The Sunshine Dame of Doom (10 page)

And she walked, planning to walk until her legs faltered, which wouldn’t happen so soon. Susan had a lot of free time, a dangerous thing sometimes. She used the main street, called
Happy Trails Boulevard
, as reference.

It was almost nine-thirty in the evening when she reached a way less suburban zone. There were a lot of trees and very few houses around. Susan was not sure where to go from there. She started to be afraid of getting lost. Even so, she continued straight ahead, following a narrow, but well maintained asphalt road.

That was when two men in police uniforms stood in front of her.

“Good evening, miss.” One of them said in cordial tone.

“Good evening.” She returned a little bashful.

“May I ask what you’re doing here?”

“Just taking a walk to clear the ideas.”

“Not through here you will not. It’s dangerous. Where do you live?”

“1505 Cosgrove Street.”

“This is right in the city center! You surely walked a great deal, miss!” The man spoke with genuine admiration.

“I did a lot of backpacking, you know, when the world was still standing.”

“No wonder you’re so slender and athletic.” The other man said very nicely.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t let my wife hear you. She nags at me all the time to lose weight. I don’t want her to have any more ideas!”

“With a bulge that big, we can’t blame the lady.” His partner joked.

“Hey, you’re also not in any shape to talk about my bulge, fat ass!”

And they both laughed sportively. Susan only smiled, but she couldn’t help finding those two very nice fellows.

“Why is it dangerous to go further ahead?” She asked.

“There could be drifters, dead people, from this point on. It’s no longer safe.”

“And this road leads to some place in particular?”

“The industrial zone” The other man replied. “But the walls don’t quite get there yet. We got people working on it.”

“But we are safe back at the city, right?” Susan queried, faking fragility.

“Oh yeah, don’t worry none. Our guys can deal with the critters. It’s just their work would be greatly impaired if they had to also worry about civilians nosing around. I hope you understand.”

“Oh sure.”

“If you’re looking for ways to blow off some steam and clear the ideas, I know very nice discos in town. Just don’t tell my wife! I can give you their addresses.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I know some places myself.”

“Excellent. Do you want a ride? Our car is right behind that ridge over there.”

“No thanks. I came here walking and now I consider a matter of honor to come back the same way, if you boys don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Gee, I wish I had that much energy!”

“You do. Believe me, you do. Bye guys! Thanks for the warnings.”

“No problem. Bye.”

“Take care.”

Susan went back the same way she came, and she could feel the cops’ four eyes watching her every move. Eventually, she disappeared from view.

It was ten-fifteen. Sitting on a rock, the two men kept doing their night-watch, or trying to. One of them was taking a nap. The other woke him up. They both stood up and went to the car. The vehicle headed toward the so called industrial zone, very strange, considering they deemed such direction dangerous to follow.

Very carefully, Susan opened the cover of the dumpster she was hiding in and peeked outside. The men were gone, coast was clear. She didn’t exactly smell like Paco Rabanne when she jumped out of the container.

“Damn it, the things you won’t do…”

She armed herself with a piece of pipeline she found in the dumpster and continued walking down the road, to whatever was waiting for her.

“So, did you talk to her?” Lily asked.

“Yes, I asked her name.” Clark replied on the passenger seat. “She tried to say something, but keeps choking on her own drool. She needs help.”

“We’re almost at those gates again. I just hope they open the doors for us once more.”

“Lily, I’m kind of worried here. What if she has the thing?”

“You mean the disease that turns people into zombies?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think so. They don’t act like this before turning.”

“How can you be so sure? Have you ever witnessed people turning?”

“No, but I watched enough zombie movies to know I’m right.”

“How many zombie movies you watched?”

“Only one, but it seemed to make sense.”

“Right. And what do you think it happened to her then?”

“She looks poisoned to me.”

“Poisoned? Do you believe somebody did all this to her, as in starving her nearly to death and all?”

“It’s just a theory, mate. People find ways to survive, even in situations like this. Nobody would ever do such thing to oneself, not even to commit suicide.”

“I still think she got the zombie fever. She’s going to turn any minute.”

“She needs to die first. And we won’t let her die.”

They arrived at the big gates. Lily began to blow the horn like mad. The devastated woman got really agitated on the back of the truck. She tried to say something, but the words didn’t come.

“Clark, you have to go back there and calm her down.”

“Alright, but keep your knives ready!”

The tennis player dragged himself to the woman, while Lily screamed and honked to the gates “Hey! We need a doctor! We got somebody seriously hurt in here!”

“Calm down, dear, everything’s going to be fine.” Clark tried to comfort the woman, caressing her head. “Please, don’t bite me.”

