Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine (38 page)

“That’s why you all laughed when we
met him?” Scaggs asked from the Hedgehog. Gus and Joel grinned and nodded back.

“She would have liked to know that,
I think,” Lucy said sadly. “That might have helped her get over some things.”

“Maybe some things she could never
get over,” Tripper muttered morosely.

“Well, she doesn’t have to worry
about those things anymore. She might be the lucky one here, guys,” Calvin noted,
clearing his throat. “If this were a week ago, we would have had a wake or a
reception, but things are different now. As Athena has pointed out, we need to
get some things before the rest of the city realizes they’re going to need them.
She’s made a list for each of us—what we’re going to be looking for and where
it might be. Let’s take a little trip. We’ll pick up Lola’s tombstone on the
way back, if it’s done, and put it up in the park. That way if we’re all killed
at some point, at least her memory can live on here.”

“That’s sweet, Calvin,” Lucy said
quietly. “Thank you for all you did for her. You were the one person she
trusted.”

“She trusted
you
, Lucy,”
Calvin said.

“Not enough to tell me what
happened until it was too late,” she murmured under her breath. Calvin gave her
a hug and the group separated into two groups for their shopping trip.

“Hey, Lucy, you mind driving the
Hedgehog for us?” Calvin asked, thinking it best to turn her mind more quickly
towards some form of constructive activity.

“I—are you sure?” she asked looking
somehow smaller, uncertain.

“I’m sure. It’s fun, you’ll see.”

“Ok.”

“Felicia,” Calvin said into his
mic.

“I heard. All good things must come
to an end,” she lamented.

Dr. MacGreggor jogged to the
building, pulling the iron gate closed behind him. When his scruffy gray head
appeared over the balcony, those in the turrets waved as both vehicles
accelerated east along the river. As usual, the doctor would stay back at the
base in order to keep in touch with his superiors. No one understood what was
taking the military so long to come and get him. The wall was only a few hours
away, after all. He was told rescue from the air would not be possible and that
they were concluding extensive reconnaissance before entering the zone. There
was a rumor that people were firing ground-to-air at any incoming aircraft and
those who make such decisions had decided against harming the populace when the
doctor was safe for the moment. With his future still uncertain, he returned
their waves until they were out of sight, like a lonely grandfather watching
the grandkids leave, wondering when the next visit would be.

The convoy headed east into the
rising sun, Hedgehog in the lead, with the Wagon a half block behind. Calvin
rode shotgun in the Hedgehog, with Trip and Felicia in the back. Joel and
Boomer took the turrets. Sarah drove The Wagon with Athena by her side. Brick,
Gus and Scaggs rode in the back of the ambulance on the way out, but would
probably be in the Hedgehog coming home. Athena had suggested that when they
rolled into the parking lot it would look more impressive and organized if two
teams erupted from two vehicles, rather than all of them piling slowly out of
the back of the Hedgehog. On the return journey, and if things went as planned,
all of the goods would be in the ambulance and only Sarah and Athena would be
in the cab.

Calvin was trying to keep them all
loose and ready to play any role necessary. He was glad Athena was stepping up
with her considerable intellect because the strain of always having to think up
the plans was beginning to drag heavily on his mind. She’d already planned out
their entire route, and who would be where and when. And he really hadn’t
wanted to think much this day. He had just buried his ex-girlfriend after
learning the only thing that had ripped them apart was someone else harming
her. He loved Athena with all of his heart. He wouldn’t change anything with
her if given any opportunity at wealth or power. But that didn’t change the
fact that Lola might still be alive if he’d paid more attention back then.
There were a lot of things he felt he might have done differently. But that was
then. You can’t go back, and you can’t go forward.
We have to live for today
.
“Ok, let’s go shopping,” he announced in the voice of an eighties valley girl.

* * * * * *

Calvin Theodore ‘Scooter’ Hobbes was
a friendly, round-faced, average-looking man in his mid-to-late twenties. He
wasn’t particularly muscular and as a practice he didn’t scowl, squint or glare
at people in any kind of menacing manner and had never done so in his life. Yet,
from the minute he entered the store, the other ‘shoppers’ gave him a very wide
birth.

