Brian and I went to bed early. He held me and talked about the baby as if it were already here. He hoped for a boy but I hoped for a little girl. The pregnancy was a good distraction from what was going to happen tomorrow. I dreaded the thought of him leaving but I knew it had to be done. I was so tired I fell asleep without realizing it.
The morning was dark and overcast. I wasn’t sure if it was going to rain but it smelled like it. The covers on me were heavy and Brian’s mood was even heavier. He was very quiet. I knew he was afraid of what was to come.
He knelt on my side of the bed and kissed my belly. He promised me and the baby that he was coming back safely. I hoped that he was right.
“I know you are worried about me leaving. I promise I’m coming back. Everything will go down smoothly, I promise. I’m taking my cell and I will call you on the way and as soon as we are in the clear. Promise me that you will stay inside. I couldn’t imagine losing you and the baby.”
“I will. Do you have to go? Couldn’t they handle it without you? Would Zeke be able to take your place? I don’t want you to go,” a tear escaped my eye and betrayed me. I yearned for him to stay but I don’t think that was why my emotions were suddenly so potent.
“You know I have to. I love you Bre. I’ll be back. I promise.”
He kissed me on the forehead and then on the lips. And then he left taking a little piece of my heart.
CHAPTER 34
ZOE
Driving down Interstate 5 was slow. The roads were clear for the most part. I hated driving on the grapevine because my ears always had trouble popping. Stopping for gum was a must. We passed Anaheim and was headed straight for the heart of L.A. It was still only 7am and we would make it right on time for the office to open.
We had spent most of the wee hours of the morning getting into our blue jumpsuits. Pretending to be janitors would not be hard since people barely noticed the cleaning staff. Brian had taken the time to darken both of our skins and gave me a long curly wig. He kept his hair styled as usual but spiked it up and dyed it temporarily darker. Chang went as himself. He didn’t want to take the time to change himself. Chris looked just like Brian but with darker hair and regular clothes.
I didn’t like Chris coming with us but he would be handy with driving the getaway car if we needed to get away. I felt safer with him in the car than in our compromised position. If worst came to worst he could just drive home. I knew he would listen to my instructions so assuming everything went as planned, best case scenario and worst case scenario, he would make it safely home to mom.
That didn’t stop the butterflies in my stomach. Brian made a little device that actually had video as well as audio feed. He had thought of everything. He would figure out where to place it once he was in the actual office.
The weather was good today. It was a clear 55 degrees in L.A. and the sun was shining brightly. We couldn’t have asked for better luck. We were getting close to our destination, I could feel it. Chang drove the speed limit the whole way because he didn’t want to draw any attention to any of us.
The building looked like any other office. It was a sky scraper in the heart of L.A. and blended in with the other skyscrapers near us. We pulled into the parking garage and paid the parking fee and headed straight for the elevators to our destination. Once inside the building, we looked for directions to Governor Owen’s office. It was on the top floor of the building. We rode the elevator 15 floors until we saw his stop.
The door opened and we were in luck! There was a mop bucket just sitting there at the entrance as well as a cleaning supply cart. Chang grabbed a hold of the cart and Brian grabbed the mop bucket. I followed nonchalantly. They entered the office with pride. None of us looked out of place. We were met at the desk of the Governor’s secretary. She looked at us and smiled and told us to go right in. We couldn’t have had better timing, the cleaning crew was expected and the Governor was not.
The office was immaculate. Brian locked the door immediately behind us so he could work unnoticed. He quickly placed the wire onto the light by the door so that it faced the desk.
Chang did some light cleaning so that we wouldn’t be suspected and I followed his lead. Brian double checked his work. We had placed the camera in the perfect place. We were going to get away with our plan.
It didn’t stop my heart from racing. In the security of the locked office, I didn’t have to hide my emotions. Chang pulled me up into a bear hug and set me back down on my feet.
We were done. Brian unlocked the door and began to leave. We waved bye to the secretary and started for the elevator. The doors opened and there stood the real janitors.
“Um, we already cleaned the office,” Brian said in a deep, disguised voice.
The janitor looked surprised and reached for the cart. He climbed back into the elevator with us and followed us down 6 floors.
“Are you the temps?” The janitor asked.
“Um. Yeah,” Chang stated matter of factly.
He waved goodbye to us as he exited his floor. We followed the elevator down to the basement and I had to resist the urge to run to the car. Chris saw us at a distance and had the car fired up and met us in the driveway.
We got out of the office unscathed. I was surprised at the lack of security. Not one person noticed us. Not one person questioned us. Even the janitor acted like he expected us. Fate was on our side. We were meant to take them down. No questions about that.
The drive home was fast. We talked about ease of our operation the whole way home. We were all impressed with the job we had just completed.
We pulled into the manor at about noon. Everyone was shocked to see us get back so quickly. I was shocked that we got back so quickly.
“You guys got back fast. Did you even get there? Was there a problem?” Zeke inquired of us.
