Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus) Read online

  Then she noticed one of the ubiquitous surveillance cameras and realized everything that had happened would’ve been recorded. She couldn’t guess what they’d make of it, but she suspected that they’d be able to identify her from the footage. Perhaps if she was already gone when they arrived they might not go to the trouble. She really didn’t want her dad or Tony hearing about this. At least if she got back safe inside the FURC compound she wouldn’t have to worry about them turning her over to the sheriff, whatever the circumstances. And it was time to stop thinking about it and hustle.

  Kat whirled and started for the nearest exit, and then her friends were running to catch up with her. Sara was grinning from ear to ear.

  “That was awesome. You’re going to have to let me know how you can do all that, and show me how I can do it too.”

  Shaking her head, Kat hoped Sara would forget about it—even thinking of trying to teach her friend anything was a nightmare. Sara should stick to boys and clothes.

  Ashley whined on her other side as she reached the doors and pushed her way out. “But we haven’t even done our shopping yet.”

  Out into the parking lot and heading straight to the spot where she’d left her pickup, Kat sighed. “I may not be able to come back here—it doesn’t sound as if I’d be very welcome, anyway—but you and Sara can come shopping anytime you like.” And Kat was glad of the excuse not to accompany them.

  She would be perfectly happy to buy everything she needed in the FURC shops from now on. And if the clothes weren’t stylish—

  Well, there were a lot more important things in life. Aside from classes and dealing with Tony, and however she would manage once her mother was at the FURC, there was the job that needed to be done. And she wouldn’t complain anymore about the lack of excitement. She’d just wait.

  Part 3 – Officer

  9:35 p.m. Friday, December 13th

  KAT scanned in every direction for signs of trouble as she jogged alongside the cart. She was still trying to get used to her new haircut, but she liked the feel of the breeze on the back of her neck—and the short bob seemed more like herself, like who she was supposed to be, than the straggly mess she’d had to deal with before. It was also smarter.

  Susan was driving down one of the side roads at a nice, steady clip, while beside her in the passenger seat Ben was looking up at Kat like a little lost puppy. Instead of paying attention to his environment as Kat was trying to teach him to do.

  She had to ask. “What’s the matter, Laskey?”

  Ben tried to push the glasses he no longer wore up his nose before he replied. “I just can’t see myself doing what you do, Officer Miles. Just watching you run is tiring me out. And the way you fight—”

  Ben Laskey had only volunteered for Security a few days ago. He had a lot to learn before he’d be an officer, but it was Kat’s job to teach him, to teach all the new recruits. And it was work she enjoyed.

  She shook her head. “You don’t need to be able to do what you see me do, so don’t try. You’re a really smart kid, and that intelligence will serve you better in this job than running a marathon or doing one hundred pull-ups. And the techniques you’re being taught for taking down troublemakers don’t depend on big muscles. Just look at Susan—she doesn’t exercise, and yet she’s fully capable of dealing with the bad guys.”

  Susan nodded without comment. Recently promoted to full officer, the woman was still soaking up the training like a sponge. A silent sponge. But then they were, weren’t they. Ben, on the other hand, did ask a lot of questions, and that was good. It helped him, but it also helped Kat become a better instructor to be put through her paces.

  She glanced down again at his thin, undernourished frame. “Still, you could use some more stamina.” Spending all his time sitting in front of a screen or in a cart wasn’t doing the boy any good.

  Kat returned her gaze to the night around them. Knowing her spirit was sensitive to signs of danger, she turned her thoughts to her toughest challenge—figuring out what lessons the new recruits needed to learn the most. Kat’s own training was far more extensive than anything her fellow officers were likely to ever need. And she was still studying the specific requirements of this job herself, so it was easier to just answer the questions Ben had for her. And he had still more.

  Craning his head to peer out into the night in all directions, Ben looked bewildered. “Why are you so alert all the time? It seems like whenever we run into trouble, it’s hard to miss. So why do you work so hard searching for it? Especially when the real dangers are outside the gates.”

  Kat sighed. How many things were wrong with what Ben had just said, and where did she begin setting him straight? “First of all, it’s not work. Being aware of my environment is like breathing—it’s just something I do without thinking about it—and that is one way you’d better become like me, Laskey.” If he couldn’t learn that lesson, he might turn out like Hope—doomed to be kept safe inside headquarters. But then, paperwork had to get done somehow, and by somebody. As long as it wasn’t Kat.

  “And second?”

  She snorted. “It’s the job of Chief Gray’s guards to protect the compound from any assault. But just because things are as bad as they are on the outside is no reason to downplay the dangers inside. Wasn’t it only Saturday night you almost got killed?” That scene at the Community Hall wasn’t one she would likely forget anytime soon. Much like that one night at the mall.

  Ben nodded solemnly. “But that was an aberration, wasn’t it? People here aren’t really like that.”

  Kat shook her head. “People are scared and angry.” The threat everyone in the compound was under was very real, even if most people seemed to be having a hard time realizing the seriousness of their situation. But ignoring it wasn’t helping people deal with it. “Those emotions cloud their judgment, and can lead to some terrifyingly stupid behavior. Such as what happened Saturday night.”

