Age of Z: A Tale of Survival Read online

  “Because I can't crack concrete with my bare hands and bullets make me really dead,” Alexa answered instantly. “Look, just trust me on this–new clothes. You absolutely need them. I think there was a locker room on one of the upper levels, we can check that out. C'mon.”

  She snatched up her bag, retrieved her crowbar from where it lay forgotten on the floor after LS first attacked her, and turned back to the odd round door, turning sideways to slip through it.

  She made it a half dozen paces before she realized LS wasn't following. Puzzled, she turned back to find LS standing a few feet from the door, staring at it.

  “It won't bite you,” Alexa said, smirking a little. When LS didn't move, she added more seriously, “Okay look, I know the dead creatures everywhere thing is, like, straight out of a horror movie, but I'm pretty sure it's safe, and we're sort of living in a horror movie now anyway.”

  But LS shook his head after a moment, and said slowly, “I have... never been outside this room before.”

  Oh. Ouch. Alexa felt her heart pang in sympathy.

  LS looked about Alexa's age, maybe a little older, and he was clearly intelligent and capable, but in some ways he was already reminding Alexa of a child. If she ever met who was in charge of this operation she was definitely going to punch the jerk in the face for messing with her new buddy.

  Or maybe he was a zombie... Alexa almost hoped he was. Then she'd be fully justified with taking the guy's head off with her crowbar. Messy, but totally worth it.

  All she said out loud was, “Oh. Well, it's... not really all that different, actually. Same weird things. Gets less creepy higher up.” And then a little softer, “You don't have to stay in there anymore, remember? You're allowed to come out and see the world, if you want to.”

  That seemed to harden LS's resolve. He strode forward, eyes narrowed, and threw the massive round door open with a tortured squeal from its rusted hinges. “I want to leave,” LS growled. “I don't want to stay here anymore. I want answers.”

  “I noticed,” Alexa said, eyebrows raised high. Yikes, he'd moved that solid metal door like it was made of cardboard! Clearly this was going to take a little getting used to.

  LS made a rather silent travel companion as they worked their way back up many, many sub-levels. Which was good, because after close to twenty stories Alexa was feeling a little out of breath, fit and healthy or not, and wouldn't have made for much conversation anyway.

  After a little backtracking Alexa managed to find the locker-room she'd spotted earlier, and after a little digging she scrounged up a few things that might fit the clone. LS obediently changed into the slightly baggy jeans, worn but serviceable belt, and army surplus boots that might have belonged to a security guard without complaint, but glowered at the dark gray Washington Redskins T-shirt with clear distaste.

  “There's nothing else?” he asked. Alexa raised an eyebrow, and was about to point out that he was getting awful picky for a guy unable to make a decision an hour ago, until she saw the clone plucking unhappily at the designation on the stasis suit now in his hands. Oh. So this was an identity thing, not a personal taste thing.

  “It's the only thing that fits you here,” Alexa said. “Sorry. Um... we can try checking shops later, on the way, for something you like better.”

  LS looked disappointed, but grudgingly pulled the football shirt on over his head. It was also slightly baggy, but Alexa hadn't found anything else in here large enough for somebody of LS's size. He'd just have to deal with it for now.

  Alexa did, however, manage to scrounge up a second bag–it looked like an old school backpack–and offered it to LS to put the stasis suit in, just in case. LS seemed surprised by the offer at first, but nodded a quite thanks to Alexa a second later, and stowed his only possession away.

  “Okay,” Alexa said, “Now that that's all taken care of, I think we'll probably have to stay down here tonight. It's definitely dark up top by now and we don't want to be traveling at night, not with the walking dead out there waiting for us, but it seems safe enough down here.”

  “Why don't we fight them?” LS repeated, crossing his arms. Definitely more personality there than before. Getting him away from that pod had already done him wonders.

  “Rule number one of surviving a zombie apocalypse,” Alexa told him, raising one finger. “Don't ever fight zombies when you don't have to. You get the chance, you get away from them as fast as you can. They're dangerous, and it gets worse at night.”

  LS still didn't look convinced–to be honest, Alexa was starting to realize LS didn't entirely believe her about the surface at all–so she added, “Look, just trust me on this, okay? I promise I'm not gonna steer you wrong. Don't fight zombies, not unless you're desperate.

  “Now I think I saw a couple of couches up in what looked like some sort of executive office–we can crash there for the night. Best sleep I'll get in a while.” She grinned. “I've got some packages of nuts that I found a couple weeks ago, I think they're still good–and some smoked meat and dried fruit I traded for last week. Regular feast, right? You should count yourself lucky you were found by somebody as resourceful as me!”

  LS's look was one of pure skepticism, but after a moment he smirked–this time the expression was a little more natural, like he was getting more used to it. “Alright. Are you going to share that feast?”

  “Maybe,” Alexa said with a grin. “If you ask nicely. I get first dibs on the more comfortable couch.”

  She headed out of the locker room for the stairwell again with LS in tow, adding more seriously, “We'll try to get up early tomorrow so we can stock you up on some of your own supplies before we head out. I think I remember where the good stuff was in here. Your own water bottle, food, a first aid kit...”

