Transformation Read online

Page 28


  Sherm walked away. He passed Nancy, Nurse Nancy Dickerson, without a word. He had several scars too, a few from the same story as Nurse Nancy had to tell. They both almost died that day. She was the only person that survived a confrontation with Sherm and the only person that scared him. But he also liked her, owed her. She was one of the few staff members that cared about the inmates, in her own sick twisted way. She and Sherm had a mutual relationship based on some weird form of respect and bonding that developed the day he tried to kill her. She defended herself with a hidden scalpel she always carried, and they both survived. Even the two orderlies there to protect her didn’t make it out alive.

  It was years ago when Sherm snuck a shank into the examining room and attempted to slash Nurse Nancy’s body open. She jumped back, scalpel at the ready, and slashed back. The orderlies jumped on Sherm and started beating him. That was okay as far as Nurse Nancy was concerned. He needed to be taught a lesson, but when one of them got him in a choke hold and told her he would make it look like an accident, she reached over and slit the throat of the orderly standing in front of her. He dropped and the one choking out Sherm tightened his grip. He yelled for her to stay back, but she calmly advanced on him. He tried to run but her arm struck lightning fast and deadly accurate. A red line appeared on his throat followed immediately by a thick red arc that splatted the walls of the small room.

  Ever since then, they’d considered each other friends. Sherm helped her tremendously with the other inmates, and she saved his life and proven to be a good ally.

  Nurse Dickerson or Nurse Dick as the inmates called her behind her back, thought of herself as a good nurse with the inmates wellbeing always her priority. And her way of tending to the inmates resulted in many, many deaths. Had she worked anywhere else, other than Agnews, she would’ve been caught a long time ago. She justified her actions as humane and merciful. If it gave her a great sense of power to watch someone die at her hands as she was doing a good deed, making the hard choices so no one else would have to, what was the harm? Many a terminally ill, depressed, or patient in need of sweet release was paid a visit by Nurse Nancy.

  Nurse Nancy saw Sherm rubbing his head.

  “Here.” She handed him two small pills. “Only two, sorry but we are running low. I’ll find more.”

  He nodded and popped the pills.

  Matilda finished her business and ran after them before they were out of sight.

  Matilda saw Sherm rubbing his head and tried to rub his neck from behind. He turned and grabbed her by the throat with one hand. Her face began to turn red then blue, her eyes rolled back in her head. She was smiling the entire time. When Sherm dropped her, she grabbed her crotch and moaned as she finished her orgasm.

  “Now get up bitch,” he said, already walking away.

  Sherm knew everything would go to shit with Dawn’s team, but she wanted her own team and she wanted her sister with her, that useless sack of organs. He didn’t expect her to actually find the guy or the girl. He was glad she did. It was the shotgun blast that led him to the area where he picked these two up. He was disappointed the woman wasn’t with the man. She was pretty and would make a perfect mother.

  Sherm decided to follow Eddie and the guy rather than intervene or try and head them off in case they’d lied about the parking structure. He wanted to make sure he got to where ever it was his group was staying so he could see what was there for the taking. Shit maybe he’d just take the whole place for himself and move in.

  The third team was out there, somewhere, and he figured they would turn up sooner or later. They were the Rabbits, three men from the cages. They were locked up in the basement and were the subjects of a lot of experimentation. Lots of behavioral shit, flashing lights and loud noises. Sherm went down to the cages once. That was enough for him. While everyone had orders to get to the parking place at the airport as soon as possible and wait, he knew the Rabbits would not sit still if they got there first and Dawn’s crew would just fuck things up somehow.

  But he had to follow the big guy and the kid and they were taking their sweet time getting to wherever it was that they were going. He just wanted to meet that pretty lady, He’d waited too long and then they escaped.

  §

  Sal came to the edge of the parking lot. The structure barely visible in the distance. He whispered to Eddie.

  “We’re here.”

