End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle (34 page)

             
Instead of taking me to an empty pole, Joel took me to the man tied to one of them. He had his head down but what I can see was terrible, his shirtless skin was bright red and his blond hair ragged. Several of the zombies had gotten their hands through the chain link fence but he didn’t flinch when they touched him.

             
“Tommy?” Joel said. The man put his face up. I couldn’t fucking believe it. It was Tommy Haldish.

             
“Joel—please I’m sorry. I can’t take another day of this. You said I would be done, you said I would be off yesterday.”

             
“You helped people escape, Carla was the bad influence.”

             
“You killed her you bastard.” Tommy said, his lips cracked and parts bleeding.

             
“She betrayed me. I gave her a home and a gun. Besides it was nice and wet yesterday. One more day Tommy. By the way, this is Grace. She’ll be joining you.”

             
Tommy didn’t acknowledge me. He wouldn’t know who I was. My brother teased me merciless that I had a crush on an actor, an actor that was now tied to a pole burning to death.

             
Joel dragged me away from him to a pole at the end.

             
“What have you done to him?”

             
“Didn’t know you liked actors? He’s just a regular person, right? Isn’t that what you said?” He shoved me against the pole. I fell against it because my hands were tied.

             
The kid with the broken nose stood next to the pole with a bullhorn. He handed it to Joel.

             
“Attention!” he yelled through it. “This is Grace Hamilton Sinclair. We have found that her father Timothy Sinclair and her brother Joseph Sinclair guilty of spreading the Hell virus and she is guilty by default. She will spend three days on the pole. If she survives, she shall become pure and renewed and will join our collective.”

             
I giggled loudly, so much that I actually snorted like common folk. This annoyed Joel so I kept on doing it until he made a move to hit me.

             
The men untied me. I went limp, so they dragged me to the pole. They forced me to sit then tied me to the thin pole that was solid enough not to break. They similarly tied my legs to stakes in the ground. The zombies behind me began to moan. I heard the chain from the fence rattle, I worried it would break. Tied up with no gun made me no match for the zombies.

             
Joel looked at me and smiled. He touched my cheek which now had a bruise from when he hit me. “Have fun Grace, you’ll might be defiant today but the next day you’ll beg for everything.”

             
“Never.” I said.              “I won’t beg. I’ll ask.”

              For the first few hours the only issue was boredom and listening to the stupid moans the zombies made. So far none of the zombies figured out how to get their hand through the holes in the fence.

I looked over to Tommy who was leaning forward with his head down and his medium length hair covering his face. That beautiful hair I used to wish I could rub my hands through. I lost interest in him when I went to college but I never forgot my girlish crush.

              Three of the zombies had gotten their arm through and were swatting at him.

             
“Get away!” I yelled but they didn’t listen. Tommy didn’t move. I thought he was dead but his chest moved up and down.

             
“Tommy,” I said. I didn’t want to yell but I didn’t know if he could hear me. He looked up, stared directly at me and put his head down again.

             
Something yanked my hair hard enough my head tapped the pole but not enough to hurt that much. I pulled forward but it had my hair strongly in its grasp and began to pull back again. It moaned loudly as if it captured a prize.

             
I pulled my head forward as hard as I could and felt the pain and heard the sound of ripping as I freed my beautiful now damaged hair from the creature. I tossed it forward and my blond hair fell in my face. Now I knew why Tommy had his head down.

             
I tried to imagine myself at the beach getting a nice tan, but then the fingers began touching my back, almost caressing but the skin felt cold and dry. I flinched every time. I tried to move forward but the rope was too tight. I didn’t dare move my head back. The hand tried to move my shoulder back with a surprisingly strong grip, but it didn’t realize I was tied to the pole.

             
I felt the urge to use the bathroom from all the water I drank, but I didn’t act on it yet. I looked over to Tommy keeping my hair to the side wishing that I had cut it short but I always loved that it was long, slightly wavy even without my weekly hair stylist. My father said I would win beauty pageants just for my hair. He always said I could win anything I wanted.

