North Lee Street, Morrow, Clayton County, Georgia. Tuesday, October 29th, 2019. 07:30
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Should anyone care to look East, they would see a faint orange glow.
Three lanterns shone on two girls in the middle of the street. Still hugging each other, Sara was trying to comfort and calm Mary.
"Who goes there?" Sara recognized Joe's voice.
"Hey, Joe! It's me, we're okay!" She called, pushing her disgust for the rude man aside. "We got attacked by dogs!"
"Damn, woman. Every time trouble happens, you are in the middle of it," Joe cursed. "Why are you two violating curfew?"
"Curfew? Since then there's a curfew?" Pulling Mary along with herself, Sara stood up and raised her hand to block the light.
"I got this, Joe," Trevor clapped the southerner's shoulder and dragged him back with some force, taking the lead. "It's because of these dogs. Hainsworth set a curfew."
"A warning would've been nice," Sara grumbled. "The dogs are dealt with, nevertheless."
"If you weren't going around on your crazy drug trips, you'd know, girl!" Joe berated.
Trevor jogged forward and approached. "Are either of you hurt?"
"Just a scratch, we'll be fine. This is dog blood. Mary?"
"I'm fine," Mary mumbled.
"What are you girls doing out here this early?" He asked, a bit suspicious.
"We were going to hit the gym and get some exercise. Guess we won't anymore. So, about this curfew? What were these dogs doing?"
"This dog pack used to come out at night, and they tried to attack people a few times. They don't come near the streetlights and Hainsworth told us to not shoot them." Trevor's flashlight went from dead dog to dead dog. "But it really seems you didn't get the memo."
"A blood bath, that's what happened here," Joe whistled. "Look at these cuts! Damn, girl. You are a savage."
"Damn right I didn't," Sara groused, ignoring Joe's verbal stabs. "I don't fault Hainsworth for not letting people shoot stray dogs but he didn't have the full intel on their situation. I have dire news, Trevor. We need to gather the Avengers."
"If you can joke like that, then you surely are okay," Trevor chuckled, "Which one are you?"
"Wolverine," Sara said straight away. "Snikt, snikt, bub. Now, seriously, wake everyone up. Hainsworth, Keynes, Patricia, whoever else you think should be there."
Sara could feel Mary's stomach lurch with some muffled chuckles.
"Sounds about right, a murderin' psycho," Joe's remark was duly ignored.
"I'll get the boss," Trevor took his radio and called Hainsworth.
"Uh, right, I got one of those too." Sara stammered. "It's in my pack actually."
The man stared with a raised eyebrow and used his radio. Hainsworth replied and agreed to an emergency meeting.
Sara pulled Mary along with her. "Come, let's go."
*
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*
Women's dressing room, Administration building, Clayton State University, Morrow, Clayton County, Georgia. Tuesday, October 29th, 2019. 08:10.
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Even with the emergency summons, everyone still took the better half of an hour to get ready and presentable. Even Sara and Mary had to hit the showers and change into clean clothes borrowed from a locker room turned communal wardrobe people often donated to from their looting. She spotted several clothes with the shop tags still on, probably brought from Southlake Mall by the branding on the tag. And huge boxes with the Amazon logo full of sneakers and flip-flops of all sizes.
The number of shipping companies in the neighborhood was staggering, thanks to the huge airport acting as a major travel and shipping hub.
"Mary, come here and let me fix your hair again," Sara said. "I'll try to cover the bald spots the best I can." Obediently, Mary sat down on the bench while Sara did her best to pin the other girl's hair to hide the damage. "If you feel anxious or something, talk to me."
"Uh-hum," Mary hummed in agreement. Sara could tell she was still shaken from the encounter.
"I mean it, Mary. Don't hurt yourself anymore. Let me see your hands."
"Yes, mom," Mary scrunched her nose as she lifted her hands. Sara inspected the fingernails, then gave her a gentle squeeze. "How's your arm?"
Sara showed her the bandaged arm, "It's healing, the wound wasn't as deep as I thought after I cleaned it up."
