Caldera 10: Brave New World

by Stallcup, Heath

  “And that’s where you found her?”

  Roger nodded. “He found her. I was still searching downstairs with Buck to see if she might have left a note.” Roger hung his head. “It was the saddest thing I’ve seen in a very long time.”

  Vicky nodded knowingly. “A lot of people will be going through a very emotional time once the virus is mitigated.” She sat down next to him and patted his hand. “I guess it was a good thing you were there.”

  Roger looked at her and there were tears in his eyes. “I didn’t want a repeat of what happened with Nick.”

  “I understand.” She slowly sat up. “The big question is: what do we do with him?”

  Roger gave her a dumbfounded look. “We take care of him until he’s able to care for himself.”

  Vicky raised a brow. “We have no legal recourse here, Roger. We can’t hold him against his will.”

  Roger came to his feet and stared at her. “Legal? Jesus, Vic, have you looked outside? There is no law anymore.” He pointed toward the hallway. “Helping him to get back on his feet…it’s not a legal thing, it’s a moral one.”

  “I understand that.” She stood upright and crossed her arms. “All I’m saying is, if he doesn’t want to stay with us, there’s nothing we can do or say that can force him to. He’s not a prisoner.”

  Roger’s mouth opened and closed as his brain tried to think of a response. He turned and stared at the door for a moment then turned back to her. “I can’t let him hurt himself just because his wife is dead.”

  Vicky placed a well-intentioned hand on his shoulder. “I’m just trying to prepare you, Roger. If he has it set in his mind, we’re not equipped to deal with those sorts of mental health problems.” She tried to give him an understanding look. “All we can do is be supportive and help him get his feet back under him.”

  Roger was breathing heavily as he stared at her. “You’re wrong, Vic.” He stepped toward the door and gripped it. “There’s something we can do.”

  He jerked the door open and disappeared into the hallway. “Roger!” she called out to him but he ignored her. He was a man on a mission.

  “Dammit,” Carol muttered. “I can’t even get a good blood protein profile.” She pushed away from the workstation and stripped her gloves. “This is…”

  “Ridiculous?” Tammy asked.

  “I was going to use a more colorful metaphor, but in reality, the only thing that came to mind was ‘fucked.’” She gave her a defeated look. “I’m trying really hard not to adopt the local language.” She glanced at the guards who dropped the ‘F’ bomb like an Oxford comma.

  “You won’t even notice after a few months.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m sick of this place and would give anything to hit the surf again.”

  “California girl?”

  Tammy shook her head. “Hawaii.” She grinned as the memories of the weekends flashed through her mind. “I made sure to only apply there for my bachelor’s.”

  “Let me guess, Marine Biology?”

  Tammy nodded. “You read my file.” She turned and gave her a knowing grin. “Loved every second of it.”

  Carol sighed as she stared at the woman still strapped to the table. “We can’t leave her like that forever.”

  Tammy spun her chair around and looked at the specimen. “We’re pushing a nutrient IV, and she’s looking as normal as she can, considering. As long as her vitals remain strong, she can stay strapped there indefinitely.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” Carol stood and stretched her neck. “I feel like she’s going to break free at any moment and eat us all.”

  Tammy shrugged. “She could, and she most definitely would, given the chance. But I think those restraints are strong enough, even for her.”

  “I really wanted to find something…anything before the time ran out.” Carol’s voice was low and soft, her eyes scanning the lab. “Andre is probably right, but I hate to just jump ahead and start testing guesses.”

  Tammy gave her a solemn stare. “You weren’t here when Dr. Higgins was doing his thing. Trust me, giving her a minor dose of LSD is nothing compared to the stupid shit he was doing.”

  Carol tried to push the mental image from her mind. She scooped up the brain scans again and stared at them. “I know I’m missing something.”

  Tammy shook her head. “Maybe if we had something to compare it to…but with what we have? You’re seeing what everybody else is seeing.”

