Thread Three: Part One
Alfred
Officer Jones stood at the barrier, occasionally wandering up and down his territory when he needed to stretch his legs. It wasn't the kind of assignment that he'd dreamed about when he'd first joined the Sheriff's Department, but, then again, a lot had changed since then and now.
A week ago reports of the virus that reanimated the dead and spread through bite began appearing in the news. First it was a hoax, then an isolated incident, then an epidemic. Cities fell, the airwaves and TV turned static and the army took over his hometown.
The military had beaten the virus to King County, arriving only two days ago. After failing to secure the cities they had fallen to the towns in an attempt to establish a secure base and retain hold of an ailing society. It was probably the only thing saving the town.
Many of the soldiers had experienced the outbreak first hand and they were quick to rush through King County, examining everyone for infection, enforcing a curfew and building barriers around the town to keep out the undead. They had rationed the food, water and medical supplies, evacuated those on the outskirts to secure homes in town and policed the panicking locals. They had taken over the Sheriff's Department and relegated the officers to jobs below their pay grade, which had earned grumblings from Alfred's superiors. Whilst Alfred didn't begrudge them himself, patrolling the borders was a little lonely and he sorely missed the company of his fellow officers, particularly his cousin Matthew.
Alfred stretched his back and tilted his head to look out over the empty fields. He badly wanted to retrieve his Nintendo DS from his car or play on his phone but his work ethic and fastidious need to follow duty overrode his boredom.
Instead he choose to peer into the distance through the scope on his rifle and muse over the fact that his favourite video games had become a reality, though he had yet to blow a zombie's brains out much less even meet one.
He'd hoped one might stumble through the fields but the most exciting thing to come his way was a lone cow that alternated between chewing on grass and dawdling towards the opposite woods.
At quarter past the hour, Alfred radioed in to the station to report the familiar 'all clear'. He wondered if Matthew or another officer had managed to spot a zombie, though he kind of hoped he would be the first.
The horror of the last week – when the news was twenty-four-seven zombie updates – had faded with the media blackout and the lack of actual zombies. In fact, if it wasn't for the sense of isolation from the rest of the world and the soldiers stationed in town, Alfred wouldn't have believed it. He almost still didn't believe it, especially when the soldiers threw words like 'apocalypse' and 'extermination' around and Alfred was still visiting his favourite diner and chowing down on the homemade pecan pie.
He supposed things would blow over soon. The scientists would find a cure, the government would re-establish order and the army would eliminate the zombies. America would be saved and King County would go on as it ever had, along with Alfred's unexciting existence.
#
A little before five, Matthew's car pulled up beside Alfred's pickup truck. "Afternoon," Matthew shouted with a nod. "Spotted anything?"
"I wish. Brought the pizza?"
"Yeah I brought it," Matthew said with an exasperated shake of his head.
"Awesome."
Matthew smiled as Alfred climbed down for his perch and joined him. They sat on the hood of Alfred's truck and shared the large pepperoni and sodas. Shame it was frozen and not a Romano's.
"How's everything in town?" Alfred asked in between bites.
Matthew shrugged. "The same. Everyone's tense and the armed soldiers wandering the streets aren't helping."
"They're keeping everyone safe."
"They're making everyone nervous. It's one thing having them protect our town but it's another thing but them to treat us like we're the enemy."
"What are you talking about?"
Matthew gave Alfred one of his looks that suggested he couldn't believe how dumb Alfred was. Alfred hated those looks.
"Come on, Al, you can't be that oblivious."
"Oblivious to what?"
"Oblivious to the 'us' and 'them' vibe that everyone but apparently you has picked up on."
"Us and them?"
Matthew sipped his drink. "The soldiers keep to themselves and don't socialise with the locals, not even the people in our department. They've basically roped off the hospital and are treating everyone inside as criminals, personally vetting anyone who wants to enter or leave regardless of injury. They've closed all the bars but are keeping the alcohol to themselves, they're getting first dibs on the food, they're withholding medicine, the male soldiers are forcing women and girls to strip for inspections, they're-"
"Ok, ok, I get it," Alfred said and dropped his half eaten slice of pizza back into the box. It tasted like cardboard.
"Do you really? Because you're treating them like our saviours."
"I'm not saying they're perfect but we'd be screwed without them."
Matthew frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess. I just wish they'd go about it a different way."
"Ah well," Alfred said as he drained the last of his soda. "It'll probably be over in a few weeks anyway."
Matthew gave him another look.
"What?"
"Did you even watch the news?"