"That's good," Mary whispered to herself. "I was so afraid." She pulled Sara closer and leaned her head on the girl's stomach.
"It was my fault for getting us started that earlier."
"Where did you learn to fight?"
"I didn't. Trust me, if I knew my way around a gun and a knife, those dogs would've never touched me."
"You still looked like someone out of a superhero series or a book," Mary almost swooned. "Are you even human? Like, did your parents send you here on a space... shit, sorry!" She clamped down on her mouth.
"No. I'm neither Superman nor Jesus. And I'm pretty sure my parents were normal humans like you and me. Though I never met them. But, I did a lot of hospital exams at a time, they would've found something amiss, right?"
"And the way your skin tan, that's not normal either!" Mary added. "What else are you hiding?"
Sara didn't reply straight out. She pondered about what to say, then decided to be honest. "A lot. Look, we have to go, I'll talk to you about that later. Now, calm down and stand still or your hair will become a bird's nest!"
Sara finished grooming Mary and the two went on their way to the meeting room.
"I envy you," Mary said. "You have all the kiddie clothes to yourself."
Not sure if Mary was teasing or complimenting, Sara went for the safer option, at least in her head. Fight back. "Yeah, can't see you in a size zero. You'd rip the shirts like the Hulk just by inhaling."
"Oh, you daren't!" Mary waved an angry fist at the girl.
Sara crouched, giggling, "Watch out, danger of flying blouse buttons!"
Suddenly self-conscious, Mary blushed and asked as she tugged at her blouse. "Is it too tight?"
There she went, shifting moods like dust devils in the wind.
Feeling guilty, Sara softened. "No, you're looking great. Seriously!" Mary growled. "Hey, don't go turning green and becoming all muscular, she-hulk."
"You're insufferable," Mary whined.
Near the meeting room, Sara stopped and took some devices out of her bloodstained backpack. "Can you help me with these?"
With Mary's help, Sara hid three Go Pro cameras and two cellphones to record video and audio during the meeting before entering the room. She didn't trust Hainsworth and wanted proof of what was said if he tried anything funny.
"Now, don't go bathing in the blood of puppies wearing these," Mary teased. "Good luck with the boss man."
They entered the meeting room. Everyone was already there.
*
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*
Meeting Room, Administration Building, Clayton State University, Morrow, Clayton County, Georgia. Tuesday, October 29th, 2019. 08:15.
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Breakfast was served at the meeting table and everyone ate together. At Hainsworth's directions, nobody was supposed to talk business before they all finished eating. Sara was delighted they had fresh milk and steaming bread. Sara had her milk just the way she liked, mixed with a large serving of honey and nothing else. Trevor commented that the team sent to the farms brought some dairy cows back to campus along with the one they butchered two days ago.
Mary declined to attend the meeting and left after eating her fill. She went to the administration lounge, intent on enjoying a well-earned respite after her canine ordeal.
Now, with the food gone and the plates stacked on a corner table, they were ready to talk.
"Before we go any further, Brett and I have great news to share. Brett?"
"We managed to contact Washington, DC yesterday. The presidential bunker, more precisely. President Cruz and a few other top-government officials survived. They are in a bunker somewhere north of DC."
It seemed like Brett had flicked on the Hope switch. The news that President Ted Cruz was alive and the federal government wasn't extinct was exactly like a single light casting away the darkness. As if all they needed to do was wait out the storm and then everything would go back to normal.
Sara, as usual, was skeptical and worried. What burden would the government put on the people? How would it clash with the System? She couldn't let people know she was the one holding the keys and setting the rules. The government would obviously try to seize control of it. Sara wouldn't let them even if she had to play it dirty.
Her impression of the former Texas Senate rep, now elevated to the White House had a reputation of being polarizing and outspoken. He usually knew what he wanted and had a strategy to obtain that with small regard for the eggs he would need to break. That didn't made him many friends on either side of the aisle, not that he seemed to care much. Would that guy leave the System alone after he understood its potential? Not a chance.
She preferred the Obama administration though she didn't identify as a democrat supporter.
