by Phil Maxey
“Few hours.”
She looked at the wind turbines, slowly turning. “All that electricity is going to waste. Now we just have a landscape of giant children’s toys.
“Who knows, maybe they can be useful again.” He wasn’t sure if he believed that.
Anna looked back to the truck’s headlight beams lighting up the two-lane road. “It’s a good thing Kirk let Donnie come with us.”
“Hopefully he’ll go back.”
“Do you think he will?”
“I think right now he has no plans to return. But he might change his mind when he’s in the camp.”
“Did he tell you what kind of vamp he is? Because he’s not like us, I can tell you that much.”
Joel agreed, but was curious why she thought the same. “The conversation never got to that. But why do you say that?”
“He’s a good kid, but when I’m around him I’m on edge.”
“Yeah.”
Silence returned to the cab for a few moments.
“I… checked the blood supply. And—”
“We’re out. I noticed.”
“Be a good idea if we can find a hospital or something before we get to the camp…”
“I’ve been looking out, but there’s not been much. There’s a town coming up, we can look there.”
Behind them in the truck’s bed, most of the humans were trying to get an uneasy sleep while Jasper watched Evan work on his laptop.
A short while later, motor homes appeared on low hills, followed by advertising hoardings asking the passersby to visit their showrooms, or eat at their restaurant.
As office buildings and hotels crowded the side of the road, Joel slowed to try to read some of the road signs.
Anna looked into the blackness of side streets and forecourts. She was sure she could see motion in the shadows, but they quickly moved too far behind them to take a second look.
“I think there’re vamps around.”
“There are, I can sense them. But not that many.”
They passed through junction after junction as the buildings grew in size and density.
A particular large group of buildings stood out against the sunrise.
“That’s a hospital,” said Anna.
Joel took the next right, and they drove past a sleek, modern building, attached to old ones. A large empty parking lot sat in front of both.
“Get as close as you can to the main entrance.”
Joel stopped alongside two ambulances that were parked over the sidewalk. He immediately spotted three shadows moving in the gloom in the street ahead. He briefly turned and banged on the small window to the trucks bed behind him. “Take Evan and Hickman, I’ll take care of what’s outside,” he said to Anna. She nodded and they both got out.
Joel ran towards the vamps that were now sprinting towards them while Anna, Evan, and Hickman moved into the hospital lobby.
Hickman flicked on a flashlight to a scene of devastation. Broken chairs and tables mingled with overturned gurneys and other medical equipment. And the floor, which would have otherwise been cream-colored, was full of pink smears.
From outside came the sound of grunts and squeals.
Hickman looked back to the entrance.
“Joel and the others have got that. We need to get to the blood banks,” said Anna. “Shine your light up there.” She pointed to the large printed sign on the wall. It detailed the various departments within the hospital.
“We’ll start with ‘Pathology.’”
She went to walk forward towards a set of double doors, but they burst open before she could. A lumbering beast of a vamp lunged forward, it’s nails narrowly missing Anna’s chest as it slashed across her.
Shifting to one side, she grabbed the back of its jacket and pushed it into the mix of rubbish at the center of the room. “Shoot it!” she shouted.
The clatter of semiautomatic gunfire echoed around the walls, and the vamp fell forward collapsing what was left of a wooden table.
Anna pushed the doors open again. “Come on, we need to be quick.”
Outside the fourth vampire slumped to the ground, blood gorging from a large neck wound.
Joel’s knife dripped blood which he slid across his tongue until it was dry. The jolt from the crimson liquid did nothing to quell the fires that were still burning within him. It was important Anna found some more.
As Flint’s barks rang out, Joel scoured the streets around the truck. They were devoid of any unwanted life.
He looked behind him to the pickup parked twenty feet away. Donnie, seated in the driver’s seat, tried not to meet his gaze.
Joel looked into the back of the truck. “Marina, keep an eye on the roads around us.”
She nodded, stepping forward.
Joel jogged over to the pickup. Donnie wound his window down.
“I need you out here.”
Donnie gave a nervous smile in reply. “I’m good. Better I stay here, in case we need to get away quickly.”
“Right… Okay, well if you see any vamps, hit the horn.”
“Will do.”
Joel walked back to the trunk.
Inside the hospital, Anna looked along the corridors with doors announcing what kind of treatment would be carried out beyond them. “Cardiology, Oncology… Ah…”
She and Evan ran forward down the hall.
“Wait up!” shouted Hickman, trying to keep up. Following them best he could around a series of narrow corridors, he emerged at another set of doors which told in no uncertain terms that the public were not to enter. There was another sign which said, ‘Blood and Tissue.’
He opened the door to silence and an empty room, but noises came from two more open doors which appeared to belong to cold storage areas.
“Anna? Evan?” he half-shouted into the blood banks.
“Yeah…” said Anna from inside.
He entered cautiously, his footsteps making a crunching sound as he walked over hundreds of empty blood bags.
