PRIME (31 page)

“Of course.” Gabe put a hand on the table. He pushed himself up and fell in step with Quigley. The two older men led the way out of the cafeteria with Zero only a step behind them.

*

Alice found Ian tossing a baseball back and forth with a younger boy in the gym. Most of the children were there. They glanced her way when she entered, but quickly went back to their activities. At first she was surprised that they hadn’t wanted to play outside, but outside they would be in view of the zombies. Even with a fence separating them they would still feel like they were in danger. Inside the gym, the children were shouting and laughing as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Alice wished she could be that carefree.

“Ian,” Alice called to the boy. He wasn’t even ten years younger than she was, and stood half a foot taller, but with everything that had happened she felt decades older. He dropped the ball and hurried over to her, his long legs making quick easy strides. Watching him, it dawned on her that perhaps the experience had also aged him.

“Yeah?” Ian stopped a couple feet from her, looking expectant. He shook dark hair from his eyes. “What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you a minute.” She motioned for him to follow her away from the other children and he did. Once she had put a dozen feet between them and the closest other child, Alice turned to him and spoke quietly. “We’re leaving on a mission.”

“Yeah?” Ian asked with a familiar excitement in his eyes. It was the same look Simon got when something fun was going on. He crossed his arms over his thin chest. “You leaving me in charge or something?”

“Not quite.” Alice took a deep breath. “We want you to come along.”

“Really?” His arms fell to his sides and his eyes lit up brighter. “Awesome.”

“You have to understand how dangerous this is,” Alice warned, knowing it wouldn’t change his answer any. “You could be injured or worse.”

“I know,” Ian answered somberly. All the excitement drained from his face. “It’s the same here though, isn’t it? Those things could get past that wall eventually.” Alice was floored for a moment. She didn’t know how to react to such a blunt statement from Ian. She tried so hard to hide reality from the children.

Ian smiled lopsidedly. “Alice, they all realize it. Even the littlest ones know that this is life or death. We’re not the same kids we were before. You can try to shelter us and give us games to play, but inside we’re a lot more adult than you give us credit for.”

After a moment, Alice found her voice again. “I see that,” she said. “You’ll come with Zero, Cale, and me then.”

“Cool, I liked those guys,” Ian said. He shook the hair from his eyes again. “Where are we going?”

“Haven Base.” Alice watched as Ian’s eyes widened. “We received a plea for help from there this morning.”

“Shit,” Ian muttered.

Alice slapped his arm playfully. “Watch your language!”

“Sorry.” Ian grinned. “But damn. That’s where all this started. How the heck did anyone live through it?”

“They’re all children,” Alice answered softly.

“Huh.” Ian didn’t really seem surprised by the idea. “Alright, when do we leave?”

“Tonight I think. We’ll talk to you at dinner. Okay?”

“Yeah,” Ian said, backing away. “See you then.”

As Alice left the gym, she wondered if she should have told Ian not to tell the others, but she decided he would make the right decision. If what he said was true, then they would be able to handle the truth. There would be fewer adults around, so they would need to be ready for that.

Alice headed toward the back of the base, hoping to catch up with Zero and maybe have a moment alone to talk things over. Her talk with Cale had convinced her that she shouldn’t let Zero’s past stand in the way of what she was sure they both felt, and she hoped she hadn’t put Zero off. If she talked to him, she thought he would understand. If she kissed him, she was sure he would kiss her back.

30

Coda Base

“Will you look at that,” Zero drawled as the big door on the weapon building rolled back. The wide door had taken only a gentle shove from Gabe to open. The building was the size of a barn, but the space had been designed for optimal use. The walls were covered floor to ceiling with hand weapons. Guns, knives, even swords hung carefully in rows, ready to be chosen. In the center of the room bigger weapons were laid out in neat rows, though none were familiar to Zero. He let out a low whistle.

“They certainly were ready for anything,” Quigley mused. He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Yes indeed.”

“Except a zombie virus attack,” Zero joked. “I thought you and Grace were from this base anyway?”

“Nope.” Quigley shook his head as he began to circle the bigger weapons, looking for anything useful. “We spent a bit of time here, mostly back and forth between here and the hospital. Both of us had been out of this life for years. We were paper pushers before all this started, got pulled in as emergency help and sent to the hospital. The third wave of the war was just getting into full swing when I got out of that side of it,” he explained.

“So you were never in active battle?” Zero asked. He hefted a large rifle down from the wall and examined it as they spoke. He felt powerful with it in his hands.

“I was, back in the second wave. I enlisted in 2028, fresh out of high school. I saw out the second wave. I wasn’t back here for more than a couple weeks until 2034, and after about a year they called me back over. I was there until we pulled out in 2038. By the time we went back into war I was old enough to be able to step back.” Quigley knelt, running his hands over one of the massive weapons. “This may work.”

“What is it?” Zero glanced up after strapping a knife to his leg for good measure.

“A J52-Popper.” Quigley’s eyes gleamed. He stood, nodding to himself. “If the plane will support it, it will get the job done.”

“It would tear apart anything in a two hundred foot radius. Wouldn’t it?” Gabe asked from the door.

