Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine (28 page)

“Fair enough. Boomer, take the
other turret,” he said into his mic to the rest of the group, who were all
preparing down in the lobby.

“I guess that leaves me in the back
again,” Felicia grumbled.

“Sorry, FeFe,” Scooter responded.
“You don’t get to ride in the back.”

“Why not?” she demanded, now mad
that she didn’t get to go at all, her green eyes flashing in anger. “I’m ready
to help!”

“Good, because we need you to
drive.”

“I—I’ve never…driven one of those
before,” she said hesitantly.

“It’s simple. The military demanded
that they be easy to drive,” Quinn enlightened her.

“And I don’t know my way around
here…” she argued, but this was clearly going to be the last wall in her
defense as she was already blushing with excitement at getting to drive the
wondrous vehicle.

“We’ll tell you where to go,”
Tripper promised her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, ok then,” she replied.

“Who’s riding with me this time,
then?” Quinn asked.

“I will,” Tripper said.

“Ok, Tripper, I’ll stay shotgun in
the Hedgehog,” Calvin agreed with a nod. “Head for the street; I’m on my way
down.”

“It’ll be getting dark eventually,”
Trip mentioned discretely to Calvin as they clanked noisily down the hall
towards the vehicles. He and Calvin slowed behind the others, intending to let
them get out of earshot.

Though sunset was still several
hours away, everyone was already tired from the mental stress. Eventually they would
need to sleep and there were still too many people they had to rescue. Calvin
didn’t even want to think about trying to do that at night. Luckily he didn’t
have to.

“We got it fixed, Calvin,” Gus said
distinctly into his ear from atop the TV tower. “Everything seems to be
working.”

The clarity of Hef’s closed
communication system was phenomenal, even at this range. The wind occasionally
blew too hard and drowned his voice out, but that was unavoidable.

“Wait a second and we’ll try to
operate it from here, then,” Calvin suggested, and nodded to Felicia, who held
up the touch screen device with the video feed, never losing step or balance.

She nodded affirmation.

“Ok, it’s working here, too,”
Calvin replied. “You coming down?”

“Yes. It will take us about
twenty-five minutes,” his friend explained.

“That fast?” Athena asked in
wonder.

“It’s always faster coming down.
Sometimes a
lot
faster,” he joked.

“Not funny,” Scaggs interjected coolly.

“How are you doing, Scaggs?” Calvin
asked, already knowing the answer from the strength and lucidity of her voice.

“Good,” she replied. “But this
isn’t as much fun as I thought. I can feel the tower swaying in the wind.
That’s
not
fun. It’s thrilling, and beautiful, but hardly fun. I feel
like it’s trying to throw me off.”

“I thought you rode those mountain
peaks in Asia?” he asked.

“Yeah, well,
mountains
don’t
sway in the slightest breeze,” she spluttered.

“She’s alright,” Gus answered any
unspoken questions they might have. “She’s not clutching the rails like she’s
never going to let go, so that’s a good sign.”

“And however long he told you it
would take us, I can beat that by five minutes. I gotta make sissy.”

“Then don’t look down, sweetheart,”
Gus warned her.

“Why not?” She had to ask, being
the only person in the world who listened when people said things like ‘don’t
look now’ or ‘don’t say you heard it from me’ or even ‘don’t look down’. It was
probably bad and she probably didn’t want to know. Which, of course, is why
that was her next question.

“What is it?”

“Just trust me.”

“It’s zombies, isn’t it?” she
asked. “It’s a whole bunch of zombies just waiting for us to come down so they
can eat us?”

“Well, it’s not little old ladies
looking for a bingo parlor,” he answered.

“Right, zombies.”

“Yep. They made it into the parking
lot. Someone must have tried to get in or out while we were climbing. They left
the gate open.”

“It wasn’t open before, that’s for
sure,” she grunted back.

“It looks like that pit in
Raiders
where he drops the torch into the Arc room.”

“That bad?” Calvin asked.

“Oh my
God!”
Scaggs
exclaimed after looking down. “Yes, it’s that bad.”

“Where do you want us, Gus?”

“Same place as last time,” Gus
responded after a long pause. “I’ll adjust as we get down closer. It looks like
we can cross that same corrugated roof walkway after a little fight…maybe”

“Cool. See you in twenty-five.”

“See, Mr. Quinn,” Trip smiled at
the stout armorer. “You won’t be alone for long.”

“Fair enough,” the deep-voiced
redhead replied with his own style of heartiness.

