Parish (18 page)

              “That’s great.” Wade chewed on his bottom lip.  “Did they ask about us?”

              “No,” Artemis shook his head.  “No one mentioned either of you.  I didn’t feel comfortable leaving you though, so I told Juan I needed to come back here.”

              “What did you find out?” Wade lowered his voice, Wren had turned and now had her back to them.

              “They have communication set up with other groups all over.  Some of the zombies appear to just be dying off on their own.  If it keeps up at the rate it’s going, assuming that they’ll all just die like that, then as of this time tomorrow the world should be back to being zombie free.” Artemis explained.

              “Has anyone figured out what caused it yet?” Wade closed his eyes dreading the reply.

              “Yeah, a doc over in Georgia, with the CDC said it was Nazarene.” Artemis gave the response Wade hadn’t wanted to hear but knew would come out eventually.

              “It was just a matter of time I guess.” Wade replied.

              “Yeah, I suppose it was.” Artemis agreed.  “When she wakes up though, Sarge wants to see you.”

              “Why?” Wade asked as his brow furrowed with sudden concern.

              “I think he just wants to know what weapons you can handle.  He may want to train you, ask you both to stick around.” Artemis shrugged.

              “Well isn’t that nice.” Wren interjected, as she rolled back over and looked to them.

              “You were supposed to be sleeping.” Wade frowned.

              “I would have been if two people hadn’t decided to be all loud and ignorant waking a person up.” She groaned as she pulled herself up to a seated position.

              “Sorry.” Artemis replied.  “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

              “It’s fine.” Wren held her hand up.  “So this Sarge wants us to stay, does he?  What if we decline?”

              “I don’t know.” Artemis replied as truthfully as he could.  “He may ask us to leave.”

              “Us?” Wade shook his head.  “You’re a soldier.  He won’t ask you to leave, just us.”

              “Well, I ain’t gonna let him just throw the two of you out there with nobody.” Artemis stood up.  “Come on, let’s go see Sarge and that way we can get all the info and decide what to do from there.”

              Wade and Wren grabbed their bags and made to follow him.  Artemis looked down at what they were carrying, opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it again deciding against it.

Chapter Fourteen

They followed Artemis out of the tent and down the street.  A few people milled about, one kicking the curb with the toe of his boot.  Wade and Wren looked at the buildings, seeing a few people looking down at them through the windows.  Something about it made them uneasy, but they had never been refugees before, so it was hard to tell what was normal and what wasn’t.

              “In here.” Artemis pointed to a white building that appeared to have been some sort of sweets shop.  They quickened their pace and followed him in through the door, which had a tiny bell rigged to it to ding and alert the workers that had once worked there that a customer had come in.  As they walked in they saw three armed men standing in between the glass cases.  Artemis led them past them and into the back, where the office was.

              “I brought them.” Artemis nodded back towards them.

              “Hello there.” A broad man stood up, his hair was snow white and buzz cut in the familiar military fashion.  He pointed to the two chairs that were sitting in front of the desk.  Wren and Wade sat down slowly, not taking their eyes from the man.  Artemis stepped back and stood near the door.  “I’m Sargent P.J. Peabody.  You can call me Sarge, it’s what all of my men call me.”

              “I’m Henry.” Wade lifted his hand up a bit.

              “Jack.” Wren lifted her chin.

              “It’s nice to meet you both.  So Artemis tells me that you two are twins, eh?” Sarge sat down and leaned forward with his arms atop the desk, his fingers clasped.

              “Yeah, we’re twins.” Wade nodded.

              “How old are you?” Sarge asked.

              “Sixteen.” Wren replied, giving her brother a side glance.

              “Sixteen.” Sarge nodded as he sat back in his chair crossing his arms.  “Old enough to use a gun I’d say.  What weapons have you been using so far?”

              “Crowbar.” Wren answered.

              “Knife.” Wade replied as he fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat.

              “Good.  Good.” Sarge nodded. He lifted his eyes and looked beyond them to Artemis who was standing behind them.  “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your family?”

              “You don’t see them do you?” Wren raised an eyebrow.  “What do you think happened to them?  Kidnapped by ponies?  Fell through a wormhole? Oh, no that’s right they decided to stay back with the Snow White and the seven dwarves, someone’s gotta go into the mine.”

              “Aren’t you a feisty one?” A creepy smile slithered across the man’s face, a strange sparkle ignited in his eye as he regarded Wren. She crossed her legs and her arms in response.

              “What can my sister and I do for you?” Wade scooted up on the edge of his seat as he spoke.

              “Nothing just yet.  I think I’ll go on and let the two of you get acquainted with the place, grab some grub, a hot shower and have a nice rest.  We can talk again tomorrow.” Sarge stood up, leaning towards them both over his desk.  He never took his eyes from Wren.  “Artemis, would you be so kind as to show our guests where the canteen and the lavatories are located?  Make sure they have everything you need.  After all it would be a damn shame for me to be a poor host to our guests.”

              “Follow me.” Artemis stepped to the side and allowed Wade and Wren to walk past him.  They went back out past the armed guards and out through the door into the street.  Artemis slowed down so the twins could catch up to him.

              “He was a creep.” Wade huffed.

              “Yeah, dammit girl why did you have to bait him like that?” Artemis starred at Wren.

              “Whatever.” Wren shrugged.

              “The whole reason you changed your hair and all that was to go unnoticed.  What in the hell did you think you would accomplish by drawing the attention of the man who has the run of this place?” Artemis shook his head and continued walking.

              “I don’t like the way he was looking at you…Jack.” Wade looked at his sister.

