“No Time for Goodbye…’ He said, as he faded away…” Adam Gontier

  “Major Nelson!” a voice barked Malcolm from sleep. “It’s time to get moving!”

  Malcolm looked up from his bunk to see a platoon of armed grunts standing with an open tent flap. The Lieutenant leaned his head in. “I believe the Colonel wants to see you.”

  Malcolm slowly stood up and relieved the tension. He exited the tent with the other majors nodding, seemingly in solidarity. Malcolm stepped outside to a starless night sky occasionally dotted by a helicopter formation; he saw the line of Humvees waiting on him.

  “Take a seat in the middle car, Major.” The platoon leader said, and Malcolm obeyed. He was still numb from the oxy as the soldiers took their seats, the lieutenant sat in the passenger seat of Malcolm’s Humvee and signaled on his radio. “We have Nelson; we are en route to HQ.”

  Malcolm was driven up the northbound roads, crossing through foliage and park fields converted into camps; the population was swelling following the evacuations. The Lieutenant was staring out his window and seemed deep in thought. He spoke without looking back, “I understand that you’re the ‘Space Dog’ Nelson, am I right? Good god, you’re young!”

  “...Yes.”

  “Well, aren’t we honored? Anyone else getting a priority transport to HQ would befuddle me at a time like this.”

  Malcolm raised a brow. “And why is that?”

  “You kidding me?” The Lieutenant looked back. “You ought to have been the fucking Lord Christ you saved so many of our boys in Korea! It behooves me that they want to see you just as shit hits the fan; I’d have you ON staff were I the General.”

  Malcolm shrugged. “I’m not a hero.”

  “Now don’t go saying that before we kick this off! Lot of people are looking up to you to pull us through.”

  “What do you mean?” Malcolm asked.

  The Lieutenant laughed. “Listen to this guy; a double-think master!” The whole Humvee joined the chuckle. “I get it; loose lips sink ships and all that.”

  “What?”

  “Shutting up now Major.” The Lieutenant pretended to zip his lips, and all the Humvee wandered back into their own thoughts.

  They entered the metropolitan limits of Mercer Island; a smaller, fifty-foot wall quarantined off the perimeter. Malcolm expected to find a semblance of civilian life, but instead the whole town seemed like a garrison.

  The convoy pulled into the fenced parking lot of the town’s high school and came to a lined stop. Armed guards opened the doors for every occupant and Malcolm was escorted into the building. Malcolm was flanked on four sides while they walked through the darkened hallways bustling with officers, strategists, and technicians. He was escorted to a stairwell, and they rose to the building’s second floor; they arrived at the administrative area, inside was the door to the principal’s office.

  Colonel McElroy was desperately trying to ignite a cigar with a dead lighter beside a desk lamp. It took a moment for him to snap out of his frustration and acknowledge Malcolm. “...Nelson…”

  “Colonel.”

  “…Please. Have a seat.”

  Malcolm did so and was sitting across the desk from McElroy, two guards shut the door behind him and stood vigilant over the room. Malcolm gave McElroy a single moment to speak, yet he still tried to light his cigar; Malcolm’s patience ran thin. “You promised me my family.”

  “Nelson…” The Colonel cupped his nose bridge. “You think those two, behind you, spoke to their loved ones recently?”

  Malcolm shook his head. “You promised me.”

  “I can’t Nelson!”

  “You never meant to!”

  “No, Nelson…I literally can’t!” McElroy sounded like he was masking panic. “We’re losing contact with the East Coast…”

  Malcolm cocked his head. “You promised me before that started.”

  McElroy shook again.

  “...They were never in a Quarantine Zone, were they?” Malcolm hushed.

  “…I couldn’t find them…”

  “And you kept it hidden from me.”

  McElroy almost shook. “I needed you of all people to focus! I need you now!”

  “Why?”

  McElroy leaned in. “I’m all that’s left of the command staff.”

  Malcolm was puzzled. “How?”

  “…They were with the Fleet, or they deserted…My last call with General Abrams connected to a landline in Anchorage, Alaska...I haven’t talked to the Fleet in two days.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “...All the Quarantine Zones are being abandoned...”

  McElroy shuddered. “I don’t know why, but I won’t.”

  “What about the vaccine?”

  “We think that the Cubans were close to something. I don’t know anything else...”

  Malcolm nodded. “It’s over...We lost.”

  McElroy’s hands clenched on top of the desk. “I will not turn my back on this country!”

  Malcolm shrugged. “What country?”

  “We can still salvage this, Nelson!”

  “The Port Zone has fallen apart!”

  McElroy raised his hand. “We can resecure it from our operations here and in the Bellevue Zone.”

  “You want to meet the Undead in battle? In city streets? How’s that worked for us so far?”

  McElroy pointed to a strategic map of the zones atop his desk. “The Air sweeps thinned the Berserkers when the city’s water was contaminated; we still have air support. In the next few days, we’ll conduct formation sweeps on anything that moves while the troops make landings in the zone.” He looked at Malcolm again. “I’ll need new staff for the command chain.”

  “You want to promote me again.”

