Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine (40 page)

“He’s right,” Calvin coughed again,
still hunching over in pain, grimacing with every attempt to stand upright.

“We’d better not stay too long or
others will get the idea this group had and try to take what we were smart
enough to gather. Brick, Boomer, replace any items that were shot and then get
on this end and push.”

The two men instantly kicked off a
few boxes riddled with holes and replaced them.

“Trip, Gus, grab that handle when
we’re ready and start pulling. The rest of us will bring the baskets.”

“Which ones do we leave?”

“I can take two baskets,” Boomer
said.

“You three can move this flatbed,”
he looked at the trio, sizing them up.

“You sure you can push a basket,
Scoot?” Trip asked.

“No, I’m not. But I’m gonna do it
anyway.”

“I’m glad you’re not dead, buddy,”
Tripper said, patting him on the shoulder fondly, but giving him an intense
stare, trying to tell his friend with his eyes just how important he was. He
tried to say more, but couldn’t find the words and instead kept holding his
friend’s eyes with his own, completely failing to express whatever emotion he
was going for.

“Hey, you’re not waiting for a kiss
or something are you?” Calvin asked quickly. “Look, Buddy… I can’t propose to
you, too. I’ve already given my ring away. You love me. I get it, but we just
can’t ever be together in that way. I’m spoken for.”

Everyone else laughed, but Tripper
blushed and flipped Calvin off.

“Jackass,” he turned away from his
friend

“Hey, don’t let me stand in your
way,” Athena leaned in, handing Calvin his helm. “Me and Sarah have a bet going
on how long it’ll take for one of you to propose to the other. I could still win
if it’s today.”

“I should have let them keep
shooting you,” Trip muttered, leaning into the flatbed and pushing with the
others.

The cart rolled easily under the
combined might of the three men and the group slowly progressed towards the
exit, one hand on weapons trying to keep the other ‘shoppers’ at a good
distance and hopefully double-thinking any martial move on their position. The
other gun-toting citizens seemed content to just intimidate the group from a
distance and herd them from the store. No one really wanted to attack this
oddly armed and armored gang that had already taken out six armed gunmen without
losing anyone. Several people had seen Calvin get shot in the chest and get up
again and were passing the story on to anyone who would listen. There was
already enough trouble with what seemed by all accounts to be zombies trying to
eat their families; they certainly weren’t going to mess with this new type of
resurrection if it wasn’t trying to harm them.

Within fifteen minutes the friends
had both vehicles loaded and were halfway back to the Fortress. If Calvin’s
attackers had any friends, they wisely chose to remain unseen within the store.
Another ten minutes brought the group in front of the Fortress. Athena sent Calvin
in to get checked-out by the doctor immediately so he ran ahead in a
hunchbacked stoop and opened the iron gate for the others, stopping briefly
under the shower to wash off while they pulled the vehicles into position.

As with the last time, they pulled
the Hedgehog quietly into the middle of the street first and when its riders
were inside the gate, they backed the Wagon to the columns. The group spent the
next hour unloading the supplies acquired at the cost of six Human lives. Athena
steeled herself, staying to help the others instead of running in to make sure
Calvin was ok. She breathed a sigh of relief when he eventually stumbled back
outside with a note from the doctor that said he was on light duty and could
only watch and give orders. Calvin blew a whistle as he saw the last box being
lifted from the bed of the ambulance and with cheers and hoots of pleasure,
everyone stomped up to the cafeteria for refreshments.

“That’s all we can do until we hear
from anyone needing a ride,” Calvin informed them with a pale face, sinking
down next to Athena so she could wrap her arms around her favorite new fiancé.

“So…let’s get baked. El Supremo
demands an audience!” Trip announced in a powerful, bold Latino accent, holding
up a large bag of brownish-green with orange hairs and his favorite steel and
glass mini-bong.

“Calvin?” he asked.

“Go ahead,” Calvin conceded. “I
think everyone needs a break after losing Lola.”

“And nearly you,” Sarah added,
since he seemed to have forgotten he had been shot barely more than an hour
before.

“Oh yeah…I actually almost forgot
about it.”

“How could you forget about it?”

“I mean, I’m not thinking about it.
It was real strange when it happened, like it happened to someone else.”

“It didn’t,” Athena squeezed him
tightly until he groaned in pain. “I’m sorry!”

“I’m…a little sore,” Calvin
admitted. “Just hug my arm. Yeah, that’ll do it. But you guys go head and float
away. I’ll stay straight until the doc checks me out fully. In fact, I guess me
and the Doc can keep watch the rest of the day when we’re done.”