The girl was so caught in her musings and worries that she was startled when hainsworth addressed her.
"Sara, Trevor told me you have some dire news for us," he started the official meeting.
"Yes. Before we get to the main topic, I want to talk about the dogs I killed this morning. Not only dogs but any animal that consumes human flesh is going to get corrupted. Corrupted animals are tainted by the same energy that animates corpses into ghouls along the freeways. The critters aren't undead and don't carry the same threat as the ghouls but are still dangerous. I suggest you start shooting the corrupted animals on sight. This has implications with what I came to say."
People stared at her and she knew they didn't understand everything she said. Joe was scowling but otherwise silent.
She took some time to organize her thoughts. "I guess I should explain. This might sound ridiculous a month ago but so was the notion of corpses walking. The energies animating the dead and corrupting the animals who eat human flesh come from Hell. Yeah, the place with demons and rivers of lava and the wailing souls of the damned. There's more to it but for now, it should be enough."
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Sara spoke from memory and the haunting tone in which she explained things made several people shudder.
"That in itself is bad enough, but Halloween is in two days. The Infernal energies are currently restrained to the freeways. But during Halloween, the dead and the cursed ones will be free to roam, and they want their vengeance."
"That's absurd!" Joe spat. "This girl is crazy and high on drugs. Why are we wasting—"
"Joe, stop," Keynes warned.
"She's unhinged, detective!" Joe protested and pointed at her. "She murdered a bunch of dogs, bathed in their blood, and screamed like she was the one possessed by Hell. I watched it from the guard post."
Sara glared silently. She wished nothing less than dragging Joe down into a word fight or even punch the guy in the face or nuts. Regardless of her base instincts, she kept her cool and let him run his dirty mouth.
"Enough," Hainsworth cut in before things got worse. "Sara, how did you come to know all that?"
"I have privileged information but I cannot divulge how I know it. I'm under an NDA," she lied, "which won't expire until after the first week of November."
"Bullshit," Joe quipped. "That's too convenient."
"Sara, we need to know your source. It's a matter greater than some contract, people's lives might depend on it," The military man bargained.
"I thought you'd play the 'national security' card," Sara smiled. "But that's close enough. Sorry, I cannot reveal that. All I can tell is that my patron is opposed to the forces plotting humanity's demise."
"Girl, give me a whiff of what you're smoking, I wanna see God too," Joe cackled.
"That's not enough," Hainsworth shook his head.
Sara stood up and went to the used tableware. She picked a steel spoon and a butter knife and brought them back to the table.
"You need a little 'faith', major," Sara challenged.
She held the spoon between her hands and boosted Prowess. Sara curled the handle near the tip where the steel was thickest, then kept bending until the handle was coiled over the bowl. She flicked the bent spoon spinning over the table toward Joe. Then she took the knife, circulated mana around her hand as she imbued it, and slashed twice, cutting a wedge out of the tabletop. She grabbed the wooden triangle mid-air before it fell to the floor, stabbed the wood block with the blunt knife, and slid it over the damaged table in Keynes' direction. The look on the detective's face was priceless, Sara thought.
"Faith," Hainsworth repeated.
"You can't be serious—"
"Joe, ENOUGH. Shut up or get out," Hainsworth barked.
"If you remain skeptical, unable to see what is right before you and trying to rationalize it using your old world conventions, then you won't survive to see the first dawn of November," Sara doomsayed.
"I see. What do you need? Equipment? Weapons? A bigger knife?"
"Got any swords?" Sara asked, half joking and half interested.
"Maybe a combat knife is better for you," the Major replied. "You always carry that one with you."
"This belonged to my foster father," Sara shared. "I wouldn't say no to a good combat knife though. Like the one Rambo used."
"No, that's a movie prop. and you might hurt yourself with that. I'll find you a good weapon, one suited to your size." Hainsworth promised.
"We digress," Keynes intervened. "What should we do?"
"Gather everyone alive, including the comatose survivors, and keep everyone in a safe place until Halloween is over."
"The whole day or just the night?"
