Lily covered herself as best she could with my shirt and sat up. I was disorientated and couldn’t find John. It was dark now and I realized he was reaching in through the open window.
“Did you get a good look?” Lily snapped.
“Yes I did. Hated waking you up. We should work out some kind of signal for when you guys are going to be doing that.”
“That’s enough you two. What’s going on?”
“They flew around for over an hour trying to find us. Then they flew off real slow like. They got almost far enough away so that I couldn’t hear them anymore. I was about to wake you up and suggest we get the hell out of here when they came back and landed.”
“They were using the helicopter to draw the horde away,” Lily said.
“They’re going to search for us on foot,” I said.
“I think they’ve got a pretty good idea where we are already. They flew over our location twice, real low and slow the second time. Then they led the horde off. It’s just a question as to whether they come tonight or wait for morning.”
“I think they’ll wait for daylight. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be stumbling around out there in the dark. Risk running into a zombie. Either way we stay in the truck. If they come we’ll make a run for it. If not, we’re out of here at first light.”
“One last thing sir.”
“Yes what is it?”
“If you put your pants back on I can get back in the truck. Lily you can stay like that if you’re comfortable.”
Chapter 15
“I didn’t go in very far, but it looks clear,” I said.
“You didn’t see anything?” Cindy asked.
“Nothing. Even better, I didn’t smell anything. You’d think with it being a hospital the place would have been filthy with the bastards. I don’t think there’s been a single zombie in there.”
“Something’s not right,” Gina said. “This is a hospital, on an army base. People from the surrounding area would have flocked to this place. We get here and there’s nobody here? This feels wrong.”
“What’s wrong? There’s no dead people, no zombies. For the first time in days I feel safe. Let’s just get Al in there. We’ll worry about how things feel later.”
“He’s right Gina. I need to get Al on an IV,” Cindy said. “He’s been unconscious for almost a whole day. If I don’t get some fluids in him and get this fever to break he won’t make it much longer.”
“Alright then. Let’s do this.”
The three of us got Al into the wheel chair and Cindy pushed while Gina and I led the way. I forced the pneumatic door open and Gina went through followed by Cindy and Al. Gina and I broke out our flashlights and led the way. I opened the door of the first patient room we came to and Cindy wheeled Al in. Gina opened the window blinds then the three of us got Al into the bed.
“The two of you stay here with Al,” Cindy said. “I’m going to find the nurses station and get what I need to get an IV started.”
“Gina, you go with her. I’ll stay here with Al.”
“We shouldn’t be too long,” Cindy said. “Most hospitals are laid out the same way.”
The girls left and I sat down next to Al in the chair beside the bed. “Hey buddy. Do you hear me in there?”
After getting no answer from Al I got up and went to the sink. The water worked! I washed my hands and face then unwrapped the glass next to the sink and drank my fill from the tap. I looked over to Al lying in the bed. His face was as filthy as mine was. Getting a towel from the cabinet beside the sink I soaked it in cold water and went back over to Al. He was still burning up so I washed his face then folded the towel and laid it across his forehead.
“Al I need you to get better,” I said. “I’m out numbered here. The girls have taken over. I need your help. Come on buddy.”
I may have been the one that organized our little group but without Al we were screwed. The four of us pretended that I was in charge but Al was the only reason we’d made it this far. He went along with our plan to get Gina’s dad out of Booneville only because there was nothing better to do at the time. Now here we are in Fort Leonard Wood trying to meet up with my son. Soon we would have to come up with something a little more permanent. I still wanted to find an isolated cabin out in the woods or something along those lines. This running all over the state was getting old. More than anything I just wanted to find someplace to stay for a while. After we got out of here though our next move would be up to Al. I didn’t want to make any more of the decisions. It was time for me to hand the reigns over to someone else and Al was a natural leader. Let him make the decisions from now on. I couldn’t take it anymore.
The girls startled me when they came back in the room. I must have fallen asleep. “Wake up sleepy head,” Gina whispered.
“I was just resting my eyes,” I said, looking over at Al. The IV was already started. The girls had been back for a while. “How long have I been out?”
“We’ve been back for a half an hour,” Cindy said. “There has to be a generator somewhere close by. Every hospital has a back-up electrical system. Do you think you could find it and get it started?”
“I could try. I can’t make any promises though.”
“I’ll go with you,” Gina said. “Will you be okay here by yourself?”
Cindy reached down and stroked Al’s face. “I’ll be fine. Besides I won’t be alone. I’ve got Al here to protect me.”
I doubted Al would be much help to her in his condition but I understood her intentions. If he was still in there somewhere, which I’m sure he was, then including him in the conversation was the best thing she could do for him right now. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
Gina and I left and headed back to the front lobby. “Where do we start looking?”
“I don’t have the slightest idea,” I said. “Let’s start outside. Look for a propane tank or a diesel tank. Then we’ll come back inside and see if we can find the motor room. It should be close to wherever the fuel tanks are. It might even be outside.”
