Wednesday, 19
“I’d like to be
doing something useful. I was in the army and I can handle myself with various types of guns or in hand-to-hand combat,” said Marla. “That’s why I’m interested.”
“I understand,” Robert replied,
looking surprised, “but you’ve only just got here.”
“
I know, but I’m easily bored. I’m climbing the walls and just need to do something with meaning. I’ve had experience of dealing with the dead look… I mean the undead, as you call them. Tommy wants to help too. I’m not so sure about Billy though.”
“What about your sister?”
“No, she doesn’t want to be involved. I taught her to shoot, but she’s made of softer stuff. I want her to have a normal life, or as normal as possible.”
“I understand that,” said Robert. “I used to have a younger brother.”
Marla paused, unsure of what to say, her mind hovering over the words ‘used to’.
“Anyway,” he
added quickly, “I’ll have a word with the commander and see what he says. Best I can do.”
“Thanks,” Marla replied, walking away. “Appreciate it.”
Friday, 21
A rap on the door made Marla spring up to see who it could be. Ellen looked up slowly from her bed, where she was sprawled out reading a book, as the door opened to reveal Robert. “Hello,” he said cheerfully. “I told Commander Caballero your request and he would like to meet you.”
“When?”
asked Marla.
“Now would be good
, if you’re free.”
“Sure,”
she answered, surprised by the speed of it all. “I’ll just grab my boots.”
“How’s it going
, Ellen?” asked Robert, peering into the room.
“Fine,”
she answered. “I’m starting to feel myself again, but I have no desire to join you soldiers, unlike my crazy sister. I prefer to lounge around reading.”
He grinned. “Great.
I’m not a big reader myself, but what book is it?”
“
Crime and Punishment
.”
“What’s it about?”
“A young man who battles with his conscience. He doesn’t know if to do a bad thing or not.”
Robert rubbed his chin
, looking thoughtful. “Sounds interesting. What does he choose to do?”
“
I haven’t got that far yet.”
Marla watched the interaction
between them with interest and then stood up. “I’m ready. See you later, Ellen.”
“I’ll be here,”
she replied, “or in the cafeteria. I’m meeting Bella, Claire and Eric later.”
Outside the room,
Marla closed the door softly and turned to Robert. “Should I get Tommy?”
He shook his head. “Just
you. The commander likes to interview one person at a time.”
Marla
followed the soldier into the elevator, where he pressed the button for level one in silence. She wondered what this Caballero was like and hoped he had not prejudged her on her military record. Still, she could not imagine sitting around doing nothing in this place while dead-lookers roamed outside. When the doors of the elevator opened again, she cleared her thoughts and stepped out into the grey coloured hallway near the main entrance to the building. Robert took the right-hand corridor and she trailed him some distance until he stopped at a door. He rapped his knuckles on the black-painted surface a few times.
“Come in,” a deep voice
called out.
Robert
led the way into a small room in which a well-built man with dark hair sat behind a mahogany desk. His hands were clasped together and the moustache beneath his nose began to twitch. Marla noticed his eyes were very dark, almost black, and she presumed he had some Spanish heritage.
“Please sit down,”
he said, pointing to one of three chairs. Marla sat on the nearest one while Robert took the furthest away. “My name is Commander Caballero, but you can call me Juan. Can I call you Marla?”
She tried in vain to smile.
“Yes.”
“How are you finding things here?”
“Great. It’s a relief not to be out there,” she said, gesturing towards the window.
Caballero
smiled and nodded. “But I understand you requested to join the guard and wish to get back out
there
?”
“Yes,
I did. I want to help.”
“And you were in the army?”
“Yes.”
“So you miss it?” he enquired.
“Well, I didn’t, but over the last couple of weeks I’ve felt like I’m back in it. We’re in a war zone at home and I figured you might need some help.”
“Why did you leave the army?”
Caballero asked.
Marla
raised an eyebrow at his directness, but she had been expecting it. “It’s a long story.”
“Try me.”
“Well, I joined up when I was sixteen. My father was in the police force and my grandfather the army. It was all I knew really – seemed the right thing to do. I enjoyed it and worked hard. Then I was sent to Afghanistan. Tommy, the man who came here with me, was there too. Everything was fine until there was an incident and I had to leave or be court-martialled. I was accused of being responsible for the death of another soldier under friendly fire. Because I had been decorated before, they let me resign.”
The commander nodded.
“Were you guilty of the charge?”
“No,” she replied, looking the man straight in the eye. “I resigned. My superi
or officer... well… I’ve been doing security work ever since. I kept my hand in.”
“That’s
what I understood. We’ve already checked into your background. Did you know your superior officer was involved in a controversial matter himself? He is no longer in the army. Disgraced.”
Marla’s eyebrows crept up
in surprise, but she kept her cool. “No, I had no idea.”
“P
erhaps that will give you some closure on the matter. As for joining the guard here, we could do with all the men we can get. And women.”
“Are there
many women?”
“A few
.” Caballero stood up quickly. “Right, I understand your companion, Tommy, would like to volunteer also?”
Marla nodded.
“Robert, if you could take Marla to get kitted out, I’ll speak to Tommy this afternoon. Thank you, soldier.”
Robert stood and nodded to the commander. “Good, sir.” Turning, he opened the door for Marla to walk through and then exited, closing it behind him.
“Well, that was less intimidating than I was expecting,” Marla admitted as they walked along the corridor. “You didn’t salute him though?”
“He hates all that and
won’t have it here,” Robert replied. “In a crisis he’s a different man again. I never saw a braver one.”
“You fought alongside him? Where?”
“Over here. We had to travel to Haven from another base, which was overrun by the undead. Terrible time. Juan saved our lives. He thinks fast and acts faster.”
