Infestation Chicago: A Zombie Survival Series (Volume 2) (8 page)

Chapter 9 – Silent Night

“This should work,” Sam said proudly while handing Holiday a plastic bottle with a rag stuck into the opening at the top. The room grew very dark as the sun set. Holiday pulled out his lighter and attempted to see the room they were in. “It is pretty basic, almost like a Molotov.” She explained.

“So it is alcohol?” Holiday asked, his eyes searching the near pitch blackness of the pharmacy they were in.

“No,” Sam continued, “Trust me it is better.” She smiled. “Just be thankful Corporal hasn’t cleared this building yet.” She finished speaking with a tone of regret for taking Holiday toward Haven.

“How much f
arther?” Holiday asked creeping toward the door as his lighter flickered with a slight breeze that rushed in. “Can we make it at night?”

“Well in a few minutes the floodlights should light up the town.” Sam said placing her hands on her hips. “Security at the alley won’t change much but people will be more cautious of who is around them.” Holiday shook his head in agreement.

“Let’s go then.” He said commandingly.

“No,” Sam said loudly. Holiday turned to her watching her face as the light flickered off her face. “You stand out too much.” She continued. Holiday stuffed the bottle into the large pockets in
his pants; the top stuck out half way. He looked himself over realizing exactly what she meant. A sheriff uniform with his cowboy-like sheriff hat wasn’t exactly the normal attire for Chicago.

“Doesn’t matter,” Holiday said scratching his chin with his one free hand. “I am still going to try.” Holiday turned away from Sam and headed outside. He looked around at the dark street before him. He could only see a few feet in
front of him. A bright moon illuminated the town slightly but it was not enough to see anything helpful.

“Fine.” Sam said dropping her arms to her side. She walked up beside him and pointed down the street to a faint white glow behind a building. Slowly
, the white glow became brighter as other buildings lit up. The street they were on was still dark; it wasn’t an inhabited area yet. “That’s the alley, it’s easy to get to but I really don’t think this is a good idea Holiday.” Sam continued. The concern in her voice for Holiday was shocking to him. He couldn’t quite figure her out. At times Sam was strong, independent, take charge: just like his recently deceased girlfriend Vivian. Other times, she was like a child; insecure, emotional, and confused. He smiled briefly before nodding his head again.

“Won’t the zombies be attracted to the light?” Holiday asked Sam.

“No, Corporal says it doesn’t work that way, only thing that seems to attract them are loud sounds or seeing living people.” Sam said shrugging. “I sure hope we can do this.” She said as she started walking toward the alley.

“This will work.” Holiday said quietly, “This has too.” He snapped his lighter shut and began walking toward the lit up section of the city.

* * * * * * * *

Back in the theater
, Destiny was hard at work, cleaning weapon after weapon faster than anyone had seen. She stripped each gun to pieces, wiped it, sprayed it, and then reassembled it before anyone had even started to strip theirs. George looked at her impressed and nodded at her joyfully. Destiny ignored him and within an hour, the table she was at had every gun sorted, cleaned, and was waiting to be reloaded.

Destiny stood up and stretched
. She then turned around looking at the other tables. She walked up to the closest one and began to help the older woman sitting there.

“No,” the older woman said. “Don’t.” She sounded afraid.

“It’s O.K. I don’t mind.” Destiny said soothingly while smiling.

“No, But I do.” The Corporal’s voice boomed as he
stood in the door to the street. “Everyone does their part.” He continued while walking up to them.

“She is new,”
the old woman said, “she didn’t know, please.” She was begging the Corporal. Destiny looked at them both confused.

“But you did,”
he replied quietly taking out his revolver and pointing it at the old lady. She covered her face with both of her hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. Everyone in the room ignored what was happening but Destiny could see on their faces that they were afraid. She jumped in front of the Corporal’s gun.

“What are you doing?”
she asked him outraged. “I offered help, how is that a reason to shoot someone?” Just then Father Martin emerged from outside and approached the Corporal with four other men walking beside him.

“It doesn’t.” Martin spoke
softly and stood behind the Corporal. “Corporal Kelly,” Martin continued, “The council has had a session and we believe it is time for you to stand aside as our leader.” The Corporal raised his eyebrows and lowered his gun. He turned around to face Martin and the others. They all carried melee weapons. One held a baseball bat; another had a crowbar, and the other two held knives.

“Is that so?” Corporal said shocked. “I was opposed to having a council for this very reason.” He sneered. “We are in the middle of an emergency situation here!” His voice grew louder as he finished the sentence. He holstered his revolver and took a deep breath before continuing. “What is the reason for me ‘standing aside’
May I ask?” he said making quotation marks in the air with his fingers.

“You are reckless,” Martin said causing the Corporal to laugh
slightly. “Also you are untrusting of others, selfish, and a tyrant of this community.” He finished his statement, ignoring the Corporals laugh.

“I made this community, it’s the goddamn apocalypse preach!” The Corporal snapped pointing at Father Martin. “Fine!” He yelled loudly, “We will ask Central what we should do. K?” He asked
, stretching out his arms.

“Once they are informed of your actions I am sure they will agree with us.” Martin said lifting his head up high.

“What is Central?” Destiny asked. Martin walked up to her as the other men followed the Corporal into a small room to the side of the theater; there they proceeded up some stairs.

“Central is the United States Government, or at least what is left of it.” Martin said attempting to
explain to Destiny what was happening. She looked at him more confused than before. “Come with me,” he said, motioning for her to follow him. She did and they began to walk past the old lady who was still sobbing. Martin placed his hand on her shoulder briefly before heading to the stairs.

