End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle (32 page)

             
Joel got mad. “My entire life died from the epidemic—“ He paused. “Grace, you said if this was some vendetta against the one percent. While I didn’t have money like your family did. I had a lot from my investment banking job. Everything I worked for was gone as the virus killed everything. My wife, my children. Can you imagine watching your entire family die one by one?”

             
“So did mine. Everyone I cared about is dead. I shot my brother in the head while he was still alive, so he wouldn’t come back as a zombie.”

             
No expression from what I said. “But none of you ever got the flu, right?”

             
“Because we stayed at home and didn’t go out. None of Mike’s family got the flu because they stayed home.”

             
Joel looked annoyed, but he still had the look. I saw it at Harbor Heights. The real Joel came out when he didn’t get his way. The smiling Joel was the phony. Part of him knew this was crazy, the other part wanted vengeance so bad he could taste it.

             
“It happened at an unusual time right? In May, not really flu weather.”

             
“Joel—the virus killed fast. No vaccination even came out for it.”

             
He wasn’t listening. His face said he had gone over to the vengeance side one hundred percent.

             
“Since you have already decided, I want one request. Can I please not be raped between now and when I die.”

             
Joel laughed but it wasn’t funny. “I’ll see what I can do.”

              When Joel left, I looked around the room for something I could use for a weapon but first I looked out the window to see if I could escape.

             
The air inside the room was warm and stuffy despite the open windows and a plastic fan. I could hear people outside but couldn’t make out the words.

             
I was a good three floors up with no way to climb down. It was getting dark so I couldn’t see the outside so well. It looked like a sizeable estate. I saw people moving about but only as shadowy figures. I moved from the window to the door and knocked. The door opened and I saw Chris. I looked beyond him. I was in a sprawling mansion. I could see a brass banister down the hall.

             
“What?”

             
“I have to use the restroom.”

             
“One in your room,” he said, slamming the door. I heard it lock. I took a deep breath. I needed a way out of here and if possible get a gun. I had a few people I needed to shoot.

             
I found two closed doors in the room. One was a closet, the other a large bathroom with a small window. I looked through to if I could see outside better, but it wasn’t much different from the window in the bedroom.             

I searched the closet. I did not expect they would overlook a gun but I wanted to find some kind of weapon. I had to get out of here. I wasn’t going to be raped again and I had no intention of getting killed by morons.
It was hard to see in the closet, and I was surprised when I hit the switch by the door, the closet lit up. It was a full walk in. I searched the clothes and discovered shoeboxes on the top shelf. I grabbed one at random, opening it to find exactly what I needed. Nothing like a stiletto heel jabbed into your eye.

             
I put the shoebox back but kept the shoes. I heard the key to the door so I stuffed the heels under my pillow. Chris came in with a tray in one hand and a rifle aimed at me with the other. He left it on the floor and backed out the door before I could even get up. I heard the door shut then lock. I walked over to the tray. It was a paper bowl of rice with beans, a plastic folk, a plastic cup of water and a paper napkin. I knew it wasn’t poisoned. They wanted me alive for a little while, but it might be drugged.

             
My food was drugged at the cantina. That was what made me sleepy. I knew who did it, but that wasn’t going to help me now.

             
I pushed it to the back of my mind. I had to escape first. If it was drugged I risked being raped again.

             
I carried the plate and cup back to the bed.

             
I loathed rice and beans. I felt like a hobo eating them, but I realized that I was a peasant like everyone else.

             
As I ate I thought about what Joel said about daddy. I knew it couldn’t be true. I let Joel think I knew nothing about Daddy’s companies. We never talked money but I knew a few things. SL did not make that much money off flu shots, even if flu rates doubled, there wouldn’t be significant profits. They had a diabetes drug in the works that showed promise.

             
And if it was true, Daddy would have been on the phone a lot with his people at SL telling them to push the flu shot as hard as possible.

             
This flu was random.

             
I knew I couldn’t convince Joel of that.

Chapter 21

              I woke up the next morning as dawn hit. I wasn’t drugged and found no man on top of me. Joel kept at least one promise. I didn’t wake up confused. I knew exactly where I was, a prisoner for a crime I didn’t commit.

             
I slept in the clothes from yesterday. Hadn’t bothered to search the dresser for something I could sleep in.

             
I used the bathroom, splashed some water on my face. The bathroom had a ring of light bulbs over the mirror but only three worked. I looked like hell without makeup. I opened up all the cabinets but couldn’t find any to put on.

