The Great Wreck (40 page)

I
saw the heavy gate roll back as the first shuttle drove in. We followed as the
gate shut behind us. Birch stopped the shuttle, got out, and walked over to a
small security station while Harriet walked around the shuttles to ensure no
dead had clung to the undersides then followed us in. Inside Birch flipped a
switch and two large concrete barriers rose up on either side of the closed
gate clamping it shut for good and Harriet called out to Doc that the vehicles
were all clear.

“The
dead might be able to get over the fence if there are enough of them, but they
aren’t going to be able to push this gate over,” he said as he and Harriet
climbed back into the shuttles and drove us around to the back of the largest
warehouse.

We
all piled out of the shuttles and quietly made our way inside the heavily
fortified structure. Attached to the side of the warehouse was a set of offices
and barracks. Marti led me to the showers where she helped me strip off my
cloths. She turned on the shower, then took off her own cloths and pulled me
under the hot stream of water. She washed all the dust and bits of debris off
of me, sudsing me up from head to toe then rising me off. Then she did the same
for herself. Had I not just been through a marathon race with the dead followed
by getting blown up, I’m sure I would have been hugely aroused. As it was I
just wanted to lie down in a soft bed.

Marti
finished up and dried the both of us off, then went to get us both some cloths.
She returned later with a pair of shorts and tee shirt for each of us, then led
me to the officers dormitory. We took a room on the second floor, locked the
door up tight, and crawled in between the cool sheets. Later, when the heat
began to beat down, someone would switch on the air conditioning and I’d sleep
the whole day away in our cool, secure refuge.

Far
to the west, the dead forgot about us and resumed their trek north. Doc, Birch,
and a few of the others went up on the roof of the warehouse watching through
binoculars as the dead completely overran the entire city. The Green Zone was
swamped with dead cramming into the walled off area. It didn’t look like they’d
be able to go back even after the waves of dead had passed. They watched
nervously as the dead spread out and edged closer to the warehouse but only a
few ever came over to the east side of I-25. Everyone else claimed a room like
Marti and I and slept for most of the day hoping that sleep would wash away
some of the horrors of the previous hours.

*
     
*
     
*

I
awoke later with the sun headed towards the western horizon. I noticed how cool
it was and heard the air conditioning running. I lay back with Marti in the
crook of my arm marveling at the cool, dry air pouring from the vent above my
head. They must have a generator to run the AC, I thought. What a luxury! I
also thought it might be a huge waste of fuel to use just for cooling down the
dormitory, but I wasn’t going to complain.

Marti
stirred next to me then raised her head up off of my arm, “Did I crush your
arm?” she asked smiling up at me with those blue gray eyes.

“Completely
dead,” I replied as the pins and needles rushed along my arm.

She
sat up and reached for her gear, pulling out a watch, “Geez! Six o’clock!”

We
got out of bed and got dressed. I followed Marti down the hallway and could
smell that somewhere, Harriet was cooking and my stomach growled. My body ached
all over. It felt as though every square inch was bruised. I’d find out later
when I showered again, the most of it was.

We
went down stairs and I saw that the first floor had no windows and the
entrances all had thick metal doors that bolted shut. Nothing was getting in
through those. We walked down the different hallways until we found the
entrance to the connected warehouse. We passed through another set of metal
doors bolting them closed behind us. The warehouse was similar to the one I had
found in Phoenix. It was crammed full of weapons, explosives, ammunition,
armor, uniforms, food, and other supplies.

“The
other warehouses have armored vehicles, motorcycles, cars, and trucks. One even
has three helicopters but none of us here know how to fly,” Marti said as we
walked to the far wall to a set of stairs and landings that lead to the roof.

We
climbed the stairs slowly until we reached the top. At the head of the stairs
was another door. We passed through it and onto the roof of the warehouse. Doc
and Birch were sitting in two folding chairs on the roof each one with a huge
set of binoculars sitting on a tripod looking west. The sun was low and cast
everything in a golden light. Far away, I could see a thin line of figures
stretching from the south to the north.

