by B. D. Lutz
Mallet took an effectual pause before continuing, “Sir, this is the only option we have to stem the tide, quickly, and conserve resources. And quite frankly, sir, RAM is in no position to fight an army of Blue Savages or super UCs, or whatever you want to call them.”
When Train spoke, his voice was heavy with regret. “Move forward. I’ll take responsibility for our actions. It’s my call.” He glanced at the expectant faces surrounding him. “God have mercy on our souls.”
McCune slammed the helmet to the tiled floor, fear and rage battling for control. He locked Lucas in a hard stare. “Sergeant, we haven’t the resources to fight this enemy if we allow it inside our borders. Enjoy this day. I fear it may be our last.”
Pat’s panic grew. She had to get out of there. Get to the community’s storage area and inventory their supplies. What she’d heard made one thing crystal clear: Supply runs were canceled until this new threat was stopped.
Chapter 33 – Anger
Olaf stood next to Darline, successfully blocking my exit from the room. “I need to get out of here. I need to do something, or I’ll lose my mind.”
Darline pushed further into the room, forcing me to take a step back. “You should wait until the IV bag is empty.”
“It’s empty enough,” I said while yanking on the needle and instantly regretting it. “Well, maybe I’ll leave it in for now. But the second it comes out, I’m leaving.”
“Good idea, Otto. You’re pretty beat up and lost a fair amount of blood. You need the fluids and antibiotics,” Olaf said from behind Darline.
Disregarding the advice, I let my anger take control. “He’s going to die, Darline. Willis is going to die. He’s trapped in some nameless motel… and he’s alone. He’s going to die alone. That’s not how it should end for him. He’s a good man.”
Darline moved to console me with an embrace, but I pulled away. “I wished him good luck when he was leaving. It’s my fault. I jinxed him, and now he’s going to die.”
As I began pacing back and forth, the IV line caught on the bed and ripped from my hand, splashing blood over the bed and floor. Olaf pushed past Darline and grabbed some gauze from the medical tray Durrell had left behind. He covered the wound and applied pressure to staunch the bleeding. Olaf secured the gauze with tape and released his grip on my arm.
“Well, seems I’ve finished the IV; time to go,” I said, taking a step towards the door. As I halved the distance to freedom, a gurney appeared in the doorway, trapping me in the room. I prepared a verbal assault for the person responsible for blocking my path when I noticed the gurney’s passenger, a fully anesthetized and slack-jawed Lisa.
The gurney bounced and slammed its way through a doorway not built to accommodate its size, followed by Sabrina. Her appearance reminded me of every battlefield nurse I’d seen in the hundreds of war-themed movies I’d watched over the years.
“You need to move, Otto. And you need to get your ass back in bed.” She glanced at my bloodied hand and shook her head. “You are a special kind of crazy. Get in bed; I’ll reinsert the IV after I get Lisa situated.” Her tone left no room for discussion, so I plopped onto the bed like a scolded schoolboy awaiting his dunce cap.
Watching her struggle in the tight confines would have normally been my battlecry to bust chops. But I didn’t have it in me; my mind raced as quickly as my pulse, and my heartbeat echoed in my ears. My anger was winning!
Sabrina locked the wheels on Lisa’s gurney and pivoted to face me. “Lay down, Otto. We’re busy, and I don’t have time to play nursemaid.” She glanced in Olaf’s direction and said, “We’re prepping your son for surgery. You should visit him before he’s sedated.”
Olaf was moving before Sabrina finished speaking.
Attention back to me, she continued. “Lisa needs to be brought out of anesthesia. I’m going back to assist with Aden, Olaf’s son’s surgery. Think you can handle waking her up?”
Darline chirped in and assured Sabrina we would take care of Lisa. Her emphasis on we bought her my disapproving glare, which she ignored.
Sabrina attached a fresh IV and warned me not to waste any more of their valuable supplies, then hurried from the room.
Tethered to my IV, and salty, I bumped Lisa’s bed with my foot repeatedly until she rustled under the gurney’s crisp white sheets.
