Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine (57 page)

“Defending it or running away from
it?” she asked.

“Both, maybe. Doesn’t matter in
this case, though. If I have them figured right, they’ll be coming back eventually,”
he replied. “If this vehicle they were talking about can take all of us safely
out of here, it can bring them back whenever they want.”

“Hmm, we may want to get a very
close look at this machine,” the captain suggested quietly. The sergeant’s eyes
took on that ‘not again’ look. “Not to steal it,” she snapped angrily. “I’m not
a complete idiot, and more than that, I’m a woman of my word. If it’s something
that is effective, we may want to acquire the design,
legally
, and build
some ourselves. The latest reports state that we have containment, but this
might be just the start of something bad that spreads far. We’ll need to be
prepared.”

“You’re absolutely right, ma’am.
Maybe we can talk to their friend about that.”

She looked at him coldly, and he
could tell she was having another conversation in her head that probably had
him painted firmly as a brain-dead idiot. But that other voice was surely on
his side or she’d have already snapped something decidedly military and
condescending at him.

“Maybe you had better do the
talking, Sergeant,” she suggested. “You seem to have a better rapport with the
common civilians than I do.”

“I was thinking the same thing,
ma’am,” he agreed with a big smile. “But unlike most other
officers
in
your position, you seem aware of most of your own shortcomings.”

“I—did you—thank you, Sergeant…I
think,” she responded.

“Is that it?” Private Baldwin, the
one Athena had called Gimp Bait, asked as he leaned over Sarah’s shoulder. “We’re
here already? That close to rescue for two days?”

“Easy, son,” Sergeant Doogard
warned him. “Nothing could be done about that.”

The private started to shoot a
meaningful glare of blame at the captain, but at an even more meaningful glare
from the sergeant, he flipped his ire back to ‘safe’.

“Let’s get a perimeter up,” the
captain ordered.

“We’ve got that, Captain,” Calvin
told her firmly. “I want you and all of your people rested. Grab a shower just
inside the gates under the waving old man there.”

It was a testament to how tired the
Captain was that she simply nodded. The soldiers jumped out and aimed their
guns, now reloaded from the stores of the group. But as usual there was nothing
around the Fortress. The others emptied out into the middle of the street and
slowly ambled towards the entrance after a brief look around and a return wave
up to Saul Rosenthal, who stood on the balcony wrapped in a heavy black blanket
with only his arms poking out, one of which held one of the group’s M-16s.

“Where’s my Athena and future
son-in-law Calvin?” he asked with some concern.

“They’ll be along in a minute,”
Tripper called up.

As he spoke the words, distant squealing
echoes from the west reverberated across the asphalt canyon. All eyes were
pulled westward as the Tesla screamed around a corner two blocks away in a fog
of burning rubber, quickly recovering from the tight skid and silently jetting straight
towards the group without slowing. With nothing but the whine of battery driven
gears, everyone could clearly hear both Calvin and Athena singing at the top of
their lungs, “—you said you’d be coming back this way again, maybe, Baby, baby,
baby, baby, oh baby! I love you…I really do…”

The car barreled at an impossible
speed straight at the waiting group. Only when it appeared too late to
stop—when the gang began scrambling for the safety of the building—did the car finally
turn sideways and skid to a screeching halt.

“Ok, you win,” Calvin admitted,
climbing out of the passenger seat with a big grin and smoky eyes as he put
away his favorite green one-hitter, waving away several clouds of smoke that
rose from inside the vehicle. “You’re a better driver than I am.”

“I would never admit that,” Tripper
said.

“I would never have sang that
song,” Boomer added.

“Yeah, well, I’m having sex
tonight,” Calvin replied.

Boomer looked sufficiently burned.

“Well, so am I,” Tripper said
haughtily, crossing his arms.

“That’s what you think,” Sarah
informed him with a snort.

“OH!” Athena snapped.

“I just meant I wouldn’t admit it
to Athena,” Trip cooed to Sarah smoothly. “C’mon, baby. You’re a much better
driver than I am. You know that.” He schmoozed.

“We’ll see,” she acquiesced.

“That changed in a hurry, didn’t
it?” Scaggs asked with a big grin. “Who’s kissing butt now?”

