Desolation (9 page)

Up on the perimeter wall, triple the normal number of FEMA
officers patrolled the scaffolding, keeping their eyes on the marauders in
the distance.

The marauders had established a small tent encampment some
distance away, covering it with camouflaged military netting to protect
from a sniper’s scope. It wasn’t clear how many were inside the
encampment. Only a few fires could be seen throughout the night, and
barely a sound was heard at all. It had been an eerily quiet stalemate.

Nobody from the marauder’s encampment attempted to contact
the FEMA camp, and nobody from FEMA ventured to check on the
marauders.

Noon came and went.

The temperatures rose and the people lined in front of the dining
hall grew impatient. They argued with each other and multiple brawls had
broken out. The police had a hard time keeping the isolated situations
contained while monitoring the group of marauders in the horizon.

Soon, it was two in the afternoon and the sunlight was blistering
hot. Countless people collapsed where they stood.

Officers wielding riot batons walked along the line, shouting at
people to stay in line and be quiet. Others patrolled with wheelbarrows.
When they come across somebody who had fainted, they scooped the
person up, dumped them in the wheelbarrow, and carted them away.

A couple of expressionless Eyes stood on the empty gallows.
Andrew was not one of them. The Eyes stood with their hands behind
their backs and would casually point someone out in the line from time to
time. The poor souls who got pointed out quickly got black bagged by the
police and hauled away, screaming.

People in the line didn’t seem to care; one less person in the line
meant that they all got to move up one.

 

As Jerri got closer to the mess hall, the smell was intoxicating,
euphoric even.

Police officers stood by the mess hall sally port and let twenty
souls in at a time. They then waited for twenty to exit. The people who
left looked absolutely stuffed and satisfied.

After hours of waiting, Jerri was next. She felt giddy with
excitement and couldn’t stop salivating. Deep in her stomach, she felt
something she couldn’t quite describe. It felt ominous yet distant. It was
like being chased by a lion that was thousands of miles away.

“Next! Step up!” one of the officers standing next to the sally
port shouted. “Step in, girl, hurry up.”

 

The officer motioned for Jerri to enter the sally port.

Jerri hurried inside, delighted. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling
that something was wrong; like Teddy did in prison, she chose to ignore
the gut feeling.

I
t was a chaotic mess inside the dining hall. Every table was
filled to capacity. Not a single word was spoken amongst the
malnourished crowd as they feasted on the food piled on their plates. The
sound of teeth gnashing, lips smacking and meat being torn apart filled
the mess hall with a primitive, macabre ambiance. Discarded bones, and
mounds of trash covered the floor faster than the orderlies could clean it
up. Police officers walked between the tables, watching the group gorge
themselves.

At the back of the mess hall, warming trays were turned on and
piled high with generous portions of pork. Cooks handed out plates in a
hurried frenzy to those gathered around the warming racks. Some held
their hands out for a plate while others simply grabbed handfuls of meat
and ate it where they stood, pulling the fat apart with their teeth.

Jerri ignored the odd feeling in her stomach and sniffed the air.
Aside from the scent of body odor and sweat, she could smell the roasted
pork and it was amazing.

She pushed her way through the crowd and held a hand out to
one of the cooks manning the serving line.

 

The cook handed her a plate piled high with poorly smoked pork.

Jerri took her bounty and hurried to her usual table. She sat
beside a man who had his elbows on the table as he stuffed his face,
protecting his plate with his forearms. A woman sat on Jerri’s other side
and was sticking her tongue into a broken bone, lapping out the marrow.

Jerri’s premonition of dread heightened and the hairs on the back
of her neck stood on edge.

She picked up the meaty slab off of her plate and savored the
aroma. It was an undercooked rack of ribs, a premium cut. She tore a rib
off; it was tender and tore away easily. As she was about to take a bite, she
noticed that the meat was stained with a purple mark.

Frowning, she picked at the stain with her fingertips.
The stain was deep in the flesh.
Great
, she thought,
the first real meat I get in months and it’s tainted.