“Hey, Otto. Why the hell are you in my bedroom?” Lisa said with a dry, scratchy voice as her eyes fluttered open. “Where’s my slim yet stunningly handsome man?” A sound similar to sandpaper on hardwood followed as she worked her mouth in circles, searching for moisture. “I’m thirsty. Get me some water. And you didn’t answer my question. Why are you in my bedroom? Are you a Peeping Tom? Perv!” Her voice was growing in volume.
“Calm down, Lisa. I’m not in your bedroom; you’re in mine. Don’t you remember what happened between us last night?” Effectual pause and an evil grin. “The passion that exploded as our bodies became one, the years of sexual tension finally released. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”
Lisa’s eyes bulged but remained unfocused, the anesthesia still clouding her mind.
“It’ll be difficult telling Darline and Dillan, but we must. We can’t hide from this, and we owe it to them. After we tell them, we’ll be together… forever.”
“Water, get me some water… NOW!” She would have been screaming if her mouth weren’t desert-dry.
From my perch on the edge of my bed, I held out the bottle of water Sabrina had left behind.
Lisa moved her heavily damaged left arm and screeched in agony. “You rotten son-of-a-bitch,” she hissed as she switched to her right hand and snatched the bottle from me. Horror washed over her face. “How could you, Otto? Why would you? I hate you! Where’s Dillan? I’ve got to talk to him, explain that this was a mistake, I’ll tell him you took advantage of me.” She took a long pull from the bottle and swished it around her mouth before swallowing. “He’s going to think it’s yours,” she whined, sounding on the verge of tears as her head swiveled back and forth.
“What’s Dillan going to think is mine?”
“Our baby. I’m pregnant, you oaf. Why do you think I stayed home when FST1 went on the supply run? I got suspicious after I’d had morning sickness a couple of days in a row, and I’m over a month late.”
“Um, hey, well, I don’t know what to say. Look, I’m kidding about the whole ‘We’re in love thing.’ You’re in the hospital. You were shot, and you’re recovering from surgery,” I stammered. Well, I’d gone too far, again.
Sobering up enough to let her anger take control, Lisa focused as best she could on me. “When I get out of this bed, I will kill you, Otto Hammer. And this time I mean it. I’ll kill you in the most gruesome, painful way imaginable.”
“Lisa, don’t get yourself worked up. You need your rest, and I need to escape this place.” My urge to share my thoughts about her reproducing was causing my heavily bandaged and really painful side to throb. This couldn’t be happening. A mini-Lisa running around was a terrible image burning into my mind.
“If you utter a word of this to anyone, especially Dillan, I’ll pull all of your teeth with my bare hands. Now, where is Dillan!”
“Relax. Darline went to find him after you came out of surgery. He’ll be here any second. He doesn’t know?”
“No, I snuck a pregnancy test from the community supplies after he left to give FST1 his list. Please, Otto, please don’t tell him.”
“Tell me what?”
Dillan’s voice about scared me out of my skin. Spinning on my bed to face him, I blurted out, “Willis isn’t coming back, Dillan. Lisa thought it would upset you; she asked me to keep it to myself. I talked to him about an hour ago. Seems our government unleashed a fresh hell on the world in the form of a failed antidote. He’s been exposed to it, and….”
“We’ll talk later. Right now, I need some time with Lisa,” Dillan interrupted, a mixture of exhaustion and worry washing over his features. “Otto, can
you give us a minute?”
“I’d love to, but I’m being held hostage by Nurse Ratchet and this IV,” I said while holding the IV tubing up for his viewing pleasure.
He walked between my bed and Lisa’s gurney and removed the bag from the nail in the wall on which it had been suspended. “You look healthy enough to walk; there’s room in the triage area,” he said, smiling and handing me the bag.
“Dillan, your defenses worked, man. You saved this community. This attack was exactly what I feared would happen after seeing Entry Point One. Only I doubted we’d live through one.” I paused, allowing dozens of emotions to sort themselves out. “Thank you. We’re alive because of you.”
Still smiling, Dillan placed his hand on my shoulder and bobbed his head towards the door. “Like I said, Otto, we’ll talk later.”
