“Now, tell me dear, what can I do for you? Is there something wrong with one of the children?”
“Oh no, they’re all adorable and I like them too. It’s just that… well, you know, I’d like to ask you about how things work in here, I mean, in general.”
Agnes laughed “And I’ll answer your questions to the best of my knowledge, but I hope you don’t get too technical. I’m just an elementary school principal, you know.” And she laughed again.
“It’s nothing that complicated really. It’s just that everything seems so fine in this city, everybody has food, water, electricity, where do all these come from?”
“Mister Hedgiest, the Minister, got everything under control. We all heard about agriculture projects, but we are not totally self sustaining yet. The soils are still too contaminated by all this sickness plaguing the world, but cleaning is underway. Also, some courageous boys volunteer to go outside the walls in some errands for supplies, things we cannot grow in here for the moment. But very soon we’ll have our own livestock.”
“What about electricity and water supply?”
“Have you ever heard of the famous Gingerbread Dam?”
“Yes, sure.”
“Well, such dam happens to be in our midst.”
“Really? I didn’t know that. I’m not originally from these parts, you know.”
“Actually, this town grew around the banks of Gingerbread River, for the soil was very rich, but that was before the outbreak. Tons and tons of water waited to be put to a good use. The dam was built together with a power plant to provide residents with water and light.”
“But then, the outbreak stroke.”
“Oh yes, I pretty much witnessed everything, the horror, good souls getting sick to later become horrible creatures, healthy people running scared of the deranged…” She lowered her green eyes. “But some of us had no other place to go and were forced to stay and fight the drifters. I lost my beloved husband and son in the process.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“But when all hopes seemed lost, Mister Hedgiest came. He led us to victory upon the monsters and initiated works to reactivate the power plant.”
“And it’s fully operational now?”
“Well, we don’t receive that much information. The important thing is we get our water and power. I heard the dam area is not entirely safe, the walls don’t go that far, but our workers are trying to fix this. Anyway, general population is not allowed to venture around those parts.”
Susan left the school and on the way she waved to some parents walking home with some of her students. They were all nice and friendly.
She also went home. Everything there was within walking distance. Money was still a necessity, but surely not a problem. Susan earned way more than local cost of living. It was a dream life. And she was bored.
Susan came to her two stories house, which she had the privilege to enjoy all alone. After kicking her shoes out of her feet, she sat down on the brand new couch and turned on the plasma TV. And round and round all channels, then round and round again, there was nothing on local TV, only garbage. Certain things never change.
She looked at the wristwatch, four-fifteen in the afternoon.
“Oh Gosh!”
Susan turned the TV off, put the shoes back on and decided to leave for a little stroll.
“I’ll be with you in a few!” Becky said, apparently happy to see her friend. “Just a couple more pictures and I’ll be right with you.”
Susan waited about fifteen minutes, during which she entertained herself with some fashion magazines. But only two people appeared on most pages, Shane and Becky, the first giving interviews about how things were prospering and the latter selling such ideas with glamour.
“Publishers here surely wreck their brains to find scoops.” She thought.
“Hey Sue!” Becky came back, hugging and kissing cheeks so effusively that her friend almost fell on the floor.
“Hi.” Susan responded stunned by such displays of affection.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. You know how it is, there’s always one more picture they want to take, for a better angle this, a different view of that, they won’t just let me be.”
“You didn’t seem very upset by that, though.”
Becky smiled.
“It’s been some days since we last talked.” Susan continued. “How are you?”
“Taking a lot of pictures, filming a thousand commercials, giving autographs, talking to fans, being the center of attention, can’t complain.”
“Uh-huh. What about Frank?”
“What about him?”
“Well, I haven’t been seeing him in awhile too. Do you know what he’s been doing?”
“Frank… Oh yes. He’s been relocated.”
“Relocated?”
“Yeah, he’s now working for a bigger IT company called Stardust. The boy’s doing quite well.”
“It’s surely a good climbing, considering he spends most of his days playing games. Well, I’m not in liberty to talk. I’m not doing much with my working hours either.”
“But that’s not a surprise. Basically, Frank only acts when some device breaks. As equipment here almost never breaks, he needs to find something else to do with his time. The only difference is that now he’s doing this in a much bigger office, earning the double of money.”
“And with a much better play station I take.”
“Yes!” Becky laughed a fake laughter.
“Why am I only learning this now?”
“Learning what?”
“About Frank changing jobs!” Susan raised her voice impatiently.
“You didn’t ask.”
Susan stared at Becky with not so friendly eyes.
“I’m just kidding!” Becky amended. “It’s just that everything happened so fast! I myself got to know this only recently.”
