The Romero Strain (45 page)

“Like what? transmutes?” David asked.

“Sometimes. Sometimes rats, raccoons, the occasional fox.”

“You ever see Luci?”

“Yeah, a couple of times. She’s out there now. I can feel her, sense her watching, listening. I know she’s close.”

He remarked, “It’s awfully quiet up here.”

“I said that already.”

“Is this all you do, just watch and listen?” he asked, apparently puzzled at my fascination with the dark, desolate city.
“Sometimes I think, too. Sometimes too much.
So
, why tonight did you discover my retreat? It couldn’t have been random, ’cause I leave the door ajar the same amount every time.”

“Marisol. She was looking for you. She asked if I’d seen you. So I went to find you, felt a breeze, and followed it. And here you are. It is actually a nice night out. The wind feels good.”

“What was it that Marisol wanted?”

“She didn’t say but I had a feeling she was missing you. I think she needs some attention, if you get my drift.”

“Yeah, I understand. I haven’t been taking care of business lately. I’ve just been, too tired. And that girl has a habit of wanting to––”

“Fuck all night?” he flippantly said, before I could finish my sentence.

“Yeah. Well I wasn’t going to put it that way.”

I actually wasn’t being forthright and factual with David. I had straight-out lied. It wasn’t that I was tired; it was I was afraid to have sex with Marisol. That primal urge to have forceful rough sex to satisfy my need to propagate had grown more intense since my last change. I was afraid that I would no longer be able to control myself and I would end up hurting her, or worse.

“Julie, too. She’s just so…”

“Different from all those groupies you’ve fucked.”

“That’s not exactly what I was going to say.”

“Yes, it was. That’s exactly what it is. Groupie chicks are great fucks. They’ll do anything for you.”

“How would you know?”

“I had a groupie once.”

“You?” he said with disbelief.

“Yeah me, believe it or not. Of course she was a complete stalking, psycho-bitch but an amazing fuck. But a fuck is still a fuck, no matter how great it is. Marisol though, she’s… she’s just amazing. Just when I think I know her she does something totally unexpected and wonderful. She’s brave and fierce.”

“Yeah, Julie too.”

We raised our bottles and clinked them together.

“Thanks, David.”

“For what?”

“For being my friend. For believing in me. For trusting me with your life. That means a lot to me, and I never told you how much you mean to me. How much your friendship means to me. You’re the best friend I wanted growing up. The brother I wish I had had. Better I guess because we didn’t have any of that sibling rivalry growing up. You’re a good person and I’m proud to call you friend.”

“I appreciate that man. But why do I get the feeling that you’re telling me this for a different reason?”

He was correct. In the short time we had known each other, he understood me as well as all the years that Siyab and I had know one another.

“You’re right. I am. ’Cuz this is probably the last chance I’ll have to tell you, and I need to ask you a favor.”

“J.D., just ask man.”

“I need you to watch out for Marisol for me. I need you to make sure she gets on the chopper no matter what.”

“You’re not going, are you?”

“No, I can’t. I’m a freak, remember? They’ll lock me up and dissect me if they find out what I am. There’s no way I can go, but Marisol has to. There’s nothing here for her.”

“There’s you.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but Marisol needs to go to England. She wanted to go to college. There may be opportunity for her over there… just like you. At least over there you’d probably be able to be a civil engineer again.”

“I could stay. I could, well… I like books. I could rescue books and start a library, like… like the old man in
Logan’s Run
.”

“DD, that was cats. More like Burgess Meredith in the
Twilight Zone
, and look what happened to him.”

He didn’t acknowledge or make comment on my reference. I wasn’t sure if he had seen the episode, “Time Enough At Last”.

“J.D., none of us have to go. We can all go to Mechanicville.”

“Go to Mechanicville and do what? Become farmers? I don’t even want to go to Mechanicville. I’d rather be in England being a paramedic, but that can’t happen for me. The rest of you have a chance at some semblance of a normal life. Go to England; enjoy the life you should be having. Make babies, grow old, tell your grandkids stories about what we did to survive. That should be your legacy.”

“And Marisol? How’s she going to take this? I’m guessing you haven’t told her.”

“No. And I’m not going to. I can’t give her a life that she deserves and needs here. I’m sure that sounds cliché, the noble lover sacrificing his happiness for hers, but that’s so far from the truth. It’s not nobility; it’s necessity. And I’m not happy about it.”

“Sounds like stupidity to me.”

“Yeah, well, that too. But I’ll have hard enough time watching out for Dick and Ryan. I’d be devastated if I couldn’t protect her. Better surrounded and protected by people I trust and love. She’ll be safe with you and the others.”

“It’ll break her heart. She may never forgive you for this.”

“Better she hates me and is safe, than in my arms dead.”

There was a momentary pause, and then David softly said, “‘It is better to be hated for what you are, than to be loved for what you are not.’ Andre Gide.”

“And I am far from a hero.”

“Consider it done,” he agreed.

A handshake bonded his promise. I looked back out to the street below.

“You keep looking at the north gate. That’s the third time in as many minutes. You see something?”

“I keep seeing movement, coming this way, bobbing in and out of the shadows.”

“Transmute?”

“No, movement is all wrong.”

Max raised his head and cocked it. Something was approaching the gate.

“There’s someone here,” I said as I grabbed my machine gun.

“Hello. Hello?” came a loud voice from below. “Hello! Can you hear me? Hello, anyone there?”

David answered the voice, “Yes, we can hear you fine. Who are you and what do you want?”

“I’m Paul Wiese. I’m looking for the colonel.”

