Dead Hunger: The Flex Sheridan Chronicle (34 page)

“We got a lot of shit to figure out,” I said.  “But we don’t know what’s important and what’s not.”

“Anything that can help us
cure them,
kill or otherwise defeat them is important, and right now, the more we know the better.  Period.  Even if we learn things that don’t seem to help us,
every piece of information is
part of the puzzle, and ultimately
, the solution.”  Hemp shrugged.

“If there is a solution,” said Gem.

“Yes.  If there is one.”

“God, I hope there is one.  I’d like my world back.”  Gem took my hand and pulled me up out of my seat, then put her arms around my neck and kissed me there.  I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes.

I had her.  No matter what happened, I had my Gem.
 
And whatever battles lay ahead, we would fight them together.

Hemp, Charlie, me, Gem, and Trina.

And Bunsen.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

“We’re going shopping,” Charlie announced, her crossbow
strap
over her shoulder.

Earlier, she had been in the yard with Gem showing her how to use the weapon.  The sight
on the bow
was similar to a long rifle, but gauging the drop of the arrow at a given distance was the true trick.
  Bullets didn’t fly near the same as a long shaft, so there was a learning curve.

From a distance, as I typed on this chronicle, I occasionally looked up and smiled at the two.  Charlie had set up a target made out of some old
, padded chair seats
that were in my storage shed.  One on top for the head, two side-by-side for center mass, and one lower for the groin area.  She
disregarded and provided no representation for
the legs . . . I suppose she never considered shooting to
maim
.

“
What are you shopping for this time?”
I asked, leaning back from the desk, stretching.

“
Canned meat, vacuum
packed shit
that’ll last forever
.  We need to get stuff with high calories and lots of preservatives.”

Today Charlie was wearing a tee shirt that said “Animals Taste Good,” with silhouettes below the saying of a pig, a cow, and a chicken.  With the s
hirt she wore her usual
blue jeans with lots of holes. 

Gem stuck her head in behind Charlie
, Trina in tow
.

“Did you see me with that crossbow, Flexy?  I fucking kick ass with that thing.”

“Gemmy!” said Trina.  “Bad word!”

“Look, Trini,” Gem said, kneeling do
wn.  You might not have noticed
at your budding age, but sooner or later you’re going to have to realize that we’re in a new world.”

I glared at her for a moment, and she held up one finger, telling me to let her finish.  I silently agreed.

She continued: “First rule:  In the new world, fuck is not a bad word.  It’s just a very versatile word that can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adjective.
  Shit is right there with it, and it can almost be used anywhere fuck can.
”

I laughed.  “You
may not be
as good
with
the crossbow
as Charlie, baby
, but you sure know how
not
to waste a good
global
catastrophe
.”

“You watch,” she said.  “
You
take care of
Trini, okay? 
After we get some food we’re hitting Dick’s Sporting Goods.  I’m getting me
a top-of-the-line crossbow
.  Charlie wants a new one too,
now that they’re affordable and all.”

“And all,” I echoed.

“How’s the book coming?” asked Charlie.

I’d told everyone I was writing all of this down just in case something happened.  I didn’t know how many people in the world were safe enough to spend the time writing rather than running or
worrying
or just plain being eaten, but I didn’t want to risk that nobody would.  Surely there would be some future generation
s
of humans that would want to know what some of us went through.

“Very good.  I’m almost there, caught up.  In fact, I am here.  I’m going to have to wait for shit to happen before I can write more, actually.  And if you don’t mind, I’d like that shit to be boring, if you think you can help me out on that.”

“We’ll do our best,” Gem said, leaning down to kiss my mouth.  I rested my hand on her arm. 

“Take your radios, weapons, flares, everything.  And you know the drill.  Double tap if you get into trouble.”

I reached into my desk and pulled out my radio, flipping the power switch on.

“Remember, double tap the talk button if you encounter some of them, single tap after that if you need me to get to you fast, and triple tap me if the threat is eliminated.

“Double, then triple or single.”

“Yes.  Easy to remember.  Single is quick and you need me there quick.”

“Good,” said Gem.  “We’re going now, dad.”

“You are one funny girl.  Be home by eleven.”

They smiled and headed
to the Suburban even though Gem preferred the Crown Vic.  She clearly thought she needed payload capacity for this particular shopping trip
. 

As I watched them walk away,
Gem with her
reliable
Suzi on her shoulder, Charlie with her weapon of choice,
I
marveled at what a tight group we’d become and how fast it had all happened.  Charlie had only been with us a day and a half, but it was as though she had been with us for months.  Hell, years.

I wondered if the honeymoon would end, or if we’d all just grow closer.  I knew I’d never let Gem go again, and I knew instinctively that she felt exactly the same.  We’d made that mistake once, and you don’t get second chances dropping around to see if you wanted them all that often.

I won’t need a third chance. 

I started writing more as I remembered it.  I filled in areas of the story, changed some stuff.  Generally cleaned it up.

I flipped off the computer monitor
as Hemp came into the
dining room where I’d set up to write. 
Trina had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room, and remained out.    Turns out the new world where fuck was no longer a dirty word really tired her out.

