01.04.202X - Contact

Chapter 8 – Contact

“Sorry, ma'am.” The soldier cleared his throat. “We're not supposed to let anyone through. Direct orders.”

“I... I see.”

It was rare to see Kate like this. She usually came across as... well, if not confident, at least sharp-tongued, always thinking of something to fire back with. Now, she seemed more deflated than anything, giving token nods and affirmations during the brief conversation so far, like a balloon someone had let the air out of.

Or maybe a Kate someone had let the fight out of.

Not that Sayori could blame her – she didn't really feel up for much fighting, herself. The Xanax had started working it's magic, that was more than apparent, yet while the gnawing anxiety from before had largely subsided and the rifle-wielding men and women around them didn't seem quite as threatening anymore, she still felt like she was teetering on the edge of a knife.

Maybe she was projecting. 

It definitely wouldn't have been the first time. Still, there was something about this that made her feel incredibly uneasy. It wasn't that they were setting up a checkpoint of some kind, that was... expected, for lack of a better term. It wasn't the guns, either, or even the fact that everyone except her and Kate was masked up, worrying as it was.

No, what really set her off was the emptiness. Barring the small group of military vehicles that broke off and continued their trip eastward, likely towards Muldraugh, there hadn't been any movement on the road. And it wasn't just the road, either – while she didn't necessarily have the best seat available, the gas stations and drive-in burger joints just past the intersection seemed as empty as they'd been last night.

Despite that, whoever was in charge of the group had still elected to send out sentries along the road. She could see one of them from her seat, past the hustle and bustle of heavy boots stamping on asphalt, past the clattering and clanging of empty barrels and large, metallic, tetsubishi-like contraptions being carried into place.

And he was nervous.

That might actually have been “it”, so to speak. Whatever Sayori knew about what was going on probably paled in comparison to what that soldier had been told, and while he might have just waved them along and pointedly refused to answer any questions, the nervous glances he cast over his shoulder and the vise-like grip he held on his rifle told Sayori more than she'd ever wanted to know.

So it wasn't just a dream. Not a nightmare, either, and definitely not a fluke. Whatever was out there was dangerous. Maybe it was the real reason for Rosewood being as quiet as it was. But what was it? More cannibals, or something worse? While often curious to a fault, she felt like this might have been the situation the metaphorical cat should have avoided.

“But... there's people in town.” While innocuous, the statement seemed like it had taken far too much of Kate's strength to force out. “Are they just... locked in there?”

The soldier sighed. Two little arrows, pointing up – was he in charge? Sayori had half expected him to have more, although she was never all that interested in military insignia.

“All healthy individuals will be escorted out of the area and quarantined.” At least he didn't have his hand on the pistol grip anymore – perhaps her and Kate didn't come off as all too threatening? “Infected persons have been advised to self-quarantine and minimize contact with others.”

“Advised – how?” Kate gulped, adding sotto voce - “...sir.”

“Messages have been sent through the NWEAS to all cell phones within Knox County, and there should be-” He cleared his throat again. “There are regular alerts broadcasting on both local radio and local television.”

“Oh. R-right, of co-”

“We... we haven't heard anything.” Kate seemed shocked at the sudden interruption. Perhaps the soldier was as well – it was hard to tell from behind the tinted glass. “I'm n-not getting any signal.”

The soldier turned his eyeless gaze towards Sayori now, and suddenly she realized why Katie seemed as uncomfortable as she did. Talking to someone with a rifle in his hand and a mask covering his face was unnerving, insignia and flags be damned.

“We... a-and, the radio, it... I don't know, it seems like...” Pull yourself together, for once. “A-are you sure it's working?”

A long, muffled exhale, a sudden spark of fear. There wasn't any police around – sure, he had presented himself as “military police”, but... it didn't reassure Sayori in the slightest. Were they allowed to just shoot them both if they deemed it necessary?

“Well, young lady,” he continued after a pointed pause, “I'm not authorized to speak on the behalf of FEMA or any other government agency. I'm here to set up a checkpoint, prevent unauthorized access, and provide security for humanitarian aid efforts.”

His tone grew sharper, and Sayori felt a tiny stab of regret at sticking her nose into the whole damn business. “I am not here to act as a tour guide, info desk, or personal assistant.”

“Well, I... guess that settles it, then. Thank you for your service and all that.” Kate's voice was barely louder than a murmur, and she reached for the ignition.

“Hold it!” His tone was sharp, his hand was back on the grip, and from the corner of her eye Sayori could see two soldiers breaking off from the checkpoint group, both of them jogging towards their car.

Please don't.

“We've got some questions to ask as well. Keep your hands where I can see them, and exit the vehicle, now.”

Kate complied with shaking hands, holding her hands above her head after placing the keys on the dashboard. Maybe it was best to follow suit.

“Exit the vehicle, and keep your hands visible at all times. Come on.”

The moment she did as much, Sayori felt someone grab onto her wrist from behind. She almost wanted to panic, or scream, or something – they wouldn't do... that to her, right? Not in plain sight, no, definitely not, they were just here to maintain order, right?