  McElroy nodded emphatically. “I always knew there was potential in you, Nelson. And I was right! There’s still good in the world…”

  A faint sound recoiled from outside. Malcolm felt a warmth beside him, but the coldness rendered him totally limp. Unable to move, Malcolm’s eyes shifted to see Liam having stepped into the room as if the door was opaque. He took a seat beside Malcolm and crossed one leg. Malcolm looked back at McElroy and struggled to speak. His Colonel stared at him behind stilled, watery eyes; the only sound was the ticking of a clock.

  “Nelson?” McElroy asked. “…Say something.”

  Liam cupped his hands before speaking. “Could you riddle me something first?”

  McElroy almost winced. “Please don’t be facetious, Nelson…”

  “What’s there to be...if not me?”

  “Nelson!”

  Liam raised both hands. “Just a real quick question.” Malcolm eyed Liam as he began to twiddle his fingers individually. “How many promises did you fail to keep?”

  “...What?”

  Liam shrugged. “I doubt I have enough fingers for it but give a rough count on how many officers out there were given assurances. Their families, their homes, that everything would be okay? A score-No! Two Score?”

  McElroy began to slouch into his chair once again; his expression was solemn and frustrated. “I’ve been trying to keep it together…” Another recoil echoed from outside.

  “It’s. Come. Undone.” Liam spoke. “...However, it’s only an Apocalypse. A second question Colonel, would you help me fend off the Living Dead?”

  “We need to help each other, Nelson!”

  Liam waved a finger. “That’s not how command chains work.”

  “I hardly have one to work with!”

  “Why then are you issuing commands?” Liam’s pupils began to swell.

  “Enough Nelson! We don’t have time for this-”

  “Oh, on the contrary…there’s plenty of time.” Liam clicked his tongue. “Time to decide what’s next, and it’s time that you unburden yourself...I’ll be very clear now; there can be a place for you in our society, or we can lend you a jeep with supplies to venture off...Then there’s the one where we just fucking kill you.”

  McElroy gasped and the armed guards beside the door were dumbfounded. “You have the nerve to threaten me!?”

  “I offered mercy. Twice.”

  “Mercy!? You offer ‘mercy?!”

  Liam nodded. “It’s a ‘no’ to our initial proposals. Fuck. I mean...I knew you Colonels on up can be idealistic, but you’re so caught in your sense of duty that reality just orbits you like a planetary ring!” Liam turned his head over to Malcolm. “A man must try, right? On both fronts.”

  McElroy seemed afraid, “Who are you talking to?!”

  Liam grinned. “You. And we come to you offering new purpose. But instead, you act like the ‘President’s Authority’ is still in effect…”

  A siren’s blare began to penetrate the office. McElroy took his radio speaker, “…What’s happening out there?!”

  Liam cocked his head at Malcolm. “He still doesn’t know…”

  “NELSON!” McElroy screamed and the sentries shuddered. “What have you done!?”

  Liam pursed his lips, looking between Malcolm and the Colonel. He said to McElroy, “Maybe it’s better you didn’t know.” He then said to Malcolm, “…Thank you for the Venom...”

  Malcolm was invigorated in a heartbeat and was driven by instinct. He grabbed the rifle by its barrel, yanked it and spun around the sentry and he unloaded the rifle into the second; exit wounds punctured him from the torso to the head. Malcolm proceeded to trip the first sentry with his foot, dropping him to the floor as Malcolm began to swing the rifle, by the barrel, brutally bludgeoning the sentry.

  By the time Malcolm turned, Liam was standing up and had leaped over the desk. McElroy’s panicked hands fumbled for his pistol, “GET BACK!” Liam pulled the Colonel in for a headbutt; he then spun McElroy around and threw him on top of the desk as he flailed against Liam. “I WAS GOOD TO YOU MALCOLM!”

  Liam unsheathed a combat blade inside McElroy’s belt and closed the serrated edge near his eye. Liam turned the knife and punched McElroy in the nose, then he plummeted the blade into McElroy’s sternum with both hands.

  McElroy heaved in agony, rupturing the blood up his mouth and down the chin. Liam began to drag the blade down the torso; the Colonel gasped and croaked. It was then that Liam grabbed a random pencil off the desk and jabbed its point into both eye sockets with instant succession; each half of pencil remained embedded.

  First, McElroy’s hands turned to pitiful grasps against Liam’s camo as the blood sprayed. Next, they started clawing and grasping; McElroy jaw began to snap as Liam held him by the neck. Liam pulled the blade out of McElroy’s stomach, sheathed it and pulled the pistol out his belt.

  Liam slid off the desk, pulling McElroy by his neck and scalp. Blood and entrails began to drain from the slash, creating a large trail across the office, one that began to turn black. Liam quickly threw open the door and tossed McElroy forward to the closest guard. Liam’s pistol was drawn on everybody in the office, and McElroy was sinking his teeth into the soldier beside the main desk; entrails hung atop him as he screamed on the floor.

  Someone sitting beside the desk radio drew their gun, but Liam instantly popped a round through his jugular. He clenched his neck as the intact round gushed the blood, and every officer around him tried to help. Another guard tried to bash McElroy off his friend.

  Malcolm’s platoon escort was assembled outside the office windows, but no one knew what to do. Suddenly, Malcolm’s eyes turned to notice the operator Liam shot jolted; he was now ripping into the closest soldier helping him. As the room panicked, Liam then stood before the squad at the windows and casually exited the office.

  “Weapons Free.” Liam stepped outside of view and disappeared.