Revenence: Dead of Winter: A Zombie Novel (11 page)

     Shari sat on a length of wooden fence, smoking and sulking.  After evading the  undead, they had ridden until they reached 130, which ran north to south, then stopped for a break on the side of the highway.  Daphne, about twenty-five feet away, went through the items they had acquired, equipping Hugo with some of the tactical gear.  She also armed him with a machete with a rugged D-ring guard she had found in a belt sheath on the armored zombie.  Shari had suggested they take a Beretta for Hugo to use, though they had established that she would have to train him to use it, as he had little gun experience. 

     As she sat, Shari was trying her best not to think about the encounter they had experienced earlier, or the fact that she had caused it with her own lack of caution.  To make matters worse, Daphne made sure to throw disapproving looks her way regularly. 

    
I almost killed us all,
Shari thought numbly.  She supposed she should apologize, but she didn't think it would make things any better.  She wondered if she should part ways with Daphne and Hugo to avoid putting them in any further danger.  Her thoughts then shifted swiftly in her confused state of mind, wondering how she could contemplate the thought of leaving them, even for a moment.

     Daphne made her way slowly over to Shari, sighing heavily as she perched on the fence beside Shari.  Her eyes, focused straight ahead across the road, scanned the farmland that lay stretched out to the horizon.  "So what's going on with you?" she mumbled after a couple minutes of silence. 

     Shari shrugged, her eyes also fixed ahead, easily ten miles to the east in the vaguely rolling topography.  "I don't know  what you mean."

     Daphne uttered a dry snort.  "Bullshit.  You know what I mean."

     Shari exhaled a large cloud of smoke through her nose.  "You mean what happened earlier, with the zombies?  Maybe you haven't noticed, but there are zombies all over God's creation.  We're bound to run into some sooner or later."  She laughed defensively.  "We all have a bad day every now and then."  As guilty as she felt, she struggled to express it. 
I should say I'm sorry.
  She flicked ashes around her boots, her eyes down.

     Daphne nodded, still facing the road.  "Yeah," she said.  "We all have bad days.  But you know what really worries me?"  She turned to look pointedly at Shari, who shook her head.  "What worries me is the fact that you're not taking it seriously.  You put all of our lives in danger, and now you want to act like it never happened.  Something's up with you...I don't know what it is, but I know there's something up." 

     She gazed at Shari a moment longer, looking for some sign of concession.  When Shari's expression didn't change, Daphne sighed again before standing and starting back toward her ATV.  Shari lowered her hood down over her face.

     "We should get back on the road," Daphne said without turning back.  "We've already been held up enough for one day." 

     Shari sat for a moment longer, her expression of annoyance hidden behind her kevlar hood.  She rose from the fence and made her way to Eva, who was drinking from a puddle about twenty feet away. 
I don't know who I'm annoyed with,
she thought,
Daphne, or me.  Or maybe both?
  She was suddenly conscious, uncomfortably aware, of the fact that she was waiting for an answer that wouldn't come.  She mounted her horse, riding after Daphne as she started north again down 130. 

     It was early afternoon when they reached the northern outskirts of Champaign, having hugged the eastern edge of town via 130 in order to take the least populated route.  As Shari rode behind Daphne, her eyes continually scanned her surroundings, turning to look in all directions.  She had lost confidence in her ability to sense what was going on around her, and she realized she would have to compensate with extra caution.  What had once been instinctual was now much more conscious and deliberate.  She was beginning to accept the fact that her survival would now be much more difficult. 

     She leaned down to take her radio from the left saddle bag and scanned the dials.  She tried the AM band first, but she only heard static.  As she searched the FM band, she came across a station playing music. 
Turn that shit up,
Shari thought.  She smiled as she continued scanning through the stations. 
At least now we can hijack the frequencies
.  As she neared the end of the band, she heard a youthful female voice. 