She mumbled something unintelligible.

The gates got open and Lily accelerated inside. They were immediately intercepted by a car with siren and red light. Lily stopped the truck. A man in police uniform came out of the car.

“Listen!” Lily said. “We have a woman here in serious need for a doctor.”

The policeman peeked inside and saw the poor soul lying on Clark’s knees.

“Oh my Gosh!” He said. “Follow me!”

The man ran back to his car and promptly led the truck to the best hospital in town.

“Is she going to be fine?” Clark asked the distinguished doctor, grayish on the temples, sitting on the hospital bed, examining the woman he and Lily brought.

“I still have to run some tests.” He answered very sure of himself.

“What happened to her?” Lily queried.

“Too soon to say something, but the tests will tell us more.” He stood up. “Anyway, if she survives, it’s all thanks to you. You did great bringing her here. You might have saved her life.”

“Just do what you can for her.” Lily whispered.

An extremely gorgeous, elegantly dressed woman came to the room and vehemently shook hands with Clark and Lily. The patient lying on the bed moved, but nobody noticed.

“We appreciate very much what you did for this poor woman.” She said, holding and shaking Lily’s hand with both hands. She did the same with Clark. “By the way, my name is Shane, very honored to meet you.”

“Um, it was nothing.” Lily responded. “We just happened to bump on her. This is Mate Clarkson and I’m… Leila.”

Clark glanced at her.

“Nice meeting you both.” Shane said. “Sheriff McBeattie, the guy who brought you here, has just a few questions for you before you can enjoy our facilities. Feel very free to do so when he’s done. And, in the name of the city, you are more than welcome.”

“Thanks.” Clark said. “Are you the leader of this community?”

“Kind of. As a matter of fact, I work very closely to the leader, and he let me represent him.”

“So, you even have a sheriff around here.” Lily observed.

“Part of a task force we’re building. Our village is finally flourishing after a great ordeal, as you can imagine, and it’s important to have some law and order.”

“For sure” The Australian woman agreed. “But tell me more about this town, how did you get all this?”

“I know you’re curious, but all your questions will be answered in due time.” Shane responded. “But for now, I really need you to talk with Mister McBeattie. It’s important that we gather as much information as possible, to investigate what happened to the woman you brought.”

“You’re right.”

“I promise I’ll give the matter the due priority.”

Everybody left the room, except for Shane, left alone with the patient. She closed the door, slowly walked to the bed and stared at the woman, who got agitated again.

“N-n-o…No!” The patient mumbled.

“Mission accomplished, sweetie.” Shane said.

Lily and Clark followed Sheriff McBeattie. He led them to a waiting room. They entered.

“I just need to check on something and I’ll be right back.” The policeman spoke.

He left and closed the door, leaving the two road friends alone.

Clark turned to Lily.

“Leila?” He asked.

“People here seem to have facilitated access to information. I don’t want anybody making any more fuss about my name.”

“I really don’t think you should be so ashamed of…” He stopped in mid sentence and sniffed. “Do you smell that?”

“Yes, and it’s strong.”

They looked around and realized a white smoke coming out of the ventilation system. Clark’s eyes goggled toward Lily.

“It’s a trap!” She shouted.

Clark ran to the door.

“It’s locked!”

“No problem.” She said and rushed to break the lock with one of her weapons.

But there was no time. The gas dominated their senses and they collapsed unconscious on the hard ground.

The grids of the ventilation system sucked the fog back inside. After a few minutes, the door opened and Shane went into the waiting room, accompanied by two men in suits.

“Down with freckled face here?” One of them asked, nodding at Clark.

“Yes. Take this abomination out of my sight.” Shane replied. 

The men carried him away.

Shane got down on her knees by the feminine sleeping body. She gently rubbed a hand on Lily’s temple.

“Leila…” Shane whispered. “Nice try, dear. Welcome to my town, Apocalily. I was waiting for you.”

Susan had been walking for about two hours and asking for more. She could continue like that, keeping the same pace, for two, three hours more, whatever, only with the food from dinner.

And nothing had happened. She saw no zombies around whatsoever, no cops nor soldiers fighting any enemy. Everything was calm and peaceful, except for the usual animal talk from the woods.

At a certain point, she heard loud noises coming from some trees. She stopped and raised her pipe. It was just a raccoon. But at least such unexpected surge of adrenaline broke boredom for awhile.

Anyway, she was sure those cops had lied to her. Why?

There were light poles illuminating her way on both sides and the road was paved, everything very civilized. However, she did notice the asphalt began to lack maintenance as she went.