“I don’t feel like smoking right
now,” Athena said quietly, hugging Calvin’s arm. “I’ll share watch.”

“I’ll help,” Felicia chimed in. “I
don’t drink or smoke—but I don’t care if you do,” she added quickly to Joel,
who had been moving over to sit next to Tripper and Sarah out on the balcony,
but had jerked up short on hearing of her abstinence.

Boomer eased along behind them,
already wearing a pair of black sweats and a clean blue t-shirt. Brick had stomped
downstairs for something and no one really cared if he came back. He wasn’t
spending much time with the others unless he had to and there wasn’t a nerve
present that he hadn’t stepped on at some point.

Gus’ grey eyes asked the question
of Scaggs with raised brows. “Dude, I totally blaze,” she replied. “Just
socially, though. I’m not a pot-head or anything.”

“Cool. Let’s blaze.” The new couple
followed the others out to the patio, hand in hand.

Lucy eyed the group for several
minutes, looking to her side and then outside as if waiting for the end of a
conversation with Lola about whether or not they should. She eventually
shrugged and headed out to join them. Felicia relieved the doctor of his watch
on the surveillance cameras and nodded to Calvin who, after a look of regret at
the gang smoking on the terrace, let Athena drag him down to the medical room. The
doctor entered a few minutes later wearing the same white lab coat he’d had
from the beginning, though the blood and other stains had been washed away and
it shone once again with its original splendor and the pungent odor of bleach
lightly stung their nostrils.

“I have your x-rays. A few cracked
ribs. I’ll want to keep you under surveillance for a few days. I wish we could
do an MRI or CT, but we have to take what we can get.”

“I want him to have a full workup,”
Athena declared firmly, undoing the straps on Calvin’s armor and helping him
painfully slip it over his head.

“Oh, he seems to be doing fine.”

“He was shot, Doctor.”

“Well, the armor seems to have
absorbed most of the energy. I’m surprised he was even bruised.”

Athena glared at Calvin. She had no
doubt he had ordered the doctor to sugar coat his injuries to the others. Calvin’s
green eyes looked innocently up at her, so she turned her powerful gaze on the
doctor instead. No chill he had ever received had shaken his spine as violently
as the insistent glare from those dark, shapely eyes. He relented. “Perhaps it
would be better that I give him a full exam then.”

“I don’t think that’s really
necessary, Doc,” Calvin said, trying to pull away from them both.

Two pairs of arms gripped his
shoulders firmly, forcing him roughly down onto the table. The doctor did do a
full workup. He did as complete an examination as he could without the
aforementioned machines. Other than two cracked ribs and some serious bruising,
he proclaimed Calvin in perfect health, though he gave him some meds to take
just in case. After a quick discussion Calvin learned that none of these
medicines would cause any negative side effects when combined with marijuana,
so after he and Athena took an extended watch to give the doctor a good nap,
Calvin decided to exchange one of his pain meds with a more natural treatment
and he and Athena joined the others.

As it turned out, the radio and
phones remained mostly quiet for the rest of the day, so the gang sat around
smoking, telling their favorite Lola stories, and ultimately watching two of
her favorite movies,
Apocalypse
Now
and
Super
Troopers
using
Joel’s Ipod Classic on the company video system.

Occasionally they were able to hear
a brief news broadcast sent to everyone on the inside from the government over
the Emergency Alert System explaining the 100 mile wall around Kansas City to those stuck inside the Quarantine Area. Each time the EAS broke in, they
would pause the movie and everyone would lean in a little closer to the others,
hoping this wouldn’t be the message stating to the rest of the country that
they were being forced to bomb Kansas City out of existence.

“The Governors of Missouri and Kansas, the CDC and President of The United States of America have declared National Bio Emergency
number One,” the message stated.

“This Emergency affects a
one-hundred mile radius around the joint Metropolis of Kansas City, Missouri
and Kansas City, Kansas. Until further notice, the metropolis will be
designated a Quarantine Zone. A one hundred mile perimeter has been placed
around the affected area.”

