The Undead World (Book 1): The Apocalypse (13 page)

“
You should leave him like he left us,” Sadie said, flashing her dark eyes toward Neil and then to her partner. “The guy's harmless, John.”

“
He ain't all that harmless. Now go, unless you want to watch me splatter him all over this kitchen. I know you aren't into the blood.”

Sadie nodded slowly with a look of revulsion and then said in a low voice,
“I'll just get the keys.”

They were still in the truck, but Neil wasn
't in the mood to be helpful. The girl ran her hand over his pockets and when she felt the .357 Magnum tucked into his jeans under his jacket, her eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything, she only gave Neil a very long look as she left. What she meant by the look he didn't know. Certainly she didn't expect him to pull the gun and shoot his way to freedom, not with the shotgun aimed at his face. It would be impossible.

The young man, John, waited until Sadie had cleared the house and then he gave Neil a
shove with the end of the shotgun. “You fucked up, Bro. You don't take a man's truck and think he'll just let it go. Saying sorry don't mean shit to me.” John took a step back and then pulled the trigger and Neil fell to the floor with a great rushing sound in his head as the world ended in black.

The Island
as everyone referred to it, was little more that a series of rocky, tree covered humps rising out of the Illinois River. The main island was over a thousand feet long and a few hundred feet across at its widest. Every inch of its long shore was covered in rolled concertina wire—a much more effective cousin to barbed wire—and behind that armed men sat in bunkers, ready to repel any invasion.

They crossed onto the island by way of a pontoon bridge, which was nothing more than floating barges that were linked together by chains. That they shifted beneath the weight of the humvees had Sarah nervous.
“Can't the zombies just cross over to the island the same as we are?”

She and her parents were riding in the lead humvee with Colonel Williams. He laughed at her question.
“Didn't you see those tanks?”

“
I guess I didn't,” she admitted. Her mind was in a free fall. They had left Danville, taking with them a score of women and every gun and bullet the town possessed…and the last of the food. There had been a number of deaths, but nothing compared to what was to come for those poor people. The convoy drove west to another town that was about to be devastated by the army and as they did they went by a horde of zombies that seemed uncountable; it went on for miles.

They were heading straight to Danville.

“You see?” Colonel Williams had said gesturing. “You should be thanking me. Danville won't last the night.”

No one had thanked him. Instead they were thinking about the friends they had left behind, and trying not to cry. Shows of emotion seemed to upset the colonel and since they were at his complete mercy they each tried their best to be good.

Now on the bridge, the colonel pointed at the chains on the far end. “And if the zombies get past the tanks, we can always disconnect the bridge from this side. Sure it will be a pain to put back together but the alternative is far worse.”

“
That's smart,” Sarah said, eager to please.

When they had crossed to the other side, they saw that the island was a beehive of activity. Trees were being felled and walls were being created out of their trunks. Trenches and
postholes were being dug and firewood was being chopped. There was no machinery for any of this. Fuel was simply too precious, and so it was men who swung the axes, worked the heavy bladed saws back and forth and hewed at the dirt with shovels and pick axes.

The humvees went to the cente
r of the island and there the colonel began issuing orders while Sara and her parents stood with a gaggle of women and a few civilian men who appeared young and strong. They were separated into groups—the men were volunteers and were sent to be outfitted in uniforms—the women were volunteers in only the loosest sense of the word.

Gary and Denise Rivers were taken to the second island, which turned out to be far less secure than the first. It had only two banks of the coiled wiring and the few guards
on it had to walk the perimeter instead of sitting safe in earthen bunkers.

“
We're going to work on that island next,” the colonel assured Sarah. “But we have to make at least one as secure as possible. If there's any trouble your parents can always come over here. That's our plan. Now, this is where you are staying,” he said pointing at a rectangular white tent. It seemed very large for just one person. “You are going to be my new executive assistant if anyone asks.”

