Desolation (35 page)

 

Jerri smirked and shook her head.

 

“That’s what this is about isn’t it?” Jerri asked. “You’re just a
marauder masquerading with a badge now.”

 

Lt. Willow put the pen and paper away with a sigh and stood,
ironing the front of his pants with his hands.

“I thought you were a woman of reason,” he said with
disappointment. “It looks like I was mistaken. I’ll have to go get my cart.
It goes without saying that what’s coming next isn’t pleasant.”

Lt. Willow started to walk towards the door.

“Project Lazarus,” Jerri blurted out. She wasn’t sure what to say,
but she wanted him to stay until she thought of something. It seemed to
catch his attention.

Lt. Willow stopped and turned towards her.

 

“So you can read,” he said with a smile. “The name was plastered
all over the devices inside the plane. Nice try.”

Lt. Willow started walking again.
Jerri’s heart raced.

“More than that,” she quickly said. “I wasn’t just a stowaway. I
came here to spy.”

 

Lt. Willow stopped and cocked an ear towards her.

“That’s why I was hiding on the plane,” she continued. “It
should’ve gone smoothly but the crew discovered me. I… did what I had
to do.”

That seemed to catch his attention.

 

Lt. Willow walked back towards the chair and sat down. He took
out his pen and paper and started to take notes.

 

“Okay, I’ll bite. Who sent you here to spy?” Lt. Willow asked as
he looked away from his paper and glanced up at her.

 

Jerri’s mind reeled. Her eyes darted from the mirrored window,
to the door, to the floor, and back to Lt. Willow.

 

“Andrew,” she finally said. “He worked for FEMA. We… we
were a thing.”

“I see... He couldn’t come up here himself so he sent a stowaway
with no security clearance?” Lt. Willow asked doubtfully. “Forgive me for
sounding skeptical.”

Jerri shook her head.

“
Worked
I said. He defected and crossed the border into Canada,”
Jerri explained. “I didn’t make it out with him…” She looked away. “He
told me to come here and find out what I could about the status of the
project before I head north.”

Her gut wrenched. Her lies felt weak but they were all she had at
her disposal.

 

“Who wants to know about the status of this project you say
exists?” Lt. Willow asked.

 

“The Canadian government,” Jerri said. She tried to act calm but
the sweat on her forehead betrayed her. “What’s left of them that is…”
“Interesting,” Lt. Willow said, unimpressed. “Such sordid tales of
international espionage are hard to come by these days.”

 

Jerri bit her bottom lip and then looked up at him. She figured
that her best bet of escape was to create a window of opportunity.
“Look… you have communication equipment here, right?” Jerri
asked.

 

“Of course we do,” Lt. Willow quickly replied.

“If you get me out of here and take me to the radio room then I
can communicate with Andrew,” she said with an air of defeated
innocence. “You can find out everything…”

“Sounds like an interesting offer,” Lt. Willow said with a smile.
“What do you want in return?”

 

Jerri looked away.

 

“No torture,” Jerri muttered. “Just… do it fast when you do it. I
don’t want to suffer.”

“Of course,” Lt. Willow said.
Jerri looked at him.
“Promise?” she asked innocently.
Lt. Willow smiled and nodded.
“I’m a man of my word,” he said.

“Can we get going?” she quickly responded. “These cuffs are
unbearable… I’d rather we just get it over and done with.”

 

She found her window; a much easier window than the one she
had envisioned.

 

Lt. Willow nodded once again.

 

“We will,” he said, “but first answer a question for me. How did
you two communicate?”

“We had what we called runners,” Jerri lied. “We had contacts in
various camps that would get information and pass it down along the
chain. That’s how we communicated.”

Lt. Willow nodded. He stopped writing and tapped his pen on his
notepad.

“So let me get this straight,” Lt. Willow reflected. “You would
have someone from, say, Camp 2 pass information to someone from
Camp 3 and eventually the information would get relayed down to you?”

Jerri nodded.
Lt. Willow held his pen in the air as he spoke.

“And these orders came down from your contact in Canada?” he
asked.

 

Jerri nodded again.

“Wow,” Lt. Willow said with admiration as he leaned back in his
chair and dramatically dropped his pen on the floor. “So you’re telling me
that there is a whole web of… of… secrecy operating in our camps.”

Jerri cautiously nodded.

