“Fuck it all. We are going to have to do this alone.”
“Suits me fine,” Baja replied.
“Yeah, it would, you’re a nutcase.”
“Whoa! I’m not the one with the daddy issues.”
“No, you’re the one with head issues,” I said.
There was no way we were going to be able to just stroll up to the gate, we were going to have to return to the boat and enter that way. The thought of returning seemed so overwhelming. It had taken us the better part of the morning just to get here.
“I say we just go back in.”
“Oh my god, Baja, and get tossed back inside that steel cage?”
“Think about it. We can say that we had a change of heart. That we wanted to get on board with Sebastian’s agenda.”
“Right. Good luck getting them to believe that.”
“Well, I’m not walking back the other way.”
“Are you kidding me?” I said turning to leave.
“No, I’m dead serious. We are ten minutes away from the access point. It’s going to take us until the evening to get back around to the other side, maybe longer.”
He was right. A journey that would have only take about forty minutes by car had taken us the better part of nine hours by foot.
My mind was processing what he was saying and looking for everything that was wrong about the idea, then it dawned on me. Maybe that was the way to do this.
“You’re right. You head in through the front gate. Take the two kids.”
“Glad you are coming around to my way of thinking.”
“No. I’m still going around.”
He blew out his cheeks exasperated.
“Listen, it’s perfect. They are going to let you in. You can go in there and tell them that you had a change of heart. In the process you found these two and decided to return to the community. They are going to grill you over where we are. You tell them in the city. They will go looking. I just need to get in, and find out what’s going on.”
“Well, then just let me do it.”
“No. Chances are they aren’t going to buy your story and they will toss you in the can.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Hell, for all we know they might shoot you on the spot.”
“Well if they do, fuck it. I was already close to doing myself in anyway.”
There was no easy way to do this. We had to get in and find out what was going on or leave. Those were the two options. I glanced over my shoulder at Ben and Elijah who were quite a distance away. It was insane. There was no other way of looking at this.
Baja smiled. “You still care for her, don’t you?”
“Who, Wren?”
“No, Jess.”
“I always will. But I’m not kidding myself. What we had is gone. It’s over. It’s in the past but that doesn’t mean I want any harm to come to her. I just need to know they’re all safe. If I walk away now it will eat away at me.”
Again I cast a sideways glance down the road and could see Elijah and Ben in the distance. I kind of hoped they would have a change of heart but they weren’t returning. Slowly they would become a dot on the horizon. I turned to leave when Baja grabbed my wrist.
“If we don’t make it this time… it’s been one hell of a ride, Johnny. Dax would have been proud.”
“That he would.”
W
ith Lukas
and Kiera either side of me, I trudged my way towards the access point. There were very few things I had done in my life that were stupid. Well, I’m sure Johnny or one of the other guys could have reeled off a long list but that’s all subjective. But this had to be right up there with the time I tried to get into the Guinness World Records for rolling the biggest blunt. Now as far as I know no one had managed to get in for anything more than a big cigar. And that was a sixty-two-foot, twenty-pound stogie. I had big plans to blow that out of the water with an eighty-foot blunt. Unfortunately, police raided my secret pot farm. They burned the whole lot. That’s what led to my infamous joyride in my parents’ 1979 Country Squire station wagon. For the life of me I thought that the police were chasing me. Truth be told, the boys in blue had just wanted to stop me for a taillight infraction. Once they caught sight of a twelve-year-old at the wheel, that’s when shit got real. I honestly thought I was going to escape, I mean, I had seen
The Dukes of Hazzard
many times and those guys made it look easy.
No, it wasn’t easy.
Man, the look on their faces when I flipped that car.
Yep, that was a stupid idea but this was far worse. Here we were approaching the front gate like lambs being led to the slaughter. I mean, how would this look? It was like escaping Alcatraz only to come back and ask to be let back in.
“Stop right there.”
I looked up to four men in the watchtower.
“Baja?” Ray Colt asked.
“The one and only.”
“Where the hell have you been? You are in a whole heap of trouble.”
“You think? Open the gate.”
The large gate groaned as the pulley system engaged. We were at the first of the three gates. Once inside Ray along with one of the pale ones came over and took the assault rifle. “Sorry, but we’ve been given strict orders.” He glanced at the kids. “Who are they?”
“Came across them on the way back.”
He frowned. “Why did you return?” he asked as he loaded us into a truck and drove us the rest of the way.
“You mean, why did I leave? Ten minutes out there and I knew it was the wrong choice. Place is still swarming with the undead.”