Gem
and Charlie
had been gone a long time and I was getting impatient.  Shit, I
know
Gem is
probably
better on her own than me,
and doubly so with Charlie by her side,
but it doesn’t mean I’m not smart enough to know anyone can get caught off guard now and then.  I picked up my two-way and pushed the button. 

Violati
ng the “click t
o start” rule we’d agreed upon,
I said, “Fuck me
, Gem.  Can’t you guys check in now and then?
”

I sat down on the sofa
next to the lightly snoring Trina
and waited.  There was silence for at least twenty seconds before a
response came,
slightly sarcastic

“May I help you?” came over the radio.

I clicked on again, waving a
t Hemp to sit.  “Just checking
,” I said.  “
How’s it going?
”

“
We’re
five minutes out.   And
we
only ran into a group of about eight of them.  They didn’t see
us
. 
We were
downwind, and behind them, so . . . lucky.”

“Where were they?” I asked.

She clicked back on and said, “I’ll talk to you in a minute,” then clicked off. 

Just about six
minutes later she
and Charlie
strode into the room.  “
How are you feeling?” Gem asked, leaning down to kiss me.

“Feel great,” I said.  “Perfect.  What did you guys find?”

“What didn’t we find?” asked Charlie. 
“
Gem and I got kickass
new
bows,
fuckin’
titanium.
”

Trina stirred awake and looked up at Gem and Charlie: “
Cool shit
,” she said.  “What’s tintimium?”

“Titanium,” corrected Gem.  “Very strong material.  Fuckin’ tough.”   She turned back to me.  “
You asked me where the zombies were,” she said.  “About two miles from here.  The ones I
saw
.  But I have to tell you, sweetie.  Strange
.  Know how so many are starting to look worn and decomposed?  Similar to Jamie, but exposed to the elements and
other zombies
, bumps, bruises, just the everyday shit of zombie life that can play hell on your complexion?”

“So these didn’t look like that?”

She shook her head, and Charlie spoke up.

“These looked kind of strong.  But if they only turned a week ago, then why?  Who were they – where were they before they turned?  Why did it take them so long?  Isolation chamber?  Nuthouse?  In the International Space Station?”

“We need to capture one of them,” Hemp said.  “I could run some blood tests, other stuff.  I need to run blood tests on all of us, too.  See if I can find a common
component
we share that kept us
all from getting this disease. 
DNA would be better, but there’s no way I have what I need to run that kind of sophisticated testing.  Nor the
proper
environment
, really
.”

“It would give us a goal, anyway,” I said.  “
Right now I feel like we’re
existing
in a fucking Mad Max flick or something, just trying to survive
and protect ourselves while the world outside becomes more and more
of
a
wasteland.”

“Not far off, babe,” Gem said
.

She
reached back and pulled her long hair down from where it was tied, and it fell down past her shoulders, a
brown
cascade.  I watched her move, smooth, graceful.  She was Latin –
Guatemalan
, specifically.  Her walk was smooth and fluid.  Her hips swayed in a way that still distracted me and made me bump into stuff.  I’d seen Hemp bump into stuff, too, but I didn’t begrudge him that
.

Charlie was
beautiful
enough that I actually almost fell down the steps of the lab as I watched her target practice with her crossbow.  I am but a man.  Gem would laugh if I told her.
 
I’m
pretty
sure about that.
 
I smiled at the thought then returned to reality.

“
Did
you get that EEG machine reconfigured for your new experiment
?”

Hemp nodded.  “Ye
s I did
.  That’s why I came in, actually.  Calibrated it and connected it to a display monitor, ran some tests too, with some pretty
interesting
results.
”

“What were the tests?” Gem asked.

“It’s a visual, almost infrared image of the brain activity.  Looks kind of like a sonogram in color. 
Would you like to
see
the recording
?”

“Let’s go,” I said.  I lightly slapped the top of Gem’s leg, and stood.

We
climbed up inside the
mobile
lab
.

“I recorded it on the computer, so I’ll just play it back.  I was the benchmark brain,” said Hemp. 

“Not sure that’s fair, Hemp.  You’re a smart fucker,” Gem said, smiling. 

“A brain’s a brain as far as an EEG is concerned.”

“This looks different than the layout you had with my test,” I said, glancing at the closed door behind which Jamie lay on the stainless steel table.

“It is.  Completely switched stuff around, but I had a different goal.  Compartmentalization study.”

Hemp leaned down and took the mouse.  “Okay, first I set up a fan that would
direct
my body scent out through the exhaust vent system, completely away from the subject. 
The test results might
have been skewed if
Jamie were to smell me. 
Then I
masked up and
hooked the electrodes to
Jamie’s
skull.  Fully awake.  I hooked the other set up to mine.  Now keep in mind, there are certain brainwaves that are expected.  I still get
really nervous when they’re fully active and aware and in the same room with me.  Because of that,
I would expect my
brain
waves
to shift depending on my proximity to them.  Plain fear.”