     "--ammo or weapons, you'll be well-compensated.  And if you're thinking of trying anything slick, I should warn you that you wouldn't be the first, but I can assure you, it'll be the last thing you ever do.  If you have anything to trade with us, bring it to the radio tower on the U of I campus.  We've got medical supplies and ham radios, the walkie-talkie kind.  See you soon."  The voice was silent for a few moments, then began to speak again.  "The following message is refreshed every twenty-four hours.  Hello, fellow survivors.  We're looking to trade.  If anybody can spare some ammo or weapons, you'll be well-compensated...." 
Recording,
Shari thought as she turned the radio off and returned it to her saddlebag. 

     She cupped her hands over her mouth, calling out to Daphne ahead of her.  "Hey!" 

     Daphne stopped, her ATV idling.  "What's up?"

     Shari stopped next to Daphne and Hugo.  "There some   survivors on the U of I campus."

     Daphne frowned.  "How do you know?"

     "I just heard it on my radio," Shari said.

     "Did you actually speak to them?"

     Shari fidgeted, her gaze shifting up to the sky as she spoke.  "Well, not really, I mean--"

     "You mean what?"

     "Well," Shari said, sighing, "it was a recording."

     "So you don't even know if they're still alive?"

     Shari shrugged and rolled her eyes.  "Not exactly, but they said the message gets refreshed every twenty-four hours."  Daphne narrowed her eyes, dubious, as Shari continued.  "They said they had medical supplies and a bunch of radios like the one I have, only they're probably not as outdated as mine.  We could get one for each of you."

     "You know," Hugo chimed in, "having extra radios, or better radios, isn't really a bad idea."

     Daphne shook her head.  "That's a lot of risk to take just to get some walkie-talkies and adhesive bandages.  I mean, isn't there a reason we bypassed the city itself in the first place?"

     Shari fumbled for an argument for a moment before she responded.  "But the campus might not be that badly infested."

     Daphne snorted.  "Are you drunk?  It's a college campus, it's bound to be crawling with undead."

     "Normally, yeah," Shari said.  "But remember what day it was when all this started?"

     "Yeah," Daphne replied, a faint light of concession in her eyes, "the day before Easter."

     Shari nodded.  "So at least ninety percent of those kids were probably already home with their families when the shit hit the fan.  Granted, it's still a pretty populated area, but I think we can make it."  She paused, noting the look of trepidation on Daphne's face.  "If we get in there and it looks bad, we'll turn around."

     "Yeah," Daphne said, "if we can."  She drew in a deep breath and let it out with exasperated force.  "Whatever.  If you think we can make it, then whatever.  I just hope you're right."

     Shari turned to face Hugo.  "You've been to the campus before, right?" Shari asked.

     "Yeah," Hugo responded, "a couple weeks before the zombies came."

     Shari nodded.  "I don't suppose you remember where the campus radio station is at?"

     "Actually," Hugo said, "actually, I do.  Me and my mom stopped to get lunch near there."

     Daphne turned the idling ATV back in the opposite direction.  "Well," she muttered, "let's do this, then."

     Shari experienced an uncomfortable sensation in her stomach as she followed Daphne down University Avenue.  The sensation intensified as they got within a half mile of route  45.  Shari's breakfast churned turbulently inside her like a baseball glove in a dryer.  The air was thick with the spoiled fetor of human meat decomposing in the brutal late summer heat wave. 

     Her discomfort was due to a combination of the odor assaulting her nostrils and the intense silence after turning off of 130.
  It's just too quiet.
 
When was the last time I even heard the sound of birds?
  She realized it had been back on 130, at least a mile back.  As she surveyed her surroundings, she observed an absence of most wildlife...no birds, no squirrels, no cats, dogs, or rabbits.  There were only the ever-present clouds of swarming insects and the circling of turkey vultures and hawks in the sky above.  Shari, Daphne and Hugo neared the intersection of University and Cunningham, which they realized would not be passable to the west.  From 75 yards away, Shari thought it was packed full of wrecked cars, buses, and trucks.  However, upon reaching the intersection, she realized somebody had intentionally jammed the road. 

     "No way that happened on accident," she uttered aloud.

     "You're damn right, it was no accident," Daphne concurred.

