Project Lazarus (23 page)

“They keep facilities like this buried way deep in the back woods so folks can’t find it.  A little ways.  You’ll know it when we get there.  It’s huge and very plain looking.  Stealth.”

“Bet one day it will be fenced off like Roswell,” she said.

“Probably won’t even be able to see it on Google maps,” he told her.

“Yeah, if Google maps isn’t filled with the living dead by then,” she said, a scared look across her face.

“I’d tell you the worst of it was over.  That the living dead were all we had to worry about.  But we’re entering the government and military territory.  Those folks have more practice at living like the dead then what we just battled back there.”

“You said you had a source in there?”

“Yes, a young woman, military, about your age.  She doesn’t agree with how they’re handling things in there and the incident.  She didn’t like what went down when they raised that man from the dead.  She doesn’t even know much about what’s happened on the outside.  She’s on the inside and apparently they’ve killed some people in there, so they can’t talk.  She’s a good poker face and I think that’s what is keeping her alive.  She reached out to me and she wants to talk.”

“She’s willing to talk to me?”

“She’s a willing source.”

“How will she meet us?”

“We’ve only got one chance which is why I had the timing with your arrival so coordinated.  They’re pretty much on lock down in there.  But there’s a window of a few minutes she can get out to us.”

“Good.  Now, if only I could get in there myself,” she mused.

“Actually, I think there might be a way.”

“How?”

“I think you could become her,” Sherriff Traves answered.

Natalie Winston smiled. Sherriff Traves was always one step ahead. 

“What do you mean become her?”

“I told you.  She wants out.  I think the two of you could trade places.  You’re the same age.  Same height and blonde hair.  You both look about the same.  I think you could put on that uniform and walk right in the front door.”

Natalie was stunned, “You’re serious.”

He nodded yes.

“I’m game.  But what happens when I have to talk?  They’re gonna figure me out Sherriff Traves.”

“Probably,” he paused, “guess you’ll just have to get that story first.”

Sparse, dead looking, empty and quiet was the scene depicting the military compound.

It was huge.  Natalie stared at the minimalist white building wondering how it seemed so sterile when the hidden truth going on inside was causing chaos and ugliness on the outside.

The fence was tall with barbed wire.  She imagined how the Chuttle brother’s got so close without being found out.  Sherriff Traves told her the boys visited the location many times.  Unfortunately, they got caught up in the middle of things and were pretty much now scarred and scared for life.

Natalie started adding up the names on her list.  The Chuttle boys, probably their parents, Sherriff Traves,  the indigenous Amazon man,  Charlie Dempster,  the researchers.  There were quite a few people on a hit list of sorts.  She would include herself.  But she was still unknown.

Her notebook was damp from the water that seeped in her backpack.  The pages were quickly being filled.  She looked at her only two pens.  Better not run out of ink on me, she thought.

The confidant she had in Mountain Home entered her mind.  How could she keep him safe with the information she would write and later bury in Cotter?  Sherriff Traves didn’t ask her to reveal the identity of her confidant.  She was glad.  He was a bit of an odd duck, a conspiracy theorist of sorts.  Laced with the fact he was a timeless friend and supporter, her confidant was an effortless choice.  As she told the Sherriff, she trusted Jackson Gillis with her life.

Jackson begged to go with her.  But she insisted it was best he was left behind.  A superior mind, a computer hacker and part time Editor of the underground paper “Red, White and True,” they had worked together on many projects and if anyone could make sure her voice was heard it was Jackson. 

He was an eccentric little soul.  A bit like her.  They had bonded back in junior high school, knowing as most soul friends do, they had a purpose and would remain friends for life.

The building was enormous.  She began to visualize all the corridors and doors on the inside.  How would she find the Amazon man or Charlie Dempster?  From what she knew about him, he wasn’t a man that would be easily found.

The woods were vast just like the building.  Who might be hiding out there?  She pondered.

The car rolled along at about five miles an hour.  It was so quiet.  It was quiet just like the adventure had begun.  It was nothing but quiet now.

The doors in the car were all locked after their last wild ride.  Sherriff Traves made sure of that when he pulled over and triple checked the locks on the doors and the trunk.

Good God, could you imagine one of those things in the trunk?  She thought.  She’d rather be caught with a dead body in the trunk not one willing to become alive.

It was scary.  Scarier than she could envision.  Now, she was a part of the mystery and a part of the solution.  A part of the action.  A part of life.  And for however scary it was she liked the idea of being alive, if only, for a little while. 

In life, we have one chance to make an impact on the world.  But we have so many chances to change the lives of others.  To make things better.  It was quickly, in her eyes, becoming a world of technology where people didn’t talk on the phone anymore but on screens.  You couldn’t hear the drop in their voice or the awkward silence.  Maybe that’s what people liked about technology, no awkward silence.  But without the emotion in the words and the silence, people were losing the battle for humanity.

There were so many times in her life where words had both inspired and destroyed her.  She vowed to only uplift others for that reason.  Now it all felt rather pointless.  If something could go so terribly wrong like the incident in Cotter, why did she and good people like Sherriff Traves always have to pick up the pieces?  Where were all the people good at walking away and turning their heads?  Sure they acted human enough, they smiled and laughed with their perfect lives but in truth they destroyed a lot of other people along the way and they did nothing and gave nothing in return.  We celebrate celebrity.  But we should be imitating the common instead.