Two burly bikers with blue jeans,
black leather vests and shotguns stood in his way down the first isle he turned
into by mistake. The one furthest down the isle looked up from the shelves and
saw Calvin coming towards them, smiling, with one axe dangling at his side as
he sauntered along reading brand names and whistling, the rifle hanging over
one chainmail-clad shoulder as an afterthought. The rough gray-bearded biker leaned
in and whispered something to his friend, who looked to Calvin in alarm just as
his friend yanked him down the isle and out of sight around the corner.

“Hmm,” he hmmed, filling his lungs
with the distinctive leather and lake aroma that permeated the entire building.

Calvin wouldn’t have dwelled on
this incident alone, only it
wasn’t
alone. Similar things happened the
deeper into the building he wandered. He’d turn and walk down an isle and the people
there would whisper and point and then they would quickly fade away, leaving
him to shop undisturbed.

Oh, yeah. I forgot how this must
look.
He realized with a smile.

Shuffling over to a mirror mounted
to a column at the end of the hunting clothes, he studied himself. The axe hanging
from his wrist was still coated with matted hair and part of an eyeball from
the last zombie he’d killed, and his chain mail was matted with chunks of flesh
and an ear and occasionally dripping some dark brownish liquid that looked
strangely like congealing blood. They had spotted several Joggers entering the
parking lot. Joggers moved slightly faster than Swifties and Leapers, but
didn’t have their defensive reflexes. He had told the others to go ahead and
stayed back to finish them alone. Even Joel watching from his turret had commented
on the enthusiasm Calvin had exhibited dispatching the attackers. Several
groups of ‘shoppers’ had made note of his outfit and cheered from a distance
before quickly driving off when he had finished. But then he had simply sauntered
into the building without checking himself out.

“I should definitely remember to
clean up before I go shopping in public,” he joked over his mic.

Tripper laughed. “You getting the
same looks I am, buddy?”

“Probably worse. It’s like I’m a US soldier walking any street in the Middle East; full streets of people just empty into
the nearest doorways. When I look back, all I see are a few curious heads
peeking out. I hope they don’t have rifles.”

“Everyone in here is armed,
Calvin,” Gus pointed out. “But at least they’re hiding, brother. It’s the ones
not hiding that you have to watch out for.”

“It should make shopping easier,”
Tripper added. “Me, Sarah, Brick and Boomer are loaded up on the sleeping gear
and other camping crap, including cooking stuff. The isle was full of people
fighting over things when we got here, but they split in a hurry after one look
at us. Also, Athena was right. No one has touched the water purification stuff,
yet. We took all we could get to fit into one basket. And about the compasses
and waterproof bags, I’ve got a full basket of the bags. First come, first
serve. Also found a dozen camp axes and a crap load of solar lights and radios
and such. I guess no one is even thinking that far ahead.”

“Nice,” Calvin responded. “I think
they’re all just taking what are on the usual lists. I took a few food
processors and dehydrators and jerky supplies. And I just now loaded what
medical supplies were left. It was more than I thought there would be. They took
all of the big pre-made packs, but the individual items and smaller packs must
have been too much trouble for them.”

“Hey, everyone is in a hurry at the
end of the world,” Trip pointed out.

“I’m running this basket back to
the vehicles, then I’ll head for the camping toilets and toiletries,” Calvin
informed them.

“Meet you there, pal,” Trip said.

“Joel, everything going ok out
there? Is it clear?”

“Yup. No one’s got the guts to come
anywhere near the vehicles with me and FeFe pointing turrets at them. And Lucy
is staying on her toes, moving the vehicle to block anyone taking an interest
in the Paddy Wagon.”

“Excellent.”

“FeFe
is
a bit skittish
about actually having to maybe use her turret, though.”

“Tell her thanks for coming, and to
remember, it’s either her or them.”

“Right.”

“I can hear you guys, you know?”
she growled dryly. “I have one of these little ear plugs too.”

“Right. Sorry,” Calvin apologized. “How
are you doing, Athena?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.

“It’s like I thought,” Athena
answered. “All of the food is gone. All of the guns are gone. Thanks to
The
Walking
Dead
, all of the bows and arrows are already gone, but we
got lucky with the other stuff. Gus and Scaggs already took two full carts of
fishing gear out, including inflatable rafts, waders, rain gear and such.
Jackpot on candles and all-weather matches, bow accessories, boots and
clothing. I have three baskets full of rain clothes and some are even
fireproof. Literally none of the outdoor clothing has been touched yet.