And up a cloudy draw, she visualized definite signs of civilization. A whole city rose before her eyes - the Industrial Zone, perhaps? It looked way bigger than just a zone. She picked up the pace.

As she got closer, she realized that town wasn’t anything like the one she had been living in. Constructions over there had surely seen better days. Some roughly built houses stretched like slums, along with wastelands and buildings that seemed abandoned.

Everything was poor and dirty. Was it a ghost town? Zombies lived in there? What such city was doing in there anyway?”

Susan kept on walking, but she started to get a little thirsty. Absolutely nothing happened and boredom settled again. The pipe in her hand felt heavy and unnecessary. She decided to throw it in the nearest trash can she found.

Eventually, Susan reached a part of the town that looked a little less mournful. City lights cheered up the place a bit. Such view would be romantic if the neighborhood in general didn’t smell so bad.

However, there was a population living in there and not a zombie one. Suddenly, it felt like she was on some suburban area in Chicago, one of those places she and her parents avoided in a not so distant past, but it looked like another life to her.

And the signs of population didn’t seem to like her very much. As she walked, unfriendly eyes turned to her. She began to fear for her safety and considered getting the pipe back. But it was too late. Susan calculated that turning back would just get potential hoodlums even more curious about her. She decided to go into a bar.

And the regulars in there weren’t exactly prime of society either, buy they looked distracted and harmless enough. Susan sat down by the counter.

“Good evening.” Bartender said. “What are we having tonight?”

“Beer” She replied.

“Beer it is.”

Some minutes later, he came back with the bottle. Susan drank a little too much from it all at once. She was thirstier than she thought. “Better take it easy, I can afford losing senses in a place like this.”

As if reading her mind, a muscular man with a cap and tattoos on his biceps, who until then was sitting a few stools from her, came closer.

“Hey there lady” He said.

“Hey” She answered, trying not to show how scared she was.

As per previous experiences, his attitude didn’t suggest he was there to make a pass on her; nevertheless, his whisky loaded breath could tell a different story later on. Anyway, she knew that ignoring him would just make things worse.

“You’re not from around here, right?” The guy asked with a raucous voice.

Susan was hoping such fact wasn’t so obvious, but it seemed she was wrong.

“Why do you ask?” She said trying to be polite, but not as nice as to give her new interlocutor any wrong ideas about her intentions.

“Never saw you before.” He drank from a little bottle he brought with him. Naturally, that didn’t improve his breath any. “You came with the refugees?”

Susan hesitated. She knew she couldn’t afford hesitating.

“That’s right.” She managed to say.

“Pretty mess up out there, huh?”

“Too many drifters around, yes.”

The man grinned “
Drifter
is a word used in Uptown. Over here, we call them
lamebrains
.”

“Shit!” Susan thought. “Of all the stupid things…”

“Are you from Uptown?” He hardened his tone. “
Cause
we don’t take kindly to those folks roaming around these parts.”

Susan needed to get a grip. Once again, she was taking too long to say something. She hid her shaking hands behind the counter. Other customers began to look at her as well. Their expressions were everything but sweet.

Finally, she raised her eyes and stared at the man with the best poker face she could manage.

“How do
you
know they are called drifters in Uptown?” Susan asked him in a threatening tone.

The guy faced her. She firmly kept defying eyes on him.

“She got a point there, Buckner.” The bartender came to the rescue. “Care to explain that?”

“Fuck this. I have to wake up early in the morning.” He finished his drink, stood up and threw some money on the counter. “Keep the change.” He said to the bartender before turning his back on him.

“There’s no change due.” The bartender spoke, but Buckner was already gone.

“Model citizen” Susan thought while breathing in relief.

The other customers also lost interest and came back to their businesses.

“But you are new in the neighborhood, right?” The bartender queried.

Susan realized she wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“Yes.” She choked a little bit.

“Then, welcome to
Hellsville
.” He said. “Or, like the
Uptowners
say, Industrial Zone. But we prefer to call it Downtown.”

“Thanks. It looks like a cozy place.”

“If you don’t mind the cozy reeks around here” The bartender laughed. “Where do you work?”

“I’m kind of in between jobs right now.” Susan replied.

“Yep, the Center of Refugees, if that’s what they really are, can be very slow, good for nothing most of the time.”

“Those jerks” Susan emphasized, not knowing who she was insulting.

The bartender smiled “I need some help around here, in case you got nothing. Pay stinks, but tips are good occasionally. Anyway, it’s a living.”

“Thanks.” She returned the smile. “I’ll give one more chance to the, um… Center of Refugees, if they keep stalling me, I come back here.”

