Just as Jamie was undoing the last of the buckles, just as she was sitting up, still somewhat groggy and spacey from the injections, Lily began stirring to life on the floor. Maybe the fall had shaken things up in her, her body starting to send desperate signals to her brain to wake up, because something was obviously happening.
“What are you doing?” said Lily, her voice sounding like she had just taken a long, long nap. It might take several seconds before she realized what was happening.
But Jamie wasn’t taking any chances. She had mixed feelings about hurting Lily. After all, if she killed her, it meant that she’d be safer. But then again, Lily was trying to work on the virus, trying to solve it.
Lily had tried to imprison Jamie there for life. That should have been a horrible enough crime on its own. But something stopped Jamie, some nagging doubt about the future of humanity and the virus, from immediately attacking Lily with everything she had.
It was that hesitation, that moment’s pause, as the last buckle fell away from her leg, that allowed Lily to act.
It was suddenly as if Lily hadn’t been out cold moments earlier. It was suddenly as if she’d never felt sleepy in her life. She was full of energy.
And anger.
Furious anger.
She wasn’t going to give Jamie a chance to decide whether to incapacitate her or kill her.
With a sudden growl that sounded far more like a wild animal than a respectable scientist working in a lab, Lily leapt up. It was clear from that moment on that it was a fight to the death.
For Jamie, death might mean being knocked unconscious and incapacitated for the rest of her life in the laboratory as she was experimented on.
For Lily, though, it was going to be an instant death.
Jamie wouldn’t have a choice.
And she wasn’t going to feel bad about it.
She was going to do what she had to do.
Lily’s hands were around Jamie’s neck.
But she didn’t seem to know how to fight. What she had on her side was fury and intensity. She had no technique.
Not that Jamie did either. But at this point, she was more experienced.
Jamie, from having survived the physical altercations of the last few days, felt like her body knew what to do. The crisis and intensity of it all had awakened something in her.
She moved on instinct.
She let herself roll off the table where she’d been strapped, actually pushing herself forcefully so that she fell right to the floor.
The twisting and the momentum were too much for Lily’s hands. Jamie’s neck burst free from her grasp.
Jamie hit the floor hard. But it wasn’t enough to put her out of commission. She instinctively knew she didn’t have enough time to rise up and get into a standing or kneeling position. So instead she readied herself for Lily’s attack, positioning herself so that her hands were at the side, ready to swing in and strike when Lily fell on her.
Sure enough, Lily threw herself heavily onto Jamie. But she had no plan. Her hands weren’t moving. Neither were her arms. It was almost like she was executing a belly flop rather than an attack.
But Lily was vicious. Her teeth gnashed at Jamie. There was a craziness in her eyes.
Jamie felt the bite. Right on her ear. Pain flared through her. It was a hard bite. A moment later, she tasted blood as it gushed down her face.
But the blood and the pain weren’t going to stop Jamie.
Her hands were far enough away from her body that she was able to swing them, getting some good momentum. The first punch hit Lily hard. Right on the side of her skull.
The first punch didn’t stop Lily. But the second punch did.
The second punch landed so hard, as Jamie managed to twist her body enough to get some real power to it, that it hurt her hand tremendously when it smashed into Lily’s skull.
Suddenly, Lily’s thrashing stopped. She wasn’t unconscious, but she was dazed.
Jamie couldn’t get out from under her. She struggled. But Lily had her pinned down, her powerful legs on either side of her.
Jamie did the only thing she could. She launched another punch. A tremendous one.
Lily’s face absorbed the punch, and blood flowed.
“I’ll kill you for that, you...” snarled Lily, her words trailing off.
They were the first words that had been spoken in some time. They had been struggling almost in silence, with only grunts of pain and effort punctuating the strange and eerie absence of noise in the laboratory.
And Lily meant it.
Suddenly, with an expression of pure viciousness, pure hatred on her face, she whipped her head back and then, after a moment’s pause, slammed it forward.
It was a ferocious headbutt. One where Lily didn’t care if she struck with her forehead. She simply slammed her face into Jamie’s.
Jamie reacted without thinking. She was going dizzy. Something felt strange after the blow.
But Jamie found her hands moving swiftly toward Lily’s neck, grasping it.
Jamie squeezed. As hard as she could.
This time she wasn’t going to let go.
Not until the threat was eliminated.
It wasn’t pretty.
But it was the way the world worked now. Either kill or be killed.
Lily’s face was turning a strange shade of light red. She was pulling away from Jamie, desperately trying to remove her neck from Jamie’s grasp.
But Jamie held on firm.
Lily’s arms were moving, her fists pummeling Jamie.
Jamie didn’t let go. She knew if she did, she’d be the one being strangled only moments from now.
Jamie took the blows. She knew they wouldn’t last forever. She knew it was only a matter of time.
It wasn’t like earlier, when Lily had fallen suddenly unconscious. Jamie didn’t know why and there wasn’t time to consider it all.
