They were, despite their immense differences in background, best friends and sometimes more.
“Then we’re on schedule.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Carry on,” he said, watching her eyes give him a soft, imaginary hug.
He looked back down over the people below…
Yes, this must be how Fletcher Christian felt as he considered mutiny…
The knot in his stomach wound tighter…
3. Hell is Other People
The words of Jean-Paul Sartre flitted through Bruce Kiel’s mind as he walked among the survivors living in the Madison Mall.
Hell is other people. Yes, this was hell and this had been created by other people. The original intent of those who had started the rescue center had been to preserve life and keep the citizens taking shelter safe from the cannibals outside. That was a noble and good cause he could support. But now things were changing. Since they had established contact with the remains of the government, the Senator had new goals that he could not agree with. He still carried his title of Police Chief, but what good did it do him? Only two of his men actually survived the massacre at the police station. The only reason he held any clout at all was because the Senator was an old political ally. Frankly, he didn’t trust her one bit.
A group of twenty children was tucked into a store that now served as a school. A teacher read to them from a children’s book she had found in the bookstore. The sight of the little ones made him sigh. The world had gone to hell very quickly. Nothing had worked right. Nothing had gone right. All the precautions, all the plans had fallen apart. The county bio terrorism expert had called to inform him that he would need security the next day for the distribution of medication that would bring the pandemic under control. There had been, of course, no next day for anyone, but a scant few survivors.
The National Guard had fallen quickly. FEMA held press conferences and announced rescue centers, then went silent. The CDC rattled on about ‘reanimates’ then vanished from the airways.
The only rescue that had ever appeared had been a small convoy of brave Marines who had liberated him and his men from the roof of the police station. Half of them had not survived the throng of the dead overrunning the city.
The mall was protected and manned by what remained of factions of the military stationed in Texas. They were mostly Army and National Guard with a few Airmen and Marines tossed into the mix. The soldiers had barely survived the early engagements against the dead, but they had held the line at the mall for months now. They were tired and overwhelmed, but tough. They were heroes in eyes of the people in the mall. But the Senator now wanted to turn them into something much more.
Bruce Kiel paused and looked for the newcomers. They were assigned to an old clothing store and he looked at the store names, trying to remember which one. He was afraid for everyone in the mall. The threat from outside was persistent and constant, but now there was a threat from within that chilled him almost more. He was an ambitious man by nature. All his life he had pushed himself to do his best and achieve his goals. He had raised his daughter the same way. As a former Marine, he believed in serving his country. A firm believer in the law, he had worked hard to make society safe once he had entered the police force. He understood the concept of service to one’s country and people.
But, there was no real structure left anymore. The old ways were long gone. When the dead rose and attacked the living, the old ways had passed away like leaves on the wind. He recognized and understood this reality. The soldiers standing post did so because they chose to do it. The people in the mall trusted them because of that dedication. It was truly a volunteer force now. He understood that. The Senator did not.
Everything had changed once Central had come on the air and begun broadcasting to any surviving military. What was known was that the Vice President, now the new President, had survived with some of the Cabinet and a few members of Congress. They had all been on a hunting trip in East Texas during the initial outbreak. These people of power had taken refuge with what remained of the army in their area and were now firmly ensconced in a city eight hours east of Madison. The city was heavily fortified and had managed to seize most of the resources in the area.
Once Central was secure, they had began broadcasting via military channels to any surviving rescue centers. It was now known there were also four surviving rescue centers across the state that were still manned by the remnants of the military, the Madison Mall being one of those. The other three were closer to Central and ran supplies to it. Madison was not considered an asset to Central and was informed they were on their own. Because of the large mobs of zombies in the big cities and the risk of cross state travel, it had been deemed unnecessary to open supply lines with the mall on the edge of the Texas Hill Country. Bruce knew, that essentially, they were left on their own to die. This was not acceptable to the Senator. She originally wanted out of the mall to join her cohorts at Central. It was difficult for her to understand that Central saw them as expendable despite her presence. She had been one of the big movers and shakers just before the zombies rose. As far as she was concerned, her star was still rising. She just had to find a different way to ascend Now, she was working on making her case to Central that her area of the state was a viable resource to them and worth establishing a trade route. Under the guise of “protecting the American people” she had persuaded the Major General to bring in all surviving pockets around the area to the mall. Once her labor force was large enough, the Senator planned to offer them all to Central. Bruce had seen a rough draft of her proposal. It talked of “labor force” and “breeding stock.”