Deadlocked 7 (3 page)

Annie was annoyed with her sister, like usual. “He gets over confident and starts bragging
.” Annie saw Kim’s angry glare and cocked her head to the side and smiled. “Reagan taught me how to win at cards against him too.”

“Oh shit,” said Vic with a grin and a nod. “That’s right, you two knew Reagan. Damn, that must’ve been awesome. Was
he as badass as they say?”

“Way more,” said Kim.

“He used to fart a lot,” said Annie, discounting the legend. “Like, all the time. All he ever ate was bacon and steak and eggs. Whenever he took a crap the whole camp would get stinked out.”

The group chuckled, except for Kim.
“Oh please, you probably barely remember him at all. How old were you? Like five?” She focused back on the task at hand. “Come on, everyone. Are we going to try to win, or are we going to sit here and bullshit all day?”

“Okay,” said Arthur. “Sorry. What’s the plan?”

“We need to stick together,” said Kim. “Let’s find a room that we can cover all the entrances of. We don’t want it to be too small, and we’re going to need to have at least two exit points.”

“What about the basement?” asked Vic. “It
has some big window wells that would be pretty easy to cover, and we could get out of them if we needed to.”

Kim thought about it for a minute and then nodded. “That’ll work. We can each cover one entrance and then block off the rest. Let’s head down there and check it out.”

“What about up there?” asked Annie as she pointed to the small nook high above them, over the fireplace where a brass cross was placed.

Everyone looked up and Kim shook her head. “How the hell could anyone get up there? We don’t have a ladder.”

“I could get up there,” said Annie.

“How?” asked Arthur, doubtful but curious.

“I can climb that.”

Kim laughed. “Give me a break. You’re going to get yourself killed. No, you’re coming downstairs with us. Besides, we have no idea how long it’s going to be before Hero and the others attack. You could be up there for hours.”

Annie thought about being in the basement with the others for hours. She would prefer being alone all that time instead. She had to convince Kim to let her try and climb the fireplace, and she knew exactly how to do it. “Just because you know you can’t climb it doesn’t mean no one else could.”

Kim glared at her sister. “Fine, go ahead and try. I bet you can’t make it even halfway up.”

Annie bounded up and eagerly went to the fireplace. “See you guys later.”

“This is a bad idea,” said Arthur.

“You’re going to get hurt,” said Vic. “And then we’re all going to be in trouble.”

“No,” said Kim. “Let her try. Besides, if she’s right and she really can get up there, that would be a hell of a spot to take out anyone that came in here.”

“Fucking hell,” said Arthur. “This has ‘Bad Idea’ written all over it.”

Annie used a table to help her get onto the mantle, and she tested the depth of the space between the stones with her thin fingers as she balanced on the perch. Then she started to get down.

“See,” said Kim. “She can’t climb up there.”

Annie hopped off the mantle and sat on the table that she’d used to climb up a moment before. “Yes I can.” She started to unlace her boots.

The others watched as Annie took her shoes and socks off. She hid them under the couch, not wanting them to draw attention from anyone in Hero’s crew later, and then climbed back onto the mantle. The gaps in the stonework were too small to fit her boot, but her toes fit just fine.

“Holy shit,” said Arthur. “She’s really doing it.”

Annie was emboldened by their surprise as she ascended the precarious rock wall. She was about ten feet up before she dared to look down.

“Okay,” said Kim. “You proved your point. Now get down before you get yourself killed.”

Annie was frozen in fear as she stared down at the others. She felt the blood drain from her face as she closed her eyes. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest and her fingertips felt slick with sweat.

“Shit,” said Vic. “She’s freaking out. Come on down, Annie. We can catch you.”

“No,” said Annie. “I’m fine.”

“No you’re not.” Kim’s tone had changed from that of an annoyed peer to a concerned sister. “Please just come down from there.”

Annie stared up at the ceiling, determined to continue on. As the others pleaded with her to come down, she ascended, each inch a miracle as her fingers and toes ached. The climb was far harder than she’d anticipated, but she made it to the top.

The nook was larger than it looked from the f
loor, as were the cross and wreath that decorated it. She nearly slipped off the edge as she tried to get a grip on the dusty ledge, but she was able to pull herself up and then gaze down at the others.

The boys cheered, but Kim stood with her arms crossed.

“Told you!” Annie slid the heavy cross to the edge. “Look out below.” She pushed the brass decoration off and it slammed into the floor with enough force to break it in two. Arthur and Vic took the pieces and put them in the corner of the room as Annie tossed off the wreath as well, leaving her a comfortable space to camp.

“Just how do you plan on getting down?” asked Kim.

“I’ll worry about that later.”

Kim was frustrated, but couldn’t do anything about it. She motioned for the others to follow her to the basement as the group left Annie behind. The thirteen-year-old was left to wait for Hero’s attack alone, just the way she liked it.

The day stretched on, and the sunlight that had once flooded the large room had turned from yellow to orange, glinting off the Red Day decorations that littered the room. Pictures, baubles, keepsakes, glasses, and all sorts of other pieces of garbage had once been loving placed in their spots, just like the wreath and cross that Annie had tossed out of her nook. It all seemed so pointless, and Annie struggled to understand a society that once coveted such trash.

She was officially one of the Reds since she had been alive before the apocalypse, but she considered herself a Green. She had few memories of the world before the plague, and the ones she did retain were just as likely dreams as reality. Annie had once tried to explain to her mother a memory she had of escaping the
prison in Georgia, but the details seemed impossible and muddled. For most of her life, Annie had insisted that a guardian angel had saved her, and that it must have been her father’s ghost. It was a foolish thing to believe, but it still comforted her.

She was thinking of her father when Hero broke into the house.

