Monster Nation(31)

'He's dead! He's not faking it! Sir, I've run everything short of an MRI on this man and''

Clarkcleared his throat. The others fell silent and waited while he composed his thoughts. The only sound in the Bag was the crinkling rustle of mylar stirring in a ventilated breeze. He ran a hand across his forehead and then spoke in a soft, low voice he reserved for quieting panicked underlings on the battlefield. He stared hard at Sanchez, trying to find her eyes through all the plastic. 'Soldier. What is your official report going to say? Have you thought about that?'

'Sir,' Sanchez began, butClark merely held up a hand for patience.

'Is it going to say you spent the last thirty-six hours trying to sedate a man who was already dead?'

Burning defiance erupted behind her eyes. It stayed there and didn't reach her voice. She was, after all, a soldier. She knew when she was receiving an order. 'I' no, sir. It won't.'





Monster Nation





Chapter Four


THIS AREA UNDER QUARANTINE ' Trespassers will be subject to detainment and decontamination [Signage posted inBrentwood,CA , 3/30/05]

In the irrigated fields outside of Lost Hills they saw people moving sluggishly through the crops. Never more than one or two at a time, all of them headed toward town.

Shar stirred restlessly in Nilla's arms. The sight of the undead girl being beaten to death had really shaken her. 'They're going to come for me next,' she had kept sobbing, though Charles and Nilla had both pointed out there was no reason to think such a thing. Nilla had a very good reason to think it would be otherwise but she kept it to herself.

After a few minutes of sheer hysteria and Charles constantly telling her to shut up Shar had demanded that he stop the car right in the middle of the road. There was no traffic. She had come around to the back of the car and crawled in with Nilla, who could hardly refuse to put her arms around the frightened girl.

'I need to call my mom,' she said from time to time. Sitting up in the seat she stared out the window at a man wearing nothing but a baggy t-shirt. He was wandering through a stand of avocado trees, the branches smacking him in the face but he paid no attention. 'Do you think'is he one of them?' Shar asked.

'Holmes is just loaded, Shar,' Charles chortled over the back seat. 'He's all crunked up, you know what I'm saying?'

'I need to go home now, Charles,' Shar said so quietly he couldn't have heard her. The windows of the littleToyota rattled whenever he took the car over forty miles per hour and he refused to turn down the radio so any conversation between the three of them had to be shouted. Nilla opened her mouth but Shar shook her head in negation. 'No. No, I'm just practicing. I could make him take me home if I really wanted. Charles wanted to go toHollywood , but I talked him out of it,' Shar said, looking up into Nilla's face.

The girl was scared shitless and a little traumatized. Nilla wondered how she would react if she ever saw one of the dead face to face. 'Yeah?' Nilla asked, her voice a soft purr. Maybe she had been a nurturing person in her life or maybe it was just natural instinct but she knew what it took to comfort the girl. She brushed Shar's hair away from her forehead. Hunger stabbed her in the stomach and told her it was time to eat but she sucked in her belly and refused to entertain the notion. 'Why did he want to do that?'

'He thought we could find some movie star, or maybe a singer, and save them from the sick people and then they would be so grateful they would let us stay with them and we wouldn't have to worry about money.'

Nilla nodded as if this made perfect sense. 'But then you heard on the radio that you should stay away fromLos Angeles .'

Shar nodded and rubbed anxiously at her nose. 'I think maybe I should sit up now. Up front, I mean.' She stared deep into Nilla's eyes and shot her a microsecond smile. 'Thanks,' she said. 'I got so scared.'

'It happens.' Charles pulled over on the side of the road so Shar could get back in the passenger's seat. As she was climbing out of the car the girl brought her face close to Nilla's ear. Nilla closed her eyes to better hear what Shar might say.

'Don't hate me, okay? But you really need some deodorant.'

They didn't stop forBakersfield , though Shar and Charles argued about whether they should until long after they'd passed through the sprawling downtown. Charles got them onto Route 58 after only a few tries and before they knew it they were in the middle of farmland again. Relief overcame Nilla and she shuddered. She really didn't want to stop anywhere populated again but even soBakersfield looked untouched by the dead. Maybe it was just a local phenomenon. Maybe if she got far enough east she would be safe. Was that what her mysterious benefactor on the hill was trying to tell her?