“Naw, dude. We got the bug in and we got out of there. It took us no time. We didn’t even get stuck in traffic,” Chang proudly stated.
“Yeah, we didn’t have a single problem. Thank God!” Said Brian.
“It was too uneventful for me. I was hoping for some kind of action,” stated a disappointed Chris.
“I’m just glad it went smoothly. Hey, do you think we have a feed already?” Mom asked.
“Yeah, it should have started recording immediately.”
We went to the security room and pulled up the footage. I could see Brian’s black head and skin placing the camera. The sight of it made Bre laugh. She stood by his side, holding his hand so tight it made his fingers purple. She was obviously glad he was home.
“Let’s see if they noticed anything. Play the tape forward to where we see him.”
Just then the tape showed Governor Owen. He was middle aged, short and white and had on a nice suit. His hair was grayed and he was round in the middle. It was obvious he indulged in food and didn’t work out. Playing the tape forward showed nothing besides complaints about how the janitors missed this and that. We were in the clear. Nobody suspected anything. We could get feed unnoticed.
Now we just had to watch and wait. We needed to get some solid information. We could only play the tape once on the website because after that the office would be searched for the bug and that would be the end of our spying. We needed something good and juicy and we needed a repeat of information so that we would get enough information for the public.
CHAPTER 35
BREANNE
I took it upon myself to monitor the feed during the day since everyone thought I was too fragile to do anything else. If I needed to take a break, Seth would take over.
The plan was to record the day and times of any information that was news worthy. So far we hadn’t had anything yet. Governor Owen only spoke of his appointments with the chiropractor and the masseuses. Apparently he needed more than one to work on him at a time.
I sat there bored most of the da
y. The highlight was watching him pick his nose when he thought no one was looking and not washing his hands afterwards. What a disgusting pig he was! Then he shook the hand of the mail guy. If only the mail guy knew what he had just done with that hand! The thought nauseated me.
There would be no information to gather today but I knew Aunt Brooke would be tempted to add the feed of his nose picking spree at the end of her broadcast, just for fun. I actually hoped she did and chuckled to myself.
This went on for a week. The Governor left his office often; I’m assuming for his appointments. Just when I thought things couldn’t get more boring the secretary announced the Nevada Governor was there to see him.
Governor Owen and Governor Glenn sat in the office with ease. They were obviously used to meeting with each other. Owen went to the corner of his room and poured himself and Glenn a glass of brandy. They sat at the desk drinking and shooting the bull for a good 30 minutes.
“So why are we having this meeting today Owen?” Governor Glenn asked.
“Well, we need to discuss our next plan of attack. Thanks to Brooke, the public is becoming aware of our plans. California is having riots at our clinics. What’s going on at yours? Any riots?”
“Yeah, her news has gone viral. Billions of hits every day. She isn’t just taking you down. She’s taking us all down.”
I sat there with my eyes wide open, not believing what I had just seen. My mouth dropped in response. They were talking about Aunt Brooke.
“Do we have a location on her yet?” Governor Glenn asked.
“No, somehow she has scrambled the system and we can’t get a location. We are thinking she hasn’t went far from Fresno since her kids live nearby.”
“Did your guys check their addresses?”
“Yeah, they moved a year ago with no forwarding address. They have stayed below the radar. It is going to be difficult to catch someone right now since people are leaving their homes and not leaving forwarding addresses. People are just trying to survive right now. They aren’t worried about forwarding their mail.”
“We can stop that. People have to survive some way. Most people are turning in zombies to get food, so why don’t we have the city ask for their information before they can get any goods. Maybe we can do sweeps of the city to get addresses. Do you have the man power for that?” Governor Glenn smirked thinking he was very wise.
“No we don’t. We can’t even do crowd control right now. If riots break out, we shoot to kill. There is no way to apprehend anyone right now. Besides our guys are getting killed like crazy right now because of the riots. People are killing them off faster than we can replace them.” Governor Owen looked suddenly very sullen.
“So what’s the plan to find her? Do you think there is any other information she can gather?”
“She is a very crafty one. Somehow she has managed to get to the bottom of everything. I’m not exactly sure how she figured out who to talk to. How did she even find John Ombie? That was the kicker for us.”
“Have you gotten a location on John yet?”
“No.”
“They will both be executed in time. We just need to find them. But that is like finding a needle in a haystack. We have just contracted with a tracker though, one of them will be found soon enough. And when they are…” Owen trailed off and made a motion with his hand that they would be beheaded.
“Well we need to stop them. The government can’t afford to keep losing valuable information to the public. The more the truth comes out, the more they want to do something about it. Our whole government could be overturned. It is just a matter of time. If they keep snooping, we are done for.”
“Well, let me know if you come up with any good ideas. I am drawing a blank right now. I am getting ready to speak with some more people and see what can be done about the whole thing. It’s not just your neck, it’s all of ours, including President Mann. Well, I should say, mostly President Mann. It could start World War 3 if the other countries found out that we were behind all of this.”
