Medora Wars (19 page)

With her gas mask on and a black helmet covering her forehead, Dave couldn’t make out her face beneath the gear. “Yeah, yeah good idea.” He looked out again and saw that the horde had approached much faster than he thought possible. “Are they going to drop that airstrike any time soon? They’re probably just a little more than a football field away.”

Michaels responded with muffled nonsense as an orange flash erupted in front of them and sent a shockwave of air into Dave’s chest. He shielded his eyes for a moment, and then looked out as a cloud of body parts flew upward into the sky, mixed with black smoke and clouds of fire. For a small moment, the desert lit up with the light of a noonday sun, with shadows of falling bodies.

As the billows of smoke subsided, black droplets and chunks of charred remains rained down on top of them, splattering onto the tanks, and smacking onto the helmets of the ground teams. Dave breathed slowly and ducked as a blown-out ribcage with half a spinal cord attached to it flew over his head.

“Forward team, move out!” Douglas yelled.

Dave got to his feet as Michaels picked a scalp with hair attached off her shoulder, and kicked away what Dave thought was half of a pelvis, split down the middle. The shocker tank behind them lurched forward, prompting the forward team to move. Their boots stepped over terrain that had been instantaneously transformed from a desert into an outdoor butchering floor, with body parts strewn about as far as they could see ahead. The ground team picked up their march, maneuvering in between bodies as the entire convoy moved in a single file line toward the crater left behind from the airstrike.

“Let’s pick up the pace!” Douglas shouted out. The convoy picked up speed from behind, and the forward ground team began a brisk jog through the body parts with their boots splashing through the bloodied mud that had pooled across the terrain. They reached the edge of the airstrike impact and ran down a slope into the wide crater that was free of any human remnants. The shocker tanks followed from behind, bumping up and over the edge of the crater. The rest of the ground teams surrounded the tanks, with their EMP rifles pointing out.

“No stopping, keep moving!” Douglas said.

The ground beneath Dave’s boots was soft and unearthed from the blast, vibrating with heat. At the bottom of the crater there were no signs of the infected, only freshly churned dirt. He momentarily lifted his mask off his face and brought in a deep breath of fresh air. The forward team started to climb their way out of the other end as the first shocker tank reached the bottom, with the second arriving at the opening ridge. Dave stumbled after Michaels and Wang as they scrambled up the slope, with their rifles pointed upward.

Wang reached the ridge first, and paused to look over, then quickly fell backward.

“Oh, fuck me!” Wang yelled out.

Michaels ran up from behind him only to be tossed backward down the crater hill as bodies of the infected stumbled down from above. One by one, the infected tumbled down, clutching onto dirt and plant roots. One man rolled down sideways, knocking Dave to the ground. Frantically, he grabbed at his EMP-57 from beneath him and fired it up the hill, bringing several more of the infected to the ground, which caused them to roll on top of him. As an obese woman knocked into his chest, Dave unclasped his blade from behind, unsheathing it from his back. He got to his knees and brought the blade down onto the woman’s back. He looked up as Wang struggled to lift his rifle from beneath a man.

“Wang, hold on!” Michaels yelled out as she got to her knees and lifted her rifle. Before she could fire, a man in a police uniform fell on top of Wang, biting him on the neck. Michaels fired her rifle but not before Wang and the man stumbled backward down the hill, clear from the rifle’s pulse. They slid together until hitting the bottom of the crater where the infected man chewed on Wang’s neck, who cried out for help as bright blood burst forth.

“Forward team, retreat back to tank one and prepare for burst. We’ve reached the part of the horde out of the airstrike blast zone,” Douglas ordered into their earpieces.

Row after row of bodies fell down the ridge of the crater in front of the forward team. Dave lunged over several people toward Michaels, who grabbed onto his pack from behind, and thrust him down, making him summersault toward the tank.

Jacobs and Yen fired rifle pulses, from their knees, and fell backward as the bodies fell into them like a waterfall.

“Get down to the tank!” Michaels yelled over to them. The three ran down after Dave, who had already rolled to the tank back at the bottom of the crater.

“Tank One, fire!” Douglas yelled.

Dave dug his boot heels into the dirt, pressing himself against the hull of the shaking tank as the infected encircled around them, getting onto their hands and knees, with their eyes circling and jaws rattling.

Chapter Sixteen: Merida, Mexico

Malik sat at a small coffee table and took a lid off a jar that puffed with white powder as he tipped it into a bottle. He lifted the bottle up and inspected the level of powder within, filled the rest up with water, and stirred it with a spoon.

Carter, a young man in Army fatigues and buzzed hair, stared at him from across the room as a streak of sunlight shone over his face. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“It is of no concern to you.” Malik did not look up from the table.

“It worries me that you seem overly concerned about… petty things,” Carter said.

