Chapter 17
“There’s a lot of interesting stuff in here.” Ridec blew dust from off of one of the books and made a face. “Unfortunately most of it has been destroyed by time.”
“Mmmmm….” Jessell was deep in sleep and yet partly awake, he guessed that was the way warriors slept.
“At least I was able to salvage some information from the computers,” Ridec continued in spite of it being a monologue.
“A lot of what you told me was right on the money. They have some old newspapers here in on computer, someone must have downloaded them.” Ridec took a sip of the water they had received from Kyle and stared at the news items. “I wish this piece of junk was working better, it’s taking all of my know how to find anything on here. Maybe I can find some replacement parts and speed this up when we go out tomorrow.”
“Mmmmm…”
Ridec grinned and turned off the computer and went to lay down beside Jessell. She automatically rolled towards him and slung an arm over his shoulder and his smile broadened.
“Imagine you and I hear like this, almost a dream come true.” He paused for a moment and thought about that. “Except for the zombies of course, and the freaky babies and the people trying to kidnap me…okay maybe not a dream more like a nightmare with highlights.”
“Shut up Ridec.”
“Shutting up,” Ridec muttered.
“Good boy.” Jessell pressed her lips gently against Ridec’s cheek and he felt his heart do a somersault.
“I’m not going to wash that side of my face again.”
“We don’t have water anyway,” Jessell muttered still half sleepily.
“I’m keeping you awake.”
“Yes you are.”
“I’m too excited.”
“Because I kissed you on your cheek?”
Jessell opened her eyes to a squint now her face and voice sounding less tired. Ridec blushed.
“I guess.”
“So what if I kissed you on your lips?” Jessell asked and Ridec could feel his heart racing at the prospect.
“Well…I…”
Jessell leaned forward and pressed her soft, red, full lips against Ridec’s other cheek and Ridec’s heart danced.
“Still excited?”
Ridec didn’t answer. He was pass excited, Jessell’s lips on him was everything he had ever dreamed it would be and more. If Jessell would accept him as her husband he would face a million zombies with a smile on his face.
“You…you never said who you chose for your husband.”
Jessell laughed.
“Didn’t I?” Jessell teased.
“But you came to the surface after me so that must…”
“The noise outside is getting worse.” Kent had barged into the room with his knife in his hand.
“And…?” Jessell rubbed a hand across her tired eyes.
“The door looks as if it’s weakening,” Kent continued.
“Shoot.”
“You think they’ll get in?” Ridec asked.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Kent responded.
“We need to make plans to get out of this place before they do,” Jessell said seeming to toss the sleepiness aside and suddenly becoming the warrior leader that she was.
“This building is surrounded, quite frankly I don’t think we can make it out of here alive,” Kyle said strolling into the room followed by Linda, Kate,Pete, Nathan and Rea.
“Great,” Jessell grumbled. “Not even one good night’s sleep.”
“We could try going out from the top,” Linda suggested.
“We’ll still have to climb down to the ground outside, besides the baby is upstairs,” Jessell pointed out.
“And it seems to be getting stronger. Just thinking about it makes me scared to even consider having any kids,” Rea said.
“It wouldn’t be like that for you, you’re a clean,” Ridec assured her.
“Kayla was a clean,” Kyle pointed out.
“But she slept with an unclean,” Ridec said.
“None of that is important right now, what’s important is getting what we can salvage from this place together and looking to move on,” Jessell cut in.
“Move on to where?” Kyle demanded.
“Aren’t there other buildings around here?” Jessell asked.
“The nearest building is almost an hour away and it’s not very secure. I guess this place must have been some kind of residential area or something back in the day. Most of the houses have started to crumble and fall apart and bush and weeds have grown up all around them. Hell half of the time you can’t even figure out where the door is. We were lucky to find this building still standing pretty strong, I don’t hold out much hope of finding another one like it.”
“This was a library- Fontec Library,” Ridec said.
“A Library?” Rea asked.
“With books and stuff but from what I’ve read people had other big, strong buildings like this one. They called them schools and hospitals and prisons, if we can find something like that we should be secure for a while,” Ridec explained.
“I don’t even know what any of those things you talked about are,” Kyle muttered. “Far less where we could find them.”
“That’s not a problem,” Ridec had a huge smile on his face and Rea and Kate sighed heavily, the boy was past handsome and absolutely dazzling when he smiled.
“I know exactly where they are…and I know where we are,” Ridec said.
“You do?” Jessell looked genuinely impressed. “Where is the sea from here Ridec?”
“Who the hell cares about the sea?” Kent demanded. “Where are any of those buildings you talked about?”
