Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine (43 page)

“North, ma’am. That doctor said Hobbes
looked from here south to the river. I can’t say much with confidence for the
rest of them, but he at least seemed to have some control in an impossible
situation. The others have really adapted fast, and that’s likely due to his
leadership, though I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. He seems
an honest and thorough type. I believe it.”

“North it is. Head north, private,”
she ordered, then added innocently, “You seem fond of them, Sergeant.”

The sergeant recognized that for a
test. He hated tests and he was short. With only two months to go before he was
out, he didn’t care if he ever passed any test other than living and staying
healthy. But he was probably two months short on all accounts. He knew he would
most likely die inside this damned wall the same as Calvin Hobbes and his
people.
Am I fond of them?
“I suppose I am, a little,” he admitted
honestly.

“Why?”

“They’re still alive and still
sitting right in the middle of ground zero. I mean, the outer cities still
haven’t even been touched and everyone is already pouring out of those places
or building their own walls and waving pitch forks to keep everyone out. But
you’ve seen the bodies out there in these streets along the route in. The dead
and the dead dead. I can’t say I’d have stayed down here. No one should. But there
are still a
lot
of people here, Captain. And from what I heard, Hobbes
and his girlfriend went and rescued the others one at a time. Must really be
something in the water here.”

“It’s the Fluoride, most likely.”

“What’s that, ma’am?”

“Just a joke any good conspiracy
nut would appreciate. Would you have supported me if I’d have told you to fire
at them?”

“You give the orders, Captain. We
follow them.”

“Unless you find an order morally
questionable?”

“Permission to speak freely?”

“Of course.”

“Usually, hell yes. I’ll shoot you
myself if you order me to shoot innocent civilians, Ma’am. That’s a promise, so
remember it. But those people…today…we’re in the middle of a nightmare. This
shit is a freaky war like no one has ever fought before. Reanimated dead folks
walking around eating people on
American
ground? For real? We’re not
even supposed to be fighting on American Soil. And zombies aren’t real. This is
all fucked. I think the best way for us all to survive, for now, is to follow
orders. If you tell me we have to take those people out, we’ll take them out.
But I don’t believe you would ever give that order because you and I both know
it would cost us too much. They might be civilians, but did you see how fast
they raised those guns? Some of them are already killers.”

“I agree, Sergeant. I really wanted
to appropriate all of their equipment for the trip back, but you are correct.
They are still alive and here in the heart of the breakdown, where so many
others have perished or panicked already. And more than just cordoning off
streets to a neighborhood, they have a plan and vehicles and supplies and a
place to go to dig in. They are not waiting for the government to come in and
save them, they are saving themselves. I suppose that deserves some kind of
consideration.”

“Plus that was Colonel Hobbes’ son
in charge there, and he had you dead to rights,” the sergeant added with a grin.

“Nothing matters except getting
this package to its destination, Sergeant. If you have to shoot in a situation
like that and I am in the way, you shoot through me. That is an order.”

“Yes ma’am.”

He agreed like a good soldier, but
he knew that from the moment they had walked into that room that Calvin Hobbes
was in absolutely no danger from their team. Batmouche was one of Colonel
Hobbes’ protégées. That whole confrontation had been nothing but a test for
Hobbes, of that he was fairly certain. And the kid had done just fine. The
Captain was right about one thing, the military had missed out when he had
opted for civilian life. Of that he was positive.

“There, up ahead. What’s that
movement up there?”

“Jesus Christ, stop the vehicles,”
the sergeant snapped. “It’s crawling, ma’am,” he explained to the angry look
from the Captain.

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s not all heat radiation
making it swim like that, Cap. It’s all zom—um, Infected out there.”

The captain reached down and pulled
out her small field binoculars for a closer look. It took several adjustments
on the focus to cut through the heat radiation. The four-lane road extended
about a mile into the Northland and ended in a grassy park area. Where the
grassy area began the one road split into several roads curving off into
different directions. All four lanes and the grassy areas were literally covered
sidewalk-to-sidewalk with lumbering dead, concentrating mostly around the
split. Focusing on the center of the grassy area, she tried to make out a
shadowy object that seemed to be the center of the swirling mass of humanity, but
she couldn’t quite identify it.

