Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 1): Nicole's Odyssey (18 page)

Jordan looked around at the group.  “Well, I think Nicole is a baddass!” she said. 

“Hey, watch the language, young lady!” Paul admonished but could not hide the smile creeping across his face.

“Sorry dad, but she is,” Jordan said.

Everyone laughed as Nicole turned a bright shade of red before smiling in spite of herself.  Everyone was silent for several minutes as they devoured their food.  Paul looked up at the group. 

“Hey, you know what would be good after today?  The hot-tubs in the training room, huh?” he said. 

Without speaking, all their faces revealed that they thought this was an excellent idea. 

“We can watch a movie in there, too,” Jordan said. 

“Ooh,
Die Hard 3
, the one with Samuel Jackson,” Paul said. 

Jordan looked at him crossly.  “No, Dad.  We watched your movie last time.  This time we should watch
Twilight
,” she said. 

Paul made a face but was too tired to mount a protest.  He sighed and Jordan smiled over her victory.

Later, as everyone donned shorts and tee shirts found in the laundry room, they sat in the individual jetted tubs spaced around the room and let the water massage away their aches.  On the big screen at the end of the room, a girl kissed a sparkly vampire, but everybody except Jordan was too tired to care.  Nicole rested her head on the back edge of the stainless tub.  It was a good day, but there was still much to do and she knew it.  She tried to think about what they needed to work on tomorrow, but her tired body wouldn’t let her as the drone of the jets lulled her into a peaceful rest.

Twenty-Four

Morning came and they all gathered in the cafeteria for breakfast.  As they sat around, preparing for the day ahead of them, a day of more running, skating, and shooting, Walt spoke up. 

“Hey, man.  I know what would make our time through those offices easier, you know?  We need to get rid of all those cubicles, man.  Make it a straight shot through there ‘stead of all that bobbin’ and weavin’” he said. 

Nicole sipped her coffee and nodded.  “That’s a good plan, Walt.  I should have thought of that yesterday,” she said. 

Walt smiled.  “Hey, it’s okay, it can’t be on you to think of everything, man.  We’re in this together, right?” he said. 

Nicole took a long pull on her coffee.  Maybe it wasn’t on her to think of everything, she thought, but she couldn’t help feeling like she had to.  She never saw herself as a leader and had told them so, but they all still listened to her and were following a plan that she largely came up with.  Nobody had argued with her when she said she was no leader, but no one stepped up to take the position either.  She thought of the saying, “
Some are born to greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them
.”  She knew she was not born to greatness, but it felt like the burden was being thrust upon her sure enough.  Nicole thought she would like nothing more than to thrust it back, but she just didn’t know how.

“I think today we need to try some new things,” Nicole said as everyone finished their breakfast.  “Sam, you, me, and Walt should do what Walt suggested and clear the rooms as much as possible, the rooms we have to run through.  That should cut down on our time in a big way,” she said. 

Walt and Sam nodded.  Billy, Paul, and Jordan sat looking at Nicole, waiting.  Nicole looked around the room at all their faces. 

There it is,
she thought
.  I’m not their leader but they’re all waiting on me like I am. 

The weight felt real to her and she breathed a sigh like she was about to lift something. 

“Paul, you, Billy, and Jordan should keep working on your skating and driving.  Billy, do you think you are up to letting Paul tow you?” She asked. 

Billy nodded. 

“Okay,” she said.  They all got up and started moving to the tasks at hand.

The final pieces of the cubicles were cleared away.  Sam, Walt, and Nicole made their way down to the corridor. 

“You know, those zombies are going to be moving all over the place when they are chasing Paul and Billy,” Nicole said. 

Walt and Sam turned to her.  “So today, instead of tacking the balloons right to the ceiling, we need to tie them to strings, let them dangle just a bit.  It would make them move around in the air, simulate real bobble deadheads, you know?” She said. 

Walt nodded.  “I’ll go round us up some string, man,” he said.

Billy clung to the rope and waited.  His stillness contrasted Jordan’s movement, as she examined a strand of her hair and twirled effortless on her skates. 

Seconds later, Billy watched as Paul came running down the ramp and jumped behind the wheel of the golf cart.  Paul hit the pedal and the golf cart shot away.  All the slack went out of the rope and Billy was pulled forward.  The momentum pulled him down and he belly flopped onto the shiny floor of the corridor.  He was dragged several feet before Jordan’s screams caused Paul to turn around. 

“Daddy, Stop!  You’re killing him!” Jordan hollered. 

Paul turned around and saw what he had done.  He hit the break and ran back to Billy.  He didn’t like the kid hanging around his daughter, but he didn’t want to drag him to death either.  Paul looked down at Billy, concerned.  Jordan skated over and helped Billy up as Paul dusted him off. 

“Billy, I’m sorry, son, I-” Paul began.  He stopped when he saw Billy laughing. 

“Geez, I really bit it there, didn’t I,” Billy said. 

Jordan’s face looked angry but her playful slap on Billy’s arm told of her relief that he wasn’t hurt.  Paul sighed in relief also. 

“Sorry Billy, we have to go slow to go fast.  It won’t happen again, I just was excited, you know?” 

Billy smiled, “That’s alright, Mr. Baxter.  Now’s the time to make mistakes, right?” Billy said. 

Paul slapped Billy on the shoulder.  Seeing he was no worse for wear, Paul turned back to his golf cart and everyone reset for another try.

Sam stood in the middle of the field, holding the stopwatch.  He brought the radio to his mouth and keyed the mic. 

“Okay, start shooting, guys.”  

Within seconds, Sam heard the faint pops of Walt and Nicole firing their rifles.  After several shots, he shouted into the radio.

“Start running, now!”

