Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine (21 page)

Read Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine Online

Authors: Dalton Wolf

Tags: #Zombies

BOOK: Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine
7.07Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Despite the modern construction,
foundation and superstructure, the interior walls were built from stacked pure
white stone blocks, like some ancient roman palace. Instead of the steel
girders that would normally fill the inside of such a large manufacturing plant
or warehouse, this place was supported by intricately carved marble columns. And
in place of the boring suspended-tile ceiling they were expecting, the chamber
had a massive, domed ceiling of painted stone, with a hole at the apex from
which the giant hanging glass and diamond chandelier spread out its rays with
dozens of LED lights disguised as Suns and Galaxies pouring light from wall to
wall. Throughout the enormous chamber, painted as if by a Michelangelo himself,
numerous scenes of the night sky and several of the space ships and vehicles
Hephaestus had designed for various famous movies were artfully enmeshed within
a general tapestry that included many Historic, Scientific and Engineering marvels
from ancient times to current days.

“Oh, and before you all go getting
distracted,” he ripped their attention from intense appreciation of the
immaculate ceiling.

“You were going to find this rope.
And you were going to find what it controls. And you are probably going to want
to pull the rope and explore deeper. Do not do this. No one can go through that
door over there until I release the security on that room,” he pointed to where
a large curtain hung and pulled a cord on the wall.

The curtain across from them slid
aside to reveal a giant tile mural standing at least twice as tall as the doors
they’d just come through. The intricately tiled mosaic depicted Mt. Olympus
with all of the top gods and goddesses standing, floating or sitting in various
poses on a patio cut into the mountain and spreading out from a doorway, which
was also hacked from the mountainside and seemed to be shining forth a
brilliant white light from within.

The girls oohed and aahed. All but
Scaggs, who had been staring at a green ’68 Mustang practically from the moment
she walked into the garage.

“That’s amazing, Hephaestus,”
Calvin admitted about the wall mural.

The details were remarkable. The
entire thing had been artfully worked with half-inch by half-inch tiles, some
areas even smaller, but each tile had been intricately applied one at a time to
match, in craftsmanship, a fresco that could have been done by any one of the
ancient masters. “It cost half as much as the rest of the building,” Hef
admitted. “So I am happy people can enjoy it.”

“I love it!” “It’s beautiful!” “I
think I just came.” Athena, Sarah and Felicia announced. No one could be certain
who said what as they were all talking over each other so there was a brief
pause.

Tripper didn’t like pauses, or
maybe he just used them to garner a bit of attention whenever he could. “Out of
curiosity, what happens if we go in there anyway?” he segued back to the
mysterious room behind the fresco, which as far as he knew only Calvin had ever
been allowed into.

“Well, Trip, if you are thinking
about trying to get in there, I think it is important to tell you now that I have
always liked you, and I am truly going to miss you.”

“You could have just said
it’s
booby
trapped
,” Tripper muttered.

“My way sounded more dramatic.”

“Ooh. What’s back there?” Felicia
asked, eyes wide in curious wonder.

“You will not see that for a week
at least,” he grimaced an apology that left her weak in the knees.

“Hey, Agamemnon, I don’t plan on
being here in a week,” Scaggs stated firmly, finally almost immune to his magnificence,
or at least tolerant of it. Though on reflection, she wasn’t sure if tolerant
was the right word she wanted to use for a man that beautiful.

“Out of curiosity, how are you
planning to escape?” Hephaestus asked, ignoring the hopefully-temporary impromptu
name change.

“I thought that’s what we were
doing?” she asked, looking around for agreement from the others and pointing at
the assorted vehicles showing up under the steadily increasing lighting.

No one replied.

“Aren’t we getting together and
driving out of here?”

Several of the strangers’ faces
stared back, mostly blank, but some guilty. Feet that would rather be anywhere
else shuffled and rolled from heel to toe.

“So, what? This is our big plan? We
just sit here and use this as a base? What, we make little forays into the dead
streets for supplies while things slowly fall apart around us and we die one at
a time? Or we’re sitting here when the government gives the go-ahead for them
to firebomb your city or any of a hundred other scenarios that slowly kill off
everyone in those movies and TV shows? Guys, I have news for you, they never
end well. Everyone always dies, OK? I know, because I was in several. Guster,”
she begged. “I thought we were getting out of here?” She pleaded.