It seemed to take forever. In reality, it was probably not any more than a minute. But it was a long, long minute that seemed to stretch into eternity.
Finally, it was all over.
Lily was dead. Her face expressionless. White, ghostly. Her eyes bugging out ever so slightly. Her weight heavy on top of Jamie.
But Jamie was free.
She was no longer strapped down. She wasn’t drugged to the point of unconsciousness.
It felt like her strength was gone. Zapped away. But she knew it would return. And when it did, she would shove Lily’s body off her. And she would leave this lab. If she managed it, she’d leave in the vehicle. Drive back. Hopefully find Matt and Judy still alive.
“Just a little bit longer,” she said out loud, wondering why she was talking to herself.
It was unpleasant and horrible, having the corpse on top of her, pressing down. The lips were very close to her and the mouth of the corpse was open. The lips, strange as it was, seemed to be changing color, taking on a blue sort of tint, as the minutes passed.
24
Matt
Matt opened his eyes and saw the blueness of the sky. The sky was the first thing that registered in his mind. It came before the pain. Before the memories of what had happened. Before the awareness that something wasn’t right in his body.
Before all those elements came rushing back to him, before his senses kicked back into gear, he felt almost as if he were in some sort of dream state, with the sky as the background and subject matter at once.
Nothing registered except that blue sky. That incredible sky that didn’t even seem as if it were a sky. It seemed as if it was a thing in and of itself, rather than the top of something, rather than the upper limit of the Earth itself.
“Matt?”
The single word brought him back, brought him out of the strange thoughts.
And it brought the pain rushing back.
His abdomen hurt like hell.
He tried to move, tried to sit up. But the pain rushed through him. It was too intense and he fell back to the ground. He
seemed to be lying on his back.
“You’re not dead.” He thought it was Judy’s voice, but he wasn’t sure. There was an element of surprise to her voice.
“Neither are you,” he managed to say.
“You don’t remember what happened?”
He shook his head. “Some guys...One guy left...Wasn’t sure if he was dead.”
“I got him,” said Judy. “Thanks to you. He wasn’t dead. He would have killed us.”
“Good,” said Matt. A slight nod was all that he could manage.
“That guy with the knife did a number on you... I had to stitch you up as best I could.”
“Good,” said Matt, still staring up at the sky. He didn’t like the idea of moving much right now, even to get a better look at Judy. She was standing above him, looking down at him.
She looked exhausted. Beyond tired. There was dirt on her face. That dry, dusty New Mexican dirt. And some mud too, from somewhere. There seemed to be more lines on her face than there were just a few days ago, if that was even possible.
“I did the best I could with what I had. It seemed to take forever just to get the bleeding to stop. Don’t think for a second that the ambulance had any medical supplies at all... It had been ransacked... I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”
“Where are we?” said Matt.
“We haven’t moved. I didn’t have the strength to drag you anywhere, let alone carry you, and you were bleeding really bad. How do you feel?”
“Not that bad,” said Matt, even though it was about as far from the truth as anything could be.
He knew there wasn’t any point in describing how bad he really felt. What was the point in saying that he felt like he’d been run over by a truck and run through a trash disposal? None. She already knew how badly he’d been injured. There was honor and purpose in describing injuries to others so that they could help you. But there was nothing but dishonor in complaining.
At least that’s how Matt saw it.
He decided then and there he was going to get up. No sense in lying around all day.
He made his move, planting his right elbow in the dirt and rotating his torso as he attempted to sit up. Sort of like he was trying to execute the old-time strongman lift called the Turkish Get-Up.
But he barely made it past the first step. The pain flared through him too intensely for him to bear.
It wasn’t even really a question of tolerating or not tolerating the pain. His body just wouldn’t let him. No matter how hard he pushed. He couldn’t sit up.
There was no way.
He crashed back to the ground. He’d only made it a few inches.
It hurt more than it ever had.
“Yeah,” said Judy, looking down at him with a stern look on her face. “Don’t try that again.”
He nodded, acknowledging that she was right.
“I guess we’re staying here for a while then,” he said. “Or I am, at least.”
“Not like I can very well just leave you here,” said Judy.
“You’re going to have to eat. Rest. Water.”
She nodded over toward the east, where he supposed the corpses of the men were. “They had some good gear with them. Plenty of food and water. For when you’re hungry.”
The idea of eating anything not only turned his stomach, but he didn’t think it’d be physically possible with how much his abdomen was hurting.
“What was the wound like?” he said. “Did it hit anything major?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I think you’re good. Of course, we won’t know for sure until...”
“Until when?”
“I guess I don’t know.”
“You mean we’ve just got to see if I make it or not.”
“I guess,” said Judy. “You know I wouldn’t try to do anything other than be straight with you. It’s not my style, for better or worse.”
“Well, then give it to me straight.” It hurt to talk. But it wasn’t that bad. He figured it could have been worse.