“Gus, Scaggs, when you’re cleaned
up you can show the military to their bunks and help get them settled in,
please,” Calvin ordered as instant karma for the new girl.

The couple saluted as one and
Calvin rolled his eyes. “Aye, Aye, Chief!” they snapped in such practiced
unison Calvin had no doubt they had planned it in advance.

The parents had set up three more
showers outside for the group to use now. These were basically just cheap
garden sprayers hooked up to hoses and y-connecters and ‘mounted’ by bailing
wire to the flower pots hanging in the little gated entryway, but there was
much less standing around waiting for an open faucet now. Five minutes later
they were all clean and stumping into the lobby, wiping down with towels
provided by anxious mothers who fussed and fretted over the worn ‘children’ and
even the soldiers.

“Captain, I’ll show you to our
radio,” Calvin extended his arm and followed the captain who swept past without
any acknowledgement to those waiting inside.

“The rest of you get hots and cots,”
Batmouche’ called over to where the mothers wiped at the exhausted soldiers
with towels. The three saluted and shuffled behind Gus and Scaggs down a
hallway to take care of their needs.

Three days later, the old friends,
along with the three newest members of the close-knit group, Quinn, Scaggs and
Felicia, gathered at the Dungeon having an enthusiastic meal around Hef’s
massive round table. The table, which he had made from the broken limbs of an
ancient olive tree his father had sent from their family grounds in Greece, was more an oval ring with an opening in one end allowing access to the middle for
serving dinner or entertainment. The table top extended only two-and-a-half
feet from the diners so there was a lot of room in the interior. The center
also held a triangle of monitors that hung from the ceiling and which could be
viewed from any seat at the table. Music videos played now, set on random and
turned down to a mild drone, barely heard over the buzz of scattered
conversations filled with laughter and assorted merriment.

Calvin leaned back in his chair and
loosened his belt, watching the others and greeting their laughter with his own,
a pleasant smile tugging insistently at the corners of his careworn eyes. It
was good to see them celebrating as if their world hadn’t twisted into a
stinking pile of shit. Even the recent changes in the EAS message hadn’t dulled
their spirits. Some group had apparently tried to break through the wall en masse
and those standing watch on the top had been forced to kill them all—men, women
and children. The government had declared the skies a no fly zone and A-10
Warthogs and drones were now frequently flying missions into the zone and
blowing up target vehicles and aircraft of interest to ensure no escape attempts
would be duplicated.

Whatever genius was making
decisions outside the Quarantine Wall had decided not to send in another team
to pull out the doctor since Batmouche’ still had control of the situation and
so far the outbreak had remained contained within The Wall. When Tripper suggested
that they were staying out because of the animosity of several survivalist
groups on the outskirts that were shooting missiles at incoming air craft and
even attacking the walls, the captain did not deny it. Other things had
happened, but Batmouche’ would not pass that information on to the others, not even
Calvin.

The general conversations from her
superiors seemed to ‘suggest’ that it was up to her to get the
package
out,
and as quickly as she possible, but to avoid the freeways where feasible. She
had wanted to set off right away in the Hedgehog and Paddy Wagon, but Calvin firmly
refused her access to the vehicles, which was another reason the friends had
moved to the Dungeon, bringing all vehicles, the case and the doctor with them.
She wouldn’t leave without the doctor when the entire mission hinged on his
safe extraction.

Calvin again insisted that the
military mission was his top priority. However, if the government wouldn’t make
it
their
priority, there wasn’t much he could do about it. It was pretty
clear now that the entire country had written off Kansas City as lost, along
with everything within a hundred miles. But this group knew that they weren’t
lost, and even if they were, they didn’t plan on going down easily. In fact,
their confidence was at an all time high after so many successful rescue
missions without losing anyone. In their minds, things were only getting
better.

As he watched, he gently rubbed his
tender chest, thankful that the pain was finally easing. There had been a tense
moment two days prior when the doctor had noticed his pale features and given
him another examination. He’d then ordered Trip and Athena to surreptitiously drive
out and bring back some special equipment and medical supplies. When they had returned,
he’d performed some minor surgery on Calvin and removed some nasty-looking
fluid from inside his chest with a needle the size of a spear and ordered bed
rest. Calvin had ordered them to remain silent and not tell the others until he
had begun to improve. The doctor took that order a step further and waited
until he was past the danger zone before telling him that he would have been
dead within a week if he hadn’t received the treatment.
Hey
-Calvin had
responded,
we could still all be dead within a week.