She thought about eating it anyway, but then she remembered the
medical situation. Eating undercooked pork was bad enough but why
should she make it even more risky by eating tainted meat? If she got
food poisoning in the camp, she would most likely die.

Begrudgingly, she sat the rib down and examined the rest of the
food on her plate. All of her ribs were stained.

 

“Fucking great,” she muttered. She tried to pick around the mold
when she noticed that the purple patches made a picture...

Her expression sunk and her color paled as she finally saw the
picture as it formed before her eyes like one of those old 3D stereogram
books she read when she was a kid.

Her meat had the remnants of a snake tattoo on it.
“
Y
ou are now clear to exit the sally port. Let your skin air dry. Thank
you for your cooperation and remember that no food is allowed to exit the kitchen.
”

Jerri stepped out of the sally port with a sour expression. She
found herself standing near the same two guards that were posted when
she went inside. The sun was starting to set and the noise outside had
quieted down. A few people were still standing in line. Others were
familiar, more than likely trying to go back in for seconds.

Jerri’s face was blank and expressionless as she hurried back to
her dorm. She brushed past countless wandering souls milling around in
the tent encampment. Their bellies were bloated and their skin had color,
but they looked perturbed. Now that their hunger had been abated,
boredom started to set in. There just wasn’t any way to win.

Ahead, she saw two Eyes walking through the crowd, talking to
one another. It was Andrew and another man.

 

Her gaze met Andrew’s and she froze.

Andrew quickly looked away and stopped walking. He got into a
quiet back-and-forth discussion with the other Eye and then pointed
down one of the alleyways.

The other Eye nodded, drew his baton, and hurried down the
alley.

 

Jerri looked down at the ground, unsure of how to approach
Andrew.

With his companion distracted, Andrew walked towards Jerri and
stood next to her. He stood close enough to talk to her, but far enough
for others in the distance to not know that they were talking.

“I checked in your dorm, you weren’t there for most of the day,”
Andrew said, rocking on his heels with his hands in his pockets. “I
thought I told you to stay low and inside the dorm. It’s not safe out here
right now…”

“I can handle myself,” Jerri said to the wall next to her. “I don’t
need your protection.”

“What are you going to do, cut down every enemy with your
knife? Are you a swordsman all of a sudden just because you have a rusty
old blade?” Andrew whispered.

“Why does it matter to you!?” Jerri snapped. He was starting to
press her last nerve. “Seriously?”

“Maybe because I don’t want to see you black bagged,” he
snapped back. “I don’t know if you noticed, but the population has grown
smaller around here in the last twenty-four hours.”

Jerri grew quiet and felt her body run cold. She looked down at
the ground, ashamed.

 

“Where were you today anyway?” Andrew asked. He paused.
“Did you go to the kitchen…?”

Jerri didn’t respond and kept her eyes on the ground.
“Did you eat any of the…” Andrew started.
Jerri closed her eyes and didn’t respond.

An old woman hobbled past. Jerri and Andrew remained silent
until she passed.

“Never mind, it isn’t my business. Look, we can’t talk out here,”
Andrew said once safely out of earshot. “Head back to your dorm. I’ll
meet you there in a little bit.”

“Maybe I’m done talking,” Jerri said, hiding the tears and the
shame in her voice.

 

“Well, I’m not,” Andrew said as he folded his arms across his
chest.

 

“Oh! So I guess that means I
have
to talk then, right?” Jerri shot
back harshly, “I guess that makes you an asshole
and
a chauvinist.”

She felt guilty, taking it out on someone who has been nothing
but decent to her. Even though she didn’t fully trust him, she didn’t mean
to snap at him.

“One of my many enduring qualities, I’m afraid,” he said. “Look,
just please be at your dorm... We need to talk about your friend. We may
have to leave sooner than expected. We have barbarians outside our
gates.”

She didn’t know what he meant.

 

“Fine,” Jerri said with an aggravated sigh, biting back her fear and
frustration. Curiosity had gotten the better of her in the end.
“See you soon,” Andrew said. He walked off in an opposite
direction from Jerri as she walked towards her dorm.

As Jerri neared her dorm’s sally port, she saw that a new person
had taken up residency in Teddy’s tent. The man was very thin, pale, and
had huge bloodshot eyes.

