Badlands Trilogy (Book 2): Beyond the Badlands (25 page)

“I’m gonna miss her. We spent a lot of time together.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have a girlfriend?”

Jasper frowned. “Very funny. Did anybody tell you your sense of humor sucks?”

“You’re the first.”

“I doubt that.”

“Come on,” Ed said, smiling. “Let’s get moving.”

Jasper took a final look at the bike before following Ed.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” Glenn Summerville said from behind his desk in the college’s former administrative office. Made of solid oak, the desk appealed to Glenn’s grandiose sensibilities.

Before Glenn stood two of his soldiers; a short man with red hair, the other tall and thin with a shaved head. Glenn thought the ginger went by the name of Davidson, but he couldn’t be entirely sure. The other man answered to Sherman.

“Where’d you find them?” Glenn asked Sherman.

“On the tracks, sir. Just outside the city.”

Glenn looked the group over. Ropes bound their hands behind their backs. He pointed to one of the prisoners “What happened to his face?”

“We found him like that.”

“Whoa, boy. Looks like you got your clocked cleaned, huh?”

Glenn opened the top drawer of the desk and retrieved a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and dragged deeply before blowing a swirling cloud of acrid smoke into the room. “What’s your name, son?”

“Fuck you.”

Glenn frowned. “Answer or I’ll cut your girlfriend’s tits off. I fucking promise you that.”

The man paused, glancing at one of the women. “Ryan.”

“That’s better, Ryan. I guess I don’t have to ask which one’s your girlfriend now, do I? That look told me all I needed to know.” He pointed at Trish and the boys. “Tell me, Ryan, who the hell are they?”

No answer from Ryan.

“Looks like this guy and his girlfriend had them tied up,” Sherman said.

Glenn leaned back in his chair and took another drag off the cigarette. “Ain’t that a kicker. Looks they had themselves a few pets. This is a fucked up world, ain’t it?”

Davidson and Sherman nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“You,” Glenn said, pointing at Trish. “What’s your name?”

“Trish.”

“Those your kids?”

“Yes. Where’s the guard?”

Another drag on the cigarette. “They’re long gone, honey. But from your question I gather you’re from St. Louis?”

“Maybe.”

“Definitely. My youngest boy is there. He’s running things now.”

“You set those bombs off.”

“Not me personally. Call it a family effort. What’d you think of the show?”

Trish didn’t reply.

“Speechless. That good, eh? What about this cute couple over here? The ones who had you tied up. Are they from St. Louis too?”

Trish shook her head.

“Then how, pray tell, did you and those kids end up at the end of their leash.”

“They tricked us.”

Glenn shrugged. “That’ll happen, I guess. That party’s over now. What’d you do in St. Louis? You do any cooking?”

“Sometimes.”

“Well, hot damn. Sometimes good fortune just falls right into your lap. Smitty’s been bitching about being short-handed in the kitchen. Looks like we got ourselves a few cooks right here.” He pointed at Davidson. “Take these three to the kitchen.”

“Yes, sir.”
 

Davidson herded Trish, Zach and Jeremy out of the office.

Glenn stood. He walked around and sat on the corner of the desk. Wisps of smoke drifted from the cigarette as he locked eyes on Beth. “I’ll bet you were the hottest little piece of ass in your trailer park.”

“Fuck you,” Ryan snarled.

“You watch your mouth, boy. Unless you want us to get back to work on rearranging that face of yours.”

Ryan stared, eyes cold and hard.

“She’s a little rough around the edges, sure. But she’s got a killer body and an ass that won’t quit. Pretty too, in a cornfed sort of way. How old were you when you started stripping, baby doll?”

“Don’t answer him.”

“I thought I told you to shut the fuck up!” Glenn launched forward, driving his fist into Ryan’s stomach. Ryan crumpled to the floor.

“Leave him alone!” Beth screamed, lunging.

Sherman yanked her back.

Glenn sat again, reset his hair and smoothed his shirt. “Some people just don’t understand English.”

“Motherfucker!” Beth growled. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

Glenn delivered a backhanded slap to Beth’s face. She glared silently at him. A line of blood trickled from her lip.