“This is none of your business—please go back to… whatever it was that you were doing.” Malik rummaged in the front pocket of his shirt for a nipple top and twisted it on top of the bottle. He got up from the table and went into an adjacent bedroom that was empty save for a single cardboard box in the corner. He knelt beside the box and opened a cardboard flap where a baby was bundled in loose newspapers. He lifted the baby out of the box and into his arms. He brought the bottle to the baby’s lips, making him slightly open his mouth to receive it. The baby sucked on the nipple for a moment, and then pushed it back out of his mouth.

“Malik,” a voice from behind said. “Come with me, please.” It was Atash.

Malik turned and saw Atash standing in the doorway. “Yes, yes, okay,” he sheepishly said, laying the silent baby back down into the box.

“Follow me out to the patio,” Atash said and walked out of the room.

Malik left the bottle at the side of the box and followed Atash, who walked by Carter, and moved out onto a concrete patio that overlooked the city. Malik rested his back against a cinderblock wall and looked out, concentrating on his breath. He imagined an empty, square room deep in the back of his mind that held no objects or emotions, and completely void of consequence or meaning.

“Tell me your thoughts, brother.” He heard Atash say from his side.

Malik opened his eyes and saw Atash smiling at him. “I have no thoughts.”

“That, my brother, is a beautiful thing.”

“Yes.”

“And why is it beautiful?”

“Because, when there is a vacuum in my mind and in my heart, I am free of preoccupation. It is impossible for me not only to have feelings of… regret or sadness if there are no thoughts to provoke those emotions.”

Atash spoke, “That concept is so easy to talk about but so very difficult to obtain. I believe I am finally seeing it within you. I’ve seen you grow in the fact that you recognize that growth is not necessary at all. Personal development is an illusion of the ego. There is no difference between your being and that wall behind you. As soon as you discover that, you will know that it doesn’t matter what happens to you. Live or die, it makes no difference, and I believe that you know that now. You know it deep inside of you, not just on your tongue.”

“You believe that?” Malik asked.

“Yes, I do. You’ve shed yourself of the man that you once were, and you know that you are merely an object. This is what our brotherhood is about, and it is why we are bringing this supposed… destruction to mankind. They see it as murder or genocide or whatever label they feel justifies their indignation, but we know it is relieving human beings from the dream of living. They will wake up and know that to have a tangible body is no privilege, but that it is indeed a trap. They will then know what it is to be unified with what they now believe to be God, but what we as brothers now understand, to be a beautiful nothing.”

“Thank you, brother.”

“Regret, fear, and guilt are foreign ideas to you now that were created by your Earthly body.”

“I know.”

“You’ll soon learn the ‘I’ in you, the person that is thinking your thoughts right now is also your enemy, and will eventually need to be purged. That, however, is for after your body is gone.”

“I understand,” Malik said.

Atash walked in front of Malik, obscuring his view of the city, and turned to face him. “I have news for you.”

“What is it?”

“We are going to meet the Sirr.”

“We are?”

“He has been impressed by our loyalty and that someone like you, previously so entrenched into the U.S. government, would become part of the brotherhood. He told me that he admires you.”

“I…” Malik stopped.

“What?”

“I’ve been wondering this whole time if he really even exists.”

“Yes, I thought that had been running through your mind. You’re not the first amongst us who has had similar doubts. It took me quite a long time and much patience to believe in him.”

“Where is he?”

“He is not here, and he won’t be coming here. You will know soon.”

“I understand.”

“I have other excellent news, Malik. Your work with Mr. Mayberry has proved to be extremely fruitful.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

“After your leak of information to him about our nuclear weapon plans, the Americans have begun doing exactly what the Sirr expected.”

“Did they find our undercover brothers in the nuclear stores?”

Atash laughed. “No, no, and they never will.”

“Why not?”

“Because they don’t exist,” Atash said, smiling.

“What do you mean?”

“We have no one from the brotherhood in any of their nuclear warehouses.”

“Oh…” Malik look out past his shoulder.

“What is the matter?” Atash asked.

“Nothing, nothing, please go on. What’s going on?”

“The Americans are moving their warheads.”

“Where?”

“We’re not sure at the moment, but every one of the nine warehouses has been covertly shipping out their warheads for the last two nights.”

“How do you know these things?”

“All that matters is that we know.”

“But, how? Who is telling you all this information?” Malik’s voice rose.

Atash stopped talking and put his hands down, staring at Malik. “Malik,” he said calmly. “Stop.”

“I’m sorry, brother.”

“You’ve come a long way, and you’re now trusted by the Sirr, but I will not tolerate confrontational language from you. You are not above my bullet, do you understand?”

“Yes.” Malik bowed his head.

“As I was saying,” he paused, continuing to stare at Malik, “I’m not sure for the moment where the warheads are going, but the Sirr will tell me once they get there. We will know their precise location, and that, my brother, is for another day. For now, I have an important task for you, and only you can do it.”

“What is it?”

“The child must die,” Atash said without hesitation.

“Yes, I think you’re right,” Malik replied quickly.

