The Fall (Book 3): War of the Living (11 page)

The joking tone threw him off. It was bizarre, feeling the barest outline of the void in his chest. Not that he would have known or even noticed had she not told him, but now that he did he couldn't think of anything else. It was like being a kid and constantly running your tongue over a missing baby tooth. There was a piece of his body just
gone
, no longer in residence.

Kell looked up from gingerly prodding the edges of the bandage when Gabrielle put a hand on one of his feet. She stood at the end of the bed, face (somewhat) serious.

“Believe it or not, this really was the best way. There wasn't much left to work with. We were concerned that even trying would be too risky. If we took a stab at putting the pieces back together, there was a chance of sharp edges sawing into your chest or splinters working themselves free. Those things can do awful things to you. We did what was best.”

Still trying to wrap his head around it, Kell muttered something.

“Didn't catch that,” Gabrielle said.

“I was just taking a walk,” Kell repeated. “When all this happened. Just a walk.”

With a chuckle, Gabrielle opened the door. “Well, I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but maybe you should consider taking less walks. This one could have easily killed you.”

Kell woke with a start.

The room was dark. Lee had come back again later in the day, not the only person to come by for a visit. Mostly he'd been drifting in and out of sleep. Between the injuries, the drugs, and the boredom, it was easy enough to do. Laura, Dan, Scotty, Chris, and the handful of other visitors hadn't stayed long. Too much to do.

Now he was completely awake, lucid. That weird pressure was in the air, the change you couldn't quite explain but somehow told you in absolute terms that someone was in the room.

Thin moonlight filtered through the window, shining across Will Price's face.

“You scared the crap out of me,” Kell said in a low voice. “Don't you knock?”

Even in the dim light, Will looked tired. Though a young man—much younger than Kell, who wasn't knocking on forty's door yet—the lines etched in his face were deep. The crow's feet forming at the corners of his eyes, the frown lines around his mouth, the furrows across his forehead, all these things spoke of the incredible pressure Will was under. Yet he had taken time to visit.

“Didn't want to be seen,” Will replied. “People might ask why I'm taking the time to come visit you.”

Kell smiled. “Really? I spend a lot of time in your office, man. People probably assume we've gotten to know each other pretty well. Maybe they think we're friends. You probably could have gotten away with visiting a little less suspiciously.”

Will returned the smile. “Friends. I don't have many of those around here. Between my history and being the one who takes the blame for everything that happens in New Haven, I'm not very popular. But that isn't why I'm here,” he said, shaking his head. “How are you doing? I couldn't exactly ask around.”

Kell detailed his injuries. “I'm on bed rest here until they let me go or a more serious injury comes in and they need the bed. Apparently there's a really, really big incision beneath this bandage, and they're worried about me ripping it open or getting an infection.” He shrugged. “Normally I'd argue and be neurotic about being away from my routine, but this hurts enough that I'm just going to be a good boy and enjoy being waited on hand and foot.”

“Bed rest,” Will said with a wistfully “Must be nice. You don't sound very worried.”

“I'm not,” Kell replied. “At least, not about an infection. When's the last time you actually saw someone with one? Bet it's been a while.”

Will's eyebrows rose, but his voice dropped. “You think it's Chimera?”

“Has to be,” Kell said. “Goddamn thing is actually doing what I designed it to do. Better late than never, I guess.”

Leaning back in his chair, Will steepled his fingers across his belly. “Even more reason for what I'm about to ask you,” he said.

“You've got that tone of voice that tells me this isn't going to be a request, Will.”

“It is,” Will said. “Mainly because I can't make you do it.” He paused, as if grasping for the right words. “Look, I get why you went over the wall. We made damn sure people saw the Hunters as a threat we eliminated, and we kept the UAS quiet. Some know about them, sure, and a lot more are suspicious, but nothing concrete. You were trying to help keep that information from causing us problems. Right?”

Kell nodded. “That, and I didn't want one of them to blow a hole in the wall.”

“Which I also appreciate a
lot
,” Will said with a grin. “Point is, I get why you did it. I'm not even saying you should have done any different. Keeping people from panicking is vital, and finding out an army is out there gunning for us would do the trick. Our long-range scouts tell us the UAS are trying to make some political statement, something to scare our people into giving up before the fight even starts, spread propaganda. You know, all that bullshit people used to think worked in war.”

Will sighed. “I appreciate what you did, but you could have been killed. You've volunteered for a lot of dangerous jobs, Kell, but this time you came too close. I need you to promise me you'll stay inside New Haven from now on. Down the road, when you're healed, you can do guard rotations, but that's as close as I want you to get to being outside those walls until it's safe to send you off to work with John.”

