The Ugly Beginning - 01 (33 page)

“Raiders.” Mister Smith let that word hang for a few seconds. “The undead aren’t our only problem. And, it would seem that certain factions of those who remain alive not only want nothing to do with order, they are thriving quite nicely in the chaos.”

“This is all well and good, Mister Smith.” I didn’t want to waste any more of my night with casual banter. It was obvious he’d come to my place with a purpose. “I don’t know what any of this has to do with me, so why not just put it on the table.”

“I have a nine-year-old daughter…here.”

I didn’t see that coming.

“She was in my car with me the day I got the phone call. Due to the urgency, I had no choice but to bring her with me.” All of a sudden, the unwaverable Mister Randall Smith was speaking quickly and with emotion. “I had to use a bit of bluster at times, and make threats that I hoped nobody would call me on. Somehow, I managed to bring Emily along with me all the way here. I thought this would be the safest place for her.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had no idea that his daughter was among the children living here. Also, I had no idea why he was telling me all of this. After giving me a moment to digest all of it, he continued.

“I have a duty. Even though I doubt we will prevail and turn this around…the whole zombie situation…I have to exhaust every effort,” he said in that curt voice I was accustomed. “We have two herds in the vicinity. One seems to be coming at us. Estimated size is over five thousand.”

I’d seen handfuls. I’d seen hundreds. But five thousand zombies was something I just could not wrap my mind around. I thought back to that first morning as we passed through Vancouver. There had been so many of those things on both sides of the freeway. Maybe a thousand or two. But they’d been spread out.

“I’m still a bit fuzzy on why you’re here, Mister Smith,” I said.

“I want you to bring Emily with you.” What I imagine passed for a smile tried to break through his normal stoic face. “And please, I think at this point it will be okay to call me Randall.”

“I don’t follow.” I was so very confused.

“My daughter. Emily. I want you to bring her with you when you and your group leave the facility.” He gestured at my row of bags. “I assume it is tonight from all the activity at your residence this evening.”

“There could be a number of reasons I’ve had friends over.” I sounded defensive, and even in my own ears I could hear how weak and flimsy my statement was.

“And Doctor Zahn?” Mister Smith, or Randall, was all business now. “She doesn’t make house calls. Has no known social circle. Yet, she was with Sergeant Wimmer for about an hour, then came to your place only after waiting for that young lady to leave.”

“Are you having me watched?” I asked angrily.

“
Having
you watched?” he laughed just a bit. “Goodness no. I’ve been doing it all myself. After all, I’m entrusting you with the dearest thing in my life.”

“I’m sure you’ll think me the perfect bastard,” his voice was just a bit quieter as he spoke. “As I’ve said, I have a duty. One that I take seriously. If I abandon my post, I remove one more obstacle for these abominations. As long as I do what I was assigned, I give anybody who remains working on a solution just a while longer. By walking away from my responsibility, I, in effect, surrender my daughter to this new world. That is something I am not prepared to do.”

“But just putting her in the care of a total stranger?” I objected. Some of my objection felt genuine. Yet, another part of it had to do with my own fear of responsibility. I was already quite overwhelmed with Thalia.

“I’ve listened to the debriefing interviews that every civilian who’s arrived here underwent. I heard enough to know you were my choice. I can assure you I did not make this decision lightly or without research.” Randall stood. I thought he was going to end our little meeting. Instead, he stepped around the chair and walked towards the door that led to the bedroom. To Thalia!

“Whoa!” I sprang to my feet, scrambling to get myself between him and the door. I planted my feet and my hands shot forward. He was close enough that I made contact and rocked him back a bit.

“That, Steven, is why I’m entrusting my daughter to your care.” Randall folded his arms across his chest and fixed his most serious gaze on me. “In the event that this location is overrun and I’m unable to escape, I want to know I’ve given Emily the best chance of survival possible.”

My appraisal of this man changed. The look we shared said it all. He knew he would die here, but he was willing to risk everything. If, by holding out one more day, he improved some think-tank or governmental lab’s chances of finding a way to beat this or whatever…then he would do so. Randall Smith took his job seriously. It would appear that he took his responsibility as a father equally serious. In that moment, we both knew one thing with certainty. Randall Smith was a dead man.

“I’ll do my best,” I promised.

“I have no doubt.” Randall extended his hand, and we shook. That was the physical act of a vow made and accepted. With a final curt nod, he headed to the front door.

“Don’t you want that escort home?” I asked as he opened the door to a gentle gust of night air.

“No,” he turned with a smile that suddenly reminded me of a mischievious school boy, “I like to keep the sentries on their toes. Besides, I think I’ll pay Sergeant Wimmer a visit.”

With that, he left. I had no doubt in my mind that I’d never see Randall Smith again. I returned to the couch and flopped down. Reaching over to the coffee table, I grabbed my book, flipped to the bookmark and began to read.

***

The drone of my alarm clock woke me. Ten minutes later, Doctor Zahn arrived in the company of a sleepy-eyed girl with slightly Asian features. Her straight, black hair was cut shoulder length and poking out from underneath a dark green stocking cap. I ushered them in, and it was quickly decided that Emily could be put with Thalia. Once we had everything ready, the last thing would be to grab the girls.

Barry and Randi arrived with Jamie and Teresa. Aaron was next, followed by Dave who I noticed kept trying his hardest not to look at Doctor Zahn. Ain’t love grand? Last was Melissa, but she wasn’t alone. Sergeant Wimmer walked in behind her, and I felt the tension level in the room ratchet up several notches.

