Zombie Anthology (7 page)

    
Geoff offered Jeremy the jug. “No thanks,” Jeremy waved it aside, “Isn't getting wasted up here dangerous?"

    
Geoff laughed. “Isn't breathing dangerous these days kid?"

    
Jeremy didn't answer.

    
Many, many feet below them, Sheena rolled her chair closer to Lex's bed and reached out to take the woman's wrist in her hand. Lex's pulse still appeared steady if somewhat weak. There had been no change in her condition for days. Sheena looked Lex over and winced. Once, she'd been a vibrant thirty three year old woman whose charm and laughter lit up the dark, artificial corridors of Def Con. Now her skin was a sickly pale color and her long blonde hair had lost its luster. Sometimes Sheena found it hard to believe she was looking at the same person who'd been her assistant, friend, and… lover for the last five years.

Sheena leaned forward in her wheelchair and rested her head on Lex's chest. Tears streamed, glistening down her cheeks as sobs shook her broken body. She lifted her head and her hand crept to the life support system's main power cord and yanked it out of the wall. “I'm sorry,” Sheena said no louder than a breath. A sharp piercing tone filled the room as Lex's vital signs flat-lined. Sheena silenced the alarm with the flip of a button and turned out the lights. She wheeled herself out of the dark room without looking back.

    
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,” Troy sang as the staff of Def Con stood gathered before the grave, buried in the flowers at the edge of the base's large gardens. Black-eyed Susans bloomed around the freshly dug dirt, their yellow petals straining to touch the sun. To Jeremy, Troy's voice sounded like that of a weeping angel. He tried hard to block out the raging and thrashing of the creatures that tore and pulled at the fence nearby. Troy's voice touched them too though in a different way and called to them stirring their hunger and hatred to new levels. There were more of them today than since the early days after the wave when the hoards of refugees from the town had came seeking shelter. They numbered in the dozens and Jeremy noticed Geoff's unease as the ceremony continued. Geoff was armed to the teeth and clutching a ready fully loaded AK-47 in his hands. Everyone else seemed focus on saying goodbye to Lex even Ian though the C.I.A. man didn't look well. A sheen of sweat covered his snow white skin and he fidgeted with his handkerchief nervously. When Troy's song ended, they all stood together watching the bloodthirsty horde outside the fence's gates until finally Geoff barked the words, “Okay! Everybody back inside. Now!” Jeremy wondered as he went if this would be one the last times he would feel the sun's rays on his skin.

    
Sheena kept to herself the nature of Lex's death. No one confronted her about it. Some suspected what she'd done, others didn't care but Lex's death affected them all including Jeremy though he'd never even met the woman. A
sombre
air fell over the Def Con complex. Geoff, Troy, and Wade waged a quiet war on the surface against the growing tide of the infected. Ian kept more to himself than ever rarely leaving his make-shift quarters in the
armoury
for any reason. Only Nathanial seemed to have actually improved since Sheena had suddenly stopped riding him about getting more data on the remnants of the wave in space despite the ironic fact that the atmosphere was finally clearing itself completely of the strange energy-dampening field. Jeremy at last found the time to introduce himself to Toni and the two spent hours each day working with the base's communications gear trying to enhance it and extend its range and the power of its signal. Jeremy had taken an instant liking to Toni from the very moment he'd seen her at the meeting shortly after his arrival at Def Con. She was a very kind and warm person, Jeremy discovered, once you wormed your way around her defensive layer of shyness.

    
"Pass me the screwdriver,” Toni called from where she lay sprawled out in the floor beneath the control room's main communications console. Jeremy selected a Phillips head carefully from the open toolbox he carried and passed it over. He heard Toni work for a moment with the tool before she slid out and smiled at him. “I think that does it. The system's ninety percent on-line again and as tweaked as it's going to be. Anyone on this side of the country with so much as a handset should be able to hear us now."

    
Jeremy grinned back at her and pointed at the top of the console. “So this little red light is supposed to be on and flickering this way?"