“It works for me.”

Susan considered it was a good idea to leave before she had to answer more questions on topics she didn’t have the slightest idea about.

She paid for the beer and asked where the restrooms were. She needed to take a lick badly. Walking a lot can be very diuretic.

After using the facilities, Susan left the bar and walked the streets. Two prostitutes passed by her giggling and waving little purses. Despite of the overall roughness of the place, strangely she felt better there than in Uptown, her new home.

The streets got empty all of a sudden. She kept on walking. Two large silhouettes came into view. Illumination was not so good in that area. But she could clear distinguish a shine coming from badges on their uniforms.

“Hey you!” One of the figures said.

Susan was at a loss as to what to do next. Then she ran. And they chased her.

Being in much better shape than her persecutors, she managed to put some distance between them, but she didn’t know the area as much as they did, and that made all the difference. Susan was faster; however, she couldn’t lose the pursuers and they eventually cornered her in an alley behind a restaurant.

The men approached her, but still could not see her face. Two strong hands seized her from behind, one covering her mouth, violently pulling her among garbage bins to a back door. From the policemen’s point of view, she simply vanished in thin air. They took off their caps and scratched heads almost at the same time.

At the entrance of the restaurant by the main street, somebody locked the door and turned around the sign hanging on it from
open
to
close
. But the cops came and knocked on the glass, almost to the point of breaking it.

“Hey, calm down, suggy!” A big man wearing a t-shirt unbuttoned on the top opened the door and spoke. “Do you want to wake up the rats?”

“No fooling around, Marion!” One of the policemen harshly said. “Did you happen to see somebody hiding by your back door?”

“No, and my name is Mario!”

“Are you sure there was nobody there, Marion?”

“I’m positive! Why are you even asking, darling?  Didn’t you boys know there’s a curfew going on?” He said sarcastically.

“Hey, you are this close to get arrested for disrespecting an officer!”

“Really? Oh, I can barely wait! Are you going to search me too, perhaps both of you?”

“Ah, forget it, Joe!” The other cop grunted.

“I really hope you’re not hiding any outcast in there.” Joe spoke in a threatening tone. “I don’t suppose you want to disappear like many others of your kind.”

“If that makes you feel any better, you can come right in and take a look.” Mario said caressing his exposed hairy chest. “And don’t forget to bring the handcuffs. My friends dig men in uniform.”

“Let’s just go, Joe! We still have a lot of ground to cover tonight. I’m hungry!”

“You stay out of trouble!” Joe spoke pointing a finger at Mario.

“Oh, I hope not.” He closed the door and locked it.

“I hate those fags.” One cop commented to the other while walking away.

After making sure through the glass the cops were gone, Mario came back inside.

“Don’t fret, folks! I took care of them… as usual!” He said to the tall man in Tuxedo, sharing a coach with Susan, who was drinking a cup of coffee.

“Sorry about the way we brought you here.” The man spoke to Susan. “We had to think fast.”

“You might’ve saved my life out there. I won’t question your methods. Thanks for taking me in, and for the coffee.”

“Oh, don’t mention it, dear. It’s always a pleasure to meet new people and screw with those guards in the process.”

“You run this place?”

“Oh yeah! And welcome to
Fleur du Soir
! Actually, our cuisine is not French, but the name is pretty catchy. Make yourself at home, dear.”

“Thanks. What’s your name?”

“You can call me Tess.”

“I’m Susan, but please call me Sue.”

“Very well, Sue. What a beautiful girl from Uptown is doing in a place like this?”

“Um…” Susan stuttered. “I came with the refugees actually.”

“Oh no” Tess opened a small grin. “You can fool those saps out there, but not me, honey. You’re from Uptown. It’s written all over you. But don’t freak out, you’re safe in here. Considering my very special kind of clientele, it would be very hypocritical of me to label other people.”

“But… what’s the deal with this place and all this whole Uptown, Downtown thing? What’s going on?”

“First, you tell me what you’re doing here. Believe me, this is so utterly unconceivable that curiosity is killing me.”

“Well, let’s say I sneaked in here…”

“Yes…”

“…partially because life was too boring…”

“Dangerous, dangerous reason…”

“…and partially because a friend of mine, who was supposed to be in Uptown, disappeared. His name is Frank and I was kind of hoping to find him here.”

“What’s his name?”

“I told you, Frank.”

“No, darling, I mean his family name.”

“Oh, it’s Frank Herrera.”

“He’s here alright.”

“What? Where? How do you know this?”

“I don’t precisely know where he is, but his days in Uptown were counted anyway. They have ways to know our origins and they are very particular in their selection.”