No, not in plain sight – they'd take her to the side, off into the bushes, and laugh a little cruel laugh while talking about “cavity inspections” and “you gotta check every nook and cranny” and...

“Sorry, ma'am. It's just procedure.”

The voice from behind her was more feminine than she expected. A bit rough, perhaps, and authoritative – bringing to mind a chain-smoking school teacher or something of the sort, but it was enough to calm her down just a little. Enough to keep her mind away from thoughts of running for the hills and leaving Kate to fend for herself – not that she'd have much luck with trying that. The grip, while not painful, was decidedly firm.

“So. Two young women, out for a Sunday drive.” The soldier with the chevrons pulled a frayed notebook and a pencil from a pocket on his vest, checked his wristwatch, and started writing. “On a Thursday, no less.”

“Very funny, chief.” It was the chain-smoker.

“Pipe down, McCoy.” As offhand as an offhand remark could be. The chain-smoker guided Sayori along until she and Kate were practically shoulder-to-shoulder, the nurse evidently getting a similar treatment, a disinterested soldier resting his hand on her shoulder. “So, first things first. Name, age and citizenship?”

“Kate...” She cleared her throat, distaste apparent on her face. “Sorry. Catherine May Atchley. United States. Twenty-three.”

“An Atchley, huh. Was your father in the 101^st?” Still businesslike, but with an undertone of genuine curiosity.

“My uncle was.” Kate – Catherine? – grimaced ever-so-slightly. “He... didn't come back from Tula.”

“I heard.” He shook his head. “Damn shame. I'm sorry for your loss, Catherine.”

“...thanks.” Whether it was the name or possible familial issues Sayori couldn't tell, but Kate didn't do much to hide her annoyance.

“Occupation?”

“Nurse. I work at Rosewood Medical.”

“Uh-huh. That might come in very handy soon, depending on how things go. I guess we'll see, won't we?” Scribble, scribble. “Why were you trying to enter the quarantine zone?”

“Fingers crossed.” Kate's voice had taken on an icy tone. “I thought I'd clock in for work. Didn't know about the quarantine.”

“Is that so? I would have imagined a healthcare professional would have been a bit more up-to-date regarding recent developments.”

“And I would have imagined the alert system actually worked.”

“Uh-huh.”

Whatever the soldier thought about Kate's previous lie he didn't let on. Instead he turned his gaze towards Sayori, who was no longer able to fight the urge to shirk back and turn her eyes towards the cracked asphalt. Kate had lied, and possibly for a very good reason – if the soldiers knew the two of them had been in Rosewood just thirteen hours prior, well...

She had no intention of spending two weeks in quarantine, especially not with the direction the world seemed to be heading right now. But what was she supposed to say? She'd met Kate in the clinic, she'd spent weeks in the clinic, she'd just barely avoided being eaten alive at that very same fucking clinic, and the gas station...

No. There had to be something. Anything. And maybe there was. A good lie borrows enough from the truth to be almost indistinguishable from it. All she had to do was alter a few key details.

“Name, age, citizenship?” Again, the authoritative voice, but this time it wasn't quite as unnerving as before. She felt a story forming, and a fairly believable one at that.

Now just to pull it off.

“Sayori Takahashi, eighteen. Japanese national.” She paused for a moment, briefly unsure of how to continue. “I'm... traveling.”

“Japanese, huh?” The soldier perked up in surprise, and Sayori could have sworn she heard something almost reminiscent of pity in his voice. “You picked a hell of a time to visit the “land of the free”, young lady.”

“Y-yeah. This didn't exactly... go as planned.” She could hear the air quotes drop into place, hand gestures be damned.

“You can say that again.” The soldier gave a short, humorless laugh. “So, occupation?”

“Student.” She took a shaky breath. “I'm a student.”

“Right.” He scribbled something into his notebook again. “Cherry trees in bloom yet?”

“I... uh. I d-don't...” She swallowed. You're way too nervous. Relax. “It's going to take a month, at least...”

The silence lingered for a few moments, and Sayori felt an overwhelming pressure to say something.

And she hadn't even lied yet.

“Until... they start blooming. The cherries.”

“Well, hopefully you'll get home before the next hanami.” The problem with gas masks, Sayori realized, was that you could never see if anyone was smiling underneath them. Still, the tone seemed friendly enough, so she hazarded a smile.

“Y-yeah.”

“So, considering you're presumably not an employee at the clinic, what brought you to Rosewood?”

“I... needed a check-up done on my leg, it's...” Go for it. “I b-broke it, a while back, and... Katie thought it would be a good idea to get it checked, and... yeah.”

“Uh-huh. So, where exactly do you know each other from?” She could practically hear the eyebrow being raised. “You're a fairly unlikely duo, all things considered.”

“We... uh, we met-”

“W-well, truth be told, I...” Katie had barely managed to start her sentence before Sayori swooped in, as gracefully as she could. “I k-kind of... came to visit just so I could meet Katie...”

