Dead 09: Spring Read online

Kevin bit his tongue. He’d had just about enough of the questions. He thought he had answered everything to their satisfaction.

  “She was pregnant and lost the child…but she is not immune. Can we safely assume that you were the father, and that this event took place prior to your having been bitten?”

  Kevin was not sure how they knew, but it sounded like they had just confirmed that Aleah did not share his immunity trait. Maybe he was reading more into her words, but he had to consider that she might have just let slip a tidbit of information.

  “That is correct,” Kevin said with a grim nod. “Now…if you don’t mind…I’ve answered your questions. I want to see Aleah.”

  “Very well.” Analisa rose and pushed a notebook across the table to one of her cohorts and then led Kevin down the stairs.

  As soon as they exited the room, she began talking. “Listen, I understand your concerns, and I realize that you have no reason to trust us in the slightest…but it would be beneficial to you and your friends if you were to stay here.”

  “You want an outsider’s opinion?” Kevin finally asked. The woman gave him a nod and gestured with her hands for him to go ahead.

  “I think you have some good ideas. I think you are in a terrible location…” She opened her mouth to protest and Kevin raised his hand to silence her. “Hear me out. The first thing that I noticed is that your water supply is very dicey. You seem to be relying on rain water as your primary supply. In the event of the perfect storm where you are surrounded by a herd like that one that just came through here, and a lack of rain…well, y’all are screwed seven ways till Sunday as my mom used to always say.

  “Add in the fact that you are involved in what is basically a war with another large group of survivors, that you have used the new world equivalent to a human bio-terrorist attack to get back at these people…” Kevin let his voice trail off. He had not wanted to tip his hand on the fact that he really had no intention of staying, but he was fairly certain he’d given that idea with crystal clarity.

  “I realize that, all at once, things may seem a bit…wrong, from an outsider’s perspective,” Analisa spoke slowly, seeming to choose her words carefully. “However, the fact is that there is a new reality unfolding before us. In those early days, did you even imagine the possibility that a bite from one of those monsters would not be a death sentence?”

  Kevin thought back to just such an event. The day his friend Cary had been bitten and he’d left him knocked out in a disabled car with a gun and a single bullet. He remembered vividly the day he’d met Heather and discovered the possibility. Of course, later, and against the odds, he had been reunited with Cary for a short while. He shook his head to clear it. The last thing he needed right now was to get overly emotional.

  “And so you are doing what exactly? Building some sort of Utopia where all the people who are immune can come to wait out the slow death of the rest of humanity? Thanks, but I’d rather not.” Kevin stopped suddenly and folded his arms across his chest.

  “There is no such thing as a safe place, I’ll give you that. And perhaps the undead have migrated to the point where you might think this is not a bad choice to call home…all the hundreds of thousands of homes waiting to be plundered. But spring is coming, and with it…warmer temperatures. I bet you anything that this place will be a haven for disease by June. All of the corpses that will rot under the sun, all the vermin coming in for the feast will likely cause the next black plague.

  “Your vision is shortsighted, and the day you run out of water, you will realize it. I doubt the next five years are going to be pleasant near any major city. The zombies might have moved on, but you can’t do anything about who knows how many diseases are waiting to bloom in the heat and humidity.” Kevin shook his head and gave a rueful smile. “I’ll take my chances out there, thanks.”

  “Then I wish you the best of luck.” Analisa was looking at Kevin, appraising him in a way that suddenly made him very uncomfortable. “But I have one final request, if you will at least give it consideration.”

  He was not liking the look on the woman’s face, but he did not see the harm in listening. He gave her a nod, but also motioned for her to continue leading him to wherever it was that they were keeping Aleah.

  “One of the things we are fortunate to have is a medical facility. Electricity has provided us with some very unique advantages. Also, we have a governmental research team that has made some amazing discoveries. We may be the only people who have a test to determine the likelihood of a person exhibiting immunity. That is why we know that your female companion is not.

  “This winter, we celebrated the first birth of our community. Both parents were immune, and tests revealed that the child possessed the same trait. Once it was verified, you can imagine our elation. Since then, a few more of our citizens have become parents. Each case has yielded a child that is immune.

  “Our only concern is the limited gene pool that we have to draw from. You must appreciate the problems that could arise if we do noth—”

  “Hold on a minute!” Kevin snapped.

  “We would make it very much worth your while,” Analisa spoke quickly, thinking that she had already guessed Kevin’s objection. “And we would keep the information confidential. Your companions never need know.”

  “Just how exactly did you verify that these children were immune?” Kevin said in a voice barely above a whisper.

  “What?” The question had caught Analisa completely off guard. So much so that she blurted the answer without even realizing at first the effect her words were having on Kevin. “It was really just a simple matter of injecting them with blood from one of the undead. We only lost one child in the process, and that was due to a compromised immune system The child never exhibited the telltale signs such as the blackness in the capillaries of the eyes, so it—”

  “You are all a bunch of fucking animals,” Kevin hissed.

  “Mister Dreon, I can assure you that we took every precaution—” she began to protest, but Kevin cut her off yet again.