             
I turned on the shower. Water came out weak and cold. I didn’t mind because of the hot and humid room. I stripped and stepped into it. I sat on the floor letting the cold water clean me and getting rid of the smell of that horrific man. Here I could be upset because no one could hear me. I sat on the floor of the tub and let the water run over me. I had sex a few times at college but never saw the point to it. I guess I really was an ice princess.

             
I knew I wouldn’t stay in long. Someone could come. Someone might hear me and I couldn’t let that happen. I got out and dried myself off with some ragged towels.

More light came into the room. I saw something hanging of a wooden rocking chair that looked like the shirt I wore from yesterday. I couldn’t find my shoes.

              I took the off the rack Lauren polo shirt from the chair and discovered it had been torn to pieces. He must have ripped it off. I didn’t find my bra. Did he keep it as a souvenir? I went to the drawers. I found underwear too big for me and clothes that looked like they belonged to an older woman. I thought about my grandmother who lived in New York City. I knew she didn’t make it. She already had health issues beforehand. She had been my mother’s mother who hated my father was a passion. My father who took in both his kids after the divorce while her precious daughter jetsetted around the world. Even so, I loved her more than my own mother. She had been the tough matriarch of the family but doted on her grandkids. I was the only girl and became her favorite. She admired me for always speaking my mind.

             
In the drawers I found a fresh short sleeved polo shirt that was a little big and wore my capris from yesterday. They were beginning to smell.

After I changed, I went to the window to look out.

              I did not like what I saw.

             
The estate had a large garden in front, a good two acres maybe more. From far away I saw tennis courts filled with holes and a pool house with no sparkling water. That wasn’t the issue.

             
The garden was probably originally covered in flowers, trees, bushes and shrubs was now growing food and people were in the field tended it. The estate had double fences. An iron one that looked like it surrounded the entire place and meant to keep people out. Someone had put in a chain link fence on the inside. There was about four feet between the two. Between them was a trench that looked about two feet deep.

             
Milling inside the trench were zombies; a lot of them. Most of them were close to the chain linked fence as they looked hungrily at the workers.

             
There were also men with guns in the fields watching the people work.

             
The people were slaves.

             
Joel was much worse than I thought. I don’t think anything he said was the truth.

             
When I heard the door latch working, I moved quickly away from the window and back to the bed.

It was a different man from last night. This one was younger, could easily be my age, and had a gun strapped to his back but I couldn’t see what it was.

              “Food,” he said. He put the tray on the floor.

             
“Thank you.”

             
“You’re welcome.”

             
I watched him leave, noting that his speaking to me civilly made him the weak link.

             
I grabbed the food that was steaming.

             
And holy fuck, it was eggs.

             
I gobbled them like a hungry hobo. They had been simply scrambled with a hint of salt but a wonderful taste filled my mouth. I hadn’t had fresh eggs in more than two years. I felt almost sad seeing the empty plate.

Once I was finished, I added the plate to my growing pile.

              There wasn’t a lot for me to do while I waited for Joel who I knew would show up again. In that time I looked at the stiletto heels. With more light I was able to search drawers for anything else I could use. I figured Joel’s people tossed the room before I arrived but men didn’t realize how deadly shoes could be.

             
I ran back to the bed, stuffed the stiletto under the pillow when I heard the door opened and Joel came in. He looked grim. I made the sign of crazy and pointed at him.             

             
“Do you have any concern for your wellbeing, Grace?”

             
“Remember at that lunch when you asked me how many zombies I killed? I said I don’t keep track but I’m sure it’s in hundreds, maybe even a thousand like you. I kept people alive. How many people have you killed Joel?”

             
“Losing you as a shooter would be a damn shame, but we can get along.”

             
“Are you holding all those people prisoners?” I said motioning to the window.

             
“No, they won’t survive without me—“ 
              “Then why do you need armed men and fenced in zombies?” I interrupted.

             
He ignored me. “I’ve been thinking about what you said. I’ll decide tonight what to do with you.”

             
“This is insane,” I said. “You’re mentally defective. How many of my people did you murder to get me? What did they ever do to you?”

             
“They shielded you.”

             
“Bullshit.”

             
“Surprised at the language from a lady.”

             
“Things have changed. You’re a murderer Joel. Get that through your insane head. You murdered people in cold blood. All they wanted to do was live in peace.”

             
“It had to be done--” He said, then walked out the door, slamming it shut. I heard it lock.

             
I began banging on the door. “Murderer!” I screamed, hoping it would unnerve him. I could play tricks like the rest of them.