“It just… baffles me!” Lt. Willow said as he tapped his notepad
on his knee. “It baffles me especially since all of the other camps were
overrun and destroyed months ago.”

A knot immediately formed in Jerri’s stomach and her heart
seemed to clench. Her face went pale.

 

Lt. Willow smiled.

“…What? Your contacts didn’t tell you?” he asked with
amusement. “Camp 7 and Camp 6… We’re all that’s left out there. Some
lasted longer than others but in the end…well, you know. I’m surprised
they didn’t tell you.”
Jerri took a nervous dry swallow and then forced a smile.

“Officially,” she said, “you are correct. But people still live in the
ruins and the web still exists.”

 

Lt. Willow nodded and picked his pen up off of the floor.

“I guess I’m just out of touch with the way things are out there,”
Lt. Willow said with amusement. “Tell me… what information did your
partner in Canada hope to gain from having you infiltrate out
encampment?” he asked. He didn’t even bother writing anything down
anymore.

Jerri quickly tried to string together a viable response based on
what little she knew. She remembered the broadcasts back in Camp 6,
back when the helicopter used to come. She remembered the empty
promises about how the government was sanitizing and reclaiming the
larger cities.

“He wanted to know how far along you got,” she cautiously said.
“With…?”
“In sanitizing the bigger metropolitan cities,” she quickly replied.
“You mean with Lazarus?” Lt. Willow asked.
Jerri nodded, defiant.
Lt. Willow started laughing and stood up, putting his pen away.
“Is something funny?” Jerri asked sternly.

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Lt. Willow said as he continued laughing. He
pointed the notepad at her. “Your entire bullshit espionage story is about
as comical as the fact that you believe Lazarus is a defensive weapon
designed to reclaim the cities. You’re a clueless insipid bitch.”

Lt. Willow hiked his pants up and started walking towards the
door, laughing.

 

“Are you calling me a liar?!” Jerri shouted as she tried to hide the
panic in her voice, face red.

“No, you crossed that threshold a long time ago,” Lt. Willow said
as he reached for the doorknob. “But don’t worry. I’m getting my cart and
when I come back I’m getting the truth out of you, one toenail at a time.”

“That’s what Andrew told me they were for! I swear it!” Jerri
cried out in desperation.

 

Lt. Willow’s hand rested on the doorknob and he froze, taking a
deep breath.

 

“He told you this?” he asked with a grin. “From Canada?”
“Yes! Just over a month ago! They’re doing well up there…
unlike the rest of us down here,” she spat.

 

Lt. Willow chuckled and shook his head.

“Canada…” he mused. “You’re right. They were doing very well
after the pandemic. So were a few other contenders. The paradigm for
world leadership changed overnight and the playing ground became rather
uneven. We got reduced to a third world country.”

“Not much has changed based off of what I see,” Jerri said
coldly. “The camps have fallen and the Capital is wasting away while other
countries are thriving. You lost the game.”

Lt. Willow gave a sly old grin and turned towards her.
“Did we?” he asked innocently, staring into her eyes.

A chill ran down Jerri’s spine; she knew exactly what he was
implying.

 

“You’re lying,” Jerri accused coldly. “Canada is still there… They
would have shot down anything you tried flying over their airspace!”
“I guess you’ll never have the pleasure of knowing, will you? Sit
tight. I’ll be right back,” he said.

 

He opened the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Angered and frustrated, she had to make her move despite the
mirrored window just a few yards away. She knew what was in store for
her next.

She sat still for a moment and quickly started thrashing in her
chair. She managed to topple over onto the floor, kicking her shackled
feet against the rotting, warped floorboards.

She lunged forward with her hands cuffed behind her and pulled
on the chain that bolted to the floor.

 

The section of floor where the chain was anchored started to
rise…

Jerri screamed through the excoriating pain as the iron cuffs tore
into her wrists. She pushed forward with her entire body weight, pulling
with all of the strength she could muster, ignoring the popping sounds
both of her thin wrists were making.

The rotten floorboard splintered and the anchor flew up from the
floor.

Finally free of the chain, Jerri tumbled forward and crashed
against the wall, hands and feet still shackled. She groaned and coughed as
she struggled to get on her feet… The task was impossible with her ankles
cuffed so it took all she could manage just to get up on her knees.

The door flung open and Lt. Willow walked into the room
pushing a metallic cart full of dirty and rusty instruments.

