Dead End World

Chapter Nine: The Plan

     Iris and Theo rode in Iris' side-by-side towards the smoke. As they were bumping over the rough ground, two figures appeared. Iris pretended not to notice them, but Theo spotted them and pointed towards them.
     "There! Spencer and Eve!" exclaimed Theo. Iris internally sighed and turned towards the two figures.
     "Wait, Spencer?" Iris asked.
     "Yeah.."
     "Spencer, as in Spencer Kaminski? No way!" She started to slow down the vehicle.
     "What's wrong with Spencer?" Theo asked, looking to her.
     "He's a liar and an idiot!"
     "Okay, well, he's been helping me so please go to him."
     "Theo, you are one special person," Iris told him, speeding the vehicle back up. "I wouldn't speak to Spencer Kaminski for anyone but you."
     Theo exhaled and leaned back in his seat.
     They came up on Spencer and Eve. They both had wide eyes and their mouths were half-open. Iris pretended like she was going to hit Spencer with her side-by-side, but swerved at the last second.
     Spencer gasped and tried dodging. "You're not funny, Iris!"
     "I think I am," Iris replied, turning off the engine.
     "Theo!" Eve exclaimed happily.
     Theo got out of the side-by-side. "Hey."
     "Your arm.." Eve looked at his bandaged arm.
     "And my ankle. It's sprained," said Theo.
     "Jeez, you really got beat up, didn't ya," Spencer spoke. "What have you been up to?"
     "Healing," said Theo.
     Iris got out of the side-by-side and stood next to Theo. She put her hand on Theo's broad shoulder. "Don't worry, I stitched your guy up, Spence."
     "Thanks.." Spencer said in uncertainty.
     Eve looked to Iris and looked her up and down, seeing Iris' rough-looking light brown pants, black high-top Converse sneakers, and tight sleeveless black crop top, as well as Iris' brown ponytail with a pair of sunglasses sitting on top, and freckled face. Eve looked back to Theo, loosely crossing her arms.
"Iris said she'd help us get into Aston," Theo said to Spencer and Eve.
"Ohh, no," Spencer said with a mocking smile.
"I'm going to," Iris told Spencer. "And there's nothing you can do about it."
"Well, I could shoot you in the face right now," uttered Spencer.
"You're funny," Iris told him blankly.
Spencer smiled and shook his head, leaning against the side-by-side. Iris glared at him, rage starting to fill her eyes.
"Let's just get out of here," said Eve.
"She's right," said Theo. "We need to get back to Marcadia."
"I don't have my truck anymore," said Spencer.
They all looked over to Iris. She sighed and opened the driver's door to her side-by-side. They all got in and started driving down the plains towards Marcadia.
     She parked the side-by-side outside of Spencer's house. They all got out and walked into the house. They all gathered around at the kitchen table. Iris reached into her bag and pulled out a hand-drawn map she had created. She laid it across the surface of the table and placed books on the ends so it didn't coil back up.
     "This is Marcadia," she said, pointing to a drawn-on town. She ran her finger along a line. "This is the road to Aston." Her finger stopped when it reached another town. "This is Aston."
     "How about those red dotted lines?" Spencer asked, pointing to the map.
     "I was just getting to those." Iris looked up to Spencer and narrowed her eyes. "Spencer."
     Spencer crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows.
     "Those are underground tunnels, the secret to getting into Aston," said Iris. "They're abandoned and basically unguarded."
     "Why do they exist, then?" asked Theo.
     "They were a failed quote-unquote, 'bunker'," replied Iris.
     "How do we get into them?" asked Eve.
     "There's an entrance not too far from my house," said Iris. "It's locked, but I'm sure we can break the lock. It's almost rusted off anyway."
"Alright, so we'll go through the tunnels to get into Aston," said Theo, looking at the map.
"Only thing is, the tunnel's are pitch black inside," said Iris. "But we can just bring flashlights, right?"
"Yeah. It'll be fine," replied Theo. "Anyway, do you have any ideas on how we'd stop them from infecting the bunker?"
"Hey," said Iris, leaning against the wall by the table. "You're talking to the girl who created this whole idea to infect the bunker."
"Huh?!" exclaimed Eve, her eyes narrowing.
"It's not what you think," Iris told her. "I'm not like that anymore. Not since I got kicked out of Aston."
Eve stood up straighter and flicked her hair behind her shoulder. "Okay.."
"Anyway, my point," continued Iris. "I know exactly what to do to stop this whole thing."
"What is it?" Spencer asked.
"Well, they've been trying to do this for the past three or so years. It's harder than it might seem," said Iris, tightening her ponytail. "They have to first get saliva from the zombies, and you guys probably didn't know this, but zombies barely have any saliva. Their mouths are all dry and dead, y'know."
"Keep going," Spencer told her lowly.
"Then, they need to put the saliva into a liquid that wouldn't break down the virus in the saliva, which that type of liquid is hard to find. Even water will make it so the particles separate. Then, they need to find out a way to either inject the virus into someone in the bunker's veins, which is hard because they can't get down there."
"Hold up," said Spencer. He looked over to Theo. "Is that why they wanted Theo?"
"Most likely," replied Iris.
Theo looked from Spencer to Iris, worry on his face.
"They've figured it out, though. They have the virus in injections, now they're working on a way to get it down into the bunker," said Iris.
