Apocalypsis: Book 2 (Warpaint) (32 page)

“Is that what happened to your arm?”

“Yeah, and my leg.  See?”

“Oooh, crap.  That’s
awful.”

“Yeah, well, that’s life out here in the badlands.”

I could hear them walking around the pool.

“You don’t have to stay here, you know,” said Peter.  He was talking a little too loudly, so I knew it was for our benefit.

“Yes, I do.  Trust me, I’ve tried to get away.  Twice.  They keep finding me and bringing me back.”

“How is that possible?”

“They have friends everywhere … all over this neighborhood.  No one comes in or goes out without them finding out.”

My blood stopped flowing for a few seconds, my heart in total seizure.  I looked up at Winky and she appeared as freaked out as I was. 
They’re going to find out we’re here!  We can’t wait until tomorrow to do this thing!  We have to let the others know!

I motioned for Winky to come over to where I was.  As she moved down from her perch, taking a few seconds to shake the feeling back into her legs, I watched for Peter.  I could barely make him out in flashes between the leaves.

“Well,
I
got all the way to your house before anyone saw me.”

“That’s what you think,” Sean said bitterly.  “When they go out later today they’ll stop and talk to all their contacts and find out what and who was around this house while they slept.  Then they’ll start tracking.  They’re worse than the frigging dogs.”

The chains rattled and the pool house door opened.  “In you go.”

“What is this place?” asked Peter, tentatively.

“They call it the meat locker.”

A few moments later, the door slid shut again and the chains rattled, locking my friend Peter inside and very possibly sealing his fate if I didn’t find a way to get in there and get him out before the canners or their dogs tore us to pieces.

***

We took advantage of the fact that the dogs were temporarily elsewhere.  I prayed they weren’t making a meal out of Buster as we climbed down to the top of the wall, hiding behind the trunk of the tree.

“What do you want me to do?” asked Winky, breathlessly.

“I need you to go and let everyone know that we can’t wait.  We have to go in today.  That guy Sean said something about them going out hunting.”

“Yeah, but he also said they check with their contacts to see what’s been going on around here first.”

“So we can’t wait for them to do that,” I said.  “We have to move in now, before they finish their breakfast.”

I looked across the yard at the spot where I knew the small door in the wall was.  “Do you think they got that door opened?”

“Doesn’t matter.  We can blow it open if we have to.”

“Yeah, but we need to do this quietly if we can.  The more kids we can move out before those guys figure out what we’re doing, the better off we’ll all be.”

“Yeah, okay.  You’re right.  So what’s the plan?”

“You go down and tell everyone about the spies they have.  Someone needs to go get the truck and move it close before they make contact.  Hopefully our truck is still there and in one piece.  Rob and Paci need to get ready to set off that bomb out front and blow the front door off or whatever.  While they go in the front and pick off the canners, I’ll drop down here by the tree, inside the wall, and meet Trip, Kowi, and the others in the backyard.  We’ll get all those kids out through that door over there in the wall.  No way are they all going to be able to climb this frigging tree.  I have no idea how Celia did that.”

“Girl’s got skills.”

“No shit.  Okay, so are we good then?”

“Yeah.  And Bryn?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.  For doing this.  For teaching us the krav maga.  I have a feeling we’re going to be using it.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, reaching out to give her a quick hug.  “Thanks for giving my family and me a home.  If I don’t make it out of here, I just want you to tell everyone that.  It meant a lot to me.”

“It’s our pleasure,” she said, before getting down on her stomach on the wall and then sliding over the outside of it to hang for a few seconds before dropping to the ground.  She fell back onto her butt, but was up in a flash.  I watched as she ran next to the wall, headed towards Jason who had stepped out to meet her.  They disappeared after a few seconds of whispering and gesturing.

I wished more than anything I could tell Peter I was coming for him.  I sent him telepathic messages, letting him know that he was never going to be a meal or dog’s chew toy as long as I had breath left in my body.

What seemed like ages later, I saw a movement over on the other side of the yard.  I tiptoed over the top of the wall, balancing as if on a beam since I no longer had any branches to hang onto.