Kim had been right; Hero and his men were anything but subtle. They attacked all at once, throwing rocks through the windows and flashing lights into the house from various points. All of the lights were a diversion though, and Annie watched as Hero and two others came in through the front while all of the sound and fury came from the rear of the house.

Annie aimed her gun, but waited to take a shot. Kim was screaming commands from the basement as Hero silently commanded his group with hand signals
while creeping through the first floor. They found the entrance to the basement, which was still in Annie’s view, and prepared for an assault. Hero went to one side of the door and then pulled on a gas mask before signaling for his men to do the same. He had a tear gas grenade, and Annie knew she needed to do something before he threw it in the basement.

She aimed at his head and waited
for one of the men outside to take a shot. Annie wanted to use their noise to mask her location.

Hero was in her sights, and when the first opportunity presented itself she took her shot. His visor exploded in green paint and he was stunned for a moment before he feigned death. She heard him curse as he slumped to the floor, frustrated with his failure.

Annie took out the rest of his crew one by one, taking advantage of their confusion as she remained invisible high above. Hero lifted his mask and looked around the room in search of his killer. He figured out where the shots were coming from and smiled up at Annie.

“All right,” yelled Hero. “That’s game. We lose.”

“What?” asked one of the men outside. “We’ve got two still standing out here.”

“Come on in and see how long it takes before you’re dead,” said Hero. “We lost. Guns down.”

“Fuck,” said Abe, one of the Rollers that was on Hero’s crew, as he came in from outside. He opened the back door and shrugged as he looked at Hero. “What’s the deal?”

Hero pointed up at Annie. Abe looked up at the girl that was aiming at him
from the nook above the fireplace.

“The little monkey’s a sniper,” said Hero.

Annie waved.

*   *   *

August 24
th
, 20 years after the apocalypse

Annie is in the steeple
, guarding the Rollers.

“Mom,” said Annie. “Are you okay?” Annie was still in the wrecked steeple overlooking the devastation below. Her mother and Zack had been knocked off the truck, and Dante was no longer in his crow’s nest, after the helicopter had crashed into them.

Laura was being helped up
by some of the Rollers, and Zack was insisting he was okay. Annie looked for Dante, but heard his fate before she saw him. Billy announced coldly, “He’s dead.”

Dante, the Roller’s stalwart lookout, had been thrown from his seat and impaled on an iron post near the front of the church.
The wrought iron fence that wrapped around the church looked like a decorative embellishment, but the fancy spiked tips had proven deadly. Annie had to lean forward to see him, then grimaced and looked away. The post had pierced Dante’s back and drove through his neck, leaving the man a ragdoll, ripped and bleeding.

“Annie.” Laura’s voice was weak, defeated, and
stilted by pain. “Come down. Come down from there.”

“No,” said Billy, taking charge as Laura faltered. “Annie, you stay there and keep an eye out for other helicopters.”

Laura rushed at Billy and slammed her balled fists into his chest. “Shut up. She needs to come down. She’s going to get killed.”

“Laura, settle down.” Billy took Annie’s mother by the arms and held her still. “You’re not thinking straight. Laura, please, I know how hard this must be for y
ou, but you’ve got to calm down and be smart about this. We need her up there.”

Laura and Billy faced off in silence, or at least Annie couldn’t hear them anymore as the Rollers around them carried on conversations of their own. Kim’s death had rattled everyone, but Annie’s defiant stance against Jerald’s helicopters had brought the camp back into focus. The fight wasn’t ov
er yet, and survival required all of them to do their jobs, including Annie as she stood watch over them.

She
saw Zack stir to consciousness again and was thankful he’d survived. Her mother would need him.

Annie
was resolute in her duty. She was the guardian, their only lookout, standing high above the others to ensure their safety. Never in her life had she felt more assured of her place. Her sorrow over Kim’s death was ever present, but she forced herself to put it out of her mind as she scanned the smoke filled sky.

She found a full magazine on the ground, beneath the splintered wood that had once supported the steeple’s roof. She put the magazine in and put a bullet in the chamber as she stood sentry.

The horde outside their walls had no interest in them, and the other Rollers continued to pick them off one by one, but Annie saved her bullets for any of Jerald’s men that dared appear. She almost wished they would.

The steeple groaned as the shattered posts around her started to give way. They had been shredded by the chain guns, and the pointed roof threatened to fall in. There was a short fall from the steeple to the church’s arched roof, and Annie realized that she would have to jump soon.

The floor shifted and Annie slid to the side. It startled her, and didn’t make sense until she looked back and saw that the fallen bell had damaged the floor as well. It wasn’t just the roof of the steeple that was in danger of collapsing; the entire thing was about to crash down.

A zombie screeched nearby, but one of the Rollers shot it dead in the middle of its cry. Louder even than the living dead were the roaring flames that encroached upon the city from the field. It had spanned the highway gap and touched upon the buildings at the east end of town, bringing new fuel to the flames. Now the inferno was licking at the sky from a new, higher vantage, dazzlingly bright and bringing heat even from
a hundred yards away. When a westward wind blew, it carried ash and embers, spreading the destruction and lighting new fires. It was a wicked backdrop to the sudden fear that Annie experienced as the floor beneath her began to give way.

She strapped the rifle to her shoulder and started to climb over the edge of the steeple, but her added weight on the sill caused it to buckle. The wood
cracked and Annie felt her stomach rise as she fell. Her feet hit the roof below, but she was unable to stop herself before falling to her back. She caught sight of the entire steeple leaning toward her, and then her feet were in the air in front of her face as her head smashed into the roof in mid tumult. She scrambled to claw at the curved shingles, but they pulled away from the roof as if only needing the slightest provocation to schluff off.