by Jack Flacco
Whatever reasons anyone had for not going along with Ranger’s plan, he didn’t feel put off by it. He had a job to do, to destroy the center of where he thought the zombification took place. For that reason alone, he didn’t care what anyone thought of his plan. He quietly chuckled to himself—his team—a group of teens and a kid who admired him as a demigod. It’d become his mission to obliterate anything that dragged its feet, ate the flesh and drew life from death.
So, he waited. He put the map into his pocket, rose to the window and waited. He needed them as much as they needed him. He didn’t need a fractured group of kids who fought each other at every turn, even though that’s what had happened all the way to Temple City. He waited for everyone to get their heads right.
* * *
Randy awoke with Matty under his arm. The last thought before he fell asleep flooded his brain. He didn’t want to go into the tunnels. He leaned his head on hers and gently squeezed her shoulder. He couldn’t forgive himself if, because of his stupid decision to stay back, anything happened to her. He bit his lower lip knowing he needed to decide. Either he’d allow himself the comfort to stay back while Ranger and Matty went in to do their work, or he’d go with them, helping them along the way at the cost of losing his mind.
Matty shifted and opened her eyes.
“Hey.” He said, raising his head, unwinding his arm from her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She rubbed her eyes. “How long have we sat here?”
“Not long. The sun’s setting.”
The last thought she had entertained was that of Randy not having decided what to do. She couldn’t force him to decide, he had to do it on his own.
Randy rose, strolled to the window, looked to the orange sky, and asked in a soft voice, “Do you think we’ll ever have safe streets and families again?”
Matty untied her hair letting it fall to her shoulders, then rose to join him at the window. “I’m sure there will be a time when all this will be gone.” Her voice softened. “I think we will.”
“I think so too.” He said, absorbing the deep reds and purples painted along the horizon.
Matty gazed at his hand hanging to his side. She imagined what it’d be like holding it, but then left it alone not wanting to appear forward. Like that’s even possible for her.
“I think I know what I have to do now.” Randy turned to meet her eyes and wobbled on his feet when he saw she’d let her hair down.
All of a sudden, her hands dripped, her eyes widened, and her heart rate sped faster than gushing water from a stream after a week’s worth of rain. How could she feel so much for a guy who she’d only known for three days? Could he be the kindred spirit she’d read about in books on those rainy days before the change took place?
When he took a step forward, his gaze that had latched on to her didn’t melt. He enjoyed seeing how the sun’s golden rays filled her face with warmth. Even her hair, which on occasion made her seem fiercer than usual, shined a bright red contrasting perfectly with her green eyes. For the first time, peace seeped into his bones causing him to smile.
“What is it that you need to do?” she asked, then gazed at him for a long time wondering if it had to do with her or with Ranger.
“I couldn’t ask you to take any of my responsibility. The choice is mine. If I decide to go into the tunnels, it’s something I decide. I couldn’t imagine if something happened to me and you were to blame yourself because of it. This is my decision.”
“And?”
He remained silent. Instead, he studied how her hair flowed against her cheeks, not wanting to forget what she looked like with so much color surrounding her.
She waited for an answer although she may have already known what he’d decided. She didn’t want the moment to end. All she could think about were his eyes. Those haunting sad eyes.
“Come on,” he said, “let’s go see Ranger.”
She hand-combed her hair back, and strung it into a ponytail with a purple band to hold everything in place again.
* * *
Ranger, Wildside and Jon slept leaning against the hallway walls on the twelfth floor of the Green Grove residential apartment building across the fortified entry point leading to Worship Square. Wildside rested on one side of the hall, at the top of the stairs, and Ranger on the other. Jon had plopped himself against Ranger’s shoulder.
Footsteps made their way up the stairs shaking Wildside from his slumber into pulling his gun and pointing it at Randy’s face. Had it been an eater, Wildside would have surely blown its head clean off. Relieved Randy had come back, Wildside holstered the weapon. A sigh expelled from his lungs jostled Ranger awake from his hibernation. Jon remained asleep and Ranger made no effort in waking him.
Randy and Matty walked to the center of the hallway. Lights from the fortification across the street illuminated the hall with blue defused lighting. They stopped in front of Ranger.
Not knowing what Randy had in mind, Ranger looked at him with a brief glance then withdrew to yawn in disinterest. He didn’t like how Randy had walked out on the plan he had detailed. To Ranger, even though he didn’t get offended so easy, he felt Randy could have protested to the group instead of abandoning everyone to wait it out for a decision. Whatever Ranger thought of the situation, he remained bound not to go in the complex with both barrels blazing without the support of the others.
“I, uh—” Randy stammered feeling like a kid asking his dad for the keys to the car for the first time. He hoped Ranger would look at him.
He didn’t. Ranger instead pulled out his gun and played with it. Unloading the shells and loading them back into place seemed more important. His bustling awakened Jon into a stretch.
“Sorry for walking out.” Randy said the words hoping Ranger might overlook his sin. “When you said we’re going into the tunnels, I panicked. I don’t remember much about my past, but I do remember stuck in the tunnels of that jail. I found myself lost, cold and tired. And I felt terrified by the murmurings echoing throughout the halls of that rat-infested hellhole.”
