The Death Doll (18 page)

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

Somebody outside shrieked like they were getting eaten. 

“What the hell?” Isaac muttered as everyone else in Assembly looked back at the main exit. 

Cody pointed at Hashim.  “Get to the armory.  Hand out weapons to whomever—” 

Isaac flinched.  “Armory?”

Ignoring him, Cody finished telling Hashim what to do.  “Use your best judgment on who.  Isaac, Craig, Bob, with us.”

“Rachelle,” Didi said to her lackey while following Cody to the exit, “get the kids and the teachers into the tunnels.  Look out for them.”

“But I want to—” Rachelle tried to say.

“Just do it.  They need a defender.”

The kid huffed and nodded.

Isaac followed Cody and Didi out of the theater and across the street, but he didn’t know what good he would be empty-handed.

Didi grabbed her sword.  “I’ll go.”

Cody blocked her arm before she could take her blade out.  “We’ve got this.  Watch the camp for me, just in case.” 

Didi looked worried but stayed outside with Bob and Craig.  “Fine, but if you die, I’m going to shove an NSU in your head and kick your ass.”

Cody grinned at her and patted her shoulder.  “At least I won’t feel it.”  Then he went in.

“Isaac,” Didi said, then drew her lower left pistol and tossed it to him.  He had to step forward to catch it.  “Keep him safe.”

Though surprised, Isaac nodded to her.  He aimed into the wrecked shop and followed the crazy medic inside, sneaking through a row of bare shelves. 

Grunting made him stop.  He glanced over the shelf and saw nothing.  Then he watched Cody move up from one hiding place to another, all the way to the end of another aisle. 

Isaac reached the end of his own aisle, where some face-muncher chowed down on a pile of bloody dreadlocks.  It didn’t take long to figure who was eating who.  He backed up and accidently knocked over a set of shelves. 

The dead creep looked up and growled at him. 

Isaac prepared to take out Zombie Jake when its head busted open like a Gallagher watermelon.  What was left collapsed over Ben’s corpse.

Cody ran past the dead and checked the freezer.  “Kenny’s gone.  Head back.”

Isaac ran back outside and ended up startling Bob and Craig.  He counted himself lucky they didn’t shoot him down. 

“What happened?” Didi asked as she stepped past her two Panel members.

“I happened,” Kenny said from down the street, standing with that smug grin like he owned the whole damn block.  At his feet lay the ropes he’d somehow cut off his wrists.

Didi drew two pistols and marched toward the arrogant motherfucker. “Now, I happen.”

Kenny gave a brief, smartass laughed.  “You may want to rethink that, ma’am.”

Suddenly, a whole lot of white people appeared, aiming guns from doorways and rooftops in every building south and east of the theater.  There had to be well over fifty; maybe a hundred.

More guns popped out from doors and roofs, this time from Plaza de Vida and all aimed at Kenny’s people.  The whole thing looked like an old western standoff, and his black-tolerating camp was gravely outnumbered.

Isaac smartly ran inside the meat market with Cody, aiming his pistol at the nearest paleface belonging to Kenny while waiting for the first shot.

Didi stopped right in front of Kenny and stuck her eager barrels on his forehead. 

The fucker didn’t even flinch.  He just shook his head with a condescending grin.  “I love your spirit.  If things were different, I really would’ve enjoyed it.”

“I would’ve had a lot of fun riding you, too, cowboy, but it’s so not in the cards anymore.”

“Nobody else has to get killed, here.  We’ve both said and done some regrettable things, but we all want the same things.  Maybe we can call a truce; find a way to work together.”

“We don’t work with murderers,” Cody shouted.  “He killed Jake, who ate Ben.”

Didi cocked her pistols without ever looking back.  “Well, that just ate all.”

Kenny briefly laughed as he grasped his belt buckle like some kind of champion.  “You don’t stand a chance, darlin’.  You’re hopelessly outnumbered, and I’ve got a lot more guns.”

A long silence followed, and a lot of eager eyes rested on Didi.  Then, she un-cocked her pistols, holstered them, and rested her hands on her belt.  Isaac couldn’t see her giving up, as pissed as she was, so he wondered what the hell was going through that dead head of hers.

Kenny snickered.  “Surrender usually involves dropping your weapons.”

“Don’t mistake me saving my bullets for surrender,” Didi said.

Kenny’s eyebrows flew up.  “Well, then, what do you think you can do to me?  Pray, tell.”