“Where did they keep the generator at the store?”
“I think it was in the back.”
“Shouldn’t you have known? You were the night manager.”
“It was in the backroom,” I said, even though I wasn’t entirely sure. “I think they had a motor that charged some batteries or something. We never had a power outage at night so I never had to deal with the damn thing.”
“What’s your problem?”
“Just don’t expect some kind of miracle. I don’t know anything about generators.”
“My, aren’t we sensitive?”
I forced open the reception doors and Gina and I stepped out. “I’m not being sensitive. I just want you to be realistic. I’m Steve Downs, a stock boy in a grocery store. My name’s not Al, ex-military super hero. Don’t expect me to flick a switch and get the lights back on.”
“So, that’s what this is all about. You’re worried we won’t make it without Al.”
“That’s not it but yeah, kind of. What happens to us if Al dies? We would have never made it this far without him.”
“You don’t know that. I’d like to think that we all had something to contribute in getting us this far.”
“Don’t kid yourself. We would have never made it out of the grocery store without Al.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it Josh that went out into that horde of zombies. He died so the rest of us could make it out of there.”
“That’s only one instance.”
“Didn’t you and I save Al and Cindy from those rapists back in St. Charles? They had the two of them lying naked in the middle of the street when we gunned those sick fucks down.”
“Yeah, but still.”
“No. That’s enough. Everybody is important to the group. I agree Al is great to have around when the going gets tough. Without him things will get harder for all of us, especially Cindy. God forbid Al dies. But we will carry
on without him if we have to. Don’t you forget it.”
I’d had enough of Gina’s little pep talk. “You’re right. I’ll try to remember that.” I just wanted to find the generator and see if we could get it started.
We walked around to the side of the building where we found a short run of steps leading down a hill to a small parking area. Back here was where we found the employee entrance to the hospital. There were actually a few cars still parked out back On the far side of the parking lot sat a large propane tank with a small building right beside it.
“I think we found the generator,” I said.
“Let’s check it out,” Gina said, as she ran across the parking lot.
I had to call out to her to wait for me when she got to the building. The door opened when Gina tried the handle and she started to go in alone. When I finally got there Gina already had her flashlight out and didn’t hesitate going in. There wasn’t much inside just the generator and a bank of batteries.
“Any ideas on how to start this thing?” Gina asked.
She had to have been playing with me. There was a huge sign by the switch that started the generator. “Gee, maybe it’s that button there,” I said.
“Well push it,” she said.
“Why don’t you go ahead?”
Gina pushed the button and the engine sputtered. “You have to hold it in I think.” She tried again. The engine cranked but nothing happened. I looked closer at the generator. In the back was a valve that had to be turned to start the gas flow. “Try it now.” The engine started on the first try once the gas was turned on.
When we came out of the motor room I could see right away the lights in the hospital were back on. “I knew you could do it,” Gina said.
“You’re the one that got it going, not me.”
“Yeah but you knew how to get the gas flowing. One thing you were wrong about though.”
“What was that?”
“It did only take throwing a switch to get the lights back on.”
What a smart ass. “We need to get back inside and turn some of those lights off. Once it gets dark out this place is going to show up for miles. God only knows what kind of trouble that will draw.”
Gina and I hurried back to Cindy and Al. By the time we got there Cindy already had Al hooked up to a bunch of different monitors. She was all excited and spent the next few minutes telling Gina what they all were. When I was finally able to get a word in I told Cindy we had to go through the hospital and start turning everything off. I had no idea how long the propane would last with everything in the place running. Not to mention how bad it would be to have this place lit up like a Christmas tree for the whole world to see.
The next two hours Gina and I spent going room to room making sure that the lights and everything else in the building was turned off. This wouldn’t have taken nearly so long if we had been able to clear the hospital earlier. Even though it was easier to do now with the power on. Turns out that when they had abandoned the hospital earlier most of the important stuff had already been shut down. Most of the things that had been left on was in the back of the building.
Once we finished shutting everything down we got back to where Cindy had Al. I hated seeing him like this. Nothing Cindy did seemed to help. At least he hadn’t turned into one of the undead yet. The worst part was the not knowing. We weren’t even sure if Al had been infected with the Z1 virus or not. The longer he held out though the less likely it seemed that he would change. All we could do was wait it out. Gina and I decided to head down to the cafeteria and see what we could heat up for dinner. There was no telling how long we would be here and we wanted to take full advantage of our situation. Electricity, hot water, clean sheets, if Al wasn’t teetering on the brink of death this would be almost as good as spending the night in a five star hotel. I was having trouble deciding if it would be appropriate for Gina and me to have a little happy time tonight. It just didn’t seem right, wasting all these fine amenities, Al would want us to enjoy ourselves. We would do it for Al.
I put my arm around Gina as we walked to the cafeteria. “Are you very hungry?”
