Deadlocked 5 (20 page)

Annie stopped the engine and hopped out. The rest of us followed suit and I stared at the surroundings. This was once a bustling town, but now it was quiet and overrun with plants that climbed through cracks in the façade of every building around.

"Where's the town?" I asked.

Annie pointed up. "Vineyard is a rooftop town. You can find it if you follow the strings of lights that are hanging around the area."

I looked up and noticed there were green strands of wire tied to poles on the side of the road. Purple balls were tied to the string every few feet, and the strand stretched across the street. Annie explained that the founders of the town, Beach and Bonnie, preferred that visitors parked far from the entrance to prevent raiders from easily discovering how to get up.

Hero and Annie led us for a long walk and I was able to glimpse the inside of the buildings as we went. I was startled when I saw a person standing, silent and still, inside one of the ravaged buildings, but Hero told us that they weren't real. The people I saw inside were made of plastic and had bells tied to their clothes.

Each of the buildings had been gutted, and you could see clear across from one side to the other once you looked in through the windows. We learned that this was to make it easier to hunt and kill zombies that wandered into town. It also prevented anything from easily reaching the roof of any building, since that was where Vineyard was located. There were only a few entrances into the town, and it was nearly impossible to find them unless someone showed you where they were.

Annie stopped us outside of a yellow building that had a purple circle painted near the door. "Let me do the talking for you two. Okay? I don't think we should let them know you came from DIA. They might not trust you if they knew that."

Hailey and I nodded in agreement. We entered the unassuming building and made our way through a hallway, past a row of the eerie, plastic people. There were several red handled axes on the walls that I assumed could be used to fight off zombies in an emergency.

Annie led us up a flight of stairs to the third floor and then to a metal door that was painted with a series of intertwining vines. The door looked like it belonged to a different structure and not the drab wooden hallway it was set inside. She pounded on the door with the side of her fist in three quick knocks. Then she looked up and I followed suit. Surprisingly, there was a latch on the ceiling that slid open as someone peered down at us.

Annie waved at the pair of eyes that studied us. "It's me, Annie. I'm with Levon and two other girls."

"New recruits?" asked the man above.

"Yes. They're harmless."

"You know your sister's here too. Just showed up about ten minutes ago. Did you hear what happened to Juniper and Hanger?"

"No. Why don't you open the hatch and let me in so you can tell me about it." I was impressed with Annie's forceful demeanor. She didn't seem to be much older than Hailey and I, but she carried herself with a level of confidence that we could never emulate.

"Sorry," said the man above as he closed the small opening that he was staring through and opened the hatch. He dropped down a rope ladder that Levon grabbed hold of and pinned under his foot as he ushered us up before him.

"So the door isn't the entrance?" I asked as I mounted the wobbling ladder.

Hero shook his head and explained, "No. They have that here as a decoy. If anyone tries to bust their way in, they get a face full of lead from up high."

Annie smacked my butt. "Hurry up, Blondie."

The hatch led to a rooftop area that had a wooden canopy built over it with exposed sides that let fresh air in. There was just one man to greet us, a short, fat fellow with hair on his face but not on his head. He helped me up and whistled at me as I walked by him.

"Sweet God all mighty," he said and then looked back down the hole to help Hailey. "Where did you say you got these two? Because I'd swear they came straight from Heaven." He winked at me and I postulated that he was giving us a compliment, despite the fact that I didn't know where Heaven was or why he thought I might've come from there.

He pulled Hailey up and then gasped with wide-eyed amazement at her breasts as they pressed together inside of her tight jumpsuit. "Hot damn!" He waved his hand in front of his face to fan himself. "I'm about to have a heart attack looking at these two."

"Stop it, Ollie." Annie climbed up behind Hailey and held her hand out for him to help her take the final few steps, but he was busy ogling Hailey. She slapped her palm against the floor and held her hand out again for him. "Can I get a little help, Ollie? I'm carrying a 50 cal here."

"Sorry, sorry, beautiful. You know you're always my favorite, even when some fresh eye candy shows up." Ollie chuckled as he took Annie's hand and pulled her up. She had her large rifle strapped to her back, which made getting through the hatch more difficult for her than it had been for us. "Come with me girls, I'll take you to where Bonnie and Beach are at."

He led us away from the hatch and then called out behind him, over his shoulder, "Close up the hatch when you get up, Hero."

"Fuck you very much, Ollie!" Hero shouted out from below as we left him behind to climb the rope ladder alone.

Ollie led us to the edge of the building where a short bridge connected it to another building across a wide expanse. There were ropes to hang onto on either side of the bridge, but it was still a precarious walk that caused my stomach to turn when I glanced over the edge. I couldn't help but think of the man falling from the ceiling back at the Facility.

Ollie stopped before walking onto the bridge and turned to Annie as if he'd just recalled something. "So you don't know about what happened in Hanger and Juniper?"

"I know that Hanger is lost," said Annie. "But I didn't know about Juniper. Are they infected too?"

Ollie glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one else was close enough to hear. "Yes, but don't bring it up. Your sister told Beach about it, but we decided to keep it quiet until the morning."

"Why?" Annie sounded perturbed.

I stared at the bridge as they spoke. I was terrified at the prospect of crossing it and Hailey sensed my trepidation. She put her hands on my thighs as she stood behind me and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"I don't like being so high up," I whispered back.

Ollie continued speaking with Annie, "Because tomorrow is the anniversary, and we're celebrating tonight. There's nothing we can do about Hanger and Juniper for now, so Beach wants to keep it quiet until the morning. Beach and I are the only ones that know about the outbreaks besides your sister and the other three that came with her."

"Other three?" asked Annie.

