Apocalypsis: Book 3 (Exodus) (36 page)

I craned my neck to get a better view of what she had done.  Her hands were holding onto the fence like some kind of Olympian on the uneven bars.  Her legs crashed down against the fence as her body completed its back flip over me.

Her back bounced off the fence, and the shockingly hard jarring was too much for her to manage.  Her hands were jerked away and her upper body flew forward, sending her face-first into the pavement.  The sound of her body slapping onto the concrete was sickening.

No one moved a muscle for a few seconds.  Winky just laid there.

“Winky!” I yelled, struggling to get off the wire.  “Winky!  Are you okay?”

She moaned.

“Somebody get me over this thing!  Push my legs!”

“No, Bryn!  You’ll do a face-plant too!” said Peter.

Bodo grabbed my feet, attempting to pull me back down on their side, but I kicked him away.

“No!  Get away!  I’m going over.  Winky needs me.”

She moaned again and turned her head to the side.  Her voice came out kind of slurred.  “Damn, dad hurt.”

“Well you’re a friggin’ idiot for doing it,” I said, struggling to pull myself over the wire, trying to grab the fence on the other side, below where I was hanging.  My face was burning hot and I could feel the pulse in my neck because I’d been hanging upside down for too long.  It hurt like hell in the spot where I’d been choked earlier.

I started to slide over the blanket, heading face-first towards the ground.  And the ground was really too far away for anything good to come of it, but the momentum had started, and I was too far gone to stop it.  I grabbed onto the fence like Winky had and held on as tight as I could, closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, sending all my remaining energy into my hands. 
Don’t let go, don’t let go, don’t let go!

My stomach tickled like it had butterflies in it the moment my legs fell free of the fence and started their one-hundred-and-eighty-degree journey to the other side of the fence.

A split second later, my entire back half hit the fence hard, bouncing up once to hit again.  I was able to hold on for the first bounce, but the second one was my undoing.  My hands released the metal and I fell to the ground.

Lucky for me, I landed on my feet somewhat, if a little off-balance, and was able to execute a fairly decent drop and roll to distribute the jarring force.

Once I stopped rolling, I scrambled over to Winky on my hands and knees, ignoring the cheering coming from the other side of the fence.

I pushed her shoulder, rolling her over.  Her face was covered in blood and her nose was definitely broken.  “Oh, shit, Winky.  You broke your nose.”

“Bag-a-digs,” she said through her already swollen nose, smiling weakly.

“Bag of dicks is right,” I said.  “And don’t be mad me for what I’m about to do.”

“Wha …?” she said, still in a daze, right before I grabbed her nose on either side and re-set the bone for her with a loud crack.

***

She frowned at me as we walked over to the front doors of the prison entrance.  “You lygd doing dad.”  She sounded like she had the worst head cold in history with a very stuffed-up nose.

“No I didn’t like it,” I said, looking straight ahead.

“Yez, you did.  You were pudishing me for climbig on your bag.”

“Nope.  Climbing on my back was smart.  I was saving your beautiful face from a lifetime of pure ugliness.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her nose was now turning purple and was twice its normal size.  She was going to be ugly for a while, but at least it was only temporary.

We reached the door and I pulled on the handle.  “Locked.”

“Brayg da glass,” said Winky, holding up a rock she’d plucked from the nearby planter.  Her eyes were watering, I assumed from the pain in her face.

I hit the window near the handle and realized too late that there was wire embedded in it.  The glass broke but the wire was still there.

“Sud of a bidge!” yelled Winky.

I giggled.

“Shud up, or I’m gonna go Aberican whide girl all over your azz,” she threatened.

“Technically, you can’t do that, since you’re not white.  But I’ll take your threat under consideration.  Now tell me what I’m supposed to do with this thing.”

“What’s happening?!” yelled Peter from behind us.

“Door’s locked!” I yelled back.

“Break the glass!” he responded.

I shook my head, saying quietly, “Yeah, thanks, Peter.  We couldn’t figure that one out on our own.”

“Here, gib me dad,” said Winky, taking the rock from me.  She bashed the window wire over and over like a mad woman, eventually causing it to bend inward.

When her energy flagged, I took the rock and continued the fight.  Eventually, the wire gave way, and Winky was able to sneak her tiny hand in and find the deadbolt lock knob.  She turned it several times, and we finally heard the solid thunking of lock mechanisms moving back.

