Deadlocked 5 (17 page)

Inside of the opening, Harrison grasped a crank and turned it. The floor beneath me grinded and revealed two strips of grating that the water drained into, dropping in what sounded like a metal basin below.

Harrison pointed down at a metal loop on the floor that had been covered in water a few seconds earlier. "They keep the entrance hidden with the water. It keeps the Greys from being able to smell the people down below."

"No shit," I said, impressed by the ingenuity. In the first decade, during the time when people still thought they could rebuild society, the towns all existed above ground and concentrated on building fortified walls that would keep the Greys out. Unfortunately, the combination of the relentless attacks by the Greys and the reemergence of the original virus toppled even the most prepared towns. Mankind swiftly learned that it was best to keep moving, and for the past decade the majority of people I met lived a nomadic life. However, here in the Rocky Mountain region, it seemed that people never gave up on the dream of rebuilding society. It was an idealistic, romantic notion, but the world had little use for romance anymore.

"Go ahead and lift the hatch," said Harrison as he took back his flashlight.

I took the ring and pulled up the metal lid to reveal a shaft leading down into darkness. Harrison leaned over and shined his flashlight down. "That's not good."

"What?"

"There's no lights down there. Hanger's an electric town. They've got generators that they keep running with solar panels up on the tower. It doesn't give them much more than enough to run the lights, but that's better than most folks have it. Usually, when you open the lid, a light comes on down there."

"How do they protect this place?"

"Greys come in and then just give up after knocking over the mannequins. They usually move in packs, so the people here just hang out down below and wait for them to leave."

"But how do they protect themselves from other people? I've met my fair share of raiders on the road that would love to stumble upon a place like this."

"Well, first off, you have to know how to get in," said Harrison. "Second, the ladder goes straight down into a pit they dug out, so you have to get off the ladder at the right spot. And the whole way down they've got holes in the wall to watch who comes down. If they see someone they don't like, they just stab them through the holes."

I clicked on my rifle's flashlight and peered down the shaft. I saw the murder holes he was talking about. They were thin slits that lined the wall and it would be almost impossible to protect yourself if someone on the other side started stabbing at you. I grimaced at the idea of dying while being poked like a pincushion on my way down the ladder.

"You first," said Harrison when he saw my discomfort.

"Fuck that."

He laughed at my apprehension. "You're the one that wanted to come in here."

"I've got a better idea." I let go of my gun, allowing it to swing by its strap on my shoulder, and cupped my hands around the side of my mouth as I screamed down the shaft. "Anyone down there? Hello?" Then I pointed the rifle back down the shaft to shine its light into the darkness.

There was no response.

"Looks like the only way you're going to find out what happened is to climb down," said Harrison as he saluted me. "Good luck."

"How did they get their supplies down there? This can't be the only way in."

Harrison shook his head and pointed out toward the building with the tower above it. "There's a loading area over there with a ramp that leads down to the basement."

I stood up and chastised him for omitting the existence of a second entrance. "You son of a bitch. Why are we climbing down this shaft if there's another entrance?"

"This is the best way in!"

"How so? You almost had me climbing down in the dark where I could get stabbed by someone? What the hell, Harrison?"

"If they see me coming down the ramp, they're liable to shoot my ass without asking any questions." He shook his head and laughed uncomfortably. "I'm not exactly welcome around here anymore."

"What the fuck did you do to piss these people off so bad?"

"None of your damn business!" He stomped his foot and shook his shotgun in the air. "Now stop yelling at me before you wake the fucking dead."

"You stop yelling," I muttered.

Harrison screamed, "I will!" Then he glowered at me before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "There, I'm done."

"You're a piece of work, Harrison." I let the hatch to Hanger slam shut and then walked towards the exit.

"Yeah, a masterpiece," said Harrison petulantly as he started to follow. He continued to mumble as we made our way back to the exit. "Need to learn some respect for your elders, especially one that's lived for twenty years in this shit. I'm a legend around here, and you're just a fucking lost twit from China, acting all high and mighty and mysterious when you're really just a big pain in the ass."

I stopped and turned to him. "Are you finished?"

He scowled at me. "Finished with what?"

"Talking shit."

"I wasn't talking shit, you're hearing things." He walked past me and opened the door.

A gun barrel greeted us.

It was an M-16, and a woman was holding it against her shoulder as she stared down the sights at the old man. "Hello, Harry. What the fuck are you doing here?" She kept the gun steady, despite knowing who Harrison was. It seemed he was right, the people here really didn't like him.

Harrison chuckled nervously as he held out his shotgun as if in offering. "Settle down, darling. I'm not here to cause any trouble."

"Then what are you here for?" She was dressed in army fatigues, including a hat, and had large sunglasses on that prevented me from seeing many of her features. She was average height, with brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. She didn't have wrinkles, and from what I could see she was physically fit, neither too skinny nor overweight. Her chin was sharp, as were her cheekbones, but her lips were chapped and her cheeks were red from spending too much time outdoors.

"We're checking in on the folks here." When Harrison spoke, he displayed a nervous tension that was uncharacteristic for him, at least from what I'd seen. Something about this woman frightened him.

"Why?" She pointed her rifle at me as she asked, "And who is he?"

"I'm looking for…" I started to answer before she cut me off.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the thief."