Is that red? Shit.
“Pull
into this parking lot over here,” she ordered. “Quietly.”

The drivers moved both vehicles east
into the parking lot of a low brick building.

“Sergeant, send someone up onto
that building to get a look at what’s in the middle of that.”

“Baldwin!” the sergeant snapped.

“Yes, sir,” Private Gimp Bait
snapped sharply.

“Get your butt up that pipe to the
roof of that building. Tell us what you see.”

The private jumped out and slung
his rifle across his back, then with a brief examination of the squat building
before them, he shrugged once and shimmied up the heavy drainpipe as if it were
a ladder.

“Good god!” He breathed when he was
in position. “Sarge is right, ma’am,” he called down. “Side to side with
zombies.”

“Infected,” she corrected him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Private Baldwin
responded smartly.

“What
else
do you see?”

“There’s a vehicle crashed into the
fountain. It might be the one we’re looking for. Looks cherry red with gray
splotches on it. But I can’t get the make from this distance. It’s a big car,
though. Could easily be a Cutlass or Chevelle.

“Right. Everyone get locked and
loaded. We’re going in.”

“Ma’am?” the sergeant asked.

“We take enough of them down, the
rest will get the idea.” She said casually.

“They’re not people, ma’am.”

“That hasn’t been established yet.
We know nothing about them.”

“We know what those people back at
that library told us.”

“They’ve spent half of their time
running, Sergeant, and the other half hiding. They could easily be exaggerating
about certain aspects of the behavior patterns.”

“Maybe you should ask the doctor
for his input, first?”

“Not necessary. I’m sure he’ll tell
us nothing we don’t already know. We are dealing with sick people. They’ll move
when they realize how determined we are.”

“Haven’t you ever seen a zombie
movie, ma’am?”

“No.”

“The dead don’t have behavior
patterns. They only have the need to feed.”

“This isn’t some cheaply made
horror movie, Sergeant,” the captain snapped. “This is the real world. We
aren’t fighting monsters and aliens. We
are
unfortunately facing our fellow
Human brothers and sisters who have been infected with a horrible virus, which
makes them a danger to everyone around. And we have to get into the middle of
those infected individuals and retrieve the package. Put enough bullets into a
crowd and people will move out of the way.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the sergeant agreed. “But
that don’t mean
these
things will act the way you want them to,” he
replied firmly. “I think we should look for another way to the center of that
horde. If it were an army of soldiers would we charge right up the middle, or
would we sneak in?”

“It’s not an army of soldiers,
Sergeant. It is a collection of unarmed loiterers. They might as well be cattle
in a field. The faster we get back with the doctor and his case will be the
sooner someone can find a cure. There’s still a chance to save the rest of the
country. We’re going in. Right down the middle. We’ll blast our way to that
car. We’ll take one of the Humvees with everyone inside and leave the doctor
here in the other Hummer with a gunner to keep him safe. When we get up there,
Henson, if that’s our target car, you jump out and look for the case while we
cover you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The Latina private
nodded, shooting the sergeant a forlorn grimace of doom.

The sergeant made the sign of the
cross and several of the other soldiers followed suit. “Everyone get ready.
We’re moving in. Best say your final prayers now.”

“I thought you said I give the
orders and you’ll follow them?” the Captain shot him a glare.

“Hell, Ma’am. I kind of thought
you’d use good sense when giving those orders, but I’d rather die fighting a
thousand of these here Infected than kill even one innocent civilian.” He
admitted with a grin. “Now shake those asses, soldiers!” he snapped at his ‘men’,
who were slowly stomping to the lead Hummer. “We’ve got to get this magic case
back to the wizard in Kansas so Dorothy and I can open our own case…of scotch.”

