World of Ashes II (10 page)

There was still hot water, even though fifty people had to be showering in the tent at the same time, he felt more than a little blessed. In the Army hot water is a luxury you can and often will live without. Daniel jumped in to escape his own thoughts, wishing he had shower shoes for the public facility, but he couldn’t be bothered to worry about foot fungus right now. The steam was made stronger by the summer heat, everything smelled like a jockstrap and moldy rubber even under the hot water. The tent had probably been in storage a while. Daniel looked up at the aluminum supports, spider webs and what he was sure was a uniform from Vietnam hung above him. The steaming water poured down his face, he started to relax for the first time in days. Reaching out to his clothes, Daniel popped one of the sleeping pills he’d found at Mr. Fisher’s house and leaned against the plastic wall separating him from the next stall over. The pills wouldn’t take effect while he was still in the shower, but by the time he was dried and had finished shaving the first wave of dizziness hit him in a gentle fog.

Feeling mildly high and a little hungry, Daniel tried to find the tent Wendy and Kaylee were sleeping in so he could watch Kaylee while Wendy went to shower. He smiled at the thought of Wendy showering, he didn’t know why. The last thing he should do is find a woman ten years older than him and two ranks higher in any way attractive. He also didn’t want another repeat of the loss he’d just suffered. He really did love Lea. Giving up the search for the tent the more the periphery of his vision started to blur, he settled on an empty park bench by the river. The mosquitoes were terrible, but the scene was too peaceful to pass up. As he expected, when the world around him got weird(er), shifting or melting like the descriptions of an acid trip, Lea was sitting on the bench next to him.

“Are you going to say anything?” He asked. She was still wearing the clothes she’d died in, but there was no blood. His subconscious probably didn’t want to see that either.

“Like what? You escaped. Congratulations. Go home, drink yourself into oblivion and be glad you didn’t end up like the rest of us.” Lea’s ghost said, crossing her legs and enjoying the nighttime riverside vista. “I used to love the river at the park where we lived. We lived by a private lake, lots of other Korean families there. Some of the elders would put candles in boats on the solstice and float them across the lake and down the creek. It was beautiful.”

“But those aren’t candles on little paper boats. Those are the fires of a hundred thousand homes across fifty states… and a billion more around the world. Do you really think there’s anything to go back to?”

“I’m just in your head, remember? You know what I know.” Lea smiled. “I couldn’t even tell you if that story about my home was true or not. Maybe my family is actually from China, or even Vietnam. I told you once, but you were watching the news.”

“Well, in the absence of any other opinions I could easily just listen to you. Lots of people have an imaginary friend.” Daniel smiled. If he was tripping, he might as well have fun with it. “Any change I can imagine you wearing something… less?”

“What if I’m not imaginary? What if I’m actually an Angel, blazing with the light of God?” Lea smiled back.

“Wow. I really should not have watched all four seasons of
Battlestar Galactica
in one weekend. I never took you for the movie quoting type, but I guess you are in my head.” Daniel opened a bottle of water and sipped it.

Lea laughed. “Yeah, it is pretty absurd that God would choose you of all people, but have you really discounted the idea that ghosts exist? I mean, the dead are walking after all.”

“So then are vampires, werewolves and other spooky shit for real?”

“…er… Probably not.”

Daniel leaned back on the bench, fighting to keep his eyes open. “If you’re not a hallucination, if you really are a ghost, and really are here to haunt me for what I did to you… Then why can’t I see you unless I’m on drugs?”

Lea shrugged, and in the next instant she was gone.

Chapter 4

Daniel tried to find the tent again at some point in the night, but woke up the next morning sleeping under a Humvee with a bottle of soda he didn’t remember buying. It was almost full daylight, he didn’t understand how he’d slept so long. He was also covered in mosquito bites as a reward for his adventure. Footsteps came up behind the truck and someone kicked Daniel none too softly before he could slip away.

“Hey, asshole, get out from under my fucking truck.” An older man’s voice said.

“Sorry. I don’t even remember how I got here.” Daniel said, crawling out.

