Rising: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction (3 page)

Leekasha had her temporary chauffeur drive the car down the boardwalk and onto the beach.  No one gave them a second look, and the beach patrol never flinched as people scattered out of their way.  Leekasha leaned over and planted a kiss on the cheek of her driver, and said, “Just wait here for me and grab some shut-eye.  I’ll be back in a few hours for our return trip.”

Leekasha proceeded to stroll down the beach.  It wasn’t too crowded considering it was the weekend and tourist season. 
It sure is nice to just get away from all the crap around that place.  I really needed this.  I remember skipping high school classes and hanging out here with friends when the weather was good.  Only got caught a few times too. 

Leekasha kicked off her shoes and took in the view.  Cabanas and umbrellas dotted the beach, and the usual smell of food vendors on the boardwalk filled the air.  The sea breeze blew most of the smell of the food vendors’ carts in the other direction, but occasionally she’d get the smell of spicy sausages, mustard and soft pretzels. 
It’s surprising how normal all this seems.  Christa and that freak Patzy were right.  I do need to get out in the real world more often.  It’s not so bad. 

Then the screams hit her.  Voices from the not so distant past.  Two zombie garbage collectors driving a golf cart with dune buggy wheels down the beach.  Nobody paid much attention to them, except the two teenage boys that threw their empty soda containers at their cart as they drove by.  The cans bounced off and into the sand.  The garbage collectors stopped, picked up their cans and drove away.  The screaming subsided in Leekasha’s brain, but no one else seemed to even notice their arrival or departure.  Even the teenage boys seemed indifferent to the zombies.

Leekasha remembered the indifference, and worse.  She remembered the times she had worked incinerating zombie corpses on Captain Willie’s old shrimp boat.  Indifference would have been a relief on that boat.  Instead she endured constant beatings and abuse simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  She remembered one time he pushed her from the deck into the hold, cracking her skull as she hit.  That physical scar had long since healed, but the memory hadn’t. As she walked by the two teenage boys, she saw them showing off by rough housing in front of a few girls.  It didn’t take much effort on her part as she planted the notion in their heads that they were standing in front of a urinal and needed to relieve themselves.  The look of laughter on the girls’ faces, and the embarrassment on the boys’ as urine ran down their legs evened the score enough for Leekasha.

She spent the next few hours walking the beach and enjoying the views. Every once in a while she encouraged a beachgoer to give up their cabana for a few minutes so Leekasha could get out of the sun and have a nap.  Some even left sandwiches and drinks for her as they waited for her to finish.  The last one even left a mobile tablet for her to use. 
How nice of them,
she thought.  Scrolling through the news feeds brought the usual stories.  Some and such celebrity was in trouble for sleeping with another celebrity they weren’t married to.  One story caught her eye about an accident at a chemical plant a few towns away.  The video showed the building burning in the background, with some news reporter going on about what caused the explosion and how lucky they were that there were no casualties caused by the accident.  A related story, but with a smaller headline, indicated nearby residents were concerned about the thirty-five or so zombies that were incinerated in the fire.  The residents were concerned that the air would now be contaminated, and were insisting that the factory grounds be sterilized by land reclamation crews.  Another side story cited concerns over fear of environmental damage from zombie corpses not disposed of according to official government standards. 

What the hell?  Zombies don’t count as casualties, and now all of a sudden our corpses are considered an environmental hazard?  I suppose that shouldn’t come as too much of a shock considering my previous occupation.  That’s unbelievable.  It’s one thing to stick all the zombies with the jobs nobody wants, but to treat them no different than chemical waste is a whole other level of disgusting.  We didn’t ask to mutate.  It just happened to us.  It’s not like we chose this for ourselves.  What a waste.  They’re not just garbage.  Some of them could have mutated like me, with all these amazing abilities.  What gives these people the right to treat us as cheap collateral damage?  That’s just not right.

Changing the Rules

Christa couldn’t help but be excited about the news. 

“It’s really too early to get excited about this, Christa, but I understand your enthusiasm,” Dr. Montgomery said.

“C’mon, Doc, don’t be such a pessimist about all this.  I know you’re all scientific about this and you need more testing, but this is really fantastic news.”

“Yes, Christa, it is, but you have to understand.  Even if the research proves itself out, and we’re able to complete successful patient trials, the political pressure will be huge to overcome.”