Her nonchalant admission of the time bubble's existence raised a few eyebrows.
"What we'll be up against?" The cop asked.
"Corrupted animals, and maybe ghouls. I'll take care of the ghouls and the corrupted animals don't like light. I think they'll be bolder during All Hallow's Eve but maybe strong lights will still hinder them. You can shoot the animals, in fact, you'll be ending their hellish torment. The ghouls are a no-no, I'm the only one who can deal with them, though I can't fight forever. My resources are quite limited. Also, every single monster will be stronger during that night. Take that into consideration and don't underestimate them. I think you'll need to use the heavy weapons stored at Fort Gillem."
Joe, being a good psychopath (in Sara's view), broke into a wide grin at the idea. Sara decided not to give them time to think and push her point across.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to celebrate thanksgiving with as many people as I can. I once read humans are the only animals who share food ritualistically with those out of their family circles. Like we did today. I... The world needed to go to shit for me to fully understand what that meant.
"People's lives are at risk. Heck, your lives are at risk. We need to act, we need to get everyone to shelter. Even if I am full of shit, all you'll lose is a couple of days and maybe gain the opportunity to do a cool bonding exercise slash Halloween party that may come in handy if a horde of undead ghouls or a gang of Mad Max raiders come from out of nowhere to, well, raid you. Trust me, the world outside our little island of still-standing buildings and relatively navigable roads is many times worse than this."
Hainsworth let a little sight at that.
Sara continued, "we've been blessed by not being the target of the meteors. Does anyone have a map?"
Patricia did. She opened the map of the Atlanta metropolitan area on the table. Sara tapped the target neighborhoods with her finger.
"I got my radio, it's synced to your frequency. I'm going ahead to scout Constitution, Decatur, Kirkwood, Edgewood, and East Atlanta Village. The part of I-20 northeast of Gresham Park is free of undead and we can cross it."
"We already scouted that passage," Keynes said.
Trevor and Patricia took notes while Hainsworth watched with arms crossed, skeptical. He drew a finger around the lake, marking a few neighborhoods Sara had excluded, "Why not Belvedere Park, Candler-McAfee, and Panthersville?"
"There's nobody alive there, I already checked with Kelly. Here, let's mark it." With Abby's help, Sara drew a circle on the map with a sharpie. "Our search area is east of the mark. Anyone a mile from Lake Stonecrest didn't make it."
"Do you know why?" Hainsworth pressed.
Sara met his inquisitive gaze firmly, "I do, but it's also under the NDA. Until the second week of November, I cannot disclose more than that."
"I'll hold you to that," the Major rested his case.
"We should set a gathering point near the end of this route. Does anyone know of a good place?" Keynes suggested.
"There's Garfield High in East Atlanta. Should be relatively free of corpses and out of the meteor zone," Patricia pointed. "My junior coworker graduated from there."
"Good," Keynes nodded. "Sara, after you finish scouting, wait for us there. I'm going to get Brett and Kelly, then we'll go to her house to pick up her parents and the radio equipment. We'll set up a FOB at the high school."
"Excellent!" Hainsworth agreed. Sara's words were true. Even if this was a prank, it was a good team-building and morale-raising exercise. They could even throw a party at the military base and the comatose survivors were already there at the infirmary. "How should we call our operation?"
"That's irrelevant, let's get to work," Sara clapped her hands, psyched. "This Halloween, there's no trick or treat. Only the evil of the Thriller."
"That's it," Hainsworth snapped a finger and broke into a beardy grin. "Operation 'Thriller Night' is a go!"
Sara cringed.
*
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Conley, DeKalb County, Georgia. Tuesday, October 29th, 2019. 09:00.
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This time, Sara didn't drive a car. She took the Silverado to one of the houses she looted near Christine's house and swapped the truck for a mountain bike adapted with a rear seat. With a smaller and agile vehicle, she did a great time crossing the roads and dodging the abandoned and crashed cars littering every block of asphalt everywhere. She also took a paintball gun from a dead hobbyist.