             
I flinched again when one of them ran his fingers down my back. It was missing one because I felt a gap between the middle finger and pinky. I flinched and cried out. I don’t know if I could do this all day. The heat was one thing, but I couldn’t stand feeling the dead fingers on me.

              “Grace,” the frail voice that belonged to my father said. He used to have such a strong voice. He reached out and stroked my face with ice cold fingers.

             
“Daddy,” I said, taking his hand. “Joe is calling for a helicopter.”

             
“It’s not coming,” he said. “Nothing is coming, I’m sorry Grace.”

             
“Sorry for what?”

              I opened my eyes because something had my hair again. I felt roasted and I had wet myself. Joel was wrong. I wasn’t going to be defiant in the morning, I was going to beg to be freed, admit to anything. Tell him I released the virus for fun and profit. I pulled my head forward felt the pain of more strands ripping as the zombie did not want to let go. I didn’t know how I fell asleep with their moaning and pawing or maybe I passed out. I lifted my head and looked around but it was hard as the sun was directly in my eyes. At least that meant it was afternoon. The sun would be going down and the temperature would drop.

             
I felt hot, thirsty, sick and my neck hurt from leaning over, I held down the nausea. I knew vomiting would be a bad idea. I wished they would stop touching me.

             
People were working in the field. They didn’t stare at us but occasionally when a guard wasn’t looking, one of them would look at us and look away. I wanted to yell at them to overpower the guards and free me. Give me a rifle and all their problems would be over but they looked hot and overworked. I noticed that the guards were the ones to bring them water and it wasn’t very often. I didn’t see Aisha. I felt blind. I looked away from the sun and towards Tommy who was still looking down, still breathing.

             
“Tommy,” I said. He didn’t look up.

             
My legs were asleep I tried to wake them up by moving around but the restraints kept me from real movement.

             
I thought about daddy, about what Joel found, and why daddy said he was sorry when he was dying.

             
I knew I was sunburned and another day of this I might have some serious burns. Did Joel plan to put me right into the fields the day after or was he going to give me a chance to recuperate. When I slept would I get an occasional visit from Bill?

             
I thought about Tanya. Were they looking for me? Would they find me? Or did they decide I wasn’t good enough to look for?

              Night helped until I started to feel the burning. Before the light was gone, I could see my legs were bright red and I assumed every place the sun touched was the same color. I guess Tanya was right about me being white bread. Now I was toasted.

             
Then I started crying.

              “Grace I’m sorry,” he said, again. His skin felt dry cracked and cold. He was a zombie who could still talk but all he kept saying was sorry.

             
“Sorry for what, daddy?” Sorry for killing the world? Killing Joe? Putting me into this ridiculous situation?

              “Psst, Princess?”

             
Did I fall asleep or pass out? Was I still at Costking, safe from people like Joel. I didn’t know what day it was or time, but I was blinded. It took me a moment to realize it was dark, I wasn’t in Costking and I was still tied to a pole to be roasted alive.

             
“Psst, Princess, can you hear me?” I could barely hear over the hunger moans of zombies desperate to get passed the fence and to my flesh.

             
Something was raised to my lips. I tasted the outer rim of plastic and the delightful taste of that stale water. I drank it all, gulped it down so fast I got cramps. I did not care. When I was done the cup moved away.

             
“More,” I said, surprised how hoarse my voice was.

             
“I can only carry two, one for you, one for Tommy.” The voice belonged to a kid.

             
“Who are you?”

             
“Ariel, Aisha’s sister.”

             
“How did you get out? Can you free me?”

             
“There’s a floorboard in the bunkhouse. I’m the only one who can fit. When people are out on the poles, I try to sneak out and give them water. Sorry, I can’t free you. We tried once. That person was caught and tossed to the zombies. Joel wanted to know who freed him—I wanted to speak up but the adults said no. They needed me because I was the only one who could get out. Daria, who we knew from the camp, who kept an eye on us after our mother died took the blame and Joel killed her.

             
“It wasn’t your fault. It’s all Joel’s fault. Remember that always.”

             
I felt Ariel come closer. I could barely see her. She felt warm and alive. I only saw lights from the house.