  Carol stood from her chair and stepped closer to the woman, causing her to tug against the restraints again. “I just wish she could tell us.”

  “Tell us what?” Tammy crossed her arms. “She’s even more aggressive than the original Zeds.”

  Carol turned and stared at her. “How far are we inland?”

  Tammy shrugged. “Too far to drive to the coast for some waves, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Carol shook her head. “For a short time, I was holed up with a woman who was cured.”

  Tammy’s eyes widened. “Like, trapped? Or staying with her on purpose?”

  Carol laughed. “Both, I suppose.” She glanced back at the woman then to Tammy. “If we could get her to come here…”

  Tammy was up out of her chair. “You mean invite her?”

  Carol tapped at her chin as she paced. “She wasn’t my first choice for a roommate, but she did save our bacon from a Zed one night.”

  “But you said she was cured.”

  Carol nodded. “She mentioned something about understanding each other when she was infected.” She looked to Tammy and shrugged. “Have there been any cured Zeds wandering close to here?”

  She shook her head. “They wouldn’t tell us if there were.” She fell back into her chair and sighed. “And to be honest, if they still looked infected, odds are these trigger happy idiots would just shoot them.”

  “Damn.” Carol pressed both hands to the worktable and clenched her jaw. A moment later her head popped up and she eyed one of the guards. “I need him.”

  “Woah…what are you thinking?” Tammy reached for her but she was out of the lab and marching toward the soldier.

  Simon sat on the cooler and stared into the woods. He hated the idea of what Trent and the others had planned, and he hated even more that it was his big mouth that had planted the seed. He squeezed his eyes shut and cursed himself.

  “Whatcha doin?’” Lana purred.

  “Thinking.” He didn’t mean for his voice to be harsh, but that’s how it came across.

  She stood behind him and rubbed the muscles of his neck and shoulders. “Oh, wow. You’re tense.”

  He nodded absently. “I think I fucked up.”

  Her hands paused for a moment but then she continued kneading the muscles. “How?”

  “I ran into Trent during my little stroll.” He closed his eyes and hung his head to the side as she worked at the knots.

  “And?”

  “And, I stepped in it.” He felt her grip tighten and he rocked his head to the other side. “When I mentioned that people were the biggest resource these days, I meant…” He groaned. “Easy. Not so hard.”

  “What happened?” She stopped rubbing his shoulders and he looked up at her.

  “So he was asking me about the world. If the people were really gone. That sort of thing.”

  “Go on.”

  “So I told him the truth. Turns out those three boys were running from the law. That’s why they wanted me to get them out of the woods. They thought maybe the cops would still be after them.”

  She stepped around and stood in front of him. “I thought the big guy had been down before. He got the food trailer.”

  Simon nodded. “Found it waiting on the first highway he came to.” He looked up at her and his face was stoic. “He didn’t know that the rest of the world was as empty as that highway.”

  She squatted in front of him. “Okay. So?”

  “So…instead of going back down and taking what they want…”

&nbs
p; She waved her hand in front of him. “Spit it out.”

  He looked into her eyes. “They want to rape the women here. Take over. Have the men serve them, that sort of thing.”

  She raised a brow at him. “And what are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that if I’d kept my fucking mouth shut, they’d have packed their shit and gone back to the apocalypse. Instead, they want to destroy what little is alive up here.”

  She crossed her arms and shook her head at him. “And instead of stepping up and taking your rightful place as their Alpha, you stepped aside so they could do what they wanted.”

  Simon opened his mouth but he knew that whatever he said wouldn’t be the right answer. Not to her. She expected him to be ruthless.

  He lowered his eyes and counted silently to himself. When he lifted his eyes to hers again, the look on her face told him everything he suspected.

  “What’s to stop them?” He pointed toward the upper campground. “Why stop with the women there? If they can do whatever they want, why couldn’t they take you, as well?”

