Day 355 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 9.2 - (1,199 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

Chapter 9.2

Ben climbed to the roof of the Cinema, it had a fire escape around the back of it, close to the alley where Derek had hidden earlier, and from the very height of the building he watched the town milling about and recovering from the sudden but easily repelled incursion he had created.

The rooftop had a small ridge of fascia that gave him cover to hide behind and was far above any of the lights or roofs of nearby structures. The theatre was the tallest structure visible except the Hereford clinic and had a good line of sight through the town. Ben was wondering what to do next because he had not really thought this far ahead.

He knew there was something going on and it had kind of come to a head with Angela in the car before arriving here and his good behavior bond was his mother’s protection back wherever she was now. Of course he was less worried about her, she was capable of taking care of herself and would likely be long gone from where it was they had taken her.

If she was still there then it was something for him to be concerned about, because what she could not get herself out of was something akin to a rock and a hard place. She was loud, opinionated and she interfered in things constantly.  She was also a survivor and an aggressive fighter as well. She had taught him everything about who he was and his place in the world.  He pushed for things to go his way and to be in control of the situation because that was the way she had raised him.

To take control of a place and the people, not loudly or obviously like she would often do, but undeniably he was effective at taking control in more subtle and longer lasting ways.

Tom and Linda had seen that in him when he joined the City and he started taking over in little groups, but being an outsider, always hampered the power and influence he gained, while substantial and fast. He knew it from the first minute and he had never broken through the barrier of secrecy to find what was really going on underneath the ideals and goals of the humanitarian City project.

Now here he was in the middle of nowhere in a town that he’d never heard barricaded and secured against the outside world and in possession of the same tech that the City used to corral the zombies that had littered the planet since the GZA.

They had to have had something to do with the current state of the world; it made sense that they knew something. How else would they have this advantage, this setup and be this prepared? It had been less than a year since it had all kicked off and humanity had slipped fast into chaos and death. Each successive slide creating more and more of the living dead to threaten the living, the first year was a living hell.

Then he found the City, and then he found a place to live and a place to fit in. The problem was that he had no idea what was really going on and he could not operate like that for too long. He got on the road, got around and found someone willing to talk to him, to take him into the center of what was going on. The collateral he laid down was his mother, a nightmare handful of a woman who would not be contained for very long and then they were off to find the source of whatever her special knowledge was.

Angela had to be a trap, but what and why he did not know. Derek and James were random elements, they were good to take along as back up on the road. James would be the collateral for Derek and show that Ben was still on board with the City, and no one but Ben and his mother knew where they were headed and what they had in mind.

She would be free already, or would have died trying to escape. Ben was pretty confident that would not have happened though, she was annoying and she was difficult but she was a resource and they would want to keep that in check. There was not so much humanity left in the world that they could afford to indiscriminately throw life away. Not unless they absolutely had to.

The gates were secure again, the townsfolk were still milling about as he watched from his perch on high, and the Clinic was the power center of the town, he could see that from his eagles eye view.

It was late now, well into the dark and close to midnight by his estimates. He had watched Derek going into the hospital with the woman who was carrying the papers, and she had been influential, the way that people deferred to her like that?

He needed to think about what to do next, he needed time and a plan. He was on the roof of the cinema, not visible to anyone and safe for now. He had a long day up until now and it was time for a rest.

He balled up his jacket into a pillow and lay down on the bottom of the sloped roof, all the way back from the edge and near the rear wall of the town. He could easily make his escape from this point if he needed to, jumping the small gap to the wall and then getting down to the ground from there. It may have broken his legs, but it was an option.

He closed his eyes, but could not relax enough to go to sleep. He tossed and turned, tried counting sheep. There was too much tension and too much energy in him to easily rest and relax. He was tired and his eyes were closing of their own accord until he lay down on the surface, then the adrenaline and the fear would keep him awake no matter what his body and his mind wanted.

Ben crawled to the front edge of the building and looked over it again, there were still a bunch of people in the Clinic, they were all the foyer and he could see Derek among them, looking about and seeking a place to escape from.

Movement to the right caught his eye and the start of a plan began in his mind once he realized what he was seeing.

James opened the door to the lobby area and quickly ducked backwards and out of sight. The people who had left all the other floors of the hospital were apparently down here and they were agitated and tense all gathered in such a tight space.  In the short glimpse he had of the foyer he had seen injured people and blood on the floor, smeared red swatches slick on the linoleum.

James was still in the hospital gown and the exit appeared to be via the lobby, which was full of people who he did not know and could not possibly trust.