Day 353 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 9 - (1,018 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

Chapter 9

Ben Johnson had been watching the various and sundry people exiting the movie theatre as well as Derek, but from a different vantage point. He was inside the gatehouse, at first anyway, ready to throw the switch and then get out as fast as possible, attention would be drawn to his location immediately, so he looked to do it and run behind the booth for cover as quickly as he could.

The sonic devices he knew how to operate and he recognized the configuration of the switches immediately. They had all come from the same place, this town was outfitted by whomever the City’s benefactors were as well. He knew very little about how and why the City came about, but he was an integral part of making it work. It had only been recently that he begun to question the motives and the direction of the City.

On the surface it seemed innocuous and safe, but over time there were attitudes and comments that made him wonder if they knew more about the malediction that befell humanity than they admitted to him. They were certainly keeping secrets, this was hardly a surprising fact to him, everyone deferred to the judgment of Tom and Linda for direction and guidance, but they never shared their reasoning or their process.

He had taken to the road with some relief, he could still believe in the City and what it was trying to do, but the things that niggled at him, that tickled the back of his brain? He could leave those behind and just focus on survivors.

It was luck, whether it was good or bad that remained to be seen, that had brought him to the town where he had run into his Mother and then she had joined his merry little band. She had designs for the future, not content to be merely saved she needed to do something to protect the future of her only living son. That over eagerness made her ask questions, ones that got them noticed and ones that made Tom and Linda very uncomfortable.

Angela was supposed to take him to the source of the audio devices, his contacts in a nearby county had hooked them up, and he had to leave collateral for the exchange of information.  It could have been on the level, it could have been a trap, but he sprung it anyway, hoping the remoteness would work to his favor. If not then he would have to rescue his mother again, that was where Derek would come in.

His idea had been to replace the members of his team he did not trust with an outsider, one maybe not as trustworthy, but one that certainly did not know the City and had no connection to the people who ran it, but kept him outside of the inner circle.

They had lucked upon Derek and his brother, and the idea of keeping one hostage and one to go with him grated at him, but it made sense. He wondered if this what Angela was thinking in offering to be hostage in exchange for one?

The car flipping had thrown a lucky confusion into the mix, it was not his intention at all, he thought he would have time to stop, but the car and momentum had other plans for them all.

After the car had rolled he was the first to wake up, the driver’s airbag keeping him the least injured of the three. Angela was out cold and there was no Derek in the back seat. He found him outside the car, thrown clear of the wreck and in a ditch, unconscious but unharmed apart from a few bruises.

He had cleared away from the wreck and moved to a place where he could lie down and watch from a distance to see what happened.  He saw Derek awake and pull Angela from the car, then to get knocked about by the explosion, the force and the shock most likely culprits.

That which had knocked out Derek had awoken Angela; she groggily got up and stumbled around aimlessly at first. Stopping to check on Derek she gave him a hard kick and watched for a response and then stumbled away. Ben left Derek to his slumber, figuring he could check in on him later, but choosing to follow Angela first.

She walked all the way to the hill and then walked around the bend to find the wall of undead blocking her entrance to the walled of town. There was a back up plan and she knew how to get the attention of the guards, she climbed the hill, the same one that Derek would find refuge in, but she climbed up and shouted to the guards in the tower, Ben watched all of this a few dozen feet behind her, taking shelter and increasing the distance when he needed to.

Once the guards saw her they pacified the undead and she walked calmly and carefully through the main gates. There was a fair amount of fuss being made about her injuries and the zombies were pacified, so no threat there either.

It gave Ben the opportunity to sneak inside the town, walking along the edge of the fence, slipping into the space between the walls and one of the tower buildings on the edge of the gate. No one was looking, no one saw him get inside and hide in among the legs of the tower.

The rest of the day was spent walking about the town, checking the lay of the land and figuring out what was going on. The Hereford Clinic was the key; everyone’s lives seemed to gravitate towards it. People went there like it was the only show in town.

Then when the helicopter arrived and in came James on a stretcher, that’s when Ben decided something had to be done. It was dark and there was no easy way to get out to the road and get Derek.  A choice had to be made.

He had made his when he left him there.