The Renegades (Book 4): Colony (3 page)

“Where were you before this?”

“Texas.”

“How did you get picked?”

“I guess I got lucky.”

She smiled. Extracted the needle from my arm, dabbed it with something cold, then covered it with a cotton ball and tape.

“
W
hat a shithole
!” Baja said surveying the room.

Compared to Wright-Patterson that’s exactly what this place was.

After being prodded and probed we were guided to a dormitory. The large rooms held up to forty people. It was a glorified homeless shelter. The beds, if they could even be called that, were low to the ground. Nothing more than a cot really with a grey cotton blanket and a pillow. At the end of each of the beds folded neatly were brown clothes. I picked mine up and looked over at the others. Everyone was wearing the same thing. On the back in white were the initials PRM, then a number. Mine was 212.

“PRM 212, what the fuck is this?” I muttered.

A voice beside me answered. “If you want to survive this place, don’t ask questions.”

I looked to my right. Lying back on the cot beside me was a skinny kid reading the novel
Moby Dick
. He brought the book down to his chin, then swung his legs over the side and sat up. He looked around nervously.

“They can hear and see everything.”

“Who?”

He gestured with his head towards the corner of the room. Coming down from the ceiling was a small, black dome camera.

“Them.”

Two guards looked over at us and I turned my back towards them.

“132, come over here.”

He got this scared look on his face, handed me the book but kept a hold of it.

“If I don’t return, turn to page 213, you are going to need it if you want to get out of here alive.”

He let go and began walking away.

“What’s your name?”

He turned back and smirked.

“Alex Bird, but most call me Birdy. These asshats call me 132.”

I nodded, watching him disappear down the hall with one of the guards. My eyes dropped. I had never read
Moby Dick.
Apparently it was one of the books that everyone was supposed to read before they die. I opened it up and thumbed through to page 213.

Scribbled in the margin was a picture of a woman with large tits and the words,
Hey big boy!
I was pretty sure that wasn’t what he wanted to show me. I looked back up, shook my head, and tossed it back on his cot. As it bounced a little, a plastic card fell out. I reached for it, picking the book up at the same time.

It looked like an access key card like the kind used to gain entry to a hotel room.

“212.” I heard my number being called. My pulse raced a little as I slid the card back into the book and placed it down on Birdy’s bed. By the time I turned, the guard was already behind me.

“What did he want?”

“What?” I asked.

“132, he was talking to you.”

His eyes looked at the book and then my bed.

“Nothing. He just introduced himself and reminded me that happy hour was at five.” I glanced up at the clock. “And that’s right about now. So, if you don’t mind I’m going to go indulge. I hear the margaritas are real tasty.”

He grasped my forearm. On his chest was a tag that read, Randall.

“In a hurry?” He stared intently.

I held up the brown clothes. “Have you seen these outfits? Excuse me if I can’t contain my excitement to see what I look like in the mirror.”

The guard scanned the others.

“Can I go now?”

He released his herculean grip and I strolled out of the room following the rest of the sheep who were either changing into their new outfits or streaming down a corridor heading for the cafeteria. I looked at the clothes in my hands, scoffed, and dumped them in the garbage can.

“I’m not a number.”

I joined the crowd of young and old shuffling along. The hallway had arrows on the floor for those who weren’t good at following the map. What other reason would it be for? Most wore the ugly brown jumpsuits that resembled the kind of clothing a plumber might wear if he had dipped himself in a giant cowpat. A few had chosen to not bother. To my amusement Jess and Izzy were among those. I’m sure the powers that be would have had a hard time trying to convince those two to change into anything like that. It wasn’t because they were divas. Far from it, but they were strong-willed and not used to being told what to do.

I caught up with them. Behind us, among an ocean of faces, I heard Baja call out. He was jumping up and down, waving his arms. To the annoyance of others, he squeezed his way through.

“Excuse me. Coming through.”

Ben and Elijah were already picking at their food when we spotted them.