Marla bit her lip, wondering at the full story.
For some reason she’d imagined that everyone had started out at this base and not witnessed the awful things she had. But now it dawned on her that Robert had been out there at one time, just as afraid.
“The guards sleep in a different section to the regular Joes.
I hope that won’t be a problem, Marla,” said Robert, disturbing her thoughts.
“What about Ellen?”
she asked. “We’re sharing.”
“She’ll have to stay on level six.”
“Can’t I stay there?”
“No, it’s a rule
and it might be good for her. Make her more independent again.”
Marla considered it. “Okay. I don’t like it, but you might be right.”
“And rules are rules.”
She
nodded and followed quietly, dreading telling her sister.
“This is it,” Robert announced as he came to a halt
.
He
peered into a screen where a red light flashed and the doors in front of them opened slowly. They closed behind the two of them once they had stepped through. The area beyond was huge. Marla glanced around the gym section in which there were some soldiers working out and others running in a straight line behind an instructor who was shouting commands. To the right was a wall of glass and Marla guessed it was sound-proofed as a shooting range could be clearly seen on the other side. To the left she noticed several doors. Straight ahead, at the far end of the gym, there looked to be a refreshment area.
“Hello!” waved a young, dark-haired female soldier, walking towards them
with a bounce in her step. Her ponytail flapped from side to side as she strode.
“Hi, Syl,” said Robert. “This is Marla. Can you get her kit
ted out and show her everything? Check her fitness and all that?”
The woman returned a broad smile.
“Will do. You off now, Rob?”
“
Not yet. I get a break soon though – was on duty all night.”
“N
o rest for the wicked, eh?” Sylvia joked.
“
Yeah, right. See you later, Marla. I’m off to get your friend, Tommy.”
“Tell him I said hi,”
she replied as the young soldier took his leave.
“H
e works too hard,” confided Sylvia who continued to stare after Robert.
“You know him well?”
Marla asked.
“Pretty much,”
Sylvia answered with an odd expression in her eyes. Marla guessed there was a story there somewhere, but thought it rude to ask. The woman smiled again. “Okay, my name is Sylvia, but that’s a bit posh, so everyone calls me Syl. There are mostly guys in the guard, so you have to work harder for them to take you seriously. There are only nine women, including you.”
“Not many…”
“I know, and fewer women than men made it here, too. Women are a minority. There are thirty-eight members of the guard altogether.”
“How long have you been here?”
Marla asked.
“Since the beginning. I was relocated here pretty
fast. We secured the perimeter with two electric fences, as you could see.”
“I saw.”
“We’re far away from any residential area up here and that’s where the zombies seem to migrate to,” said Sylvia. “But we still get some coming up here every day. The wide, open fields are an advantage – we can see what’s coming. I heard you were in the army and you’re not just a volunteer.”
Marla
smiled. “Twelve years, since I was sweet sixteen.”
“Cool. That’s going to make my job so much easier!”
exclaimed Sylvia. “I hope we can be friends. Congrats on making it here, by the way. Did you come alone?”
“No,
there was a group of us in the end. We sort of gathered people. To start with there was my sister and friend, Tommy. He was in the army with me. Oh, and his dog... the pooch came too.”
Sylvia
’s eyes lit up. “Great, I love dogs! Okay, I’ll show you the changing rooms and stuff, and give you two uniforms. No one can use the showers here, as you know, but there are lockable cubicles with sinks inside and towels. You have to wear your uniform at all times, except on your days off. That way, everyone in the building will know you’re part of the guard and listen to you. You get respect from the regular Joes. Some people get a bit stir crazy in here. It gets to some people and we have to calm situations.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“Not too often, but it has,” Sylvia replied. “You need to be on the lookout for anything that might get out of hand. We’re expecting more tension as people stay here longer. I’m just praying for a cure, so life can go back to normal.”
“Do you think that will happen?”
“I have to, or I’d give up. Come on, I want to find you some uniforms that fit properly or you’ll end up looking like you’re wearing a sack.”
Marla
chuckled. “Cool. I hadn’t expected things to be so regimented.”
“
We’re organised here. Everything runs like clockwork.”
***
“Last, but not least, I’m going to show you the laboratories,” Sylvia announced, walking ahead. “Only the scientists and guards have access to this area. It is forbidden to everyone else and we’re not meant to talk about anything we see here, although the regular Joes know what’s on this level. Some sections of the labs also require special passes, which we aren’t given.”
“Okay,” replied Marla. “My lips are sealed.”
“That includes your sister,” added Sylvia as she pressed the button for level eleven. “We’re going right to the top.”
“Funny. I thought it would be in the basement.”
Sylvia shook her head. “It’s at the top because of the light. Most of the ceiling is made of glass and solar panels. The facility is as self-sufficient as possible. Water is recycled and there are generators, but geothermal power warms and cools the building.”
“That kind of thing blows my brain, I’m afraid,” said Marla,
giggling.
“Mine too
. I was just trying to impress you with my magnificent knowledge!”
Marla laughed again.
“Beats mine.”
The
elevator doors opened and the two women stepped out into a round hallway. Steel doors circled them, evenly spaced and each with a retina scan beside it. The doors were simply labelled A, B, C, D, E and F, with nothing to give away what existed inside. Sylvia peered into the retina scan for door A, which opened slowly. Marla followed her in.
“We
’ll have to get your eyes scanned too,” said Sylvia, turning around. “This is the main laboratory. It’s the most public one. I don’t have access to all of them, only A and B. You’ll probably have the same.”
Marla’s attention wandered to the
numerous shelves full of multi-coloured bottles and tubes, and heavy looking books. Rows of computers and equipment filled the huge white-painted room, which seemed to go on forever. There were many men and women inside, all busily going about their work.