  Sal started walking through the corpses as he saw no other way over, around, or through them. He stepped down and immediately withdrew his foot. The bodies gave way under his foot like ashes, crackling like dried leaves, and sending up a puff of dust or ash.

  Having painted cars for a living, Sal was particularly aware of the dangers of breathing in stuff like dust, ashes, and minute particles. If he wasn’t sanding and creating dust, he was spraying and creating clouds of minute paint particles all day. As a result he was always conscious of the air he was breathing, even off the job.

  “We need to find another way. Probably should get a big vehicle.”

  He wondered at the condition of the dead. Whatever animated them may have done this. He wasn’t sure and didn’t spend too much time thinking about it. He had to get to the garage.

  Eddie nodded. He was leery of the corpses too for a number of reasons.

  As they walked back the way they’d come, they saw three dark figures blocking the street farther down. Sal stopped, put a hand out to stop Eddie. He pointed towards the figures.

  The figures seemed to have noticed them as they began to move forward. Sal and Eddie turned and began to walk away.

  “Can’t go this way either.” It was Sherm, smiling. It was a creepy thing to see Sherm smile with his flat eyes.

  “Come on, we’ll go together.”

  “Together,” Choco mumbled from behind.

  38.

  The glow of the computer screen barely lit the dark corner with a dim bluish light. When the screen came to life with activity, the light changed, it flickered and danced. This caught Jeff’s attention. He examined the screens and typed a few commands. He knew there were communications satellites still orbiting earth that he could tap into. Without authorities monitoring the systems, he was free to try a lot of different things without fear of discovery.

  “I did it,” he said to himself still in a state of disbelief. He was on the roof in a dark corner, behind his satellite dishes and monitoring the laptop. He couldn’t sleep so he came up to the roof to chill out, as he often did.

  He’d been working on the possibility of accessing a satellite for some time. Even before the world went to hell, he’d dabbled in some experiments. He figured the self-sufficient satellites were going to be up there for a while flying around in space.

  Since satellites were used for cell phones, satellite phones, and virtually every form of communication, he had a good chance of contacting somebody if there were others trying to do so. He saw evidence that others were already accessing the satellites.

  Jeff jogged across the roof ready to yell, when he stopped himself. He’d been fussed at a few times already for being too loud. He walked the rest of the way and was glad he did. As he approached, he saw someone walking across the end of the ramp from the kitchen to the living room. He slowed down. Two more walked past. He could hear them talking clearly. They didn’t seem worried about their volume. Jeff watched them as he slowly started backing up the ramp.

  “Hey! Where are the people?”

  “Shut up!”

  The men yelled back and forth.

  At the top of the ramp, Jeff turned to start running and saw Wendy and Donna coming towards him. They put their fingers to their lips to signal him to be quiet. They motioned him over to them. When they were farther across the roof, away from the two men, they stopped to talk.

  “Who the hell are they?” Jeff asked.

  “We don’t know.” Donna had her arm around Jeff.

  Wendy kept watch. She remained very close. Her back touched Donna’s shoulder. She coul
d hear and participate in the conversation.

  “They almost got Donna. She got away and warned us.”

  “Where’s . . . “ Jeff started.

  “Ana and Lisa are safe in the shaft,” Donna said.

  “So now what? You two have guns. Let’s make them leave.”

  “I’ve never shot a gun before. If they have guns, it’ll be three against one.”

  Jeff put his hand out, “In that case let me have it.”

  “Gladly.” Donna handed the gun to Jeff.

  They heard the men yelling again.

  “Hello! Hello! We’ve got your girl.”

  They all looked at each other. Then Wendy ran over to the shaft door. She tapped out the pattern they’d all agreed would be the secret knock.

  The door opened and it was Lisa, and only Lisa.

  “Where’s Ana?” Wendy asked.

  “She ran. She pushed the man out so the door could close. I came back out to help but she was running. I don’t know how those three caught her.

  The man yelled again. “Hello. Hello. Hello.”