“This is a real game changer though, Doctor.  You’ve found a way to distinguish between the violent zombies and the evolved ones like myself and Leekasha.”

“Don’t forget about Andreas now.  Others won’t when the idea of this drug gets out.  A lot of my colleagues won’t be happy with me.  This is not a popular field of research to be pursuing these days.  I’ve already had a few of my staff quit or ask for transfers.”

“New ideas are never well accepted.  You know that.  I understand it’ll take time, but surely they’ll have to see the advantages.  Just look at Leekasha and what she’s capable of.  Her mind control, her healing abilities, and her accelerated learning are just a few.  She’s progressed at a remarkable rate.  Surely the regent will see the huge advantages zombies like that represent.  It's too much of an opportunity to squander..”

“Christa, do I need to remind you how this government works?  You remember Kongod, right?  That computer the size of the planet that makes all the decisions.”

“It doesn’t make decisions, that’s the regent’s job.”

“Right, of course.  Kongod just measures the will of the people on all matters and provides a list of acceptable answers to the regent, who decides.”

“So obviously the regent will see this drug is capable of only controlling the dangerous zombies.  We can then free the others from Pacize.  The ones that are really suffering on the inside.  They can help society, they can make this an even better place to live.”

Dr. Montgomery laughed.  “I think you overestimate the value of the regent.  Sure, the position was created to give people the illusion of human control, but that’s all it really is … an illusion.  At least, that’s the way I see it. If the regent picks against the people’s will, Kongod can select a new regent.  One based on the will of the people, of course.  It’s all about what Kongod offers, which everyone believes is controlled by the people.”

“You don’t believe that’s true, Doctor?”

“Well, I have no evidence to the contrary. I suppose I do believe it’s the will of the people truly running the country.  Back to my original answer though, it’s not the regent or my bosses you have to convince of the value of this new drug, it’s the people.  And I have to tell you, the people can be a pretty fickle bunch.  They have a reputation for short-term memory and subjective decision making.”

The lab door opened and a slightly tanned Leekasha entered.

“Well, look who’s back from her day at the beach,” Dr. Montgomery said.

“How do you know where I was?” Leekasha asked.

“Don’t assume that just because the general has given up trying to control your whereabouts he doesn’t have eyes watching you.  There are spies everywhere these days, my dear,” Montgomery answered.

“Whatever.  That’s not why I am here.  Christa, have you heard about this new zombie trade being discussed?”

“What are you talking about?  Nobody trades zombies.  We’re not commodities.”

“Maybe you and I aren’t, locked away down here, but it’s true.  Europe and Asia are looking to get into the zombie and Pacize drug business.”

Christa looked to Dr. Montgomery.  “Doc, set her straight.  I think her brain got a little fried from too much beach sun.”

“No, Christa, actually, she’s right.  This has been coming for a while.  It’s been in our high-level security briefings for the past few months.  I’m actually surprised it took this long to go public.”

Christa took a seat.  “I don’t understand.  This sounds nuts.”

“What it means,” Dr. Montgomery explained, “is that international economic bodies have been talking about the unfair advantage zombies give the Americas in terms of infrastructure and economic competition.  They’ve noticed how quickly we rebounded from the wars, and that we’re now surpassing them in terms of finances and technology.  Our standard of living is moving up at such a pace that everyone’s envious.  They want in on it.  They want zombies of their own, and right now they’re willing to pay for it.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.  You can’t turn zombies into commodities.  They’re living, breathing beings … sort of.”

“Yeah,” General Chambers said as he walked into the room.  “Living and breathing might be a stretch.  More like monsters that terrorized this continent and put us on the verge of extinction not so long ago.  People haven’t forgotten that.  There’s no love lost for what your people represent,” he said, looking at both Christa and Leekasha.

Dr. Montgomery added, “That’s one of the things I was talking about, Christa.  The political will coming from overseas to make this happen will be huge.  This new drug that targets only a small population of zombies will reduce the supply of zombies for exporting.”

“Supply!”  Leekasha said.  “We’re not a supply … we’re not objects for trading.”

“You may not think so,” Chambers interjected, “but I can assure you, the international people pushing for these agreements think you are.  Unless they start some kind of breeding programs to increase the zombie population, cutting into their ‘supply’ will be a pretty hard sell.”