“You two don’t know when to shut up.” Glenn pointed at Ryan. “Lock his ass up until I figure out what to do with him. And get her cleaned up. When you bring her to me I want her in something nice. Maybe something red.”

“Yes, sir,” Sherman replied, yanking Ryan to his feet. Beth launched into a string of obscenities as Sherman guided both prisoners out of the office.

Returning to his chair, Glenn leaned back and placed his feet up on the desk. Smiling, he took a final drag from the cigarette before crushing it out.

“We’re digging what?” Gary asked, plunging his shovel into the dirt.

“Graves,” Dave said.

Johnny shot them a disapproving look. “Keep digging. And keep your voices down.”

Gary resumed digging. “You’re sure what you saw in that shed was bodies?”

“One hundred percent.”

“They were guardsmen?”

“They still had their uniforms on.”

Gary sighed. “This is messed up.”

Johnny dumped a shovelful of dirt into his pile. “The world has always been messed up. Even before the virus. You think we’re the first people to ever dig a mass grave?”

“I get your point.”

The men continued to dig. Two dozen yards away another of Glenn’s men stood guard over the digging. On this day, Whipple made no appearance.

“That’s not the only thing I found,” Dave continued.

“Don’t keep us in the dark,” Johnny said.

“Guns. Ammunition. Explosives.”

“How much?”

“A lot. Crates of the stuff.”

“Glenn is building an army,” Gary said.

Dave frowned. “Is he? Because that’s not what I see here. Every day I see the same old faces out here. How many guys does Glenn have? Thirty? Forty?”

Johnny grinned. “I said the same thing. But when I brought it up nobody seemed to be interested in it, right Gary?”

“You can’t get out of this place. All you’ll do is get yourself killed. I told you that then.”

“You call this being alive? Cooped up in here and forced to work like slaves? I’d rather be dead.” Johnny turned to Dave. “I suppose you brought this up for a reason. Would I be correct?”

“You would be.”

“So what are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that if we could get our hands on what’s in those crates then we could bring about some change in this dump.”

“Us?” Johnny asked. “You mean just the three of us?”

“No. I’m thinking a bigger ‘us’. How many people do you think Glenn’s got locked up here?”

“Fifty to a hundred.”

“How confident of that are you?”

“Got a friend in here who’s friendly with one of the guards. So I’d say pretty confident.”

“My guess is that those people would like to see things change around here too. So much so that they’d be willing to square off against Glenn and his cronies, provided we give them the firepower to do it.”

“I’d be inclined to agree. Most people don’t like to be caged up. Except Gary here.”

Gary gave Johnny an angry look.

“Johnny, this friend of yours who knows Glenn’s guard, how close are you two?”

“Close enough.”

“Do you trust him?”

“I suppose.”

“We’ll need more than that.”

“Good luck then. That’s about as sure a thing as it’s gonna get.”

Dave dumped a shovelful of dirt onto his pile. “Can you get to your guy? Talk to him about helping us?”

“It depends on how good your plan is.”

Gary shook his head. “I think this is a bad idea.”

Johnny glared. “Gary, you might be fine with living like a rat in a cage, but I’m done with it.” He turned to Dave. “Tell us about this plan of yours.”

It was Clint Howard’s opinion that for centuries men had ruled the world through brutality and fear.

But eventually the modern age dawned, bringing with it the industrial revolution and the information age. Brain replaced brawn. Logic and reason replaced the sword and the gun and after a quarter million years humankind’s power balance finally shifted.
 

In this brave new world those with small brains and big fists no longer possessed the tools to lead. Those tools belonged to the formerly downtrodden.

Luckily for Clint, he’d been born at exactly the right time. A well-paid programmer in his old life, he’d written code that manipulated the behavior of millions across the Internet. The kings of old would have done anything to get that power of persuasion. And all without a drop of blood shed.

Then the virus came and swept away everything. The old world crashed. No more computers, no more Internet, no more money.

No more power.

In an instant it all reverted. Power and control went right back to the same brutal monsters who’d possessed it for all those thousands of years before. The warlords and the sociopaths. The bullies of the old world ruled the playground once again.

