35 The Lone Zombie

The third night after our takeover of the director's office, Sandy and I go on a midnight stroll to the testing area, along the fence where zombies gather. They're actually a dozen or so feet away from the fence, thanks to the static generators, a stationary mob of over a thousand apread an arms length apart, waiting for stimulus. It's the "parking zone" where we keep zombies we haven't used in our test runs yet. We can pull as many as we want from Denver by turning on an attractor, but when we have more than enough we just let them stand outside the fence. As long as the static generators are on they won't leave and they won't come any nearer.

The moon is waning and won't rise until past midnight, so there is only starlight to guide us. We walk the long fence until we come to a place where a single figure stands on the other side, close in, an aberration among the formerly living. We come near enough to see it's Jaida. She looks rangy, skinny, and her hair is cut very short on top and buzzed on the sides. A recent scar cuts across the side of her head. She's standing not quite still, but shifting slowly like the dead do when they aren't sure if they want to go somewhere or not. When she recognizes us, her face breaks into a very lively grin.

"Living Jesus, it is you!" Sandy puts her thin hands through the fence to touch Jaida, welcome her back among the lists of the living. "We thought forever you had died in Moab. What happened? Did Alfred make it?"

"The kingdom was waiting for us in Moab. We got shot and had to jump in the river to survive. It took us weeks to be able to travel again. Alfred's leg is permanently damaged, and he's caught an infection."

"We thought you might need some things," said Sandy, "including medicine."

I heave the bag we brought with us over the fence, and it lands near Jaida with a soft thump. There's quite an assortment of things inside but the important items are antibiotics, antiseptic, new zombie control devices, and a USB drive loaded with hundreds of one-time pads for encoding messages. Jaida cries, and kisses the backs of Sandy's hands.

I wish I could fit my hands through the chain link and touch her, like Sandy does. "It's incredible you're still in the field, Jaida. You two are epic."

"Denver is rich pickings. Besides," she sniffed, "there's nowhere else to go. Sojourners are off the air."

"They went to California. We got in touch with them before the kingdom got us. They were gone before the NKA took Green River. I'm pretty sure they're safe from the kingdom."

"Thanks the gods." Jaida leans her forehead against the fence, "It won't last, though. New Kingdom Army is all west of the Rockies, taking over settlements, turning them into colonies. You barely hear half of what they're doing on the radio."

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"Shit." I thought of all the men whose lives I saved by telling Ludovic he didn't have to actually fight zombies. All I had really accomplished was to free up men for conquest, and handed them the resources they needed to be effective. "That's kind of my fault, I think."

"You gave him the 'don't fight the zombies' speech didn't you?" Jaida had heard that speech at least a dozen times. "We were watching the city from Boulder, and noticed the sudden change in strategy. We figured it was your work. Don't blame yourself, E. They're the assholes, not you."

Sandy looked worried. "How bad is it?"

"Bad. Remember the Cañaros? They joined the kingdom. They had to, or die. Those people at Fish Lake, the ones with the hairy women? They fought to the last man, and the kingdom killed everyone but a few of the younger women and girls. Settlements we never heard of are kingdom property now. The NKA has real mass, serious reach. Everywhere from here to Sierra Nevada will be Ludovic's baby-making factory by the end of the year."

"They'll make for the coast next year" I thought aloud, "and they'll start with the nicest places." I remembered three unfortunate stragglers at Crush Manor, and wondered if they were still alive. It would be a shame for them to survive the destruction of their settlement, only fall under the thumb of the kingdom. Jules and his two boys might be out that way, too.

"Guys, I'm sorry, but we can't get you out yet. When Alfred is well enough we can do something, but I don't want to move him right now. His fever …".

"It's fine," said Sandy, looking at me for confirmation, "isn't it? We can wait a while longer."

"We're in a good position here. Safer than you are. We can take some time to make up a plan. Now that I'm director, and we've thrown Hector off the scent, we have some leeway."

"Hector?" Jaida looked wary. "What did he do?"

We told Jaida about Hector, and for a while she stood there with her eyes closed, holding on to the fence between us for support. "Moron! I'm not even going to kill him," she said, eventually. "I'm going to chain him in a basement and leave him."

We don't want to part, but eventually we have to. We agree on signals and a dead drop method, and Jaida clings to Sandy's hands for a while. When Jaida leaves she floats away into the horde, bag over her shoulder, shambling like she's one of them. They move aside for her, then close ranks after she has passed.

That night we lay in bed together in our recently upgraded suite, while two rooms away Tamala was being entertained by one of her selected studs. It sounded like she was making up for lost time and she didn't care who knew about it. Ordinarily that might have been arousing, but desire and sleep were drowned out by the news Jaida had brought us.

Sandy said it first. "They're not safe."

"The Ecklunds?"

"Them too. I was thinking of Rachel and her baby. They won't be safe while the kingdom exists. And what if we have a girl?" Sandy rolled onto her side to look at me. "I don't think I can let a girl grow up in New Kingdom, with the lottery over her head and a four baby minimum. What if she's gay, like Jaida? I won't let her have the same life I did."

"It would take something really destructive to stop them. Even if we pull it off, it could kill us. All three of us. I can't ask you to …"

"We're in," she said with one hand on the baby, "both of us. Whatever it takes."

That was the most surprising thing about Sandy: that she could be so fierce. While I was sick, she went hunting for the people who killed her Sojourner friends. When Dragon Ball attacked her, she steeled herself for the worst without pleading or crying. Sandy was willing to bring her baby into a fight to the death, for the sake of its future.

"All right then." I pulled her closer and arranged her body for my personal comfort, skin touching skin, one hand held in mine, our faces almost touching. "We'll live free or die."