Gertrude’s POV
“Is everything in place?” I asked Edward he got Melinda and necessary items ready to go.
“Yes, we have everything we need and all we-” A zombie leaps off from the roof. Its eyes were glowing yellow. It lets out a savage cry that can be felt through the facility.
“Get out of here! Go now!” I motioned to the group to leave me while I’ll handle this zombie.
The seeing zombie
It leapt forward to where I was to swipe at me with its claws, which I dodged; I fire off a shot from my pistol. The zombie dodged the bullets as if it has reflexes… This ain’t right… Zombie relies on hearing and smell; they aren’t that bright; I know.
This one can see me, smell me and hear where I am… It rams toward the nearest tin can it can find and with one tossed, it attempts to throw at me.
“Damn!” I rolled out of the way, only for it to grab me by my collar.
It then took a bite out of my eye. I screamed in pain as it did, which I fired a bullet into its skull for good measure. I went to its lifeless body and fired two more at it… I spat at its corpse. The damn thing took my eye…
Urgh... Why am I seeing double, I felt they swept my legs from under me and spiting up fluids from my body...? I…. I…. Can’t breathe….
It was dark... for a moment… I thought I would be dead….
Returned to the land of the living
Suddenly, I can breathe again! I took notice and saw that my skin is gray and pale looking. Didn’t I threw up and … ?
I hurried toward the entrance and saw the group was getting ready to take off when one of them fired at me. I instinctively raised my arms, and I saw it froze from where I was. The bullet stopped in a bubble; it falling down to earth as if all I took the energy out of it.
The jeep drove without me; I had to run to catch up to it which suddenly I was running faster. Lights or sparkles were surrounding me as I was running. The world felt… different. That when after stopping to take a break near a pond…
I’m one of them now….
“Man, what the hell was that?” the man spoke after making a stop.
“Hee Hee, we got all that need to take the city back from those jerks.” Edward getting beside himself.
“Yeah, Pa needs to know what is going on. Besides, it ain’t going to matter if we don’t-” I knocked on the side much to their surprise.
“Gert… you’re” He noticed my eye is missing, and it is dripping with green, sickly, dripping blood down on my face.
“You were expecting something else?”
“And now, you are one of the dead…”
“Who is still got her wits.” I quipped.
As we made back to Fort Bridger, we unload the materials and share the intel with the folks here in the city and my role in it.
I was part of ‘the duke’ group in the beginning… It wasn’t a group, it was me, him and a couple of buddies living a normal life. The apocalypse changed all of it… It changed him as well, and me…
Then he amassed a following. His goal is to be the king of Wyoming and everyone in it. Soon, it was raiding other cities and town for supplies, tributes and goods. The women… they had no rights and the men under him had no qualms doing whatever they wanted. My friend that I knew, turned into a monster in front of everyone that served him.
Soon, even I wasn’t an exception to him and I WAS part of his inner circle. I had to… do things I’m not proud of.
When I saw he took a young woman, Melinda, from her home in Fort Bridger. It was the last straw for me… I couldn’t act openly, however… Knowing the Duke and his men, what he says go and if anyone says ‘no’ or give any indicator that you don’t do what you are told, Inner circle or no.
I’ve seen that we dumped the men and woman into the ‘eating pit’, some get beaten to death, they tossed some to the fields which it is a mercy compare to the ‘other options’. Other options? Oh, the duke had gruesome ways of killing people to suit his whims or to punish dissidents & rule-breakers.
I met Edward at the time; he was off his meds and I was the only person who calms him down. At first, he didn’t trust me since I part of the group that made everyone lives a living hell and assume I would not differ from the others.
“So, let me get to work.” I felt sorry for the man and I know what is like to be mistreated.
“You came to rescue Melinda, right?” The man looked up.
“So you can report back to the duke? Well, ma’am! I WILL-” I covered his mouth as quickly as I could, so no one overhears us.
“If I was going to report you to ‘the duke’, I would have left you right where you are. And I will help you here but you must help me free the woman here in this place.” I showed him his meds, the man swiped it from me and quick took them.
“Okay… But the thing is, Miss…?”
“Gertrude Bockenbottom, Gert is good enough.” I told him my name.
“Okay, Gert. But I’m not here to rescue these women. I know the Duke will notice if I do and I only came for two things…”
“Rescuing your friend and take them down, right? And you need someone the inside to help you.”
The man is hesitant about accepting my help. But his options are not that good and few people oppose ‘the duke’. Given the last time someone did, he put the man in a melting pot… he made us watch the whole thing while the man screamed for very life.