David turned to me. “Colonel?” he asked. “Why would he use that name?”

I looked down and studied the man.

“It looks like Piss Pants.”

“
Piss Pants?
Why would he be here?”

I called down. “Is that you, Piss Pants?”

“Uh. Yeah,” he tentatively responded. “But the name is Paul!” he corrected.

“Stay right there,
Piss Pants
. I’ll be right down.”

I handed David my machine gun, and asked him to keep watch. I needed someone with a high vantage point, just in case, and he was good with an M4.

The others had already responded to the loud banter. Sam was headed to turn up the lights, but I stopped him. Kermit was armed and unlocking the steel auxiliary door that gave access to the outer locks of the large wooden entrance gates. Ryan, Marisol and Julie joined us as we unlocked the outer doors.

Hold it,” I said before we swung the doors open. “You two aren’t going anywhere.”

“Why not?” Julie asked.

I was quick and blunt in my response. “Because you both have your tits hanging out. Where’s your body armor?” Neither had a response. “I thought so. This is most likely a trap and the minute we step out we’ll probably be fired on. Julie, Marisol. Go get dressed, and take Otter with you. Kermit, Sam. Let me take lead. I can see better.”

We cautiously exited. I searched the night for movement or any indication there were others lurking in the shadows waiting for a clear shot, but I could see no one.

“Well, well, well,” I said, greeting our enemy. “If it isn’t our old friend Sponge Slob Piss Pants. Hands up. Let’s go. C’mon, even a caveman can do it.”

He did what he was instructed; he knew refusing would be terminal to his health, like his previous comrades. I interrogated him about his sudden appearance.

“What brings you here? Slumming? Spying?”

“I’m not spying,” he said, appearing to be sincere, but I was leery of anything he could say.

“Says you, Piss Pants.”

“It’s Paul. The name is
Paul
.”

“Okay, Piss Pants. State your business.”

“I want sanctuary,” he boldly announced.

I was highly skeptical.

“Sanctuary!” I scoffed. “You tried to kill us and now you want us to help you.” I proceeded to insult him by calling him an empty-headed animal food trough wiper. “Now piss off!”

“What’s with the Python? All I want is your help. Please.”

He wasn’t as stupid as he appeared, but I was sure he’d prove that assumption wrong. I removed one of my bolo machetes from its sheath.

“Go back and tell your friends that if they try that shit again, it won’t matter where
you go or where you hide. I will hunt you down, and the last thing you see will be my blade.”

“I wasn’t part of that. I wasn’t with them.”

“Is that so? Then how did you know we were here?”

“All of Manhattan knows you’re here with all the bright lights. Then there were those explosions and all the smoke you could see from the other side of the city.”

I was still suspicious of his intentions. “Why now? That was two weeks ago.”

“I waited a few days before I decided to come here. Besides, it’s dangerous out here. There are those half-mute things, more and more of them… and Renquist! Most nights it’s too dark to travel. I had to wait for the moon. Can I put my hands down now?”

“Sure, if you’re tired of living.” Kermit said.

“Well? Can I come in?”

“No, you need to go crawl back into your hole,” I directed.

“Let him in,” came the doctor’s voice from the entranceway.

“Doc, go back inside,” I instructed. “It’s too dangerous out here.”

“No,” he said, as he approached us. “I said let him in. He asked for help, so help him.”

“Doc, that’s ill-advised. He’s one of those guys that attacked us.”

“No, I’m not. I swear. I haven’t been with them since that day at the subway.”

“You heard him. He says he is no longer one of them. Let him in.”

“And where are your brains?” Kermit asked. France ignored the chide.

“And you heard me, it’s too dangerous.”

“Mister Nichols. Where are your paramedic ethics? We have an obligation to help this man.”

“And I have an obligation to protect this facility.”

“That will no longer be a concern for any of you, will it? Now let him in.”

The doctor was sort of right. At least that was what I lead him to believe. Technically I was leaving with the others in the morning; I just wasn’t going to England—and I guess it never occurred to him, or the others, that my plight would stop me from stepping into the evac helicopter. The doctor had also been correct to question my medical ethics. I did have an obligation as an EMT to assist those who were in need of my help, though I believed Piss Pants had an ulterior motive in wanting in. I still protested.

“Ethics!? You’re a fine one to talk, Dick.
Fine
, let him in.”

“
What!?
” the others questioned, shocked at my yielding to Dick’s will.

“Let him in,” I repeated. “Whoever has the keys to the gate, let him in. Like the doc said, it no longer concerns us. But if he so much as farts you can shoot him. And keep those hands up!” I warned the man.

“He is to come with me upstairs,” Dick demanded. “I need to examine him.”

I halted Piss Pants as he crossed the threshold. “Not so fast. Spread the legs, arms out.”

I patted him down for concealed weapons. He had only a knife.

“You won’t need this anymore… Kermit. Please escort the doctor’s
guest
to the hospital.” I turned back to Piss Pants. “Consider yourself a prisoner. Get smart, get a bullet. Understand?”

Kermit ordered, “Hands behind your head. Fingers locked together. Now move! Follow the doctor.”

I turned to Drukker, who had remained silent throughout. “Sam, lock it back down. We’re done here.”

I scanned the area before Max and I headed back in. I couldn’t see anything, not even a creature of the night. They had all vanished into the cover of darkness when the commotion started.

I sent Marisol to our room to finish her packing. There was one person I needed to visit before I went to relieve Kermit, and that was Ryan. He needed to know my plan. He needed to know I would be returning with the Stryker.