“We’re in an area they used to call Florida, the map is obviously outdated and there might have been some shifts to the land and damage from weather systems over the years but I’m quite sure that’s where we are. More specifically we’re in Fontec City at the Fontec City library.”
“And you know that because?” Jessell asked.
“Elementary my dear Watson…” Ridec started to say.
“Don’t ever call me Watson,” Jessell cut in and Ridec blushed.
“The name wasn’t on the outside of the building, I guess it might have decayed over the years but some of the cards, books, pages and stuff in the desks indicated that this was the Fontec Library. Oh - and there was a wooden sign marked ‘Fontec Library Supervisor’ on this desk’.”
“This is great news,” Jessell was sitting up and looking rather pleased. Ridec couldn’t help feeling great, for the first time since he had arrived it seemed as if he had done something that Jessell would be proud of him for. “So where is the sea?”
“What exactly is your obsession with the sea? We have no boat.” It was clear Kent was getting angry with Jessell’s line of questioning.
“The sea is about seventy miles away from here over some mountainous land,” Ridec said.
“Seventy miles?” Jessell screamed. “How the hell did we get seventy miles away in a couple of days?”
“We drove, we went underground…unless we can go back through that cave we’ll have to cover more distance to get back to where we started,” Ridec explained.
“We don’t want to go back to where we started, we want to keep heading inland, that’s how we’ll reach headquarters,” Kent said.
“We don’t want to reach your headquarters,” Jessell pointed out.
“Well that’s just too bad because that’s where we plan on taking you two,” Linda put in and then sparing a quick glance at Kent she added. “In fact all of you that are cleans can come with us too. You’ll have someplace safe to live, all the food and water you need. It’s like heaven there.”
“Seems to me you have a pretty low bar for heaven,” Kyle grunted. “I’ve never been much with the resistance and I’m happy to keep it that way.”
“You can’t survive out here anymore, at some point you will all run out of places to hide,” Kent said.
“Well when we do we’ll come looking for you,” Kyle responded and Jessell grinned.
“This isn’t the best time to argue, I think we need to be making a plan at least on how we can get out of this place before those things get in here,” Kate cut in.
“I don’t know if there is any way to get out of here, this building is surrounded by them,” Tim was hurrying into the room as he made the announcement followed by his twelve year old son Oriel. “Darn, this looks like the end of the line for us. We should never have let them come in here; they brought all these zombies to us.”
“I’ll admit the zombies followed them here but they followed people here before and eventually they lost interest and wandered off a distance,” Kyle shook his head. “No, this isn’t there fault; something is keeping those zombies at our door.”
“Maybe it’s one of them, maybe it’s something different about one of them that’s attracting those zombies,” Tim eyed Ridec and then Jessell cautiously. “I’ve never seen anyone look like them before, all pretty and clean.”
“Being pretty and clean is not a crime,” Kyle pointed out.
“I’m just saying,” Tim said.
“Well don’t,” Kyle shot back.
The sound of raking on the door upstairs seemed to grow louder.
“Okay people, so what do we do?” All eyes turned to Jessell. She seemed to be such a natural leader that people just seemed to turn to her in times of trouble.
“Okay, the first thing we have to decide is if we can get out of here where are we going?” Jessell said. “And preferably it should be someplace in the direction of the sea.”
“Nothing,” Ridec muttered. “All the buildings that can secure us take us further away from the sea.”
“Darn it,” Jessell grunted. “When are we going to catch a break?”
“The closest one here is the school,” Ridec offered.
“I’d prefer to go for the hospital, we might find some things that we can use there,” Jessell muttered. “How much further out would that put us.”
“Another ten miles,” Ridec explained.
“That’s close to three hours of walking, we can’t walk ten miles in this place, we’ll be eaten alive…literally,” Kate said.
“Do you have a car?” Jessell demanded.
“No, but…”
“Then we have to walk,” Jessell sighed. “Look, no one is forcing any of you to come with us, I’m speaking for Ridec and myself and right now the best bet for us is the hospital.”
“Maybe Ridec can speak for himself,” Rea put in.
“I…” Ridec started to say.
“Maybe you should butt out of our business?” Jessell suggested.
“He’s not your lap dog,” Rea countered.
“You don’t know what a library is but you know what a lap dog is? Stupid dunce,” Jessell muttered.
“I know a bully when I see one,” Rea shot back.
“Just…” Jessell started to say but Kyle cut in.
“Ladies, remember the real enemy is those things out there, not the people in here.”
“Wish women would fight over me like that,” Nathan muttered swinging the stick loosely in his hand.
“I’m not fighting over him,” Jessell said indignantly.
“Sooooo…rrrryyy…” Nathan muttered holding up both hands in a surrender motion.