I turned around and threw my arms in the air, claiming victory for all womankind.  “We did it!  We’re in!”

I turned back to see Winky grabbing the handle and slowly pulling the door open.  She looked at me and gestured towards the opening.  “Abter you.”

I stepped inside, sniffing the air for the odor of dead bodies but getting nothing back but the smell of old, disused, institutional building.

***

We found a front desk that had a set of keys hidden in the back of the bottom drawer.  It had been locked but we beat it open with a stapler.  The ring was huge, with about a hundred different keys to choose from, many of them strange shapes I’d never seen before.

“This is going to take all night,” I said, moving out of the building and across the front lawn area over to the main gate.  Winky followed behind, slowed down considerably by the pain from her earlier antics.

“It’s about time,” said Peter.  “What took you so long?”

“We were showering and having a meal,” I said absently as I started trying one key after another on the big lock at the gate.  I looked up and noticed they’d already taken the blanket down.

“Try one of those weird ones,” Ronald said, pointing to one that had a flat square shape with some cutouts on the end.

The first one I tried slid in okay but wouldn’t turn. The seventh one worked, and I had to make six full revolutions before the thing actually opened the lock all the way.  Winky and I rolled the gate open a few feet.

As soon as it was open enough to allow all of our stuff to pass through, I threw out my arm and said, “Welcome to Happyville!”

Jamal frowned at me as he passed by.  “Happyville?”  He shook his head and kept on walking.

“What?” I said at his back.

Ronald was snickering as he walked by, and it only got worse when he looked at me.

“Do I have a booger on my face or something?” I said, wiping my nose nervously.

“Maybe they’re just amused by your complete lack of creativity when it comes to naming new towns,” said Peter as he pushed his bike through.  “Or not.  Maybe you have a booger.”

Gretchen came through supporting Bianca, patting me on the shoulder as she walked by.  “We’ll work on it.”

My smiled fell, replaced by a scowl.  “You guys are a bunch of downers, you know that?”

Bodo came in, pushing the bike with the trailer attached, Jenny still sleeping inside it.  “I will vote for whatever name you pick,” he said, leaning over to kiss me on the mouth.  “No matter how stupidt it is.”

I slapped him on the back as he moved by.

The last one through the opening was Buster.  I crouched down next to him and tickled him under the chin and around his ears.  “You like it, don’t you, Buster?  Happyville!  Welcome to Happyville!”

He barked and ran away from me, joining the others who’d gathered at the front door to the penitentiary.

Everyone laughed as I grumbled about being amidst traitors and rolled the gate closed, clicking the lock into place.

***

We set up camp just inside and a little to the left of the front doors.  A group of high weeds and bushes shielded us from the view of anyone standing at the front gate.  Once we’d unpacked enough stuff to be comfortable, all the girls gathered around Jenny.  The guys went to work getting food together for us.

“What do you think the problem is?” I asked, looking at her shallow breathing.

Winky felt Jenny’s forehead.  “She has a fever bud no swed.  She’s dehydraded.”

“We couldn’t get her to eat anything for a couple days now.  They didn’t feed us much, anyway, but she went with nothing for way too long,” said Bianca, stroking her friend’s hair.  “I wish we could get her into a bath or a shower.  I’m sure she’d feel better if she were cleaner.”

“We’ll get that set up as soon as possible.  Maybe even tomorrow,” I said.  “But we have to get some water in her first.”  I turned towards the guys.  “We need a water bottle over here.”

Jamal came over and handed one down to me.  Gretchen and Bianca lifted Jenny up a little so we could tip a capful of water into her mouth.

“Come on, Jenny, babe.  You’ve gotta get up and drink this,” said Gretchen.

Jenny moaned.

“Jenny!  Get up!” said Bianca in a sharper voice.

“I’ve god somethig dad mighd wake her up,” said Winky.

“You gonna pinch her?” asked Jamal.

“No.  Hold on a seg.”  She went over to her backpack and came back with a small bottle.  “Here, hab her sniff this.  Put id under her dose.”  She took the cap off and handed it to me.

I was about to take a whiff of it, before Winky yelled.

“Doe!  Dod you, dubby!  Her!”

