Quarantined in Chaos (Nova Nocte) (15 page)

             
Nurse took his sweet time responding.

             
“Yeah. The bullet hit the dresser. Sunny and baby are fine. Chase is hurling, but I think that’s just from all the adrenaline.”

             
I lowered my prisoner to the floor and pushed her into a sitting position. Victor and Claude needed no such urging.

             
“You tried to kill our people. I say they choose your fate.”

             
I faced the community.

“Any comments people? Forgive, banish, execute, force into slavery, torture, reward, any ideas?”

              Reggie and Cal made a move to speak. I held my hand up to quiet them.

“Not us four. The four of us are going to have separate lives from these guys when we cross the border. We can help enforce their decision, but it has to be theirs.”

              Vincent and Bubba’s eyes widened. Garret sat on the bed and Nurse looked up from his patients. Sunny was the first to say anything.

             
“It’s really become humans and vampires, not just people again hasn’t it?”

             
I hung my head a little more.

             
“Yeah. It has. The world outside isn’t like this one. We’ve got to deal with that.”

             
She hefted her plump body out of her seat, stepped over her husband’s puddle of sick, and hugged me.

             
“I’ll miss the life we had in Nova Nocte. It wasn’t much, but it was a home and we were a family.”

             
“I know. But now,” I softly pushed her away. “...it’s time for you to take the lead. We’re fellow travelers and allies. Nothing more.”

             
She nodded and looked around the room. Our party had separated on instinct: humans to one side, vampires on the other, attempted murderers in the middle against a wall.

             
Garret hid the spear behind his back when Sunny peered at him. Chaim’s blood still stained the end. She held her hand out and he sheepishly placed it in her open palm.              

             
“I think our decision is pretty simple.”

             
She held her favorite spear and forced her face to go blank. All faces rested on her. Sunny stole a glance at her husband.

“We should take these three captive for now.”

              Cal formed a half-smile. Garret, Chase, and Bubba startled and stared at the trio on the floor like a new fish in the tank.

             
“How do you mean?” Vincent holstered his sidearm as he asked.

             
“Just how it sounds; we keep them prisoner and have them pull the heavier trailers of supplies. They handle all ‘donations’ for the foreseeable future so the rest of us can preserve our health. Margot, Victor, and Claude will still be fed but not armed. If they cause any more trouble, our undead friends can drain them dry and leave them for the zombies to pick at.”

             
Damn she’s smart. I’m going to miss having Sunny around. Couldn’t think of a better plan.

             
Everyone seemed nervous and fidgety. Reggie excused himself to recline in the living room. Daemon held my hand. Seeing Margot look at him, he moved my hand to his butt and looked away. I gave it a squeeze in appreciation of the symbolic ‘fuck you’ to the girl and cleared my throat.

             
“Is that the decision?” Heads turned. “Any objections?”

             
“I object.”

             
Margot elbowed her brother in the ribs.

             
“Claude, you can’t object.” I replied.

             
“Why not? I’m part of the group, too.”

             
Sunny wheeled on him and brought the tip of the spear to the bridge of his nose. He held his breath in shock as much as to keep the point from breaking the skin. Chaim’s infected blood still covered the steel.

             
“You are most certainly NOT a part of this group. You and your siblings are only alive until you cease to be useful or until we get tired of you. Basically, you three just forfeited your freedom and your right to exist. Shut up or I’ll use this,” She dragged the weapon tip against his brow for effect. “...to infect you with z-bug. Then we’ll work you until it brings you to an agonizing death. After that, we’ll make Margot and Victor be the ones to cut you down. Do you like that option?”

             
Okay, she’s flipped. Leadership does that these days.

             
###

             
Sunny and Chase’s reign as leaders of our human companions is off to an interesting start. Vincent, Garret, Nurse, and Bubba are leaving the triplets under our watch. Feeding four vampires on with three people probably won’t last for long, but thankfully it’s brokered a certain amount of peace for our two species.

             
I’m monitoring the prisoners from above as they haul Reggie’s gold, extra blankets, cookware, and whatnot. With the loss of Chaim and Sindbad, Cal suggested that our friends rotate hauling one another so we can cover more ground. Already tonight we have reached Walterboro.

             
My skin tingles with the instinctual knowledge that the sun will be rising within the hour. I land -- not so smoothly -- in front of the trio and direct them to pull off for the day. They scowl at me and stop at a boarded up Foodland. Victor wipes sweat from his face and neck. Claude pants from exhaustion but keeps his head down. Only Margot looks at me.

             
The other bicycles roll in with their trailers: people transports and mobile armories. Daemon is peddling one full of canned food at the rear of the convoy. Cal and Reggie alight beside me and watch as he attempts to pop a wheelie. I shake my head as he topples the bike and its contents; the commotion is the last thing we need.