“Read a bit about it, have you?” Quigley nodded again, a slow smile spreading. “Yeah, this girl’s got a bite, but was designed to do minimal damage outside the strike zone. I figure if we drop a couple, we’ll clear ourselves a landing strip and buy enough time to get inside that hospital.”

“Sounds perfect to me.” Zero nodded.

“If any of those kids are in the way, they’ll die as well,” Gabe pointed out.

“We’ll make damn sure they know to stay underground then,” Quigley assured him. “Not that I think they would be up there running around anyway.”

“Should we tell the boss lady?” Zero rested the barrel of the rifle on his shoulder.

“Yep.” Quigley stood. “Let’s head over to the air strip.” He noticed the rifle and shook his head. “Leave that for now. There’s no need.”

“Alright,” Zero mumbled. He set the gun back in its place. It gleamed down at him, practically begging to be taken down again. “I’ll be back for you,” he assured the rifle with a pat.

He turned and hurried to catch up with Quigley and Gabe, who were already waiting outside. Gabe slid the door shut behind them and locked it. “Airstrip’s over that way past the housing. Think you can find it alright?”

“We’ll figure it out.” Quigley shook his hand. “Thanks for your help.”

Gabe nodded and turned toward the rec center.

*

Gabe detoured to the holding cell building, pulling an energy bar from his jacket pocket as he walked down the hallway toward Jake. It wasn’t much, but he didn’t really feel like the man deserved more. He had a feeling everyone else on the base would have been happy to let the man starve.

“About time,” Jake said as Gabe came into sight. “If you’re going to leave me in here you have to give me some damn food.”

“I left plenty of water,” Gabe said evenly. He had left a gallon of clean water with Jake the night before. “A person can go far longer without food.” Gabe held out the energy bar and Jake snatched it from him,

“Is this it?” Jake asked as he tore open the wrapper. “A candy bar?”

“An energy bar. It’s loaded with protein and will get you through the day.”

Gabe turned to leave, not eager to spend one more minute in Jake’s company. He jerked in surprise when the half open energy bar smacked him in the back. Slowly, Gabe bent and picked it up. He walked back and handed it to Jake again. When the man didn’t take it, Gabe let it fall to the floor inside of the cell.

“I won’t be back until dinner time, so I advise you keep this,” Gabe said.

“You can’t keep me locked in here forever,” Jake said. He gave Gabe a grudging glare and bent to pick up the bar.

“I doubt we will,” Gabe said. As he walked out of the building, Gabe muttered to himself, “I doubt I can convince them to keep you alive that long.”

Inside the cell, Jake finally admitted to himself that he was in way over his head.

*

Cale stood looking over at the plane. He wasn’t looking forward to flying again. The plane had been kept in good shape despite its age and would suit their purposes well enough. It was simple to fly, but he hated it all the same. He hoisted himself up on the small stone wall that separated the landing strip from the rest of the base and did something he hadn’t done in years. He lit a cigarette.

He watched Grace climb around the planes with the nimbleness of a woman half her age. She checked the exterior and interior for any damage that could be detrimental to their flight. She didn’t seem to be finding any, which was also a check in the plus column. Cale heard the sound of gravel crunching behind him and turned to see Quigley and Zero strolling towards the strip. Zero waved, and Cale waved in return. Despite everything, Zero was fast becoming his best friend, and though Quigley could be a stick in the mud, he knew which end was up. That was more than a lot of people could claim.

“Damn. Is this another bit of the Cale puzzle?” Zero hopped on the wall beside Cale. Quigley continued on to meet Grace. “Don’t let Alice see you smoking or she might have your head. Where did you get the cigarette anyway?”

“There was half a pack in the plane,” Cale answered with a smile. “They are absolutely revolting. Want one?” Cale offered him the pack.

“I think I’ll pass.” Zero waved them away. He was silent for a moment as they watched Quigley and Grace chatting by the plane. “Quigley said he was in the second wave of the war. When were you over there?”

“Third wave,” Cale said. “I enlisted in 2040, the day after my twenty-first birthday. Didn’t honestly expect to see battle.”

“So you said this rescue is the first brave thing you’ve ever done,” Zero said tentatively.

Cale nodded, taking a long drag from the stale cigarette. “Yep.” He knew what was coming next, a version of the same speech he had received from everyone his whole life.

“But you were in the service. Got an honorable discharge and all that?”

“Yeah, I did.” Cale tossed the butt on the ground and stomped on it. “But when I took that bit of shrapnel to the gut I was running away from the front. It was my first taste of real combat and I panicked. If it wasn’t for being injured on my way back, I would have been scorned.”

“Shit man, running away from war ain’t nothing to be ashamed of. I think anyone with half a brain runs when bullets and bombs are raining on them.” Zero shook his head, gazing off into the distance. “I mean at least you weren’t a total loser like me.”

“My whole family is military,” Cale continued with a shake of his head. “I never even told my dad the truth about what happened and he was still disappointed in me. He thought I should have gone straight back after I healed up instead of taking the job over at Culex. Taking that job pretty much ended my contact with my family.”