The crisp note of authority Will usually imbued his words with was notable in its absence. If anything, he sounded uncomfortable. That convinced Kell more than anything that this was something Will desperately felt was the right call.

“Yeah, sure. I'll keep my head down,” Kell said.

“Thank you,” Will whispered. “Like I said, I don't have many friends. And I don't know if you are one, but I think you could be. That's ignoring your value to every living person on the planet...”

Kell raised his hands. “Yeah, I've heard the spiel enough times. Spare me.”

“Sorry,” Will said. “Speaking of friends, I have an easy job for you with one of mine if you want it. Since you can't fight at all until Gabby clears you, and I know you'll go insane with nothing to do, I found you some work.”

Kell snorted. “You're very altruistic all of a sudden.”

“Please, don't think of me as a hero,” Will said. “I'm just a man like any other.”

“Full of shit is what you are.”

Will frowned theatrically. “That hurts, it really does. Anyway, do you want the job?”

“What is it?” Kell asked.

“I need you to help Josh out with his archiving, writing the survival manual, all that stuff. It's desk work.”

Kell thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged. “Sure. I've actually talked with him about it once or twice already.”

“I know,” Will said. “That's why you're perfect. He has a habit of getting information he shouldn't have, and a moral compass that spins like a tornado. You never know what he's going to do with what he learns. Which, given the aforementioned army massing against us, could be a very bad thing.”

“So, you want me to spy on him?”

Will shrugged. “I'd like to stay informed, but I'm more interested in having someone with him who can be a voice of reason when he starts getting all righteous and decides to spread information that could harm New Haven's security.”

Kell eyed Will suspiciously. “That sounds practical and reasonable. I feel like you're tricking me somehow, and I'm too dumb to see it.”

Will smiled. “I'm not the bad guy, Kell. Just trying to keep the headaches to a minimum.”

Kell stifled a yawn. “Yeah, fine. I'll do it. Now go away and let me sleep.”

“Oh, before I do, just wanted to say I'm glad you managed to work things out with Kate,” Will said.

“What are you talking about?” Kell asked, bewildered.

“Laura told me you guys weren't talking,” Will explained. “But she was here when I came in. Left right before you woke up. Anyway, sleep tight. And thanks.”

“Yeah,” Kell said. “No problem.”

Tired though he was, he stayed awake for a long time.

Kell knocked on the door. At least, it looked like a door. The section of heavily reinforced plywood had a handle, so he was assuming a bit.

Behind the stout wall, a door opened, followed by footsteps. With a clanking of metal, the lock released and a narrow section of the barrier glided open smoothly.

A woman stood there. She was tall, at least six feet, and her dark skin drank up the morning pre-dawn light. He hair was pulled back into a tight nest of curls. There was a bulging canvas bag hanging at her hip, the strap wedged between her breasts. She adjusted it as Kell stood staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

Kell shook his head to clear it. “Sorry, you just looked really familiar. Kind of surprised me.”

Her eyebrows lowered into a line, and she frowned a little. Kell thought it was supposed to be a serious expression, but the way it made her lips purse and her cheeks puff out made her look like a little kid making a face. It was cute, and the incongruity of something adorable standing in front of this small fortress was enough to make him choke back a laugh.

“I'm Jess,” she said. “Josh's wife. He's inside.”

“Oh, okay,” Kell said. “I'll just go on in, then. Don't want to keep you.”

Jess held up a hand. “A few things you need to know before you go in there.”

Kell nodded, taking the words seriously despite how difficult her girlish voice made it.

“He's depressed,” she continued. “It comes and goes in cycles. Didn't start until after we didn't have pharmacies to fix his brain chemistry. He also has anxiety problems. Don't stress him out. If he wants to talk to you about these things, you're welcome to. Until and unless he does, don't say anything to upset him.”

“Sure,” Kell said, bobbing his head in assent.

Jess eyed him, then pointed back at the house. “Go on in. Keep it light. If I come home this afternoon and he's worse than when I left him, you and I are going to have a problem.”

“Uh,” Kell said. “Okay, but—”

Jess slapped him on the arm. “Glad to hear it. Have a good day. Lock the door behind you.”

Confused and a little worried, Kell watched her stride away. Resigned, he shut and locked the door and walked across the walled area to the side door of the house itself.

“Keep it light,” he muttered to himself. “Sure, I murdered the world. It'll be easy.”