 

Jerri panicked and tried to back away on her knees, dragging the
chain along the floor.

“Tsk, tsk,” Lt. Willow said as he wiggled his finger in the air.
“Look at you thrashing up the place. Where exactly do you think you’re
going to go?”

He walked away from the cart and strode over towards her.
“Fuck you…” Jerri said as she fell backwards and scooted away
from him on her buttocks.

 

“Fuck
me
?” Lt. Willow laughed. “I don’t think you appreciate the
distressing nature of your current situation.”

 

Lt. Willow grabbed a handful of her dark brunette hair and pulled
her up onto her feet.

Jerri screamed and flailed in a vain attempt to get away. She felt
locks of her hair rip out by the roots and felt warm blood dribbled down
her forehead.

Lt. Willow lifted Jerri until her feet were a few inches off of the
ground. He looked at her pain-withered face and smirked. He leaned in
and pressed his lips against her ear, breathing hard.

“By the end of the night you’re going to beg me to kill you,” he
whispered.

 

He flung Jerri into the corner of the room.

Jerri struck the wall and crumpled down on the floor, curling into
a fetal position, crying. Blood matted her hair and ran down her porcelain
skin.

Lt. Willow looked at the long clumps of hair he held in his hand
and dropped them on the floor. He wiped his hand on his pants and
started to walk towards the cart.

“Now, enough games,” he said as he picked up a pair of rusty old
pliers. He held the pliers up the flickering fluorescent light, admiring
them. “Tell me, how much food does Camp 6 have left?”

Someone knocked frantically on the door.
Lt. Willow sighed and walked towards the door, gripping the
pliers tightly. He flung the door open and stared at the pale-faced FEMA
officer on the other side.

The officer was shaking and gripped his MP5 tightly.
“What?” Lt. Willow asked flatly.

“We have a problem in the east of the camp,” the officer blurted
out.

“We always do. They control that part of the camp. Can’t you see
that I’m a little busy?” Lt. Willow asked as he pointed the pliers towards
Jerri who was shivering in the corner of the room.

The officer quickly nodded.

 

“I-I can see that,” the officer stammered. “But it’s the virus. It’s
inside the camp and spreading fast through the eastern residential blocks.”
Lt. Willow went slack-jawed and slowly stepped towards the
officer.

 

“Is it Lazarus…?” Lt. Willow asked, terrified.
“No sir,” the officer assured. “It appears to be the Acexa
variant.”

 

Lt. Willow let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Thank God,” he said, “Our outside wall is dilapidated but
sufficient enough to keep them out… How in the hell did they get in?”

“It’s not the wall,” the officer nervously responded. “We think
that the raiding party consumed infected flesh from the plane and that the
infection spread post-mortem. People are panicking and running towards
our position.”

Lt. Willow stared at the officer in disbelief and then spun towards
Jerri.

 

Jerri kept her chin on her chest and let her bloody hair hang
down, draping over her face. She started to chuckle.

 

“One of your crewmembers was infected and they came
here
?!” he
shouted.

 

“Oh… did I forget to mention that?” she asked in a sinister tone
as she started to outright laugh at him.

 

Lt. Willow focused his attention back to the officer in the
doorway.

“How contained is it?!” Lt. Willow asked, furious.
“Well… It’s not,” the officer responded, nervously scratching his
neck. “We don’t have enough men or bullets left to push them back. If
they keep coming any closer…”

Lt. Willow let out a frustrated cry and punched the cement wall,
not even flinching as his knuckles split open and dribbled blood at his
feet. He ran his fingers through his dirty hair and then took a deep breath.

“Fire,” Lt. Willow finally said, barely above a whisper. He
narrowed his eyes and nodded at the officer. “We’ll burn them out.”
The officer was surprised. Gasoline was in very short supply and
a commodity worth killing for.

 

“I’ll need your keys to get into the motor pool and to unlock the
fuel pump though…?” the officer cautiously asked.

“I don’t hand off those keys for anybody. I’m not stupid. I know
exactly what you’ll do the second you find a working vehicle. Get out of
my way and I’ll do it myself,” Lt. Willow said. He threw the pair of pliers
he was holding back on the tray and then pointed at Jerri as he spoke to
the man. “What you’re going to do is stay here and watch her until I get
back. Do you understand?”