Out For Blood 34

Gregg reached for Zacks’ hat and took it from his head; he looked inside it but didn’t know why, he just did, then tossed it to the floor. Zack was six-feet in height and looked to be around fifty-years of age, his hair was grey and his eyes black as night. He wore a pair of grey trousers, a grey jacket under his thick coat and a dirty-white button-down shirt; his teeth like all the other people here were immaculate and perfectly straight.

Gregg spun Zack around and pushed him up against the cell bars, passing his gun to Jill he searched him, Zack was unarmed. Gregg took his gun back and indicated with it to the cell Vicky was in. ‘In there,’ he said.

Zack backed up slowly keeping his eyes on the small bore hole before him. He entered the cell and Gregg closed the door, Jill picked up the keys and then locked him inside.

Gregg pulled Hals’ chair up to the front of the cell and pointed his gun at Zack, Zack was stood at the door holding onto the bars, his eyes flitting from Jill to Gregg and back again.
‘I’m going to ask you some questions,’ said Gregg. ‘And you will then answer those questions. If I do not like any of the answers you give me. Or if I think you’re lying… I’ll shot you. Now do you fully understand what I have just said?’

Zack nodded still sharing his glower between the two of them. ‘But you won’t get away with this; they’ll send others after me, and they’ll come after you!’

Jill wiggled her fingers in front of Zacks’ face. ‘Wooooo… Scary.'But Zack ignored the gesture.
‘Well I’ll worry about that when it happens,’ said Gregg leaning forward on the chair. ‘Now, how many of you are there?’

Zack thought about this for a second. ‘A hundred plus.’ He replied.
‘And where are they all now?’
Again Zack thought about his answer. ‘They’re all at the end of that tunnel.’ He said nodding to his left, not knowing they knew where the tunnel led.
‘So,’ said Gregg. ‘They’re all up at the Town Hall… having a party are they?’

‘Nope,’ said Zack.
‘Well why don’t you tell me why they’re all up there then?’
Zack closed his mouth and stayed silent, Gregg raised the gun aiming for his head.
‘Wait a minute,’ said Jill. ‘I have a much better idea.’

She crossed behind Gregg and made her way to the washroom on the other side of the cell Zack and Vicky were in. After only a few seconds she came back out looking around the station room, she then saw what it was she was looking for. Jill picked up a vase containing a bunch of dead flowers which really were light-brown stalks that crumpled to dust as she tossed them to the floor.

She then returned to the washroom and disappeared inside, Gregg wondered what it was she was doing, but Zack knew what she was looking for, and also knew she wouldn’t find it in there, there hadn’t been any in there for a good few years.

Jill again exited the washroom and this time full of meaningful determination she opened the station room door and struggled back to the patrol car. Bending down she filled the vase with muddy water from the ditch the front wheels had made.

She then came back into the station room and after closing the door behind her she stood before the cell looking at Zack.
‘Now,’ she said, dripping once more. ‘Are you’re going to answer the questions, or take a shower?’
Zack realised he had no choice; he would tell them anything they wanted to know now.

‘So, once more…’ continued Gregg. ‘Why is everyone up at the Town Hall?’
‘That’s where we all go; we watch the rain from there.’
‘Why do you watch the rain?’ asked Jill.
‘It’s something we do,’ he said raising his shoulders. ‘We don’t know why, we just do it!’

‘Gregg is one of you, why doesn’t he watch the rain?’
Gregg frowned looking at Jill as though her remark had injured him somewhat.

‘If he don’t watch it means he aint tasted the honey-salt.’
Gregg looked back at Zack. ‘The honey-salt?’
‘S’what she’ll taste like if you have a mind to find out.’ He said nodding sideways towards Jill.
Gregg felt he should change the subject. ‘This Ella, she the big cheese?’
Zack scoffed. ‘That’s what she likes to think.’
‘So if she isn’t, who is?’

Zack then stalled reluctant to answer this one, Jill cupped her hand and scooping out some of the muddy water she threw it at him. Partly because he hesitated, mostly because she’s nobody’s’ honey-salt. Zack saw the water coming and turned his back on it.

‘Next time you get the fucking lot!’ Said Jill.
Zack then composed himself before continuing. ‘We call him the Primary One.’
‘The Primary One? As in the first?’ said Gregg.
Zack nodded. ‘He’s the one started all this off, aint seen him for a while mind. S’posed to be workin’ on somethin’ new, somethin’ that’s gonna change us!’

Gregg wasn’t interested in their future; as far as he was concerned he hoped they wouldn’t have one. ‘So where does everyone one else fit in? I mean, I don’t believe you all volunteered to become… freaks.’

‘Some of em’ were just kids, sixteen years-old, that’s when they suffered the Turning.’
‘What’s the “Turning”?’
‘That’s what they called it back then, when you turned sixteen… you got the jab.’
‘Were you one of those kids?’ asked Jill.

Again Zack scoffed. ‘No, I’ve always been part of the Collective, ever since we first moved here from Charleston in 1919. I was offered the chance to live a long and healthy life, so I took it, who wouldn’t? Didn’t know the full consequences at the time mind, but I’m not complainin' now.’

Jill stepped forward and looked at him closely. ‘1919…? So how old are you?’
Zack smiled showing his brilliant white teeth. ‘Would you believe a hundred and thirty-six? I was forty-years-old with a bad heart when I accepted, strong as an Ox she is now!’ He said thumping his chest.

Gregg sat back in the chair and Jill lowered the vase of water. ‘And are you still Turning people now?’ she asked.
Zack shook his head. ‘No, not turned anyone for fifteen-years or more.’
It was Greggs’ turn to scoff. ‘I beg to differ,’ he said.