             
When I figured he couldn’t hear me anymore, I went back to the stilettos and wondered if I could make them sharper. I wished I had a knife but if I did it would be in Joel’s chest. I imagine that and smiled.

             
I picked up the shoe and aimed it at a picture. It hit it dead on.

             
I picked it up and realized how I could escape.

             
I could become a gun—a shoe gun. I broke out in nervous giggles. I wondered if I was going as mad as Joel.

             
I went back to the closet and began pulling out shoeboxes. Joel had taken the sensible shoes, probably to keep me from escaping but I’ll run barefoot. I figured I can knock out the kid and grab his rifle.              I shoved all the shoes under the bed. Before I went to sleep I would put them under the pillow and whack that kid good. Better than what these monsters had in store for me.

             
I didn’t get a lunch and dinner was the same thing as last night, rice and beans and a cup of water. It came early while there was still plenty of light outside. No one took the paper plates and cups from yesterday. I stacked them on a dresser far from the door.

             
I took the food back to my bed and ate it, then sat on the bed Indian style waiting for Joel to arrive.

             
He came not long after, opening the door then closing it. I could see an armed man outside. This wasn’t the time for shoe throwing.

             
“Good news,” he said.

             
“You remembered to take your medication and now realize you’re insane.”

             
Joel laughed. I was being serious.

             
“I’ve decided to punish you and not kill you out right.”

             
“So I’m getting a spanking?” I said and looked at him slyly.

             
He didn’t take the joke. Instead he grabbed my arm and yanked me over to the window. I didn’t resist.

             
“Look outside Grace—“ he said. “Can you see the flag poles?”

             
I searched the ground watching the people work in the fields when my eyes caught the flagpoles near what looked like a guard house. Someone was lying against one.

             
“We decided that you will be on display in the courtyard with your back against the zombies and your front to the hot blinding sun for three days while everyone watches you. No food. No water. The zombies will be so close they can touch you. Not biting, of course, just touching.”

             
I didn’t respond. I remembered when that thing touched me.

             
Joel smiled. He found my weakness and knew it. “You like to shoot them, but not be near them without a weapon.”

             
I didn’t want him to see me scared. I stared at him defiantly.

             
“Your punishment starts tomorrow if it’s hot. I suggest drinking as much water as you can.”

             
I would, but didn’t say anything.

             
“If you survive, you can join the rest of people in the fields. We decided that while you share some responsibility of the virus outbreak, your father was the one who was guilty.”

             
“I realized what this is all about? It has nothing to do with my family. It’s because I told you no. You have a real problem with women, don’t you? You don’t have women as leaders at all.”

             
“I got no problem with women,” he said. “Even though I don’t how you survived with Rachel in charge. She had one job with me, medic. She couldn’t lead her way out of a paper bag. Not that Tanya seems much better, she’s uneducated thug.”

That bothered me. I saw Tanya reading books every chance she got. She cared about our group more than Rachel and Abe ever did. 

              “Is everything that comes out of your mouth a lie?”

             
“Not all.” He said with an amused look on his face.

             
“Dan said that your house burnt to the ground. He figured you were attacked.”

             
Joel didn’t say anything.

             
“You’re not the best leader either. Good leaders don’t need slaves. Tanya’s good enough, she even got me picking in the field.”

             
“She wasn’t there to help you when we took you. That’s what Big Bill said. He killed everyone in your Cantina, every single one. She was out having fun.”

             
“There were two kids in there. You think good leadership kills children?” Jim had also been there.

             
“Collateral damage.”

             
I knew I was dealing with a mad man.

             
“Joel, how did your former house catch fire?”

             
“I set it when the zombies got in. Got four of my men.”

             
“Were there a lot of zombies?’

             
“A few.”

             
I smiled, “So you couldn’t shoot fast enough to save your house? Couldn’t handle a few zombies? I know you have assault rifles. I took out about fifty of them once that way. You don’t even need to be a good marksman when you use one. You just let it rip and hope for the best.

             
He didn’t respond but he was getting mad.

             
“What did happen? I’m a good shooter, one of the best. A few zombies would have been nothing. Look at the way we cleaned out Harbor Heights. You call yourself a hunter? You’re a lousy hunter, lousy leader, and all around nut.”

             
He was mad now. I stuck a nerve. I wanted to keep him off balance and it wasn’t that unexpected when he slapped me hard across the face. Hard enough that I fell to the floor. It hurt. I’d never been hit before.