Gus looked to Scooter for help.

“Eventually,” Calvin offered
hesitantly. He hadn’t thought to explain things to the girls, though he had
been sure both had already heard them discussing the plan.

“What do you mean, eventually? I
want to get out of here now. I loved the trip. The people were great. I
laughed. I   cried. A good time was had by all. But look around, people. This
city isn’t dying. It’s already dead. If we stay here we’re going to die too. I
want out, and I want to go now.”

“You must have known we would need
to get supplies together and collect some other people before we left,” Calvin
stated firmly. “You’ve been listening to us since joining the group.”

“No, I get that. I really do. But I
don’t want to be here anymore. You said you were taking us to a guy who had a
vehicle that could guarantee that we get out of here safely. Please, Gus, take
me out of here?” she pleaded with her entire body.

“We will, I promise. But we have
some things to do first.”

“No. This week you’re all talking
about will give the government time to set up their bases to keep us trapped in
here, or send some planes to blow us all to the sun or something. A week is too
long to be stuck here. Anyone leaving now can still get out.”

“If this thing gets around there
won’t be anyplace to go,” Gus pointed out.

“But there
are
places right
now. We could go there and spend time with our families before the end. Maybe
have a little time to get away to someplace secluded. Wouldn’t you rather do
that than get stuck here without an exit?”

“But
our
families are here
already. If we go now, we’re leaving
our
friends and family to survive
on their own.”


Your
friends.
Your
family. I mean, I can relate, but I don’t like it here anymore.”

“Ooh. Their first fight,” Tripper
chided.

“Shut up, Tripper,” Gus snapped,
but instantly sent him an apology with his eyes.

“Look,” he held both of her hands
in his. “You don’t need us to help you get out of here. You can go and I’ll
look you up when we get out. We’ll pick a place to meet up later and if things
really do fall apart, we’ll meet there.”

“How am I going to get out of here
without you?”

“Hef will give you a car to take…won’t
you, Hef?” he turned to his friend.

“You are welcome to take this car
here and go now,” Hephaestus affirmed with a nod at the deep green ’68 Mustang.
He walked back over to stand by the wall next to where they had entered.

“What?” She stepped back in
surprise.

“It has a full tank. I have done
some modifications to the engine so you can get about seventy miles to the
gallon. You will not need to fill up again until you see California.” He pulled
a set of keys from a silver peg on the wall.

She looked at Felicia, who shook
her head.

“I think our chances are much
better waiting with this group than on our own.”

“Gus?” she asked.

“Sorry. I’m staying here. I have
friends and family to think about. But you should go. You don’t really belong
here. As much as I’d like you to stay, it’s not your city and you don’t have
any family to worry about here. I get it. You can just get in this car and jet
out of town. No bad thoughts or regrets,” he promised. “Well, definitely some
regrets, but no anger. You have to do what you have to do,” he acknowledged.

“Maybe you can even still find a
clear road,” Calvin interjected. “I wouldn’t try I-70 westbound. It was already
getting pretty messy before we left.”

“Come with me,” she begged, pulling
on Gus’ shoulder, but he shook his head.

She looked around at the others
with tears beginning to pool along the bottom lids of her almond-shaped, light-brown
eyes.

“Then I can’t go either,” she
admitted with a grimace. “And just so you all know, I’m not afraid to go by
myself.” She turned and looked into Gus’ soft brown eyes. “But I still owe you
for saving my life and I hate to leave without repaying you,” she punched him
in the shoulder affectionately.

“I’ll take that Mustang, though, since
you’re just giving it away,” she joked, wiping the unshed tears from her eyes.

Her surprise was total when Hephaestus
tossed her the keys. “If you can come back and get it out some day, it is
yours,” he promised.

“Great. As soon as the muckety-mucks
above fix this, I’ll be back for you, sweetie” she whispered to the hood of the
car, kissing it affectionately.

“Hey, I’ve asked you for a dozen
cars over the years. How come you never gave me one?” Tripper demanded indignantly.

“You have never once looked at any
of those vehicles the way she did the minute she saw the
Bullitt
car
here.”