Trip was sneaking across the lawn, going towards the back of the pool house.

I ran back to the tree and climbed down, dropping to the ground on the inside of the wall when I was still about five feet up.  I accidentally bit my tongue as I landed on my feet, the salty blood leaking into my mouth instantly.  It had the weird side-effect of keeping my brain anchored in reality, to feel the hurt in such a weird place, so I considered it a blessing in disguise.

I stayed hidden behind the tree trunk that was effectively keeping me out of the view of anyone near the back door of the house.  The kids in the pool house could probably see me easily, but I couldn’t see them.  The sliding glass door was so black with sunscreening tint, there could have been two or a hundred kids in there and I’d never know.

Trip motioned for me to join him.

I peeked out from behind the tree towards the house, taking a few precious seconds to scan all the windows and the several doors of glass that lined the entire back end of the house.  Luckily, the tinting there was not as dark and I could see inside to the interior of the house.

As soon as I was sure there was no one there, I ran.

I was next to Trip’s side in an instant, breathing heavily.  My breathlessness wasn’t so much from the short run as the stress that was getting me up to level-ten panic very quickly.  Battles and wars were for stronger people than me.

“Hey,” he whispered, “where’s Peter?”

“In this building,” I said, gesturing to the wall we were hiding behind.  “This is the pool house.  They call it the meat locker.”

“I heard.  I’m gonna destroy this place and the assholes who live in it.”

“Be my guest.  But let’s get the kids out first.”

“I wish we’d brought the whole damn suitcase.”

I knew exactly what he was talking about, and right now I didn’t really disagree.  But I had to focus on the important stuff and not dreams of blowing them to smithereens.

“The canners are eating breakfast and having a meeting right now.  We need to get in there before they leave, otherwise we lose the element of surprise.  They have spies that are going to rat us out.”

“Fohi went to get the truck.  He’s going to park it a couple blocks away and keep the engine running.  All we gotta do is get there.”

“And what about the canners?”

“As soon as you and I get these kids out, we’re going in.  You’re welcome to join us or not.  It’s up to you.”

I looked in his eyes and didn’t see any condemnation there at all.  I truly believed in that moment that he wouldn’t hold it against me if I ran away back to the swamp and left them to the killing of canners.

“What kind of girl do you take me for?” I asked, acting offended.

He gave me a half smile.  “An American white girl.”

“Yeah, well, this girl went American white girl all over your ass one time, if I remember correctly, and you didn’t do so well, either.”

“Yeah well …,” he said, looking around the corner of the pool house towards the back door, “… I was having an off day.  You wouldn’t get the drop on me a second time.”  He turned back and gave me a truly devilish smile this time.  He was almost beautiful with it.

“Challenge accepted.  For another time.  We’ve got some canners to waste first.”

“Right.  I’m going to go get that door open,” he said, before disappearing around the corner.

***

I heard chains rattling and decided I was better off standing by Trip’s side helping him rather than watching out for canners from behind the shelter of the building.  I got there in seconds and immediately saw the frustration on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered.

“These chains have a key lock on them!”

A tapping came at the glass, and the pressed flesh of a finger was visible through the tinted film on the surface.  It was pointing to our right.

I looked over and saw a nail with a dirty string hanging from it.  At the end of the string was a small key.

I grabbed it and shoved it into the lock while Trip grabbed the chains and got ready to unwrap them from the two handles that were holding the two parts of the door together.  Someone had bolted in some weird rings of metal to keep the two sliding doors together, when normally there’d be no lock at all on this side of it.

As soon as I got the lock off, Trip took the chains out and threw them into the yard.  I cringed at the sound of the metal clanking as it landed in the tall weeds, but it was too late to suggest a less obvious form of removal.

The door slid open and the first thing that hit me was the smell.

***

My stomach rolled with it - the unmistakable stench of rotting human flesh.  I’d smelled it before from a distance, as my neighbors had died inside their homes to be forever forgotten and neglected by the authorities who no longer did their jobs, overwhelmed with the task of delivering the dead to the places where they were supposed to rest in peace.