“Maybe it’s my old porn mentality, but I prefer to show.”

Explosions rocked the streets, blasting several invaders to pieces, showering everyone on the surface with rubble, and putting Kenny on his ass.  Some guys on the rooftops got knocked off their feet, but they got up and started shooting. 

Naturally, Isaac and everyone in Camp Didi shot back, and it was on.  The dead chick stood over Kenny like none of it was happening.

Gunfire forced Isaac to duck into the store before he could see what happened next.  He shot back at whatever he could, managing to cap a couple of guys trying to stop Bob and Craig from going back into the theater.

Someone with a machine gun started shredding the doorway.  Isaac clicked empty, but Cody shot the guy down along with some other dude trying to come up on the market.  Isaac reloaded and took out two more assholes behind them.  Three of their buddies took cover across the street.

“I feel like I’m back in the ‘hood,” Isaac said. “This what war was like for you, Soldier?”

Cody grinned. “All I ever saw downrange was the inside of an office.”

Isaac shook his head and laughed as he continued shooting.

*****

Didi watched Kenny stumble to his feet, both of them ignoring all the gunfire.  The shrapnel from her surprise welcome mats only grazed his flesh, but she reveled in the fear and confusion in his eyes. 

He tried to grab her, but she tripped him.  He tried to punch her, but she evaded, grateful Cody taught her how to read the fuzzy body movements.  She eventually grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm, and flung him into a nearby yard.  He got up and tried to ram her with that gargantuan shoulder.  She curled into a ball and let the big sucker trip over her.  When he started to get up, she kicked him back down.  She moved to grab him, but he came up swinging.  Seeing that coming, she grabbed his wrist again and flung him into a nearby wall.  A few shots bounced around her—maybe in her, for all she could tell—but she only cared about punishing the bastard that caused all this. 

She drew her sword and placed the tip against his beefy throat, delighting in how much wider his eyes got.  She wanted to laugh like a villain at seeing his Adam’s apple dance against her blade.  “Still want my sword, cowboy?” she dared. 

“We both know that’s my sister’s sword,” he said like he still had power.  “I will get it back if I have to pry it from your cold, dead hand.”

She skipped the obvious opening he left, not wanting to tip her hand too soon.  “Well, good luck, because you’ll have to after how your brother-in-law treated me.”

Kenny’s eyes darkened, fear giving way to rage.  He smacked her blade away before she could see it coming, but at least she was fast enough to duck his oncoming fist.

*****

Rachelle’s hand trembled around her revolver, but not from fear.  The dirt walls barely masked the gunfire up top, and the longer she waited, the more she worried for her friends.  She desperately wanted to race outside and lend a hand, but Didi needed her to protect the children. 

Then again, there wasn’t much she could do for them anyway.  They all cowered around Jerri, Paula, and Clarissa, who each held a crying baby.  Megan held one of the triplets, the only one who wasn’t wailing.  If only the other sniveling kids were as brave.

“I should be out there,” Rachelle said.

“Are you crazy?” Paula snapped.  “You’ll get killed out there.”

She moved to tear the priss’ head off, but Jerri stepped in her way.  “We need you, in case someone finds their way down here.”

Rachelle flashed her revolver at Jerri.  “Six bullets won’t do much to stop them if they do.”

“It won’t do much good up there, either,” Clarissa said while bouncing her screaming kid.

“It’ll do a whole lot better up there than down here.  I’m going.”

The grown-ups yelled at Rachelle as she ran toward the Day Shift Bay exit.

As soon as she stepped outside, the volume tripled and hurt her ears.  She spotted a few people shooting from rooftops into the compound, but the closest—most deafening—came from right above her.  Fortunately, that came from Tito Orozco.  Unfortunately, the man from the Sunny Skies got shot off the roof and fell into the Courtyard right in front of her.  She couldn’t do anything for him, or four of the Night Shift guards who had also bought it.

She heard something crackle between gunshots, alerting her to a wiry looking young man sneaking over the east wall with a lit stick of dynamite.  She took careful aim and shot the guy square in the head.  The body flopped to the ground and exploded a few seconds later, blasting a small hole in the wooden wall.  She cursed her stupidity and rushed toward the opening, shooting two more guys creeping through it on her way.

“I thought you were with the kids,” Bob shouted over a rifle from the theater rooftop.