              “I didn’t much care for it myself, but oh well.  Don’t worry about me, I can protect myself.  I ain’t afraid of him.” Wren hiked her bag up higher on her shoulder and lifted her head.

              “You may not be but you should be.” Artemis replied, lowering his voice as they grew closer to another building.  “I’ve known that man for about four years.  You should be damn scared, and now because you decided it was a good idea to sass him like that you just made my job a shit ton harder to do.  Now I have to pull double duty, babysitting you to make sure you stay safe.”

              “What will he do?” Wade asked.

              “I don’t know.  That man…ain’t no one that can predict his actions.  I just know he was looking at her awful funny…like how a dog eyes up some hamburger or something.  This ain’t the old world, these people ain’t gonna act how they did a week ago.  The rules, you know the rules everyone lived by, the laws and shit, no one is gonna be following them to the letter now.  Have you seen any police officers at all since this went down?” Artemis was whispering now, harshly.

              “No.” Wren replied, bowing her head.

              “Exactly.  Ain’t no one to call anymore, ain’t no one gonna run to rescue you.  All you got now is me and your brother.  Start using that lump on your shoulders for something other than a place to hold your hat.  Girl, you need to start thinking so you can add yourself to the list of people you got to protect yourself.” Artemis quit speaking abruptly as they walked through a door into what appeared to be a cafeteria to a school.

              “What is this place?” Wade asked.

              “The cafeteria to some private school, I guess.  This is the canteen.” Artemis explained.  They looked around and saw about a dozen people sitting at tables eating.  There were a few people who appeared to be doing the cooking and serving.  Artemis led them over to the start of the line.  “Three of the stews.”

              “Three stews!” The man yelled.  His face was covered in stubble, his black hair slicked back with a hair net shoved on.  He wore a dirty white apron over his clothes.  Another man walked up and began putting bowls of the stew on the tray.  It looked like mud with lumps in it.  The same man came back and shoved some rolls onto the tray.  “We got soda, luckily.  Want three of those too?”

              “Yes.” Artemis nodded and the man put three cans of root beer on the tray.

              “It ain’t free pal.” The man held out his hand.

              “What do you want?” Wade asked.  Artemis put his arm out in front of Wade’s chest indicating he should be quiet.  Artemis dug in his pocket and pulled out a bottle and thrust it in to the man’s hand.

              “Alright.  This’ll get you two more meals a piece.  What’re names so I can write them down, so we know?” The man pulled a pencil from behind his ear.

              “Artemis, Henry and Jack.” Artemis replied.  They watched as the man scribbled down their names.  He reached over and took the tray and led them over to a table.

              “What did you give him?” Wren asked as she took the seat across from Artemis, Wade sat next to her.

              “Nothing really.  It was a bottle of antibiotics.” Artemis shrugged.

              “Was that all we had?” Wren asked as she took the bowl that he was offering her.  Wade took his too.

              “No.  We got more, don’t worry.” Artemis shook his head and passed out the root beer before grabbing the plastic spoon and digging into the food.  “You know, for something that looks like mud it actually tastes pretty good.” Wade laughed as he took a tentative bite of his muddy stew.

              “I’m not too sure I want to stay here.” Wren whispered.  She saw Artemis tense up for a moment before taking a deep breath to gather his thoughts and his emotions.

              “I knew you’d say that.” He finally replied, setting his spoon down into his bowl.  “What do you have to say on the subject?”

              “Me?” Wade raised both of his eyebrow.

              “I ain’t talking to that poster behind you.” Artemis replied.  Wade looked over his shoulder and saw a poster encouraging healthy eating habits, he turned back to their group.

              “I don’t know” Wade shrugged.

              “Alright.” Artemis sighed.  “Just think on it, I guess.  This is a team effort.  Just because I’m older doesn’t mean I want to be the dictator around here.  We need to be unanimous in our decisions.”

              “Agreed.” Wren nodded as she looked over at her brother.  He had set his eyes back to the food in front of him, hunching his shoulders.  She knew he was uncomfortable making a decision, now more than ever.  It was apparent that any choice they made at this stage of the game could cost them their lives, which made the decision process that much more intense.

              Silence fell on their table as they ate.  Every so often Wren would shoot side glances at Artemis and Wade, hoping one of them would say something.  More specifically she was hoping Wade would step up and agree to leave.  She pushed the stew around in her bowl with the plastic spoon.  She knew that outside of these walls their future was uncertain, but she didn’t like the vibe the man in charge was giving off.  Something in his eyes made her uncomfortable, set every nerve on end and signaled her fight or flight response.  She couldn’t be counted on to keep her cool should he try to put his hands on her.  Lifting the can of soda to her mouth she took a long drink, choosing once more to glance at Artemis.  For one brief moment the thought crossed her mind that perhaps he may not step in to help her given the fact he had a past with several of these people, the man in charge included of course.

              “Almost done?” Artemis asked pulling her away from her internal monologue.

              “Yeah, just a couple of more bites.” Wren nodded.

              “I’m done.” Wade pushed his tray away from him.  Seeing this, Wren shoveled the last bit into her mouth and swallowed without chewing.

              “Alright, I’m done.” She said as she grabbed her soda and emptied the can in two gulps.

              “I’m gonna walk you back to your tent.” Artemis stood up.

              “Are you going to stay with us?” Wade asked as he raised himself up from the table.

              “Jose showed me where the rest of the men are sleeping.  I’m supposed to bed down in there. The tent where you are staying was set up for civilians.  I suppose I can probably make a case for staying with you guys though, seeing on how you guys are orphans now.  Do you need me to stay with you?” His brow shot up.