             
“Was that necessary? I know you saw what it looks like around here.”

             
“It’s a bike, you are a cute girl, I’m a dumb guy; it’s kind of my job to impress you with crazy stunts.”

             
Daemon replaced the cargo and gave me a quick kiss.

             
“Fair enough, but not when there are hundreds of Dead within a mile of us, okay?”

             
He caressed my cheek before walking the gear to the front of the building. I circle the building to assess its stability. Cal joins me after checking the roof.

             
“Well, the ceiling shouldn’t cave in, but that’s not saying much.”

             
“I know this place is a crappy option.” I stick my finger into one of the long line of bullet holes on the wall. Brown smears mar the side of the shop; no bodies or parts are nearby, just the residue of somebody’s life. “Unfortunately, we don't really have the time to clear a path further into town. The four of us are outnumbered at least a hundred to one by Dead. We have to hole up here for the day and figure out the rest tomorrow.”

             
The Roman kicked at the shotgun shells and bullet casings littering the lot. He bent to pick up one of the larger rounds. He examined it between his forefinger and thumb.

             
These are all coated in grime and dust; whatever happened here was long ago. We will need to barricade ourselves in with the others for the day. And have a watch over Margot and her ilk, of course. I suppose we can manage a day or so.”

             
Cal dropped the spent bullet and wiped his hands on his trousers. I peered at the stars and listened to the slow steady thuds of fleshies wandering the town. I tried to imagine what the city was like before. Cars roaring past, people talking into their phones, children playing, the hum of televisions, the constant buzz of life.

             
Will it overwhelm me when I’m surrounded by that bustle of society again? Will I miss the plodding of mindless zombies when I lay down to sleep? Is this the new white noise of my life, like the need to hear a fan to drift off to dreamland?

             
“Squirrel?”

             
I blink away my reverie.

             
“Yeah?”

             
Cal puts a hand on my shoulder.

             
“I thought you’d gone again. Shouldn’t we get everything arranged for the day? I think you could do with a little rest.”

             
“We all could.”

             
I march off to rally the troops into our temporary abode. Daemon and Vincent have already cleared the store. Reggie yawned as he supervised the triplets hauling the supplies to a corner of the room. He faced us as we started carrying the junk out the plywood braced door.

             
“Back with us, huh?”

             
“For the foreseeable future, you are stuck with us.” Cal teased.

             
“You know you love us, Reggie.” I handed him a gunny sack. “Trade jobs with you for a bit?”

             
He carried the luggage without a response and I sat guard over the door and the captives. Everything was stowed quickly and bedrolls were set up along two walls: one for our allies and one for the condemned. Cal took up guard in the center while I covered the door. Chase brought me a handful of chains and padlocks.

             
“We should, uh, lock up those three.”

             
He proffered the steel links and master locks without making eye contact. I hesitated before accepting. I closed my hands over the restraints and he gave me a couple of keys.

             
“For the locks. I almost forgot.” He apologized and scurried back to his bedroll.

             
I looked at the others and put the keys in my pocket.

             
Well, I guess I’m the warden now. Just get it over with. These people made their choices; it’s not my problem anymore. Sunny makes the calls for them now.

             
Claude cowered when I approached. I went for him first. Moving like a whisper through the trees, I came up behind him and locked the end of a chain around his neck. It clicked shut and he started crying into his hands. Victor stood and puffed his chest.

             
“Next.”

             
I held the next chain out to him. He took it and stared me down as he put the improvised shackle around his neck and reached for the padlock. I wagged my finger at him and clasped it shut myself. I pointed down and he sat while I locked the other end of the three chains to a bolt high in the wall. Margot muttered obscenities at me from where she crouched against the wall.

             
“Do you want to make this easy and fast or annoying, slow, and painful?”

             
She turned away from me.

             
“Fuck you, leech.”

             
“Okay then. Have it your way.”

             
I flung the third chain around her throat and pulled her to me. Her brothers jumped up and were choked backwards in their advance. Margot fought against the strangle hold. I snapped shut the discolored bronze lock and tossed her to the ground. The woman gasped to catch her escaped breath while her brothers huddled around her.

             
“Cooperation makes everything easier. You don’t see Claude or Victor in any discomfort do you? Learn something.”

             
“Why don’t you just kill us? Waiting and being dragged around by shackles is worse than just ending it.”

             
I gawked at Claude.

             
Didn’t think he had the guts to say anything for himself.

             
“Because I don’t make the decision anymore. If you want to die, stop eating. I doubt anyone will mind the extra rations.”

             
I ignored the man’s sobbing and leaned against the door. Cal nodded at me. Daemon and Reggie were already asleep with the rest of our team. Only Cal, Nurse, and I stood watch for the first half of the day. I peeked at the wandering zombies occasionally through the bullet-holes across from my post. Sagging jaws, missing limbs, and exposed ribs paraded past.