“On second thought,” Calvin
decided. “Why don’t you go on back to the Dungeon, Quinn? Let Hef do
modifications on your vehicle. We’ll have enough people out there with Gus and
Scaggs and we need your truck rigged for passengers.”

“Good idea,” the big smith
admitted.

“Let’s take you by there first.”

“No need.”

“You’ll be alone…” Calvin said
hesitantly.

“I’ve been alone most of my life,”
the giant man laughed.

“That’s not what I mean. Let us at
least escort you across the river.”

“It’s been mostly clear so far. If
I get in trouble, I’ll call your friend.”

“Then at least stay on the radio
with him until you get there.”

“He’s got work to do. He can’t be
stopping to talk to me every five seconds,” Quinn admonished him.

“You’re right.”

“Calvin, this thing is military
grade and more than big enough to get me out of most scrapes and your friend
has enough toys to save me from anything else that my own two weapons can’t. Go
get Gus and that pretty actress down from that lightning rod and save your
other friends. I feel a storm coming on,” he warned.

“Be careful, Quinn.”

The man smiled fondly and nodded.

“Let’s go,” he announced to the
rest and they looked up to Sarah on the balcony for a nod that it was clear.
Quinn opened the gate and exited first, through the back door of the ambulance,
shutting and locking it after. He quickly pulled out and the others ran to the
middle of the street to the waiting Hedgehog.

“I can’t believe it’s staying so empty
here now!” Tripper exclaim in disbelief.

“Yeah, how come they’re not gathering
around the building?” Joel wondered.

“Because this isn’t some cheesy
B-movie,” FeFe snapped. “They’re not always going to find us wherever we go.”

“It might as well be a cheesy movie,”
Joel shot back. “Do I need to remind you there are
zombies
?”

“Must be attracted to things other
than sound,” Calvin thought aloud. “Although, we
have
been trying not to
make any extra noise near the windows and now we’ve closed the doors to the
inside offices to keep the sound down even more, just in case.”

“I don’t want to find out how fun
it wouldn’t be if we couldn’t keep this clear,” Boomer mused. “Sure was nice
not having to fight my way in after that fun in the park.”

“But you’ve got armor and a weapon
now, Boom,” Joel pointed out.

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s
disgusting splitting skulls, but with these face shields Hef made, I feel almost
impervious to zombies.”

“Just keep saying stupid things
like that, Boomer, and you’ll find out why black people never live to the end
of horror movies,” Gus cautioned him from afar.

From the street corner Quinn waved a
blue armored hand out his window and turned north, heading for the river. Tripper
turned off his mic, leaned over the seat and quietly spoke into Calvin’s
non-mic ear. “You think he’ll be there when we get back?”

The smith could just turn his
vehicle any direction and head out of town. Calvin wanted to give him that very
chance. “I think he’ll be there,” he responded confidently.

“Why?”

“Because a deal is a deal. And I
don’t think he’s got any place better to go.”

“Yeah. Athena said he has a
daughter who hates him.”

“Apparently. But
we
do
not
hate him. At least, not yet.”

Tripper laughed. “Let’s hope it
stays that way.”

“Which way, Calvin?” Felicia asked.

“Let’s try Oak/Gilliham.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“We’ll show you, just follow my
directions.” He pointed and she pulled out.

“That’s awful close to the parade
route, again,” Tripper warned.

“I know, but it will bring us out
three blocks away from the tower.”

“Fair enough.”

“And it gives us more Intel on the
city.”

Calvin had ordered them to keep
notes on their phones regarding anything they noticed throughout the city.  No
one minded, because they had all become accustomed to texting and only the
Sprint and AT&T phones were going through, probably because the government
couldn’t shut them down yet as the main buildings were in the area

Oak appeared abandoned all the way
to 22
^nd
street, where it became Gilliham. No cars—burned out or
otherwise—blocked their path and no people looted or guarded street corners. No
dead tried to eat them. No animals played in the yards or trees going about the
business of nature. Noticeably absent were the smoking pyres for bodies or body
parts they had become so used to seeing on every street. Their sharp, paranoid
eyes spied nothing but fading asphalt, concrete buildings and dark, eerily empty
windows.

“Ok, this is one creepy street,”
Felicia muttered quietly, hoping whatever
was
out there didn’t hear.

