Apocalypsis: Book 3 (Exodus) (35 page)

“Just give us a few minutes, Peter.  We’ll go around the perimeter and see if there are any breaks in the fence.  I can’t believe we’re the first people to break in here,” I said.

“Maybe we are.  Don’t you remember the news before it went off for good?” asked Gretchen, staring up at the sky.

“No,” I said, trying to think when the last time I watched television was.

“I remember,” said Ronald.  “They turned the prisons into hospitals.  Lots of the people who were dying were brought here.”

“Oh,
great!”
I yelled, pissed I hadn’t realized this before.  “You mean we came all the way down here to live in a friggin’ morgue?!”

“Well, I guess that explains why this place isn’t being used by anyone else,” said Peter, shrugging his shoulders.

“Peter, you are seriously scaring me with your complete lack of freaking out lately.”

“I freak out when the time is appropriate.  Right now I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve picked the best possible place to set up our new home.  All we have to do is move the bodies out, clean the place up, and move in!”

“You are actually smiling at me right now,” I said, shaking my head at him.  I looked around at the others.  “Does anyone else feel the wrongness of all of this?  Is anyone else worried about the friggin’ virus that could still be alive in there?”

“Nope,” said Bodo.  “Not me.  I like dat dis place is like a haunted house.  Dat means no one will come here and bodder us.”

“The virus is dead,” said Gretchen.  “Everyone knows that.”

“No, everyone does not,” I insisted, disregarding Kiersten’s statements to the contrary.  “We have no idea what that virus is or what it’s capable of doing to us as we get older.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” asked Ronald.  “I mean, really.  When you think about it.”

“We could die?  How about that?” I said.

“Yeah?  And?” said Bianca, sitting up and looking at me.  “Dying of a virus sure beats being raped and eaten in my book.”

“Geez,” was all I could say.  My mind was racing with thoughts of our new reality.  I felt cornered and sad and desperate, even surrounded by friends and standing in front of a place that I thought was going to be our sanctuary. 
And the most positive thing anyone can think to consider is which would be a better way to die - by the hands of another kid or a killer virus that wiped out most of the human population.  When is life ever going to be about living and not dying?

***

Peter walked the perimeter of the fence with Jamal.  They showed up from the other direction thirty minutes later.

“There are no breaks in the fence
anywhere
,” said Peter.  “The place is locked up tighter than my aunt’s special closet, and it’s hugely huge.”

“The one with the high heels?” I asked, smiling with the memory of Peter wearing a pair of them when I first met him.

“Exactly.  Secrets are inside this place, I just know it.”  He stood with hands on hips again, staring at the fence.  “I
need
to get in there.  Why don’t we have a stupid bolt cutter with us?”

“How about we throw a blanket over the barbed wire and then climb over?” suggested Winky, eyeing the offending escape deterrent.  It had bits of razor and twisted, pointy spikes on it.  It looked like a great way to get a set of very painful and infected wounds.

“I think that razor would cut right through it,” I said.

“Not if you fold it up a bunch of times,” said Gretchen, finally sitting up.  “How big is it and how thick?”

Peter walked over to one of the backpacks and pulled out one of the decorated rug blankets I knew had been made by the Miccosukee.  “Here it is.  What do you guys think?” he asked, holding it up.

“Worth a shot,” said Ronald.

“I agree,” said Jamal.  “It’s going to get dark soon.  We need to get inside before the sun goes down, even if we just sleep right there on the other side of the fence.”

“Yeah, I’m not all that excited about exploring the prison in the dark, if you don’t mind,” agreed Ronald.  “Let’s save that for tomorrow morning.”

“Whatever,” I said.  “I’m officially on record as saying I think this is a dangerous place and we need to be super careful.”

“It was your idea to come here, Bryn,” said Winky.

“I got the idea from the twins, first of all.  And second of all, I didn’t realize this place was a deadly germ factory before I said we should come.  If I had known about the hospital thing, I never would have agreed to it.”

“Well, where would we have gone if not here?” she asked.

Everyone went silent, waiting for my answer.

I couldn’t come up with a good one, with all of them looking at me like that.  “I don’t know.  A high school … or a big library maybe?  That would have been better than this.”