"So I was their way," mumbled Theo.
Eve looked to Theo with wide eyes. "They didn't inject you with anything, did they?"
"Not that I know of," said Theo. "I don't think so."
"They were probably waiting until they had him in their laboratory so they could make sure it worked," Iris stated.
"How do you know all this? Are you some sort of scientist or something?" Eve asked Iris.
"Yeah, kinda," replied Iris, nodding her head. "Were you not listening? I was the one who created the plan and how to get the virus into the bunker."
"I know that part," Eve replied, a tint of annoyance in her tone. "I was just asking if you were a scientist."
"Yes. I am," said Iris. "And a medic. I worked for Aston's laboratory for years until they banned me."
"What did you do?" asked Eve.
Spencer looked to Iris and crossed his arms.
Iris looked from Spencer to Eve, sighing. "I tried sneaking in a Marcadia citizen."
"We made a deal, Iris," Spencer said roughly.
"I know we did!" exclaimed Iris. "It's not my fault, Spencer!"
"Why wouldn't they let you bring in a person from Marcadia?" wondered Eve.
"They're really strict over there," said Iris. "They've dealt with a lot of spies and people who want to steal the idea of infecting the bunker. They don't let any outsiders in, and if they suspect you of talking to any outsiders, you're kicked out." Iris sighed and tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "I was kicked out because of that."
"You were talking to Spencer?" Eve asked in a slow utter.
Iris gingerly nodded her head. Spencer looked to the side, exhaling.
"And she blew up on me and tried to kill me afterwards," Spencer commented quietly.
"Alright, well, you made me homeless and made me lose my job!" fumed Iris.
"Guys, enough!" Eve chimed in, looking back and forth between the two.
It was clear that old grudges were returning between Spencer and Iris, both of their faces flushed in anger and their eyebrows furrowed. They didn't look at each other after Eve told them to stop, they looked to the side, as if they didn't care anymore.
Eve shook her head and looked back to the map. "The most important thing right now is stopping Aston. I'm sure they're on the lookout for us right now."
Iris looked back to Eve. "I agree."
Eve looked to Theo. "You're being real quiet. What do you think?"
"I have no clue," said Theo.
"Why don't you guys just take explosives and blow up the place?" Westin asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
Spencer looked over to his son. "I think enough things have been blown up, Westin."
"Just a thought," replied Westin, shrugging his shoulders.
"He could be onto something," said Theo. "We could go in there with explosives and blow up whatever they have related to the virus."
"Actually, that's not a bad plan," Iris said, going back over to beside the table and peering over the map. "They have a huge room with all their work related to the virus. If we blow that room up, they don't have anything anymore and all their progress would be gone."
"Where are we supposed to get explosives?" asked Spencer.
"I have some at my house," said Iris.
"Of course you do. Why wouldn't you?" Spencer uttered harshly. "This is sounding like more of an act of terrorism than a life-saving plan."
"Spencer, please," mumbled Iris, looking at the map.
"I don't see anything wrong with going in there with explosives," said Eve. "As long as we're careful and don't make this a suicide mission."
"I have experience with explosives," said Iris. "Who else does?"
Theo raised his hand.
"What? When?" Eve asked, looking to Theo.
"In the mines," replied Theo, putting his hand down.
"In the mines?" questioned Eve.
"Yeah, to uncover mineral deposits," said Theo.
"Alright, well, me and Theo can handle the explosives, then," said Iris.
"Then what do we do?" Eve asked.
"Fend any Aston person off as me and Theo place the explosives," said Iris.
Eve scoffed and bitterly rolled her eyes. "That sounds fun." Heavy sarcasm was used in her tone.
"I don't know what else you want me to say," said Iris, picking up the books from the edges of the map and watching it coil up.
"You and Theo? Me and Theo came up here as a team," Eve said sternly.
"Me and Theo are the only ones who know how to work explosives," Iris replied rather calmly, picking up the map and coiling it tighter.
"Whatever. Just—whatever." Eve stood there for a moment before walking out onto the back porch.
"I'll do whatever," said Spencer. "But you gotta promise me that I'm gonna come home to see my son."
"I can't promise you anything, Spencer," Iris muttered.
Westin looked to his father with soft, wide eyes. Spencer looked back to his son and slowly shook his head. There was a special bond between the only two remaining members of a family. They bonded over the fact that their mother, daughter, sister, and wife passed away in such a horrible way. For the longest time, they only had each other. Even though they told themselves that they were all each other needed, the void left in their hearts from the death of their family members was too evident to just cover up. It was like a strong magnet pulling them back towards a depression as they clawed and heaved towards happiness. But there was no true, long-lasting happiness in a post-apocalyptic world. There was only grief, negativity, fear, and despair.
"We can take my side-by-side tomorrow morning," said Iris. "I know the ways to get in once we are out of the tunnel. I know which doors are less guarded."
"Alright," said Spencer. "That's that, then."
"Yeah. That's that," said Iris. "We can stop at my house first and get the explosives."
Spencer nodded and then stepped over to Westin, who was still leaning against the counter. "You gotta be brave while I'm gone."
"I will, Dad," replied Westin.
"You gotta be the man of the house. You gotta trust me, and trust yourself."
"I know."
Spencer kissed the top of Westin's head. "I love you, son."
"I love you too, Dad."