             
Too many to clear in one night. We could be stuck here for weeks.

             
When Daemon took over my watch, I slept with my head against his chest. He ran his fingers through my hair until I dozed off. A lullaby of desperate groans and hungry moans serenaded me.

              Gentle shaking roused me. I opened my eyes and stretched.

             
“What time is...”

             
A hand muffled my words. I saw its owner.

             
Daemon, why is your hand on my face?

             
He cracked the door and pointed outside. I sat up to see the mass of Dead had converged on some unlucky souls. Over a hundred fleshies roamed the parking lot chomping on bits of the deceased men. They tore chunks from one another and lapped at the gore on dry weeds that separated the asphalt into islands.

             
Oh. That isn’t good.

             
Our crew was all awakened and gearing up. They massed in the center of the room. The triplets pulled at their chains and gestured to be set free.

             
They could be a good decoy to get us out of here.

             
As though she could hear my thoughts, Margot panicked and began to attempt to force the loop over her head. Small cuts marred her chin and jaw from the efforts. I hurried to her side and took her hands off the chain. My whisper was closer to a growl.

             
“Leave it alone. You are all staying in custody so stop adding blood to the aroma of the room.”

             
She slunk back to the ground. Claude rocked and covered his ears to block the sound of the zombies eating the strangers. Victor never even blinked; he just sat calmly waiting by the wall.

             
I returned to the group. We spoke as low as possible and tried to hide the worry from our voices.

             
“We need a way out of here that isn’t just running out the door.” Sunny said.

             
“We go outside now and we’d be run over by them fleshies.”

             
I gave Bubba a pat on the back in agreement. We stood encircled looking to one another for good ideas. Vincent and Chase scanned the room for clues. Reggie surveyed them and glanced at the prisoners.

             
“Three of us could fly out those three and drop them away from the building to keep the horde busy devouring their surprise buffet. We drain them first and the Dead take care of the bodies while allowing us an acceptable window of escape.”

             
“That’s an option. What else have you got?”

             
He frowned at me.

             
“What do you mean? Let’s just do it and run like hell.”

             
“No. It has to be the best option. If we are going to burn through the extra feedings, extra help hauling materials, and the moral feeling of purposely sacrificing people it should be a last resort.”             

             
Chase turned red.

             
“They stopped being people when they tried to kill my wife and unborn baby. I vote we do it.”

             
“Do you really think that will give us enough of a window to get through this huge swarm; there are hundreds of them, maybe thousands, in this area. There’s a better way, we just need to find it.”

             
“Listen to Squirrel.”

             
Sunny’s voice cut the tension in half and brought air back to the room. She rubbed her stomach and caught her husband’s eye. Chase relaxed and waved me on.

             
“Oh, I don’t have the answer; I just know that we’re missing one.”

             
I could feel myself blush from the looks I received. Daemon wandered around the room, craning his neck to see all the angles.

             
Okay, time to figure this out fast. What are you missing?

             
“Why not just go up?” Daemon stood fixated on a ceiling panel. “We’re surrounded on all sides but not below or above. Tunneling sounds like a lot of work to end up in the center of the flock, so why not up?”

             
Holy shit, he’s a genius!

             
“Perfect, Daemon. We make a hole in the roof and survey the situation. We can take turns culling that mess into a manageable quantity.”

             
“Or even setting fires away to distract and flying our counterparts in the opposite direction.” Cal added. “We could probably manage to ‘leap-frog’ everyone from roof to roof until we can clear the city. Well thought, Daemon. I’m actually quite proud.”

             
The front door was barricaded and I grabbed a crowbar from the arsenal. Daemon snatched Sunny’s spear and we began to force our way up. Reggie and Cal took their turn feeding and covered us for our turns. The ceiling took only a minute but the poking and jabbing at the roof itself took nearly an hour.

             
The Dead converged and slammed against the walls of our fortress with their broken bodies. We worked faster and harder, ignoring the noise level; they’d already heard the destruction. The corpses piled up until the trampled were high enough to block the lower bullet holes. Our living allies could only wait and watch.

             
“I see sky!” Daemon dropped down with his announcement. “We’re through, just got to tear a section down. Stand back.”

             
He rejoined me and we yanked portions down until a three foot chasm was visible. I fell to the floor, landing on my face.

             
More practice with flying and control. Yeah, need that.

             
Chase helped me to my feet.

             
“Meant to do that.” I stood and dusted off my clothes. “Let’s see if the bikes will fit through it.”

             
Reggie grabbed one of the transports and glided up to the gap. He shook his head and lowered the vehicle smoothly to the ground. He grinned at me.

