II - The Road of the Beast
The thunder boomed across the sky. The rain poured into the streets, but the stacks of sandbags near the subway stations prevented the water from flooding the area.
Becky took a seat on the driver's seat and looked back at an exhausted Luan and a cold Hana. Kimi trembled with each thunderclap, though her companion would calm her down.
"I'm driving," said Becky. "With this storm, I don't think I'm falling asleep."
The rays of the morning sun made its way through the dry windshields into the RV. Luan yawned as she rubbed Kimi's back. Becky snored while lying on the bed in the back of the RV. Hana seemed dismayed as she held one arm on the steering wheel and the other on her face.
Becky yawned as she rose from the mattress. Kimi ran over to her, licking her face.
"You sleep many hours before," said Hana. "Almost asleep while driving."
"Really?" said Becky softly. "Sorry. I didn't know I was that tired."
She rubbed her eyes and looked out the back window. Empty ammo crates were littered in the ground and ropes were wrapped around the trees.
"Hey, how far are we from home?" she asked.
"Not far," said Hana. "An hour from home."
"Can you take a right? I see something."
Hana reached a three-way intersection. She turned right, the direction away from Houlton, heading into an area that hasn't been explored too well.
For a few minutes, the trio were unable to find anything other than the crates and ropes. Then, Hana spotted a dirt trail in the woods. She parked the RV near the trail.
"Where do you think that leads to?" asked Becky.
"Rogue base," suggested Luan. "We shouldn't be here. This isn't safe."
"We're just going to look around. If we see any rogues, we'll just see what they're doing– you know– what they're planning."
Luan prepared to take a deep breath and protest, but Becky handed her a suppressed Glock, ensuring her safety.
"It protected Dana. It can protect you too."
The girls left the RV, leaving Kimi safe and cool inside the large vehicle. They stayed low to the ground, hiding behind and between the trees. For what felt like hours to Luan, the path finally led to a small area of tents. They looked around and found only one rogue, holding ropes.
"That's the medic," whispered Luan. "Looks like he's alone."
Hana unsheathed her sword and ran towards the tent. Luan and Becky chased after her as Donovan turned around.
"No, don't kill–!" exclaimed Becky.
Hana kicked Donovan to the ground and pointed her sword down at him.
"You," grumbled Hana. "Two days back. Black and his army attack us. You did not warn!"
"I didn't fucking know!" stammered Donovan. "I was told in a week. I didn't know he would change his plans! Damn, y'all gotta believe me!"
"Yeah, come on, Hana," said Luan. "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't even have a home to go back to."
"I'm still helping," he continued. "If you point that shit away from me, I'll tell you more about Black's plan. And quick, the others might come back any minute now."
Hana moved the sword away and watched Donovan pick himself up. He dusted his uniform and made his way inside a large tent, the others behind him. He grabbed a large piece of paper.
"This is a map of our base. It's about fifteen miles from here, and it's located in Spednic Lake."
Donovan handed the map to Becky.
"Can you hand this to Lori?" he asked.
"Sure. But she's not gonna see this until she comes back to Houlton."
"Where is she now?"
"Nice try. She might trust you a hundred percent, but I'm don't even trust you halfway through that."
"Well, wherever she is, I hope she makes it back before tomorrow. General Black is setting up the siege again. This time, our forces aren't budging, so you're gonna have a hella hard time getting anywhere in the roads."
A couple cans clacked from the distance. They all froze where they were, until Donovan thawed his movements and checked outside the tent. He sighed.
"Oh, it's just a roamer."
Suddenly, the roamer was stabbed in the back of the head by a rogue soldier approaching the tents. Donovan held his breath as the group of rogues murmured among themselves.
"Damn it, Sage! Why couldn't you fucking kill the rabbit?" yelled one of the rogues.
Donovan looked back at the girls. He motioned them to go, but they couldn't find a way they could escape without being noticed.
"Fuck off. What about Jade? She couldn't fucking hit that deer if her life depended on it!"