“Breeding program?  This is ridiculous,” Christa said.  “I can’t believe they’re even considering such a thing.  Who in their right mind would approve something like this?”

“Like I said,” Dr. Montgomery added, “it’s all about the will of the people … this country is run like a popularity contest now.  Democracy on steroids.”

The general added, “Don’t forget, those people we’re talking about are the same people that were on extinction’s doorstep not so long ago.  I’m sure they’d be more than willing to ship a few of these zombie freaks overseas for a few more bucks in their pockets.”

Dynamic Duo

Christa awoke from a sound sleep, being shaken by her shoulders.  Leekasha knelt by the side of her bed, obviously flustered.

“What’s wrong … what happened?” Christa said, propping herself up with one arm.

“We’ve got to go out there and figure this out.  We’ve got to fix this.  You’re right, I can’t sit here any longer.  I need to do something.”

Christa looked at her bedside clock and picked it up to show Leekasha.

“Can you read that?  Can you?  It’s 3 o’clock in the morning.  What do you think we’re going to do about all this at 3 o’clock in the morning?  Go away.”  Christa lay back down and pulled the blankets up over her head.

Leekasha leaned back.  “They didn’t care that all those zombie workers died in the chemical factory.  They didn’t even mention them in the news.  They only cared that they polluted the environment.”

Christa rolled back and looked at Leekasha.  “What are you babbling about?”

“They think we’re polluting the environment.  That’s it.  They just want a better way of cleaning us up so we don’t ruin things by dying wrong.”

Christa sat up again.  “How did you get in here?  My door was locked.”

“Yeah, oh, that.  I have people that help me with that.  It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, of course you do.  Look, of course you should go to the outside.  It’s what Patzy said.  You’re not doing any good in here, especially with this new zombie trading agreement.  It’s certainly not making it any easier to push these new drugs Montgomery is coming up with.”

Leekasha got up and sat on Christa’s bed.  “You have to come with me.  I can’t do it alone.”

“What, no.  I can’t do that.  I’ve got work to do in here.  The new drug that Dr. Montgomery …”

“That has no chance.  You know that now.  Montgomery practically said the same thing already today.  You know it won’t work.  You’re just stalling in here.”

Christa rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.  “I just created a disaster the last time I was out there.  Remember?  I spent six years trying to make things better, and I nearly started another war.  I can’t take that chance again.  I have to work from the inside this time.  That’s what I need to be doing.”

“You’re just scared, that’s all.”

“Yes, you’re right.  I’m scared.  Scared as all hell to go out there.  How can you not understand that?”

“You did it before.  You helped end one war, the big one.  And you only
almost
started another one.  You didn’t really do that bad.”  Leekasha gave her a smile.

“That’s not funny, Leekasha.  People died.  They died because of what I did.”

“No, they died because of what Andreas did.  You’re not Andreas.  You saved a lot of people too, stopping the first war, and that counts for something.  Besides, I’m not going without you.”

“You already went without me once.  You can do it again.  Just go.”

“That was a day at the beach.  That was nothing.  I deliberately picked a place I knew there wouldn’t be many zombies.  Still, it was hard.  I only saw a few, and the screaming was unbearable.  If there are more I don’t know how I’ll bear it.  You’ve done it.  You can help me through that.”

Christa looked down and shook her head.  She grabbed her pillow from behind her, held it up to her face, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

When she finished, Leekasha asked, “Do you feel better now?”

“Yes, I do.  Thank you.”

“So, now you’re going to come with me?”

“Yes, I will, but we’ll need help.”

“OK.  Anyone in particular?”

“Yes,” Christa answered.  “I want Chaz and Alex.”

“I already asked for them.  You weren’t actually my first choice.”

Christa tilted her head.  “Really?  Thanks a lot. So they’re coming?”

“No, they can’t.  Actually I didn’t talk to them directly, but they’re undercover, infiltrating the Freeze and trying to find Chaz’s son Caius.”

“If they’re undercover, how did you find … never mind, don’t answer that … you have people that tell you things.  Right.”

“So…” Leekasha half smiled.  “I guess it’s just you and me.”

“Yep, it seems so,” Christa answered, falling back into her pillow.