“You been drinkin’?” The man in Army PT’s asked, a smile on his face.

“No. I don’t even know where the class six is.”

“So you
are
military.” Daniel froze when the man asked, his carefully crafted cover as a DoD worker blown with two words. “It’s fine. Lots of displaced servicemen around here. What branch are you?”

“Wyoming Army National Guard. I was on vacation.”

“Yeah. I was retired.” The man patted Daniel on the back. “Go find your gear, they’re sending a train this way to take refugees farther into the interior. There’s two cars set aside for military travel. I’d suggest getting on that train. I’m gonna leave out details, but suffice it to say I work in a tent that has the insider info…” He winked at Daniel. “Satellite telemetry puts a mass of cold bodies getting closer. Hint hint, nudge nudge.”

Daniel read between the easily defined lines, as if it could be more obvious. The man must really have thought Daniel was hung over. “Are they close? The infected I mean.”

The man didn’t say anything, but started the Humvee. “Like I said, I’d suggest getting on that train. It’ll be here in two hours on the South track.”

Walking back to the tent-city in the park by the river, Daniel found Wendy and Kaylee outside a JP Medium that was serving breakfast. He got in line behind them. “Sorry, I must have passed out somewhere.”

“Been drinkin’?” Wendy joked.

“Why does everyone think I have a drinking problem?” Daniel played the game back as he got some powdered eggs and greasy, soft bacon. “I’m quite good at it.”

“What’s constructive about being drunk?” Wendy asked

“Not being sober?” She accepted that answer.

They found a table and sat down. Kaylee wasn’t really talking, but then there wasn’t much for a terrified child to do or talk about. “I met a man today who said a train is coming through this area. He strongly suggested we get on it. I asked him if
they
were close, but he wouldn’t answer me. I think it’s high time we left.”

“I can’t. There are elements of my battalion here. I have to stay.” Wendy said.

“Damn. What about Kaylee? I… am not actually related to her.”

“I know.” Wendy smiled, giving Kaylee her orange juice. “And I’ve been thinking, you’ve got a couple choices on that. You can leave her here with DFS and FEMA, or you could take her with you until this gets sorted out. Do you know where her family is?”

“They’re dead.” Kaylee said. “Mommy and Daddy and everyone…” Wendy embraced Kaylee. She was very brave for such a small child. “My grandma and grandpa live in Florida. Can I go to Florida with them?”

“Do you know their names?” Daniel asked Kaylee. It was a stretch, but at least he could say he asked. To their astonishment she gave her grandparent’s names and what town they lived in. A far cry from the confusing information she’d given him at their last hideout, but maybe she’d just been too scared to remember. Of course, he also hadn’t asked. Wendy took it one step farther and went to the TMC after breakfast to run a search on a FEMA computer. It didn’t take long to find Kaylee’s grandparent’s address and phone number, her grandfather listed as a Vietnam Veteran with the Gainesville, Florida Veterans Administration.

“Now we just need a phone.” Daniel left the tent and came back a few minutes later with a government issued cell phone. “You might want to hurry, I’m sure the major will be looking for his phone soon enough. I don’t imagine he’ll be in the pisser for long.”

Wendy smirked at how the phone had been acquired and dialed the number. Most of the nation’s infrastructure was still intact, so phones were working more often than not. It rang several times, and just as she was about to hang up a gruff voice responded.
“Hello?”

“Uh… Hello? Is this Jonathan Sitton?” She put the phone on speaker.

“
Yes it is. To whom am I speaking, please?”

“Grandpa!” Kaylee squealed excitedly.

“
Kaylee? Kaylee is that you?
” The other voice became excited as well. “
Joanne! Come quickly, Kaylee’s alive!”

“Mister Sitton, are you still at your home address? We can have Kaylee back to you in a matter of days. We don’t have any information on her parents, she was separated…” Wendy lied quickly, there was no need to upset these people over the phone. Daniel would surely tell them when he arrived.

