Empire Of Salt (30 page)

Veronica's eyes widened. "How the hell can you know that? What school did you go to?"

"The Robert Heinlein and Iain M. Banks school of science fiction."

"The what?"

"Also don't forget Marvel and DC comics. Tolkien.
Star Trek
.
Star Wars
.
Watchmen
."

Veronica clapped her hands and laughed. "Oh my God. You're a nerd."

"If that's what you call people in L.A. who actually read something besides the sides of milk cartons and wanted posters in the post offices, then yes, I'm a nerd."

"Bill Gates was a nerd and now he's one of the richest men in the world," Metzger put in.

Derrick shot Metzger a thank you look.

"But all this is from comics, books and movies," Veronica pointed out. "It can't really work, can it?"

"Why not? The best science fiction uses some science to make it look real, otherwise it's too far-fetched to believe. I've learned more about science from those things than I have in school," Derrick said. "Anyway, it's just a theory."

"But it's as good a theory as anyone's," Metzger said, again returning to the window. "Hey, the weather is picking up outside. This storm looks like it's going to dump on us soon."

"How soon?" Natasha asked.

Metzger shook his head. "Don't ask me. I'm not the weatherman. I run from zombies for a living."

"We have an hour or two before the worst of it arrives," Veronica said.

"We need to find out," Natasha said, coming to a decision. She swung her legs onto the floor. "We need proof." She thought about Gerald and the zombie that he'd been chasing. If only he'd been able to capture the creature, she wouldn't have to suggest what she was about to suggest.

"And how do you figure we're going to get that? Just walk up to the zombie factory, bang on the door, and ask to see the zombies?" Veronica asked, sarcasm twisting her lips.

"Not necessarily." Natasha turned to Veronica. "I saw some dive tanks at the Duvall's. Do you know if they use them?"

Veronica nodded.

Light twinkled in Natasha's eyes. "You do know how to dive, don't you, living all those years in Florida?"

Metzger stared at her with the beginnings of terror as he figured out her idea. He nodded reluctantly. "Yeah."

"Good. Then you can go down there and see what the lights are about."

"Go down where?"

"In the water." She told them about the map she'd seen Rico going over with the off-limits area right beside the quay. They all agreed that if there was to be some sort of underwater entrance, or exit, it would be there.

"You're volunteering me to dive into the water and look for zombies?"

She nodded.

"Might as well ask me to put my head in a lion's mouth."

"They have two sets of tanks," Veronica said.

Natasha shook her head at Veronica, but the other girl didn't listen. Instead, she repeated herself.

"So they have two pairs," Metzger said with macabre glee. "Then you can join me, can't you Natasha?"

"I don't know how to use them."

"Oh, it'll be easy."

"But maybe we should -"

"No buts, Natasha. You're right. We do need to check." To Derrick, he said, "We'll need the two of you onshore to make sure nothing comes in after us. Think you can handle it?"

An hour later found Derrick sitting on an overturned barrel at the edge of the Salton Sea, near the quay that ran to the desalination plant. Behind him the sump pump growled angrily as it fought to keep the water out of the streets. The sky was a mat of grey steel, and the wind blew offshore, raising white caps on the waves.

Veronica sat beside him. She held a speargun across her lap. The combination of the L.A. Lakers basketball jersey and basketball shoes, her wild hair, her mocha skin and the weapon made her look like a gangbanger from the
Jonny Quest
cartoon.

Derrick had the urge to kiss her, but he'd never kissed a girl before. Her lips were only a foot away from his. All he had to do was lean over and do it.

What's the worst that could happen?
he asked himself. Eyeing the glint of sunlight off the wickedly-barbed tip of the spear, he had his answer.

But looking out at his sister and Metzger with their SCUBA gear on, wading through the dead fish and seaweed, he had a feeling that this was going to be his only chance. This could be the end of things, and if it really was going to be the end, he didn't want to go out without having kissed a girl. After all, didn't all the heroes in his comics, books and movies kiss the girl? Then why shouldn't he?

So he leaned over and kissed her square on the lips.

And to his great surprise, Veronica kissed him back.

When they finished, Derrick stared out at his sister as she fully submerged, with the biggest shit-eating grin that ever graced a teenaged boy's face. He never once looked at Veronica, but could feel the heat of her gaze.

"You're gonna be something else someday," was all she said.

The water felt nasty, like olive oil mixed with fish guts. Natasha knew she was going to stink when she got out of it. And she didn't like the way the mask enclosed her in its claustrophobic embrace, stealing her peripheral vision. In fact, she hated the whole enterprise and couldn't believe she'd been talked into joining Metzger.

He swam a little forward and to her right. The idea was to hug the shoreline along the quay until they found some indication of something man-made. The water wasn't very deep; her gauge read twelve feet. Off to her left the sea was deeper, but the slope was gradual. In fact, it was shallow enough that light from the sky above filtered through the water and provided enough illumination to guide them.

They'd found the SCUBA gear at the Duvall's place right where Natasha had last seen it. The tanks had been recently filled, the date scribbled on a sticker on the side of each one. Metzger said everything was in good working order, so with a quick lesson on how to use the equipment, he guided her into the water.

Now she swam next to him, her flippers doing most of the work, her hands out in front of her. She felt clunky. Her legs didn't move as smoothly as they could, and certainly not as smoothly as Metzger's. His long, bare legs swished slowly back and forth. He'd removed all of his clothes except his underwear. She'd kept her underwear on too, and a T-shirt.

A layer of bird and fish bones, probably from the multiple die-offs over the years, made the sand-covered bottom look like a battlefield where the dead numbered in the thousands. Visibility in the dark green water was reduced to about ten feet. She could just make out Metzger's head as he swam beside her, but there was nothing else except darker water beyond, where the shadows lay.