    
"What?” Toni pulled herself up. Her smile vanished to be replaced by sheer shock. Jeremy watched as she looked at the light in disbelief. Her whole body tensed up and she barely seemed to be breathing anymore.

    
"Was it something I said? I'm sorry if…"

    
She whirled on him and threw her arms about his neck as Jeremy stood there totally dumbfounded. “Someone out there is trying to reach us!” she half giggled, half screamed, slamming a finger down to put the incoming transmission on the room's speakers. The words were garbled by terrible static and interference but they managed to understand a few words of what was being said, “This… Freedom Station… Anyone… us?"

    
Toni held a hand over her mouth.

    
"Freedom Station,” Jeremy repeated aloud then it hit him. “Holy shit,” he muttered.

    
Toni had already opened the channel and was responding. “We copy that Freedom. This is Def Con and you have no idea how happy we are to hear you."

    
"Repeat… Couldn't…” the voice replied.

    
"Go tell the others!” Toni wailed at Jeremy. “I'll try to clean this up some and keep the channel open."

    
Jeremy dropped his toolbox and darted off, yelling, through the base's corridors.

    
The woods were quiet and a gentle rain began to fall as Amy made her way up the mountainside. The night had given way to a gray sky full of clouds. The rain was a warm one however and she welcomed it. She fished around in her pockets for the last of the berries she had found during the night, plopping the whole handful into her mouth at once. They were wonderful like the food of the gods but she longed for more and hoped she would come across another patch soon. She wasn't a nature person having grown up in New York so she had to be very selective in what she picked. She knew some berries were poisonous so she had to be careful. She considered briefly the notion of trying to shoot or catch one of the rabbits that appeared to be rampant in the woods but she had no idea how to hunt them. If it came down to it, she swore she would eat grass rather than waste the last five rounds in her weapon. She couldn't risk being defenseless if one or more of the creatures crossed her path.

    
Amy reached the top of the large hill, which in her city thinking she
labelled
a mountain and looked down at the town below. The instant she saw it she
ducked
into the foliage out of instinct. She cursed herself for being foolish. It was miles away. There was no way any of the creatures that might be in it could see her… unless they were the thinking kind and keeping out a watch with binoculars, she thought darkly. There didn't appear to be any kind of road or trail leading from where she was to the town. It looked as if the forest stretched all the way to the edge of the town. The town's proximity meant she was much more likely to come across the creatures than she had thought earlier even if she kept to the woods and tried to cut around it. She took a moment and steeled herself before she stood up and started walking straight for the town. She was going down there and was going to find the things she needed. Maybe, she hoped, if it was mostly deserted, she could find a home or some kind of building to hold up in and finally get some real rest.

    
As the sun began to sink from the sky, she made it to the edge of the town. She hadn't bumped into any creatures on the way down and that was a good sign. She didn't see any now either as she peered out from the trees into the parking lot of the gas stati
on. It was the town's most out-
lying building. It was damaged a bit on the outside but not ransacked from what she could tell from where she stood. It called out to her with the promise of food and other wonders. She stayed where she was at watching for any sign of trouble or movement for over forty minutes before she finally crept slowly out of the trees. The sound of her own footfalls on the lot's pavement unnerved her. She glanced around everywhere making sure she was still alone. Amy approached the station's glass doors and breathed a sigh of relief. Not only did there appear to be no one inside but its aisles hadn't been trashed. They were several shattered windows and a few bullet holes in its outer walls but otherwise it was untouched. She started to open the door to step inside as she heard the click of a gun's hammer being pulled back behind her.

    
"You can put your gun down now ma'am,” a heavily accented southern voice ordered her. She dropped the.45 to the pavement and turned around to see a very large gun pointed at her face. She guessed it might be a magnum like Dirty Harry used in the movies but wasn't sure. The man who held it was young, much younger than her. He barely looked out of his teens. Thick blonde hair covered the top of his head in a
dishevelled
mass. He wore a pair of filthy stained overalls over a white t-shirt which had seen better days. His appearance would have been comical if not for the way his deep blue eyes watched her with such dead seriousness.