  “OK. Lisa get back in. Donna you can get in the shaft too.”

  “No.” Was all she said.

  The door clicked shut.

  They went back to the stairwell and down. They came out and walked to the edge of the kitchen area. They could see two of the men. Ana wasn’t visible but she had to be in the sofa area.

  “Maybe we should take those two out,” Jeff said.

  But suddenly, from the darkness behind them a loud yell startled them.

  “No! No!” The voice wailed with a strong edge of panic.

  They turned as one to see a hulking figure coming at them. Wendy snapped her gun up and fired two shots in the center of the shadow.

  The darkness was lit with a brilliant flash and then again, each time etching a clear mental picture onto the brains of the observers. These two tragic images were haunting, disturbing, and unexpected.

  The man’s expression was one of surprise and shock. But what was most disturbing was the hulking figured apparently had Down’s syndrome. He had the face of a scared child. Despite his massive size, Wendy felt as if she’d just shot an infant. Her throat tightened and she swallowed hard, fighting back tears.

  Now they were blind from the muzzle blasts and deaf from the gunshot. They heard one of the remaining men screeching even through the loud ringing in their ears.

  Jeff was able to grab Donna by the hand and pull her away towards the stairwell but before he could get her to safety they heard Wendy screaming. Her screams stopped abruptly.

  “Fuckers! Fuckers!” A raspy voice bellowed. “Mother Fuckers!”

  As Jeff’s eyes cleared, he was able to see a big man holding Wendy with his arm around her neck. He was jerking her back and forth like a ragdoll as he looked about. He seemed to have poor vision as he squinted and held his head cocked back as if he were looking down his nose. Wendy wanted to shoot him, but she could barely see and didn’t want to hit a friendly.

  Another man ran up. His loud, high pitched voice hurt Donna’s ears.

  “What happened?” he was panicked. “Tell me! Tell me!”

  The man holding Wendy answered. “They killed him, they killed Chambers.”

  High-Pitched wailed. “No. No. Not Chambers!”

  His anguish was sincere. He was heartbroken. He screamed and threw himself across the dead man’s body and wailed.

  Just when Jeff and Wendy thought they could get these guys to surrender, they heard people shouting from below. It was an odd sound to be sure after a few weeks of caution and silence.

  From below, outside the garage. “We’re here!”

  Also from below, a different voice. “Whoop! Whoop!” High pitched and loud. Cut off suddenly.

  “We’re coming down! Meet us!” The man holding Wendy yelled.

  He began to back up with Wendy as a shield. Wendy was still holding her gun but hesitated to shoot. The man had no weapon and wasn’t trying to hurt her. She was still recovering from the blinding flash and still stunned by the face of the man she’d just shot.

  “Get up! For fuck’s sake get up. Leave him, he’s dead.”

  But the man lay face down his body racked with sobs. He was totally vulnerable.

  The man holding Wendy started to pull her backwards. She did nothing.

  “Damn it, Gordo! Get up or I am leaving.”

  Boswell, the one with the raspy voice, started walking backwards and away. Gordy, or Gordo, remained draped over the body of his friend Chambers and sobbed.

  No one knew what to do.

  Jeff raised his gun and pointed it at the back of Gordo’s head.

  “Hey, you can lay there but don’t move or I’ll shoot you.”

  The man ignored him and sobbed. Suddenly he stood up.

  “Whoa! Whoa! Stop or I’ll shoot.” Jeff extended his arms, the gun was level to the man’s head.

  But Gordo acted as if Jeff didn’t exist and simply walked away sniffing and moaning softly.

  Jeff dropped the gun to his side and started walking behind the man, ready to use the weapon; if he had too.

  Donna was following Wendy and her abductor. It was dark and as the man carrying Wendy got farther away, he dropped her and tried to run.

  Donna ran to help Wendy but she was already standing.

  “You OK?” Donna asked.

  “Yeah, let’s hurry.”