“Notice to all citizens within the
Quarantine Area: No persons will be allowed to exit the Zone until the All
Clear is given. Any citizens inside the Quarantine Zone approaching the
Quarantine Wall within 50 yards will be aggressively refused further approach.
Vehicles approaching to within sight of the Quarantine Wall will be neutralized.
This is a legally mandated Quarantine Area. All American laws apply unless
following a specific law would endanger the safety of citizens within your
community. This is a localized event and this Quarantine Zone comes into being
in the hope that the Quarantine will be obeyed in an effort to protect the rest
of the country, and potentially the rest of the world. Supplies will be dropped
into population centers at designated drop points and as many outer areas as
can be reached. Stay tuned for drop point locations and times. Communications
within the Quarantine Zone will be affected for several days. The Red Cross
will be setting up bases around the Quarantine Wall and developing shipping
schedules into the Zone…”

The message went on to list the
counties affected and some other rules and regulations of living under a
martial law where the guns are on a wall pointing inward instead of within the
community. All but the stupidest of listeners understood that they were now in
a prison of sorts until ‘someone’ could get things straightened out. Despite
the dire warnings, the group decided that no one and no thing would dampen
their spirits this evening, and the party continued.

Later in the evening even Calvin
and Athena took their turns before the hookah while only Felicia, Brick and the
doctor split the remaining watches. Just after nightfall, Quinn and Hephaestus arrived
and the party really got under way. The two wizards of metal had completed what
work they could on the escape vehicle that day and were waiting for parts to
print on Hef’s custom 3-D metal printers. After taking their turns on the
Hookah, both men sat in one corner with everyone else gathered around while
Quinn showed them how to make chain mail armor. The men had made enough
supplies for another eight suits, but he would not have time to make them
without help.

Soon everyone was sitting around wasted,
watching
Star
Wars
, and ultimately cutting and smashing their
fingers as they crafted the easier jacket parts in an assembly line process
with the small metal rings and tools the two men had brought. Being stoned
seemed to make the process operate smoother until Joel went one toke over the
line, forgot what he was doing and had to have it all explained again…and then the
others began faltering.

Calvin’s sore chest forced him to call
it a night sometime just prior to midnight and Athena joined him. Neither knew
for some time how long the others stayed up or what they had discussed.

“Good morning. I was told they have
finally sent in a unit to get me,” Dr. MacGreggor announced, striding lazily
into the cafeteria late the next morning.

“Can they even find us, Doc?”
Calvin asked.

Having never mentioned on any of
his numerous visits to the ‘party room’ his opinion on how they had spent their
night, and in fact watching the full original
Star
Wars
with them
and commenting on how rare it was to see a copy where, as he said “Han shot
only”, the doctor had risen in opinion polls throughout the group. Instead of
Doctor Death or Doctor of Death, from that night on he became ‘Doc’ to them all.

 “I gave them the address on that
first day.”

“What’s the chance they’re gonna
take us with them?” Calvin asked hopefully, through bleary eyes.

“None, I’m afraid. I tried, but
they said they’ll be sending in a small team with a specific mission. Everyone
inside must fend for themselves due to the contagion rate.”

“When can we expect this escort?”
Calvin asked, forking a pile of syrup-laced pancakes into his eagerly awaiting
maw.

“Apparently they are only a few
minutes away. I guess they didn’t want to announce their presence until they reached
the area.”

“Damn it! Great!” Calvin spit the
half-masticated cakes across the table and lurched to his feet, clutching his
chest with a grunt of pain while pulling on his helm and fastening the straps
as he stomped down the hall to the patio.

“Everyone get miked up!” he shouted.
“Trip, get on the back window and let me know if anyone shows up out there.
Stay small.”

“Roger,” Tripper responded.

“Brick, no, Boomer take that little
patio over the west entrance and keep us updated. Athena, get on the security video
and keep an eye on the blind alley.”

“If you think for one second I’m
going to hide in a broom closet—”

“—I didn’t mean Athena…I meant to say
Felicia!” he amended quickly. “Yes, Felicia can you go to the security office?
Sarah will tell you where and how to run the monitors real quick. It would have
been better to have someone like Athena do this because she already knows how
to operate everything, but of course I would rather have her by my side every
minute of the day.”

“Sure thing, Chief,” the perky actress
saluted him smartly and went over to Sarah’s table to get the information.

“Rifles loaded and safeties off,
everyone.”

“Hey, are we going to war with the
Army, Old Buddy?” Tripper asked. “Aren’t these guys on our side?”

“You watched the same movies I did.
Are the military guys ever on anyone’s side in them? They always have ulterior
motives.”

“Yeah, but—“

“—it’s very much like that in real
life.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to shoot
them, though,” Athena added.

“Right,” Calvin agreed. “But we
also won’t be letting our guard down. I love our military, but since both of my
parents were Special Forces, and told their young son things they weren’t
supposed to, I can guarantee they will follow orders, whatever they may be. If
their orders are to take the doctor into custody and kill anyone who comes
close, then that is what they will do. They won’t pause to make distinctions
between Infected and Clean. They might not have even been told what the
situation in here is. As far as we know, we’re all hostiles in their eyes. At
the very least, we don’t matter. The most important thing will always be
getting the package where it needs to go. So let’s keep sharp.”