“Yeah.  Except you’d be missing all the barbed wire to keep the canners and sweepers out, the kitchens, the bedrooms, the weapons and ammo … need I continue?” asked Ronald.

I frowned but said nothing.  He was right.  The library would have been good for the books, but useless for almost everything else we needed.

“I think we can all agree we need to be careful going in,” said Gretchen, acting as peacemaker.  “Let’s just get in past the gate, go inside to the front waiting area or whatever, and set up camp there.  Then we can decide whether to investigate more or just start spraying bleach on everything first.”

Her mention of the bleach made me feel a little better.  I had forgotten I had a container of it in my stuff.  “We still have the bleach, right Peter?”

He nodded.  “Of course.”

“Fine,” I said.  “I agree to this plan if you guys do.”

Everyone nodded.

“Here,” said Peter, nudging Bodo with the blanket.  “Help me get this over the wire.”

Bodo and Bianca climbed up the fence and reached down for the blanket, which was handed up to them by Gretchen and Peter.  Their skinny arms trembled with the effort, but it was good enough to get the blanket to the waiting hands above.

Getting the material up and over the wire was challenging.  It kept catching on the razors and spikes, and took ages to remove, but eventually they got it over the worst of the offending mess.  It managed to push the wire down a little with its weight, but not enough to flatten it.  I was bummed because it made our job harder, but happy that the bad guys wouldn’t be able to get over any easier than us.

Bodo and Bianca climbed down, both of them sweating and shaking so bad from muscle exhaustion they had to sit down.

“I’m sorry.  Dat was harder dan I thought it wouldt be.  I think that da drugs are still in my body.  I can’t stop shaking,” said Bodo, holding out a trembling hand for a few seconds before dropping it into his lap.

“You’re just exhausted,” said Peter.  “We all are, but you guys more than the rest of us.  Just relax.  Winky and Bryn can take it from here.”

“Hey,” I complained.  “Who voted
we
get to have our arms and leg slashed open?”

“Good point,” said Ronald.  “Winky’s already been hurt today.  She shouldn’t have to go up there.”

“I can go,” said Winky, her chin coming up a fraction.

“No, he’s right,” I said bitterly, disgusted with my own whining but unable to stop from indulging in it.  “Just sit down and let me get this over with.”  I looked at everyone sitting around.  “And what exactly am I supposed to do once I’m over?  You’ll still be on the other side.”

“Go find a key to open the gate,” said Peter.  “Duh.”  He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Come on,” said Jamal, nudging me on the arm.  “I’ll go with you.”

I gave up complaining.  I was just being a baby anyway.  The heat and the rain and all that pedaling coming right on the heels of the fight had taken too much of my patience out of me.  I couldn’t even think straight.  All I wanted to do was whine about my circumstances and go to sleep for about twelve, uninterrupted hours.  With Bodo next to me.

I walked up to the fence and put my hands on it, looking at Jamal standing right next to me.  His face was just inches away.  He had the longest, thickest eyelashes I’d ever seen before.

“That is just so unfair,” I said, staring at him.

“What?  That you have to go first?  Move out of the way, then, and I’ll go.”

“No.  That you have eyelashes that beautiful.  They are so wasted on a guy.”  I shook my head and began my upward climb.

“If I had a dollar for every time a girl said that …”

“… you’d have kindling for one fire,” finished his brother.

“Oh, yeah.  Right,” said Jamal.

I reached the top but was soon stuck.  The blanket was there, but I couldn’t get a grip on anything around it to get onto it.  The wire bulged out over the top, and I couldn’t very well use it for leverage.  I looked down at Peter.  “What the heck am I supposed to do now?  I can’t get over this friggin thing.”

“Push on it,” suggested Ronald.  “Make it flat in that spot right in front of you.”

I sighed, reaching up to push on it gently, testing it for flexibility.  It barely moved.  “It’s not working,” I said.

“Push harder, Bryn, and stop being a baby,” commanded Peter.

I looked down to catch him frowning at me.  I pouted but went back to the pushing.  I used a bit more force, and the wire bounced a little.  I climbed up a couple more inches and pushed again, this time getting it to move several inches.