Kell opened the storm door, but before he could knock the sound of dogs barking drowned out all rational thought. They must have been just on the other side of the door, and from the sound of it vicious enough to tear him apart.

There was some muffled shouting amid the barks, which cut off as if someone had hit a switch. “You can come in now,” a voice said.

Nervously, Kell did, steeling himself for the inevitable mauling.

Just inside lay a kitchen, the floor done in small white tiles of various sizes, a repeating pattern. Josh stood behind two dogs, both sitting on their haunches. Though they didn't appear on edge, neither dog was relaxed, either. Both studied him with quiet severity, trying to decide if he would make a good meal.

“They're fine,” Josh said. “Just let them give you a good sniff and you're golden.” He choked up on the leashes latched to their collars. Leaning down between them, he pointed to Kell. “Friend.”

Kell took a deep breath and crouched, extending a hand. The first to sniff him was the thicker dog, who looked like a mix between a German Shepherd and a Chow. His short muzzle wiggled, stubby whiskers flicking as he smelled. His mouth dropped open in a doggy grin.

“Good boy, Bigby,” Josh said.

Emboldened, Kell moved his hand close to the other dog, a Golden Retriever so pale he was almost white. His lip curled, a low rumble filling the tiny kitchen. Josh thumped him gently on the top of the head. “Riley, calm down.”

Riley rolled his brown eyes toward his human, as if to protest this sort of embarrassing treatment in front of a guest. With a huff, the Golden craned his head forward and licked Kell's hand, then lost all interest.

“Let me just take the leashes off, and we can get to work,” Josh said.

“Sure,” Kell replied. He looked around, and marveled at the number of modifications just within his field of view. There was a ladder leading to a hole cut in the ceiling, which had to end in the hatch on the roof. Where a refrigerator should have been was a homemade box with copper tubes leading from it. There was a table, of course, but the walls were lined with shelves instead of cabinets, every one of them packed with food, all neatly labeled.

The wall to the left of the door had a bar cut out of it, showing the living room. Two sofas made a V in one corner. There was a small wood stove, also homemade, at the end of one of the couches. Silvery piping led from it and into a jagged hole in the wall, which was filled in with some sort of foam. The windows were securely covered with plywood and metal, though they looked removable.

More food and other goods were stored along one wall of the living room, though stacked around something Kell was surprised to see. “You still have a TV up?” Kell asked. “Why?”

Josh stood, tossing the leashes onto a sofa. He leaned over and flipped a switch on the wall. The room, lit by several candles, was suddenly washed with light from the fixture on the ceiling fan.

“Because sometimes we like to watch movies or old shows,” Josh said, flipping the light off.

“Wait, you have regular power here?”

“Sure,” Josh said. “The back half of the roof is all solar panels. The back yard has two wind turbines we built. Small ones, but still pretty effective. Oh, and we've got a stationary bike wired up as a generator for when it's not windy or sunny.” He ushered Kell into the tiny hallway, opening a set of accordion doors. “Washer and dryer used to be here. Now it's a hatch to the crawlspace in case we have to make a run for it, and batteries. Even took out the furnace so we could fit more batteries in here.”

Kell was impressed. “How long did it take you to do this?”

“Not that long,” Josh said. “Most of it was easy. Just maxed out every credit card we had.”

“You did this
before
everything fell apart?” Kell asked, shocked.

“Well, not all of it. We added here and there. But yeah, we basically started a day or two after the outbreak in Cincinnati.”

Kell was flabbergasted. “But why? Did you know what was happening?”

Josh smiled slyly. “No, but I had an idea.” He turned, opened a door, and gestured Kell inside.

Strips of LEDs lit the room, which fell somewhere between an office and a shrine to pop culture. A large corner desk took up most of one half of the room. Another, smaller desk filled in the rest of the space along one wall. Both were piled with paperwork, as were bookcases which ran along the rest of the perimeter.

Where there weren't desks or bookcases, there were shelves and pictures. Over the corner desk hung two framed movie posters, one for
Night of the Living Dead,
the other for
28 Days Later
. Corner shelves sat between them, festooned with action figures, dolls, bobble heads, cups, pens, sculptures, and numerous other objects with a common theme.

Zombies.

“Wow,” Kell said. “You...are such a nerd.”

Josh laughed. “Yes I am. And when I saw what was happening on the news, I flashed back to every zombie movie I'd ever watched. It was just so obvious.”