“I
know
, geez.  Bossy ever?”  I leaned over towards the patient, sparing a second to scowl at Winky.  I held the bottle under Jenny’s nose for a couple seconds before she started coughing and then choking, yelling weakly at the same time.

“Oh, no!  What is …?  Ow, that …!  What’s going on?” she rasped out, reaching up a trembling hand to wipe under her nose.

“Holy crap, what was that?” asked Bianca, looking up at Winky.

“Abonia,” she said simply, taking it back from me.  “Worgs lyg a jarm.”  She smiled.

“Can’t you, like, kill brain cells with ammonia?” asked Gretchen.  She looked like she was warring with herself, trying to decide whether to be grateful or pissed.

“Maybe a gupple.  Bud she’s awage now. Give her sub wadder.”

I left the argument about methods alone and focused on getting Jenny to drink some water.  She protested weakly, but was overruled by everyone around her.  She drank a few sips before putting her hand on her stomach.  “No more.  I’m going to throw up.”

Gretchen put her finger in Jenny’s face.  “Don’t you dare!  You keep that down.  No fair dying on us now.  We’ve made it to Happyville.”

Jenny smiled thinly.  “Happyville?  Is that an actual place?”  She looked around.  “It looks like an office lobby.”

“It’s a prison, actually, and the name is temporary.  But it’s a safe place and no one here is going to hurt you.  So please, try to stay awake and eat something.  Please?”

Bianca pushed her further into a sitting position.  “Yeah, please?  Come on, we miss you!  Gretchen is so incredibly boring, I’m going crazy.”

“Yeah, and Bianca is as dull as dirt.  We need you to liven the place up.”  Gretchen was rubbing Jenny’s back in circles.

“I’ll try,” said Jenny.  “But is there somewhere I can go to the bathroom, maybe?”

“Take her outside, in the bushes somewhere,” I said.

Peter ran into the nearby restroom and came out, grinning and holding out a handful of toilet paper.  “Ta daaaaa!” he said, handing it to Jenny.

She took it and smiled.  “Wow.  It’s real.  I haven’t seen anything but grass and leaves in …”  She looked at Bianca.  “How long has it been?”

“Too long,” said Bianca.  “Come on, let’s go.”  She and Gretchen lifted Jenny by the armpits and guided her out the door.  She was walking, but barely.

After the door closed behind them, Winky asked.  “Do you thig she’s gudda mayg it?”

“I don’t know.  We don’t even know what’s wrong with her.”  I decided then not to worry about things I couldn’t control.  I had plenty of other concerns to keep myself worried and stressed about.  I’d leave Gretchen and Bianca to worry about their friend, at least for now.

Winky and I helped the guys with dinner.  We splurged and had some cans of beans, some dried meat, and some limp but still decent vegetables we’d taken from the swamp.  Jenny was even able to eat some of it and keep it down.  As she got more water in her, the heat on her forehead seemed to lessen and she became more animated.

Once dinner was done, we sat in a circle, ready to bed down for the night.  None of us wanted any privacy, and kept our sleeping spots together.

“So what is our plan for tomorrow?” asked Peter.  “And when are we going to start?”

“Step one has to be finding out where the dead bodies are,” I said, without hesitation.

Everyone but Winky and I groaned.

“What?  Stop being babies.  We need to find them and get rid of them.  We can’t make a home here until that nasty business is taken care of.  And we’re all going to help.”

“Except Jenny,” said Bianca.

“Yeah.  Except Jenny,” I conceded.  She was already asleep again, and I wasn’t convinced she was going to survive whatever was ailing her.

“What if there are, like, hundreds of corpses here?” asked Jamal.  “I don’t mean to be morbid, but that’s just … I don’t know.  Creepy.  They’ll all be skeletons by now.”

“Thank you for introducing that image into my nightmares for tonight, Jamal,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Sorry.  Just thought I’d point out the possibilities.”

Bodo was sitting next to me, holding my hand and stroking my fingers.  It felt good to not only have him near but also sober, finally.

“I agree with Bryn.  We findt da bodies, bury dem in da yard somewhere, clean da place down, and den start to make a home.”

“This place is huger than huge,” said Gretchen.  “We could all fit in the smallest part of it.”

“We’ll only clean what we need to start,” said Peter.  “But as our community grows, obviously we’ll have to spread out.”

“So you really want to build something out here, huh?” asked Bianca.  “Like with strangers and stuff?”