  “Uh, maybe because if you didn’t kill them, I’d claw their fucking balls off.” She stood upright and planted her hands on her hips. “Those ignorant, inbred, mouth-breathing pieces of hillbilly horse shit can do whatever they want…UP THERE.” She pointed to the upper campground. “They come down here with their dicks in their hands and I’ll send ‘em back with them shoved up their asses.”

  Simon smirked and slowly came up from the cooler. “Or…”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Or what?”

  He glanced up the hill then back to her. “I step in.” He shrugged. “I tell them I’ll lead their little pack, but they’re not touching any of the people.”

  She raised a brow at him. “That would go over like a lead balloon.”

  “Tough shit if they don’t like it.”

  Lana gave him a cautious look. “And if they don’t like the edicts placed on them by their new leader?”

  Simon shrugged. “Then I kill ‘em.” He turned and met her steely gaze. “I’ll lead the sheep instead of the wolves.”

  18

  Hatcher slowed the little car to swerve around the vehicles littering the highway. He sat upright in the seat and peered past the congestion. It looked like there had been a pileup further along the road.

  With a groan he sat back and checked the gas gage again. “I’m gonna have to find fuel pretty quick.”

  He stared at the lone line of cars and winced at the idea of siphoning from five or ten different tanks. “My left nut for a 7-Eleven right about now.”

  He eased the little car off of the highway and onto the median. He crossed over onto the oncoming lane and drove along the shoulder, staring at the cars parked on the other side of the road.

  He glanced further up the road and smiled. A shiny white tanker truck was parked right in the middle of the whole mess. He pressed the accelerator down and scooted the little 4X4 back across the median. He eased the car up as close as he could to the tanker and parked.

  He stepped from the car and rapped his knuckles along the side of the tanker truck. “Please be gas, please be gas, please be gas…” He gripped the metal rung of the ladder and pulled himself to the top of the trailer. He had to beat on the valve at the top and it hissed at him as he unscrewed the cap. The odor let him know, it wasn’t gasoline.

  Hatcher sat down heavily atop the trailer and sighed. “Of course not. Diesel.” He hung his head for a moment and peered over the side of the trailer at the dirt colored Jeep. “Why couldn’t you be a diesel you little shit?”

  Being totally offended by his comment, the car didn’t reply.

  Hatcher stood and reached for the ladder rung again when something shiny caught his eye. He leaned back across the trailer and stared down at a shiny, silver, 4X4 Ram 2500 Power Wagon…DIESEL.

  Hatcher glanced over his shoulder at the little Jeep then back at the big shiny pickup. “Let’s pray we can move these cars out of the way. I’m fixing to upgrade.”

  He climbed down from the trailer and pulled open the door of the truck. The key fob was sitting in the cupholder and the truck had a push button starter.

  He crossed his fingers and pressed the button. To his relief, the big Cummins turned over then belched to life. Hatcher did a quick fist pump but resisted the urge to whoop out loud.

  He did a quick walk around and inspected the rig. It had been built to go off-road from the factory, but somebody had spent a lot of money to make it look even tougher. The roll bar in the back had a huge spare tire bolted to it. Under the front of the roll bar was what looked like a toolbox; it was an auxiliary fuel tank. A quick check told him that it was nearly empty, but luckily for him, there was a huge reserve parked almost directly next to it.

  Hatcher walked along the front and tried to estimate how many cars he’d have to try to move to get the beast out. Most had keys in them or were small enough to be pushed out the way with the huge truck.

  After roughly an hour of maneuvering, he had cleared a path for the monster truck. He was tired and cranky, but at the same time happy that he had something with some heft under him. He was never a compact car kind of guy.

  He popped the back of the car and pulled the long siphoning hose from the box of gear. He glanced at the semi then back to the pickup. “Why climb up there when the saddle tanks will have diesel, right?”