Ollie nodded. "Yeah, she showed up with that bald girl with the tattoos," he pointed at his lips.

"Stitch. I knew she was with her, but who else is she with?"

"Harrison and some friend of his."

Annie rolled her eyes and sighed. "Good old Harrison. Has he stolen anything yet?"

Ollie snickered as he started to walk across the bridge. "Not yet, but the night is young."

Annie expected me to follow after Ollie, but then saw that I was hesitant. "You'll do fine. Just don't look down," said Annie from behind me as Ollie headed out onto the bridge. "You'll be fine. If it can support Ollie's tubby ass, it can handle a twig like you." She put her gun down against the wall beside the bridge and I heard it thump with surprising heft. Then she put her hands on my waist and pushed me onto the wooden beam bridge. I gasped in fear but managed to quickly grip the ropes on either side and walk across.

"Just think of the balance beam back home," said Hailey. "This beam's a lot wider than that one."

"Yeah, but the beam at the Facil… back home isn't hanging over a forty foot drop."

Ollie stopped and turned around. "What's wrong?"

"She's scared of heights," Annie yelled back to him.

"Want me to come get you? I'll carry you on my back."

The thought of the sweaty fat man hoisting me onto his back and ferrying me across didn't sound any more appealing than doing it myself. "No, that's okay. I can do it. Just give me a second."

I inched across the chasm and tried not to look down, which was absolutely impossible. Ollie kept telling me to stare at him, but that didn't calm me and I just stared at my feet as I slid them forward. I took each inch slowly and my hands felt raw as they gripped the frayed ropes, but I eventually made it across. Ollie was there to greet me with a wide grin and a pat on the butt. Then he pointed across the town towards a building that was several floors taller than the rest.

"You've got about six more bridges like that one before we get to the camp."

"You're kidding me." I felt suddenly sick at the thought.

Annie and Hailey made it across without any trouble and Hero was about to cross as well when Ollie told him that someone needed to stay at the hatch. Hero angrily insisted that Ollie should stay, but he said that it was his turn to spend some time with the pretty girls. Hero grumbled and cursed, but eventually took Annie's gun and went to sit by the hatch.

Vineyard was a large town, and bridges connected many of the roofs. Rooftop gardens graced each building and there was an irrigation system of pipes that ran across throughout and kept the soil moist. Annie explained that the residents of each building were responsible for their garden, and the collaboration between the people helped make the town self-sufficient.

"That's right," said Ollie with a wide grin. "That's why we turned the traders away. We don't need their overpriced garbage. We've got everything we need right here. Including as much wine as you can
guzzle. In fact, the building we're standing on is filled with more than thirty barrels of the best wine you'll ever drink."

"He's right," said Annie. "That's how the town got
its name."

I'd hoped that crossing the bridges would get easier, but it didn't. Each new plank brought a new low to how deep my stomach could sink. I'd spent my life confined to
a single floor and never dreamt that I might fall far enough to hurt myself. No situation had ever presented itself that might suggest such a thing could happen. Luckily, Hailey was there to calm me down and hold my hand.

We reached the final bridge and I was elated to see that it was larger and sturdier than the others. It stretched across a
sizeable street, but the bridge was three times wider than the others and I was able to easily move across. Ollie led us into the building through a broken window that the bridge connected to. Two men stood beside the entrance, both equipped with rifles, and they watched us as we passed in a way that made me uncomfortable.

"We need to get new clothes," I said to Hailey as we walked into the hollowed out floor of the building. Something about the way the men looked at us made me feel as if I were being hunted. I thought about the calf and the pack of dogs.

Ollie overheard me and turned to answer. "We've got a tailor. Kaleb can get you girls set up with some new clothes if you've got something to trade."

I shrugged and looked at Hailey uselessly. "We don't have anything but the clothes on our back."

"There are all sorts of things you two could trade with."

"Ollie!" Annie screamed at him and punched the squat man in the shoulder. He staggered to the side from the force of her attack and rubbed his arm.

"What? I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about manual labor. Christ's sake, Annie, I thought you had a better opinion of me than that. Besides, you'll always be my one true…"

"That's enough, Ollie." Annie walked ahead of us and opened a door to a stairwell. Ollie stepped in first and started up the stairs.

"It sure is a long hike to get to this place," said Hailey.

Annie pointed up and we looked at the ceiling before stepping into the stairwell. To our surprise, the ceiling was filled with holes that looked up to the floor above. "If a guard spots someone, they can shoot down at them from
up there. No raider is going to get in here unharmed unless they learn how to fly." She smiled as if that was a silly thought.

"Coming?" asked Ollie as he stared down at us from the stairs.

We headed up the stairs instead of answering him. He led us up two flights, and by the time we reached the top he was sweating and puffing. He wiped his brow and rubbed the sweat off on his grimy shirt. "You'd think I'd get used to climbing up these damn steps."

"Maybe if you stopped eating Taylor's food," said Annie as she opened the door.

"Life's too short to eat bad food."

The floor that we were on now had been gutted except for a single wall with a set of double doors and a series of windows that looked out onto the larger space. I heard muffled voices coming from behind the wall. The group was boisterous, and the sound of frequent laughter filled the room.

"Sounds like we're just in time," said Annie.

Ollie had to rush to get ahead of Annie as they approached the door. His squat legs had trouble keeping up with Annie's long, elegant stride. "We're celebrating Beach and Bonnie's anniver
sary." He looked at Hailey and me as he explained. "Beach and Bonnie are the two that started this town. They got married on the same day that we named the town, so in a way this is an anniversary for the town too. It's one of our biggest celebrations. The official anniversary isn't until tomorrow, but we always kick off things early. Tomorrow we'll go down and get the meat from the smokers and eat until we're about to bust open."