“Either that or I can tell the ‘Duke’ about your actual reasons for join us. I’m sure he’ll be understanding.” As I turned to walk out, he grabbed my hand.
“No, wait don’t!” I noticed him panicking at the thought that I would turn him in. “Don’t tell him!”
“Will you accept my offer, then? Because I am only one of the few that can help you out and…” I took his hands “You can’t be yanking people to get them to stop, you would get mocked or punched and possibly getting shot at worse.”
That is when we both worked together on getting Melinda and getting the chemicals to help the community fight back. However, with me, turning into a sentient… It actually makes it easier since the group has no sentient among them, they will not expect it from them.
After integrating into the community despite my ties to the group with Edward and Melinda vouching for me, I’ve talked strategy with Edward on how to get those chemicals ready to use. Also… I had Melinda form a separate group to rescue any captives they can find before we launch the assault, the last thing I want is them to get caught in the crossfire since the chemicals can instant kill anyone that is not wearing a special gas mask made by Edward himself.
To the Present
“To understand correctly, you launched an assault on the compound. With the chemicals, assuming that is anthrax… A lot of their soldiers died on the wake of the attack.”
“That is correct, I didn’t think a fellow scientist like yourself would understand.” Oh, Edward…
“They also taught me chemistry during my training so we can pick on scientific jargon and be able to recognize formulas we come across. But the Duke..?”
“He is dead.” I said it point blank. I can remember when I caught him trying to escape… when he was close to death.
“Gert…” I locked eyes with him while they were fighting with chaos surrounding the both of us. “Good, let’s get out here! Aid me in my escape!” I shook my head. He failed to realize that I am not here to save him. “You and I have been through a lot of shit. I let you part of my inner circle… I’ve kept you safe…” I stomped on his chest, the realization that I will kill him, opened his eyes.
“You didn’t keep me safe, you sick son of a bitch… You treated me no better than the woman under your ‘care’” Tears flowed on my face… I should have ended him right there… I should have stopped before he came into power… All of this, the horror he inflicted on the world could have been prevented.
When I saw a horde heading toward me, I quickly picked him up and ushered toward the horde.
“Gert! No! Don’t do this! Think of everything we built! The stability that I created for Wyoming!” He insisted he was going the right thing. I’m not hearing it… Not after what he did. “What are you going to do?” He lets a grin show on his face. “Kill me? Feed me to them?!”
Without a word, I bit him hard on his neck but not to kill him; I knew where to do a lot of damage. The Duke screamed with his life, shouting and cussing up a storm. I make him pay for it with his life. For good measure… I bite off his thumb, his crotch, and then his nose.
Then push him toward the horde, whom they wasted no time tearing into his organs. I watch as he spends his last moments calling out to me, begging me to rescue him…
“That was brutal, Gertrude…” I impressed even Samantha with the way I’ve dealt with him.
“I wish I had done that sooner, though. I could have avoided all of…” I felt reassuring shoulder from my boss.
“You had no way of knowing until it came oblivious and you were the one that made sure that the folks here learned how to fight off the threats here.” I nodded.
“But back to why we made ourselves self-sufficient. After 2 years being at that man’s mercy, we vowed we would never again rely on a community for support and the folks from the duke’s compound even joined us here.”
“Making fruit, vegetables and crops?” I nodded. I take it that Jason is quick on the uptake. “But why the signs and corpses but the Highway signs?”
“To scare outsiders, to scare them away from us… To make them think we are cannibals or monsters.”
“It didn’t work…” Jason just went out and said it. “It didn’t work because not everyone would read them until it’s too late. And when the patrol caught our car, if you were really monsters then, you could have killed us or just take our stuff instead of bringing us here into the community. And with that, we have clarified that we are a group of people that has no community or home to have and we look out for each other. 4 dead zombies, being bound by circumstances.”
“Indeed, but we have been looking out for themselves for the past 8 years since these incidents have happened to our community. And we can’t take any changes of you folks leaving here, I’m afraid.”
“Not happening!” Brad is really insistent on leaving this place. “We’ll kill all of you if we have to get out.”
“Then what?” The man gets closer to his face. I had to signal to the guards to stand down. I want to see how this will unfold. “You are not thinking straight, son! Green River, YOUR HOME is dead! Devoid of all life!! My people went there to see if there was a community… “
“All we saw is a lot of corpses… As if something or someone, wiped out all life from the city.” I said in agreement.
“You think we are keeping you here as a prisoner? But the thing is-” Brad’s eyes glow brighter, it must tick him after hearing all of that.