“We
got away scott free,” Birch said looking up at me and Marti.

“Except
Allen,” Doc said.

“Yeah,
except Allen,” Birch replied softly,” I hope to god it was quick,” he said, “We
might not have gotten away at all if it hadn’t been for demolition man here,”
Birch said, “What hell happened?”

“I
connected the blue wire and the whole world went up,” I said sitting on a ledge
next to Birch. Marti sat next to me and snuggled close, “No delay at all.”

“Timer
must have failed,” Birch said simply and went back to watching through his
binoculars.

“How’s
James?” I asked looking around and expecting him to jump out at me at any moment.

“Behaving
like a perfect gentleman,” Doc said, “Told Birch and I here ‘Thank you very
much for letting me out of the cell’ and we said ‘Thanks for helping us out of
that mess back there’ and he said ‘It was my pleasure.’ Creepy dude but good
with a gun. He’s asleep in the dorms. We have one of the boys keeping an eye on
him.”

“You’d
better have someone keep an eye on him every second of every day. He’s shit
house rat crazy and it’s only a matter of time before he loses it and hurts
somebody,” I said.

Doc
and Birch nodded, “We thought as much,” Birch said, “You gonna ditch him?”

I
nodded, “We’ll stay here as long as we can but when James starts to act up,
we’ll need to be on our way. Somewhere north, I’ll lose him and either maker my
way back here or meet you all at Sandia.”

I
felt Marti squeeze my arm with hers and whisper, “Come back here if you can.
Then we’ll go to Sandi together when they come and get us. We’ll get to
drive
there!”

Turns
out James lasted almost five days before being cooped up got to him. Each day
I’d watch him and each day he got a bit more twitchy, a bit more moody, and a
lot more crazy. He and I were sitting up on top of the warehouse watching the
tail end of the dead moving through the city. After three days the wall of dead
had finally broken up. By day four most of the city was empty and on day five
there were only a few stragglers moving through the town.

“Meat
diddler,” he said by way of addressing me, “I do believe it’s time to go.”

I
nodded and looked at him. His legs were bouncing up and down and he had that
vacant, dead look in his eyes, his face drawn and cracked, pale and dirty
covered with a scrim of whiskers. He looked exactly like a junkie needing a
fix.

“In
the morning?” I asked.

“Fuck
yeah! Right as rain! In the morning! On the road again and heading north!” he
said as he got up and headed downstairs.

Marti
and Birch came up a few minutes later and sat next to me, “James the Crazy Turd
sure looked happy,” Birch said as he adjusted the binoculars, Did he just fuck
and/or kill someone’s cat?”

“We’re
leaving tomorrow,” I said. I heard Marti draw in a sharp breath and saw her
look away.

We
sat there in silence for a few minutes and then Birch said, “You sure about
that Thomas? We can handle James, you know.”

“No
one can handle James, Birch. It’s best we move on before he loses it,” I said.
Marti leaned against me and put her head on my shoulder. I could feel her
shaking against me and put my arm around her, “As soon as I leave him, he’ll
come back here, you know. So be on the lookout.”

Birch
nodded, “We’ll seal up tight. He might get over the fence but all the buildings
are completely sealed. There’s no way he can get into any of them and if we see
him without you, we’ll put him down.”

“Birch,
can you do me a favor?” I asked

“Anything
kid. Except sleep with you that is. I know I’m a good looking dude, but I think
Marti has her claim on you,” Birch replied.

“Ha,
ha. I’m out of your league,” I said and handed him a folded sheet of paper and
a small map. I’d been busy that last few days pouring over maps of Las Cruces
and Hatch. I had found what I was looking for and had marked it on a map for
Birch, “Can you get these things for me and drop them here? If I figure right,
I’ll be needing them in a day, two at the outside.”

Birch
nodded as he looked over the list, “And I imagine you’ll need this one hear
before you head out?” he said pointing to the last item on my list circled in
red.

“That’d
be correct,” I replied, “Well, I’d better get my gear together and get some
rest. See you folks in the morning.”