He gave me a skeptical eye. As the truck rumbled through the final access point I saw the men from the city.
“Who are they?”
“Seems James Fritz and Sebastian have been working together.”
“And you let them in?”
“I didn’t have much choice in the matter. Our weapons were taken this morning. I also don’t think everyone knows. We were told if we wanted to stay alive, to keep following orders. I have a family to think about.”
“But you know what they did to the others?”
He got this faraway look in his eye. “Yeah.” He didn’t say much more after that. I think the realization of the changing situation hadn’t fully dawned on him. It came down to what you wanted more. For some, that meant saying nothing. For others they didn’t care who was in charge as long as their needs were met. And that was before the apocalypse. How much more would people be willing to back down if it meant having a warm bed, food and protection for their loved ones?
As we arrived in section A, Ray had already radioed ahead to let them know that he was bringing in two kids and myself. We rounded a bend and standing near a truck was Sebastian talking to none other than James Fritz. The very man the resistance had fought against.
This was wrong on so many levels. What the hell was going on?
I would have been lying to say that I didn’t feel a nervous twinge in my gut. There was no telling what he would do. Ray pulled up behind the truck and we got out.
“Now isn’t this peculiar. I’m quite intrigued by your little escape. Even more so, by the fact that you chose to return. I’m not sure which one I find more stupid.”
“Sebastian, leave him be. Come this way, Baja. I would like a few minutes of your time.”
“What should I do with the kids?” Ray asked gesturing over his shoulder to the other two who looked fearful.
“Take them over to Bernice’s, she’ll make sure they’ve got what they need.”
I cast a glance over my shoulder to them. Kiera knew what she was getting into. On the way in I had brought her up to speed on how we came to be here. What the place was like and how things were changing. Even at a young age she seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.
“Where are your men?” I asked as he led me into a small building that was used for offices.
“You’re looking at them.”
I cast a glance outside at the hundred-odd pale faces.
“Shouldn’t you be in some bunker somewhere working on the cure with the rest of your mad scientists?”
“My daughter is here.”
“Your daughter doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“Of course she doesn’t. She’ll soon come around to our way of thinking. By the way, where are Johnny and the others?”
“They went their separate ways.”
“And why did you come back?”
“Have you seen the state of things out there? Listen, I might not like that prick Sebastian. But I know a good thing when I see it. At least here I get a house, food and protection.”
“Seems you pissed him off.”
“He was the cause of fifteen people dying.”
“Yes, I heard about that. That was unfortunate.”
Baja snorted. “Unfortunate is dropping my tea, or having someone eat the last piece of chocolate. Burning to death fifteen people in front of us. That is insane.”
“What can I say? It’s not what I would have done but there is only so much I can control. Like you all, they have their moments.”
My chin dropped as I stared at the ground.
“Are you having second thoughts about having returned?”
“No, of course not.”
“What direction did Johnny and the other two head in?”
“Why the interest in him?”
“Um, let’s just say that what he has flowing through his veins is of dire need.”
“You have five others.”
He studied my face. “Let me ask you something. Have you ever made juice from fruit?”
“Do I look like I own a juicer?”
“Okay, maybe not. It takes a lot of apples to make the right amount of juice. We think we may have pinpointed the genetic makeup for a permanent cure but it’s a delicate procedure that involves operating on the brain. As you can appreciate, the brain is a delicate piece of technology. The pineal gland holds the key. Unfortunately, what we believe must be done places the subject at risk of death.”
“I don’t follow you. In fact, I pretty much slept my way through biology.”
He chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is we find Johnny and bring him back.”
My pulse began to race at the thought of him arriving on the other side of the island and being brought in for another one of Frankenstein’s weird experiments.
“Best of luck there. Even if you could find him, I’m pretty sure you are at the top of his shit list.”
“Well, that’s where I thought you could help. I was going to send out a team. Maybe you can direct them to the area you last saw him. Perhaps the others told you where they were going?”
“What makes you think I would want to help you?”
James Fritz leaned back in his chair tapping the arm piece with his fingers. “I’m told you have friends here on the island. Should I go on?”
I shook my head.
“So. I can count on your help?”
“Not much I can tell you. They went one way, I went the other.”
“But you must know where they were heading.”
“Fritz. You must be mistaken if you think that a year together on this island has strengthened our relationship with one another. It’s torn us apart. In many ways we are strangers to one another. But enough about us, I’m curious. Where have you been all this time? And where is the good doctor? What was her name? Brenton?”