“This is really it?” Scaggs asked
with wide eyes.

“It is one of them. I purchased her
from a guy who kept her locked in a garage.”

Scaggs looked around and shot him an
ironic glance.

“Yes, it is still in a garage, but
his was much smaller…and dusty. I have done some modifications and I also have
the other mustang from the junkyard they sold it to. It was pretty messed up,
so I am keeping only the body and building it a lightweight frame and a fully
electric drive system.”

“Yeah, I never liked many of the
mustangs,” Trip admitted, unsolicited. “But I don’t hate them, either,” he held
up his hands defensively as everyone stared. “It’s just that you seem to
rebuild a
lot
of Stangs, Hef. You rebuild a sixty-seven Camero sometime and
I’ll look at it like she just did.”

“Hell, I wouldn’t mind that
electric Mustang,” Athena added.

“Ha ha, deal,” Hephaestus agreed
merrily, eying them both with matching twinkles from each of his black eyes.
But a cloud quickly rolled over his features, darkening his brow and
extinguishing the light of mirth.

“That is, if any of us survive
this,” he added darkly.

“We’ll be ok,” Tripper said
cheerfully, punching his friend lightly in the shoulder. “The Doc will get
things sorted out for us. All we have to do is stick together and watch each
others’ backs.”

“Speaking of your doctor, where is
he?” Hef asked, eying the group again and seeing no one who looked like a
doctor, though Scaggs was supposed to be pretty smart and maybe a scientist of
some sort. The big red-bearded man, though clearly intelligent, seemed merely
content to exist and watch the others. Hef wondered briefly if the rest could
see the man, but then quickly remembered he was just very high, not mentally
ill, and that he did not see delusions…unless this was his first one and none
of these people were here and he had killed several innocent people thinking
they were zombies and—

“—he’s talking to the government,”
Calvin replied, unknowingly interrupting Hef’s minor paranoid delusion before
it could launch into something dangerous. “He’s sending official warnings and
getting orders on what we do next. Mostly he’s just waiting by the phone and
radio for news or people calling for help while he talks back and forth to the
CDC, Homeland and DOD and tries to get a ride out of town.”

“I imagine those places are getting
far too many calls for him to get through.”

“I think he calls the people who don’t
normally have to take calls.”

“He can get
those
numbers?”

“He works for the government. He knows
the direct numbers. He’s hoping to get a chopper soon. I don’t think he wants
to wait here, either. In fact, it’s probably the most important thing in our
world right now to get him to a lab as fast as we can, but I think the
government is more concerned about containment. I thought about just driving
him straight out of town in the ambulance, but with things shutting down and
the roads getting closed off as word spreads, there’s no certainty that we’d
make it. I’d rather have something you’ve built for such circumstances if I
have a choice, and I do. But we’re really hoping to get the doc on a chopper
and clear first.”

 “I want shotgun on that ride if
it’s open,” Scaggs said with her head held high, unashamed to admit that she
wanted out.

“You and me both, sister,” Trip
agreed. “You can take a ticket and stand in line for that one, and the line starts
here and ends with those five, he pointed out Scooter, Athena, Sarah, Joel and
Gus individually.

“But if we have to go on the
ground, I’d also want it to be in something Hephaestus here has made.”

Hephaestus nodded modestly following
such praise from two of his best friends.

“Thank you, my friends. But there is
only one vehicle that might guarantee that we make it to where we need to go. And
I am not done building it. It lies within the Master’s Chamber over there
behind that mural. It will probably still take me a week if the smith you claim
to have brought me is worth his weight in steel.”

“I am,” Quinn stepped between
Calvin and Trip, thick red beard jutting out in challenge. The Armorer had
remained silent because he had no idea what to do or how to react. That the
world had suddenly turned upside down was a definite. That young Calvin here
was the one who was going to get him out of it seemed a little less certain.
Exactly what he should be doing about any of it, he had no idea. Until now.

Other books

Love After All by Celeste O. Norfleet
End of Eternity 3 by Loretta Lost
Starborne by Robert Silverberg
When Lightning Strikes by Sedona Venez
Mesmerised by Michelle Shine
PRETTY BRIGHT by Renee, Mimi