The others nodded as he placed
everyone in a perimeter behind columns scattered around the main floor lobby. Watching
uneasily from the balcony as a soldier off in the distance ‘snuck’ through the
park and dropped quickly under what looked like a burlap sack covered with
grass right next to Lola’s gravestone, which Hef and Quinn had placed either before
their arrival the previous night or on their way out early that morning.

“Got a sniper on the North side, by
the wall where we saved Gus and Joel.” Tripper informed them.

“And us,” Scaggs added.

“Not important right now,” Trip
shot back.

“To you, maybe. But I sure as hell
remember it.”

“Keep it quiet, guys,” Calvin
muttered. “Only pertinent information...but Scaggs and FeFe matter too, Trip.”

“Thanks, Chief. I’ve got three
targets sneaking down the alley. They must have gone all the way east and cut
back before coming in,” FeFe announced.

“Anyone seen anything on the nearby
rooftops?” Calvin asked.

“Nope.” “Nothing.” “Clear so far.”

“Ok, keep your eyes open.”

A few minutes later the rumble of
at least two internal combustion engines began to shake the windows. Two black
Humvees powered around the southern corner and swerved in front of the building,
skidding to an immediate stop. At least two-dozen black-clad soldiers poured
out and deployed in parallel lines up and down the east-west sidewalk. Out of
the first car stepped a six-foot Captain with short, blazing red hair and a
stocky, medium build dark-skinned Sergeant, dropping uneasily to the pavement
and looking around before striding purposefully up to the building. Both
stopped short as the shadows on the balcony moved, as did the weapons those
shadows pointed their way.

“How can we help you?” Sarah asked
the big red-haired Captain.

“I’m looking for a Dr. Devon
MacGreggor or a Mr. Calvin Hobbes.”

“They’re both inside.”

“I didn’t catch your name?”

“Sorry, my arm is a little sore
today.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry again, I guess I’ve spent
too much time around Tripper.”

“I…I don’t understand.”

“I’m Sarah.”

The captain waited to catch more,
but Sarah wasn’t throwing it.

So it’s going to be like that,
the Captain sighed angrily to herself. Looking around, she noticed the turrets
on the Hedgehog, though she could not see the barrel fronts.
Highly illegal
machine guns on civilian vehicles. No, those are military markings. Either way,
illegal.

One of the first lessons she had
learned when dealing with civilians was to exert your authority. “Those machine
guns will have to come with us,” she pointed to the turrets on the Hedgehog. “And
both of those vehicles as well. Those are military vehicles, not civilian,” the
captain pointed two soldiers to the Hedgehog and two to the Wagon to stand a
protective watch. “Watch these vehicles until we return with the keys.”

“You may want to talk to Calvin
before you start giving orders regarding our property and the Sixth Amendment…if
you ever want to leave here,” Sarah warned the officer. “You can go in the west
entrance,” she pointed the Captain down the street to the side entrance, just a
few feet around the corner from the main entrance.

Calvin ran downstairs and took
several deep breaths to calm himself. He had picked the lobby because they
could get the most people with weapons trained on the smallest area and the
incoming military wouldn’t have use of their vehicles...unless they had brought
along a tank, which had remained a real possibility until they had finally driven
up in only Humvees.

A heavy knock indicated the pair of
soldiers had reached the entrance. With a nod, Calvin allowed the doctor to go
out and talk to the captain. Shortly he shuffled back, followed by the
crimson-topped captain and her sergeant, a large black fellow with a chin that
would make Bruce Campbell flush with inadequacy. Behind them came two privates,
one a young man with an innocent face who was clearly the company ambush-bait.
The other private was a stocky, brown-skinned brunette woman with a square jaw
and hawk eyes. Calvin decided to call her GI Jane because she looked
that
gung-ho. Each wore simple black uniforms with army rank insignias, but no other
patches. None of the other soldiers followed, the captain having given them
signals to keep the street clear, but one held the door open.

“We’d rather not have a bunch of
shooting out there, if you don’t mind,” Athena asked the soldiers. “If you have
to kill them, go in close and do it quietly.”

“I give the orders to my people,”
the Captain snapped.

“Well, they’re attracted to sound,”
Athena responded coolly. “If you want to be able to leave here unhindered, you
should probably not make too much noise.”

“The streets look empty in all
directions,” the captain argued.