Luan held her breath as the rogues' voices grew louder and more distinct. Donovan walked out of the tent.
"Back already? I don't see any game."
"Because this pussy grew feelings for a rabbit," said one of the rogues.
"Hey, Coal, we're all tired and–"
"Man, you talk a lotta shit, don't you, Coal?" argued Sage. "Look where your tracking skills got us, you dick! One rabbit wasn't going to make a difference!"
"You know it's going to die out there, right?" replied Coal, throwing his gloves to the ground. "Something's gonna fucking eat it! Like a snake!"
"You accusing me of something?"
"Grow some balls, bitch."
Sage yelled and tackled Coal to the ground. Coal flipped him around and pounded his face with his fists. The other rogues yelled at both of them before pulling them apart. Donovan held Coal back.
"Fuck is wrong with you two?" said Jade. "Like Bree said. We're all tired and–"
"I don't wanna hear that bullshit," said Coal, entering the large tent. "I rather be…"
Donovan reached out for his arms but realized it was too late.
"Holy shit!" Coal yelled.
Donovan prepared to take out his sidearm.
"Someone forgot to tape this shit! Sage, this was your fucking job! Why are you even here, you useless piece of shit!"
Donovan looked inside the tent and found a large cut in the back. Sage pushed him out of the way and lunged towards Coal. The rogues began yelling again as they tried to break up the fight.
Hana, Becky, and Luan stayed low behind the tent as they walked into the woods. When they made it behind the trees, they looked at the rogues and their internal conflicts before leaving unharmed. Luan released her breath.
The trio returned inside the RV and turned it around, heading back towards Houlton.
After an hour, the RV arrived at the scorched town. The homes were turned into rubble or were covered in burnt wood and ash. The entrance gates and fences were moved closer to the infirmary, though its dented shape meant it offered less protection. Some of the streets were filled with potholes and scraps of metal. A few roamers wandered around, some close to the church.
Four members of the militia guarded the church and waited for the roamers to approach them so that they could take them out. The cemetery also remained safe thanks to them.
Hana continued driving the RV and slowed down as she approached the infirmary. Sergei opened the gates and allowed the girls inside, before closing the gates afterwards.
Lily held a basket of candy, trotting inside the large room where the wounded were held. She approached a wounded fighter and grabbed a lollipop from the basket.
"Here's a lollipop! It's yummy!" she exclaimed.
"God bless you," said the wounded fighter. "It's sweet like you!"
Lily giggled in glee and moved on to the next patient. She smiled as she took out a candy cane.
"Here you go, mister George Candy Cane!"
"That's so thoughtful of you. You're a really good girl, you know that right?"
Lily nodded.
"Lori tells me."
Lily pranced away as Vonda approached George.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked.
"Fine. I've been shot before."
George looked at Lily, offering more people candy. He smiled as he motioned Vonda to sit on the chair next to his bed.
"You know, she kinda reminds me of my daughter. Her name was Emma, and she was always full of energy. It was good energy too– positive energy. But she was also fierce– I mean you shoulda' seen her in the playgrounds with the bullies. She looked up to her daddy, so I suppose that's why she acted tough. I never discouraged it 'cause they were bullies you know? If someone hadn't taught them a lesson, they coulda' been the criminals of the next decades. Looking back at it… that thought has aged so horribly. What difference does it make now, if this world turned good men into savages?"
"Emma would've done what she could to survive. If it– if it weren't for my mother… she could've been kicking some major ass growing up."
"Lily isn't the only one who reminds me of her," said George. "I know she would've been tough. And I know her heart would've been in the right place. Just like you."
Vonda smiled and hugged George as he remained still in the bed. He hugged her back.
Luan walked inside the infirmary and headed upstairs. She found Leni, Luna, and Lynn upstairs, each of them wearing new clothing.
Leni turned around with a pin in her mouth as she fixed her hair into a messy bun. The sleeves of her denim jacket were rolled up to her elbows. The layer of clothing under it was a adjustment of her turquoise dress, with a longer skirt to adapt to her height. She switched her old floral clogs with turquoise flats. She also wore blue leggings that stopped near her ankles.