When they reached the top of the stairs
, Destiny saw the Corporal sitting in a large reclining chair smoking a large cigar. In front of him was a T.V. with a camera of some sort on top. A woman was on the T.V. wearing a dark grey suit with stripes on the cuffs and four stars on the shoulder. Her left breast bore dozens of shiny pins of valor. Behind the woman on the T.V. in the distance, Destiny could see a swarm of people, all wearing blue dress pants and white dress shirts, walking around in a large room filled with computers in front of a wall covered in display screens.

“Here he is now General.” The Corporal spoke to the woman on the T.V.

“Hello Father.” The woman addressed Martin and placed her arms behind her back. “I understand we have a problem?” she continued. Her face showed only one emotion while she spoke, indignant anger.

“Yes ma’am.” Martin spoke loudly approaching the chair of the Corporal. “Corporal Kelly has
, on several occasions, demonstrated-”

“Let me stop you right there father.” The general spoke
, quickly dismissing Martin. “We are well aware of Kelly’s activities. We do, after all, have others from central command at your camp.” She spoke without hesitation, showing an attitude expected of a general. Destiny didn’t believe Kelly was an actual Corporal, but she did know for certain that this woman was in fact a general. “We are dealing with a situation which has reached the edges of our world Father Martin.” The general continued lowering her head forward and looking up at Martin. “Corporal Kelly will remain in charge. Is that clear?” She spoke firmly.

“But ma’am?” Martin attempted to object.

“Is that clear!” she shouted.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied lowering his head and walking away. He walked past Destiny with his head hung in defeat and preceded down the stairs.

“Thank you General.” The Corporal exclaimed.

“Not so fast private!” she said loudly. “We cannot have Chicago fall under civilian command. Is that clear!” She yelled loudly as the Corporal nodded in agreement. “You will improve your behavior Private or, personnel shortage aside;
we will send someone who may actually be a real Corporal to replace you!” Destiny’s eyes grew wide as she realized what was happening. Corporal Kelly was only a private, but pretended to be a Corporal. The United States Government had left him in charge after he ‘saved’ the town (or most of it) and because they had limited people available they allowed him to take the lead.

“Yes ma’am.” Corporal said with respect while standing up and saluting.

“Very well ‘corporal’, we expect your daily report tomorrow at 1800 as usual.  Adams out” The general, calling herself Adams, finished speaking and the screen went black. Destiny turned and rushed down the stairs chasing after Father Martin who was making his way to the street.

Night time had come quickly;
Destiny was unaware that Holiday and Sam were heading into the city through an alley that was only two blocks away from her.

Sam and Holiday crept slowly out onto the street, watching as the single guard patrolled the street paying very little attention to his surroundings.

“Where do they hold people?” Holiday asked Sam with a whisper.

“This way,” Sam said moving down the street. Ahead of her a small group of women walking with a few children turned around a corner and headed toward her. She didn’t recognize any of them, and assumed they were ‘new’ to Haven. “Act natural.”
she said walking normally and looking around at the buildings. Holiday played along and tried to blend in. The group quickly passed them without a moment of hesitation. One of the children in the small group, a young girl, stopped and turned around shortly after passing Holiday and Sam. Holiday also stopped as he saw out of the corner of his eye, the little girl waving at them wildly and smiling. Holiday waved and returned a large smile back to the little girl. A woman from the small group jogged back toward the little girl; she grabbed her hand slightly laughing and looked up at Holiday.

“Sorry.”
the woman said with a wide smile while pulling the little girl back toward her group.

“No worries,” Holiday said happily. He was for a moment lost in thoughts of before the
infestation. If it were not for the armed guard he would have been able to pretend that everything was back to normal.

“This way,” Sam said hesitantly pointing to the corner ahead of them.  “Father Martin should be near the theater.”

“How do you know that?” Holiday asked before continuing to follow Sam with a spring in his step.

“He always is.” Sam chuckled at Holiday’s attitude. “You seem happier.” She said somewhat surprised.

“I kind of like this place.” Holiday said looking around. “Looks almost untouched by everything going on outside, well lit even at night, children, families, I could get use to this.”

Out of everyone, Holiday had the hardest time adjusting to the world outside. He was  happy at one moment and then he would go through a bout of depression when reality sunk in. In Haven
, he would never need to worry about outside the city.

“You haven’t seen everything.” Sam said motioning to turn the corner that they approached.

“Nowhere is perfect,” Holiday said turning the corner. “It only takes the right people to change it.”

Ahead of them now stretched
market stalls on both sides of the road. Most were empty; Holiday assumed it was because they were closed for the night. Some had food lined on the table, others had clothes hung up around them. Dozens of people quietly walked from stall to stall purchasing goods. “What do you use for money?” Holiday continued while they walked by.

“
Is that really important now?” Sam said quickly. “Just keep your head down and don’t draw attention.” She finished.

“I am curious, indulge me.” Holiday said trying to see what people were using to buy the goods from the stalls with.

“Just stuff,” Sam replied looking around to make sure she didn’t recognize anyone. “You know stuff like batteries, propane or water purification tablets, blankets, maybe a place to stay in exchange for clothing.” Sam listed off things she herself had traded when she stayed there.

“Makes sense.” Holiday said nodding in approval.

Ahead of them, down the street, Father Martin and Destiny rushed into a building several feet away. Neither of them saw Holiday or Sam.

“Destiny?” Holiday spoke with surprise.

“So the blood was from...” Sam spoke softly and stopped short of saying his name.

“David.” Holiday said with a sneer on his face. His eyes glazed over with despair as he shook his head in disbelief.

“Come on,” Sam said trying to shrug off the news of David’s death. “Father Martin will help us, he is a good person.” She finished speaking and walked toward the building. Holiday stood there for a moment and with a deep breath he buried the sudden grief he was feeling and followed Sam.