“They do appear that way, don’t
they? But trust us. If you start making a bunch of noise, you’ll see how fast
those empty streets can fill with dead people.”

“I have a mission to complete. I
don’t have time for lessons in battle from a civilian. As I said, I’ll give the
orders to my people.”

“And I’ll give the orders to mine,”
Calvin said firmly, cradling his M-16 in the nook of both arms as he leaned
casually against the central support column.

“You are civilians,” the Captain
scoffed.

“That is Mr. Hobbes over there,”
the doctor pointed an aging finger his way.

“You are Calvin Hobbes? Colonel Robin
Hobbes’ son?” the Captain asked in surprise, walking up and holding out her
hand for him to shake or not as he so chose.

“Yes,” Calvin said simply, shaking
her hand, but lightly, still uncertain whether he was ready to trust her.

“I…see…I am Captain Genevieve
Batmouche’. This is Sergeant Dwayne Doogard.” She started to introduce the two
privates, but realized they didn’t matter, and never thought of it again. “I must
say, it’s a real shame the military has lost out on the continued legacy of
your family, Mr. Hobbes,” she pursed her lips as if she’d just eaten a whole
lemon, peel and all.

“I’m sorry, captain, but that’s a
personal issue between myself, my departed parents, and my uncle…not the
military or yourself,” he explained, not appreciating her poorly masked disapproval.

“Of course…yes. It’s just that…”
she straightened up and squared her shoulders. “I knew your mother. I served
under her. I would like to say that your mother was…
is
an inspiration to
women and even many men in the military. She showed so many that
anyone
can do whatever they put their minds to. I took several of her courses at the
academy. She always said that in the military a woman could not only shatter
the glass ceiling, but use the broken shards to carve their way into the sky.”

“Yeah, my dad was kind of famous for
saying crap like that too. Most of their sayings don’t make much sense if you
really give them some thought, but they sure got the troops fired up. And now
they’re both dead, sent on a poorly-planned mission that was completely
unnecessary. Is there anything in particular you want with us, Captain?” Calvin
asked impatiently.

“I’m sorry. I expected the child of
two of the world’s finest to react in a friendlier manner towards the
military.”

“I’m sure you did. That’s probably
why they sent you, since you knew my mom. I have all respect in the world for
the military, but you showed up giving my people orders and talking about
taking some of our stuff. That’s not a good way to make friends.”

“Your…guard upstairs was the first
to respond with hostility.”

“I heard. It wasn’t that hostile.
In fact, I thought it was kind of funny.”

The captain simply stared back.

“But we have a strange sense of
humor. It takes time to get to know us.”

The captain’s face remained an
impassive mask.

“But you still threatened to take
away our vehicles. You cannot. We own them.”

“We have our orders and we were
sent in with insufficient supplies. We are tasked with obtaining further
supplies from the populace if necessary.”

“Then I’d suggest you ask nicely,
because this ‘
populace’
is your own populace. You’re not overseas.
You’re not invading some land hostile to America; you’re
in
America. Anything you
take
, you’ll be taking from your fellow citizens against the
rights expressed in the constitution you’ve sworn to uphold.”

“We’re on your side for now,”
Athena added.  “But that’ll change in a hurry if you’re going to be a dick
about it.”

“I see. While I’m unaccustomed to
having to ask for what we need, we will, of course,
try
to comply with
your wishes. And I live and die for the Constitution”

“That’s all I can ask,” Calvin
nodded acceptance, though he wished she’d said something other than
try
and
with much less emphasis.

“So, I thought you just needed Doc
and then you’d be gone? Clearly that’s not the case anymore,” Calvin noted
sharply.

“Ah, now I understand. Yes, I’m
afraid I need something from you right from the start. It should not be asking
too much.”

“If it’s something I think we can
give, you’ve got it,” he agreed affably, trying to put her at ease and get them
at least close to friendly terms.

“I need your man who saw the
vehicle that took the package. The doctor has informed me of what he can, but I
really need someone who knows the lay of the land.”

“That’d be Tripper. He’s busy
elsewhere at the moment.”

“Scaggs,” he nodded to a pillar
from which only a wild patch of unruly auburn hair, some weird metal
shield-looking thing and the business end of an M-16 poked out. “Can you go
relieve Trip and take his watch, please?”

“You got it, Chief,” she walked
backwards into the hallway and the captain could see now that the woman was
wearing armor like the others and her hair had somehow managed to find little
seams within the helmet to poke out from in long spikes.

“Is she relieving your man on the
back entrance?” the Captain asked with a clever half-grimace as Scaggs bounded
off through the central hallway.

“Yes,” Calvin admitted.