By now, Clint had had enough.

So when Johnny approached him with his plan, Clint volunteered.

Once he’d believed that logic and reason could be enough. That intelligence trumped unconscionable brute strength. Now he realized that sometimes one had to resort to the very tactics one despised in order to restore peace.

Johnny wanted Clint to reach out to Jason, one of Glenn’s guards. One of the good guys. He agreed, but he knew very well that if Jason couldn’t be trusted, they were all dead men.

So with this knowledge he waited for Glenn’s not-so-dedicated soldier to come knocking that night with dinner before whispering through the door.

As Jason handed the tray of food through the door, Clint made his pitch.

“One more thing, Jay.”

“What do you want, Clint?”

“To talk.”

“I don’t have time. Not tonight.”

“No, it has to be tonight. Right now.”

Another pause.

“Come on. Just a couple of minutes. It’s important.”

More silence. Finally Jason answered. “One minute and then we’re done.”

“I want out of this shithole. I know you do too.”

“There’s no getting you out of here, Clint. We already talked about it. I can’t take that chance.”

“I don’t need you to get me out. I just need you to help get me a couple of things. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“Who’s we?”

“That’s not important. It’s better you don’t know.”

“Clint, I can’t help you.”

“Jay, hear me out. Please.”

Lips pursed, Jason sighed. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Clint.” He closed and locked the door behind him.

Clint stood at the closed door, staring for what seemed an eternity.

After the death of the motorcycle, Ed and Jasper walked the rest of the day, camping in the woods before dusk. With enough clean water they opted not to build a fire and settled on chicken noodle soup straight from the can. Around them a light breeze blew through the tree tops as crickets chirped indecipherable messages to one another in the darkness.

“What do you miss most about the old world?” Jasper asked.

Ed thought for a while. “Being able to take things for granted. You?”

“Porn.”

Ed laughed. “Really? Porn?”

Jasper shrugged. “Well, maybe it’s not the thing I miss most, but I’m saying I do miss it. That’s all.”

“Fair enough.”

“What do you miss the least?” Jasper asked.

“Politicians. Politics in general.”

“Amen to that. Hey, speaking of amen, what about that Pastor Dan? He was a cool dude.”

“That he was. One of the good ones.”

“Yeah, definitely one of the good ones.”

Silence passed between them as the forest’s sounds worked to fill the gap.

“You think it’s weird we haven’t seen anybody yet?” Jasper asked.

“I do.”

“You don’t think they’re all gone do you? People, I mean.”

Ed shrugged. “Hard to say. I think there might only be a handful of us left, infected and uninfected.”

“That’s kinda mind-blowing when you think about it.”

“Tell me about it.”

 
Jasper stood and stretched. “I’ll take first watch. You get yourself some sleep. You’re probably in a world of hurt after walking all day.”

“I can stay up for a while.”

“Sleep. Now.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll get you up later. Don’t worry, I won’t let you cut into my beauty sleep,” Jasper said.

Ed grinned. “I’d hate myself.”

Jasper stared into the darkness. A few moments later he spoke again. “You know the thing I thought I’d miss most?”

“More than porn?”

“Music. I haven’t heard the radio or seen an iPod for the past four years now. No live music either. That’s been a bummer, but listening to these crickets each night…they make music, you know? I never noticed any of this shit before.”

“The virus changed a lot of people,” Ed said.

“Not that I’d ever choose it, but the world ending made me stop and think. It’s all fleeting, you know? If humanity was to go away altogether tomorrow, these crickets will be here singing later that same night. Like we were never here.”

“Humanity will make it. Don’t worry.”

Jasper turned, the firelight flickering in his eyes. “I don’t know…maybe it’s time for the crickets to get their chance.”

“Good night, Jasper.”

* * *

They rose early the following morning and got moving just as the sun cracked the horizon’s edge. The forest gave way to overgrown farmland as they walked, the sun chasing them from behind.

Though early in the growing season, they managed to pick some tomatoes from an unkempt farm field. After wading through tall grass, they found a few apple trees bearing green fruit. Though bitter, the fresh fruit tasted exquisite compared to the years old canned food to which they’d become accustomed.