The doctor was even now doing
experiments on some of the captured Infected bodies in a room Hef had prepared
for him. It wasn’t much of a lab, but it was equipped well enough for at least
some work to be done. Everyone else had been left at the Fortress for three
full days now without any negative incidents reported from Saul Rosenthal. The
soldiers were getting along well with the parents and vice versa. Calvin had
been patting himself on the back for some time about the decision, knowing that
the captain, at least, would have had issues with how the group decided to
entertain themselves and the parents would have driven the ‘kids’ all mad by
now. As it turned out, the friends were not in Hef’s way at all. Instead, he
had put them all to work readying things for the final assembly. As his Chief Assistant,
Athena had worked out a work schedule for everyone.

No calls came over the radio other
than Rufus checking in and letting them know his people were doing well and that
they had received the government supplies from their designated drop points. Teams
occasionally made forays into the wilderness to bring back this or that, but
the friends had spent most of the week calmly preparing to leave. What remained
was mostly packing with some specialty jobs for those with the required talents.
 No one other than Calvin had been thinking of the packing they were going to
have to do and the shear amount of supplies they would need had been quite a
shock to nearly everyone.

Hephaestus had them boxing-up
everything anyone felt they might need and putting it all before two double-doors
next to the big mural and Quinn and Hephaestus would then alternate taking it
all through to the mysterious vehicle inside. Even with Calvin angrily pointing
out that the vehicle would be done faster if they could all help, Hef had insisted
it wouldn’t and that even if it would, this surprise was worth the wait.

In the end, Calvin had relented and
they still had no idea what awaited them on the other side of Mt. Olympus. But now nearly all of the packing was done. Hef had said the vehicle was nearly complete
so they were all sitting around the table finalizing the details of their
departure over a full four-course Italian meal cooked-up by Sarah, Boomer and
Athena. Subtle hints of garlic, tomato sauce, oregano and cinnamon danced and
intermingled with other spices on every slight draft that wafted through the
spacious dining room. Even the pungent odor of El Supremo was drowned out as
the main course was laid before them on the great table.

“We’ll want to make sure the
Fortress is closed up tight before we leave,” Tripper said before stuffing his
face with pasta, dripping rosy red sauce down his front and either not
noticing, or more likely not caring.

“Yes. And this place,” Calvin agreed
favoring Hef with a broad, bleary-eyed grin. All three men were clearly stoned
out of their minds, but at least Hef was up and walking about. He had already
grabbed a plate from the kitchen over the protests of the ladies, but he had
some things to do before they were ready to close up and leave and, after all,
it was
his
kitchen. “Did you get that vent up there yet?” Calvin asked through
a mass of spaghetti noodles hanging out of his mouth, each dangling end
dripping delicious red sauce into his lap.

“Do not talk with your mouth full,
Calvin,” Hef chided him. “It is rude. And I am not certain I want to put the
other vent back up yet,” He continued with a grimace.

“Why not?”

“I am not confident in my own
craftsmanship anymore. I must be losing my edge. I thought a half inch weld
used to hold skyscrapers together would be enough for one sheet-metal roof
vent. Now I am no longer certain I can secure it adequately…”

Shocking everyone with the
suddenness of her anger, Athena slammed down a pepper shaker in front of the
three and carried a heaping bowl of sauce across to Scaggs and Gus, dropping it
unceremoniously before turning to stump noisily for the kitchen.

“I would hate for it to fall to its
doom,” Hef added dramatically over his shoulder at her retreating back. “Who
knows who or what out in that confusing universe it might have pissed off. You
know how vents just happen to fall off of roofs around here so often. Maybe it
is some kind of plot to put us all out of business. For all I know there are big
birds ripping them from roofs and crapping inside to run us all out. Vents all
over seem to be falling from roofs at the drop of a hat and what-not—”

“—alright!” Athena snapped,
stomping back from the open kitchen doorway. “It wasn’t an accident. I killed
him!” She screamed. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Not really. I was just wondering
if there was going to be a reason for me to worry about the other vent. Brick’s
questionable demise never came into my mind.”