The hall that they were using for a cafeteria was as bland as the rest of the building. We lined up, grabbed a tray, and glanced at what they had on the menu. It might as well have been pig slop. Contained within metal trays was green mush that looked like it had dripped from someone’s nose. Beyond that was scrambled eggs, toast and…

“Bacon? Oh please tell me that is bacon and not a slice of an ass cheek?” I hollered.

Behind the counter were four guards kitted out with white aprons.

“I’m pretty sure you guys should be wearing hairnets,” Baja said, pulling a thick black hair from his dish. I didn’t even want to know where that came from.

They chuckled and scooped a large serving of the green muck before I could decline. It splattered before they handed it to me. I sniffed. It had the aroma of a veggie that had been baked in the sun, swallowed by a hobo, and ejected out of a rear end. They tossed a bread bun and I caught it before it became contaminated by the toxic slush. The eggs weren’t much better. I don’t know who was in charge of cooking them but I had to wonder if they just showed the egg to the pan and then cracked it on the plate. It was half-cooked and swimming in what could only be described as clear snot.

I scanned the room. Ten long horizontal tables were filled. The sound of chatter was low and garbled. There was no laughter. I joined Jess and Izzy four tables in. I tossed my paper plate down and sighed.

“Paradise. More like parasites,” Jess muttered. “I saw a cockroach crawling near my cot.”

“That’s nothing,” Baja said, plopping down beside me. “Someone had taken a shit in the showers. The whole place reeked. I didn’t even notice it until I stepped into the cubicle and found the drain clogged up. And you know the worst part…”

“I would say, don’t bother, I’m eating, but I’m not eating this crap,” Elijah said.

“I touched it,” Baja continued.

We all groaned and Izzy pushed her plate away. “I didn’t want anything to eat anyway.”

“Can I have your roll then, sweet cheeks?” Baja said, edging his hand closer to her plate.

I expected her to slap him.

“Knock yourself out.”

Baja was the only one scoffing down food.

“So where have they got you two?” I asked Jess.

“Six rooms down from you all. Nothing but women in ours.”

Now you have to understand, as some might have wondered, if it was so bad, why stay? Why didn’t we just head out when that guy in the gymnasium did? Well, as bad as the place was, outside was worse. The city we were told was overrun with Z’s and in ruins. The chances of surviving out there were slim.

“I’m telling yah, this place ain’t bad,” Baja said with a mouthful of gunk.

“By the way, what happened to Kat Greer, the president’s daughter?” Ben asked Izzy.

“No idea. She was whisked away within the first twenty-four hours of arriving at Wright-Patterson.”

“And the cure?” Elijah asked.

Jess shook her head. “They didn’t tell us anything. We were clothed, fed, and given a place to sleep but that was it. When the alarms went off at NORAD we were led out with others.”

As we continued to eat the Warden came in.

“Can I have your attention? Quiet down. I need a moment of your time.”

The noise in the cafeteria dropped to a murmur.

“As you know, the Hive is one of many sanctuaries around the country. While we would like to say that room and board is free, it’s not. Like any community you will be required to perform duties. These are mandatory. You will each be assigned a task on your way out today. Please be sure to report to your stations. That’s all.” He glanced down at his notepad then looked up.

“PRM 212.”

I looked his way but didn’t reply. He frowned, casting his eyes around the room. The man he called Tanner whispered something in his ear before he looked over at me. Tanner navigated his way around the tables. He was a hulk of a man.

“212, why aren’t you and the others wearing your assigned clothes?”

I looked around aimlessly. “212? Anyone here by that name?”

“Why are you still wearing civilian clothes?” he repeated.

“Maybe because I am a civilian,” I replied.

“Get up.”

I remained seated.

“Did you not hear me?” he said.

I took a bite of my bread and continued staring ahead.

“I heard you, but you forgot the magic word.”

He leaned over Baja and grabbed a hold of me by the back of my collar. That was a mistake. Ben, Elijah, and Baja hopped up along with Jess and Izzy and all hell broke loose. Two other security guards double-timed it over holding sticks that let out a tiny blue crackling light. Unfortunately for them they didn’t get a chance to use them.

“Enough,” the Warden yelled.

Tanner had a look of death in his eyes.

“Mr. Goode, a moment of your time. That’s all I want.”

