Deadman's Switch & Sunder the Hollow Ones (41 page)

Micah smiles and reaches tentatively over at it, extending his fingers so the animal can smell them. The dog shows no hesitation, no fear. He licks Micah once, then quickly returns his attention to me. I don't know why he's chosen me. I guess I just have a way with dogs.

As for the one in the woods, I'd never known its true name. It was a stray, as far as I could tell. I do remember that I had started calling it something—you have to give your friend a name, after all, even if it's not a real one. I don't remember what I'd told Kelly, that day we'd first met and he'd asked. Maybe I'd said something like “Doggy” or “Wolf.” I don't recall. I do, however, remember going back after the rains had finally stopped, when the ground was solid enough again to walk on without sinking six inches down into it. Every day I returned, and Kelly was there too, and we'd sit and wait, neither of us speaking. But the dog never came back.

I never saw it again.

“Well, it clearly likes you,” Micah says. He sounds almost jealous. “But sorry to break up this little love-fest. We need to go.”

Strangely, the howl Shinji had let out, when he pounced to show me how excited he was to see me, hadn't brought any zombies to us. I suppose the Undead become inured to non-human sounds like barks and crickets after a while, knowing they're not going to get to eat. I can't imagine dogs or crickets are very easy to catch.

I chuckle to myself humorlessly. Here I go again, thinking of the Undead as being able to think.

I stand up and Shinji jumps and puts his paws on my shirt. He's big and heavy, even as skinny as he is. And old. The fur on his muzzle is thin and gray. But he's acting just like a puppy, snuffling against my side and into the space between my back and the pack. He must think I have food in there. Smart dog.

“Later, boy,” I say. “I'll get you something to eat later. Right now it's time to be quiet.”

Micah leads this time, shining his Link ahead of him. It affords only a few feet of light, but pretty soon we won't need it anyway. The first tendrils of light are beginning to reach into the wood. In a few minutes, it'll be light enough to see without the Link.

Another half mile and a new light shines through the trees ahead of us, too bright to be pre-dawn. It's a spot light. Micah turns and points and I signal that I see it, too. I pull out my Link and try to ping Kelly again, but there's no response this time. I feel a flutter of panic inside of my chest, and this time I don't bother to push it away. I pray that he and the others are all right.

Including Jake.

I hope he's not in very much pain. I know it's wishful thinking. There is no halfway when it comes to bites; he's either infected or he's not, and I know what I saw, so I know which way the pendulum has swung on that one. And it suddenly crosses my mind that he might not even still be alive. But I can't think that way. He's alive. He has to be.

I know I'm being hypocritical. I've already written him off, even though I still hold out hope for Kelly. Kelly wasn't bitten, but he was injected with the virus. What's the difference? Why should I think of Kelly's infection as curable while assuming Jake's is terminal?

I don't know.

Am I that shallow?

Shinji nudges me forward. I hadn't realized I'd stopped. Micah's already pushed on ahead without me.

“Thanks, boy,” I say, reaching down. He seems even more eager than I am to reunite with my friends.

His fur is greasy, dusty. And yet I want to dig my fingers deep into it. Maybe after we've found the others and can go home again. Maybe then.

“Stay close,” I add, and begin walking again.

We reach a place where the trees suddenly thin out. A clearing, though it's overgrown with low bushes and grass, most of it dried out by the withering autumn heat. The only thing that seems to tolerate the humidity is the hanging moss dangling thickly from the branches above. I don't think it's native.

There are several clearly marked trails leading from different parts of the surrounding wood, a couple of animal trails worn down to bare dirt. The rest are new, as evidenced by the freshly trampled grass and broken brush. The grass on our path is undisturbed. Lucky for us. The IUs that arrived here earlier didn't come this way. And since they appear to have returned back to their holes, I assume it was by the same route they took in.

Chalk that up to yet another puzzling behavior.

Either that or they're still inside the complex.

“Think the fence is down?” Micah whispers.

I shake my head. I don't know.

“The tree they climbed must be around the other side.”

“Well, it's not on this side.”

He steps out from the cloak of the wood and I follow. Shinji trails along behind, keeping pace. He seems content to just tag along. After thirteen years, I bet he's glad to have a little human companionship.

Living
companionship.

“No IUs,” Micah breathes. “Fence looks intact. Electricity's still on.” He stops and listens. Just above the whisper of the morning breeze, comes the electrical buzz, warning us. “So, how did those IUs get inside?”

We make our way around the perimeter, looking for any sign of our friends, the tree they climbed, or the IUs. It's Shinji who makes the first discovery: a body of a zombie lying half-hidden in the grass. Its neck is broken. At least it looks like it's broken; hard to tell with these things. And other than the usual wear-and-tear, there are no other marks on this particular zombie, no stab marks or bites or bullet holes. Its skull is entirely intact. Whatever killed this one did it quickly and without weapons.

“When you talked to Kel, did he say they killed any before they went in?”

“No,” I answer. “I mean, they didn't.”

“So…?” He frowns, looking puzzled.

