Chapter Four

Ari held tight to her mare’s reins as she carefully maneuvered through the thick grove of trees that bordered Center Land Village.  She wore an expression of concern and disappointment. She’d been searching for the Schiele family for almost five years.  The girl that she met hunting on the edge of zombie territory, Kendra, fit the description, but she couldn’t be sure without knowing her family name. Was she the daughter of the two scientists who’d unleashed the zombie virus? 

It was well known that the child of the scientists was but an infant when they were executed and the reversal of the zombie virus was lost with the lives of the scientists, but they were banking on the fact that she was present during their discussions about it as well as during their daily routines enough for things to have been absorbed in her subconscious.  It was hoped that, with the technology available to them, there was a strong possibility that either the knowledge of the whereabouts of their notes or the formula itself could be rooted from deep within her subconscious.

Intel had assured Ari that Kendra’s parents were simply scientists obeying their instructions in germ warfare.  The virus was never meant to spread worldwide.  It was intended to be contained within enemy borders with an antidote to follow once the enemy had surrendered.  Unfortunately, the invasion of their alien allies and the rapid conquering of the free world countries prevented that from happening. 

To add to the crisis, the release of nuclear warfare only helped to accelerate the damage to the planet and its inhabitants that the war started. Now, it wasn’t just zombies that they had to contend with.  There were humans who’d been severely mutated by nuclear exposure.  Their bodies were disfigured at various stages.  It was Ari and her team’s task to prevent them from reproducing and replicating the mutation by capturing those who didn’t submit voluntarily and sterilizing them.  Although they were aware that the hated alien regime had issued orders to simply kill them, her people didn’t believe that a mass slaughter was necessary.  They felt that, if they were sterilized, the mutant humans would eventually die out, leaving only the zombies to contend with. There was also the fact that the mutation of some humans was far too minor to justify killing them.

As for the mutated fowl and beasts, well, they’d focus on them after mankind was saved.

“Any luck?” her brother, Baelil, said as he stepped out from behind a tree to join her.

“I found a girl who fits the description.  She looks to be about the right age and her features resemble the photo of the Schiele scientists that I was provided.”

“Where is she now?” he asked as he looked in the direction that his sister came from.

“Not with me,” Ari said with a slow shake of her head. “First of all, she claimed not to know her last name so I couldn’t verify that she was the one.”

“How’s that?” he asked with surprise.

“She said that it was never told to her,” Ari shrugged. “It could be true. The world was in severe chaos back then.  She could be an orphan who was found and taken in, for all I know.”  She flashed her brother a smile. “You’d like her, Baelil. Any man would. She doesn’t trust, but that’s to be expected, but she’s beautiful, smart, and self-sufficient. She’s got this long, dark, glistening hair that looks so smooth and silky soft that you want to reach out and stroke it. Her eyes are a rich chocolate and almond in shape. She’s definitely Caucasian, but with the coppery hue of her skin from sun exposure, her luscious hair and interesting eyes, I found her to be very exotic looking.”  Then, with hesitancy, she added, “She killed Mutt and Sophia.”

Baelil’s face went scarlet as his eyes squinted with rage. “How?”

“I was deep in zombie land.  I had them with me for protection to warn me of any zombies approaching.  She was out hunting and, well…”

“She was hunting in zombie territory?” he asked with surprise.

“On the edge of it, yes,” Ari said.  “Mutt roamed off.  I activated his tracking chip, but by the time I caught up with him, she had him slung over her shoulder and was carrying him home.  I tried to follow her, but Sophia was too distressed so I made camp with the intention of bringing her back at first light. Before I broke camp, the girl was back.  Sophia made to attack her and she put an arrow through her heart.”  When Baelil moaned, she quickly said, “It happened fast. I’m sure it was painless.  I imagine it was the same with Mutt.  She looked to be an accomplished hunter.”

 Baelil’s dark green eyes were filled with heartache.  “It must have been difficult to witness that.  I don’t know what I would have done if I’d been there.”

“I was upset, but I didn’t show it,” Ari said with an air of wistfulness.  “I couldn’t. Could I?”

Baelil shook his head and heaved a sigh. “Finding the girl is more important, I guess.  Besides, the deed was already done.”

Ari shuddered. “I actually offered to help her clean Sophia.  I was so worried that she’d accept my offer.  I don’t think I could have held it together if she had.”

“Why would you make an offer like that?”

“She’s very distrusting.  I was trying to win her over.  I also offered to give her a ride home. She’d hurt her foot so I had hopes, but she declined and walked home.”

“She’s a tough one, then,” Baelil mused.