  Donna and Wendy ran to follow the man and then slowed. He was strolling down the ramp. He never looked back.

  “What do you think his deal is?” Wendy asked.

  Donna didn’t answer. She was more worried about the people this man was going to meet. They heard weeping coming from behind them. They turned. Wendy raised her gun. The third man walked right past them, rubbing his cheeks and sobbing. The two women looked at each other.

  Jeff was right behind him. “What do we do?”

  “More guns,” Wendy said.

  Jeff ran to the kitchen and Ana was already at the box picking out a gun for herself. Jeff loaded a gun for Donna.

  Jeff and Ana met the others on the way down. The men were walking so incredibly slow, they weren’t yet to the second level. The group had to match pace or pass them.

  One man could be heard whistling an odd unrecognizable tune.

  39.

  “Now that’s disturbing,” Rachael was looking over the ocean of corpses.

  Cooper just nodded. He was still puzzling over how they might get to the structure. And he was wondering if it would be a wasted effort once he got there. He didn’t know who was there and what the condition of the place might be. But of course he had to check it out. And the big question, why? Why are all these corpses here? What happened to them?

  Rachael was standing on the edge of the expressway and smiling. She wasn’t looking at the dead below her, she was looking at the sky above. It was a glorious show of colors. She was so stunningly beautiful. She was breathtaking. She was a beautiful person as well a physical beauty. Cooper had to admit he was very attracted to her, but it hadn’t gotten romantic yet. He’d held that at bay. She was flirty, but made no moves on him or sent him any definite signals.

  She looked at him as if she were suddenly conscious of his gaze.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.” He turned away.

  “No, it’s cool. I was just . . . “

  “Trying to be happy?”

  “Yeah. It’s hard to look for the good in the world… in people especially these days.”

  Cooper nodded. “Yep.”

  She came and stood by him, touching shoulders, she laid her head on his arm.

  “This okay?”

  “Of course.” He wondered was this romantic or a purely platonic show of comfort and affection.

  “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way,” Cooper began. “I mean a lot of girls would be offended at this, so I hope you understand.”

  She recoiled, looked at him suspiciously. Is he about to
say we should get it on? Inwardly, she was disappointed at Cooper and herself, mostly she was angry at herself, it was happening again. A guy just couldn’t be her friend.

  “I just want to be friends . . . for now. God I hope that doesn’t sound arrogant. Not that I think you would be interested in me or anything. I’m just clearing the air. I really like you a lot. I’ve had a lot of fun with you, all things considered. I guess I don’t want to . . . “

  “I think I understand.” She was taken aback. She was thrilled to hear him say that, but her ego was a bit bruised. She’d been so used to hearing how hot she was. Maybe he was gay, she thought.

  “I’m not gay or anything. You’re really beautiful—gorgeous—I mean . . . forget it.” He turned away, his cheeks felt like they were on fire.

  She beamed and hugged him. “That’s the best thing you could have ever said to me.”

  He turned back to her. “Really? Because usually . . . “

  “Because usually the guy means the girl isn’t hot enough for him.”

  “No.” He sounded offended. “Besides you know you’re hot.”

  “No it’s not that. I just appreciate someone who can be a friend and put that before anything else. Even this.” She put her hands behind her head and posed.

  Cooper closed his eyes and turned away. “You are not going to make this easy on me.”

  “We are just friends, right. So I could take my shirt off like this and . . . “

  Copper opened his eyes and looked. She was standing there, arms folded and smiling.

  “You are cruel.” Cooper turned away.

  “You are a dog.”

  “I am human and you are cruel.”

  “OK, you passed the test. Let’s let it go.” She smiled. It felt good to be herself with a guy and not be guarded all the time.

  Cooper remained turned away. “We are going to have to wait a minute.”

  Rachael laughed and hugged him from behind. “I am so glad we are friends.”

  “I’m not . . . not anymore.” Cooper smiled, red-faced and pulled away from her. “Seriously, we shouldn’t be playing around too much out here.”