‘You were a one off, just some investigator snoopin’ around,’ Zack looked into the other cell. ‘Hal didn’t like it, he wanted to shoot you, can’t say I blame him neither!’

‘So why was I, “Turned”?’
‘Ella, she’s the one wanted it that way, then pinned to the floor there so she could watch you squirm. But you got lucky, managed to break out and run.’

‘Okay, back to the Town Hall, how many entrances are there?’
‘Only the one why, you thinking of breaking in? Because once that door is locked that place is like a fortress.’
‘Will it be locked now?’
‘It’s always locked when it rains. No one goes in and no one comes out, not till the rain stops anyways.’

‘Unless they use the tunnel,’ stated Jill.
Zack didn’t comment.
‘About the tunnel,’ said Gregg. ‘Is it the only one?’
‘The tunnel from here goes to the Town Hall, but there are other tunnels leading from it, the cinema, the schoolhouse, the garage and the library.’

Jill held up the map she took from the notice board for Zack to see. ‘It doesn’t show them on here.’
‘Don’t need to, each building has its own map.’

Gregg stood up and went over to the writing table; he plucked the pen from its holder and took the map from Jill passing them both to Zack. ‘Draw me the tunnels that are not on this map.’ He said.
Zack spent a couple of minutes drawing on the map then passed it back through the bars.

‘Now tell me… I need to know where the girls are kept, and I don’t mean the six in there.’ Gregg pointed through the courtroom.
‘Upstairs in the Town Hall.’
‘Where upstairs?’
‘Small room in the centre of the landing, facing the front doors.’
‘Anyone guarding it?’
‘No, I told you… everyone watches.’

Gregg stood and told Zack that he had been very helpful, he then raised his gun and pulling the trigger put a bullet between his eyes. As Zacks’ hands slipped from the bars he seemed to fall back in slow motion, the sudden crack of the gun made Jill jolt causing her to spill some of the water. She then threw the rest of it into the cell, most of which hit Zacks’ face, but did no damage.

‘Just making sure?’ said Gregg.
‘Just making sure!’ Echoed Jill putting the vase on the writing table behind her.

Jill turned back to the cells and looked again at her friend, she wanted so much to sit with Vicky and hold her close, tell her that this was some kind of weird nightmare, and how when Jill woke up she would still see Vicky driving the car and singing quietly along to her favourite music.

Gregg looked over at Jill and saw the grief in her eyes; he really wanted to say something meaningful, something perhaps poignant, but knew he would only intrude on her thoughts. He looked carefully at her face; Gregg couldn’t tell if she was shedding more tears or if it was rainwater. He hoped it was the latter, as selfish as it may sound he needed someone that would stay strong through this, and up to this point Jill had exceeded his expectations on that front.

A clap of thunder overhead ended the sense of privacy Jill had ensconced herself in, and with a sharp intake of breath she seemed to return to the reality of their situation.
Gregg felt an intrusion now would not be inappropriate, but he left it at a one syllable word. ‘Jill?’

Jill blinked a couple of times before reacting, and then sniffed her nose. ‘Yah, sorry… I was…’ she trailed off.
Gregg gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Yeah, I know…’

Jill then remembered what she had seen in the washroom mirror and left to sort it out. ‘Back in a couple of minutes.’ She said.

Gregg nodded putting his gun into the back of his jeans and then picked up Zacks’ flashlight. He unlocked and opened the cell door and took Zacks’ gloves from his hands, which actually fitted him much better than Hals’ did. He looked across at Vicky and saw quite an amount of blood had pooled around her body. Looking around for something to cover her with he remembered seeing some blankets in the cupboard by the door, he took one out and placing it over her he crossed himself.

Jill saw this as she returned from the washroom. ‘Thank you Gregg, that was nice of you.’ She said.

Jill had managed to rub off her make-up, including what had ran down her face. She then began to look through Hals’ desk drawer for something to tie her hair back with. There were no rubber bands in the desk so she used a “Zip-Lock” to hold her pony-tail in place, and the T-shirt she wore was now adorned with an up-side-down image of her face.

‘Much better,’ commented Gregg with a smile.
Jill then looked at Gregg with concern. ‘Can I ask you a question?’ she said.
‘You just did.’
‘I’m being serious here Gregg.’
‘Okay, what is it?’
‘Are you thirsty yet?’

Gregg paused a moment for thought. ‘Blood thirsty?’ he said with a raised brow. ‘No... but I could kill for a cold beer.’
‘So you do have a drink problem then?’
‘No Jill, not yet I don’t,’ he said looking her in the eye. They both knew exactly what he meant.

Jill sighed weightily. ‘What now, find the girls?’ she asked.
‘That is now certainly on my agenda,’ he said. ‘And it’s something I can do without your help,’ he raised one hand and pointed. ‘You go through that door, turn right and keep going; as long as it’s raining no one will come after you.’

‘Under normal circumstances Gregg I’d have to agree with you… but this could be the bit in the movie where the stupid blond makes the wrong decision.’
‘But you’re not stupid or blond,’ replied Gregg.
‘Correct, so therefore I am not stupid enough to go out there and get lost in those woods. So for now, like it or not… I’m stuck with you!’

Gregg was pleased she hadn’t taken the stupid blond option. ‘Well I guess that makes me the fortunate one then doesn’t it?’
Jill shrugged. ‘I guess so.’

‘Okay,' said Gregg. 'Have you ever fired a gun before?’
‘No... but if I had to I could.’