             
“I’m going to put something on your back. It’s a scarf. You won’t feel the zombies that much through it. Oleana is the forewoman. She gets up just before dawn. She’ll come take it off before the guards can see.”

             
“Can you push my hair up front?”

             
Ariel didn’t respond but I felt her warm hands moving my hair upfront then she messed it up a lot. I felt her in the back, swatting away the zombie hands as she placed the scarf around my neck.

             
“Sorry,” she said. “The rumor is Joel is really enjoys watching the zombies pull your hair. I gotta make it look like you did yourself.”

             
“Ariel, can you get off the estate? My people are on Harbor Island.”

             
“I don’t know. We haven’t found a place without guards or zombies. Tommy and Carla tried to help someone off, but they were caught.” She stopped talking for a moment. “We’re planning a revolt.”

             
“Tonight?”

             
“No, we don’t know yet. We weren’t sure what to do. We’re figuring after you do your time on the pole and recover, we can plan something. Aisha said you can shoot anything and you’re fast.”

             
“Get me a rifle, one with lots of bullets and I’ll shoot whoever you want, starting with Joel—“

             
“Worry about that later. I gotta give Tommy a drink. I don’t wanna be gone that long. Listen, Aisha wants to know how everyone is.”

             
I didn’t respond. How do I tell a ten year old that so many people have died?

             
“She’s says don’t sugar coat. Our momma died, Daria died, Joel is working us to death. We don’t need to be sheltered.” With so many dead, I tried to think of who Aisha was close to. 

             
“It’s not good. Tanya’s alive but Jim might not be. Rachel and Maddie have been dead for a year. She’s going to be hurt about Maddie.”

             
Ariel didn’t respond to what I said, instead she said. “Gotta go.” I heard her move off. She was quiet and her voice was so low I couldn’t what she was saying to Tommy. I couldn’t hear anything over the moan of zombies.

Chapter 23

              Oleana, a middle age pudgy white woman with short brown hair, took my scarf as light appeared in the sky. She didn’t say a word to me or Tommy who also had one. She walked passed us, yanking it off and putting into a large basket, probably meant for fruit. Tommy was still breathing but his head was down.

             
Later, I don’t know how long. The light finally came up along with the heat. The sun streamed through a cloudless sky. No protection from it except for the shadows of the zombies behind me and my own hair. I could feel the zombies on me again; their dry fingers moving over my sunburnt skin. But now like Tommy, I no longer flinched.

             
Joel, Bill and Broken Nose went to Tommy first. When Joel tried to talk to him, he didn’t respond. I knew he was alive because his chest was moving. Joel talked louder but it didn’t make a difference.

             
I giggled and Joel gave me a funny look. He nodded to Bill to cut him loose. Tommy crumpled to the ground and didn’t move. Joel said nothing and I watched Bill and Broken Nose drag Tommy away. After they were done, Joel walked over to me.

             
“Morning, Grace, how are you feeling. I see you peed yourself. I can’t believe it of a nice lady like you.” He was trying to get a rise out of me but I wasn’t going to give him the pleasure.

             
“I’d spit on you, if I had any saliva left. How’s that for lady like—“  My voice was slightly less hoarse because of the little water I had last night.

             
“Ready to beg, Grace. If you beg, I might cut you loose right now.”

             
“I don’t beg. Not today or tomorrow. I would appreciate if you freed me.” I said, thinking of that cup of water and the people in the fields were thinking of revolt. I had to survive.

             
“Thomas has heat stroke,” he said. “I’ve seen it before. He might survive, but I don’t know how much damage the heat did. Not like there are a lot of hospitals around. I would hate for that to happen to you, headaches, vomiting, fever, cramps and death. ”

             
I didn’t respond.

             
“Tomorrow you’ll beg, because if you don’t, I might just decide to leave you another day or two out here. Gonna be a hot one today. I see the zombies like you—a lot.”

             
I stared at him instead. I was too tired and hot to speak but I stared at him and gave him a look of daggers.