Ranger turned his attention to the boy with a big smirk pasted on his face.
Puzzled about Ranger’s odd reaction, Randy leaned into Matty, “What did I say?”
“He’s about to tell you something you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.”
Wildside and Jon beamed with smiles knowing how Ranger’s mind worked.
Ranger’s smirk grew then he let it go. “Did you know half of the world’s population of Virginia big-eared bats makes Hellhole their home?”
The boys laughed. Matty gave her typical roll of the eyes while Randy stood with a blank expression on his face. Matty whispered into Randy’s ear, “You’re forgiven.”
The mood shifted in the hallway. Wildside rose, shaking the numbness from his legs and leaned on the wall. Ranger and Jon shared a high five. Matty patted Randy on the back. Everyone seemed more at ease knowing the tension had left. But Randy hadn’t finished what he had to say. He had yet to tell Ranger of whether he’d decided to leave or stay.
A memory flooded Randy’s mind. He was standing in the dark hallway from his jail cell to the processing area. He hears the murmurs. They send a chill through his body. His heart pounds harder. They are all around him, the moans of things he has never heard or seen. He shuts his eyes for fear they will come for him and tear at him, shred his flesh from his bones. His ears ring. It gets louder. He plugs the sounds with his hands, but they’re in his head. Darkness surrounds him like an entity wanting to swallow him whole.
“I’m staying here.” Randy said to Ranger.
Ranger’s smirk disappeared. He thought he wouldn’t have a problem with Randy. He thought he’d come with the team, that everyone would follow his lead. He didn’t think for a second Randy had second thoughts of going with them. This left Ranger with a gapping mouth staring at the boy without saying a word.
Of all people left disappointed, Matty couldn’t understand his decision t
he most. What could have changed his mind that he didn’t even want to discuss it? She thought she meant something to him. Was it all for show? They had an unspoken understanding at the eleventh floor window. He’d help, they’d survive, and they’d live to tell their grandkids about the whole mess. Now, she’s not sure what to believe. She’s not even sure if she can trust him again. She stepped away and stood next to her brother.
Jon shook his head in frustration.
Wildside pushed himself from the wall and confronted Randy without mercy. “You see. Everyone thought I needed to straighten out my attitude. Instead, you’ve proven I was right all along. When we count on you the most, you fail us. What did you think was going to happen when we showed up at the devil’s doorstep? We were going to go in there and not expect to meet up with zombies? I don’t know why you came. You knew where we were going. You knew we might not get out of there alive.”
Randy stood alone and silent, feeling he deserved the tongue-lashing. No amount of words could help him.
Wildside wailed on him for a final round. “You know, I never thought I could hate someone. I mean, really hate someone to the core. I’ve had bad teachers, bad friends, bullies. But I’ve never met anyone like you. I hate we trusted you. I hate what you’re doing to Matty. And I hate—” He stopped short of saying the words, not because he didn’t want to say them but he wanted to make sure they landed like a percussion bomb. “I hate you. You’re a coward.”
Silence ran through the hall as would a deafening locomotive. No one had anything else to say. What else was there to say? Wildside said it all.
Randy walked down the stairs to the eleventh floor. This time, Matty stayed behind.
Ranger ripped his cap from his head throwing it against the wall. Not for being angry at Randy, but more because he’d thought everyone knew the cost of going into the complex. He didn’t think he had to hold anyone’s hand going in there. After all, they had proven themselves countless times having the guts to defend themselves, regardless of circumstances. He said, “We’re leaving in the morning.”
“You haven’t told us how we’re breaching the tunnels if they’re all located on the other side of that fence.” Wildside pointed in the direction of Worship Square.
“Remember the Demerol deliveries? There’s an entrance to the complex from the underground garage under this building. We’re going to take the checkpoint and move in from there. We’ll be able to access the tunnels from the other side of the fence.”
“You know,” Matty said. “We’ll still need to surface to transfer that bomb into place.”
Ranger set his weapon on the floor next to him. “We’re not going to surface. We’re going to plant the bomb right underneath the temple. The explosion will wipe out everything from the bottom up. We’re not leaving anything standing.”
The kids looked at each other. A question remained, but no one wanted to ask it.
“How are we getting out?” Jon asked, none too fearful.
Ranger pulled his eyes away from everyone, rose, and walked to the window overlooking the fortification. The helicopters hovered overhead, and the temple glowed, lit by colored lights. His hands slowly dipped deep into his pockets as he surveyed the complex, almost wanting to calm himself, but also trying to delay his response not wanting to worry anyone. He couldn’t wait any longer so he said the words, “I haven’t gotten there yet.”
Chapter 23
When morning arrived, Ranger gathered his belongings. His mind held firm on his plan to breech the fortified complex via the tunnels under Worship Square.