  He pulled the Power Wagon alongside the cab of the truck then hopped out and unscrewed the fuel cap from the saddle tank of the semi. It was nearly full.

  He whistled to himself as he began to siphon fuel from the big truck into the tanks of the Ram. He leaned against the bed of the truck and whistled to himself. “I knew today would be a good day.”

  After he topped off both tanks, he pulled the siphon hose and rolled it up. He pulled the Power Wagon alongside the little Jeep and began moving stuff to the back seat.

  He shut the trunk on the little car and patted the top. “You were a heck of an idea, but something tells me I’m gonna need something a bit bigger.” He stepped back and it almost appeared the little car was sad. “It’s not you, I promise. It’s me.” He paused and shook his head. “I’m talking to a car?”

  He opened the door of the truck and hopped inside. As he pulled the door shut he looked back at the little car. “I lied. It IS you. I need something that can push a wreck out of the way.” He slapped the side of the pickup with his hand as he started the big Cummins back up. “Catch ya later, Squirt!” He put the truck in gear then stopped. He glanced back at the sad little Jeep then put the truck in park.

  He slowly got out of the cab and walked back to the Renegade. He pulled the door open and reached inside. He snatched his USB with the driving music then shut the door. “Nice try.”

  “No way,” the captain of the guard stated flatly. “I don’t care if they walk normal, talk normal…I don’t care if they dance a jig. There is no way you’re bringing a Zed inside this facility.”

  Carol glared at the man. “You’ve had them inside here before.”

  “Not on purpose.” The man crossed his arms and narrowed his gaze at her. “They killed a lot of people when they were inside.”

  “And these won’t.” She sighed as she rolled her eyes. “They’re cured!”

  “So were they!” He pointed to the acrylic cells.

  “They were never infected. They got…” She blew her breath out and threw her hands up in disgust. “I’m debating with a Neanderthal.”

  Broussard walked up on the pair. “What’s going on?”

  “She wants to bring in infected Zeds. I won’t allow it.”

  “I want to bring in cured people,” she pleaded. “Do you remember Kelly? The woman I was with when you came back for me?”

  Andre nodded. “Of course.”

  “She said that they had their own language when they were infected.” She looked at him knowingly. “If our test subject can’t cooperate with us, maybe somebody who was once
infected could tell us what she’s saying.” She glanced back at the woman in the lab. “If anything.”

  Broussard nodded. “And you want to go all the way back to the university to find her?”

  Carol rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. All I asked was if they could find somebody…anybody local who was cured. Perhaps they can understand our subjects.”

  Broussard looked to the man and raised a brow. “And why not?”

  “If they were infected, they aren’t coming inside this facility.” He thrust his jaw out in defiance.

  Andre nodded slowly. “I see.” He looked at her and smiled. “And yet, the general distinctly told me that we were in charge of the lab. We could do whatever we wished.”

  “Not bring in infected people, no.”

  “Ah, but you see, they’re not infected. Not any longer.” He held a finger up. “They may ‘appear’ infected, but they are not. If they are able to converse and are not trying to eat your face, I do not see the problem.”

  The captain leaned forward, his face intense. “No. Zeds. Inside. Period.”

  Broussard nodded. “Very well, then.” He shrugged and looked to Carol. “I am sorry, ma cherie, but there is only one thing to do.”

  She stared at him hopefully. “What’s that?”

  “We go above this soldier’s head to his general.” Broussard smiled at the man. “We’ll let the general order him and his men to bring us cured people.”

  She smiled broadly. “Let’s go. We’re cutting into my thirty-six hours.”

  “Excuse us.” Broussard reached around the man and opened the door. “After you.”

  When the door shut behind them Carol giggled quietly. “Oh, he was NOT happy.”

  “As long as you are, that is all that matters.” He stepped in front and led the way.

  Simon tucked his pistol inside his vest and stepped out of the RV. “I’m coming with you,” Lana stated, the shotgun in her grip.