             
Joel didn’t respond. He walked closer to me. I smelled his awful breath and that he didn’t shower. He took my blond hair, which Ariel had arranged to cover my face. He grabbed as many strands as possible and tugged it hard. Then he moved it back until a zombie grabbed it.

              “Grace, I’m sorry.”

I wanted to tell Daddy to shut up. I wanted him to tell me why he was sorry.

             
The agonizing heat cramps came around noon along with a blinding headache. Everything felt hot and painful and I felt nauseous. The headache felt like I was being stabbed in the eye. Joel might be right, I should have begged. He won’t know I’d be lying. I couldn’t die here, not before killing Joel. I could pretend he won.

             
If it was pretend.

He might laugh and still leave me on for the rest of the day
the way he did with Tommy. The cramps were in my leg. I used to get them jogging. I wanted to stand up and massage them but I couldn’t because I was tied up. I tried moving my legs but it didn’t help. I needed to stand and walk around. As soon as I rode the cramp, another started more painful than the first. I wanted it to stop. I cried not caring if the field workers or the guards heard me or Joel would hear about it later. I wanted to go home, ride Euclid, and see my rifle and friends again.

The zombies were on me again, moaning like madmen. I didn’t know how many hands I felt, caressing me. They were all trying to pull me towards them, still not realizing I was tied to the pole.

I heard the chain link fence rattle loudly and the moaning got louder. It shook so much I felt the vibrations in the ground. A moment later a guard, white and non-descript just like most of Joel’s men, appeared with a rifle in my line of vision. If I was only free. He aimed but not at me. He fired three shots and I felt some of the hands fall away. The man said nothing; did not even acknowledge my existence. He walked away without a word. I struggled on the pole but I was not going anywhere.

             
I had been momentarily distracted by what happened but then the cramps returned and my head throbbed. I had two blisters on my legs, second degree burns. I wished I had hair there. I had waxed with horrible store bought wax only last week.

             
I cried even more when I realized I had forgotten to miss Daddy or Joe. I wanted daddy to come, kill all the monsters and save me. I wanted to be home again, getting ready for my next year of college. I wanted to rib Joe, see my grandmother, go to dainty parties to meet boring boys, hope my mother would call, and have Edina bring me a snack and ask me about school. 

             
But none of that would happen. And I hated it because that world was dead and never coming back.

              I’m sorry Grace, Daddy told me. He wasn’t lying in bed, dying. We were in his study, a place he rarely allowed me in.

             
“Why, Daddy?” I asked, “because of the virus?”

             
“No,” he said and gave a sad smile. “Because I sheltered you too much, because I didn’t let you see the real world. I didn’t prepare you for this.”

             
“This is different.”

             
“I did not let anything bad touch you. I did not challenge you to learn about the world, beyond the wealthy. The world is beautiful and sometimes deadly.”

             
“But you made sure I had some skills.”

             
“Not that kind of skills, shooting has helped you along so far, but soon the shooting will be less, lawlessness will end, and your skills won’t be wanted as much. That’s when you have to put down your gun and become one with society.”

              Explosions. Screaming, men shouting. I opened my eyes and I had no idea what happened. Did I hear an explosion or dream it?

             
I smelled the strong scent of burning wood, heard the crackling of fire and people around me, both guards and field hands alike were yelling. The zombies were moaning as well excited by the turn of events.

             
Even though I could barely move, I managed to move my head. The guard house that stood about 30 feet away from me was engulfed in flames. This wasn't a dream.

             
“Help,” I said, but it came out a whisper. Was this the revolt? Or did Joel get tired of this house and decided to burn it down?

             
Whatever had happened knocked down part of the fence near the guard house. The zombies slowly moved in, trying to figure a way to get over the trench, excited at so many people around. Eventually they would end up walking on top of each other to escape. Here I was a sitting duck. Around me, like a movie, people scattered. From Joel’s uniformed men to the people in the fields. It was utter chaos.

             
A white SUV smashed through the flaming gate and pulled to a stop as soon as it was clear of the fire. The doors opened and four people emerged including three women dressed in black riot gear with helmets. The sole man held a rocket launcher which was empty but smoking. Now I knew what blew up the guardhouse. He took it off his shoulder and placed it in the car.