I bite my lip and glance around nervously. That's when I see the second IU. Then the third. And a fourth. All of their necks are broken, their heads wrenched nearly backwards. In one case, the flesh had become so inflexible due to the plastination that the muscle is shredded, and the only thing holding the head to the torso are the tattered remains of its ropy sinews.

“I don't think Kel and the others did this, Micah.”

We continue walking, staring at the bodies strewn about the field as we go. It's like they're all sleeping. And they all lead to the tree.

“Fig,” Micah says, answering my questioning look. “They never used to grow in these parts. They grow fast. And those?” He points. “Strangler vines.”

The tree has a thick trunk, gnarled and overgrown by the vines. Climbing it would be a piece of cake for a living person, impossible for an IU.

Most likely possible for a CU.

“Those zombies that got inside?” I say. “They weren't regular zombies. Not all of them, anyway.”

Micah swallows and nods. His face fills with worry.

 

“Stay here,”
I say.

Shinji whines when I reach for the vines to climb the tree. He nuzzles my back. I can't decide if he's trying to push me up or he wants to come with us. But I can't bring him. There's no way either Micah or I—or even the both of us together—could lift him up the tree and over the fence.

“We'll be back soon.”

I hope.

He barks, once, loudly, as if to say, “You damn well better.”

“Shh! Sit!”

Shinji wags his tail.

“Why don't you give him something to eat?” Micah suggests. He's already over the fence and standing on the other side.

I open my pack and fish around for something among the canned and packaged food. Now Shinji sits, his tail still wagging. He knows what's coming. It amazes me that he knows. How can he remember?

“Do you like tuna fish?”

He tilts his head and grins at me.

“I'll take that as a yes. Well, doesn't matter, since that's the only thing I have with a pop-top lid, and I ain't sticking around to use a regular can opener.”

So I pull out two cans of tuna fish and open them and knock the contents out on a flat rock. Then I hurry back to the tree.

Shinji slobbers up a mouthful, but then hurries back to my side before I have a chance to grab a handhold.

“Sit, Shinji!”

He sits.

“Stay.”

He wags his tail.

“Well, at least he's well behaved.”

Micah shakes his head with impatience.

“Okay, boy, I'll be right back. You stay here.”

“Would you hurry up already?” Micah says.

I wag my finger one last time at Shinji, but he follows me back to the tree. He just won't leave me alone. I keep expecting him to bark or whine, but he's quiet, not a sound from his mouth. He just sits there smiling his tuna-eating grin at me.

“You're not finished, Shin.” I grab him by the collar and pull him back over to the tins. He follows willingly enough. “Now, you need to stay here while I go. There's someone inside there that I really need to see right now.”

He nuzzles my backpack again.

I sigh and kneel down, unslinging the pack and bringing it in front of me. “There's nothing else in here for you,” I tell him. But he sticks his nose into the pocket and snuffles around for a moment before backing back out again. I gasp when I see what he's grabbed.

“What is that?” Micah asks, standing close to the fence. He looks over with a puzzled look on his face.

Tears come to my eyes. It's the rabbit, Cassie's stuffy toy. I reach into my back pocket and pull out the stack of photos and sift through them until I find the one with Cassie at the beach. There, off to one side, is a dog, not quite fully grown yet. It's got the same markings as Shinji.

I look up and he's gone. So is the rabbit.

“It's okay,” Micah whispers, seeing the tears streaming down my face. “It's all right, Jessie.” He points, and I follow the line of his finger until I see a shadow beneath the tree. It's Shinji, curled up to sleep. Beneath his chin is the toy.

And I know, even if I'm not really his little girl, I know that he believes I am. It makes me hopeful for the reunion that awaits me just a few hundred feet away. It makes me hopeful that all will be okay and that I'll be able to fix everything, even Jake.

I'm so overwhelmed with emotion that I almost don't realize my Link is pinging.

I pull it out and tap the screen.

“What is it?” Micah asks.

“Text message,” I mumble. “From Kelly.”

“What's it say?”

But I don't read it out loud, because what it says takes all my hopes and shreds them apart again.

 

‡ ‡

[END OF EPISODE FOUR]

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed these installments of the GAMELAND series. The entire 8-episode series is available in digital and paperback format. For more information and availability, please visit me at my website,
Tanpepperwrites.com
.

If you'd like some insight into the world of GAMELAND, pick up a copy of
Golgotha
, which takes place roughly fifteen years earlier and describes the death of Jessie Daniel's father and the rise of the Omegamen Forces with her grandfather at the helm.

https://tinyletter.com/SWTanpepper

I welcome your thoughts. If you'd like to leave a review, you'll find a helpful link after the page-turn.

‡

 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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My deepest gratitude goes to my family for their unflagging support. Without them, I would not be able to create worlds with such richness to them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saul Tanpepper is a writer of speculative fiction for teens and adults. A former molecular geneticist originally from Upstate New York, he now calls Northern California home.

If you enjoyed his
Gameland
series, please check out his other titles, available in digital and print form from Smashwords and all major book distributors.

For more information about the author and his writings, please check out his website:
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