“I told you it would still be
there,” Calvin said. “People don’t think about that stuff until they need it.
And that won’t start for quite a few more days, I think.”

“Yes, you were right, O Great and
Wise Calvin,” Athena begrudgingly admitted.

“That’s ok. You were right about
the other things.”

Calvin delivered his cart to the
Paddy Wagon and Joel jumped out to help him unload. Then he headed back into
the big outdoor supply store. But on his way to the camping section, his
attention was drawn to the silvery panels of untouched heavy solar equipment. Remembering
a flatbed he had seen at the front of the store, he clanged back to the
entrance and grabbed it. As he pushed the heavy cart back into the store, he
informed the others of his plans. “Hey guys, I’m making a side-trip to the
solar isle for some generators and things. I’ve got a flatbed. I’ll need
someone to help me push it out.”

“Roger that,” Trip responded
tersely, sounding distracted.

“We’ll be there when we get these
taken out and get refilled,” Athena said.

“Take your time. It’s gonna take a
bit to load this.”

Calvin spent several minutes
loading large boxes of generators and smaller solar panels onto the flatbed,
still leaving much more on the shelves than were on his cart even with covering
every square inch of the cart and stacking it three feet high. When he had
stacked as much as would fit, he leaned into it. Even putting his full weight
and strength against the push bar the cart barely budged an inch. It was going
to take at least two of them to move it. He keyed his mic to call for help, but
someone else had another idea.

“We’ll take that,” said a tall,
camouflage-wearing white-trash asshole with rotting teeth, a scraggily black
beard and five equally scruffy friends all pointing well-used guns at Calvin. The
stench of whiskey-breath was overpowering and he could smell that at least half
of them hadn’t bathed for at least a week.

Well, I guess the end won’t matter
so much for you,
he thought.

“There are a whole bunch of
generators left on the shelves there for you guys,” he offered in a friendly
voice, not turning off his mic.

“But you already loaded this up for
us like a nice little guy,” the man drawled with a menacing hiss, making no
attempt to be nice.

“You need a hand, buddy?” Tripper
asked.

“Yeah…I don’t like to let my work
go to waste,” Calvin replied, losing his smile.

“It isn’t going to waste. It’s
helping your fellow man.”

“Was that yes at me, buddy?”
Tripper asked again.

“Yeah, buddy,” Calvin said with a
deliberate pause after. “Look, you’re going to need to load your own cart. You
can wait here and I’ll even bring this flatbed back for you,” Calvin offered.

“Nope. You can leave now, but that
cart will be going with us.”

“Just walk away, Calvin,” Athena
whispered over his headpiece.

“I’m not going to do that,”
Calvin’s blood went cold and his fingers flexed on the axe handle as he
realized he wasn’t going to be able to talk himself out of this.

It was looking like he either must leave
or kill them. He had just buried a good friend and was in no mood to back down from
anything, let alone some piece-of-shit douche bags with sixth grade educations
and the personal hygiene of cavemen. But he also didn’t want to have to kill
anyone, or be killed, over items plentiful enough for both parties. He tried to
think of a way to stall them until his friends could arrive and they could
negotiate something, but these guys didn’t play by normal rules of society.

“Let’s just kill him, Marty!” one
of the men behind ‘Marty’ yelled, indicating that at least one of them already
had a similar mindset.

“I wanted to give him a chance to
just give it to us, Stew, but I guess not…”

Calvin knew the moment to act had already
passed. Time slowed. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. With a nano-second
prayer, and reflexes nearly as fast, he threw one axe and reached back for the
other and tossed it, trying to leap to the side at the same time, but he was
too close to the storage rack and instead bounced off the shelves and back
upright. As the second axe left his fingers two slugs slammed into his chest
like sledgehammers, throwing him off his feet and against the front of the laden
cart. Pain exploded throughout his torso and extended to the ends of his
fingers and toes. As his body tilted over the cart he noticed a light out in
the ceiling down the aisle and wondered who was going to replace that now.