Doc
and Birch nodded and I made my way down to the warehouse floor and gather up
the bare minimum of gear I would need for the next day or two. When the time
came to leave James, I’d want to be as light as possible.

When
I was done, I made my way back to Marti’s and my room where she was waiting for
me. We spent the rest of the evening together talking about nothing and saying
the things that young lovers say to each other. Sometime late in the night we
both fell asleep and when we woke in the morning, it was time to go.

Marti
walked me out to the main gate where Birch was already lowering the vehicle
barriers. Parked in front of the gate was a police armored vehicle, “I figured
I’d give you all a lift down to the I-25 and I-40 interchange. Froom there you
can head out on foot,” he said as he climbed into the front seat, “James up
front with me.”

I
gave Marti a long, last kiss and then shook Doc’s hand.

“Good
luck son,” Doc said, “And we’ll see you in Sandia.”

I
grabbed my pack and tossed it in the back of the police truck and climbed in. I
had brought the minimum of gear I would need wanting to travel light and move as
fast as I could when the time came. On the back bench of the truck was a
package wrapped in a towel. I quickly grabbed it up and place it in the bottom
of my pack just as James walked up to the back door.

James
had on a massive backpack with a good seventy pounds of gear stuffed into it, a
huge duffle bag stuffed with God knows what strapped to his body, and was
dressed out in a complete SWAT uniform, helmet and all, “You going to war,
James?” I asked as he tossed his gear in, “You look like a freshly minted cop.”

“Hardy,
har, har,
har!
”
 
he said as he set down his fancy, fully
automatic rifles, body armor, and other high techy gear in the back of the
truck, “And you look like a shit heel convict so there’s that and shut on up.”
Apparently he had forgotten the lesson of Phoenix, “I got what I need there,
skinny britches.”

Later
I’d find out what he had in there was enough explosives to get back into the
warehouse complex but I wouldn’t know this until a few days later.

He
slammed the door shut and climbed into the passenger’s seat. I watched out the
back window as we rolled forward and waved at the Doc and Marti as we passed
through the gate and out onto the open road. It hurt to leave them. Had I been
by myself, I would have stayed with them secure behind the concrete and steel
fences waiting for Sandia to come and get us. Instead I was stuck with a
lunatic out in the open facing dead that came and went in great waves. Would
the fun never stop?

Birch
drove us back into Las Cruces and north along the frontage road until he found
a clear onramp, then took us all the way to the I-25 and I-40 interchange. We
got out of the truck then I
 
pulled my
rain parka. The thunderheads were building up in the west and I knew that we’d
be hit by heavy rains within the hour.

James
climbed out and grabbed his immense backpack and strapped on the other duffle
bag on top of that. I didn’t say a word. If James wanted to kill himself
lugging all the stuff all over the desert, all the more power to him.

Birch
came over and shook my hand, “Good luck, Thomas,” he said then turned towards
James. He took James by the arm and pulled him out of my earshot. They talked
for a good minute or two their eyes locked together like to pit bulls about to
fight. I undid the strap that held my pistol in place ready to draw if James
decided to take after Birch. But a second later James smiled his best “you may
go and fuck yourself, sir” smile and said, “That sound like a pretty good
fucking deal,
friend
. Maybe I’ll get
to take you up on it,” and turned away from Birch.

“Ready?”
I said.

“Oh,
fuck yes!” James replied and started walking north.

I
waved to Birch who tipped his head at me, then fell in step beside James.

*
     
*
     
*

The
rain caught us an hour later. James spit and cursed like the devil and was soon
soaked, “No parka?”

“Well
how the fuck was I supposed to know that it
rains
in the fucking
desert
?” he yelled and
kicked at the asphalt a few times. He must have thought God was intentionally
fucking with him.

“We’ll
get you one in Radium Springs,” I replied, “We’ll stop there for the night,
right?

James looked at
me through the rain and thought about it for a minute, “Yeah, Radium Springs.
How far is that?”