“Do you really feel that way or are you just saying what you know I want to hear?”

“No, you’re right—we need to get rid of it.”

“If you really feel that way, Malik, why have you so earnestly been taking care of it?”

“It’s a hostage. It’s leverage.”

“We no longer need leverage. The U.S. is already doing exactly what we want it to.”

“Then, yes, I agree the child must go.”

“I want you to do it.”

“You still don’t trust me,” Malik replied.

“I do, brother. I want you to do it for yourself. I believe by committing the act yourself, you will finally be free of all emotions that have to do with your own son. This will release you.”

“I see.”

“Can I trust you to do this?”

“Yes.”

“That means I won’t have to ask you again, and I consider the matter closed. You may proceed whenever you would like. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes. And what about the secret serviceman?”

“Kill him.”

“I will.”

“I would also like you to gather our witness and get ready to move out with her in an hour. Be at the airport by fourteen hundred. Why don’t you take her some food?”

“Yeah, I can… do that right now.” Malik walked inside, away from Atash’s quiet but constant stare. Inside, men sat at several folding tables, some examined rifles while others assembled packed lunches into brown paper bags. He walked by the table, grabbed a sack, and looked at three other men that stood at the side of the room. They sat completely nude and facing the wall, silent, fulfilling some punishment that Atash had given them. Malik moved past them, through a small kitchen area, out of the apartment, and into a hallway that had long since had any maintenance. Most of the carpet had been torn out, leaving a concrete floor with scattered stains. The entire building had been without power for some time, leaving the hallway lit by only the scant light that came in through holes in the building.

Malik walked down the hall and into another apartment, where a gas generator churned just inside the doorway, and other men sat cross-legged on the floor with their eyes closed and heads bowed. Moving quietly past them, he swung a corner and knocked on the only closed door in the apartment. After a pausing a moment, he turned the knob, and walked in.

“Hello, Elise,” he said and smiled.

Elise sat in her cot, her left leg tethered to a bolt in the wall by a long chain. “You’re such a fake,” she replied without looking up at him.

“It is pointless for you to be hostile to us. But I suppose there’s no point in being kind to us either—nothing will effect what is going to happen.”

“I’m not trying to get out of anything. I know you’re going to kill me. I would just like you to know that I know that you’re a fake.”

Malik only continued to smile at her. “I’ve brought you some lunch.” He held the bag out for her.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the bag from his hand, and setting it by her side. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

“I’d love to.” He sat in front of her on a short, metal stool.

“Malik,” she paused, waiting for his response, “don’t be too surprised that I know your name, these walls are pretty thin.”

“I have no problem that you know my name. I’ve nothing to hide.”

“Malik, every time you come in here you give me that smile.”

“Yes.”

“But it’s not your smile.” She opened her sack lunch and took out a small jar of rice.

He let out a short breath. “I know what you’re trying to do.”

“No, no don’t try to act like you come from a different place than I do—like you have some unique angle to the world that I couldn’t understand. We’re both Americans. We both drank Starbucks coffee and worked at some shitty government job, and went home at the end of the day to the same middle class home. We are not different.”

“I didn’t work in the government.”

“Ha, and I thought you said you had nothing to hide. That was a lie, and we both know it.”

“What makes you think that I worked in the government?” He looked down at his lap.

“Well, I wish I could tell you something clever like that I noticed the way you talked or walked or something, but like I said before, these walls are pretty thin. You know a lot about how things in D.C. work, you were definitely some government employee, although I haven’t quite guessed where. I’m thinking in the military somewhere, it fits your MO of being a deserter, etcetera.” She wound her hand around her wrist as she talked.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“If you claim to be so honest with me, and if you really have become part of this brotherhood that you’ve been going on so much about, you may as well tell me what your work was. You know, if you’re so ‘free’ of everything, then prove it.” She looked at him with her eyes bugging out.

“CIA.”

“Oh, wow. You really do plan on killing me if you don’t care that I know you were in the CIA.”

“I’m still in the CIA.”

Elise stopped eating and looked at him smiling. “Are you…?” She stopped and glanced over at the open door.

“An undercover agent?” he finished her sentence loudly.

“If you are, you’re not doing a very good job of keeping it secret.”

“Yes, I am an undercover agent, but I just work for the other side now.”

Her smile went away. “You mean you’re…”

“I’m with the brotherhood now.”

“So you’re a double agent now to the CIA and still, what, still talking to the government?”

“Oh, yes.”

She looked up at him, staring into his eyes. “What happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me.”

“No, no honey, Atash happened to you. You walk around trying to imitate his smile all day. I can see why though, he would be quite charming if he weren’t a psychopath. But something else happened to you. Who did you lose in the outbreak?”

“I didn’t lose anybody in the outbreak.”

“All right, well, you are suffering in some way, and it is messing with your head.”

“Elise, I’d like you to finish eating, and then we must leave soon.”