Deadlocked 6 (11 page)

Something put its hand on my foot, and I reacted in shock. "Fuck!" My body shook and I blinked away the dream world as I came to the foggy realization that I'd fallen asleep. "What?"

The doctor was at the end of the truck with his back to me. He had his hand on my ankle and was helping
a woman up. She stepped in beside him, a middle-aged woman with shoulder length brown hair and a rigid facial structure. She stared at me, and I immediately recognized authority in the way she clenched her jaw and kept her eyes on mine.

"Ben?" she asked.

I tried to nod, but couldn't move, so I said, "Yup." Then I burped, and the taste of metal flooded my senses again. "Sorry."

The doctor and the woman looked at one another. He shrugged and said, "It's the poppy. Messes with the stomach."

She nodded and sat on the bench to my left that lined the side of the transport vehicle. "Can you talk?"

"Yup." I wasn't sure why I was responding in such a bizarre fashion. It was as if I were drunk and trying to hide marbles in my cheeks.

I could see the red haired girl, Annie, standing outside of the truck, still on the ground. She looked sad, and apologetic, and beautiful. I stared at her as the older woman spoke to me. Her kind eyes comforted me, and I wanted to gaze at them forever, but she turned away as if ashamed.

"We need to know about your ties to the military," she said as she sat near my feet. "And about your brother."

"My what?" I asked, and finally stopped staring at Annie. I glared at the woman. "Who are you?"

"I'm Laura Conrad. I'm the c
aptain of the High Rollers." Her posture was impeccably straight, like a soldier who never learned to relax. She looked familiar to me, as if I'd known someone that looked similar to her but couldn't recall who.

"Okay," I said, and didn't mean to sound dismissive, though I did. "I'm Ben," but of course, she already knew that.

"We need to know why your brother attacked Vineyard, and how you were involved."

"I don't have a brother."

She frowned. "This is going to go a lot smoother if you start telling the truth."

"I am." I was still having trouble speaking through my desert of a mouth. "Can I get a drink?"

"Yeah, sure," said the doctor. He turned to look at Annie and said, "Can you go grab him something?"

Annie left and Laura continued to interrogate me. "The pilot of the helicopter, the one you shot, was your twin. Before we bring you to our camp, we need to make sure you're not working with them, or bugged."

I'd forgotten about the pilot, or perhaps I'd relegated the revelation to a fever dream that never actually happened. Now, as she sat at the back of the truck staring at me, the memory forced its way back into my mind. I recalled shooting the helicopter pilot three times in the chest and then preparing to finish him off. His helmet's visor had fallen over his face, and I lifted it up to put a final bullet in his head, only to see my own face staring back at me. It was a nightmare, and I wished it would stay only in my dreams.

"Well?" asked Laura.

"I don't know who he is."

Annie returned with a canteen that she handed up to the doctor, who then carefully maneuvered between Harrison and myself to bring me a drink. He held it out for me to take, but I couldn't reach out to grab it. He eventually knelt down and lifted my head to help me take a drink. I sputtered, and nearly choked on the cold liquid. The water's frigid temperature and heavy taste revealed to me that we were at a campsite. The mineral flavor of the water, and the fact that it was so cold, meant that it was pulled from a well. I suspected that Laura was lying, and that we were already at the High Roller's campsite. I wasn't angry with her for
the deception, but it was a helpful hint of her character.

"Let me just run through this for you," she said, "to help you understand my point of view. You show up yesterday, right before the military mounts an unheard of assault on a town that's been there for years, and one of the men responsible for the attack is your twin brother. Can you understand why we're a little suspicious?"

"He's not my brother."

"That's not what he says," said the doctor. "He's been asking for you ever since he got here."

I shook my head and closed my eyes. "I don't know who he is."

"Who are you?" asked Laura. "What's this about?" She pulled my files out of a satchel that was on the back of the truck. The satchel was mine, pulled from my backpack, and I hadn't seen them bring it into the truck when they entered. She leafed through the files and then pulled out the photo of Jerald Scott, scrawled with my father's handwriting: 'Kill on sight. Don't let him speak.'

I looked at the photo, but didn’t answer her.

"Why do you have this?"

"It's a long story."

She dropped the picture back into the file. "Give me the abridged version. Now."

"My father was one of the people responsible for developing the virus that caused the apocalypse. He found out the plan, and left the organization." I looked down at my hand as I wiggled my fingers. There was sensation returning to the tips, and they moved when I told them too, but I was still far too weak to do more.

"Go on," said Laura when I paused for too long.

"He trained me in survival techniques, and also as an assassin." I looked at the files and then back at Laura. "Those are the people that are responsible for the virus. They all have to die. It's my job to kill them."

"Are you from this area?" asked Clyde.

"No. I lived in Georgia when the apocalypse started."

Laura's expression changed and I saw Annie look up at her. I suddenly understood that Laura was Annie's mother, and it was then that I realized why she looked familiar. I'd seen Laura at the base in Georgia, right after I'd saved Annie from the scientists. I thought about telling Laura who I was, but that would mean dispelling Annie's belief that her father had saved her. After my conversation with Harrison, about the shooting stars and stealing hope from people, I decided to keep my secret. However, if this conversation devolved then I would be forced to reveal my past to help gain their trust.

"Interesting," said Laura as she continued to look through the files.

"How did you end up out here?" asked Clyde.

"I heard one of the men I'm looking for, the one in that file that you just had, is out here. I came looking for him."