“I’ve arrived, Calvin,” Quinn
informed him, coming in clear and crisp from at least five miles out and making
Calvin jump in his seat at the sound of the man seeming to come from over his
left shoulder. “I’m safe inside. Your friend says he has some upgrades for my ambulance.
And he just explained to me what you have only been hinting at...that I am
going to have to give her up because you will need to take her out on your
rescue missions. I will have the keys ready when you return. I’m sorry for
being so slow on the uptake, and stubbornly selfish.”

“Thanks for the gift, Quinn.”

“It’s not a gift. I’m just letting
you use it out of necessity. I expect you to remember where you got it and
treat it as if it belonged to your dad.

“I promise,” Calvin promised. “And
thanks again. I was wondering how to talk you into that. I’m afraid we’re short
on cash. You see, we spent a lot of money today at the Ren Fest.” The big man turned
off his mic, but just before it clicked into silence, they heard his hearty
bellow rolling free.

Calvin checked the monitor again,
scanning the streets ahead where the view wasn’t obstructed by trees or
buildings. “I can’t believe it looks so clear all the way to the tower. Step on
it, Felicia,” he ordered. “I’ll try to let you know if something is coming.”

They reached 31
^st
street
in little time. Felicia slowed to a crawl when they rounded the corner, much as
they had the last time. This time, however, it was not Sarah who stopped them;
it was the mass of dead milling around filling every square foot for the entire
three blocks between them and the tower. The camera above couldn’t tilt far
enough down to look at the streets below, so they only had Gus’ original
statements on which to base their visuals. But because he grunted a lot when climbing
he’d turned off his mic, and so had Scaggs. He had told them there were zombies
in the back lot of the station, but had said little about the streets. Needless
to say, he had woefully under-prepared them for the reality they were now
facing.

“Jesus.” Boomer exclaimed quietly
over their headsets. “Not again.”

“It’s ok, Boom. The armor makes all
the difference,” Joel tried to assure his friend, but the decided shiver in his
voice belied his confidence.

“Go very slowly, Felicia,” Calvin
cautioned. “Stay off the guns. No one make a sound. Let’s see if we can just
sneak by.”

“How about if we just cover our eyes
so they can’t see us?” Tripper asked snarkily.

“We’re coming in, Gus,” Calvin
whispered with a glare for Trip.

Felicia creeped along at roughly 3
mph and the masses simply seemed to instinctively move out of the way, almost
as if there might still be some bit of humanity left, some faint shadow of
their former survival instincts. Occasionally they would knock down a few or a
Hopper would bounce up the hood. The worst incidents for everyone were when
Infected fell under the tires, but it was unavoidable. Felicia would cringe an
apology to everyone and the vehicle would hop a few times as if going over
speed bumps in a parking lot, although with considerably more crunching than is
generally expected from your average speed bump. The distinct popping of the
skulls only seemed to interest a few of the dead, and they were drawn more to
the crunching noises rising from the ground than the quiet vehicle passing
through.

“I thought there were thousands back
there in the park around Boomer and Brick. That must have just been hundreds,”
Calvin whispered. “
This
is thousands.”

“I’m sure it’s just your
imagination, Calvin. This is also only hundreds,” Felicia assured him uncertainly.

“Sure seems like more,” he argued.

“You want me to get an accurate
count?” She shot back with a flippant, casual attitude belying her revulsion at
the thought.

“I think we’ve got a bit more to
worry about right now.”

“Whatever.”

Felicia was right. It was only
hundreds. These were mostly Shufflers, Gimps and the noisemakers—the ones they would
eventually call Moaners. Filling the space between the tower and the Hedgehog,
the mass appeared thinner on the southern street next to the back lot entrance,
but only because a demolished car blocked half the intersection, its smashed
front end leaking green antifreeze and reddish transmission fluid over the
street. Felicia creeped the Humvee past the smoking wreck, up to the spot with
the drain pipe.

“Hey, that car wasn’t here when we
went through the first time, was it?” Tripper asked as an afterthought.

“No,” Felicia answered. “Maybe
that’s who opened the gate?”

“We’d better keep an eye out for
survivors again,” Calvin cautioned them all.

“The Bus is leaving, Gus,” Felicia announced
into her mic.

“We’re out front,” Calvin added,
but there was no reply.

“Gus?” he called again.

“Hey, it’s pretty tight here,” Tripper
announced. “You wanna step it up a bit?”

“You coming, Gus?” Calvin asked.

“Abort! Abort!” Gus called back,
sounding stressed, but not quite panicky.

Felicia jammed her foot on the gas,
pushing through the mob ahead, the bumper and tires crunching bones as they
were knocked down before her advance.