  “You are treating people like lab rats! You are injecting newborn children to prove if they are immune or not. And what about the parents? Are you telling me that every single set of parents here were okay with that? Because, if you are, I am gonna call bullshit.” Kevin took a step back from the woman and gave her a harsh stare.

  “You people are sick in the head. If you think that I am going to contribute to this in any way, then you are pure crazy.” Kevin wished he had a weapon handy. Of course that wish was amplified just seconds later.

  “I told you he was weak,” the voice of Jordan Cranston called.

  Kevin looked up to discover that Cranston and several others were standing at the edge of the roof of the closest building; each was holding a rifle or handgun. All barrels were trained on him.

  “You never had any intention of letting us go,” Kevin said with a sigh.

  “That is not true.” Analisa shook her head. “However, with what you know, and your subsequent reaction, wouldn’t you agree that it would not be wise for us to simply let you go now?”

  “So you’re going to kill me?”

  “Haven’t you been paying attention?” Jordan Cranston said with an evil laugh. “You’re too damn valuable to simply kill outright.”

  Kevin thought he might have a clue as to what was being implied, yet it was just too bizarre for him to give it serious purchase in his mind. He looked over at Analisa who suddenly found something interesting on the ground.

  “Just so we are clear, are you saying—” Kevin began, but Jordan barked a laugh and spoke.

  “Son, you are breeding stock. Now personally, I don’t see how any red-blooded male can consider that a bad thing. You’ll be seeing more pussy in the next few days than you have ever seen in your life…‘cept for maybe the magazines. Judging by the looks of ya, I think I am making a fair assumption. You what folks used to call a geek, am I right?”

  “And if I refuse?” Kev
in challenged.

  This only made Jordan laugh that much harder. “Boy, we gonna strap you down on a table, then we gonna send in naked women to rub up on you…how you think you’re gonna refuse?”

  “To make it easy on you, how about if we let you begin with your companion. Heather, I believe was her name?” Analisa finally spoke.

  Kevin whirled around on the woman. “Not her! Never her…you understand me? Don’t you people dare touch her.”

  “Kevin, you are making far too much of this. It would all be so much easier if you just relax and give it time,” Analisa insisted.

  “And if this were the other way around…if you and a few of your fellow travelers had arrived and we were telling you that you were going to become nothing more than a breeder…you wouldn’t have a problem with it?”

  “But it doesn’t have to be that way.” Analisa leaned in close to Kevin, a look in her eyes that reminded Kevin of some sort of brainwashed cult member who thought everything was “beautiful and happy” because that was what they were told. “You could join us here…be part of the community. We need people with your brains.”

  Kevin had to wonder how much had been told…and to who. Certainly they could not simply assume that he was smart. Obviously the others had been questioned. To what extent is what he had to wonder. Had they been questioned…or interrogated?

  “Let’s say that I agree to give this place a try.” Kevin held up his hands. “Can I have some assurances that all of my friends will not be harmed in any way, that you will let us stay together until we are comfortable with the surroundings?”

  “For the most part,” Analisa said with a nod.

  Kevin saw something flicker across her face for just a second. Had he not been staring at her, he would have missed it.

  “Okay…what is the catch?”

  “The woman Aleah…she is not immune, neither is the girl…Rose I believe is her name. We have a policy here that forbids any who are not immune from staying for longer than ten days. We considered adding people like them to a work pool, but it was eventually decided that they were a bigger draw on resources than they were worth.”

  Kevin could not believe what he was hearing. He had to think that maybe The Guardians had the right idea in trying to wipe these people out. He glanced over at Jordan and his crew as they made their way to the ground and fanned out around him, weapons still aimed. He marveled at how much larger the barrel of a gun looked when you were staring down it from the wrong end.

  “So what happens to them?” Kevin asked.

  “They will be taken to a site where we know the area to be clean, and the two will be sent on their way. Seriously, Kevin, we are not monsters. Did you think we would do something horrible like kill them or use them in some evil experiment?” Analisa said with what he imagined she considered to be a charming laugh. However, it was the next words from her mouth that left him with a chill. “After all…this isn’t some weird horror movie.”

  “Fine.” Kevin threw up his hands in surrender. “I give, but I want to see my people…all of them. And if Aleah and Rose are going to be taken out of here…I will be the one to do it.”

  “Sure.” Jordan made a rude snorting sound again. “But me and some of the boys will be going along as well. And the young gal, Heather…she stays here. You honestly don’t think we will be taking you at your word, do ya?”

  “Not if you had a brain in your head.” Kevin turned to face the man. He knew from experience what a bully was like. And he had learned that there was only one way to deal with them; you could not show any signs of fear or intimidation.

  Yes, this had totally thrown off his plans, but it had also helped him figure something out. He had been so overwhelmed by self-pity that he had forgotten what was important. He had begun to separate himself from the group. That had been a mistake.

  Of course, now he at least had something to help take his mind off of his situation. There was no way he would consent to living out his existence here.

  He had a lot to think about. Obviously there was some shady stuff going on. But how much did the general population know about what was taking place? Surely not everybody could be on board. Who would think it is okay to inject their newborn baby with zombie blood?