"Yeah of course, but it can't be that bad if we still haven't had a zombie in these parts. I mean, I realise we're not Atlanta or Macon but if they haven't hit us at all then they can't be that widespread."
Matthew frowned at the word 'zombie' but didn't mention it. "I think if the military couldn't save the city and had to fall back here then we're in a lot more trouble than you realise."
"Either way, I still want to blow a zombie's brains out."
"Spoken like the immature teenager you are."
"We're the same age!"
"But I act like a cop not a college frat boy."
Alfred stuck his tongue out.
"Way to prove my point."
#
He'd been driving down empty roads for ten minutes, singing – off key as Matthew often enjoyed reminding him – when a figure stumbled in his path.
Alfred cursed. He yanked the steering wheel to the right and hit the brakes. His truck screeched to a stop.
A body lay in the middle of the road, illuminated in the headlights.
Alfred threw open the door and ran towards the unmoving woman. "Ma'am," he called as he dropped down beside her. "Ma'am are you injured? Can you hear me?"
He reached forward and felt for a pulse. Her shoulder was wet. Alfred pulled back his hand and held it in the light. It dripped with blood.
The woman groaned.
Alfred fell backwards and fumbled for his gun. "Ma'am?" he asked, voice shaky.
The woman moved a bloodied arm.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Alfred raised his glock and aimed at the woman's head.
Was she an actual... was she really dead? How had one of them made it through the patrolled barriers?
All the imagined thrill of pointing a gun at one of... those fled from Alfred. Instead his hands trembled and he badly wanted to retreat to the safety of his car, radio the soldiers and have them deal with... it.
A groan sounded from the woman and she shifted on the ground.
Alfred stumbled to his feet and stepped backwards. "Ma'am, please will you..." Alfred trailed off, unsure what exactly he wanted to ask the woman. "Can you hear me?" he asked instead. "Can you understand me?"
The woman rolled onto her side and lifted her head. Long brown bangs hid her face. Blood trailed across the left side of her shoulder and chest. Beneath the red liquid, he saw the bite.
"Xin," the woman said, her voice hoarse. "Bạn giúp tôi đựơc không?"
Alfred remained frozen in place, his heart beating loudly in his ears.
The woman stretched an arm out towards him. Alfred flinched.
"Tôi... I'm hurt. I need..." Her voice cracked and tears rolled down her cheeks.
His chest tightened and his hands holding the gun wavered. The woman was injured. She was in pain, not just from the bite but from Alfred hitting her with his car. He wanted so much to follow his natural response, to call an ambulance or carry the woman into his car and haul ass to the hospital. He wanted to save her, not kill her.
His hands trembled. "I... I can't let you go. I'm supposed to... to stop you." The number one rule the soldiers had imposed on the Sheriff's Department was to shoot an infected person on sight. No questions, no pause, just point and shoot.
Alfred understood their reasoning but it seemed inhumane to kill someone like a rabid dog.
"I don't want to die," the woman said, her words almost lost in gasping sobs. "I'm so scared and I don't know what to do."
"But you'll turn into one of those things," Alfred's muttered, somehow hoping his soft tone would lessen the truth in his words.
"They might find a cure. They might already be a cure. I can still be saved, there's still a chance."
Alfred said nothing.
"What if you kill me now and tomorrow the government brings the cure to King County?" she asked, a little hysterically. "Can you live knowing you murdered an innocent woman?"
"I-"
"You're supposed to protect the innocents, not murder them!"
Alfred winced.
"Would you kill your mother? What about your girlfriend or best friend? Could you kill them like this? Like they're an animal?" The woman coughed and tears slid from golden eyes. "Could you put a bullet through their head and carry their blood on your hands."
The gun lowered. With a mixture of relief and fear, Alfred made a decision. "I'll take you to the Sheriff's Department and I'll make a case for yo-"
"No," the woman said with a shake of her head. "If you take me back there they'll kill me."
"I'll ask that you be locked in a cell until a cure arrives or you..."
"And you think they'll listen to you? They're the ones that gave the order for you to shoot me in the first place."
"I can't let you go."
"Do you think handing me over to your boss so they can be the ones to kill me will make you any less guilty?"
"No but if I let you go and you become one of... them and kill someone, then that will be on me."
The woman shakily stood up and Alfred's hands both went to his glock. She didn't move towards him but smoothed out her stained green dress. "Take me to the border and get me out of here. I'll leave and no one will be at risk and I'll be alive."
"The barrier is patrolled."
"You're a deputy, I know you work on patrol. You can get me out without anyone else knowing."