“People using my name, that’s all I want.”

“Please. Would you.” He motioned for me to follow. The others settled down as Tanner and the other two security officers backed up. I followed the Warden out of the cafeteria. Tanner and his goons followed a short distance behind.

We walked down a long corridor that wound its way around the building. I heard the sound of doors clanging. A cleaner sloshed water onto the floor from a bucket. He looked as if all the life in his eyes had been drained.

“Where are we going?”

“My office. You have to excuse the use of numbers here. But there are too many people to keep track of names. It’s easier to assign a number.”

“For a place that wants people to help, you don’t exactly do yourself any favors.”

He didn’t reply to that. We arrived at his office. Inside, it was very minimalistic. Two leather chairs, a metal cabinet of books, and a mahogany desk turned diagonally. A window covered by wire mesh provided a clear view of the yard. Running along the tops of the thick concrete walls were rolls of sharp barbed wire. For a moment I thought we were alone. As I stepped inside I turned and saw a familiar face.

“Kat?”

“Johnny.” She rose to her feet. She looked well. Dressed in pants, high heels, and a white blouse. I caught the scent of her perfume as she leaned in and hugged me.

“I thought you…”

“Kat is an integral part of what we are hoping to accomplish.”

“Which is?”

“To develop a cure,” the Warden said, closing the door behind us.

I frowned. “But you have the cure. We handed it over.” My eyes darted between them.

“We thought we did. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The test subjects eventually turned…” she trailed off.

I began to think about NORAD and the outbreak. Was that what had caused it? Had they been running tests inside the mountain?

“Please. Johnny, take a seat.” The Warden motioned to a plush leather chair. “Kat has been telling me a lot about you and your group of friends. How you assisted her in Salt Lake City.”

I was still processing what she had said. Also the realization that there wasn’t a cure hadn’t really sunk in. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I had believed that as bad as the world had become since the infection, there was still hope to be found in the cure. But now, here they were telling me there wasn’t one.

“So what are you going to do now?” I asked.

“That’s where you come in.”

“Me?”

“Well, you, your friends, and others.” He paused, turning in his seat and pouring two fingers of bourbon from a decanter into an expensive-looking glass.

“Maybe you would like to explain, Kat.”

She nodded. “In the city we have discovered there are anomalies. Those who are immune to the infection —”

“You’ve seen one get bitten… and survive?” I asked.

“That’s right,” the Warden continued. “Like any disease, Johnny. There will always be those who are immune. For whatever reason, their bodies reject or can fight this infection.”

“But this wasn’t a disease, it was a biological weapon. Garret said it himself.”

“Yes, that’s right. A weapon that in a controlled environment would have been highly effective.”

“Oh it was effective. You guys fucked it up and now you want us to get you out of this mess?”

He smiled and leaned back in his chair.

“You’re misunderstanding. It’s not about you or us. It’s about the survival of humanity.”

I leaned forward. “If you know these anomalies exist, why don’t you just ask them to come in? I mean, I’m sure they would help if they knew.”

He took a long pull on his drink and then opened up a wooden box in front of him. From it he pulled a cigar and snipped the end off.

“You would think that. But it’s not that easy. There is a group called the Coalition that is… what can I say… making it difficult.”

“And you expect us to go in and get them?”

“Something like that.”

I watched him fumble to light the cigar between his lips. The end flared orange as he disappeared behind thick white smoke. I looked at Kat.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“I think we have to do whatever we can to ensure our survival. This is far bigger than us, Johnny. We had our chance to create a cure, it didn’t work. The answer lies now with these anomalies.”

The Warden stood up. “Talk it over with your group, we are planning to send out a team in a few days. I would like to see you go with them.”

I nodded, slowly getting up.

“And Johnny. What we are trying to do here is for the good of everyone.”

About to exit, I paused at the door. “I’m sure that’s what they said when they created the biological weapon that started this mess.”

I returned to the dorms. My mind was reeling at the thought of it all. On one hand the idea of trying to survive without searching for a cure was an option. But how long could we live that way? Food supplies would soon become scarce. Eventually people that weren’t infected would turn on each other. Hell, it was already happening.