  She looked at Ben and saw he was staring at her with awe again. She shouldn’t have brought up Saturday night—he seemed to think she’d saved his life and he was now in her debt. And she didn’t like that feeling. But it did remind Kat of that other helpless boy she’d stepped in to save. She was glad she had, on both occasions, even if she was in danger of making it a habit.

  Ben seemed to need some reassurance, though. “That kind of thing won’t happen again, will it?”

  “Hopefully not, but as long as people are afraid, we’re likely to see them acting out their anger, so we need to be ready.” They might witness worse things than Saturday night, but Kat wanted them vigilant, not afraid.

  “Is there a third thing, Officer Miles?”

  Her eyes returning to search the shadows in the distance, Kat nodded without looking at him. “Just because some dangers announce themselves loudly doesn’t mean some won’t try to sneak up on you. Of course you don’t want that to happen, and it won’t if you’re paying attention. Look closely, and then you may be able to see the seeds of trouble before something erupts into the kind of mess you can’t miss. If you can catch those early warning signs, it gives you at least the opportunity to solve the situation before it gets out of hand and save everybody a lot of headaches. Including yourself.”

  That kind of awareness was something she was still working on herself, and probably always would be. But ever since the compound had been sealed, Tony had been around all the time to help her train. He still didn’t look at her as if she was an attractive woman, much less with desire—but he now treated her as an adult, a colleague, almost a peer. And that was even better, more satisfying in its way.

  She’d been spending a lot of time with him lately, and she felt they were growing closer, becoming friends. Real, adult friends. The question she kept asking herself now was—was that enough? And if it wasn’t, what could she do about it?

  Glancing at Ben again, she noticed his attention had wandered. “And the fourth thing…”

  His head swung back to stare at her. “There�
�s a fourth thing?”

  “If you want to notice what’s going on, you have to learn to focus. But there’s more to it. Your senses take in far more data than your conscious mind can process—even with a brain like yours—so that what you think you see and hear is only a small portion of that information. The rest has been filtered out.”

  Ben blinked a couple times, then nodded. “But how?”

  Kat grinned. Now she was talking his language. “It’s similar to how video compression works. Your brain makes a lot of assumptions, based on past experience, about what it expects. It ignores data that represents the routine stuff, and then you fill in the blanks with what you expect to see and hear, so your mind can process the new details, the changing circumstances.”

  “That sounds pretty efficient to me.”

  “The problem is all the fine details that get lost in the process. Whatever natural mechanism it is in your brain that does the filtering—supposedly one’s subconscious—doesn’t do a very good job of it. You need to retrain your brain to get out of the way.”

  Ben shook his head. “But wouldn’t you be overwhelmed by all the sensory input?”

  Kat shook her head back at him. “No, your conscious mind can still only perceive a small subset of the data your senses take in. But you want a different part of your mind, a deeper part, deciding what to bring to the attention of your conscious thought. Whether you want to call it your spirit or your inner consciousness or whatever, it will do a better job of showing you what you need to be aware of, because it knows better what’s important, what you need to see. So you need to learn to listen to it. But how to do that is something you’ll have to discern for yourself. Through experience.” Also known as trial and error.

  Then, in the stillness of the night, while Ben was probably thinking up another question to ask her, a muted shout sounded in the distance. Kat heard the whisper of raised voices coming from far away, and while it might be just an argument now, it could become a fight if it wasn’t already. Either way, it had to be checked out.

  She swung up onto the back seat, then stared at the back of Susan’s head. “Turn right and don’t lose any time getting to the worker dormitory by the Ag Center. We need to put a stop to this quarrel before it gets out of hand.”

  Susan accelerated without asking any questions—there was no need to ask, Kat supposed, when you already knew the answer. Ben glanced back to give her a strange look before turning his eyes forward to peer into the night. Soon they were passing the last block of regular residential homes this far north and approaching the squat edifice that housed all of the agricultural laborers, halfway between Security HQ and the first of the student dorms.

  By the building’s exterior lights, there were two groups of troublemakers visible. Facing off against each other on the lawn in front of the main doors, it had already escalated past raised fists and shouting to pushing and shoving. As their cart raced toward the combatants, the fists started flying.

  One bunch looked like students while the other was clearly comprised of Ag workers, neither being a surprise. And Kat could see the shadows of people watching the fight from inside the lobby of the dormitory. She also noticed Ben’s shoulders stiffening with fear. And no wonder, considering what the boy had been through. This was an opportunity to help him get past that experience and learn a little at the same time though. And he wasn’t the only one who needed to be taught a lesson.

  She looked at her pair of charges. “We’ve got to end this now.”

  Ben gaped at her. “If we try to break it up, won’t they just turn on us?”

  “Only if we give them the chance. They’re not as tough as they look, you know.”

  Kat leaned forward to speak into Susan’s ear, so the woman could hear her above the shouts and the whine of the cart. “Turn on your brights, blast your horn, and head straight at them as fast as you dare.” Then she realized who she was speaking to and added a caveat. “I don’t want you actually plowing into them, though.”