You can never go back, Natalie realized.  Family is important.  Being good was right.  Doing the right thing was the path.  Helping others was being human.  Yet, there were many people she crossed paths with that never saw the human part.  They never got it.  And here were the good people having to pick up the pieces while they got off with a mere slap on the wrist.  They could turn their heads away.  Something bad was happening but they didn’t have to get involved.  They could let it happen.  Turn and walk away from the homeless man, ignore the hungry child because they might lose their nerve to be so ignorant.

It made her emotional.  Perhaps a bit mad.  People had left her high and dry.  Friends had never noticed the pain she suffered, especially having so much responsibility at an early age.  And people she found were content to leave her life without a goodbye or a let’s keep in touch.

She shook her head.  What made her restless enough that her mind went down these dark roads?

She knew who she was at least.  That was more than she could say for most.

So while the world kept spinning keeping so many safe, she worried about those in Cotter who weren’t safe.

“Think she’ll show?”  She asked Sherriff Traves.

“I think you’re both a lot alike.”

“Is that a yes?”

“She’ll show.”

“What’s her name?  I need to know her name.”

“Calista Grandy.”

“Calista Grandy,” she repeated to herself, “Calista Grandy.  Got it.”

“Does she know much about me?”

“Enough to want to pull this off as much as you,” Sherriff Traves confided.

“Yeah,” Natalie sighed.

“Listen, she’s going to be nervous Natalie.  Cagey even.  You’ve got to get through to her and fast.  Get your questions in there.  Then make the switch.”

“Before she chickens out?”

“No.  Before she or you get found out.  This isn’t a time for hesitation for either of you.  If you want this, you can have it.  How bad do you want it?”

“I want it,” she reaffirmed to him.

“This place.  It’s so strange.”

“Eerie I know.  I’m taking a back road up here.  I’ve visited Calista a few times and this is the route she gave me.  It’s safe from military and lucky enough the living dead don’t wander her too much.”

“Not that I want them around….but where are they?”

“Far away from here,” Sherriff Graves explained, “smart enough to know they’ll get caught I guess.”

“What about the two boys?  You told me they were there when it happened.”

“Yep, lone witnesses.  The military, man by the name of Commander Henrid, is running a real game on the parents.  Got the kids to talk.  Maybe.  You never know with kids.  Don’t know what they told him.  But they were here the day the shit hit the fan.”

“Boy, that’s a wake-up call for a couple of kids seeking adventure in the woods.”

“We aren’t so different from those kids you know.”

“Good point.”

“Yeah one of them lost the hearing in the right ear the other in the left ear.”

“Boy,” she said, “Would I like to talk to them.  Bet they saw something they didn’t tell Commander Henrid.”

“My thoughts exactly.  Guess we have to keep our own secrets.”

She turned quickly to look at the man beside her. 

“I know that look.  I’ve dodged your questions too many times Natalie.  No need to worry.  No secrets here.”

“I know.  That’s what scares me.”

“You know when I was a rookie cop….hell, when I went to Vietnam, I learnt real quick you rule the mission or it rules you.  You’re good at getting close to the fire but you’re about to walk over the coals Natalie.  My advice is run to the fire because you can’t outrun it.  You’re going to become a bit like a spy and a lot like a person you don’t know.  Never lose your empathy.  That might save your skin.  But focus.  Only focus on the mission at hand.  Like I told you, Calista Gandy is cagey.  We’ve got to pull her over and fast for you to take her place.  Now, I can definitely help you with that.  The rest is up to you.”

“Thanks Sherriff Traves.  Thanks for everything.”

“Don’t forget about the pick-up time.  I’ll be here waiting for you.”

“If I get out.”

“Focus on the mission Natalie.  Get the story and then get the hell out of there.  I’ll give you an hour if I can.”

“Doesn’t seem like much,” she hesitated.

“It was enough for you to get into Cotter.”

“True.”

The car pulled to a slow crawl and then stopped up at the top of a gravel road. 

Natalie studied the landscape.  The territory was all foreign to her.  Living in Mountain Home, she spent many summer’s in nearby towns like Cotter with friends.  But this place.  This was the place in the woods where there were Indian burial grounds.  Sacred places your parents told you not to go.  Scary places your friends told you about the spirits that would inhabit you, if you dared step on the mounds, the graves.

She stared.  There it was…more of that tall barbed wire fence.

She steadied her eyes on the small door in the fence.  Just a latch.  No padlock.  Could it be?  This is how Calista Grandy was getting in and out?

She was stuck on the inside for now.  Certainly, they’d search her and leave her for dead if she left the sickly womb inside.  But there was a way out, at least for a little while.

The weather had grown hot and sticky.  It felt uncomfortable, like one of those days when you wanted to jump in water and cool off or run inside to the air conditioning.

Arkansas had nice even tempered weather.  It snowed a few times during her years there.  But mostly it was a good old Southern state.  A state, she had sworn to leave a couple of times but one that drew her back to her family and life.  Also, to her responsibilities, a blessing and curse.

She wanted to shout.  To scream.  To let out some kind of emotion.  She hoped to live to tell the tale herself.  But to who?  Those were questions for another time.

They sat tentatively in the car.  There was nothing left for them to do now but wait.