“She’s not fighting over him because she things she already owns him,” Rea said angrily.
“That’s enough Rea, let’s just focus on getting to the hospital,” Kyle said.
“So it’s the hospital now because she said so?” Rea demanded.
“I still think that if the school is closer we should go for that,” Linda cut in.
“Why do you want the hospital?” Kent questioned.
“It should have generators, weapons – at least knives, equipment that Ridec might be able to pick apart and reassemble as something more useful and medicine that might be salvageable,” Jessell explained.
“None of us are hurt,” Rea pointed out.
Jessell gripped Ridec’s hand in hers, the hand that Ridec had tried to grip the baby with and then shouted ‘it scratched me’. Had Jessell heard him? Was she concerned that he might be infected? Was that why she had chosen the hospital?
“We can never be too careful,” was all Jessell said before dropping Ridec’s hand and picking up the daggers from beside her and tucking them safely back into the belt. “And there are some things I’m inclined to take great care with.”
***
“The window is the best way out!” Nathan screamed as the door shuddered another time under the weight of the zombies outside.
“Down to the cellar,” Jessell instructed.
“There’s no way out down there,” Kyle announced.
Jessell didn’t hesitate she raced towards the staircase screaming for Ridec to follow her. She was making it clear that her responsibility was to Ridec and Ridec alone, the others could decide to do whatever they wanted to do.
“I’m going up the stairs, I think I’d prefer to face one baby than to face that horde of creatures outside,” Tim yelled grabbing Oriel’s hand and dashing up the staircase.
“We’ll be stronger if we stick together,” Kyle shouted but no one was listening, this was an everyman for himself situation and everyone knew it.
“Come Rea,” Tim hollered down the stairs as an afterthought.
“No, I’m staying with Ridec,” Rea shouted back and the only response from Tim was a grunt as he continued up the stairway.
“The cleans are splitting up, what the hell do we do?” Linda demanded.
“The cellar’s a bad idea,” Kent said hurrying down the stairway behind Jessell, Ridec and Rea.
“I guess the cellar it is then,” Linda grunted following Kent with Kate and Pete close on her heels.
“You’re all crazy,” Nathan shouted starting to break at the window which was just a couple feet above eye level. “I can jump out of this window and over those creatures heads and make a run for it.”
“That’s suicide,” Kyle insisted.
“Suicide is getting trapped down in that cellar with no doors or windows and having to come back up here and face those things,” Nathan pointed out as he climbed the few feet necessary to stand on the inside pane of the window.
“Once you break that glass you’ll attract them to you,” Kyle pointed out.
“It’s our best bet,” Nathan persisted.
There was a moment of silence as Kyle seemed to try to figure out where he should be going.
“Good luck,” he muttered and then hurried down the stairs behind the others.
“Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!” The sound of Nathan’s scream followed Kyle down the staircase and he mentally cringed, he had liked the boy.
“Nathan?” Ridec asked.
“He went for the window,” Kyle said. “I don’t think he made it.”
“What about Dad?” Rea questioned as Kyle locked and bolted the door to the cellar.
“Even if he manages to make it past the baby there’s nothing for him on top of the roof,” Kyle explained.
“There’s nothing for us down here either,” Linda pointed out.
“Ridec,” Jessell gripped Ridec’s arm and pulled him away from the crowd.
“What?”
“I need you to distract the others, there’s another room over there and I’m going to go in it and try to break out,” Jessell explained.
“Break out?”
“My shrill.”
“You can’t do that.” Concern covered Ridec’s face. The mermaid shrill was powerful and none more powerful than Jessell’s but it required a great deal of mental energy. The amount of energy it would take for Jessell to break out of the cellar would leave her completely drained, helpless.
“I don’t have a choice unless we intend to find some knives and forks and start digging our way out of here. I have to use my shrill to break through the earth and form a tunnel that can take us to the other side.”
“The zombies are outside,” Ridec pointed out.
“I’ll bore through behind them.”
“That’s too much.”
“I can do it.”
“Once we get out we’ll have to run, you’ll be…you’ll be…”
“I’m strong.”
“Jessell please don’t, if anything happened to you…”
“Just keep the others busy, if they see me do this it will raise a lot of questions.”
“Won’t they wonder where the hole came from?”
“I’ll tell them we stumbled upon it,”
“Jessell…”
“Do what I say Ridec, can’t you hear those things are already inside? I can hear them upstairs.”
“But…”
“Go, go now, we don’t have any more time.” Jessell didn’t wait for Ridec to respond she hurried into the adjoining room, she knew what needed to be done and she was determined to do it even if it killed her. Her only concern was; would Ridec survive for long in this world without her?