  Susan simply nodded and followed instructions—and she increased her acceleration with an enthusiasm that made Kat glad to have made herself clear about what she wanted. The cart barreled down the gentle slope toward the melee, with both lights and horns blaring.

  All of a sudden the combatants turned as one to stare. Then they broke apart and started running in all directions—all except for one who just stood and kept staring. And as they got closer, Kat recognized the man.

  That big nose and curly black hair could only be Brandon Radley under the circumstances. She’d already had one run in with the guy, who was quickly becoming a notorious troublemaker. A nasty piece of work, but he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Kat judged her moment and jumped off the rear seat of the speeding cart and hit the ground running and chasing after one of the students who was fleeing the scene. Tackling him from behind, she had a few seconds to catch her breath as she zip-tied his hands behind his back before she was up and chasing after another one. This time one of the Ag workers, to be fair.

  A few minutes later she had four fish bound and on the ground, and the rest except for Brandon had escaped. She hoped they’d gotten a good enough of a fright to refrain from getting into another fight, at least for a while. The four fish she’d caught ought to spend a night in a cell to learn a lesson. Only Security didn’t have any cells. All they’d have to endure was being locked away in the conference room until somebody from Admin came by to give them a stern talking to. And make a note in their files.

  Meanwhile Brandon Radley continued to stand there as the cart headed straight for him. Until Susan slammed on the brakes and managed to bring it to a halt about a foot and a half shy of running over the man. Then he spun to face Kat with a fuzzy glare of confused hostility.

  The man was obviously plastered. He had been intoxicated the last time too, when he’d tried attacking her, but nowhere near as drunk as now. Tonight he could barely stand.

  He swung wildly at her as she walked up to him. She turned in as she strode forward, jabbed her fingers into his shoulder, and sent him flopping to the ground in a heap. If only it were that easy all the time.

  Turning him over onto his stomach, she zip-tied his wrists and lifted him to his feet. He still seemed as nasty a specimen as before, but he looked pathetic as well. The boy was turning out to be just the opposite of his father. George was a pillar of the FURC society and on the Community Council that advised Kat’s own father. That had surely been why the son had only gotten slaps on the wrist so far, and clearly those hadn’t done any good.

  She dragged Brandon around to the back of the cart and plopped him down on the rear bench. She sat beside him and took a good grip on his shoulder—it wouldn’t do for him to fall off and hurt himself. Then she glanced around at the four she’d left floundering on the ground.

  Leaning back, she grinned at Ben. “Call Salazar and tell him we’re leaving a fresh catch for him, and to make sure he brings the big cart.” Salazar was the senior officer on duty at this hour. He and his partner Gabe could take care of these troublemakers for her, while she dealt with Brandon.

  Ben finished sending Salazar the message, then Susan glanced back at Kat for instructions. “Do we wait here or head back to headquarters?”

  “Neither. You know where Councilman George Radley lives?” When Susan nodded, Kat continued. “Then we’re going to dump this problem at his door, and he can help clean it up.”

  Susan nodded again and the cart was in motion. Kat looked at the miserable creature beside her with pity and disgust. No night at Security getting a lecture and no mark on his record would have any impact on Brandon at this point. And while she could push her own father to come down hard on the kid, they only had one real punishment right now, which was expulsion from the compound. And that wasn’t something she’d wish on her worst enemy.

  Then the cart was pulling up into the driveway of the Radley home, and Kat hauled her catch off of the back seat and started for the door. She paus
ed next to Susan sitting in the driver’s seat. Giving the woman a level look, she spoke carefully. “Tell Tony that I’ve taken Brandon to his father’s house to have a talk with the two of them.”

  Brandon was an adult, and he lived at the dorm with the other Ag workers. Hopefully being hauled into his father’s house by Security would be humiliating—for father and son. Maybe that would motivate George to find some way to get through to the boy before it was too late and Brandon got himself into trouble he couldn’t get out of. This might be a last chance for him, and Kat hoped it worked.

  Susan nodded with a gleam in her eye, and Kat knew the woman had understood. Tony needed to know about this, but it was up to him who else was told.

  Kat smiled at Ben and then back at Susan. “I’ll take care of this. It’s about time for you two to head home, so why don’t you go back to headquarters to give your report and log out.”

  Susan simply nodded, and Ben waved while the cart backed down the drive and onto the street. He kept waving as the buggy trundled off into the dark. Later, Kat would have to try to impress upon them why she’d handled it this way. Their job was to protect the people of this community. Even those who caused trouble, like Brandon.

  Kat felt the weight of responsibility rest heavily on her shoulders—until this moment these evening patrols had been helping her relax after days working the new ‘secret’ assignment Tony had given her. Now she sighed as she thought about all the people she needed to try to help. Including Brandon.

  But you couldn’t save people from themselves. If George couldn’t convince his son that he needed to get straightened out, it would only get worse. Kat had to give them that chance though. The most important lesson Tony had taught her was to do what she was convinced was right in her heart. Without worrying about the consequences.