There might have been a little bit of faux-bashfulness tacked on, but the blush and the coy glance she sent in Kate's direction seemed to work even better than expected, and it took no time at all for the nurse to catch on.

“I... also, you know t-the... well, the clothes store, Fashionabelle, I thought that, you know...” Keep going. “M-maybe they'd have some... nice lingerie there, a-and... well, I just kind of wanted to... reward Katie a bit, you know? Her vacation just ended, s-so maybe she would have appreciated it after a long day of work...”

The grip on her wrist seemed to loosen, the soldier interrogating them coughed awkwardly, put his pencil away, and glanced surreptitiously at Kate's piercings, her initial surprise turning into a characteristic, devilish smile.

Hook, line and sinker.

“Honey, you do know that you look the best when you're not we-”

“Alright, I... think we're done here. Thank you for your time, ladies. McCoy, Morgan, you're on sentry duty, tell the others to eat something.”

The two goons marched off towards the checkpoint proper, and while they were too far away for Sayori to discern what their conversation was about, the muffled laughter she managed to catch didn't leave too much room for guesswork.

Ah well.
No omelets without eggshells.

“Well, ladies, I hope the rest of your... "honeymoon" turns out for the better.” Sayori and Kate were both turning to leave, the nurse already halfway inside the car. “Just try to keep the radio on at all times.”

“There might be some really fu-” He cleared his throat. “Some pertinent information coming up, depending on how the situation develops.”

“Will do, chief.” Kate gave a mock salute, a sardonic smile on her face.

“Who knows, maybe we'll all be home before Christmas.” The soldier gave a dark chuckle. “Drive safe. There should be some kind of humanitarian aid coming in, as soon as we get in touch with FEMA.”

“Glad to hear it.” Katie nodded, smiling all the while. “So... are we free to leave?”

“Yeah, I don't see why not. It's just a routine check – nothing personal.” The soldier almost turned to leave, but then fixed his eyes on Kate again. “Or, well, there's just one more thing.”

“Oh?”

“What happened to your shoulder?”

It was as innocuous as a question could be, there was no hint of malice in his tone, and yet Sayori felt like her blood had turned to ice. Katie's fucking shoulder. The cannibal in the gas station had gouged it open. And yes, of fucking course, whether due to bad luck or the soldier holding her in place, the staples had opened up, a tiny crimson bloom slowly growing on the right sleeve of her off-white sweater.

“My... chainsaw broke.” The smile stayed, but seemed more glued on than anything else. “The chain snapped and... whipped me across the shoulder.”

“Uh-huh. Didn't know you were left-handed.” He didn't move, didn't shoulder his rifle, but that just made everything feel even more worrisome. “You seem to do everything with your right either way, despite the injury.”

“It's... it's barely skin deep, as is, and... and...” Kate sounded worried – not like Sayori would have had any idea of what to say. “I'm t-trying to... strengthen... the, the...”

“CONTACT!”

Everything happened so suddenly.

There was a smattering of rifle fire, somewhere, far too close, the abrupt noise inadvertently making Sayori yelp with fear, and then the soldier with the chevrons shouldered his rifle and took off towards the source of the noise while frantically talking into his radio, and then Sayori heard an engine rumble to life before feeling two hands pulling her inside by the shoulders but she accidentally bumped her head on the front panel of the glove box and groaned in pain.

Then she realized that this was Katie's old Corolla and that Katie was talking a mile a minute about something she couldn't make out, there was a horrified scream in the distance and she felt the tortured engine go from zero to sixty too fast for her to even get her bearings or hold on to anything so she crumpled onto the floor with another yelp, legs still poking out of the open door on the passenger side and she tried to tell Katie to slow down but she almost bit her tongue off at the first bump and

“Katie, what the fuck?!”

“Close the fucking door! Now! We're leaving!”

She did as much, strapped herself in with violently shaking hands, and finally had her chance to see what was happening. And, seconds later, she found herself wishing that she wouldn't.

The streets were full.

Gray, lurching figures, some blood-spattered, some missing limbs, some with holes blown through their bodies, all of them welling forth from the trees and the buildings, falling on top of the skeleton crew manning the checkpoint, as implacable and unreasonable as a tsunami.

While Sayori was busy processing what she'd just seen, Kate had already turned the car around and slammed her foot on the gas, the screaming from the old engine mixing in with the loud bangs and the cries for help and Katie cursing under her breath non-stop until all that was left was a horrifying cacophony that made Sayori cover her ears, squeeze her eyes shut, and try her best to fight back the tidal wave of nausea and fear coursing through her entire body.

She knew she shouldn't do it, that nothing good would come of it, yet she took one last look in the rear-view mirror, and gasped. There were hundreds. After days of silence, of being locked away, of hiding in gas stations and barbershops and general stores, the entire town was on the move, united in purpose, unshakable in will.

 It was a good thing she'd skipped breakfast. The last thing she wanted to do was repaint the upholstery.