Randy stood at the exit as everyone prepared to leave. Ranger stopped and patted him on the shoulder while he passed him an extra two boxes of ammo for the teen’s weapon, which he had leaning against the wall beside him. Well, Randy thought, at least Ranger was kind enough to care for his safety. Wildside and Jon passed him without saying a word, although Jon did run back. He gave him a shake of the hand and then left as quickly as he’d appeared.
When everyone had gone, Matty dragged her feet toward him knowing it might be the last time they ever see each other again. Above all things, she didn’t want to appear like a girl, unable to control her emotions. She wanted to remain strong, even though the dark shadows underneath her empty stare betrayed her feelings. Looking at him, she gulped air to pour her heart. But nothing came out. Words couldn’t express what she felt. Turning from him, she began to walk away. She stopped at the doorway and went back to him. She asked, “Why? I still can’t figure out why. I mean, I understand fear. I know what it is. I feel it all the time. But for you to give up, the way you’re doing. I don’t get that. It makes no sense to me. I thought you had more courage than letting other people, your friends, go out there without your help.” She stopped, then paced back and forth in front of him, and sprang to pound her fists at his chest. “I thought you cared about what happens to me. I thought you—”
Randy’s hands drifted an inch from hugging her. He dropped his arms to his side instead, allowing her to beat him.
Matty melted on his chest and cried. Whatever she’d gone through in the middle of the night that’d left her worn to a nub, gushed in that instant. Her thoughts raced through the last three days and how she had drawn closer to Randy, not only as a friend, but also as a best friend. Her mind drifted to how they’d helped each other through those nasty zombie attacks back at Matthew Airbase. No way could she have come back alive hadn’t Randy pulled her from the clutches of those bastard living dead. At the same time, she couldn’t forgive him for abandoning her. Not the group. Her.
At last, he said the words. “I’m sorry.”
She straightened to full posture and gently pushing from his chest, stepped back.
He gazed at her wanting her to understand, but then the memory of the pit of bones returned. Trapped. Desperate. Alone. He didn’t know where to turn, and the murmurs through the walls wouldn’t stop. He thought she had to understand why, she couldn’t say she didn’t, she’s had her bouts with the undead, she knew what ran through his mind. He broke his gaze and his eyes drifted to the doorway.
Matty’s lower lip quivered and water filled her eyes again as she turned to face the doorway. Had she known he would have abandoned them, she wouldn’t have spent so much time with him. She blamed herself for not having hardened her heart in the early part of their friendship.
“You better go.” He said. “They’re waiting for you.”
Swinging around without looking at him, she pulled out a napkin from her back pants pocket and stuffed it into his shirt pocket. “I wrote down the route we’re taking today. Just in case you change your mind.” She paused, allowing the words to sink in. “But somehow, I don’t think that’s possible.”
He placed his right hand on his pocket next to his heart, almost wishing she could have given him something else instead—a note to say how she felt about him, a photo or maybe even a lock of hair. He wiped away the sweat from his forehead almost wanting to wipe away the silly thoughts that ran through his mind. He’ll cherish her gesture as her way of saying she cared.
Then, without even so much as glancing back, she left.
* * *
While the sun peaked over Worship Square’s tall concrete walls, Ranger led everyone down flights of stairs to the parking garage underneath the building they had slept in the night before. Other than the sound of their footsteps, silence surrounded the group as thoughts of Randy bounced in everyone’s head. Still in disbelief of his betrayal, no one mentioned his name ever again from that point forward. They acted as if he never had existed.
When they arrived in the parking garage, the fluorescent lights cast an eerie glow on everyone. Had anyone believed in ghosts, they would have appeared here. Whatever sunlight existed outside, none of it penetrated inside. Shadows followed them as they moved through the parked cars left behind after the change. From one car to the next they sneaked to the parked rover. It rested right where they’d left it, hitch in tow, behind pilla
rs in the corner of the lot.
Ranger pulled a matchstick from his shirt pocket and stuck it in his mouth, relieving the craving from his oral fixation. Having searched his backpack, he passed hunting knives to Wildside and Matty.
“What are these for?” Wildside asked.
“Don’t use your guns. We’ve met soldiers in the desert, and we know what they’re capable of. They’re across the street. We’re invading their territory. We don’t need to wake them up.” Ranger said, zipping his backpack closed.
“What about me?” Jon shot his hand in the air.
“You don’t need a weapon. You’re staying close to me.”
“Yes.” Jon pumped his fist in the air.
Ranger studied the hitch, inspecting it from one side to the other. “Now listen,” he shook the latch chained to the rover, making sure it was secure, “we don’t know what we’ll find there. But whatever it is, we can’t go our separate ways. If we do, we might as well say our good-byes right her and now. We have to work as a team.” He said, more to reassure the kids that no matter what, he’ll never abandon them.
“Ranger, I can’t do this.” Matty said. “I can’t kill another human being, a soldier or otherwise. Zombies are easy, they’re not alive. But humans? No way.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’ll take care of the soldiers, you guys look after the zombies.”
“Man, you’re optimistic.” Wildside polished the blade on his thigh.
“What do you mean?”
“How are you taking care of the soldiers with a knife if they’re ready to shoot you with a gun? Will you magically stop bullets flying in midair?”