She stopped and stared at the man, grabbing the blade in her
pocket.

 

She was angry; she was angry at everything. Worst of all, her
shame gnawed at her gut. She wanted a way to relieve herself mentally.
“What are you doing in that tent?” she asked. “That’s not your
tent!”

The man scoffed.
“What’s it to you, bitch?” the man asked, arranging his knapsack.

She found her release; violence has a strange tranquilizing effect
once everything was said and done.

 

The man had no idea what manner of beast had just encroached
upon him.

“Get out,” Jerri said.
“No,” the man said dismissively, amused even.
She got the response she wanted. Needed.
Jerri drew her knife and flicked the blade open.
The man’s eyes grew wide with fear.

“Whoa! Easy! Just chill for a minute!” the man said, putting his
hands up. He stared at the blade and his eyes lit up with recognition. He
smiled and pointed at her old knife. “Hey… that’s one of Teddy’s!”

Jerri was taken aback by his reaction and brought back from the
brink of a shallow abyss.

“He’s a friend,” she snapped, keeping the blade raised.
The man looked down and nodded.

“Yeah… he was my friend, too. Old coot sold me a solarpowered CD player. I guess I never will get the CDs he promised me. I’m
going to miss him…” the man said, choking back a tear.

Jerri lowered her blade…
“Was? What happened to him…?” she asked timidly.
The man looked up at her with bereavement in his expression.

“They black sacked him… last night… Something about
suspicion of theft around the camp” the man said, tearing. “Teddy was no
thief. All they saw was an ex-con though.”

Stunned, Jerri slid the knife back into her pocket and pressed the
sally port button with a shaky hand.

 

The sally port door controls threw a shower of sparks and slid
open, making an awful grinding noise as they moved.

 

Jerri stumbled inside, knees almost buckling, throat quivering.
“
Attent-tent-tent-ent-ent.
[STATIC]
Do not move-ove-ove-ove
[STATIC]
the decontamination processsssssssssssssssss.
[STATIC]”

Jerri collapsed onto her hands and knees and started to vomit,
creating a puddle of creamy bile in the middle of the sally port. She broke
down into tears, sobbing deeply, loudly.

The red light flashed.
The shower head made a noise and spewed out black smoke.

“
You are nowwwwwwwww
[STATIC]
Let your– Thank you for–
[STATIC]”

 

Jerri slowly stood back up and staggered into the dorm building.
As she staggered towards Krystal’s room, she could still smell the
odor from the mess hall in her clothes

 

She took a detour and went to her own room first to get changed.

As she walked into her room, some semblance of normality
settled in. She walked over to her wall collage and stared at her countless
magazine ads. Teddy found most of the old magazines for her and
bartered for some of the other pictures she wanted. When she first came
into the camp, she didn’t have much except for a trash bag full of clothes.
If she could go back and bring something from her old apartment, it
would be a picture of her family.

Maybe a picture of Mitch.

She was ashamed to admit it but Mitch was feeling more and
more like an ex-boyfriend and less like the plague victim he was. She cried
for days when the white-suits tore him away from her and took him to
another part of the evacuation center after he tested positive for the PT12 infection. After a year, it seemed like she didn’t have any tears left.
That a part of her was finally moving on.

She was just glad that she didn’t have to see him turn.
Jerri went over to her dresser and got a change of clothes. She
opted for the khaki BDU pants and a black shirt. It worked for her; she
was never much of a dressy type of girl anyway.

She looked down at the mess hall clothes and kicked them
towards the trash.

 

As soon as she turned towards the door to leave, it opened and
Andrew walked into the room, closing the door behind him.
Jerri startled.

 

“Fuck!” she shouted, placing a hand on her beating chest. “Don’t
you knock?!”

“Knock, knock,” Andrew said with a smile. He reached up and
touched a clump of singed hair on his head. “What a hunk of junk…
Damn fire-spitting deathtrap. I’ll put a work order in tomorrow and make
sure it gets fixed personally. How’s your friend?”

Jerri shook her head and sat down on her cot.