground!”
“Right on!”
“Hey you guys!” Jill called them. “Look what I found!”
Ike & Ivy strode to where the girl was. Jill kicked some dirt away to reveal the rusty handles of a trap door.
“It’s open!” The little girl said in real excitement. “It’s just too heavy for me. Can we go in? Can we?”
“Let’s try to get this open, shall we?” Ike spoke.
It took all three of them to lift the heavy door open.
“Well, that’s your hole.” Ivy said. “Earth will swallow us sooner than we expected.”
“Even so, we won’t let anything bad happen to our little…”
“Wee!!!” Jill cheerfully ran into the hole.
“Wait, honey!” Ivy shouted.
She and Ike ran after Jill. However, the girl stopped short at the sight of some people, men and women in rags, covered with patched up blankets. The look on their faces was everything but friendly.
“Who are those people?” Jill asked her newly self-appointed tutors.
“Hobos?” Ike said. “In here?”
“We prefer to be called homeless.” An old man said.
“Oh, sorry.”
“And close the goddamn door! You’re letting the heat escape.”
“Okay.”
Ike and Ivy closed the trap door.
They walked along the row of people on both sides.
“Got any spare change, old chap?” One of them said.
“Well, do you?” Ike retorted.
“Ike!” Girlfriend scolded him. “Stop making fun of the poor!”
“Who’s making fun? I don’t have a penny in me! Do you?”
“
I got some dimes in me!”
The path was dark and fetid. The whole place was shaped like a cylinder. There were sparse graffiti on the walls and some small openings that resembled compartments.
Unknown to Ike, Ivy and Jill, a younger man in the row took a walkie-talkie out of the pocket of his army surplus jacket.
“Where will this take us?” Ivy asked.
“Where will this take us?” Ike repeated the question to one of the lying hobos.
The man in rags stretched a hand and wiggled his fingers.
“Fine!” Ike grunted and poked Ivy’s arm.
“What?” She said.
“Come on! I told you I’m broke.”
“Alright, alright.”
Ivy took all dimes she had out of the front pocket of her jeans and gave them to the homeless person.
“Only this?” The man complained, counting the dimes.
“Oh sorry, but I forgot to bring all my pearls, diamonds and collection of golden Rolexes when this whole apocalypse happened!” Ivy retorted.
“Loudmouth, but I like you guys.” The man in rags replied.
“Well?” Ike insisted.
“This path leads to the confines of Devasta Land. And if I were you, I’d go back the way I came. This is not a place for anybody, surely not a place for two green horns and a little girl.”
Apocalily Series (Book 2): The Almighty Lady of Tomorrow Page 9