Sarah missed altogether the word
new
. She went to the tent with her one piece of luggage and eyed the six cots with unease. Two were clearly spoken for, with women's clothing draped here and there, and so she went to the furthest cot in the back. On it was an olive drab sleeping bag, a pillow, and a little kit with soap and shampoo and toothpaste. She was just finishing up arranging her things when another woman came. She was tall and blonde and she too had just a single bag.

“
Hi,” Sarah said coming forward to introduce herself. “I'm Sarah Rivers. I'm from Danville.”

“
Roberta Clement, but everyone calls me Bobbi. I'm from Laurette, or what's left of it,” her blue eyes started to fill up and then she blinked and tried to smile. “I'm hoping things will be changing for the better. That's what I keep telling myself, and at least this island seems safe.”

“
That's true. It's safer than Danville ever was.” Sarah replied. “I should be like you and look on the bright side of things. Things could be worse and besides, I'm going to be the colonel's new executive assistant.”

Bobbi
's eyes turned sharp. “No, I think you're wrong there. I'm going to be the colonel's new executive assistant.”

“
You both will be,” a woman at the front of the tent said. “Just as we are.” Another woman followed her in and they went to the two occupied cots. “I'm Cindy. I'm the colonel's favorite and this is Veronica.”

“
Favorite what?” Bobbi asked, crossing her arms.

“
His favorite
executive assistant
,” Cindy answered with a wink.

“
What are you saying?” Bobbi asked. “Are you saying that you're…that we're…”

Veronica was the older of the two, being roughly the same age as Sarah. She was pretty and her brown eyes were kind, but also pitying.
“We're executive assistants, dear.”

“
No,” Sarah replied, dropping her chin to the canvas flooring of the tent. “We're whores. That's what we are.”

This caused the
little group to grow silent and each was grim in the face until Veronica forced a smile on her lips. “Come here, honey.” She brought Sarah to the front flap of the tent and pointed out at all the men working, they seemed to be everywhere, each sweating from their labors. “There are two thousand men on this island. See all those big tents? Each holds twenty men and the colonel has authorized only one woman per tent.”

“
Twenty?” Sarah asked, feeling sick. Bobbi looked as though she was about to throw up. “Twenty guys for every…”

“
Yes, twenty,” Veronica said. “Those poor women are the whores. We are executive assistants.”

“
Don't get her hopes up,” Cindy said. Sarah looked back to her and watched with her mouth hanging open as the younger woman undressed; she had the body of a stripper and the wicked gleam in her eye of a porn star. “Face it honey, unless you can suck dick with the best of them you'll be destined for platoon work, where you'll get all the practice you can stomach. You got a cute face, but your body is only ok.”

“
This is ridiculous,” Sarah whispered as if she couldn't push out the air in her lungs. It was bad enough when she had thought she was going to be the colonel's “Girlfriend” but now that she had found out that she was part of some medieval harem it seemed worse somehow. “And it's unfair. This is the twenty-first century. We should be treated as equals.”

She looked to Bobbi for agreement, but the woman had her make-up bag out and was busy trying to apply foundation to cover the worry lines that had sprung up across her forehead.

The two experienced women exchanged looks and Cindy rolled her eyes. “Look at me,” she said pointing at herself, indicating her body. “I'm a hundred and eight pounds, and eight pounds of that is titty. I've never fired a gun before. I can't swing an axe more than five times without getting exhausted and I can't mix and pour cement. I can't dig a trench or haul firewood or any of that. The truth that you can't seem to see is that there isn't a job on this island that I can do that a man isn't better at. Except for one and this may sound skanky, but I'm glad to do it.”

Veronica agreed.
“I was with the colonel almost from the beginning. What those soldiers did…how they fought with all those zombies everywhere and people dying and…” she paused to take a steadying breath. “I'm with Cindy on this. My entire job is to please one man and for that I get shelter, protection, and three meals a day. It's a fair trade. It's better than fair if you think about it.”

“
But twenty at a time,” Bobbi asked. She held an eyeliner pencil in a hand that shook. “I can't do that.”

Cindy struggled a
halter-top over her breasts and said, “I could do it no problem, if my only other choice was going out there with the zombies. I could do it easy. Just lube yourself up and let them go at it.”