“She became a liability.”
“Oh, the whole let’s probe the human brain didn’t go down too well with her? I thought she had quite a taste for blood?”
“A lot has changed. Those who worked with me became opposed to what had to be done.”
“Yeah, I’m sure the whole killing innocent people left a bad taste in their mouth.”
He studied me intently. “Do you know what the virus was created for?”
“A biological weapon.”
“Right. But do you know what it was meant to do?”
“Give everyone makeovers?”
“Not exactly. It would have been the most painless and effective way of wiping out an entire army. Imagine war without having to fire one single bullet? Without having to send in troops and suffer loss of life?”
“Sounds peachy.”
He got this crazy, wild look in his eye as if he was envisioning it right before him. “No blood would have been shed on the battlefield. Under controlled conditions, it would have been as simple as flying over and unleashing it upon our enemies.”
“All for the good of America.” I fist pumped the air sarcastically. “But you fucked it up.”
He looked despondent.
“It was meant to do good. It really was. That’s why I need you to understand that what I am doing here is for the good of everyone.”
“You know, Fritz, I really would love nothing more than to fluff your ego and all that good stuff but let’s face the facts. You have done more harm to people than the virus itself.”
“How so?”
“At least with the virus it has no choice in who it infects but you… You do. You have a choice in who you harm. The amount of lives you have destroyed…”
He slammed his fist down on the table in front of me and I felt my heart leap up into my throat.
“One day, people will look back on this and they won’t remember the infected. All they will remember is who cured them.”
“So it’s an ego trip for you?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Have you ever thought about changing careers, Fritz? You know, spending the remainder of your days working on refinishing a boat or rebuilding a car engine? Doing all the things you never had time for before the apocalypse.”
Fritz got up and took out a box of large cigars. “Care for one?”
“Depends. Are you going to go all Bill Clinton on me? Cause if you are, I’m out. I run a tight ship down below.”
“I know you think what I did at Rikers was wrong. But what I am trying to do is for humanity.”
“Hey, once the world goes back to normal maybe you can become the next president as you have some great one-liners that I’m sure a lot of people would be more than happy to swallow. Me, I’m very particular about the Kool-Aid I drink.”
I took one of his cigars and used the cigar cutter in front of me to clip the end off. I lit it and walked over to the door.
“When are your men heading out?”
“Immediately.”
“It’s a waste of time. I could point in the direction from here, and that’s is going to be about the best I could do.”
He eyed me as I stood at the door with my hand on the handle.
“Which way?”
“West.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, they might go north, south, who knows. There’s no point you sending men out. They know how to avoid detection.”
“I’m curious, what would your friends think about you giving up this kind of information?”
“Trust me, it’s not exactly betrayal. You asked for directions, I’ve given them to you. By the way, am I going to have any problems with Sebastian? As I really could use a beer and some sleep.”
I puffed on the cigar blowing smoke in front of me to hide his ugly mug. I was growing tired of looking at it.
“You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“I’m sure Sebastian would disagree.”
“He’s not in charge anymore.”
I put a fist up to my mouth and stifled a laugh. “I bet he took that well. That has got to be the shortest leadership over a district.”
“Oh, he’s still overseeing what takes place but he answers to me now.”
“Don’t you mean, he always answered to you?”
Fritz smirked. “You are very acute.”
“I’m just glad you didn’t say cute. Can I go now?”
He nodded.
I pulled the door behind me and blew out my cheeks. The tension in my body released as I walked away and hitched a ride with Ray back to my place. I wasn’t stupid, I knew that he wasn’t going to let me or any one of us just wander around without being watched. After being dropped off, I looked out of the window and saw a vehicle posted outside. No doubt they had been given instructions to keep an eye on my comings and goings.
Inside I paced back and forth. It was still the afternoon. It would take Johnny at least a good nine hours to get back to where we had left the boat. Unless of course he managed to find a vehicle in which case he might be there within the hour.
I pushed back a curtain and glanced out at the two men in the vehicle. Amateurs. Did they really think that two guys were going to being able to watch over my every movement? I ducked out the back and made my way over to a garage that stored an old 1977 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. I donned the ludicrous-looking black German style helmet and rolled it out. I pushed it through woodland surrounding the house and then joined a road a little further down. It took a few tries to get it going. It popped and rumbled to life sending a whole whack of black smoke out the back. Not wasting a minute, I set off on the forty-minute drive from Southampton, Long Island, across to Montauk.