I had thought those days were behind me and that I had forgotten what death smells like.  But I was wrong.  Here it was again, hitting me in the face with its sorrowful odor, making me want to vomit up the food that I’d not so long ago eaten with a smile on my face, obviously not fully appreciating what I would be dealing with on this day.

There were kids on the floor, some of them sitting, some lying down.  Peter and a black girl I assumed was LaShay were the only ones standing.  Everyone but Peter was missing at least one limb; some of them were missing several.

Tears stung my eyes as my stomach burned to turn itself inside out.  I shoved it all away in favor of survival, gritting my teeth in determination and facing Peter.

“I told you they would come,” said Peter proudly.  He grabbed me by the arm, shaking me gently.  “Bryn!  I’ve done a triage.  We have seven kids who can go, including me.  The rest are too far gone to save.”

“Bullshit!  You can’t leave anyone here!” said LaShay, her shoulders telling me that even though she was missing half an arm, she was ready to fight anyway.

“We have to,” said Peter calmly.  “We don’t have enough room for everyone, and we can’t waste our time taking people who are going to die soon anyway.  I’m sorry if that’s harsh, but that’s the way it is.”

I was taken aback by Peter’s matter-of-factness.  He was absolutely right, but I had expected him to be a puddle of loose doodles right now instead of piss and vinegar.

“He’s right,” agreed Trip.  “Get the ones who can go up, right now.  We’re going in less than a minute.”

“There’s no way out, though,” said LaShay, now sounding more panicked than angry.  “We’ve tried.  All the doors are locked or the dogs are there.  And we can’t go through the house, they have tons of guys with guns in there.”

“We got a wall door open.  Our truck is waiting for you.  Let’s go.”  Trip grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her towards the door.  “Line up!  Whoever’s going, get up and move it!”

He didn’t have to say it twice.  Five kids got up, some of them quicker than others, and lined up at the door behind LaShay.  One of them had to hop because he was missing his leg below the knee.

Peter got busy helping them, lending a hand when needed for support and then covering the ones who were left with whatever blankets or sheets there were.  I watched one of them speaking to Peter in low tones.  He had no arms left and only one leg.

Peter stood up suddenly and came over to me, his face white.

“What?” I asked, almost afraid to know what he was going to say.

Peter leaned in and whispered in my ear.  “He wants us to shoot him before we leave.  He wants us to end the misery now.”

“Can he make it out?” I asked.

Peter shook his head.

“Are you sure?”

Peter nodded.  “His wounds are green.  He has a really high fever.  He’s not going to live no matter what we do.”

I turned to Trip. “Give me the grenade from your bag.”

“What?  No!”

“Yes.”

Trip growled at me, but shook his bag off, reaching inside to get the wrapped weapon out and hand it to me.

“Tell him, if he and the others want, I’ll blow this place to heaven when we go.”

Peter nodded once and left us to go back to the kid who I soon saw nodding weakly.  Peter went to the other kids each in turn, either receiving a nod or nothing because the kid was unconscious and unable to respond.

He came back and said solemnly, “They all agree to your plan.  And they also said thank you.”

The tears would not stay away anymore.  I sobbed once and turned away, unable to ignore the fact that I was being given the difficult task of killing innocent children and that they were thanking me for doing it.  The cruelty of this world was too overwhelming.

“Give it back to me, Bryn.  I’ll do it,” said Trip in a roughened voice, tears streaming down his face too.

I cleared the goo out of my throat and stood straighter.  “No, it’s on me.  I’ll do it.  Just get these kids out of here.  I’ll stick around until you’re out.  Send me the hawk screech when it’s time to throw it in.  I’ll get to the truck on my own.  Where is it?”

“It’s parked two blocks southwest of here.  Go down that street out back and take your first right.  Do you know where I mean?”

“Yeah.  I got it.  Just go.”  I swiped the back of my hand across my face.  “Peter, you too.” 

“No, I’m staying with you.”

“Bullshit.  Get the hell out of here,” I said dismissively.