Parish (7 page)

              “He’ll fall eventually, and then he’ll be one of them.” Wade interjected, his voice barely above a whisper.

              “Look,” Emily held her hand up to stop Artemis from arguing.  “We can’t save everyone.  We also don’t know who anyone is.  You can’t assume everyone is a good person.  We can’t run the risk of surviving these damn zombies just to be killed by some psychopath because they want what meager supplies we have.”

              “We have a vehicle that is probably the most important thing to have right now.  Someone will want to kill us for it.  We’re safe in here, the people out there aren’t it’s simple.” Jack bent down a bit so he could get a better view of the priest.

              “Just keep going.” Jack interjected.  No one spoke up to argue.  Artemis sent one last glance back to the man of the cloth before gunning the engine.

Chapter Six

They drove in silence far longer than any in the car had desired.  The only sound permeating the stillness were the sound of the tires on the blacktop and the occasional zombie growl.  Jamie sat despondent, staring out at the scenery as it moved past, Wren had one arm around him and simply chose to stare down at the top of the boys head instead of facing the horrors just outside the window.  Suddenly Artemis slowed down to a crawl, causing every inhabitant of the vehicle to look to him.

              “Look just up ahead!  That’s military!  I bet the done cleared a safe zone up there!”  Artemis smiled widely as he approached the two soldiers on the road.  He rolled the window down so he could speak with them.

              “Identify yourself.” One of the soldiers commanded.  He was smeared with dirt and blood, his eyes were bloodshot and he appeared exhausted.

              “Private first class Artemis Bandeaux.” Artemis replied.

              “How many in vehicle?” The soldier continued.

              “Six including me.  I got a family in here, no other military personnel.” Artemis inhaled deeply, seemingly holding his breath.

              “Where were you stationed when this all went down?” The soldier narrowed his eyes as he peered in through the window trying to get a look at everyone.

              “I was at St. Katherine’s hospital.” He cleared his throat.  The soldiers’ eyes went wide for a moment.

              “Has anyone shown signs of extreme violence or do they have a fever?  Has anyone been bit?” The soldier spoke quickly, almost stumbling over the words as they flowed from his mouth.

              “No sir, we are all just fine in here.  Matter of fact, this lady here is a doctor.” He motioned to Emily with his thumb.

              “You’re a doctor?” The soldier leaned left to look past Artemis’ bulk to make eye contact with Emily.

              “Yes, sir, I am.” Emily nodded nervously.  She knew it could be dangerous for any medical personnel to make themselves known in situations like this, because their skills were going to be in very high demand.

              “Excellent.  Great!  Alright, listen to me PFC Bandeaux.  We have a small area in here clear, pull in past the makeshift gate here, and pull to the right.  We don’t have all that much but we got some food and water as well as a place for you folks to take a rest.  I need you to bring the doc here to the medical tent, you won't miss it. It’s a white tent with a huge red cross on it.  Ok?” The soldier nodded. 

              “Yes, sir.” Artemis expressed his understanding of the situation.  The soldier backed up a few paces and spun his hand in the air, signaling another soldier to open the gate.  Artemis carefully pulled forward and parked the vehicle.  Everyone moved to get out.  “Wait!” His voice was a forceful whisper.

              “What?” Emily shook her head, confused.

              “Listen, okay?  We need to make sure we all know where everyone is at, at all times.  If shit hits the fan here we’re gonna bug out right quick, you got it?  I don’t want to leave anyone behind.  Agreed?”

              “Good plan.” Jack nodded as he opened his door, and began helping his wife and children out of the vehicle.  Artemis walked with Emily over to the medical tent leaving Jack and the kids with a few others who had sought refuge with the small outfit of soldiers.  One woman was stirring a cup of some kind of soup, curling her lip as if the nourishment was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen in her whole life.  Beside the woman sat what appeared to be her husband, dressed in a tattered collared shirt his coif less than perfect.  They looked like yuppies.   Their conversation was unmistakable.

              “Brighton, this is not organic soup!  I would not permit this swill to be served to my precious beagles let alone to be served to me.  This is unfit for human consumption.  Disgusting!”  The woman turned her nose up.

              “Aspen, dearest, I do understand, my love, it is dreadful. I believe it may be a bit challenging to locate organic food at the moment.” The man replied.  He looked equally disgusted, but appeared to have a better grasp on the situation compared to his wife.

              “I refuse to consume this!  This cheap imitation of food is nothing more than poison drivel.  My body is a temple!” The woman flipped her hair over her shoulder.  Wade and Wren exchanged looks.  Jack had herded Jamie over to a seating area and was attempting to find something for him to eat.

              “Excuse me, ma’am?” Wren walked over to the couple who had to look up at her to see her clearly from their position seated on the ground.

              “Why are you speaking to me in such a manner?  It is uncivilized to speak to your betters as you are.  When addressing me come to my level.” Aspen snapped her fingers and quickly pointed her finger to the ground indicating where she wanted Wren to move.

              “Listen up you snotty pompous bitch!” Wren put her hands on her hips.  “This is not your damn country club, we are in the middle of the city that just so happens to be clear of those people eating monsters.  How dare you sit there and complain about some bullshit organic food when people are dying!  There are literally people being eaten not two hundred feet away from where your ass is parked.  Now you may be crazy, I don’t know and I don’t care but you need to realize you ain’t queen of the survivor camp, you are not supreme dictator of the end of the world, and you are just another person who is trying not to be the main course.”

              “Well, I never!” Aspens hand shot up to her chest to express her shock.

              “Yes, that much is quite obvious.” Wren spun on her heel and marched back to where Wade was standing.

              “I can’t believe you just told that lady off like that.” A smile slowly crept across his face.