She removed the pin from her mouth and waved.
"Hey, Luan! Where's Lori? I need her here!"
"She won't be back until another day… she has to convince David to come back. So, only Hana, Becky, and I returned…"
Luan looked at Luna and Lynn's new outfits.
Luna wore a violet sleeveless hoodie along with her purple flannel shirt. Her boring jeans were replaced with a more vibrant, dark-violet leather pants. She also held a coat under her arms. She placed it on– the overcoat that had the appearance of the lower end similar to a skirt.
"Also, watch this!" said Luna.
She placed on a ski mask with a visor hole, but the mouth area was wrapped with a scarf, the color matching the rest of the outfit.
"You are killing the whole winter look!" said Leni. "Your turn, Lynn!"
Luan looked at Lynn.
Lynn replaced her Canadian sweater with a light black hoodie covered by a half-zipped, red fleece sweater. Her shorts were also replaced by green cargo pants, going along with black running shoes. She wrapped a bright-red headband around her head, behind the hair on her forehead, then covered it with the hoodie.
"Yay! You totes pull it off!" exclaimed Leni. "Here, Luan. Your clothes are right here!"
Leni walked to the clothing racks and grabbed Luan's newly sewn clothing. First, she introduced a leather jacket with an iced-coffee tint to it. She held it up in the air enticing Luan to feel its smooth texture. She lifted her finger and rubbed against the surface of the jacket before grabbing it softly.
Next, Leni held up a white T-shirt with an image sewn on it. It was a logo of a colon with a right parenthesis sign which got a giggle out of Luan.
Then, Leni passed her a yellow skirt along with black leggings for the winter. With the skirt was a pink belt, which was wide enough to hold a knife and gun holster. Though, Luan didn't have enough training with a gun of any sorts. She would waste a whole magazine of bullets before she could manage to hit the front skull of a roamer.
"This all looks great…" said Luan.
"Try the leather jacket!" said Leni. "I made it a little large, but you should grow into it. At least that's what Lisa said when she guessed what sizes you three would be."
"Mine fits, though," said Luna.
"Lisa said you weren't going to grow much taller. And she said Lynn still had a couple inches left in her. Same with Luan. So how's the sweater?"
"Feels comfortable! You're a fashion genius, Leni!"
Leni giggled as Luan chattered with her sisters. Lynn and Luna talked over each other, complimenting the warmth and coolness that their clothes brought.
Meanwhile, Becky told Dr. White and George what Lori told her. Dr. White was to assume the leadership while Lori was gone, and George was to be his right-hand man when he would recover from his injuries.
Dr. White walked to the barracks with a tray of canned beef and a couple spoonful of rice. Groups of civilians walked in and out of the barracks– which served as an apartment building for all of them. Many of them sacrificed their privacy for a normal environment of bunk beds and shared rooms. Some other civilians sacrificed an environment of conformity for privacy and safety in the prison cells. Even though the prisons did remind the civilians of their time when they were subjected to Black's experiment, they decided to change up its interior look, one step at a time.
First it was the dim lights replaced by the bright lamps and candles. Then, it was the concrete floor washed by someone who was a janitor in the days before the GIE. By the time the trio of girls arrived back home, the cells were decorated with family pictures and plants.
Dr. White entered the laboratory, shutting the door tightly as he continued to hold the tray of food in his hands. He walked towards a table and set it down, not saying a word to Lisa.
"Do you think we're making the right decision?" asked Lisa, her glasses reflecting a man in a chair.
"It's kind of necessary if we want to think long term," replied Dr. White, his glasses reflecting the man struggling to move. "But if you were asking about this being morally right, then no, this is most definitely right."
"One life for many," stated Lisa. "We should look into the insight of other people. What are the statistics of someone succumbing to the undead every day?"
"Too many," said Dr. White. "There's gotta be less than a million people alive in the world by now."