I stood to leave and stole a quick glance at Lisa as an unspoken thank you flashed across her exhausted features.
Chapter 34 – Lockdown
Forty minutes later, Darline and I pushed through the clinic’s door. The smell of battle still hung heavy in the air. The first sight to greet me was the gore-smeared International with Randy, Olaf, and Jackson inspecting it through the crust of human remains it had collected while pummeling the dead. It appeared as if Olaf had introduced himself and was already making friends.
Stone was standing ten yards away, staring into the sky. Following his gaze, I quickly found the object holding his attention. A Black Hawk hovered in the distance; my guess would be a quarter-mile to our north.
Jackson was the first to see my battered, slow-moving body. “Look what the cat dragged in,” he said as he walked in my direction. “Well, at least you didn’t use your head as a weapon this time.”
Randy brushed past Jackson and picked up speed on his way to greet me. He held his arms out; it appeared he was planning to hug me. An action my throbbing side promised to protest. “Oh God, Randy, please don’t touch me.”
The effect my words had on him reminded me of a scolded puppy. His pace slowed as his arms lowered to his sides.
“Hey, chin up, I still love ya. My body just can’t take one of your bear hugs.”
His smile returned, and he moved in and placed his hands on the sides of my face. He tried to speak, but his words hitched in his throat. He stared at me for a long minute before wiping at his eyes.
Olaf and Jackson had joined us, and each displayed wide smiles. And rightfully so. We had repelled a massive attack, experienced minimal casualties, Olaf’s son was getting much needed medical care, and our walls had held.
We could now focus on thriving, on growing our home. I noticed that Stone wasn’t sharing in the moment; he hadn’t stopped staring at the Hawk, and his expression grew darker by the second.
“Hey, Stone. No words for your wounded brother?” I yelled to him.
Nothing. He didn’t even flinch.
Leaning on his weaponized cane, Olaf seemed to put the puzzle together. “Something isn’t right. That bird hasn’t moved in the last forty minutes. And her gun appears to be hot.”
“Air support; it’s providing air support for ground operations. I’m with Olaf. Something isn’t right. UCs are easy enough to identify and kill on the ground. Should be like shooting fish in a barrel for an airborne Black Hawk. We need to locate Lucas, find out what the hell’s happening outside our gate,” Stone said.
The mention of Lucas reminded me of Willis; he’d have been our POC in times like these. I realized that the men standing around me didn’t know about Willis, and it was my gut-wrenching duty to break the news. My mouth opened as a voice from the clinic reached us. “Olaf, Aden is out of surgery.”
Olaf moved towards the clinic, then stopped. “Can’t thank you enough for this,” he said, his eyes watery. “You all saved my boy.”
I nodded and reached out to shake his hand. “I think we’re even. I’d have bled out on the floor of an abandoned house if you and Russ hadn’t found me.”
As if on cue, Olaf’s truck rumbled to a stop next to the International. A frazzled-looking towhead emerged from the large Ram pickup. “Someone could have warned me about Pat! We thought Otto was the reason she was so mean. Apparently, she doesn’t like anyone! All I was trying to do was deliver the deer meat, and she treated me like an enemy spy. She threatened to smack the plaque off my teeth. Who says that?”
Darline smiled. “You must be Russ. Pat radioed me about you; said you were rude and that she put you in your place.”
Olaf ended the exchange by telling the bewildered man to join him in the clinic.
As the two disappeared behind the door of our makeshift hospital, Lucas emerged, her edge less sharp than I was used to. She quickly joined us and yelled for Stone to do the same.
Addressing the semi-circle of battle-worn faces, she didn’t mince words. “We have a situation developing just to the north of the community.” The group fidgeted nervously, forcing her to pause. When the anxiety seemed to die down, she continued, “You have no doubt noticed the Black Hawk and are probably wondering why it’s still on scene.”
She hit each of us with a hard stare, then continued. “Two CDC operatives have gone missing. We found one with a broken neck and a missing throat inside their Humvee. Our Bradley also encountered, and eliminated, a group of UCs that had separated from the main herd. They displayed tactical awareness. They sought cover, attempted to avoid our BFV, and moved as a singular unit.”