They all stood looking at empty shelves, and mounds of plastic on the floor.
“Looks like some vamps had a party in here,” said Hickman.
Anna sighed. Her hunger was like a crying baby needing to be fed. It’s screams were increasing in volume.
She walked past him. “Let’s try the theatres.”
Joel leaned up against the back of the truck. He wouldn’t have been there, but Marina was pacing up and down beyond the front of the vehicle and he needed to keep his distance.
“How much further?” said Hardin from inside.
“Hour, maybe a bit longer.”
Joel noticed Jess looked concerned. Instinctively he smiled at her then instantly regretted the action. She looked away.
He shifted his gaze to the young boy next to her. “Jasper?”
The boy looked back at him with no expression.
Joel would have preferred to have seen the child’s eyes, but they were lost behind his sunglasses.
“You sensing anything?”
The boy nodded.
Joel was surprised, for his own senses weren't picking up any signs of other vamps. “Where?”
The boy pointed towards the hospital.
Joel ran around the side of the truck. “I’m going in to check on the others!” he shouted towards Marina. She briefly turned and nodded before watching the side streets again. Flint pulled at his leash that she was holding.
Anna and Evan moved quicker and quicker, deeper into a maze of twisting corridors, until they moved out of sight.
Hickman stopped at a junction. There was no sign of them, to the left or the right. Not even the doors moved with recent use.
Where the fuck are they.
A noise came from behind. He swung around taking his rifle and flashlight’s beam with him.
Another noise came from his right, he swung around again.
“Anna?”
His next step was followed by a crash as the ceiling caved in, bringing wit
h it vamps tumbling to the floor.
He started firing, spraying the walls and vamps alike, some of which fell to the ground, but others scrambled forward regardless.
He went to turn back the way he came, but in the distance there was the wrong kind of shadows.
Vamps…
A burning sensation across his back made him cry out and fall forwards. Without looking behind he pushed himself into the left corridor, slamming into and then through a set of double doors.
Anna and Evan appeared in front of him.
“This way!” shouted Anna.
Ignoring the searing pain across the middle of his back, he caught up with them.
Anna moved towards a nearby stairwell, but something was coming up from it at a pace. She went to turn away when she heard a human grunting noise as a man raced up the steps. Pushing the door open, she looked down at Joel coming up. “Joel!”
They moved quickly onto the stairs and descended, meeting Joel halfway, then kept on going to the ground floor, emerging in a corridor at the back of the hospital.
By the time they reached the front, Donnie and Marina had the engines running on both vehicles.
Joel and Anna helped Hickman into the back of the truck then, with Evan, jumped onboard.
Hickman fell onto his knees, wincing in pain.
A large tear with red frayed edges was obvious to everyone.
As the convoy sped away, a torrent of vamps spilled out from the hospital and other buildings behind them.
Soon though they were back on the main road heading north.
Anna pulled Hickman’s jacket and shirt from him. She looked closely at the six-inch laceration. “Doesn’t seem to have hit any arteries, but you got some muscle damage…”
She looked at Joel as she spoke.
Hickman continued looking at the floor of the truck, but he didn’t need to be facing the others to know what everyone was thinking.
“Shit… I’m infected, aren’t I?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Anna looked out at the lush green fields peppered with canals. “I can see why they have a camp here, difficult terrain to get across.”
Joel nodded.
A thin, dark strip just became visible sweeping from south to north across the landscape and the two-lane road they were on.
“That looks like the electrified fence,” said Joel.
They passed a large metal sign that laid face down in a ditch.
As they approached a gate within the silver-linked wall, the stench of death drifted up from putrid water which lay over the boggy landscape.
Joel noticed the fence was in sections, with small wooden stations every hundred yards, and beyond that were a series of small, white single-story buildings. It reminded Joel of an internment camp.
They stopped. On the other side of the metal-chained fence, two pickups were parked which a group of men were huddled around. Two of them broke from the rest and approached the gate. They were all armed with rifles over their shoulders.
Joel jumped down from the truck.
“Hey there!” shouted Joel. He approached slowly, smiling.
One of the men took his rifle from his shoulder while the other walked forward.
“What can we do for ya?” said the man, with a pronounced Canadian accent.
“We’re looking for refuge.” Joel briefly pointed at the wagons behind. “We brought some corn, beans, and wheat from a farm down south for the camp. We were hoping it would be enough for you to let us stay here?”
The heavyset bearded man with a baseball cap looked across the vehicles. “What’s in the back of your army truck?”
“There are fourteen of us, and a dog.”
One of the men near the pickups was talking on a radio.
The man nodded. “Okay, well stay there. I have to get permission to let you in.” He walked back to the others.
“Sure.” Joel could see the other man near the fence was anxious, but at least his rifle was still pointing at the ground.
The first man returned with the one with the radio. He was older, Joel thought, he looked in charge of those at the gate.
The gray-haired man walked closer to the metal fence. “Any of you infected?”