She shot another dude coming through the new hole.  “I couldn’t stay.  Where’s Didi?”

“In the street somewhere,” he pointed southeast while reloading his rifle.  “Cody and Isaac are holed up in the old meat market.”

As soon as she slipped through the hole and hit the ground, bullets cracked wood all around her.  She popped up and sprinted toward the meat market, firing off her last two shots at whatever she saw.  She dove into the door just as her lungs were about to explode, and almost got her head blown off by Isaac.

“You scared me, girl,” he bitched.

“Sue me,” she said as she scooted near Cody.  “Got any more bullets?  I’m out.”

“Have at it,” Cody said as he pulled and tossed her a small white box from his jacket. 

Several gunshots sparked around the door, which made Rachelle drop the box and spill bullets all over the floor.  While reaching for them, she noticed someone running up to their doorway, emptying his Mach-10 at them.  When that guy finally clicked empty, so did Isaac; Cody was shooting elsewhere as if he didn’t notice.  She hastily loaded her revolver and fired it just as Mister Mach finished reloading.  The guy went down before he could unload on her. 

Isaac gawked at her like she’d hopped up a building.  Then, he smiled.  “Stone cold, kid.”

She smiled at his praise, but her joy quickly vanished when she saw Cody.

*****

Didi heard Rachelle screaming and glanced back for just an instant.  Before she could do anything else, she was on the ground.  She pulled her pistols and aimed up, but Kenny was already running down the street.  She fired off a few shots, but the big man grew blurrier as he fled and she didn’t want to waste any more ammo.  The blob that was Kenny did something on his way out of town, and the gunfire stopped.

Didi picked herself up and ran into the meat market.  There, she faced her worst nightmare.

DAMAGE

Gilda flushed with fear as she watched Craig and Isaac lug Cody onto a hospital bed.  The man fought to stay conscious, sharply exhaling and grunting as his life oozed from his gut.  She went through her triage procedures on autopilot, thankfully finding no other wounds.  Now she had to perform abdominal surgery on a potentially life-threatening wound in austere conditions.  Even after forty years of observation and two years of experience, she prayed she didn’t screw up.

Pepe entered, covered in soot.  She told him to wash up and don a set of scrubs, then had Craig and Isaac move out of the way.  She asked how many more were dead or wounded, but Craig’s only answer was to inform her of the seven dead.  The wailing outside answered her other question.  She said a quick prayer for them and the souls of the plumber, the farmer, the Power worker, and the three brave night shift workers.  And Jake, God rest his miserable soul.

Pepe appeared at her side, all prepped and attentive with only a hint of apprehension in his eyes.  She had him fetch the instrument table.  When he returned with it, she identified each surgical instrument as a number for him, then had him bring the box of gauze from the desk.  He quickly complied.  She directed him to open three packages, use it all to cover the wound, and apply pressure.  Her intern was jittery, but he moved quickly and precisely.  Though she was terrified, she had a sliver of hope.

She ran for the medicine shelves and found the red-taped bottle she sought.  She unwrapped a clean syringe and loaded it up on her way back to the operating table.  “I’d give my right arm for an anesthesiologist right now.”

“Didi’s outside the door,” Pepe said.  “Should I get her?”

“She’s fine right where she is, and I don’t have time to train those two,” Gilda said with a nod toward Craig and Isaac.  Then, she injected her patient.  “I need two and seven.”

Pepe quickly snatched up the scalpel and forceps from the tray and handed them to her.

Gilda looked squarely into her patient’s eyes, breathing as evenly as possible despite her heart pounding in her chest.  “Cody, do you feel pain anywhere other than the wound?”

Cody frowned, then quickly shook his head.  His breathing was steady but shallow.  He was preparing himself.

“Okay, you have no exit wound, so I’m going to have to remove the bullet.  If we’re lucky, it’ll be near the wound.  Lidocaine is the best I have for the pain, so I need you to hold on.  Are you ready?”

Cody quickly nodded and shut his eyes tightly.

She said another silent prayer and placed her instruments above the wound.  “Move the gauze, but keep it under the wound to catch the flow,” she told Pepe, which he did.  She exhaled any remaining tension.  “Here goes.”

Suddenly, the lights went out. 

Gilda froze as everyone else glanced around, including Pepe.  “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Let’s go check it out,” Craig told Isaac, and the two rushed out the door. 

Gilda snapped her intern’s attention back to his work and used the light coming from the doorway to proceed with hers.  With her forceps at the ready, she made her first incision.