“Like I said,” Ari grinned.  “You’d like her.”  After a moment of silence, she added, “I distracted Kendra enough that she only did the bare necessity of cleaning before she heaved poor Sophia over her shoulders and trekked off across that desolate and barren looking land.”  She shook her head. “She’s got to be brave to venture through such an area alone and on foot.”  Then, she added, “Sophia’s tracking chip stayed intact, so I know how to get to her home.  I thought we’d visit her tomorrow.  Hopefully, we can convince her to come with us without using force.”

Her brother’s brows knit together. “Kendra?”

“That’s her name.”

“That’s a strong name,” he said.

“She’s a strong girl,” Ari replied. “You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, though.  She’s lean and petite in build with a natural air of femininity about her that seems out of place with her lifestyle.”

Baelil grunted. “It makes one wonder what type of lifestyle she would have lived if the world hadn’t been hit with such chaos and devastation.”

“Do you remember anything from before it all happened?” Ari asked.

“Bits and pieces,” Baelil replied. “I was so young. When I sit with the elders and listen to their stories, more comes back to me.”

Brother and sister walked, side by side and in silence the remainder of the way through the thick grove toward their home in Center Land Village.  It was easy to see that they were related.  Although born five years apart, one might think them identical twins. They both wore their flaxen hair in a short spike that accentuated the largeness of their emerald-green eyes and high cheekbones; a family trait on their mother’s side that had been passed down from generation to generation.  Both were fastidious about their teeth, using the wild sage as a natural whitener that they’d discovered while combing the forest for herbal remedies. 

Coming from wealth had its advantages, as Kendra had quickly noted. Neither sibling was want for fresh, clean attire or the help to keep them that way.  The fact that Center Land Village had its own fabric mill and clothing factory certainly didn’t hurt.

Center Land Village was located at the mouth of a tunnel that led to the center of the earth.  It was built as a replica to the community that it was named after that was created deep in the earth’s core centuries ago with the intent of disguising and guarding the tunnel leading to it.

Although a good deal of the world’s wealthy had migrated inside the earth upon the invasion of the cruel alien race, they’d gone to a section that was far removed from the land protected by the original Center Land which was far larger and grander than the village. Those few who had heard of Center Land, were under the impression that it was the surface community at the mouth of the entrance to the center of the earth and not an actual very large and impressive place within the earth’s core.  Thus, naming Center Land Village after Center Land was working and Ari and Baelil’s home was still unknown to the masses.

They wanted to keep it that way.

With the zombie apocalypse in full bloom and the planetary rule being assumed by aliens who practiced cruelty and cannibalism, more and more people were finding a way to migrate deep into the sanctuary of the earth.  It was no longer a land for the wealthy and well educated. Thieves and thugs were slowly infiltrating it. It wasn’t so much the ruling aliens that frightened the ruthless and lawless.  They’d always been quick to slip through the cracks and fingers of the regime, no matter who ruled. They were going to inner earth because they sought respite from the zombies and the virus that caused them.

It was important that the zombie virus be contained and the zombies destroyed before Center Land Village was discovered and their world changed forever.  It was because of this that Ari and Baelil volunteered to assist in finding the cure as well and fighting and destroying the walking corpses. 

As they approached the small community that was nestled deep in the hillside and camouflaged by a holographic image of pine trees, a young woman with long, copper hair stepped out from behind a boulder.  The sudden action caused Ari’s horse to nervously dance about.

“I’ve been waiting here forever,” she panted as her shapely brown eyes unabashedly took in every inch of Baelil’s physique of masculine perfection. “I was just about to leave.”

“I’ve asked you not to do that, Camron,” Ari snapped. “Speckles is high strung.”

“Why do you ride a high strung horse into zombie territory?” Camron asked while never taking her eyes from Baelil.

Ari rolled her eyes. “Pull in your tongue before you get a mouth full of dirt.”

When Baelil chuckled at his sister’s sarcasm, Camron scowled. “Do you really think yourself funny?”

Ari shrugged. “My brother seems to think me so.”

“Why do you imitate him like you do? I mean.  You even wear your hair like him.  You look so… butch.”  She looked, longingly, at Baelil as she ran her slender fingers through her silken mane. “I can’t believe you prefer a boy cut on a girl instead of this.”

“We’re a little busy right now, Cam,” Baelil said in a soft, but firm tone. “I’ll find you when things have settled down.”

“Promise?”  she asked in a suggestive tone as her thick lashes fluttered over her dark brown eyes.

He flashed her a seductive smile and nodded.

Ari scowled as she watched the accentuated sway of Camron’s hips as she sauntered away. “What do you see in that creature?”

Baelil snorted with humor. “I guess you have to be a man to understand.”