They swam for a minute or two before they encountered something. The sand gave way to a squared corner of concrete. They stopped and reached down to touch it. One edge of the concrete ran parallel with the quay. The other ran straight into the sea.

They followed the edge along the quay for a while, but it kept going far out of sight. They backtracked and began to follow the other edge out to sea. Natasha noticed that the depth of the water was still relatively shallow, no more than twenty feet. She also noted that the expanse of concrete, larger than multiple football fields as far as she could tell, was devoid of bone or other detritus. It was as if someone, or something, kept the surface clean.

Metzger tapped her on the arm. He pointed towards the middle of the concrete expanse. Natasha nodded and gestured for him to lead.

They swam languidly. Here and there she could feel the swells above as the wind from Tropical Storm Hiawatha ripped the surface. She wondered how Veronica and her brother were doing. Leaving them topside with the speargun was the best they could do, but the weapon was for monsters. If Hopkins were to arrive with soldiers, what could they actually do?

Beneath Natasha, the concrete remained clean of debris. If it hadn't existed on the bottom of the murky sea she would have thought of it as a parking lot. A shadow appeared in the distance, and she touched Metzger's leg. He nodded without turning, indicating that he'd seen it too. They swam slowly, minds racing at the possibilities of what the murk might unveil.

But what they eventually saw didn't make a lot of sense. Four thick chains covered in moss and algae were piled on the concrete. Each chain was attached to an immense eyebolt embedded in the cement, and beside this was a metal box with a blinking red light. Beneath the light was a circular hole, but Natasha couldn't figure out what belonged there.

Metzger reached down and hefted the chains. By his ponderous movements, Natasha could tell that their weight was considerable.

They stared at the box and chains for a few more moments, then moved on, trying to maintain their original heading. Soon other shadows appeared, each one a dozen or so feet apart. The next one they swam to was virtually identical to the one they'd just left. The only exception was that the chains didn't have as much algae, and a nozzled hose ran from the mysterious hole inset beneath the curiously blinking red light.

They moved on to the next shadow and stopped dead. The use to which the chains and nozzle had been purposed was no longer a mystery. For in front of them was one of the zombies, bound at the wrists and ankles by the chains, the hose running from the box into a metal pucker on the back of its neck.

Thankfully it faced the other direction, but that did little to still Natasha's hammering heart. Its skin was mottled green. Here and there she could see bone, along the spine, on the left hip and right shoulder blade. The zombie couldn't stand up straight. The chains pulled it down so it was almost on all fours.

She thought back to the empty chains she'd seen. Were those evidence of zombies who'd escaped, or were they evidence of zombies yet to be made?

Metzger grabbed her attention by waving a hand in front of her mask. She jerked back, startled momentarily, then looked at him. He indicated that they should move behind the zombie to another shape down the line. She agreed that that would be the ideal, allowing them to look at the zombies without affording the creatures the same opportunity. There was no telling what the zombies might do if they saw her and Metzger. So they headed off at a right angle, swimming slowly towards the next large shadow in line.

This one was much like the last, except it had no hair at all. Parts of the skull showed through the skin. Darker greens indicated that it might have been in the water longer, or at least dead longer.

They continued, swimming past zombie after zombie. She quickly lost count, but they must have numbered in the hundreds. Natasha suddenly realized the immensity of what she was seeing. The broad, unbroken expanse of concrete had been created to hold zombies in rows so that they could be tested. Water was a far cry from space, but just as unbreathable. That this immense slab existed just beneath the surface of the sea within a stone's throw of the town of Bombay Beach was terrifying.

Finally she and Metzger came upon a connection where a zombie had broken free of one of its manacles. Not broken free, Natasha realized, but the hand on that arm had rotted away, leaving nothing more than a stump. As they swam past, it turned towards them and for the first time she saw the eerie yellow glow in its eyes.

They stopped cold.

As did the zombie. It seemed confused at first, but then its stare turned into a predatory scowl. Teeth gnashed slowly in the water, as if it could taste them from five feet away. Then suddenly it exploded into a fury of movement. Its arms, legs - its entire body thrashed against the chains with such madness that both Metzger and Natasha found themselves backing away. So violent was its attempt to get at them that its left arm broke in two, allowing the second manacle to fall to the concrete floor. Then it tried to rush towards them, but was held back by the chains attached to its legs.

Both Metzger and Natasha turned to flee, but found themselves face to face with another zombie. Natasha screamed, losing her breathing apparatus in a bubble cloud of terror.

Metzger swam towards her, clamping his hand over her mouth to once again create a seal. But instead of cooperating, she fought against it.

Natasha was caught in between lines of zombies, thrashing creatures on either side of them. The metal boxes on these zombies had blinking green lights rather than red ones. Their eyes were an unearthly yellow, radiating madness. And they were all going to break free and get her, they were going to eat her like they ate everyone else. Watching the line of zombies gnashing at the water, struggling violently to break free, she knew her fate resided in those teeth.

Natasha shook her head as Metzger tried to get her mask back on. She reached out and pushed at his face, causing a stream of bubbles to explode from his mouthpiece as it, too, dislodged.

Natasha could no longer breathe. The weight on her chest grew unbearable, and Natasha's vision began to blacken along the edges. She was going to die right here, right now, and become a zombie like the rest of them. Somewhere there was an umbilical cord ready to be shoved into her neck, manacles ready to be clasped around her limbs.

Then she found herself shuttled upwards. When they finally breached the surface, it was into the teeth of the storm. The wind howled. Rain slashed at their faces. Waves slapped their heads with each passing moment.