*****

A muffled scream echoed over the mild grunts of the wounded in the Courtyard.  Craig and Isaac ran from the Clinic and into the back door of the kitchen like they were on a mission. 

Rachelle couldn’t do anything more for Otis Campbell’s wounded arm than the wrap she applied, so she headed for the Clinic to see what was up. 

At the base of the ramp, Didi stared inside the trailer like a statue, her clothes all ripped up.  Shards of her tanned flesh peeked through her torn gloves.  Those still eyes were full with fear, that concealed face cringing at each of Cody’s grunts and screams.  The Death Doll looked like she wanted to cry.

Rachelle joined Didi and looked inside the Clinic.  She watched as Gilda dug around in Cody’s gut while Pepe held a big bandage against him.  She crossed herself and said a quick prayer.  Then she placed a hand on Didi’s shoulder.  “He might like it if you held his hand.”

Didi shook her head.  “I can’t risk infecting him,” she said with a gravelly edge to her voice. “I can’t lose him.  He keeps me sane.  He helps me make sense of everything going on in my head, even if he doesn’t know how much of it is for him.” 

Rachelle studied every part of her mentor’s face.  None of it moved, but none of it had to; those eyes said everything.  “You really are in love with him.”

Didi cringed like she had just swallowed something disgusting.  “What does it matter?  I can’t be with him.  Right?  I can’t cuddle with him, or kiss him, or give him children.  I can’t even share with him the one thing I was best known for when I was alive.”

Despite the gross imagery, Rachelle sympathized.

The screaming finally stopped.  Gilda tossed aside some kind of tongs and took a needle from Pepe.  Rachelle hoped that was a good thing.

Didi looked at her like a gloomy china doll.  “You know the worst part about being dead?  If he dies, I won’t be able to cry for him.  I’ll just ache.  Forever.”

Rachelle hugged her friend, hoping she felt it emotionally. “If he dies, I’ll cry for you both.”

A hand softly touched her arm.  She looked up and saw Didi smiling at her; it was full of sadness, but it was still there.

Until the ground shook beneath them.

*****

Paula fumbled around in the dark until she found an earthen wall to help her stand while little Danny screamed into her ear.  Some of the other babies cried, a few children whimpered, and two of the teens argued.  Clarissa tried to calm them down and told them to stay close together. 

A beam of light cut through the tunnel and upturned, revealing Jerri as she pointed to her left.  “Everybody on that wall.”

“What was that?” Paula asked while helping Ray Ray stand.

“I think the generator—” 

Water sprayed into Jerri’s face from high up on the wall, making Chun wail in her arms.  She turned away to shield her baby girl’s face, but more water spit out of the other walls, showering everyone and forcing them to cover their eyes.  Clarissa fought the harsh mists to corral the other children.  Paula did what she could to shield Danny, but there was no place that water didn’t spew.

Jerri headed for the visible intersection nearby until someone bumped her to the ground, knocking the flashlight out of her hands.  On its way down, the beam flashed past a skinny girl in green, soaked from head to toe, with red hair matted to her face.

Paula quickly scooped up the flashlight and aimed the beam down the tunnel, where the redhead ran up a stairway.  “Who was that?” she shouted over the hissing water.

“Who cares?  Follow her,” Clarissa yelled.

Paula ushered a few of the children in the redhead’s direction while doing her best to cover Danny.  She stumbled over little Leticia into a few inches of water but did all she could to keep the baby above water, which was higher already.  “The dirt’s not soaking up the water.”

“It’s packed too tight,” Jerri yelled as she helped Paula to her feet, which were submerged.  “We have to get out of here before we drown.”

Paula and Jerri helped Clarissa and the fallen children get away from the intersection.  The light reflected off the spraying water into Paula’s eyes, forcing her to stop.

Jerri took her flashlight back, aimed it low, and followed the wall until she reached the stairs ahead of the group.  She grabbed the handle and tugged at it for dear life.

“Open it,” Clarissa yelled.

“It’s locked,” Jerri yelled back.

A bloodcurdling scream pierced the hiss of spraying water. 

Jerri aimed her beam back the way they came and saw a zombie stumbling toward them, while two more chewed on Lydia’s neck.  The doomed girl squeezed Jerri’s last triplet, April, into a screaming fit.

Paula couldn’t breathe.