“And what’s the address of this company, Stardust?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Nobody told me.”
“Alright, no problem, I got to go now.”
“So soon?”
“Yes, I have some errands to do.”
“Going for a shopping spree, huh?”
“Hardly” She whispered.
“What?”
“Nothing. Nice seeing you again.”
“Likewise. Come visit me more often. Everybody wants a piece of me, but I’ll always have time for you.”
“Thanks, bye.”
“Take care.”
Susan left the set and the movie complex. She checked the watch, five-thirty. Time seemed to run backwards over there. Nick and Paul would still be at the office. She decided to also pay them a visit.
“Excuse me…” She called one of the trainees who seemed awfully busy.
“Yes?” However, he stopped immediately to give her a very enthusiastic attention.
“I’m looking for Nicolas and Paul…”
“Oh yeah, Nick the Brick and Paul the Sprawl, great guys. And you got to be Susan! They surely talk a lot about you!”
“You don’t believe a word they say.”
“Oh, now I believe! Wow. You’re even more beautiful than they described you.”
“Thanks.”
The happy youngster kept smiling to her, congenial but pointless.
“Um, could you tell me where I can find them, you know, Nick and Paul?” Susan queried.
“Oh, alright, they are in the break room.”
After getting directions to the mentioned place, she went there. And in fact she found her friends sitting on a table, enjoying coffee and some fruits from a big refrigerator on the corner.
“SUE!” They immediately stood up and walked to her.
“Please don’t hug and kiss me.” She said.
“Okay.” They replied.
“So…” Susan started.
The two men faced her with expectation.
“How you guys doing?”
“Good.” Susan spoke.
“Actually, this moment calls for a celebration!”
“It does?” Susan frowned.
“Oh yeah!” Paul answered. “Let’s have dinner together!”
“When?”
“Now!”
And so they did.
“Have you guys heard from Frank lately?” Susan asked down at The Happy Walnut Restaurant, a nice place with a good Hawaiian cuisine.
“Oh yeah” Paul answered “The lucky son of a gun’s been relocated.”
“Where the hell have I been?” Susan grunted.
“Relax, Sue.” Nick spoke. “No need to get all grumpy. You’ve also been failing in contacting your friends to tell what’s going on.”
“True” She admitted “but that’s because there’s not much to tell, same old, same old.”
“Yeah, like the rest of us.” Nick agreed.
“It’d be much easier if we had cell phones.” Sue pointed out.
“I asked around.” Paul revealed. “People back at the office said infrastructure to support wireless communication is still not ready. Engineers are working on it.”
“What about those antennas we see everywhere? Every house in town had one, including mine.”
“Maybe it’s for TV.”
“We don’t actually need cell phones.” Nick spoke. “Everything is close-by in this city. If you need us, all you have to do is scream.”
“Very funny.”
“And I don’t believe good old Frank is a matter of concern. He scored big this time!” Paul cheered. “The lucky bastard was transferred to that Starfish Company!”
Susan faced him “Shouldn’t it be Stardust?”
“Oh yes, Stardust.”
“Stardust, that’s the one.”
“It sounds like a big deal, right?” Susan said.
“It’s an important firm around here.”
“This is funny, because on the way to your office I asked five people about this company and nobody knew a damn thing about it.”
“Maybe you should try asking for Starfish.” Paul joked. He and Nick laughed.
“Do you know the address of this firm?” Susan asked in a not so amiable tone.
Both men shook heads negatively.
“Okay…” Susan spoke. “I hate to eat and leave, but I have to go.”
“Come on, Sue!” Paul complained. “We got so much to catch up.”
“You have to try the deserts in this place!” Nick suggested. “They make the most delicious haupia shortbread bars.”
“I’m sure they do, but I still have a lot of work to do to prepare for my classes.” Susan had to bite her tongue a couple of times for saying such big lie. “Thanks for a wonderful dinner.”
Susan checked the time again, seven-forty six. At least she managed to kill some time. She walked the streets at random and they were awfully empty. But Susan didn’t feel like calling it a night, not for a long shot.
Walking was not a problem for her. On the contrary, she did that a lot and loved backpacking trails, much better exercise than going to the gym, she thought, and healthier too.
And she walked, planning to walk until her legs faltered, which wouldn’t happen so soon. Susan had a lot of free time, a dangerous thing sometimes. She used the main street, called Happy Trails Boulevard, as reference.
It was almost nine-thirty in the evening when she reached a way less suburban zone. There were a lot of trees and very few houses around. Susan was not sure where to go from there. She started to be afraid of getting lost. Even so, she continued straight ahead, following a narrow, but well maintained asphalt road.
That was when two men in police uniforms stood in front of her.