  She ticked off supplies on her fingers idly as she walked, with LS following and listening quietly behind her. And despite how surreal the situation was, wandering around far below the earth in a hidden science lab with a clone following her around like a quiet little puppy–for the first time in a very long time, Alexa felt almost... content.

  Because it felt good, not to be alone again. To have a traveling companion that wasn't there purely out of convenience or necessity, to have somebody willing to listen to her, to have somebody that trusted her to look out for him. It was like... like having a little brother. Like having a family again.

  It was a good feeling, and Alexa resolved to do everything she could to help this guy, no matter what.

  Chapter 3

  Despite the oddity of the situation, Alexa slept like a baby that night.

  It was rare for her to get a good night's rest in relative comfort unless she was staying at one of the settlements in between search leads. When she was on the road she usually spent her time sleeping in trees or in upper stories, and she always had to sleep light, because at the slightest sound of a moan she had to be ready to run.

  But the Gentech sub-levels were secure. The couch smelled a bit funny, but was still soft and comfortable, and she'd had a good day of successful finds, so it was no surprise to her at all that she slept as well as she did.

  She woke at dawn, and she didn't even have to see the sky or find a working timepiece to know it. Before Z-day she'd been a lazy kid, always sleeping in when she could–back then, mornings had been evil, and it took everything she had to force herself out of bed to go to school.

  The outbreak had changed that. Alexa quickly learned that it was vital to take advantage of every second of daylight one had. Nowadays she was usually up with the sun and already long gone from her chosen campsite before the first hour of the day was out.

  Of course, today was a little different. It started when Alexa felt her heart stop, when she spotted the second empty couch. For a moment she thought finding LS had all been in her head–maybe she'd been alone for so long she was losing her mind, conjuring companions to keep the stress of surviving the apocalypse at bay. It wouldn't be the weirdest brand of crazy that had developed sinc
e Z-day.

  But a quick sweep of the room revealed LS standing upright in the farthest corner of the room, sandwiched between one wall and a floor-to-ceiling bookcase, eyes closed. Alexa felt a flood of relief, and then, a moment later, puzzlement. “Um... LS?”

  LS shifted, his eyes opening and then glanced over at Alexa, who was staring at him over the back of her couch. “Yes?”

  “Oh. So you are awake. Uh, any reason you're imitating the bookcase, there? The couch might be a little softer than the... um... wall.”

  LS hesitated for a moment, and then said slowly, “It... reminded me of my pod. Sitting on the couch felt... odd.”

  “Oh.” Awkward, much? Alexa wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond to that, which meant her mouth defaulted to sarcasm. “Yeah, just so you know, there's sort of a lack of pods, bookcases, and intact walls topside, so you might have to get used to sitting down like the rest of us normal people.”

  LS gave her a surprisingly dirty look. Alexa was impressed; she hadn't even realized LS could do that yet, considering his lack of personality so far. The clone stepped free from his enclosed space and said a little coldly, “I'll keep that in mind.”

  “Yeah, okay, you do that,” Alexa said, but grinned to show she was just teasing. She yawned, stretched, and rolled off the couch, pawing through her bag until she found more of the smoked meats and dried fruit from last night. She tossed some of it to LS and kept some of it for herself, and frowned inwardly at just how little was left.

  It was going to be a lot harder to feed two people, especially with them going through her rations twice as fast as before. Plus, LS was kind of big–he'd probably need more than Alexa. And how much food did clones need, anyway? She'd have to figure something out for that.

  “So,” Alexa outlined, “I figure we'll take an hour to get your stuff together, and then try to break out of D.C. Might go a little slower than it usually does for me though... normally I ride a bike, but I don't think it'll carry you too. Maybe we can find you another one.” She mused over that one thoughtfully as she tore off a strip of tough meat with her teeth.

  LS nodded after a moment. “Sure. You're the expert.” He tore into his own meager meal, apparently unconcerned with the fact that breakfast was the same as dinner.

  It wasn't too hard to find supplies for LS; Alexa was able to backtrack easily by following her own footsteps in the dust from yesterday. The hardest part was figuring out what he might need. The glass from the pod hadn't cut him yesterday, which meant he was tougher than a normal human, so he probably didn't really need a first aid kit.

  Based on the way he moved that door yesterday he should be able to get through almost anything, which meant he probably wouldn't really need much in the way of tools either.

  In the end Alexa just loaded up LS's backpack with anything of value she could find. She made sure to scrounge up a water-bottle for the clone, and she'd share her own food with her new friend, but everything else was mostly potential trade-goods for later.

  LS was strong enough to carry some of the heavier things Alexa had been forced to leave behind on her first trip through the lab–small but heavy cans of fuel, a gallon-jug of water just in case, a box of ammunition she'd found for some gun or other in one of the guard stations–which was good, at least.

  If they could find people they had a veritable fortune in their backpacks, now, which would let them buy food or other supplies if they needed it.

