Desolation (6 page)

“I felt something warm on the side of my face so I reached my
hand up and touched my cheek,” he said, mimicking the motion. “When I
looked at my fingers, they were covered with blood. I fucking freaked out
and looked over at Marlowe; hell, I thought it was my blood at first! But
then I saw him…”

He paused and stared down at his book vacantly.

“I looked over at him and watched as the blood spurted out the
side of his neck like a squirt gun. It was like each time his heart pumped, it
pulled the trigger and spritzed the table. The wetback that stabbed him
just stood behind him… he stood behind him and just… watched him.
He watched him die. I watched too. I was frozen.”

Teddy closed his eyes and let out a chain of rattling coughs.

“We all stared in shock at Marlowe and he stared back at us. He
pissed his pants and fell forward on his plate with the shiv still stuck in his
neck, bleeding out. The wetback standing behind him looked at us, spat
on the table, and walked off.”

Jerri shook her head slowly.
“Jesus… I’m sorry,” she muttered. She wasn’t sure what to say.
Teddy nodded.

“After he was killed the guards put the prison on lock-down. And
you know that feeling I told you about? That weird feeling in the pit of
my stomach before Marlowe was killed? It went away. It just disappeared
and it felt like the knot inside unwound again. That was the first time I felt
such a powerful premonition in my life.”

“All that time inside though… you never saw something like that
happen again?” Jerri cautiously asked.

 

He shrugged dismissively.

“Sure, to a lesser extent,” he said, returning to his book. “But I
never felt it like I did that day. Until tonight. Something bad is about to
happen, Jerri. I feel it everywhere… just stirring in the air. This time I’m
staying in my cell like the wiser cons did.”

Teddy turned the page, sighed, and wiped a tear off of his dusty
cheek. He coughed and stifled a sneeze.

 

“You’re being paranoid,” Jerri said. “I’m going to the mess hall.
I'll see you later.”

 

She turned and walked down the alleyway, passing countless
tents. Lots of people were huddled up in their tents, staying in their cells.

The feeling Teddy described… She realized that she felt it too.
She chose to ignore it.

As she neared the dining hall, she caught the scent of something
delicious in the air. It didn’t smell like the usual rodentia. It smelled like
they were actually cooking larger racks of meat. It smelled of pork. It’s
been so long since she had pork…

She wasn’t the only one who smelled it; a small murmuring crowd
had gathered at the front of the dining hall.

 

Jerri jostled her way through the crowd, eager, expectant, but her
expression quickly fell flat.

 

She read the handwritten sign hung on the mess hall doors:

 

Closed until tomorrow for food processing.

We’ve received a large supply from the Capital this
evening. Please be early and remember to give
thanks to our benefactors!

God Bless America and God Save the Union.

She felt dismayed and cheated. Still, she stood outside the mess
hall with the others and savored the aroma of food. It didn’t satisfy her
like she expected. In fact it just made the longing worse.

Disheartened, she turned and started walking back towards her
dorm. She wallowed in her self-pity and unabated hunger.

She walked past the ominous gallows with her head down,
completely unaware that they were all empty. Nothing but ropes swung in
the cool desert breeze.

She walked down the alleyway and maneuvered through the tent
encampment like a mindless zombie, carelessly bumping against people as
they shuffled past. Two FEMA police officers brushed past her and ran
into a tent, guns drawn. A woman inside the tent screamed obscenities at
the intruders and then there was the sound of breaking glass.

Then... nothing.
A black sack went over the woman’s head and she disappeared.

Jerri didn’t pay the commotion any mind; her hunger was all
consuming. Her mouth was still salivating from the aroma.
After wandering past countless half-asleep skeletal residents, she
finally arrived at her building and pushed the sally port button.
The door made its usual grinding noise and then slid open with a
metallic screech.

As she stepped inside, she didn’t look behind her to say
goodnight to Teddy; she didn’t have the energy and didn’t have the
resolve.

She didn’t notice that Teddy was gone. His book lay in the middle
of his tent with its aged yellow pages rustling in the night wind.
9

J
erri walked down the moldy hallway, no longer bothering to
side-step the puddles that had collected on the carpet. She looked ahead
and saw Krystal stagger out of the communal bathroom.

