Free Where the Dead Men Lie by James Harden Page A

You know, to make sure they can trust us or something. To make sure we’re not infected. That’s what I’d do."
    "Yeah," Maria said. "We talked about this. About trust. Remember the note we found at the farmhouse. People were starting to take the law into their own hands. They were starting to form violent gangs. These people probably experienced that first hand. I’m guessing the priest is keeping these people together. Keeping them sane. As soon as they realize we’re not a threat, that we’re not dangerous or violent. They’ll let us out. Let’s not forget they saved our lives."
    The man laughed again. "You don’t get it, do ya kid? They didn’t save your life. And there is no getting out of this. There is no trust. Not anymore."
    "What the hell are you talking about?"
    "This is a new world with new rules," he said as he picked up a handful of cash. "You see this? This is all over. It’s all a useless. The plague has changed everything. It has changed everyone." He threw the cash in the air. "The empire of man is falling."
    "You’re wrong," Jack said. "We can still stop this. We can still fix it."
    Again, I wanted to kick Jack in the shin, and tell him to shut up. But I didn’t need to.
    "You think I’m wrong?" the stranger said.
    "Yeah," Jack answered. "I think you’re unbelievably wrong."
    "You wanna know why the only survivors you’ve seen in months want to blindfold you and lock you up? It’s simple really. It’s so simple; I can’t believe I have to say it out loud. The reason, you ain’t getting out of here alive is because this plague, this pandemic or whatever it is, it ain’t gonna blow over. This ain’t some little natural disaster. There will be no relief effort. There will be no charity concert to raise funds for the rebuilding process. This is big. And we’re right in the middle of it. If we were lucky we would’ve been killed in the initial outbreak. But we survived. And now we’re walking through hell on earth. Those people up there? They don’t give a damn about us. They don’t give a damn that we might be some of the only people left alive. All they care about is eating their next meal. Staying alive. All they care about is themselves. They will do whatever it takes. They will lie and they will cheat and they will steal. They will spill the blood of anyone who gets in their way. And they will damn the consequences, they will say to hell with the consequences."
    "No." I said louder than I intended to and suddenly felt the piercing gaze of the stranger on me. "No. People aren’t like that. People aren’t just evil."
    "The instant the Oz virus took over," the stranger continued."The very second the military lost control, our civilization crumbled. We were sent back to the dark ages. Old Testament. Eye for an eye. This is the bad old days. The all or nothing days. You wanna live? You better be ready to fight. You better be ready for war."
    I was about to say something about how there’s no way people would just lose their humanity so easily and so quickly.
    But then the vault door clicked as it was unlocked. It slowly swung open. A large bottle of water was thrown in. It slid along the floor and came to rest against the far wall.
    And then, as is to confirm everything the stranger had just said in his little speech of doom, two men shuffled in, carrying something between them. Something long and heavy.
    It was a body.
    They dumped it unceremoniously just inside the door.
    The two men then left in a hurry, slamming the vault door shut.
    The body, it was the woman from earlier. Her hands and feet had been bound, half her face was missing. Her dreadlocked hair was stained with blood.

     
    CHAPTER 15

    We all backed away.
    Except for the stranger. He stood up and walked over to the body. It was then we could see how big this guy was. He was huge. A mountain of a man. He was at least seven foot tall. Arms like a prize winning bodybuilder. Shoulders so wide he looked as if he’d have