"I'm off duty. Someone else has taken over."
"Then sneak me out or wait till tomorrow."
Alfred wiped sweaty palms on his pants. "What's your name?" he asked as he thought her words over.
"Lien Chung."
"I... I'm really sorry, Miss Chung, but I can't help you escape."
Lien glared at him. "Then I'll get out myself."
Alfred raised his gun. "I'll take you to the station and make a case for you. It's all I can do."
"All you can do?"
"I've already broken the number one rule by letting you live."
"Why let me live when you're going to take me to men who will kill me? Why don't you just shoot me now?" She strode towards him and pushed his chest. "Go on, shoot me. Shoot me you coward!"
Reacting on instinct, Alfred flipped the woman round onto the bonnet of his truck and snapped a handcuff on her. She screamed and kicked and cursed him in Vietnamese but Alfred managed to get her in his car where he cuffed her to the door handle. The moment the lock clicked Lien gave up struggling and broke down into tears.
Alfred turned off the music and began the drive to the station.
#
After nearly ten minutes of silence, Alfred finally asked the question that he'd been wanting to ask since they'd met.
"What happened?"
Lien turned to him, her expression cold.
He didn't think she'd answer so he jumped when she spoke.
"My father is- was ill. He died at home this afternoon. I was downstairs when I heard my mother screaming and when I ran upstairs he was..." Lien shook her head. "I pulled him off her and he went for me instead and bit my shoulder. Then my mother managed to get me away but he was clawing and biting and I couldn't save her. When I left, she was dead and he was eating her."
Fresh tears rolled down her face but she stared out the window with a blank expression. "I don't know how he got infected."
A cold shiver ran up Alfred's spine.
The rest of the journey continued in silence. After another ten minutes they arrived at the station.
Alfred turned off the engine and turned to Lien. "I won't be long," he said but she didn't look his way. He got out of the car but before he closed the door he added, "I'll do everything I can for you."
Lien remained mute.
Alfred closed the door and inhaled a deep breath before he strode into the station. He passed unfamiliar soldiers until he found his way to the Sheriff's former office. A short man with blond shoulder length blond hair blocked his path.
"What do you want?" he asked in an accent that might have been German.
"I have something important I need to tell Major Machado."
"And what would that be?"
Alfred hesitated but decided that telling this soldier would get him into seeing Machado quickly. "It's about an infected civilian."
The soldier's eyes widened and he banged on the door.
"Come in."
The soldier opened the door and crossed the room to what had been the Sheriff's desk. Back when the military had rolled into town, Alfred had expected the Major to be an overly muscled white dude with a greying buzz cut, not a thirty something year old Cuban with dreadlocks and a laugh that boomed through the building. The only thing he had in common with Alfred's movie infused version of a Major was the cigars he liked to chew on.
The soldier mumbled something and Machado looked up at Alfred. "You found an infected civilian?" he asked, jumping up from his desk and closing the door behind Alfred.
"Yes sir. I, er, I hit her with my car."
"Tell me everything that happened," Machado demanded. He and the blond soldier stood either side of Alfred, their close proximity and intense stares making him want to back out of the room.
Instead he focused on quickly retelling his meeting with Lien, putting emphasis on her name and the physical and emotional pain she'd suffered. He wanted them to see a young woman, not one of those things.
He'd barely finished his story when Machado grabbed his collar and dragged him so close their noses were almost touching. "You left her in your car?" he growled.
"I..." Alfred faltered, unsure of where he was going with the sentence. He wanted to speak of a cure or expound on the value of a human life but he knew his words would be scoffed at. "I promised I'd help her," he finished lamely.
Machado glared at Alfred before pushing him roughly away. He turned to the other soldier. "Bring her here and do it quietly, Zwingli. I don't need a riot on my hands."
Zwingli nodded and was gone in the blink of an eye.
A vein pulsed in Machado's forehead. Alfred turned his gaze to the floor. Even though he hated admitting it, even if only to himself, Machado intimidated him. It wasn't the inch or two Machado stood over him or his bulkier frame, it was the badge on his uniform. Alfred had been raised to respect his elders and listen to his superiors, to say 'yes sir' and 'right away ma'am' without question; to disobey a direct order from the Major churned his stomach.
Machado turned to his desk and pulled a cigar out of the drawer. He held it to his lips, paused, then put it back way.
Alfred watched without a word, his body taut and stationed in place.
"What did you say your name was?" Machado asked, his voice a growl.
"J-Jones, Alfred Jones."
"Maldito idiota americano."