“Good evening, miss.” One of them said in cordial tone.
“Good evening.” She returned a little bashful.
“May I ask what you’re doing here?”
“Just taking a walk to clear the ideas.”
“Not through here you will not. It’s dangerous. Where do you live?”
“1505 Cosgrove Street.”
“This is right in the city center! You surely walked a great deal, miss!” The man spoke with genuine admiration.
“I did a lot of backpacking, you know, when the world was still standing.”
“No wonder you’re so slender and athletic.” The other man said very nicely.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t let my wife hear you. She nags at me all the time to lose weight. I don’t want her to have any more ideas!”
“With a bulge that big, we can’t blame the lady.” His partner joked.
“Hey, you’re also not in any shape to talk about my bulge, fat ass!”
And they both laughed sportively. Susan only smiled, but she couldn’t help finding those two very nice fellows.
“Why is it dangerous to go further ahead?” She asked.
“There could be drifters, dead people, from this point on. It’s no longer safe.”
“And this road leads to some place in particular?”
“The industrial zone” The other man replied. “But the walls don’t quite get there yet. We got people working on it.”
“But we are safe back at the city, right?” Susan queried, faking fragility.
“Oh yeah, don’t worry none. Our guys can deal with the critters. It’s just their work would be greatly impaired if they had to also worry about civilians nosing around. I hope you understand.”
“Oh sure.”
“If you’re looking for ways to blow off some steam and clear the ideas, I know very nice discos in town. Just don’t tell my wife! I can give you their addresses.”
“No, that won’t be necessary. I know some places myself.”
“Excellent. Do you want a ride? Our car is right behind that ridge over there.”
“No thanks. I came here walking and now I consider a matter of honor to come back the same way, if you boys don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Gee, I wish I had that much energy!”
“You do. Believe me, you do. Bye guys! Thanks for the warnings.”
“No problem. Bye.”
“Take care.”
Susan went back the same way she came, and she could feel the cops’ four eyes watching her every move. Eventually, she disappeared from view.
It was ten-fifteen. Sitting on a rock, the two men kept doing their night-watch, or trying to. One of them was taking a nap. The other woke him up. They both stood up and went to the car. The vehicle headed toward the so called industrial zone, very strange, considering they deemed such direction dangerous to follow.
Very carefully, Susan opened the cover of the dumpster she was hiding in and peeked outside. The men were gone, coast was clear. She didn’t exactly smell like Paco Rabanne when she jumped out of the container.
“Damn it, the things you won’t do…”
She armed herself with a piece of pipeline she found in the dumpster and continued walking down the road, to whatever was waiting for her.
ACT 14
“So, did you talk to her?” Lily asked.
“Yes, I asked her name.” Clark replied on the passenger seat. “She tried to say something, but keeps choking on her own drool. She needs help.”
“We’re almost at those gates again. I just hope they open the doors for us once more.”
“Lily, I’m kind of worried here. What if she has the thing?”
“You mean the disease that turns people into zombies?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think so. They don’t act like this before turning.”
“How can you be so sure? Have you ever witnessed people turning?”
“No, but I watched enough zombie movies to know I’m right.”
“How many zombie movies you watched?”
“Only one, but it seemed to make sense.”
“Right. And what do you think it happened to her then?”
“She
looks poisoned to me.”
“Poisoned? Do you believe somebody did all this to her, as in starving her nearly to death and all?”
“It’s just a theory, mate. People find ways to survive, even in situations like this. Nobody would ever do such thing to oneself, not even to commit suicide.”
“I still think she got the zombie fever. She’s going to turn any minute.”
“She needs to die first. And we won’t let her die.”
They arrived at the big gates. Lily began to blow the horn like mad. The devastated woman got really agitated on the back of the truck. She tried to say something, but the words didn’t come.
“Clark, you have to go back there and calm her down.”
“Alright, but keep your knives ready!”
The tennis player dragged himself to the woman, while Lily screamed and honked to the gates “Hey! We need a doctor! We got somebody seriously hurt in here!”
“Calm down, dear, everything’s going to be fine.” Clark tried to comfort the woman, caressing her head. “Please, don’t bite me.”
She mumbled something unintelligible.
The gates got open and Lily accelerated inside. They were immediately intercepted by a car with siren and red light. Lily stopped the truck. A man in police uniform came out of the car.
“Listen!” Lily said. “We have a woman here in serious need for a doctor.”
The policeman peeked inside and saw the poor soul lying on Clark’s knees.
“Oh my Gosh!” He said. “Follow me!”
The man ran back to his car and promptly led the truck to the best hospital in town.
The Sunshine Dame of Doom Page 8