              “If zombies eat brains like in the movie, she doesn’t have anything to worry about.  Nothing up there but hot air and organic squash.” Wren raised her eyebrows as she spoke, sending Wade into a laughing fit.  “Now, come one, we need to go over with Dad and Jamie.  You remember what Artemis said?”

              “Yeah, yeah.” Wade rolled his eyes.  “Speaking of queen of the survivor camp.” Wren giggled.

              “He seems nice, and he saved Mom so he’s okay in my book.” Wren shrugged.

              “Yeah, I got that, and I am grateful.  He didn’t just save Mom though, he saved us too.  If it weren’t for him we’d still be sitting on the floor of Jamie’s room listening to those god awful moans outside.” Wade spotted Jack and Jamie and nudged Wren in their direction.

              “Where were you two?” Jack asked as he handed them each a bowl of the soup.

              “Talking to some lady.” Wade shrugged.

              “Well, come over here, I got some news to share.” Jack whispered as he wiggled his finger.  Wren and Wade stepped closer to him.  “I talked with the soldier in charge of the food.  He said this thing is everywhere, it’s global.  New York fell two hours ago.  He said what D.C. fell an hour before that.”

              “What does that mean?” Wren asked.

              “He doesn’t know, but ever since D.C. fell their radio has been silent.  No new orders.” Jack shook his head.  “They’re just holding this position because it was the last order they got from Washington.  He thinks that maybe the higher ups, you know the really important people are all heading to their underground bunkers and everything and that once they get there they will receive more orders.  I don’t know but I don’t know if we should stay here.”

              “But it’s safe here.” Wren interjected.

              “Yeah, for now it’s safe.  We don’t know for how long though, look, soldiers without commands aren’t going to just stay the course.  At some point one of the higher ranking people around here is going to step up and take over.”

              “You don’t know that.” Wade shook his head.

              “Okay, so I don’t know for sure, but I’ve seen enough apocalypse movies to know when to not trust a situation, and right now I’m not trusting it.” Jack glanced over at Jamie who was slowly eating his soup.

              “This isn’t a movie, Dad. This is real life.” Wren threw her hand up and walked over to her little brother.  Sitting down she smiled at Jamie before turning her attention to her soup.

              “I got you Dad.” Wade nodded, bringing a spoonful of the weird orange watery soup to his lips.  “We need to make sure we can get to Mom and Artemis from here though, like get to them real quick, if something goes down we need to beat it back to the car before someone else gets in it.  I don’t know about you, but it is not a nice day for a stroll downtown.”

              “You’re right.” Jake smirked.  “I wonder what they needed your mom for.”

              “Injuries, probably.” Wade shrugged.

              “Don’t they have medics for that?” Jake looked back to the medical tent.

              “Yeah, but maybe they were eaten or bitten, or who knows what.”

              “Well, they better protect her, that’s all I got to say.” Jake narrowed his eyes at the tent before looking back to his children. “So, are you all okay so far?”

              “We’re okay Dad.” Wren smoothed Jamie’s hair.

              “I don’t want to go to the swamp.  It’s not going to be safe.” Jamie lifted his eyes to look at his Dad.

              “What do you mean, buddy?” Jake stooped down.

              “I don’t know, Dad, it’s just a weird feeling I have in my tummy.” Jamie rubbed his belly slowly.

              “We’ll be okay big guy.” Jake reached out and took Jamie’s hand.  “I know it’s scary right now, but look, you see the soldiers?” Jamie nodded as his eyes flitted over the camo covered people.  “See, they’re out and they’re helping people.  They’re going make sure all the monsters go away.”

              At the mention of the soldiers ridding the area of the zombies, Wrens shoulders visibly tensed.  Wade walked around and sat opposite of his siblings in order to maintain the line of sight between them and the medical tent.  He ate slowly as he watched.  Jack continually scanned the area, hoping he was wrong about this place and these people.  After a few moments, Emily and Artemis found them.

              “Is everything alright?” Jack asked as Emily rubbed her forearm over her forehead and shifted her weight from foot to foot.  Artemis appeared to be less than thrilled.

              “You tell him, I…I just can’t right now.” Emily threw her hands up in the air, shaking her head she made her way over to her children.  Jack watched as she walked away before turning his attention to Artemis who seemed to stand almost two feet taller than him.  Artemis took a step forward a lowered his stature a bit to get as close to Jack’s ear as possible.

              “We need to leave, immediately, without drawing attention to ourselves.” He practically whispered.

              “What? Why?” Jack replied, keeping his voice low.

              “They’re picking out anyone too old or too young, too weak or people who have lost it and they’re killing them.  That ain’t no medical tent over there, that’s a slaughter house.  Doc had to pretend to be on board, but it ain’t safe for us, not with your little one.  They don’t want kids under twelve.” Artemis backed up with a nod before sidestepping around Jack and grabbing himself something to eat.

              Jack turned and looked at their little group, his eyes falling on Jamie.  His mind couldn’t wrap around the idea that soldiers would willingly turn their weapons on citizens or that they would take the life of an innocent child.  Sure, Jamie needed protection, but didn’t they all?  Everyone needed help in this.  No one has eyes on the back of their heads.  He swallowed hard as Emily’s eyes met his.  They held each other’s gaze for several moments before Jack turned around and started to evaluate their situation and their new problem.  They had to get out, they had to save Jamie.

              “Hi, folks, I’m Smitty.  I was told to come show you where you’ll be bedding down tonight.”  Smitty appeared to be no more than eighteen years old.  He was obviously not a soldier but he was sure trying to look like one.  He didn’t stand like a soldier, nor did he walk like one.