The sweet aroma of steaming piles
of eggs, hot syrup and butter melting on pancakes filled the small cafeteria
and forced its way down the halls of the former library. No one had been able
to resist the inviting scents creeping through the narrow spaces under their
doors and soon nearly the entire group gathered around the tables dining on a
smorgasbord of breakfast foods cooked by none other than Gus and Joel.

Felicia skidded into the cafeteria,
tried to stop, but instead fell into and over the first table, taking parts of
two meals with her and catching most of an omelet in one lumpy pile on her lap.
The actress’s dyed crimson hair poked out in every direction from lack of
quality hair products and she wore a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans with a
side order of eggs.

“Holy—” was all Calvin managed to
mutter before the excited actress leaped to her feet and darted over to their
table, ignoring the hot gravy and eggs dripping down her legs.

“—ooh, is that eggs? Where’d you
get eggs? Never mind. No time. Athena!” the keyed up girl shouted.  “I was on
radio duty! Your parents are waiting on the radio. They need help! They’re on
the radio.”

Athena was up and through the
doorway, chain mail and boots clinking down the corridor like tank treads before
anyone but Calvin had even deciphered the words of the excited young actress. Dashing
over the white tiled hallway floor, she barely slowed yet somehow remained
upright through two slippery turns on the way to the office. By the time she had
reached the doorway to ‘radio room’, however, Calvin was right behind her. He
caught her just as she stretched out a shaking hand for the silver radio mic.

“Daddy?” she called several times
with no answer before Calvin showed her how to press the red ‘talk’ button on
the side of the microphone.

“Daddy?” she called again.

“Neshama, where have you been? We
have been waiting for you.”

“Daddy, you should already be out
of town. I sent you texts.”

“Oy! Yes. Yes. We would be dead if
I wait for that meshugah father of your friend Tripper to get us out of here,”
her father immediately began rambling in his conspicuously Jewish accent that
always made Calvin want to watch reruns of
Taxi
for some reason. “And Tripper?
What kind of name is that?”

“What happened, Daddy? You’re
supposed to be at Calvin’s uncle’s farm.”

“Calvin’s Uncle’s Farm? Is this
proper English? Is this what we spent my life’s savings on, so you can go get
an Ivy League education and talk to me like some tipsha?”

“Some what?”

“Tipsha. Tipsha. Uneducated silly
person.”

“Are you sure you’re even using
that right?” she asked.

“Oy, am I using it right? Is this
what your education taught you? To question your elders? Your elders who taught
you the language?”

Calvin waited patiently. This
occurred every time they talked. He was pretty sure it was a Jewish thing, but
it could as easily be specific to the Rosenthals, Jewish or not. It could literally
take hours to get to the actual point of a meeting or family gathering.

“You know, Daddy, I could just turn
this radio off…” Athena suggested casually.

“Oy, no. I am sorry. You are right.
Get to the point, Saul. The point is, you must come and rescue us.”

“Where are you?”

“We are in Raytown still.”

“What are you in Raytown for? I
thought people only pass through there on their way somewhere else?” Calvin
joked into the mic.

“Ha ha, very funny man, that Calvin.”

“That is My Hometown you’re talking
about, Calvin,” Athena warned him.

“Nice. My Hometown. I like what you
did there.”

‘My Hometown’ happened to be the
motto of Raytown, Missouri, and someone always made a joke of it just to say
the motto. The apocalypse should be no different.

“I’m just saying. You could do
better.”

“You know we have lived here for over
forty years, Calvin. I have no intention of moving. I like having money to
spend on food and water. If you would just marry our Athena you could buy us a
better house, but we would still build it in Raytown.”

“I know, sir.” Calvin sighed and
shook his head at his girlfriend.

“
Not the time”,
he mouthed, pointing
to his ring finger and warning her to wait on telling them about the
engagement.

“Now quit being a schlemiel and
come rescue us,” the elder Rosenthal insisted.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can,
sir.” He promised, green eyes rolling skyward.

“It’s Saul, not sir, Calvin. And we
are not alone. We are here with both Sarah’s and Tripper’s parents as well.”