             
“That’s how you come back down. Now up with you and add some more of the heavens to our view.”

             
Cal chuckled and rose with me to expand our escape route. Twenty minutes later we had our entire group assembled on the roof away from the hole. We stared in disbelief at the scene before us.

             
Dead piled up into ever-growing ramps along each wall; the bottom layer being crushed into oblivion as others climbed with witless abandon towards us. A thin layer of snow coated those rendered immobile. Shattered limbs dragged through the fresh powder, leaving a trail of grime and ichor. A sea of walking corpses reached for us as the sky turned from violet to blue-gray to black.

             
Reggie held the chains for the triplets as we took it all in. The Nurse stepped back and slipped on the frost. He stayed on his back mumbling prayers. No one moved to help him up again; he would rise when he was ready to face this reality. I looked at Sunny.

             
“Leap-frogging sounds good to me. Any thoughts?”

             
A little of the color returned to her face as she buttoned up her heavy coat.

             
“Just get us out of here.”

             
“Will do.” I turned to Cal. “Wanna pick a solid roof we can aim for? Daemon and you can take the first couple of people and then we’ll go from there.”

             
“Are you so certain that the Dead will not follow?”

             
“Not enough will be able to track our movements in the dark. Besides we can always toss some flammables in the opposite direction before each take-off. Should serve as a decent decoy; these things aren’t exactly Einsteins.”

             
“Keep a good eye on those three.” He dropped his voice until I strained to hear. “They’ll not go easily when they have the opportunity to destroy one of us. We need to hold them to carry them to our destination; close proximity could be hazardous.”

             
I snickered and tossed the Roman a roll of duct tape.

             
“Already thought of that. Duct tape fixes everything.”

             
We picked out our destination and the leap-frogging of our team began. Sunny and Nurse were first. Daemon flew the Nurse piggyback style while Caelinus carried Sunny like a new bride. Bubba, Garret, and Vincent each threw a Molotov Cocktail as far as they could behind the building. They erupted into flame and soon dozens of zombies were blanketed in fire. The stench of smoldering decay drifted on the breeze and set us couching.

             
We better do this fast or I’m going to puke. Hell, I wonder what it’s like to puke up blood instead of food; can’t be good.

             
The distraction peeled off about half of the crowd below. I prayed to the dark sky and radiant snow that it would be enough. The clanking of chain-links caught my attention. I shifted my view and saw Victor and Margot rising and holding their restraints between their arms. They crouched for the assault on Reggie; he was watching the progress to the adjacent rooftop.

             
“Behind you!” I leapt towards the commotion.

             
Reggie wheeled and caught Victor just as the chain wrapped around his throat. Victor fought to choke the ember-eyed Undead. Reggie drove his elbow into the man’s solar plexus and overtook him as I reached Margot. She shoved the rusty steel loops into my mouth as I bared my fangs at her. With a smack to the cheekbone, she stumbled and I pulled the chain into the air.

             
Reggie slurped on the last of her brother’s blood behind me as I hung Margot in midair. Claude screamed and begged for their lives. Chase held the end of his chain while Vincent and Bubba subdued him. I listened to the woman gagging; it would only take a few more moments to put her out of our lives.

             
Be smart. Don’t let your anger or feelings get in the way of getting the job done. Don’t waste her life. Put her down.

             
“Dammit.”

             
I lowered her and tossed the chain to Reggie. He’d already changed back to looking normal. The others watched me while Claude pushed free and hugged his sister. She said nothing but watched me like a cat watches its owner eating chicken. I walked over to Victor’s remains.

“We’ve got the decoy for our next run.”

              I lifted the end of the chain as Daemon and Cal returned.

             
“Troubles, Squirrel?”

             
“Nothing unexpected. Can you send Daemon and Reggie on the next run? I’ll lure the fleshies away with my fancy new cadaver pendulum.”

             
“Put him down now.”

             
Chase walked over to Margot and slapped her mouth.

             
“She’s had plenty of reasons and chances to kill you. Shut up or I’ll sew your mouth shut for you. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve done it.”

             
Claude pulled Margot behind him and tried to quiet her. She gave over to tears and Reggie took the reins of the pair. Chase stood beside him.

             
The next several trips were marked by me dangling Victor’s body over the scrambling Dead; the Pied Piper of Zombietown USA. I led them into ditches and obstacles to lessen their numbers. Each time I hauled up the shredded remnants of the man and returned to the Foodland. The remaining siblings had their hands and feet taped together and were carried without further difficulty.

             
Our night was spent this way until we reached the far side of town around 5AM. We’ve set up a shelter for the day in the woods beyond the road. Tape covers the mouths of our captives. Claude and Margot seem resigned to their fate. I wish I felt bad, but I doubt it would do me any good to care about the lives of two people when almost everyone I care about has already died.