Sam started the watch.  The numbers climbed to thirty seconds.  As it hit thirty-five seconds he saw Nicole and Walt bust out the doors in the office level and come running down the stairs at the seat level.  Nicole was in the lead but Walt was just seconds behind.  As they both ran past Sam and came to a stop by their vehicles, Sam hit the stop button. 

“I’d call that a Minute thirty for the both of you, not bad!” Sam said. 

Walt and Nicole high-fived each other and were all smiles. 

“I don’t know if we can get much better than that, man,” Walt said. 

“That is pretty good.  I think when we actually have to do this, we knock even more time off, what with the adrenaline,” Nicole said. 

Sam went over and handed the watch to Nicole. 

“My turn.  Bet I break a minute,” Sam said as he picked up his rifle and headed down the ramp. 

“You break a minute, I cook your breakfast the next two days,” Nicole shouted as Sam started down the ramp.  “And if you don’t, you cook me breakfast!” She added, before throwing her support behind Walt.  “Get him, Walt,” she said as Walt followed after him.  Walt threw up a wave before disappearing down the ramp.

As Walt and Sam walked down the corridor, Paul came around the bend on the golf cart at a slow pace.  Walt and Sam watched as close behind, trailing from the rope was Billy.  Jordan skated alongside, keeping an eye on him.  He was bent at the knees and looked steady. 

“Alright, Billy!” Walt shouted. 

“Looking good, Billy!” Sam said as Billy passed.

Without turning, Billy let go with one hand and threw a “thumb’s up” as he rolled down the corridor and out of sight.

Twenty-Five

Nicole woke early.  Everyone else was still asleep.  Her legs were sore from all the running she had been doing the last two days; up stairs, down stairs through the corridor, across the field.  She was sure the others were feeling it too, so she did not wake them.  She stretched and it felt good as the tightness in her arms and legs gave way.  She pulled on her boots and wandered out to the field. 

All was quiet, but of course all was not peaceful.  She walked down to where her GTO was parked, near the clear, wall sized polycarbonate door. 

The Dead had not gone to sleep.  They clamored still, pushing against the glass.  Some pounded with their fists, others smashed their heads.  Nicole approached slowly.  The Dead just across from her on the other side became agitated.  They banged, smashed, and pushed with an unbridled urgency to get to her.  It created a ripple effect, as those down the length on either side sensed the response of those closest to her and reacted in kind.  Nicole looked down the full length of the door to either side.  They had not breached the door and probably never would, but neither would she if something wasn’t done.  That something was what they had all spent the last two days preparing for.  Nicole wondered if it was worth it.  She entertained the idea of giving up, but it was not something she could consider seriously even for a moment.  She would get out of here, would make it to Colorado, would survive. 

Nicole stopped inches from the glass and locked eyes with one of the Dead.  She saw nothing there but unquenchable, insatiable hunger.  Dead to the left and the right closed in against the glass and Nicole lost herself in the frenzy.  She put her hand to the glass and watched as heads went to it, trying to bite and chew through the door.  The Dead were as single minded as she knew she had to be.  She knew on some level the Dead had not made a conscious decision to be so, rather the decision had been made for them.  She wondered if they were not just a reflection of what humanity had always been.  Between her and them was an invisible barrier.  She placed her other hand against the glass and more of the Dead clamored to get to her. 

Humanity had always sought after its hungers
, she thought,
had always been single minded in pursuit of its desires
. 
Had another barrier been torn down, one also unseen, that kept human  nature from showing its truer form?  Were the things on the other side of the glass
what we humanity had always been?
 

Nicole felt like she was no longer looking at the Dead, but a magic mirror that reflected human nature back at her, stripped of a veneer of civility, decency, and correctness.  Nicole felt a pang of guilt wash over her as her mind wandered. 

She had neglected her father, shunned him, pursued isolation from him with… a hunger.
 
She was not like him, she valued people, helped when she could, saw meaning in all life
. 

This is what she told herself.  But what of the others now still asleep?  If she were being honest, s
he resented them for slowing her down, from getting to safety… with her father, all in the name of survival.
 
Had she not shunned her father for emotional survival, resented Sam, Walt, and the others for the threat they may pose to her physical survival? Was single-minded self preservation the living version of what was on the other side of the doors? 
 

With these thoughts, she hung her head and found it hard to be proud of who she was.  A tear ran down her cheek.  It hung suspended on the tip of her nose before it dropped away.  She raised her head and pressed herself against the glass, sending the horde into a new frenzy.  After several seconds, she backed away, her fists clenched.  She let out a scream and hit the glass.  The Dead she had locked eyes with jerked its head back for a second, then slammed it against the glass.  Nicole slowly turned and walked back across the field.  It was time to wake the others.  There was work to do.

Twenty-Six

Everyone shuffled into the cafeteria.  None of them were “morning” people and so everyone moved in their own haze as they tried to shake off the slumber of the night before. Nicole sat at one of the tables drinking her coffee as everyone got their food and found a seat.

Sam shuffled over and plopped down next to Nicole.  Nicole stared at Sam who looked like he was trying to work up enough energy to put spoon to bowl.  He had a spoon full of frosted oats half way to his mouth when Nicole cleared her throat. 

“Forgetting something, Sam?” she asked him. 

Sam looked over at her a second  before realization pierced his grogginess.  Sam put the spoon back in the bowl and shoved it over to Nicole. 

“Thank you, Sam.  That’s very sweet,” she said, smiling. 

Having “served” Nicole her breakfast, Sam hauled himself up to go get his own.  Halfway to the kitchen, Nicole called out to him.

“Hey Sam, you come in under a minute today… I’ll let you drive the GTO,” she said. 

Sam turned and smiled.  “You mean when we hightail it out of here?” he asked.