“What about Mr. and Mrs.
McClintock?”

“I have not heard from them, but if
you were smart, as I have always believed you to be, you might think about
checking on your way, since you would be only a few blocks from their residence
at some point on the way here if you are downtown as this Felicia person said.”

“Right,” Calvin muttered lamely.

“I’m just saying…” Saul trailed
off.

“See you in about an hour, sir,”
Calvin promised.

“We’ll be there soon. I love you,
Daddy. Tell Mom I love her too.”

“No need. She heard you. Oy, the
whole neighborhood heard you, but they are mostly dead now.”

“Bye Daddy.”

“Everyone get geared up! Gus, Scaggs!”
Calvin called out, strolling back into the cafeteria and buckling up his armor.
“I need someone to stay behind and mind the fort. You think you two can handle
that this time?” He knew Athena would want to go help rescue her parents. So,
too, would Sarah and Trip.

The hungry gaze Scaggs poured over Gus
nearly caused Calvin to change his mind, but everyone needed some time alone,
and especially new couples. Hopefully they would try to keep some sort of watch
up during their romantic interlude and
not
let the Fortress get overrun
by zombies. Maybe hoping wasn’t quite good enough, though.

“Make sure all the doors are shut
and the balcony patio doors are locked if you decide to step away for food or anything,”
he suggested with as much discretion as he could muster. Noting her impish grin
and Gus’ furious blush, Calvin turned and headed for the lobby, shaking his
head.

Tripper grabbed one of his mailed
arms before he could step outside, pulling him aside into one of the spotless
white offices standing off of the main lobby and leaning in close. “I just found
the back door wide open, Calvin.”

“Your private life with Sarah is
your own business, Trip,” Calvin joked.

However, the level gaze his friend
returned nearly ruined his day. It had become standard procedure when leaving the
doctor behind that they should make sure the place was locked up before leaving
to ensure his safety as much as possible. All doors in the building were about
ninety percent tamper proof from the outside. Although an employee with a key
could
have showed up to hide in the building, the chances were very low that such a
person would have then left the doors wide open behind them, thus negating any
protective properties of said doors. There was no conceivable reason the back
doors should have been open under the current circumstances, excepting only
tampering.

“I checked just a half-hour ago
when I got up and it was closed,” Tripper added.

Calvin dredged his memories of the
previous night and the morning. “The only person I’ve seen going that way is
Brick.”
Unless the Captain left a few soldiers behind.

“Yup,” Trip agreed. “And I found
this
in the parking lot.”

“What the hell is that?”

“It’s a clock radio. It’s set to
our current time, and the alarm is set to go off in twenty-five minutes.”

“And the door is wide open?”

“Braced open with a brick.”

“That’s kind of poetic, I guess.
You know, everyone pretty much thought I was planning to leave Athena and Sarah
here for the next mission, so they could make us some good food again. Although
I know how sexist that sounds.”

“They really do make good food.”
Tripper explained. “If you’ve got a skill, you can’t get upset when people like
you to use it. And I remember you asking them. I was kind of surprised when you
changed your mind just now.”

“You think Athena and Sarah would
let us rescue their parents without them?”

“Good point.”

“And to be honest, after seeing
just how uncomfortable they seem to be with Brick, I wanted to keep all three
nearby until I have time to deal with…whatever needs to be done.”

“Judging from what we know now, you
might have to do the dealing sooner than you planned,” Trip’s thoughtful gray
eyes examined the alarm clock. With a grimace, he removed the battery and tossed
it casually into the small, black oval trash basket in the corner.

“So, what’s going on between Brick
and the girls?” Calvin asked.

“I don’t know, Cal. And I know we
can’t prove it, but I think our old buddy just tried to kill our girlfriends.”

“Your girlfriend, my fiancé,”
Calvin corrected. “And we don’t know that for sure.” But he muttered it with
little conviction. “He could have been hot and just forgot to close the door
after getting some air…”

“And the alarm clock?”