“What are you getting at, Sergeant?” Stone asked.
A sinking feeling took hold. I knew where Lucas was going, so I interjected, “Look, guys. I have some bad news. And it may tie into this.” I pulled a deep calming breath and plowed forward before I lost my nerve and my composure. “Willis isn’t coming home. He’s been infected by, or exposed to, an antidote meant to counteract the virus. Unfortunately, its side-effects are proving far worse than the virus itself.”
Emotion crept into my voice, so I paused, trying to regain control. The disbelieving stares matched mine. Willis, our friend, was gone.
Lucas broke our reverie. “Camp Hopkins is working on the chain of events that led to their Humvee being abandoned. All we know is they were after Doctor McCune.
“McCune plans on talking to Sergeant Timmons as well. He’s trying to determine what happened after he escaped. Some of what we witnessed today may simply be evolution, but the scene in the Humvee doesn’t fit that scenario. My gut tells me that something escaped from Saint Joe’s and found its way into that Humvee and brought the antidote’s side-effects with it.”
Stone’s eyes nearly exploded from their sockets. He held up a hand, cutting Lucas off. His radio was at his mouth an instant later. “Will, this is Stone. Get everyone inside the gate and lock it down. No time to explain, just do it.”
“On it,” Will answered without question.
Lucas, red-faced that a civilian had recognized the potential threat before she did, barked the same order to her team but told someone named Zahra to keep her BFV onsite.
I glanced at Lucas and asked, “Can you keep that Bradley here, at least until we determine what’s happening?”
Shaking her head before I finished, Lucas answered, “Hopkins plans on sending more troops to help search for the missing operator. So no, RAM won’t grant Otto Hammer the personal use of a Bradley in the foreseeable future. Actually, ever.”
I stiffened, catching Darline’s attention in the process. She knew what was about to happen if I stayed. “Okay, that’s enough. Otto needs his rest. We’re going home, and I forbid you boys from visiting him,” she said as we moved towards the street.
“Babe, I can’t walk home from here. Make Sergeant Lucas drive us home,” I said, eager to continue our conversation regarding the Bradley.
“No, Otto, Sergeant Lucas cannot drive us home. Jackson, we need a ride, NOW.”
Chapter 35 – Hide
Two hours later, I found myself watching the community put itself back together from my living room window. It was
a frustrating experience. I wanted to take part in the effort of rebuilding our community. It also gave me too much time to think.
I sat on our couch, sidelined once again and missing my younger man’s body and the promises it had once held: indestructibility and eternal youth. I turned away from the window, grabbed another Ibuprofen, and swallowed it sans water.
With Darline outside helping the community, our home was eerily quiet. I stretched out on the couch and stared at the ceiling, smiling when I found the sections I had missed when we painted it. I had been promising Darline I’d repaint them for almost ten years now. “Nope, I’d rather fight zombies than paint the ceiling,” I said through a soft chuckle.
The memories of better times raced around my head, killing any hope of catching some shuteye. How did we end up here? Does life have any meaning beyond living through the next loss of a friend, the next attack on our home? Will I be next? I shook the thoughts away and slid my hand down my face.
Darline poked her head through the front door a few restless minutes later. “Hey, are you sleeping?” she asked through a beaming smile.
I raised my hand above the back of the couch and waved. “I’m up, and I have a question for you. It’s about life.”
“No time, you have visitors.”
“Hey, you said no visitors. And I agree. Also, I’m not in the mood. Unless they can answer my question about life,” I whined.
“Hey Otto, you sound like a little girl.” It was Lucas, and she was leading FST1, along with Lewis, Stevenson, and Jackson, into my house.
“Sergeant, I can’t thank you enough for what you did for us today. Without you and your team, I’d probably be bleeding to death waiting for the community to quell the attack. But I’m in no mood for your red-eyed nastiness.”
“Quell, that’s a fancy word for such a small brain,” Lucas retorted.