Gina drove her elbow into my side. “Quit trying to grab my boob,” she said.
“I wasn’t anywhere near your breasts,” I said, in the most innocent voice I could muster.
“Look, until Al gets better our main priority is Cindy.”
“I don’t think she’d be interested in a threesome. Unless you know something I don’t know.”
“I do know something you don’t know,” Gina said, pausing for effect. “You’re an idiot.”
“I was just kidding around. But seriously, I don’t think Al would mind at all if we got a little intimate with each other while he was recuperating.”
“First of all I don’t think what’s going on with Al can be called recuperating. Second, I’m sure you’re right. He could probably care less if we fuck each other or not.”
“Hey, let’s be nice.”
“I am being nice. You need to be more worried about Cindy. If Al doesn’t make it she’s going to need both of us. So I want you to cool your jets for a little while. Can you do that for me?”
“Sure baby, whatever you say. Let me get this straight though.” I stopped faced Gina and untangled myself from her. I was going to have to make a fast get away. “If Al dies we will have a threesome? For Cindy’s sake. ” Then I ran for all I was worth.
Gina chased me through the doors of the cafeteria. When she caught me she had a smile on her face but did her best to get rid of it as fast as she could. “You think you’re really funny.”
“I try.”
“Well you failed.”
“That’s why you were smiling?”
“Maybe just a little.”
“Thank you for that much. Al’s going to be fine. I know he will be. If he was infected he would have turned by now. He’s just got some normal kind of infection. That’s all. Don’t worry Cindy will fix him up. She’s not a doctor but eventually she’ll figure it out.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Let’s see what we can find to eat.”
We went back to the kitchen area and rummaged through the cabinets. There were loads of canned goods but nothing substantial to eat. Gina found some canned tuna and mayonnaise so it looked like we were having tuna sandwiches without the bread. I went to the industrial sized refrigerator and opened it on the off chance there might be something in it that hadn’t spoiled yet. It was completely empty. Not only that but it looked like it had been cleaned. I checked the freezer. Same story.
“They didn’t bug out of here in a hurry,” Gina said. “They left here in an orderly fashion.”
“Something’s not right here.”
“What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know and I don’t think I want to.”
“Why not?”
“Whatever is going on here worries me. Don’t be surprised when the Army comes rolling back in here.”
“You think so?”
“There’s no sign of any zombies ever being here. They turned off most of the lights, shut off the power, left all the medical supplies, and took all the perishable food. When they evacuated this place they made sure it was in good shape. I think they’re planning on coming back and I don’t want to be here when they do.”
“I’ll make the tuna. You heat up some of those canned vegetables. I want to get back to Cindy as soon as possible,” Gina said. “Now you got me creeped out. I hope you’re happy.”
I turned on the stove and started opening a can of corn. “Not really. Well maybe just a little.” I knew I was right. We needed to check out the rest of this base. Tomorrow morning that’s exactly what I planned on doing.
Chapter 16
Having dumped his vehicle a mile down the road he walked up to the tank blocking the gate. Even someone or something, whatever he was now, in the shape he was in could tell the tank was abandoned. He wasn’t picking up any vibrations from it. The creature that h
ad once been Dr. Jeffery Parks had realized a few days ago that he was able to “feel” the presence of living humans. They caused movement in the air around them and somehow he was able to pick up on the flows this created. It was like a sixth sense and it was telling him there was no fresh meat here. Further into the camp was a different story though. He could tell the prey he’d come in search of was still here.
He could see where they’d driven off the road and followed the tire tracks away from the gate. He stopped and tilted his head, listening. There was another group coming up the road. As soon as he’d ditched the car he knew they’d be coming after him. The undead were drawn to him just like he was drawn to the living. There was no way he could be sure why they were attracted to him. He could ask all the questions he wanted. They just didn’t have the capacity to answer him. His zombie brethren had the same abilities he had. There was no doubt about that. They could detect him the same way he could detect the living. When traveling by car he was fine but as soon as he was on foot he drew a crowd. Either way it usually didn’t matter once the zombie hordes found him nothing happened. They just fell in line and followed him wherever he went.
The repair they’d done to the fence wouldn’t hold up to the horde that was headed this way. He would have to do something about that. If he went through here the undead that were only a few minutes behind him would eventually force their way through the same opening and the living inside would not be his and his alone. He would have to go back to the tank and crawl over. It would be a tight fit but he could make it easy enough. The others wouldn’t possess the manual dexterity required to climb the tank. Even he would have a hard time. His arm had finally reattached fully but still wasn’t working at one hundred percent. Hell not much of the rest of him was either and they were going to pay for that. First the ones that had taken his arm. It didn’t matter that he would most likely regain full use of the arm. He had a knack for healing now. Still he would not be denied his vengeance. When he was done there was someone else he had a score to settle with. He just couldn’t remember all the details. Nothing helped his memory more than gorging himself full on human flesh. After he fed he would remember everything.
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