Joel knew by now it was virtually a trick question, there would usually be some infected in any large group of people. He nodded. “We got one. He’s a soldier. He needs medical attention.”
The man pointed to the long white huts in the field behind him. “You see those buildings. You’ll be staying in those for a few days to make sure none of you turn.”
Joel looked at the buildings. He then realized there was a second fence a mile off at the back of the field in front of him. “Sure. You should get this produce stored somewhere before it gets damp.”
The older man nodded to the guard standing next to one of the wooden stations. Joel couldn’t see what he was doing, but he presumed it had something to do with turning the electricity off at this section.
Chains were unraveled and the gate was unlocked and opened. Anna drove the truck and wagon through with Donnie following in the pickup behind.
Joel held his hand out to the man. “My name’s Joel Garret.”
The man shook it. “Art Greene. Been on the road long?”
“About a day. But most of us started off in different places. We got some scientists with us from the base at Cheyenne Mountain.” Joel could see Art recognized the significance of the location.
“Chad Holland is going to want to talk to you, he’s in charge of everything here.”
“Holland?”
The man stopped and looked straight at Joel. “Yeah, you know him?”
In Joel’s mind a distant voice tried to get attention behind layers of more recent memories.
He shook his head. “No.”
The gate was closed then locked, and Joel could now see a large metal lever being pushed up, sending the current back through the links and coils.
They both started walking back to the vehicles which were parked near the buildings.
“How many in the camp?”
“Just over three thousand now. We get maybe twenty to thirty arrive every day. Some from Canada, but most from south of the border.” He nodded towards the wagons. “Those supplies are going to come in very useful.”
Joel smiled. “We want to help. Be useful. Do you get a lot of attacks from vamps?”
“Haven’t had a major attack for a few weeks. But there’s always one or two who try to scale the fences each night. They’re usually desperate by the time they make it all the way out here and pretty easy to put down. Excuse me.” Art walked away while holding his radio up to his mouth.
A homely looking woman with her hair tied in a bun emerged from the nearby building. A sign above the door stated, ‘Administration.’ She walked towards Anna, Bill, and the others who were now standing outside the vehicles.
“My name is Bee Abbott. I know you have probably all had a long and hard journey to get here. You’ll be staying in one of the buildings around you, our quarantine area, before you are allowed into the main part of the camp. We have food and water for all of you.” She noticed Hickman was slightly bent over, despite his attempts to not show how much his back was hurting. “We also have a medical center for those of you who require it.” She looked at the sergeant. “You seem to be in pain, young man?”
Hickman frowned, not wanting to speak.
“If you are injured, we can help.”
He slowly walked forward then took a breath. “Got sliced by a vamp.”
Some of the guards rocked back slightly on their heels, but the woman smiled and walked forward, placing her hand on his shoulder. “We will do what we can for you.” She looked at one of the men standing nearby. “This man will take you to our facility where you will be looked after.”
Hickman sighed then nodded. He walked away with the man.
Bee looked to the others. “Are any of you injured? Or feeling unwell?”
; There was only silence amongst the others.
“Good. I know it must feel strange to you staying here, but it is for the good of all concerned. I myself arrived as you all did not so long ago, so I know what it’s like. Okay, I’ll show you to your quarters.”
*****
Marina looked at the twenty or so beds and those laying on them in the long single room and sighed.
Waiting rooms. Always waiting rooms.
Despite the pleasant welcome, she wasn’t getting her hopes up this place was going to fare any better than the last two, but for now it was better than being back on the road. Jess needed somewhere that felt safe, even if that was temporary.
She looked at her daughter and Jasper sleeping on the bed next to her. Anna had told her what she needed to say to any medical examiner about the boy. Something about a blood condition which led to his pale appearance. She didn’t understand the terms, but the doctor who looked Jasper over seemed to believe what was coming out of her mouth.
Her muscles tensed and she gripped the sheet below her. It was the hunger, and not the kind that could be satisfied with corn or wheat. She wondered how the other hybrids were holding up. At least in Haven she could talk to Joel.
The murderer.
She closed her eyes and let the anger waver until it reverted back to sadness. But the last emotion wasn’t just about the loss of the man she used to love, but also for the man she thought she might have had in the future.
What were the chances that he would had been the one to have killed Russell?
When Joel admitted what he had done, it seemed so unlikely that she actually thought he was joking despite how sick it would have been to say that. She still didn’t know how it came to be that Joel and Russell happened to be in the same place at the same time.
What it did tell her was that Russell was making his way west, out of LA. He was trying to find his family, and knowing that gave her a kind of closure she wasn’t expecting.
Since the ’incident’ with Joel she hardly talked to the others, especially the hybrids. She was surrounded by people, but felt more alone than ever.
She forced the events of the past week from her mind, and instead thought about the possibilities of living in the camp. She was going to need to find some kind of work. The woman in charge of the quarantine said that most were expected to contribute.