As she sped through the cluttered streets, she thought that maybe Patricia would like another joyride on the front loader to clear the streets. It was a daunting task, as hard as burying the thousands of dead people scattered around. That gave her a terrifying thought. "Abby, will the dead rise? The ones in their homes and on the streets?"
"What about the ones inside the time bubble?"
"Who are you talking to?" Mary asked from behind Sara. She was carrying a duffel bag with the paintball rifle, gas canisters, and some accessories, as well as a couple hundred paintball ammo.
"My fairy helper," Sara replied matter-of-factly.
"That's a load of crap if I ever heard one," Mary complained.
"Suit yourself," Sara scoffed. "Why would I lie about that? I gain nothing by gaslighting you, woman."
"Let me shoot!" Mary bargained. "Let me shoot and I'll believe you."
"It doesn't work like that."
"But I want to shoot the houses!" Mary whined.
Sara's plan for the paintball gun was to mark the houses with survivors as she rode by. She would pinpoint them on a map after reaching the high school but it would still cause confusion as to which house exactly had them.
"Can you even shoot?"
"Yes, I can! I'll show you, and next time we face a pack of crazy dogs, I'll be the one to protect you!" Mary boasted. "You stop the bicycle and let me aim. How hard is it to miss a freaking house?" Mary protested and squeezed Sara's waist, "You fought the dogs to save me and turned a spoon into a fork. Not to mention chopping a table with a butter knife. I feel too useless next to you!"
Sara slowly brought the bicycle to a full stop. She worried that the social remora was fully latched now. There was no going back. But before that, "How do you know about that?"
"People talk! After the meeting, I overheard Trevor and Patricia talking. He asked her how to fix the table you cut. That was not nice, Sara."
"I needed to push my point across."
"Yeah, bet you did. But why do it like a barbarian? Think of the poor table!"
"Ooga, Ooga." Sara joked.
Mary laughed. Sara thought the girl was in her manic phase. Her mood swings were wild.
"Okay, you can shoot the damn houses," Sara conceded. "But try to aim at the doors."
"Yay!" Mary clapped her hands in front of Sara's stomach.
"Now, hold on, we don't have time to waste!"
She pushed the pedals harder as the bicycle sped into the former time bubble zone.
*
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Garfield High, East Atlanta, DeKalb County, Georgia. Tuesday, October 29th, 2019. 11:00.
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Drenched in sweat, Sara stopped the bicycle in the school parking lot. Mary got off and tried to walk on wobbling legs. Sara quickly offered her an arm to hold onto.
"I thought we were going to scout for survivors!" The other girl protested. "And not ride a bicycle up and down egging houses with paintballs for two freaking hours! My butt is square."
"It's square to compensate for the round blobs of fat you kept pressed against my back," Sara teased.
"Oh, I bet you liked it," Mary challenged, arms akimbo. She then removed her jacket. "I'm hot."
"Yeah, you are the clueless heroine. The one that keeps needing rescue."
"You wish," Mary sneered.
"Hey, you two!" Kelly shouted from the school's front door. "Stop bickering in the cold and come inside! You'll get sick!"
Sara waved and pushed the bicycle with one hand while Mary clung to the other arm.
"Hey, music girl, how are your old folks?"
"They look great!" Kelly grinned. She took the bicycle off of Sara's hands and rested it against the wall. "How's operation Thriller Night going?" She winked.
Sara cringed, "Ugh, boomer humor."
"I know, right?" Mary agreed just for the sake of agreeing.
Kelly sputtered and broke into a fit of laughter. "You, complaining about boomer humor? That's rich. Ms. C-note."
"Ah!" Sara snapped her fingers. "You were thinking of musical notes that time!"
"Guilty!" Kelly poked her tongue out. "Brett and Keynes are on the second floor. This way."
Sara was about to set foot inside the school when it happened again.
*************
DOOOOOM!
************
She covered her ears but it wasn't sound she was hearing, at least it didn't propagate through the air. As Sara opened her eyes, she felt no bleeding and noticed Kelly was also unnerved.
"It happened again," Sara told the musician.
