“It doesn't go there, we are in Osceola, as close as it comes. There is a bus waiting for you guys to get on, with room for just fifteen more kids, just enough for you guys!”
“Where is Missus Wright?” asked one of the other kids.
“She took an earlier bus with her family, we let you guys sleep, but now they want to turn the train around to make another trip, so we have to get off.”
“Wow! How do they turn the train around?” asked another boy.
“Well I think they are just going to back it up, I don't think they will actually turn it around.”
“Oh, cause in Thomas the…”
“C'mon kids we have to get moving, make sure to get all your stuff, the bus is waiting.”
The kids shared a look that said, 'what stuff?' as clearly as if they had spoken out loud. “What I mean is, don't forget your shoes or anything you had in your pockets, okay?”
Nick checked to make sure he still had his video game and phone, he saw Jessica cling more tightly to the one webkinz stuffed animal she had smuggled aboard too. Kenny put his shoes on, accompanied by a comment from Seth not to take them off again until they were in a house somewhere.
“Is Missus Carson here?” asked Jessica, “Nick is Missus Carson out there waiting for us?”
“Shhh, quiet Jess, I think she is going to meet us in Des Moines. We will call her when we get there.” Together the kids shuffled out of the train and boarded the overcrowded bus that was filled only with children, the driver and two other adults, a stern looking man and Miss Swanson. There was only one bench seat left to cram the fifteen children onto, the kids pushed the smallest children up onto the seat and found places to sit on the dirty floor. There were no other cars or buses in the parking lot.
Chapter 27
In Chicago the lights were still on. The electricity was still running and the battle for the city was over. The military had been running in sniper teams and forward observers by helicopter, putting them on rooftops and calling down missiles and artillery when ever groups of undead showed themselves, but this was more than a form of annoying high tech guerrilla warfare. The Willis tower made too likely a target to act as a base for the zombie leaders, so they had chosen to hold up in the Art Institute instead. From there they set about stopping the solder's constant drain on the troops. The leader of the zombies had converted the main entrance into a seat of power and used one entire wing for their personal rooms, where only he and his entourage were allowed. The rest of the block was fairly well kept and looked much as it did before it was taken over.
Inside the throne room the 'king' was hard at work. He was currently beating on a soldier who had been captured alive and brought to him, the man was very much alive and very much a bloody mess. Most of the zombies present watched with rapt attention as 'King Harry' beat on the man.
“You did not hurt me, you know. Your capture, torture, and death really was for nothing.” Harry told the man as he punched him once again in the stomach. The soldier didn't reply, his will was already broken, he was beyond snappy retorts and even words. He had not told the zombies anything and knew he was going to die, so he just endured. Harry went on, “You know the incredibly sad part about this?” he said hitting the soldier again, “You will tell me everything. Oh not now, you are too broken up for that, but I've already infected you and you will come back once I decide to kill you. After that I will get you just smart enough so that you realize what is happening to you and so that I can get what I want out of you, then I am going to put you in a special place I reserve for the people I hate the most. I have a little spot over in Millennium Park where I keep the things I want to live in pain. I don't know how long we live yet, after we come back, but lets find out together, shall we?” Harry backed off from the man after another backhanded slap and then gestured to a slinky woman dressed in a tawdry black bodysuit. She was wearing a single gold bracelet on one hand and was talking into a satellite phone, which she hung up. After glancing at Harry the zombie woman, Aubrey, stepped over to him and whispered in his ear.
Aubrey was his woman who got things done, she rarely appeared in the throne room but when she did Harry always wanted to speak with her. The two were not lovers, no Harry had more…refined tastes than that. His current girlfriend was in residence as always, she was also one of his body guards and still very much alive, he said he liked the way she moved when he slid into her, something zombie women lost in the process of coming back to life. Ella McVay had an iron disposition and moved in ways that were no longer entirely human. Harry had learned that even as zombies gained abilities from killing humans, humans gained abilities from slaying zombies. Ella had killed hundreds of zombies. Rumor had it that she was as fast as any undead walking and her blood thirsty reputation steered most of the undead well away from her. It wasn't so much that Ella hated any zombie who was not Harry, it was more like she had a philosophy that asking for forgiveness for killing super zombies was better than asking permission to do so. Her new life suited her well, the concubine of a king. It remained to be seen if she could bear his children and form a new linage, if it never happened it would not be for lack of trying.
Harry pulled back from Aubrey, “We are done. Everyone out. Now. Except my love and you Aubrey.” Unlike other kings of the past Harry's word carried more than just a suggestion, all of the zombies in his presence were his own creation or created by his 'children', when he gave an order they obeyed immediately. His assistant, Ramey had been dispatched to Nebraska, where the zombies he was calling from Denver had slowed to a crawl. Ramey was now on the phone with Aubrey, when the hall had cleared and Harry was certain that they were alone he said, “Well that is taken care of.”
“Harry.” said Aubrey with warning in her voice, she was looking at the wounded soldier, who was laying on the floor to one side of the throne room.
The soldier was not a threat, he was buck naked and already dying, but Harry was going to bring him back and anything he heard now could be gotten from him later. Harry shrugged and hopped off of his throne, “Do you want to do it?” he asked Aubrey.
“I've been well fed lately, but thank you.”
“Ella?”
“Or course, but take what you will of it first sire.” With her it was always a game, she never called him 'Harry' unless they were alone. Ella was busy staring at Aubrey, the zombie woman was a mystery to her, vanishing like the wind and reappearing sporadically to upset her husband's best laid plans. The human woman was beginning to get jealous of the little seen zombie.
“I want to see what happens when you kill a human. Watch Aubrey, tell me what you see when she kills the man.”
With a small smile Aubrey said, “As my lord commands.” Her tone was anything but deferential, but she did watch Ella with acute interest as the woman approached the fallen soldier.
Bending down on one knee Ella looked at the man and then at Harry, “You have bitten him already lord?”
“Yes, there on the shoulder, he is already infected, you killing him won't change that.”
“Slow or fast?”
Harry waved indifferently, “Just get it over with we have things to discuss.”
Ella moved in a blur that impressed Aubrey, a knife fairly winked into existence and sank into the soldier's back above his heart. The woman brought the blade up and licked the bright red blood off of it before looking around for something to finish cleaning the blade on.
“Don't move Ella.” said Harry, then to Aubrey, “Do you see it?”
What he was talking about was the swirling patterns of the life force within the fallen soldier, it was ebbing out of the man. Any mortally wounded person bled out their life force when they were killed, Harry called it a soul, but Ella was not ready to commit to that level of spirituality yet. This life force took anywhere from seconds to half a day to leave the body. If there was a zombie nearby it could trap this essence by consuming the flesh of the dead, some could be harvested by merely drinking their blood as well, without killing the human. As Aubrey and Harry watched they saw minute swirls of the colorful life energy being absorbed by Ella's body.