     "You think there are people in there?" Hugo ventured.

     Shari shook her head.  "Not fucking likely," she said. 

     "It's unnaturally quiet," Daphne mumbled, "and it has been for about a mile or so."

     "That, and the closer we got to it, the more it smelled like Satan's asshole," Shari said, covering her nose and mouth with her hands.  "That place has got to be full of death."

     Hugo frowned.  "Human bodies, you think, or zombies?"

     Shari shrugged.  "Why not both?  Let's give a wide berth."  They detoured south down Cunningham Avenue, realizing as they came to the next block that they would have to continue further south. 
Still barricaded,
Shari thought,
ain't that a bitch?  I wonder how many people were in there before it went bad.
 

     "I think we're close to the radio station," Hugo shouted up ahead.  "Maybe another half mile or so.  Keep going straight, we should see the radio tower to our right pretty soon."  He turned his head to the side, forcing a sharp cough from his lungs.  "Should we really be here?  I mean, if there are no animals around, does that mean  they know they'll get sick around all these bodies?"

     "We're not sticking around," Daphne said, her eyes on the road.  "It shouldn't be long enough to get us sick."

     "Must really be a shitload of them," Shari muttered.  "I've never smelled them from so far away."  The buzzing of the cicadas radiated from all around them at near-deafening levels as they rode beyond the western boundary of the ill-fated encampment.  After a few blocks, they saw the radio tower about a block down on their right.  It occured to Shari for the first time that perhaps they were getting ready to walk into an ambush. 
Too bad we haven't had time to train Hugo,
she thought, making a face. 
Traveling with newbies sucks.
 

     Daphne spun on her ATV to face Shari, shrugging. 

     "I don't know which way to go to get in," she said.

     "I don't know either," Shari said.  "I guess try going around to the front." 

     They continued until they got to the next street that ran east to west, then turned left.  As Shari's gaze panned across the front of the building, she saw a message spray painted across the doors in large, neon green lettering with an arrow pointing to a small panel beside the entrance.  RING THE BUZZER TO TRADE,
the sign read.  Shari approached slowly while Daphne and Hugo hung back on the road. 

     "This is your little pet project," Daphne said.  "I'll let you handle it."

    
Nice,
Shari thought, a hint of irrationality sneaking into her consciousness.
  She better have my back if anything goes wrong. 

    
As she reached the covered walk leading to the entrance, she peered through the glass doors into the interior of the building.  She could see a stairway just past the foyer, jammed full of desks, chairs, and other office furnishings.  The fortifying clutter stretched all the way down the stairway and out to the front doors themselves, filling the foyer of the entrance up to the ceiling.  She ignored the slight trepidation she felt and reached her right hand out to press the button that would let her soon-to-be-acquaintances know that they had company.  After a few moments, she heard a female voice come through over the intercom beside the  buzzer button.  Shari was fairly certain that it was the same voice she had heard over the radio.

     "Can I help you?" the young woman uttered in a detached, flat tone.

     "Yeah," Shari responded.  "I heard your transmission on my radio.  I'm interested in trading.  I'm with a group."

     "Where's your group?" the woman asked.  "I only see you."

      Shari glanced around the entrance, noting a camera just inside the doors.  "Back on the street," she responded. 

     "Why didn't they come up to the building?" the young woman asked suspiciously. 

     Shari shrugged.  "They hung back to keep an eye on my horse" she said.  "Plus, we didn't know who--or what--we'd find here."

     There was silence for a moment before the woman responded.  "I guess I can understand that.  I feel the same way about all of you."  She continued after a moment.  "To get in, you have to go around to the west side of the building.  And sorry, but your horsie isn't gonna be able to come.  I hope you can climb a rope ladder."  The intercom went silent, and Shari turned back toward the road where Daphne and Hugo waited. 

     "We have a little dilemma," she said as she approached the ATV.  "We have to climb a rope ladder to get into the building, so I won't be able to bring Eva in."

     Daphne pointed toward the front doors, which reflected the light in a way that kept them from being transparent from her angle.  "Can't you at least leave her in the foyer?"