"And he was supposed to be in Vineyard?" asked Clyde. He'd taken over the questioning after I'd told them about my origin. Laura was busy looking through the files, and seemed consumed by them.

"No, I heard a rumor that he was traveling with traders. He'd paid a large sum to them for help hauling something."

"Paid them with what?" asked Clyde, suspicious of the same problem that I'd thought about before. "The traders out here barter with goods. What was he trading with them?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said.

"Refuge, maybe," said Laura. She closed the files and looked up at Clyde as she rejoined the conversation.

"Refuse?" I asked, confused by my misunderstanding of what she'd said. I couldn't figure out why she thought they wanted garbage.

"Not refuse," she said. "Refuge."

"Refuge from what?" asked Clyde.

She stared at me when she answered, as if in threat. "Refuge from a new apocalypse; a deadlier one."

"Christ," Clyde muttered and started to bite his thumbnail.

"How did you hook up with Harry?" asked Laura.

"I was down by Juniper when he found me. We looked around the town, found some pallets, and decided to try and track down the traders. That led us to Hanger, where we met up with Kim and Stitch. Then we all went to Vineyard to see if we could warn them before the traders poisoned them too."

"But they got attacked instead?" asked Laura.

I nodded. "Yes. Their leader, Beach, told us that they'd turned away the traders."

"And then what happened?" asked Laura.

Annie spoke up from the back of the truck. "I already told you."

Laura put her hand out to shush her daughter without looking back. "I know. I just want to hear it from him." She continued to look in my direction, and her expression didn't change when she asked, "What happened next? Tell me the whole story, as far as you can remember."

I understood what she was doing. She'd been given a recounting of the attack from her daughter, someone she trusted, and she was asking me to give details of the ordeal to see if I added any information that I shouldn't have known. Laura still didn't trust me, and I didn't blame her for that.

"Beach asked us not to tell anyone in town about what happened to Juniper and Hanger. She said they were having an anniversary celebration, and there was nothing they could do about the spread of the disease anyhow. She wanted everyone to enjoy themselves, and worry about the traders in the morning."

"Go on," said Laura, urging me to continue whenever I paused.

"During the party, I took over guard duty at the gate. Harrison was with me when we saw the trucks coming into town. Hero said that he'd seen those trucks back at the airport, filled with zombies, so we headed down to the car to get some weapons."

"The military weapons," said Laura, pointing out how suspicious it was that I'd brought along a truck full of military grade assault rifles, ammunition, and grenades.

"Yeah, Harrison and I found it in the trunk of a car from Juniper. Hero and I were going to bring it back for the others when we heard the helicopters coming. That's when I went back to the car and tried to use it as a diversion to keep the zombies away from the street that led to the underground garage. Hero led everyone down there, and I met back up with him, but found out Harrison never made it down."

"And that's when…" Annie started, but Laura shushed her.

"Go on," said Laura, making sure I was the one that finished the explanation.

"The rest of the helicopters went back to base, I think to refuel or something, and there was just one left. I was able to get on it, and then…"

"How did you manage that?" asked Clyde.

"I threw a flashbang at the pilot, and then grabbed onto the body of a sniper that was dangling from it. I got inside and that's when I shot the pilot. I was going to finish him off, but then I saw his face."

"And that was the first time you'd ever seen him?" asked Laura.

"Yes."

"That must've been a head trip," said Clyde.

Laura continued to question me. "Any idea why he was working with the military?"

I shook my head.

"Or why he ended up at Vineyard at the same time as you?"

Again, I shook my head.

"Or why they're poisoning the towns now?"

"For fuck's sake, Mom," said Annie. "He risked his life to save ours."

"And did his best to kill the person that had the best chance of telling us who he is." Laura didn't give me a chance to respond to the accusation. "Look, Ben, I'm not saying you're guilty of anything, but I'm not willing to say you're innocent either. I've got a lot of people to look after, and there are too many coincidences here for me to trust you completely."

"I understand." And I did. I didn't do anything wrong, and I certainly wasn't in league with Jerald's crew, but she had no way of knowing that. The responsible thing for her to do was to be suspicious of me, and I respected her for it.

"Thank you," she said, which was unexpected.

"For what?"

"For saving my daughters, and the rest of the people there. I don't know why, or how you're involved in all of this, but you risked your life to save those people, and I am indebted to you for it."

She stood up, prepared to leave, but I spoke up and stopped her. "Then help me find Jerald."

A moment passed before she responded, as if she'd been considering my request. Most of the people I've met have a bad habit of not listening to what others say to them. Laura was not one of those people. Her conversation style was very contemplative, and it gave you a sense that she was truly listening and considering what was said to her. "And if I do?"

"Then I'll kill him for you. I'll put a stop to the attacks."

She smirked, and then eyed me as if her skepticism had been converted. "Maybe you will. We'll have to wait and see. But for now, you're not fit to stand by yourself. I doubt you'll be taking on an army anytime soon."

"Are you going to let me see him? The one that looks like me?" I refused to call the man my brother.

"Why do you want to see him?" she asked.

"Because he might know where Jerald is."

"If he does, then we'll find out." She leapt off the back of the truck.

I wasn't ready to let her leave. "Will you do whatever it takes?"

Clyde jumped down beside her and they both looked in at me. Laura glanced at her daughter, and then back at me as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Will you do whatever it takes to get him to tell you what he knows?"

Her gaze hardened, and I sensed that I hit a nerve. "I'm not going to torture him, if that's what you're asking."