"And we can save them all if we have a cure. This is a necessary step. But like you said. It's not right. But it will be right. In the future, it will be right."
The man groaned as he spit the tape that he licked out of his mouth. His wrists were red as they were wrapped in duct tape. His uniform was torn open, exposing a wrapped wound in his chest. In his neck were dog tags that hung over his sweaty tank top. His slick, long brown hair hung over his pale face. He groaned and leaned to his shoulder, before realizing the collar for his green jacket was torn off.
"What do you need me for? For– for that thing over there?" panted the rogue.
The roamer in the corner of the lab, tied to a couple pipes in the wall by a chain, had its growls muffled by the tape in its mouth. The rogue man frantically searched for something in his clothing, but he was unable to find it.
"Looking for a way to incapacitate yourself permanently?" asked Lisa. "You cannot. We stripped the cyanide pills off your collar."
"What? You better explain what the fuck I'm doing here, little girl!"
"I'm testing a buffer that will act upon the infection that the K.H.A.N. has created. You know, the necrosis influenza of the rabies lyssavirus kind?"
The rogue gasped as he struggled to speak.
"The infection of the dead," explained Lisa. "It's more specific than roamer virus."
"Why don't you just call them zombies?" asked the rogue. "Or the infected?"
"Zombies are the kind you see in films, TV shows, video games, comic books, other forms of media, et cetera, et cetera! And the infected is a– its not completely accurate. Once a person turns, they aren't just infected. They're dead."
"You never payed attention to Black or I when we discussed this?" asked Dr. White.
"No, privates weren't allowed to hear this kinda shit. You forgot me already? Private Oliver Jett? Private Pretty Boy?"
"Nothing so pretty about your actions," commented Dr. White.
"You think I plow shit like the others? No, I'm not like them! I might do some dirty jobs, but that's what it is. A job. I don't stoop so low to enjoy the kind of shit I do. And you've seen it, doc! I know you have! I don't like getting my hair all bloody, remember?"
"Concerned more about your self-image more than the emotions of the people you inflicted pain upon?" questioned Lisa.
"You don't even know who the fuck we are!" yelled Jett. "We got families and shit, you know that, right? You, Dr. White, know that more than anything! Whole reason you in this bullshit! You see, little girl, I got two sons somewhere safe from this shithole! A son about your age, and a son about Zoey's age. Don't take this away from them. Don't let them grow in this world without their father."
The door to the lab opened. Lisa, Dr. White, and Jett turned towards the door and found someone walking inside. It was Hana.
Hana made a tiny wave at Lisa and the doctor before walking towards her beloved roamer in the corner of the wall.
"Ogenkidesuka, Reiji?"
"Oh shit, it's this one," said Jett. "This is the same Japanese girl that slaughtered one of the female soldiers. She was going to be a mother. I used to not believe in the devil until I saw her. Happened more than a year ago…"
Hana continued talking to the roamer. Lisa and Dr. White observed her bizarre behavior as Jett continued telling his story.
"She just jumped down from the top of a tree and slaughtered three men. They were young too. Then, she just grabbed Amber– that was her name– and pointed the katana at my face. She already dropped her gun and she was basically unarmed. I had no choice but to unarm myself too. She continued holding her by her arms until she was closer to the woods, then… this bitch just stabs her through her stomach. Right where the baby was starting to grow. She ran away after that. And Amber… I tried to stop the bleeding… but I'm not a fucking doctor! I didn't know what to do, so she just bled out in my arms."
"I think I've heard enough," said Lisa as she handed a piece of cloth to Dr. White.
Dr. White wrapped the cloth around his mouth as he yelled. Then, Dr. White covered his eyes with a blindfold. Finally, he placed earbuds on the rogue's ears and played "Me Against the World" on the CD player that it was connected to.
"Is that true?" asked Lisa. "Did you perform all those actions?"
"They try to kill me and Kimi. Yes, I did. And no shame from it."
Hana left the laboratory, leaving Lisa astonished with what she just heard.