“Paul.” I walked up and shook the man’s hand.

“I’d like to wish all of you good luck.” Sergeant Paul Wimmer paused a moment to give the group time to relax a bit.

“Your vehicles are fueled and waiting. I figured that you might fare better with a pair of Hum-vees. Also, I have this.” He produced a map and handed it to me. “It has fueling locations marked based on our latest intel. The ones circled in blue have the least amount of traffic.”

“Traffic?” Dave Ellis seemed to suddenly snap out of his trance.

“Zombies,” Teresa said, not hiding her exasperation.

“Oh.” Dave glanced sheepishly at Doctor Zahn and quickly began polishing his glasses, though I doubted they had even the slightest smudge.

“Also, I have indicated in black the locations and general directions of the herds we are aware of,” Wimmer announced with emphasis.

“Thanks for everything, Paul.” I tucked the map inside my leather jacket’s inner pocket.

“Randall Smith conveys his best wishes as well,” Paul said.

Once again the tension in the room spiked. “It’s okay, folks.” Now was as good a time as any to reveal the surprise. “We’re bringing his nine-year-old daughter, Emily, with us.”

My gaze went around the room and I hoped it looked resolute. This wasn’t going to be a debate. It could have been some lingering issues playing in my head, but I thought I saw a touch of disapproval on Barry’s face for a moment. Still, nobody said a word.

“Y’all best get movin’.” Paul was suddenly as un-military as I’d ever seen.

“Y’all?” Doctor Zahn smirked.

“Right now I’m just Paul Wimmer, farm boy from Tennessee. If I was Sergeant Paul Wimmer, United States Army, I’d be preventing your departure,” he said with a broad smile.

“Time to get rollin’,” I announced. Gathering up all our things, we’d loaded out in just a couple trips. Patrolling sentries walked past us like we weren’t even there. I guess the word had gone out. On our last trip, we scooped up Thalia and Emily. I wondered how our departure would play among the general population. I was certain that Randall Smith and Paul Wimmer would put a nice spin on the situation. They’d keep the population calm and prevent any sort of mass exodus.

Doctor Zahn, Dave, and Melissa climbed in to the Hum-vee with me. Of course that was the vehicle we’d put Thalia and Emily in. Both girls managed to remain asleep as we got the vehicles started up and rolling through the main entry-gates. I was only a little surprised to discover Randall at the checkpoint shack with the man who opened the inner gate. He glanced in the back before coming to my rolled down window.

“There’s a Forestry Department service road about a half mile down. Take it,” he said. I noticed two things immediately: first, his voice had just a slight tremor, second, a line of perspiration was visible on his upper lip. “No matter what you hear, and that includes on your radios, don’t come back.”

“Take care of yourselves,” I said. Randall stepped back and I pulled forward into the sally-port. The Hum-vee with Jamie, Teresa, Aaron, Randi, and Barry nosed in behind us. The gate closed and, after a moment’s wait, the outer gate opened.

We rolled forward and emerged onto the two-lane road that served as the only way in or out of this pencil-dot-on-a-map of a town. The darkness swallowed our former home in seconds. I glanced up to see thick clouds roll in front of the moon.

The patrols had done an excellent job of dropping any roamers that may have been in the area. We saw absolutely no movement in our headlights as we drove down the gentle slope of the hill this town sat perched upon. We turned onto the service road, and were quickly engulfed by the canopy of a pine forest.

Less than five minutes out, we heard the first distinct sounds of gunfire. I slowed to a stop and dialed in what I knew to be the compound’s emergency frequency on my radio.

“…up from three sides!” That sounded like Anton Maxwell. I realized that I had seen very little of him since our arrival at Serenity Base. He seemed to prefer the company of the soldiers.

So was it a herd, or was it raiders? Could it be both? What the hell was going on? The radio crackled to life, but whoever pushed the button hadn’t likely done so intentionally, because one of
those
screams sounded, follwed by wet ripping sounds, and the all-too-familiar moans of the undead.

The headlights behind me flicked, snapping my attention away from the radio. Everybody in the Hum-vee was staring at me with uncertainty. I switched the radio off and continued deeper into the forest along the heavily overgrown service road.

***

Morning found us parked on a ridge that allowed us to look into the tiny burgh of Kamela. This was the last known location of our friends Ian, Joseph, and Billy…along with the rest of their group.

The rising sun revealed the burned out vehicles we’d heard about, along with a scattered remnant of zombies walking among the charred husks and decaying corpses scattered on the ground.

To our north, a plume of dark smoke is clearly visible. The radio has been silent for over an hour. Whatever happened wasn’t good. The attack was by zombies as well as the living. I have no idea what that means, other than things are really bad.

Once we felt it was okay to stop, we all got out—except for the still sleeping little girls—and had a discussion. We would do our best to reconcile what has happened to our friends.

We’ve found this location, and it is far enough away from that dark smudge of a town that we should be able to observe things for a while. As I sit on the hood of this Hum-vee with a rifle across my lap I wonder…what do we expect to find? And, even if by a miracle we locate our missing friends and discover that they are alive…what do we do next?

17

Vignettes VI

“Pull in that line!” Thad shouted down to JoJo.

Keith was already hauling himself over the rail, having freed the final mooring line. The
San Diego Freedom
drifted slowly away from the dock. Once an elegant vessel used for dinner cruises, the
San Diego Freedom
had two levels. The lower was a windowed dining area with enough room to seat eighty. The upper was divided between the bridge, the kitchen area, and an open observation deck.