"He's harmless," said Harrison as she kept the M-16 pointed at me.

"Then why's he carrying one of the guns that the military use?"

Harrison looked at the F2000
hanging from my shoulder. "That thing? We found it in Juniper. We think Dexy stole it from the traders."

"Who are you?" she asked while looking at me.

I pursed my lips and raised my eyebrows as I stared back at her before finally responding. "Can I speak now?"

"I asked you a fucking question, didn't I? Who are you?"

"I'm just a traveler. Not from around here."

She considered my answer for a minute before speaking. "You picked a hell of a time to show up." Then she looked at Harrison and added, "and a hell of a person to travel with."

"Come on now, darling," said Harrison. "I never hurt nobody. I'm a harmless old coot. You know that."

"All I know is that every time I hear your name, no one ever has anything nice to say."

"Then you should start spending time with better folks," said Harrison.

"Here's how this is going to go," she ignored Harrison's answer as she pointed her gun back and forth at us. "You're going to drop your weapons, nice and slow, and then lie down on the ground."

"Come on, kid," said Harrison. "We're not here to cause any trouble."

"Then stop trying to start some and do as you're told."

Harrison sighed, but did as she said. I wasn't quite as compliant. She pointed her gun at me and then motioned at the ground. "Do you have trouble following simple directions?"

"Put your gun down and do what she says," said Harrison. "These aren't the type of people you need to go fucking with. Understand?"

"I'm not trying to cause trouble, I just don't like getting into situations that I might not get out of. I'm sure you can respect that."

She steadied her aim and commanded, "Put your gun on the floor before I shoot you for the fun of it."

"Damn it, Ben. Do what she says. You're the one that wanted to meet the High Rollers, and now you're going to get killed by one if you don't shut the fuck up and do what she says."

"You're one of the High Rollers?" I asked.

"I'll give you to the count of three to do what I said. One."

"Do you know a red haired girl named Annie?"

Her jaw tightened and her posture stiffened when I said the name. "You'd better explain how you know my sister right now before I put a bullet in you just to be on the safe side."

"I saved her life."

"Bullshit," she said.

"Was your sister in a military complex out in Georgia at the time of the outbreak?"

She didn't answer, which I took as a good sign.

"Did she leave that place on a helicopter with two other people? If I remember correctly, one of them was a woman and the pilot was an older man. Am I right?"

She still didn't answer, but I could see that her stance was softening.

"She was about three years old at the time and had curly red hair and blue eyes. They were doing tests on her, which is why she's immune to the virus now."

"That's enough," she said. "Put your gun down." She was uncompromising in her command.

"I've never put my gun down. Not for anyone."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a giant pain in the ass?" she asked.

Harrison eagerly spoke up, "I have. I've been telling him that ever since I met him."

"I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass. I just don't like putting my guns down unless I have to. Tell you what, as a measure of good faith, I'll let you know what your mistake was here."

She smirked and asked, "Excuse me? My mistake?"

I nodded and moved my hand a little closer to the barrel of her gun. "You're too close to me. I could grab the end of your gun and move it before you could pull the trigger. Don't feel bad, a lot of people do the same thing. You should never let your gun be within reach of the person you're pointing it at. I've killed a lot of people that did the same thing you're doing. It's a common mistake."

"Want to know what your mistake was?" she asked while still smiling.

"What?"

"Assuming I was alone." She glanced over my shoulder and said, "Come on out, Stitch."

Harrison turned to look before I did, and started laughing at what he saw. Then he looked up at me and said, "They got you, kid! They got you good."

The woman with the gun coyly smirked and raised her e
yebrows as she motioned towards the person at my back. "Take a look, tough guy."

I slowly turned to look at who was behind me.

A thin, short woman with a shaved head and surprisingly pale skin was standing in the middle of the mannequins, holding a crossbow pointed at my head. She had large black eyes and her lips were stitched together. I realized that the stitches were just tattoos when she smiled and said, "Hi there."

The tiny woman sauntered out from between the mannequins, as if one of them had come to life. She was wearing a pair of tight leggings and a black coat that would've been fashionable in the old world.

"Were you there the whole time?" asked Harrison.

"No," said the woman with the M-16. "She snuck in through the back while you two were arguing. We were watching you from the tower as you drove up here."

"What are you doing here?" asked Harrison.

"Waiting to see if anyone showed up that might know what happened here."

"Why?" I asked. "What happened?"

"You don't know?"

"I could guess," I said. Our conversation was still tense.

"Then guess."

"They're infected, just like the people in Juniper."

She inadvertently gasped and her posture loosened. "Juniper's infected too?"

"Yes," said Harrison. "They're all dead. We just came from there. We wanted to see if the people here were okay. We think the traders might've poisoned them."

"Kim," said the girl behind me. "We need to get back to camp and let the others know."

"So you decided to come here and pick through the dead people's things?" asked Kim as she ignored Stitch and glared down at Harrison.

"No!" The old man started to stand up and Kim quickly stepped forward to put her boot on his back. "Damn it, woman! Let me get up off the floor. Would you? I didn't even want to come here. This prick made me come."

She turned to me, with her boot still on Harrison's back. "Is that true?"

"Yes. I wanted to see if the same thing happened to the people here that happened to the ones in the other town. We think that the traders poisoned them."