“
And it's not that bad in the platoons, now,” Veronica said. “The colonel instituted a new policy: each man gets a blowjob every three days and gets one
date
a month. I know twenty times a month seems like a lot, but when I was with my husband, back when he was still alive…when we first met I mean, we were doing it three times a day.”

To Bobbi it seemed far more than she wanted to handle and she appeared almost to swoon, however it was then the
colonel called from outside the tent, “Are you ladies descent?” She bounced up with a strained smile on her face. She was also quick to undo the top two buttons on her blouse.

Sarah couldn
't stand. Her legs felt too weak to hold her up and her stomach wanted to rebel against the thought of what was being asked of her. The colonel beamed at his ladies, though his smile slipped when he took in Sarah.

“
Just wanted to see how you're settling in,” he said.

“
Just fine, Sir,” Bobbi said very quickly. “This tent is going to be just great. And these two…uh women. Were just telling us how lucky we are.” Sarah nodded along, it was the best she could do.

“
Great,” Williams said. “Well that's all I wanted, except…” he paused and looked the women over. As he did, the two more experienced women straightened just the slightest. “Except I was hoping that Cindy would like to have dinner with me tonight.”

“
I would love to,” Cindy replied as Veronica's smile faltered. “That sounds super.”

When the
colonel left, Bobbi slumped back down. “He didn't pick me. Was I wrong somehow?”

Cindy snorted at this, letting them know who the favorite was, while Veronica shook her head and said,
“You did the right thing, you just need to tone it down a notch. Be eager, but not too eager. And you…”

“
My name is Sarah.”

“
Let's take a walk,” Veronica said, heading out of the tent. When they were alone she asked. “Are you sure you want to be here? They'll let you go anytime. You can walk right over that bridge whenever you want.”

“
My parents are here. They're set up on that island over there. I can't go even if I wanted to.”

“
Then you need to change your attitude,” Veronica said. “The colonel is…don't ever I tell him I said this…the colonel is a big fake. He pretends that we are his girlfriends, and he wants us to act like we're in love with him.”

“
I don't know if I can,” Sarah said, pleadingly.

Veronica could only shrug.
“Then I wish you and your parents the best of luck out there. You see, here is a painful truth: the colonel doesn't need you...”

“
But…”

“
But nothing! If you can't please him then you're gone. I've been with him for almost five weeks and I've already seen it happen. I saw one woman walk out of the lines and get torn apart before she went twenty feet. And don't even think that you'll be able to sweet talk one of the men into protecting you. They fight and die for him. They love him…just as I do.”

Sarah gazed at Veronica in wonder until the woman curled her lip and snarled,
“You don't know thing one about what I've gone through! That man protected me when no one else would. He's like a father and a husband and a god all rolled into one. I know I said he was a fake, but maybe I am too. I don't know. But if you can't please him…”

“
I can,” Sarah said quickly, grabbing her hand. “I just don't know what to do.”

“
Just want him. He wants to be wanted. And don't just 'lube up' like Cindy suggests. That may work for someone with her body, but you and I have to try harder.” Her face drooped suddenly as though the fact that she hadn't been picked for that night was an omen.

“
And what happens if that doesn't work?” Sarah asked, dreading for the first time in her life that she wouldn't be good enough for a man. “What am I suppose to do? If I can't please one man how can I please twenty? And why would I even have to! There were plenty of women in Danville, why didn't he just get more?”

“
I asked the colonel that already,” Veronica replied. “Each extra person means we have to scrounge for more food, and more fuel to burn, and more medicine, and more of everything. You are very lucky that he agreed to take your parents on.”

After seeing the zombies heading for Danville, Sarah knew that she was.
“That's why I'm suddenly scared I won't be good enough. I have to be good enough for their sakes.”

“
I get it…and you're not the only one who worries,” Veronica said. “What happens if he gets tired of me? Or what happens if he finds another girl like Cindy, all tits and ass? Or another girl like you, only more adventurous? I think that's your problem. You're beautiful but…”