     Shari shook her head.  "They have it jammed full of junk, it's how they fortified it."

     Daphne exhaled sharply, then cleared her throat.  "So...what exactly do you want us to do?"

     "Well," Shari began, "I don't want to ask you to go in there while I wait--"

     Daphne was already shaking her head, vetoing the idea.  "No way."

     Shari continued.  "Like I said, I don't want to ask you to do that."

     Daphne raised her eyebrows questioningly.  "What then?"

     "What if I go in by myself?" Shari asked.  "Will you guys stay out here with Eva?  Just long enough for me to make a trade real quick?"

     Daphne shook her head again.  "What if something happens and we have to run?  I've never ridden a horse before.  She'll probably buck me off."

     "Hey," Shari said defensively, stroking and patting the horse's neck as she spoke, "give her more credit than that, okay?  In all the time we've been together, have you ever seen her get spooked?"

     "I guess not," Daphne muttered, "but that's with you.  You don't panic, she doesn't panic.  She'll sense the fact that I don't know what I'm doing."

     "You'll be fine," Shari said.  "You've seen me riding enough to get the gist of it."

     "I can ride her if we have to," Hugo volunteered.  "I spent a lot of time doing therapeutic riding as a kid," he said.  "I kinda like it, actually."

     "There you go then," Shari said, turning to Daphne.  "You won't even have to ride her."

     "What if something happens?" Daphne went on.  "What if we get separated?  I'll say it again, this is a really bad idea.  We just don't need the radios that badly."

     "It's not just the radios or the medical supplies," Shari conceded.  "These are the first people we've run into besides Hugo since...since what, back in Kentucky?  There are so few of us left...I don't want to miss the chance to connect with other survivors while I can."

     Daphne nodded, her eyes on the ground.  "I understand where you're coming from," she said.  "I guess you need that a little more than I do."  She gestured toward the building.  "Go ahead.  We'll be out here, but try not to take too long."  She and Hugo dismounted the ATV, trading Shari for her horse. 

     "I'll be quick," Shari said as she straddled the ATV.  She pointed to the saddle bag strung on Eva's left side.  "My radio's in there."  She gestured toward the building.  "Considering the location, I'm less likely to need it than you are."

     "Be careful," Daphne called as Shari crossed the lawn to the western side of the building.  As the ATV passed Daphne's field of vision, she turned in a slow circle, taking in the various sounds around her.  She heard the awkward shuffling of undead as they wandered the streets, bumping into objects around them and creating a clatter as they made their way toward the radio station.  "They had to have heard us as we drove in," she told Hugo as he took Shari's binoculars from the right saddle bag.  "There must not be any really fresh ones, or they'd have gotten here already."

     "Yeah," Hugo said, "but they'll be here soon enough, all the same."  He gazed eastward through the binoculars, along the northeastern border of the makeshift wall surrounding the lifeless encampment they had passed from the south earlier.  His eyes focused on an object about 500 yards away, on the street outside of the wall.  "Daphne, do you see what I see?" he asked, handing her the binoculars.

     She peered through the lenses, looking down the road in the direction he was pointing.  "What am I looking for?"

     "
That,"
Hugo said, pointing more emphatically.  "There's one of those tow-behind horse trailers in the road down there."

     "Huh," Daphne muttered, lowering the binoculars.  "I wish we'd have seen that before Shari went into the building."  She gazed back toward the west, where the presumably well-rotted undead were turning the corner and making their way languidly eastward, in the direction of the sounds they had heard from Daphne's ATV and Shari's horse.  "But then again, that thing is still looking mighty useful."

     "Yeah," Hugo said as he mounted Eva, "let's not look a gift horse in the mouth." 

     Daphne repressed a smirk. 
I'm really beginning to like this kid,
she thought.  She took a pen and notepad from her pack, scrawling a short note to alert Shari as to where they were going.

    "Just ride over to the other side real quick, so I can leave this note on the ATV," she said as she climbed up behind Hugo.  "Let's have us an adventure."