Kell gaped in disbelief. “You're telling me you spent all the money you had, put yourself in debt, on the off chance you were right that we were...what, getting ready to experience a zombie apocalypse?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds crazy,” Josh said. “Though at the start, I thought I was crazy, too.” He gazed at the wall of paraphernalia for a few seconds. “The thing that still blows me away is that I was
right
.”

For the next hour they sorted out exactly what Kell's job would be. Because of his injuries, he was unable to lift the heavy boxes of paper, but Josh wasn't put off by the limitation.

“I'll set out what you'll be working on every morning,” he said. “It'll be easy from there. Mostly collating and copying records.”

“What sort of records?” Kell asked.

Spreading papers across Kell's desk, the other man explained. “New Haven has a lot of paperwork. It's not just pointless filing, though. We're tracking everything from how much food we expend to how efficient our scheduling is. See, right now we're in a huge growth phase. Most of our effort is spent on guarding, producing food, and securing housing for all the people moving here. What we want is a baseline so we can figure out when we're getting stable. That way we can figure out the best way to begin to build new things, maybe even start sending groups out to pioneer and reclaim land.”

“Huh,” Kell grunted. “That sounds...”

“Incredibly boring,” Josh finished.

“I was going to say it was smart, but yes. It does sound really boring.”

Leaning against the desk, Josh tapped a finger against his lip. “Well, there is something else I'd like some help with. We can switch off when we're ready to pull our hair out.”

He laid a heavy binder on top of the mess on Kell's desk, flipping it open with one hand. Kell leaned over, studying it.

Rather than the neat handwritten and typed tables and tallies of the records, this was a chaotic assortment of notes and drawings, interspersed with the occasional printout or page ripped directly out of a book. There were many corrections, scribbled-out sections, and revisions. Kell stopped on a page thick with ink. His heart began to hammer as he scanned the page.

Excited, he read a passage out loud.

“
The first and most important factor you have to understand about any zombie you encounter is that it could be one of many varieties. From the beginning of the plague, they have evolved. First it was the ability to withstand cold, then they began to grow more intelligent. Now there are the New Breed, which are undead capable of working in groups. They're almost as strong as living people, they're harder to kill, and they seem to be able to coerce other zombies to perform tasks. As important as it is to know what kind of zombie you're facing, it's just as vital to understand that you could be looking at an entirely new strain. They mutate often and quickly. Below is a list of types...
”

Kell looked up at Josh. “What is this?”

“That's the first draft of the survival manual,” Josh said. “It's going to contain everything we've been able to figure out about the plague, which as you can see includes the stuff our observations and experiments have told us about the zombies. But not just that. There's tons of stuff in there explaining how to build shelters, how to hunt, what common plants are good to eat, which ones make medicines. Hell, there's even an engineering section for making crude generators. The end product will cover every base we can think of. You interested?”

Kell flipped through more pages, drinking in the information. “Absolutely.”

“Good. Then you can spend today copying over all that stuff onto a document. Let me grab you a laptop.”

For the next two hours, Kell lost himself in the flood of data. There were time lines of each observed mutation, cross-referenced by location. Page after page of observations made during experiments on captured zombies. Dozens of sticky notes marked pages, each note containing some factoid or piece of additional data that gave the information a whole new dimension. Often, these contained theories about the plague. Kell was in heaven.

His swim through the ocean of information was interrupted by the sound of an attack bell. Kell shot to his feet, his brain automatically deciphering the pattern of the bells into a location. “That's the expansion, north side,” he said.

Then the pain hit him. Standing up so quickly had been stupid. Thoughtless. After less than a week and even with the boost to his recovery brought by Chimera, it was still too soon to be doing things like that.

“Sit down,” Josh said. “No fighting for you. Don't feel too bad, they aren't letting me go out there either.”

Kell sat, carefully avoiding any more rapid motions. His ribs (or lack thereof) were grateful for the effort. “Why not? You're not hurt, are you?”

“Had a bad time a while back,” Josh said. “I was...really down. Didn't care if I got hurt. Since then it's been off and on whether they'll let me fight. Will is a friend of mine, and I think he's afraid I'll jump out in front of an enemy when I don't have to.”

“Would you?” Kell asked.

“No,” Josh said. “Maybe once, but I'm in a much better place now. Even my lows aren't
that
low anymore. Aside from that, Jess doesn't want me to go out unless it's absolutely necessary. So for the last month I've been an emergency backup. I only go fight when it's all hands on deck.”

“Been hurt a lot, have you?” Kell asked, eager to not think about how similar their situations were.

The other man smiled. “Haven't we all?”

He grinned at Kell's questioning look. “To answer your question...”