“
Yes, yes we are, its safe here, the National Guard is holding our lines strong.
” That was all they needed to hear. The major came looking for his phone but Daniel and Wendy were already long gone. Graystone escorted them to the single rail line that ran through a wooded area to the east. The rails had been designed for high speed trains, intended for a project whose government stimulus money had run out long before it was finished. Regular trains used the line now, the dream of a bullet train through the hills of West Virginia was just that, a dream. That didn’t mean regular train traffic couldn’t use it, and an AmTrak diesel led the way.

Again Graystone walked them through one checkpoint or another until they’d reached the platform. The train was early, one of its stops had been cancelled. No one left to evacuate. The locomotive up front with two more directly behind it had been fitted with a cowcatcher, a piece of iron equipment with grizzly implications now, the design hadn’t been used by American railroads in almost a century. The entire nose was covered in gore, the ladders and any other easy access point to the engine had been cut off, armed private security standing guard like Pinkertons on a stage coach were on every corner of the engine and cars.

Showing his military ID to the conductor and the MP standing next to him, Daniel and Kaylee were allowed into the search area before boarding. The medics were only looking for bites, but they also made Daniel take the round out of the chamber in both of his weapons. If they were attacked there would be plenty of time to rack a round, but no need to have any accidental discharges in the meantime. It wasn’t a terribly unreasonable request considering the safety already provided, at least the railroad department of the TSA had stopped giving people crap about taking their guns with them. Daniel turned to face Wendy. She was already crying, he didn’t know what to do just then.

“Come with us. This place is about to burn. They’ll never know.” Daniel pleaded.

“I can’t. I’ve already run away enough. They’re going to need medics. It’s my duty, Daniel. Just like getting Kaylee home has been yours all along. After that… Well, you know which unit I’m in.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him in to a warm embrace. “Don’t forget me, Daniel.”

“Never.” He hugged her back, not in a romantic way, but like you bid farewell to a loved one you don’t expect to ever see again. For now though, Daniel had to think of something else. Getting Kaylee to Florida was the only thing he needed on his mind.

There wasn’t a lot of food on the train, but they were supposed to stop and refuel in Knoxville, Tennessee. The conductor said they would have time to get food and water there. The passenger cars smelled musty too, the seats covered in dust from sitting in a scrap yard for decades. A newspaper in an empty seat next to them was dated May 18, 1995. Daniel did his best to occupy Kaylee with the comic strips in the center fold, but the paper was so brittle most of it was unreadable. There weren’t any other children in the military’s segregated cars either, but Kaylee did draw the attention of a few others, people who had kids of their own. They took sympathy on Daniel, his cover story of the visiting cousin trying to rescue the last member of his family went over well.

One man, a Navy Corpsman, had nearly every JRR Tolkien book memorized and gladly sat to tell the most boring tale Daniel could imagine to little Kaylee. Daniel liked to read books about Soldiers and Marines, not Hobbits and Dragons. His favorite was a non-fiction about the Flying Tigers over China. He didn’t have the math scores to be a pilot, but maybe in World War Two when standards were different he’d have had a chance. Right now flying above all this mess seemed a lot better than chugging slowly through it on a dilapidated train like Soviet soldiers off to the slaughter in Stalingrad. Unlike those poor bastards though, Daniel and his comrades all had lots of guns. Nobody here had to wait for the man in front of him to die just to pick up his rifle and shoot, and thank God we’re Americans because nobody was going to shoot retreating Soldiers.

At the boarder of Tennessee a military checkpoint stopped the train. Most of the Civilians got off, rerouted to wherever it is they thought they were going. The train was at the checkpoint less than fifteen minutes, just long enough to make sure they weren’t bringing any new infected cases across the border. What a silly notion, these things respecting borders and checkpoints, or that they’d be docile on a train long enough to go unnoticed. Daniel seriously doubted the infected even knew what a line in the sand was anymore, let alone what repercussions might be incurred by crossing it. He did manage to fall asleep that night as the train continued on cautiously. Close to the refueling stop in Knoxville, Daniel woke to the air brakes slowing them down. Having just barely gotten to sleep, the conductor tapped him lightly on the shoulder, as well as anyone else still out of it.