They began shooting at the guards some of which returned fire. The field hands ran off in different directions. Some ran through the burning gate, others ran towards a large barn like structure. I waited for someone to help me. I pulled at the stakes but they were heavy in the ground. This was not the way I wanted to die.

Finally someone noticed I was tied to the ground and ran to me. It was a black man about my age, good looking, wearing a fishing hat. He carried a hoe which he used to break my bonds. He first broke the rope tied to the pole. I moved my arms and massaged my legs. He then broke the rope holding my legs down. I was free.

After almost two days tied up, I could barely move. I lifted my arms and pushed but my legs wouldn’t obey.

I didn’t say anything, but the man understood. He came to the ground and lifted me to my feet, but I began faltering, so he held on. I willed my legs and feet to walk.

Someone ran towards me holding a rifle. It was Aisha. Her sister was having trouble keeping up. I don’t know where she got the rifle but didn’t care. When she handed it to me, I felt like I got a limb back. I looked to the black man and said. “Turn me around towards the zombies.”

The guy looked confused but did what I asked. I now faced the zombies in the trench. They began moaning in excitement. Other zombies were moving their way. I checked the magazine, fourteen rounds left.

I shot 10 of them. I knew I was in bad shape because I had to hit two of them twice to get a head shot. I didn’t get them all but enough for them to be less of a bother. I wanted to make sure I had two shots: one for Joel and one for Bill.

              My legs were filled with pins and needles but I was feeling them again. I felt hot and nauseous.

             
One of the women wearing riot gear came over to me. I lifted the gun in case she was hostile but when she raised her helmet, it was Tanya underneath. She looked sweaty and uncomfortable.

             
“Hi,” she said.

             
“Can I have the assault rifle?”

             
“You can barely stand up.”

             
“Give me an assault rifle.” I said but my head was swimming.

             
“I’m Ryan,” the man said, holding me. “She’s been out in the sun for two days. You got to get her cooled.”

             
“Cool me later. I got someone to kill.”

             
“Get in line,” Tanya said.

             
“Jim?”

             
“Jim’s hurt but alive. We lost a lot of people.”

             
I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to admit I was relieved about Jim but felt nothing for the others.

             
“Aisha,” Tanya said, then hugged the girl tightly but only for a moment. “How many men Joel got?”

             
“He has 23 men and 3 women. His men dress in fatigues but there are maybe 10 who are true believers. The rest should scatter or surrender.''

             
“You want Joel and Bill. Bill likes to rape.” I said. Tanya gave me a look but didn’t say anything.

             
“There were three in the guardhouse when it exploded,” Ryan added.

             
I looked at the man with the missile launcher and knew it was Mike. I think I fell in love with him right there.

             
Ryan helped me to the SUV where I found that the others in the car were Annemarie and Dena.

             
“Grace,” Mike said, lifting the mask. “Sorry we couldn’t rescue until now. I had the ammo but we needed riot gear. We found some at a police station.”

             
“Can I have an assault rifle?”

             
He looked at me and then looked at Ryan holding me up.

             
“And a glass of water and an aspirin?” My adrenaline was up. The fact that I was crisp toast was put on the backburner, pun intended, my thought centered on putting a bullet through Joel’s head.

             
Mike didn’t say anything. He reached into the SUV, pulled out a bottle of water and gave it to me. He reached into his pack and nabbed a bottle. He opened it and handed me two pills. I took the pills and drank slowly. When he seemed satisfied I drank enough, he reached in again and handed me the assault rifle. Daddy said it was overkill but I think some overkill was expected now.

             
“All loaded.”

             
“Thanks.”

             
“Aisha,” Tanya said. “Find yourself and the others a good place to hide.”

             
“The bunkhouse. My sister can get people there. Give me a gun. I’m going with you.”

             
“You’re too young—“ Tanya started.

             
“Tanya,” she said, her voice while still sounded like a kid had a mature edge to it. “I can tell you who’s a threat and who isn’t.”

             
I handed the rifle Aisha gave me back to her. “Two shots left. Make them count.”