The haggard state of her friend immediately snapped Jerri back to
reality.

Krystal was barely able to walk and looked pale. Blood covered
her hands and trickled out from between her slender legs from
underneath her silk nightgown.

A few others in the hall murmured amongst each other, but were
too afraid to offer her any assistance.

“Oh my God…” Jerri muttered, cupping her hands over her
mouth. “Who did this to you?!” she shouted. Rape immediately crossed
her mind.

Krystal stopped walking and slowly turned towards Jerri, her eyes
clouded and cheeks flushed. Her hair was disheveled.

Jerri ran towards Krystal and put a hand on her shoulder,
supporting her, ready to catch her if she fell. Her other hand slid into her
coat pocket, ready to grab the knife if the attacker showed his face.

“I’m sorry… I… I have to show you what I did,” Krystal
muttered, face expressionless. “Take me to my room…”

A sense of dread filled the pit of Jerri’s stomach as they walked
down the hall together. She was starting to think that her frail friend had
killed somebody.

The other girls kept far away from them as they walked, stepping
out of the way and retreating into their rooms.

Normally Krystal talked about the latest camp gossip, boys, and
shared stories about her past life in the old world. The walk felt different
that night. It was quiet, awkward, and ominous. Jerri imagined it must be
the way people felt when they walked towards the gallows.

Krystal stopped walking and pointed a shaking finger at her
room.

 

“In there,” Krystal said weakly.

 

Moving with a sense of hesitation, Jerri turned the knob and the
door creaked open.

Jerri’s eyes grew wide.
“What did you do…?”

The room’s blue carpet was splattered with crimson. A nearby
army cot and blanket was soaked in it. The room had an odor to it; a
coppery tang of blood mixed with spoiled fish. The dresser’s top drawer
was open and Jerri saw something lying motionless on top of the
undergarments.

It was a baby.
Jerri slowly walked into the room, afraid.

Krystal followed close behind, crying. She shut the door behind
her.

 

“How…? Is…?” Jerri stammered. She turned towards her friend.
“Is it yours?”

 

Krystal nodded, snot dribbling out of her nose.

“I’m sorry I lied to you… I didn’t have the flu… I just…”
Krystal started, choking back her tears, “I tried to get to the bathroom. I
tried to make it, but I just couldn’t. I’m sorry…”

“You never showed… I didn’t even know you were pregnant,”
Jerri said, inching towards the motionless baby in the dresser.
Krystal shook her head, not moving any closer towards the
dresser.

 

“Who else knows about this?” Jerri asked. She saw that
something was peculiar about the baby…

 

“No idea,” Krystal said flatly, looking down. “I was quiet… I was
quiet when he… when he came out.”

Jerri stopped walking and turned towards her friend.
“Is it…” Jerri started.

“Alive? I have no idea,” Krystal said, tears streaming down her
cheeks once again.

 

“The father…?” Jerri asked. It was a delicate question, but one
that mattered. He needed to know.

 

Krystal collapsed onto her knees and hung her head low, sobbing.
“I don’t know,” she said in-between sobs. “I’d like to think it was
Jacob’s... but after that night he got me in the shower…”

Jerri had no idea what night she was referring to or to whom.
Frankly she did not want to know.

She remembered Krystal mentioning Jacob though. He was
Krystal’s boyfriend back in Boston… He didn’t get out of the city in time
and was vaporized when the government bombarded the east coast with
nukes in their failed attempt to curtail the infection. It didn’t matter much
anyway; unlike Krystal, Jacob was not immune to PT-12 and was
coughing steadily during their escape. Krystal was seventeen at the time.

“Krystal,” Jerri said delicately, “the time line doesn’t make
sense… it can’t be… well… his. What happened in… the shower?”

“Are you saying it was
his
?!?” Krystal shouted, spewing spit and
tears. She hid her face in her hands and sobbed deeply. “It’s not! It’s
Jacob’s! It is!”

Jerri walked over to the dresser and quickly stepped back, gasping
in horror.

 

Krystal sobbed louder, covering her face, ashamed.

The baby was a boy. He was grossly underweight and was curled
up in the dresser’s undergarments like a dead fetus. Something wet and
organic stuck to the baby’s face. He was trying to make noise, but the
sound was muffled.