“Well, basically you already figured it out. You’re either going to live or you’re not. I figure you won’t die from blood loss at this point. Like I said, the bleeding stopped. I even sewed you up.... Didn’t do that bad of a job, for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing...One of those dead guys had a little first aid kit that had some thread and a needle...Didn’t take a genius to figure out what needed to be done and how to do it...Just like back when I was in Girl Scouts, in a way.... But I just don’t have the training to know whether or not the knife hit something crucial inside you.”
“Might have nicked something important, you’re saying.” He couldn’t help but smile a little, despite the pain.
For some reason, the situation seemed sort of funny. He wasn’t the type to joke around a lot. Maybe it was the idea of teetering on the brink of death and not knowing... Maybe it was something else. Who knew.
For some reason, it didn’t seem like he should worry himself too much about it.
“Well,” he said. “I either die or I don’t. No point in worrying too much about it if we can’t do anything about it.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Judy, without a trace of humor in her face. “We’ll have to stay here. Keep you fed. Rest up.”
“How much time has passed?”
“Since you were last conscious? About a day.”
“A day?” he said, incredibly surprised. It didn’t feel like a day.
Judy just nodded. He looked at her face again, and saw, even more than before, just how tired she seemed to be.
“Did you sleep at all?”
“Sleep? I tried not to. I think I dozed off in the night.
“You need to sleep.”
“What was I supposed to do? You were out. Someone’s got to keep watch.”
“You’re right, I guess. But how is this going to work? We’re just going to stay here and you’re not going to sleep?”
“Well, you’re not going to be much good on watch. You still haven’t even managed to look at anything but the sky and my face when I’m standing right above you.”
“I’m sure I’ll be better in another day...All better, I mean...And just give me a few minutes here and I’ll even be moving around.”
He tried to sit up again. Judy didn’t move to help him. He could see her face and she just glared at him sternly, nothing but disapproval written on her expression. She didn’t need to say anything, since the message was crystal clear.
The pain was horrible. So horrible he had to just let his muscles go limp and let himself fall back, completely relinquishing any thought of control over his own body.
“You remind me of my ex-husband when he had back pain,” said Judy, glaring down at him. “He’d insist he could get up. Insist he could mow the lawn. Then he’d just hurt himself even more and suddenly I’d have to wait on him in bed for the rest of the week.”
“I’m just trying to keep us alive,” said Matt.
“You’re going to help us a lot more if you actually let yourself rest and recuperate. If you keep trying to do things before you’re ready, you’re never going to heal enough to be useful.”
“That might take a long time. I don’t feel so hot.”
“It’ll take as long as it takes. Shit. Quiet.”
She fell quiet and Matt, despite how out of it he felt, had enough sense to do the same.
At first, he heard nothing.
Then he heard it.
The sound of something mechanical. Maybe some kind of motor or engine.
But it didn’t sound that familiar. It didn’t have the deep grumbling sounds typical of a car or truck. Instead, there was a kind of high-pitched whining to it.
“What is that?” said Judy, finally breaking the silence herself.
“Some kind of vehicle.”
“It sounds weird. Too high-pitched.”
“It does. But what else could it be?”
“I don’t know. Matt, whatever you do, ju
st stay there. Don’t try to move. And don’t even think of asking for a gun. If something goes down, you’re more likely to shoot me than an enemy, in the state you’re in.”
It was a tough thing for Matt. Tough to lie there doing nothing. Tough to wait, knowing that no matter what happened, he was useless. Actually, worse than useless, since he was endangering Judy by keeping her there, making her stay awake and alert for hours and hours just to defend him.
Neither he nor Judy spoke as the whining of the engine got louder and louder.
All Matt could do was stare uselessly at the sky. He couldn’t even see Judy. He just knew that she’d moved.
In all likelihood, she had her gun ready, her eyes scanning in the direction the sound was coming from.
As Matt lay there, the less sense the noise made. If it were a vehicle, it should have been coming from the road.
The terrain here was rough. Not exactly easy for a typical vehicle to traverse.
The sound got louder. Rose to almost a fever pitch.
All he could do was blink. His body remembered the pain. It remembered what would happen if he tried to move.
He knew that even if an enemy appeared, shot Judy and then was about to shoot Matt, that he’d be useless. He’d just have to lie there and take the bullet. Or take the knife. Or the hatchet. Or the bare hand. Take whatever the blow was, whatever the choice of weapon.
The sound of the engine rose to a crescendo.
It was close.
It was horrible, not being able to see anything. Not being able to help.
The seconds seemed to pass slowly. They stretched into minutes. Horrible, long, drawn-out minutes.
He heard nothing really. The engine had cut off.
There was just silence.
No gunshots. No cries of pain. No screams.
He wanted so much to try to get up, but he knew it was useless.
But it got to such a point that he could no longer tolerate it, so he thought he might just go ahead and try anyway. He knew it wouldn’t work, but at least it was something to do. At least he would be almost active.
Then, the next thing he knew, a familiar face was looking down at him, blocking out the blue sky above him
Last Pandemic (Book 3): Escape The Chaos Page 16