“Oh, my God,
get us out of here!
” Clarissa yelled as she rushed to the door and started ramming it with her shoulder, doing her best to keep Amber out of the way. The door wouldn’t budge.

Jerri stood in the water, frantically glancing between the baby in the dying girl’s arms and the one in her own.  She steeled herself and shoved Chun into the arms of the panicky boy Jeremy.  She rushed toward Lydia, but the vile monster in the lead grabbed her and wrestled her for a bite. 

The screaming Lydia kept crushing the life out of poor April.

Paula passed Danny off to Belinda and rushed past Jerri, but the knee-high water slowed her down.  She grabbed Lydia’s rigid arms and pried the baby loose. 

Another wading zombie reached for her but was clubbed down by an angry blonde mother. 

“I owe you one,” Jerri said while taking her baby back and grabbing Paula’s forearm.  “Come on.”

The two women reached the stairs with the last infant, but they were still trapped with two more zombies and nothing with which to fight them but a flashlight.  Paula had no idea how she would—

The doors behind her flew open, startling everyone. 

“Let’s go,” Didi shouted from above, her sword in hand. 

Some of the teens pushed past everyone and congested the exit. Didi grabbed who she could and helped them into the Lounge, slinging the most belligerent ones. Clarissa scooped up children with her free hand and shoved them out of the door ahead of her.  Jerri passed April over to Dandy and helped Didi clear the exit.

Something snagged Paula’s ankle, and she fell face first onto the concrete stairs.  Her head swam, and she swallowed blood.  She turned as the monster pulled itself up her leg.  She tried to pull and kick away, but its jaws drew closer. 

The thing’s face stiffened as a blade skewered its forehead. 

Above her, Didi retracted her sword, picked Paula up, and pulled her up the stairs.  “Is this everyone?” she asked.

Paula stammered through her answer while crossing the threshold of the café, the last one out.  “Those things got Lydia. Rachelle ran off.  Everyone else is here, except one redheaded girl.  It wasn’t Megan because she—”

Didi drew her up by her lapel, ignoring the hungry zombies crawling up the stairs.  “What redheaded girl?”

Paula trembled under the furious Death Doll’s grip.  “I don’t know.  I’ve never seen her before.  She wore something green.”

Didi drew back, decapitated the last two zombies, re-sheathed her sword, and took Jerri’s flashlight.  “Get them into the Courtyard, then find Isaac or Rachelle.  Tell them Cynthia’s here.  I’m going to check out how bad it is down there.”

Jerri nodded, and Didi headed back to the tunnel entrance.

“Who’s Cynthia?” Paula asked.

Didi walked past her into the flooded tunnels, saying only, “Have Gilda look at your nose.” 

Paula tried to process what was happening when a handkerchief appeared before her eyes.  She thanked Clarissa, pinched her nose with the cloth, and followed everyone into the hall.

*****

Cynthia tried everything she could to break through the boards on the door and the windows, but to no avail.  She ran through the hallways and ended up in a small, walled-off alley without a gate.  She tried scaling the wall, but it was too high.  She snuck along the passage and saw people bunching up near a large moving trailer.  She quickly slipped inside a nearby door.

The theater was pretty well shot up, but empty.  She snuck from the backstage area to the lobby, where some wetback blocked the doorway.  He asked if she was okay.  She ran through him and made it outside.

“Get that little bitch,” she heard that black bastard Isaac yell from the theater, then she heard footsteps pursue her.  They were welcomed to try.  No one had ever been able to catch her when she ran; not the bullies, not the cops, not—

Something rammed her in the back, and she tumbled to the ground.  Her shoulder throbbed and her head swam.  She clawed her way back to her feet, but that muscle-bound spic jumped her again and straddled her like a calf at a rodeo.

“All it takes is a little
Corazón
,” the brawny jerk said, looking awfully pleased with himself.

“That's her,” Isaac said as he closed in with a big blond guy.

The meaty shrimp hoisted her up, spun her around, and squeezed her waist.  She tried to shake loose, but the runt was too strong.

Isaac interrogated her while the blond guy frisked her from tits to toes and back.  The perv could touch all he wanted, but none of them would get what they—

The blond found and removed her vial from under her bra.  The three dimwits questioned her on its contents, but she stared them down like the fools they were.  They wrangled her into the compound, but she knew she could hold out.  Nothing they could do to her would be worse than what she had already been through.  She would prove her worth, no matter what.