  There was no putting it off. It was time to head back to the surface. Gentech had almost been a comfort, if it wasn't for the obviously disturbing nature of the experiments and the many dead things below. It was nice to not have to worry for a day, and to find such a big haul.

  Alexa wasn't really sure what she'd find topside–there was always a chance the zoms had caught her scent or something while she was down here–so leaving would be risky and tricky. But she also wanted out. Now that she had LS in tow it was imperative she get him to safety as fast as she could, and beyond that, she wouldn't be finding her family at all if she spent all her time messing around down here.

  So she led LS up the stairs to sub-level one, giving her new companion a few quick warnings as she did so.

  “Okay. So. The surface is probably not going to be what you're expecting, there's a few things you need to know before we even get up there. For starters, we need to be as quiet as possible. Far as anybody can tell zombies hunt primarily through sound–if they start moaning it'll just attract more. Nobody wants more zombies. So we stay quiet and move fast. If we do see any, run in the other direction, and keep your distance from them. They're pretty slow, but the moaning will attract the ones in front of you, too.”

  LS frowned. “I don't like the thought of running away from a fight.”

  “It's not a fight,” Alexa told him, with one part practicality and one part exasperation. “It's a massacre. If it makes you feel better, don't think of it as running away–think of it as attacking in the opposite direction.”

  It didn't look like the thought made LS feel any better.

  Alexa grit her teeth and resolved to keep an eye on her new traveling companion. A very careful eye.

  He'd clearly been designed as a weapon and his heritage was obviously buried deeply in the age of warfare, but this wasn't the time for that anymore. Heroics were suicide, end of story. Alexa wasn't going to let LS get killed only a day after he'd effectively been born.

  They reached sub-level one, and Alexa approached the hole she'd expanded on yesterday with crowbar raised, wary. LS watched her curiously, but said nothing. The hole looked untouched, there were no moving bodies, and Alexa didn't hear any shuffling from above, so she figured it'd be fine.

  She grabbed the rope still hanging down through the hole, started to haul herself up and was mildly surprised when LS hesitated before reaching up to give her a boost and ease her climb. The clone tossed the backpacks and crowbar up after her, and then eyed the hole critically. “I don't think I'm going to fit through that.”

  “Uh... yeah, I guess I'm a lot skinnier than you are,” Alexa called down to him softly. Because not all of us can come out of pods absolutely ripped. Some of us have to work for our muscles. “I can try to widen the hole with my crowbar like I did yesterday–”

  “Don't bother.” LS eyed the hole and crouched. Alexa realized what he was about to do just in time, and backpedaled away from the hole as the clone smashed through the weakened floor with a resounding crunch, scattering dust and stone shards everywhere. He landed on his feet next to one of the giant pillars in the first level's interior, and smirked, brushing dust off his shoulders. “Knew I could do it.”

  “Did you not hear what I said about being quiet?” Alexa hissed at him. “Okay, we're moving, now. If there are any zoms in the area they will be zeroing in on that racket you just made, and we don't want to be here when they find it.”

  She threw her pack on, clenched her crowbar tightly in both hands, and gestured for LS to follow. The clone retrieved his own pack easily and did so, not looking particularly concerned, and moved Alexa's door-blocks aside with the ease of a kid playing with legos.

  His expression changed remarkably, though, once Alexa levered the door open again and tentatively stepped outside. It only took a few seconds for Alexa to scan the area and reassure herself that her bike was still intact, but in that short span of time LS's face had shifted from bland indifference to the same shell-shocked look he'd had when he first came out of his pod last night.

  The clone took in the sights–the dirty, broken roads, abandoned cars and trucks, crumbling buildings, and absolute silence–and rasped softly, “This is... wrong. All of it is wrong!”

  Alexa winced at the way LS's voice rose into something louder at the end. “I agree with you, LS, but–”

  “No,” LS interrupted her. “No, you don't understand. This is... this is Washington D.C.?”

  “Sure is,” Alexa told him. “Welcome to the capital. Keep your voice down, the locals are
violent.”

  “But this isn't right,” LS insisted. “None of this looks right!”

  “How do you even know?” Alexa asked incredulously. “You said you'd never even been out of that room, let alone up here...”

  “I don't know,” LS said slowly. “There are... images, memories... facts... in my head. I just know these things. I can see what everything is supposed to look like. Not this. This is wrong.” He sounded like he was in denial, and Alexa was absolutely certain now that LS had refused to believe what little information she'd shared with the clone until he saw it with his own eyes.

  LS looked around again, looking rather lost, and then said in a small voice, “This is... this is not the world I was made for...”

  Alexa cringed. He didn't know how right he was. And Alexa didn't like that unsure sound in her friend's voice, or that dejected slump in those broad shoulders.

  Despite her urge to leave she couldn't help but pause long enough to sling an arm around LS's shoulders comfortingly again, and say, “Look, I know it's kind of shocking, but don't worry about it, okay? So what if you weren't made for it? We'll find you a new place in it. Just stick with me and everything'll be okay, alright, LS? We just gotta hang in there.”