I took a deep breath.  “Okay, fine.  I’m gonna lean on this thing with my body and just … I don’t know … slide over the top.  When I break my neck on the other side, you’re all gonna feel really bad you made me do this.”

“Okay, good idea,” said Peter.  “Good luck.”

I shook my head at their complete lack of concern for my person.  My conscience tried to prompt me that maybe it was their undying faith in my abilities to get stuff done that made them so unconcerned, but I ignored it.  I was in full-on pity party mode and I refused to come out of it.  At least for now.

I took another step up and then another, leaning way out so my upper body wouldn’t yet touch the blanket.  I needed to make sure enough of my torso would make contact with it, so it could actually push the wire all the way down.

“What do you want me to do?” asked Jamal from behind me.

“Come up here next to me.  I need to get farther up, but I have nothing to hold onto.”

Jamal climbed up next to me, jiggling the fence.

“Slow down, spaz!  I’m barely hanging on up here!” I yelled.

“Sorry, geez.  I’m here now.  What do you want me to do next?”

“I’m going to take another step up, but I need you to push on my back as hard as you can, because I will have nothing to hold onto.  If you let go or don’t push me hard enough, I’m going to fall right off this fence and squash Peter like an annoying, irritating bug.”

“Okay, then what?”

“Then when I say go, push me hard so I can lie over the top of the blanket.  Got it?”

“I think so.”

I looked over at him, “Don’t
think! 
Know!”

“Okay, okay, geez.  I
know
, alright?  Just climb, girl.”  He put his hand on the middle of my back.

“Higher,” I demanded.

His hand slid up.

“Good.  Now push,” I said, taking a step up.  I used the force he was providing to lean back more, getting myself up enough that about half of my body was now angled out over the wire, dangling above my friends below.

“Arrrrggghh!” growled Jamal.  “I can’t … do this … for much … longer!”

“Push me hard,
now!”
I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air, praying that the blanket was thick enough to keep the razors from cutting my boobs open.

He pushed me forward and I used my ab muscles to help with the momentum.  I flew forward, my chest and upper stomach area making contact with the blanket.  I could feel the hard pieces of wire pressing into me from underneath, as the weight of my body smashed it down, flattening it to the top of the gate.

I was dangling now, mostly over the wire with my upper body, and my legs still on the side where everyone but Jenny was standing.

“Okay,” I said, my voice strained from the exertion of balancing on my ab muscles.  “Now what?”

“Go over!” yelled Peter, desperation in his voice.

“I can’t!” I yelled back.  “I’m stuck here.”

“Okay, Bryn, do not get mad at me,” said Winky, grabbing onto the fence and putting her foot on it.

“What are you doing?” I grunted.  “Get off!  You’re jiggling the fence!”

“Jamal, get down,” she ordered.

I could see her determined face from my upside down position.  “Jamal, don’t you dare leave me up here,” I groaned out.

“Sorry, Bryn.  Gotta go,” he said before jumping down.  The fence shook, making me panic as I imagined feeling jagged razor shards digging into my flesh.

Winky started to climb.

“I’m gonna friggin’ kill you when I get down from here, Winky, you bag of dicks.”

She laughed as she climbed.  “Bag of dicks?  That’s creative.”

“I learned it from
you
, you crazy …
argh!
”

“Shush.  I need to climb on your back for a second.”

“What?!”
I yelled.  “No!  No, absolutely not.  Don’t you dare … Winky!”

She grabbed the back of my pants and pulled herself up next to me.  The wire bent down more and I felt it in my stomach again, harder this time.

“God, Winky, I’m gonna die up here.  The razor is cutting into my artery.”

“No, it’s not.  You’ll be fine.  I’m almost over.”

She scrambled up onto my back, sliding down towards my head long enough to lean over and grab the fence on the other side, below my face.

I was pressed into the blanket now, and I could smell it - it was musty and old.  The pressure of Winky on my back, the odor filling my nostrils, and my general state of panic made me want to barf.  “Get off!” I yelled into the blanket.

“Here I go!” she yelled.  “Wish me luck!”

Her body slid a few inches, she kicked her legs over, and then suddenly her weight was gone.  It disappeared in an instant, and I had time to lift my head and see her legs going over me in a semi-circle, being pulled to the earth by gravity at a much higher rate of speed than she had probably expected.