“You’re a damned liar, Hephaestus
Antonopoulos. You’ve been giving me side-long looks since it happened.”

“Maybe I just think you are
pretty,” he smiled back, eyes half closed from too much weed.

“Screw you! Yes, I killed him. Are
you happy now?”

“Well, you can’t just jump over the
loony stick and not try to wrangle a flibly,” he warbled in an overdone
mid-western twang that sounded eerily like the rest of them, putting into
contrast the perfectly enunciated, slightly stilted accent he usually spoke
with. He finished by crossing his eyes and making a funny face.

“What?”

“You cannot just throw a man from a
roof and not explain why,” he clarified. “Even if everyone here was a total
stranger, I believe they would have a right to know.”

“I’m a total stranger and I don’t
give a crap,” Scaggs held her hand up. “I didn’t like the guy. Beautiful as
hell, but he creeped me out. I can step out if necessary. Although I’d rather
not, because this sounds like it’s about to get interesting,” she admitted
honestly, eyes nearly as marbled as the other victims of El Supremo.

“I didn’t throw him off…” Athena
breathed quietly.

“Athena, it is ok. It is no secret
that I did not like Brick,” Hephaestus assured her. “I believe you did everyone
here a favor. He would have only become bolder with
us
to counter his fear
of the dead. You need not convince me, but you might want to explain the
situation to
them
,” he pointed to the other half of the room, where
mouths hung open and food spilled back onto plates and laps without discretion.

She studied the others, only now fully
realizing they were all there, that they were all together. Even when Scaggs
had made her little joke it simply hadn’t occurred to her that she had just
confessed before everyone. El Supremo’s foggy blanket had convinced her that this
had been a private thing between her, Sarah and Hephaestus. The questionable nature
of the jokes he had been throwing at them all night during his visits to the
kitchen. In the matter of only a few hours, her whole world had become a
running battle, a steady defense deflecting every Hephaestus jab, somehow seeing
blame or suspicion in each message, which was probably no accident. He was
throwing it in her face with jokes about dropped food or anything that she spilled
or knocked over, almost as if he had been pushing her into something…something just
like this. He
was
very smart. Except for Calvin, Quinn and Sarah, he had
been the only other one who knew…until now. And she had just told them all. No
need for secrets anymore. No need for hidden guilt and unexplained tantrums. Everyone
knew and it was time they understood why. She held out her hands to the others
as if showing them blood she couldn’t wipe off.

“I killed him! I killed Brick!” she
cried. “But I didn’t throw him off the roof. It wasn’t like that. He tried to
rape me and promised to do it again,” she explained, examining each face for
sympathy or understanding, or…something. But they had not even had time to
register her initial words yet. “He said he’d done it before and would do it
again. So I dropped him from the line he was climbing before he could,” she
finished this statement with her chin in the air, as if that little extra
assurance could help her stand tall in the coming barrage.

She could already sense the
feelings starting to shift. It would be coming soon, a Tsunami of blame she
hoped to break with only her stoic chin. But instead of blame, she heard
something unexpected, a voice of support.

“
We
dropped him from the
roof,” Sarah stated firmly from the only shadowy corner in the entire room,
next to the kitchen, her skin so pale she could easily be a ghost.

“The vent. The…he was climbing and
the rope was tied around the winch to the pipe. We didn’t want Calvin to think
his knot had failed so we kicked the vent until it broke free.”

“But my weld snapping is
so
much better,” Hephaestus threw his hands up. “Hephaestus has no feelings. He no
longer needs to be confident in his work…”

“Hey, she was almost raped!” Sarah
snapped heatedly.

“But you didn’t know that yet, did
you?” Joel interjected calmly. “So why would you have helped her?” His concern
seemed to stem more from curiosity than anything else. In fact, after asking
the question he spun another heaping pile of noodles around his fork, dipped it
into the sauce and fed El Supremo’s greedy demands.

Sarah’s teary eyes watched Trip,
then moved to Athena, searching, uncertain..

“I…I heard what Brick tried to do
to Athena. My…my watch was over and…and I went to get Brick for his turn. I was
there, outside the room. It was when you all left to go get Lucy and Lola. He
said things to her, he…he was going to do things…He was…he wasn’t him anymore.
But he hasn’t been himself for a long time.”