Jerri looked away from the premature child as tears formed in her
own eyes.

“He’s… ” Krystal started to say, covering her face. “Is he alive?”
Jerri nodded somberly.

“I think he’s starving…” Jerri added. She stumbled backwards
and sat on the cot, running her fingers through her hair, trying to think as
Krystal continued to sob.

“What should I do?” Krystal finally asked as her sobbing
subdued. “Please… help me… I don’t want him to die. I just don’t know
what to do. If I take him outside, and they see him… they’ll probably kill
him.”

Someone pounded against the door loudly, startling both of
them.

“FEMA P.D.! Open up!” a voice shouted.
Krystal looked over at Jerri with horror.

“Let me handle this,” Jerri whispered. She slid the dresser drawer
shut with the baby inside.

The pounding at the door intensified.
“I’m coming!” Jerri shouted. She quickly went to the door,
cracked it open, and stepped out into the hall. She was greeted by two
armor-clad police officers wielding batons. “What’s the problem?”

The hallway was full now of curious bystanders. They stared at
the unfolding scene, whispering.

 

“We got a call about a disturbance. Let me see your
identification!” the officer demanded, holding a gloved hand out.

Jerri reached in her pocket and got out her ID card.
“What sort of disturbance?” Jerri asked.

The officer snatched the ID out of her hand and studied it
carefully. He verified it with a small UV light.

“Is this your assigned room?” the other officer snapped.
“Well, no, but I just–” Jerri started.
“What’s the problem?” a familiar voice asked.

Jerri looked over and saw Andrew pushing his way through the
crowd.

 

“Ah. Fuck,” Jerri muttered.

 

The gawking girls slithered back into their rooms at Andrew’s
presence. Nobody liked to be around when an Eye was present.
The two officers turned towards Andrew and saluted.
Andrew locked eyes with Jerri briefly and seemed to peer right
through her.

“Sir, we got a call that a woman is sick in this building. She was
last seen in this room,” one of the officers said, pointing at the door
behind Jerri.

“Is this the girl?” Andrew asked, nodding towards Jerri.

“No,” the other officer answered. “
This
girl answered the door.
I’m about to arrest her for being in unassigned quarters. The dorm on her
identification doesn’t match. She’s covering for the infected girl.”

Andrew held out his hand.
The officer handed him her ID card.

Andrew studied the card and nodded. He slid the card in his
pocket.

 

“Did you search the premises?” Andrew asked the two officers,
locking his eyes with Jerri.

 

Jerri felt a knot rise in her throat.

 

“No, sir, we were about to make entry when you arrived on the
scene,” one of the officers quickly responded.

 

“Get out,” Andrew said in a stern voice. “I’d like to handle this
myself.”

 

The officers looked at each other hesitantly.

 

“Do you want us to bag her? She was out of her assigned
confines…”

Andrew spun towards the officers and narrowed his eyes.
“Follow your orders and be on your way,” Andrew snapped.
The two officers turned and hurried towards the sally port exit.

Andrew turned his attention towards the gawking onlookers
peeking out of their dorm room doors down the hall.

 

“Inside!” he shouted.

 

The women quickly slunk back into their rooms and left the hall
abandoned.

 

Andrew turned his attention towards Jerri and stared at her with
suspicion.

 

“Now, Jessica, what other secrets are you hiding?” he said. “Are
you crazy enough to be harboring an infected?”

 

Jerri shook her head and looked down.

“Good. You’d prefer to talk inside? Me too. It would be much
more private,” Andrew said. He brushed past Jerri and walked inside the
room.

Jerri reached into her pocket and grabbed the switchblade as she
followed him inside.

 

She shut the door behind her.
10
A
ndrew scanned the room, noticing the puddle of blood around
Krystal.
Jerri crept closer behind him. She flicked her blade open slowly.
Quietly.
Krystal cupped her mouth with her hands at the sight of Andrew
and started to sob, terrified. She stumbled backwards and sat on her cot.
Andrew locked eyes with her. Glared at her. The moment passed
and he looked away, taking in the entirety of the scene again.
“
Him!
Not him! He’s going to kill him… he’s going to kill
him…” Krystal muttered, eyes swelling with tears.