Though he didn't speak Spanish, Alfred could guess the gist of Machado's words.
Without a knock, the door opened the Zwingli returned with Lien. Her eyes were dilated, her hands shaking. Alfred stepped towards her, forcing a smile on his face to help relax her. She looked away.
The door closed and Machado pounced, asking question after question, some that Alfred had already giving answers to. As it went on Machado's tone turned more accusatory, his questions more demanding as Lien answered with terse words and unveiled malice. It wasn't an interview with a victim but an interrogation with a suspect.
For all his questions though, Lien revealed nothing more than she had told Alfred.
A long pause ended the conversation.
"You're going to kill me now, aren't you?" Lien asked, her voice breaking on the word 'kill'.
Machado and Zwingli shared a look. Alfred knew exactly what it meant.
"We should put her in a cell," Alfred blurted out.
Machado glared at him.
Alfred glanced back to the floor but carried on speaking, fulfilling his promise to help Lien. "If we keep her in a cell she won't be able to harm anyone and we can keep an eye on her." Alfred spoke quickly but was unable to keep the tremors out of his voice. "And if... if there's a cure then we can... save her," he finished lamely.
Machado and Zwingli both wore frowns.
"Please don't kill me," Lien whispered, all anger lost. "Put me in a cell and keep me as subject to study just please don't kill me."
Zwingli leaned towards Machado and muttered something in his ear that Alfred couldn't hear.
Machado scratched his chin before wandering over to his desk and lighting up a cigar. He breathed out a cloud of smoke. "Do it."
"Do what?" Lien asked.
"This way," Zwingli said.
Lien glanced between the three of them and shook her head. Quick Vietnamese flew from her mouth as her hands curled into fists. "No, no, no!" Lien screamed and dove at Alfred, her teeth glinting white.
Alfred tumbled backwards as a gunshot exploded through the room.
Lien toppled on top of him. Warm blood pooled from her head and soaked through his shirt and pants. Alfred inhaled sharply.
The door burst open and suddenly the room was filled with soldiers pointing their guns and screaming at Alfred. Their voices were almost deafening and all he could do was sit and blink and feel the weight of Lien grow heavier on his chest.
Machado grabbed Lien and roughly rolled her over before snatching Alfred's collar and tugging him to his feet. "Strip," he ordered.
"What?" Alfred asked dumbly.
"You strip right now or Zwingli will put a bullet in your brain too."
"I-"
Zwingli darted forwards and the muzzle of his rifle brushed against Alfred's forehead.
The shouts of the soldiers fell to a claustrophobic silence as Alfred fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. He peeled the wet fabric off and followed with his pants until he stood in only his boxers.
"Everything," Machado said. "I need to see that she didn't infect you."
Alfred managed to blush despite the confusion and fear coursing through his bones. "She didn't bite my ass," he blurted out.
Machado flicked the ash of his cigar into a cup. "Shut up and take it off."
Alfred hesitated but one look at Zwingli's blank face and the soldiers with their fingers poised over triggers and he tugged his boxers to his ankles. With a burning face he crossed his hands in front of his crotch.
Machado and Zwingli examined him with cold eyes before Machado nodded.
Alfred breathed out the breath he'd been holding in and reached for his boxers.
Machado shook his head. "We need these clothes and the body burned. Zwingli, get a team together and get out to the Chung residence and you," Machado said to Alfred, "get in a shower and clean yourself off."
Zwingli left the room and Alfred stood there, naked and unthinking, watching two soldiers wrap Lien in a blanket as Machado sat at his desk and finished his cigar.
Characters: Carlos Machado = Cuba; Lien Chung = Vietnam
Translations (all Google translated so probably hideously wrong):
Vietnamese:
Xin = Please
Bạn giúp tôi đựơc không? = Can you help me?
Tôi = I'm
Spanish:
Maldito idiota Americano = Fucking American Idiot
A/N: I spent a ridiculous amount of time researching Sheriff's Departments (I thought all the employees were Sheriffs and I did not know that the actual Sheriff was elected but there you go) and how you go about finding getting a job in one (which I'm still not 100% sure about but from what I could tell you do a few months training and then you work there..?), and also what Machado's position in the military would be (originally I made him a Colonel but changed my mind to Major later). I've no doubt screwed up somewhere (everywhere?) so feel free to let me know where I've gone wrong. I've also attempted to make this chapter American (it was very weird writing 'mom' instead of 'mum') so again if you spot any mistakes let me know.
Thanks to lykkeligven for commenting and to everyone else who favourited and followed!