Kelly shuddered, "yeah, I noticed, very faintly. if you hadn't flinched, I would miss it."
"What's going on?" Mary asked, curious.
"Hold on for a second, Mary," Sara raised a hand and then whispered as softly as she could. "Abby, which one was this time?"
The fairy showed her the section of the Bible.
> When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Sara could see the floating word hallucination even with her eyes closed. "Does this jeopardizes my plan?" She asked under her breath.
"Is that the same one the ghosts access to learn my name?"
"Nothing I can do about that, right?"
Sara let her head hang. Mary touched her arm. "Are you okay, Sara?"
The girl snorted, "What, are you worried about me?"
Mary retreated a half-step, then frowned, "No! I was just worried you'd start crying and cover yourself in snot. I mean, you are already all sweaty and gross."
"Right. I wonder whose fault was that. I had to haul ass the whole morning. Your ass."
"Girls, girls," Kelly intervened. "We should go, the boys are waiting for us."
"Boys? If Keynes and Brett both qualify as boys, Mary and I are swimsuit models."
Mary harrumphed, indignant. "I look quite good in a swimsuit, so you know."
"Bet you do. I also bet the guys love seeing you play beach volleyball."
"As a matter of fact, they do!" She pouted.
They navigated the building and took the stairs to the second floor.
"Oh, you're gonna love that, Sara! They found the alternators," Kelly shared. "if not for this emergency mission, they would connect Hickory Ridge tomorrow. But we still need batteries, or we'll only have power during sunlight hours."
"Tough luck. I bet it's easier to find residential batteries in the houses with solar panels or in the warehouses," Sara deadpanned, ignoring Kelly's innuendo.
"Sorry, I meant 'more batteries'. There's some in the Archives building, and in other buildings," Kelly poked her tongue out.
"You're not making me worry about that. Not anymore. People touch my..."
"So dangerous and bold, Ms puppy slayer!" Kelly teased some more.
"Mary slammed her flashlight on a pinscher," Sara accused as they started to climb the stairs.
"I did not! It kept jumping away from the light!"
"Yeah, but you did try to smack the tiny dog."
"I plea the fifth," Mary claimed.
They reached the second floor. Out of Mary's field of view, Sara wiggled an eyebrow at Kelly. "Any other news?"
"Nobody else heard the bell, only the two of us," Kelly shared. "And I asked a lot of people."
"What bell?" Mary asked.
"A church's bell. It rang very loudly when Kelly and I were out, exploring."
Mary smirked and nodded, "I see. Exploring." She tapped her finger over her lips and looked over them from head to toe, "Did you find something interesting?"
Oh, great. Now of all times Mary decided to pretend to be confident.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, woman," Sara berated. "Not everyone is a sex maniac mutant."
"You need better insults, darling," Mary cackled and propped her breasts up with an arm. "Or is it envy that I hear?"
Sara felt her ears burn. "I fucking hate you."
More giggles. "The opposite of love is indifference, darling."
Kelly also laughed, "It's so good that you reconnected with your old friend, Sara."
"Dude, which old friend? This?" She wagged a thumb toward Mary. "She's a stray I picked up at the barbecue party. I mean, I was afraid they would mistake her for one of the cows and chop her up for some prime tenderloin. Or try to milk her."
Mary slapped her bountiful hips, "At least I have meat. Oh, was prime tenderloin a compliment? I guess it doesn't matter when all they could do with you was bone marrow broth."
The changes in the other girl's behavior were disturbing. Sara always knew Mary was someone who went with the flow but now Mary was mimicking her. The social remora was pretending to be a shark. Should she think it amusing or be disgusted by it?
"I think firing all those paintballs broke something in this woman's head. We might need to open it up to see what's wrong," Sara deadpanned.
"Oh, I bet you want to open me up, alright," Mary purred.
"Bitch, please!" Sara grimaced.
Kelly was bent over, firing short hisses appearing to do some breathing exercises as she tried to suppress her laughter. Her eyes and body language, however, were guffawing on her behalf.
"At least someone is getting a kick out of it," Sara remarked.