    
"I reckon you ain't one of them,” he said, “but you sure as heck ain't from around here neither. Everybody here is de
ad or crazy. I ain't seen any
one else alive for a while now so just where did you come from? Who in the heck are you lady?"

    
"Amy. My name is Amy… I'm from New York,” she added hastily. The man laughed.

    
"New York? You're a long way from home.” He lowered the huge pistol in his hand and then nodded as if to himself. “Welcome to Virginia, Amy. We'd best get inside. Most of them things are gone from ‘round here but there are still a few stragglers left I think. Best not to take chances ya know?"

    
He reached by her and opened the station's glass door for her. She started to head inside again but he stopped her. “Don't forget your gun,” he grinned pointing at the weapon she'd dropped. “You may need it."

    
She retrieved the pistol and followed him inside. He led her to the back of the station and unlocked a massive metal door. He ushered her inside and closed it behind her.

    
"Place used to be a restaurant or something. When Pop and I bought the place, we turned the freezer into a backroom of sorts. We kept the door though. It's solid steel. Nice place for an office if you get robbed or the world suddenly goes F-ing bananas."

    
Amy didn't laugh at his joke. She was busy eying the room. It was small with a singular desk, what appeared to be a makeshift bunk, and food and other supplies were stacked all around the room and in its corners.

    
"You've been living here… Since the wave I mean?” she asked in shock.

    
"Yeah. No place else to go.” He sat on the bunk and stared at her. “Guess we have a lot to talk about huh Amy?"

    
Hundreds of questions flooded Amy's head but the first one she asked was “You said most of the creatures are gone from this town. Where did they go?"

    
"You mean the crazy people? Don't know. A group of guys drove into to town and rounded them up only the guys weren't normal either. The crazies didn't attack them. It was pretty messed up. I hid and stayed out of their way. Didn't see much. All I can tell you is that went south, altogether in one big group with the weird guys leading them."

    
"What's your name?” Amy suddenly blurted out as it sunk in that she was safe at least for the moment and in the company of another real, live human being.

    
"You can call me Joe. My real name's Joseph Hunter but I prefer Joe,” he stood up from the bunk and moved to one of the boxes that littered the room producing a bottle of water and offered it to her. “I'm sorry, Amy. I bet you're awfully hungry and tired from the look of you. Why don't you help yourself to some food and get some sleep. I'll keep watch outside. I have some things to tend to anyway. We can talk later, okay?"

    
Amy accepted the offered water and drank most of it in a single gulp. “Thank you, Joe,” she said as he left the room. He nodded and shut the huge door on his way out.

    
Amy ate a meal of Vienna sausages, Pringles, and cracker then stretched out on the bunk. A smile lingered on her lips even as she slept.

    
As the days passed, Joe told her the story of the town of Bloomington. Like everywhere else, it had been plunged into darkness and chaos the night the wave had struck the Earth. Joe told her about how he and his Pop made their way to the church that night with everyone else in the town that hadn't instantly been driven insane by the strange light in the sky that night. The church hadn't offered them any protection. The crazies outside attacked it time and time again whittling down it's the number of its defenders and their stockpile of ammunition. He told her how the pastor ordered those inside who “changed” shot and about how finally he and his Pop got of the church while they still could and made it here to their place of business. As far as they knew, by that time, the entire town was crazy except for them. He and his Pop had took shelter here in this backroom listening to the sound of those outside who'd changed pounding on the metal of the door and howling for their blood. Eventually the crazies must have realized they couldn't get inside and left the station. After that, there had been a few close calls, a few firefights with the mindless variety of things which couldn't shoot back, and the problem of venturing into the town for things that weren't kept on hand. But they managed, Joe informed her. When Amy asked where his Pop was now, Joe lowered his face into his hands and quietly told her that the things hadn't killed his Pop, he'd done that himself. When his Pop had changed, he shot the old man with his own shotgun and buried him out behind the station. It was the hardest thing Joe ever did in his life and it troubled him still.