  He would root out the chink in the armor of these freaks and use that to gain the freedom of he and the others.

  However, all of that would have to wait for a little while. He needed to see Aleah for himself and know that she was okay.

  He was a little surprised when Analisa dismissed Jordan and his band. He expected to be under armed escort every step of the way. Apparently his feelings showed clearly on his face.

  “Where would you go?” Analisa said flatly. “Let’s say that you overpower me, take my gun, and then kill me. What would you do next? How would you find your friends and get them out of here? The need to keep you at gunpoint is moot now that you know the whole situation.”

  Kevin could not exactly argue with the sentiment. He had a threatening retort on the tip of his tongue, but his emotions were finally settling to the point where he could push them down and not speak it out loud.

  The rest of the walk was in silence. Kevin’s mind churned with a million thoughts, but none of them revealed a solution to his situation. Still, he had learned that there was no such thing as a perfect situation; if he was going to do anything, he was going to have to understand that it would come with risks. The one thing he was certain of was that he would not spend whatever was left of his life in this place.

  A small voice tried to speak up; ask him if it would be so horrible. After all, this place was almost exactly what he was hoping to create—minus the creepy and dark undertones. But was it so creepy? Was there no way that he could appreciate their point of view?

  He walked into the room and saw Aleah on the bed, covered with a white sheet. In that moment, he dismissed the ludicrous idea of staying here of his own free will. He would find a way out; and if it brought this place down in the process, so much the better.

  “Aleah?” Kevin whispered as he walked in the room.

  His eyes flicked to a tray sitting on the table beside her. A half-eaten baked potato, some tomatoes, and the crust of an unidentifiable sandwich remained. He begrudgingly admitted that it was probably the best meal she’d had in weeks…if not months.

  “Kevin?” Her eyes flickered open and seemed to struggle in their ability to focus.

  Hurrying to her bedside, Kevin grabbed the cup of water sitting on the table with the tray of partially finished food. He brought it to her lips and helped her drink. He could sense Analisa standing close behind him.

  “I don’t imagine you would feel like waiting outside?” Kevin called over his shoulder.

  “We are confident…not stupid,” Analisa replied. “While you may find this hard to believe, we don’t have every room bugged or anything like that…actually, we are not this evil entity that you are painting us to be. We simply want to be left alone and at the same time, do our best to create a new society. We don’t want to see the end of humanity.”

  “Yeah, you guys are a bunch of Boy and Girl Scouts,” Kevin scoffed.

  “We simply want to take care of ourselves. Believe it or not, we are pulling away from the people who are not immune as much for their protection as for any other reason.”

  “Well y’all are just a bunch of misunderstood good Samaritans,” Kevin said with a wry laugh.

  He wanted to give Aleah his full attention, but clearly this woman was not going to back off, and he truly did not believe that he could make his own situation any worse. He clasped Aleah’s hand in his and kissed it before turning to face this woman and give her what he considered to be a solid dose of reality.

  “Maybe you have been behind these walls a little too long…and I think you have been drinking too much of the Kool-Aid. I’ve been out there in the thick of this insanity since the beginning, and I have come to the conclusion that maybe we are not fit to continue as a spe
cies.

  “I have seen the most abominable sides of humanity, and every single time I think the bottom has been hit…people like you and yours come along and show me that it was simply a rock layer. And we break through that and just continue to spiral. You are justifying the equivalent of genocide. I am certain that you know who Adolph Hitler was, so I will save you the history primer, but you are condemning people to death and trying to create a Master Race. Put flowers and bows on it if you like, but that is what you are doing here.

  “You want to toss out any who are not like you, and you have the audacity to say that you are doing people a favor? Wake the fuck up, sister. You people are killers and bad guys…you are no different from those Guardians…and you may actually be worse.

  “You inject newborn babies with zombie blood! How can you not see the absolute evil in that? And you don’t tell the parents? If they ever find out—”

  “We didn’t at first,” Analisa cut Kevin off.

  Despite her attempt to defend the actions she was a part of, Kevin thought he could sense something under the surface. For one, she was not keeping eye contact. Her head had been down the entire time he’d been laying in to her until he got to the part about the babies.

  “But now, it is standard protocol…and we even made sure to hold a public meeting and tell everybody.”

  “And everybody just agreed to your little idea?” Kevin challenged.

  Analisa’s head dropped and Kevin knew right then what the answer was to that question. He glanced down at Aleah who was looking up at him in total confusion. He patted her hand and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

  He suddenly felt ashamed of his actions the past several days. He had been wallowing in self-pity. He had started to distance himself from those he cared about. Even worse, he had superimposed his own thoughts and feelings on Aleah. He had decided for her that he was no longer worthy of her love, despite the fact that she had insisted otherwise.

  Now that he was faced with actually losing her for good, he realized that it was better to have her in his life in any facet than none at all. He realized how cliché the whole ‘you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone’ thing might be; however, it turned out to be true—once again. Memories of his little sister threatened to surface, and he shoved them down. That would be for later.