Governor Owen poured himself another glass of brandy and sat there with his head bowed in his hands. Glenn stood up and shook Owen’s unclean hand and walked out of the room. The meeting was over. We had enough information to take them down. But I knew Aunt Brooke would not be satisfied with just that. She would want more.
CHAPTER 36
ZOE
Bre called us all into the security room to watch the tape. Mom jumped for joy at the footage. I was severely shocked at what I watched.
“I think the President was behind it the whole time! From the beginning, I can’t believe it!” Mom sang.
“I thought he might be but I knew we couldn’t prove it,” I answered. “We still don’t have proof the President is behind it fully.”
“Do we have enough info for the website yet?” Zeke asked.
“We do. But I would like to get a little more before we air it. Maybe a second segment that we can post later.”
“I can’t believe he picked his nose!” Chris said with disgust.
“Me neither. When Governor Glenn shook his hand it made me laugh my butt off. Ha ha,” Bre chuckled.
“Ok, enough fun and games guys,” mom started, “Let’s get some more footage, maybe another webisode or more then we will post it. I would like to know how they plan on finding me before we announce to the world that we have the office bugged and they find it.”
That was a good plan. I would like to know how they planned on finding mom as well. Then we could stay a step ahead of them. The next 24 hours worth of surveillance showed nothing but I knew it wouldn’t be long before we got something video worthy.
BREANNE
I watched the videos and watched the videos and nothing. For 3 days there was nothing. Today he made a phone call to Sergeant Jeffries to see what the army could do to help. The call did nothing for him. He wasn’t pulling any strings with them. I was becoming bored with staring at computer screens.
The morning sickness was suddenly bearable. I didn’t have to sit there with a trash can anymore. The fence was fixed permanently and we could go outside again. I called Seth in to watch for me so I could get some fresh air.
Walking around the yard was good for me. It helped me to stretch my legs. Brian soon joined me. He walked up behind me and grabbed my hand. We walked hand in hand for quite a while.
HONK, HONNNNK, HOOOONNNNKKK…
A red Chevy Blazer pulled up to the gate honking many times. Zombies were chasing the car and they were fast. Brian ran over to the gate, punched in the code and then quickly closed the gate after the car came in.
A grey old man in overalls exited the car. It was John Ombie.
“Hey little lady! It’s good to see you again!”
“John! What are you doing here?” I could have screamed with excitement. I couldn’t believe he was standing there in our yard after we held him at gun point. I remembered he had sent that letter and knew he had forgiven us.
“Miss, let me use your restroom and I’ll tell you why!”
He ran to the house, or more like hobbled, he wasn’t very fast. He came out of the restroom and the entire family had gathered to see our guest.
“Do you have some place we can all talk?”
“Let’s go out to the gazebo.”
Everyone but Chris joined John and that was only because he was in our lookout tower.
“I came here to visit you ladies because I have a gift for you. I am so very proud of what you’ve been doing with your web show. I am happy someone is telling the truth!”
“Wow, John. You didn’t have to bring us anything!” Mom gave a shy chuckle.
“Oh yes I did. Come see.”
He led us out to his car where he pulled out a medium sized box. He proceeded to open the lid and then stopped.
“This is the gift of life. I didn’
t want anything to happen to any of you. You are doing a good work.”
He lifted the lid to reveal 100 syringes.
“John, why did you bring us syringes?” Selena asked.
“Oh honey, these aren’t just syringes. These are syringes full of the cure.”
The look of pure pride on John’s face was mesmerizing. I couldn’t help but get super excited.
“Really, John? You really brought us the cure? But, how?” I asked, more than a little confused.
“This will protect you and your loved ones. It’s the least I can do for you all.”
“But, how?” Brian started.
“The friend I am stayin’ with made me a lab in his basement. I got all the supplies and I’ve been making this stuff up by the gallons. I’m only giving it to those I care about.”
“Words cannot express-Thank you John. God bless your soul,” Brian more than spoke his gratitude, he showed it. He gave John a great big bear hug.
John stayed with us a few days and we let him in on our little spy system. He was more than enthralled with the plans for the future. It was sad to say goodbye to him. The man that was once our prisoner was now our greatest ally.
CHAPTER 37
ZOE
Our visit with John was long. I was happy to be with him though and that he brought us some of the cure. I secretly hoped we would never have to use it but then we may need to.
Today Chang, Zeke and I would need to resume hunting. I could not do any deliveries though because I could not give out my information. I would be more than happy to share in hunting though.
We sat in the tree at the end of Westwood, our spot. Chang crouched in the tree next to me and Zeke in a branch lower. Zombies were coming by the dozens, more than usual. We didn’t mind that though, it just made us do our work in less time.
Sometimes I just studied them before I killed them. Sometimes I recognized a face. I really wondered if they all looked the same.
“AHHHHHH, SOMEBODY HELP ME!”
Zeke was being attacked by a cat and fell out of the tree. The nearest zombie was on him fast, taking a bite out of the fat of his leg. The cat continued to bite at his shoulder. The cat had the wild zombie look in his eyes and thrashed at his skin.