“Maybe he took that in case he fell
asleep while he was getting his air. We have a watch in the security booth when
we’re all here so he’d be pretty safe out there…”

“Wow. You’re a good friend, Calvin.
But do you really believe any of that bullshit?”

Calvin sighed in resignation. “I’ll
have to check the surveillance videos. I believe he at least wanted to put
Sarah and Athena in danger, at the very least.
Why
is another question for
which I have no time to find an answer. Keep your eyes open and maybe warn
Boomer, too. He’s already watching Brick for us.”

Trip nodded. “What do you want to
do?”

“I don’t know yet. Let’s keep a
very
close watch for now. I’ll try to sort it out later. Watch your back and keep an
eye on the girls.”

“Like I wasn’t already going to do
that,” Tripper said through the side of his mouth, patting his Louisville
Slugger.

“Let’s get the parents as soon as
we can so we can sit him down for a talk. Get everyone together. We go in ten
minutes. I need to check some things before we leave.”

Calvin found his way to the
security booth. He quickly searched the database for the best camera views of
the past half hour, fast-forwarding the back hallway he saw Brick opening the
door and taking the alarm clock outside and dropping the alarm clock. He
sighed. Noticing another file showing an ‘open and read’ notation, he clicked
on the icon and opened the file.

The video feed in the saved file
showed Brick coming up behind Athena in the ‘kitchen’ and grabbing her breasts.
He watched the scene play out for several long heartbeats until Brick leaned in
to kiss her and pushed her back out of the camera view. Several long, drawn out
breaths later he stood watching the screen, eyes squinting, emotionless and
staring long after the selected clip had finished, metal encased fingers
tapping the table in a steady, clanking rhythm.

“I see,” he eventually grunted,
standing and squaring his shoulders under the light blue chainmail and readjusting
his axes in their sheaths. Taking three deep breaths, he turned and stomped
from the room, his heavy brow furrowed in reflection, the dark shadow of a
storm forming over his bright sea-green eyes.

* * * * *

Athena once again rode shotgun for
Sarah in the Wagon. Brick slumped with resolute disinterest in one of the jump
seats in the bed of the custom vehicle. Felicia drove the Hedgehog with Joel
and Boomer working the turrets. Calvin sat brooding in the passenger seat while
Tripper leaned over his shoulder like one of those monkeys with the tiny
accordions or tambourines on the street corners in the old movies. Lucy sat
deep in thought opposite the monkey, watching something that wasn’t there.

The cloud cover appeared a uniform
grey at first glance, but upon further study one could pick out angry splotches
dotting the entire city that promised a good shower for those in the wrong
place at the wrong time.

“Looks like rain,” Athena grumbled.

Trip craned his head upward to look
for himself. “Good, these vehicles could use a good washing.”

“Yeah, we didn’t manage to keep
track of the car washes, did we?” she grimaced.

“We didn’t really have
time
to wash the vehicles,” Calvin assured them

“Actually, I can think of several
instances where we had time but we chose to put our considerable energy into
other efforts,” Tripper mimed taking a hit off of a joint.

“I’m beginning to regret that. What
does it tell posterity that at the end of the world, we chose to sit around
smoking weed rather than keeping our equipment clean?” Calvin asked.

“Perspective,” Sarah answered.

“How’s that?”

“Anyone in the future who hears
about this is going to know we had a great understanding of perspective. What
matters and what doesn’t.”

“Really? By imbibing what are still
illegal drugs instead of bettering our chances of surviving this scenario?”

“First, that law passed,” Trip
disputed lightly. “It’s not illegal anymore; they just got it a little slow on
the date, that’s all. And as for bettering our survival chances, hell, if you
ask me, we
were
bettering our chances. I know I can accept all of this
better with a little mellow on.”

Several of the others nodded
agreement, but Calvin couldn’t see them. “I’d rather we weren’t all high when
we go out to rescue people,” he suggested.

“I’ve been blazed since we hit
Hef’s house that first day,” Tripper admitted.