“But there aren’t any tall buildings around Allegheny General,” Bob replied.
“If we can use the helicopter for at least a few more short runs,” Carrie smiled. “Maybe we could dress Tom in a sheet and dangle him from the chopper out from the top of Allegheny General. The dead would walk right off the roof trying to get at him. Then we should be able to land on their helipad.”
“I know if I saw Tom dressed in a sheet with his ugly ass sticking out, I’d want to jump off a damn roof and commit suicide too,” Jim laughed.
Everyone else started to laugh.
Bob looked at Tom and laughed, “That could work. Tom what do you say?”
Tom stopped laughing and looked terrified.
“I’m afraid of heights,” Tom replied nervously.
Ken, Tom’s friend who was one of the other college students spoke up.
“If you really think that would work and it’s the only way we are going to get out of here,” Ken said, “I’ll hang from the helicopter, but I’m not wearing any sheet. I don’t want my bare ass hanging out over Pittsburgh for all those dead bastards to look at.”
Everyone started laughing again.
Carrie shrank down in her seat. From all this talk of bare asses, she could only imagine what Tom had been telling everyone. No wonder the story hadn’t changed from her being covered by a sheet to that of a wash cloth, Tom’s story was probably about how he had walked into her room and saw her trying to cover herself with a sheet, except her ass and who knew what else was hanging out. Living here surrounded by the dead and nine men, the last thing she would forget to cover up would be her ass. Then Carrie started to get pissed.
“Since we have a volunteer, if I can piece the helicopter together, we might give that a try,” Bob said.
“If you can get the helicopter together to be able to make a few short flights,” the doctor said, “maybe we should make another food run to Costco first to test it out before you try going over to Allegheny General?”
“I agree,” Bob replied knowing what the doctor meant. “If things don’t work out, it will buy you guys a little more time to find a way out of here and away from the dead.”
“Speaking of the dead, Doc,” Carrie asked, “What are you doing with those two dead things in that room?”
“When I saw the damage to the helicopter, I figured we needed to explore ever possible option to help us to get out of here,” the Doc replied. “I know it is a long shot and I’m sure someone somewhere has tried it already, but I felt I had to give it a try. If we can’t fly out of here and if we can’t climb down the hillside, I was hoping to find a way to neutralize the dead somehow. That’s why I have those two dead creatures tied up in room 1019. I’m hoping to find something that will kill them or slow them down somehow. I plan on subjecting them to different experiments to see how they react. If I can’t kill them, maybe I can at least develop something we can use as a weapon against them to increase our chances to get away.”
“I haven’t seen anything that will slow those things down. I think they are immune to everything,” Carrie said. “They’re dangerous and they make me nervous.”
“I understand,” the doctor replied, “but I feel it is a way I can maybe help us. A way I can contribute to our cause so to speak. Between this, the boys working on a way to repel down the cliff and you and Bob working on the helicopter, hopefully one of these plans will work out.”
“Please be careful Doc,” Carrie said but immediately felt guilty for saying it. “I’m sorry Doc, I know you will be careful and I don’t mean to question your intentions, but those things scare me.”
“They scare me too,” the Doc smiled. “I just think it has to be done.”
Anyone else have any ideas or questions?” Bob asked.
No one said anything.
“OK then, for now our goal is to come up with a way to get out of here in the next two weeks. If you can think of anything to help, please tell me. I can use all the help I can get,” Bob smiled. “If I can help you, let me know.”
The meeting broke up and everyone started to leave the room.
Bob saw Carrie start to walk across the room towards Tom.
He walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder, “Where are you going, Red?”
“I need to have a word with Tom,” she replied.
“No you don’t,” Bob said.
Carrie looked at him, “Yes I do!”
“Let it drop Red,” Bob smiled.
“Let what drop?” she smiled back but looked irratated.
Bob grinned, “I see that fire in your eyes. Red, did anyone ever tell you your face is like a billboard?”
Carrie looked at him, wondering if he was reading her mind again.
“I swear every thought in that little brain of yours flashes across your eyes,” Bob said. “Right now you don’t need to talk to Tom. You need to cool down first. Come on and go with me to look at our helicopter. I could use your ideas on how to fix it.”
“Why don’t you just look in my eyes? I’m sure that would give you some ideas,” Carrie shot back.
“I’m afraid I’d go blind,” Bob smiled.
“OK,” Carrie replied but kept her eyes down and looked at the floor. “But I want to know what Tom was telling everyone about me. How would you like it if there were nine women and just you here? How would you feel if they were making jokes about your ass?”
Bob laughed, “First of all, I would be flattered.”
“That figures,” Carrie replied sarcastically.
“Second, No one here was making jokes about your ass,” Bob added. “None of these guys would do that. Even if Tom did say something, it was just probably some innocent comment. After all, none of us have seen a woman in almost a year. Believe me Red, you’re the most exciting thing that has happened around here. Give us a break.”
“Right, because I can fly the helicopter,” Carrie frowned.
“That too,” Bob grinned.
Carrie looked at Bob, “You know what he said, don’t you?”
Bob sighed,” Yea, I know. If I tell you will you let it go? It was just some normal guy junior high comment, nothing more. Even for junior high, it was nothing. You’re a big girl, you can handle it.”
“I’ll decide what I can handle,” Carrie said. “Now what did he say?”
“He said we walked into the room where the Doc was examining you,” Bob started.
“So far that’s nothing terrible.” Carrie said. “At least he didn’t make that part up, and what else did he say?”
“He said you had a nice ass,” Bob smiled.
Carrie’s eyes lit up.
“You can’t get mad at the guy for saying something all of us already knew Red,” Bob smiled, “Besides I didn’t think you were one of those feminist types that bitched every time a guy looked at you. Seriously, if that was the case, around here you would be bitching all day long.”
Carrie sighed then she started to laugh, “Sorry, I was expecting a lot worse. I may have over reacted. I do that sometimes. It is kind of funny.” Carrie continued to laugh. “After all what can a girl expect living with nine men? Knowing Tom, I’m sure it was meant to be a compliment.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard those kind of compliments before,” Bob smiled, ” if you want, I’ll talk to Tom and make sure he acts like more of a gentleman and keeps his eyes off your ass.”
“No, you don’t have to do that,” Carrie said. “All of you have been so nice to me. With all the problems we have, the last thing you need is me running around acting like a spoiled little bitch and causing more problems.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I really meant what I said before,” Bob said.
“About my ass?” Carrie grinned.
“About being really happy that you are here,” Bob laughed. “We’re all your friends. You’re safe here. You know that, right?”
“Right!” Carrie smiled, “Bob, I’ve suspected it for a while now, but now I’m su
re. You’re a pervert.”
Bob smiled at Carrie, “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”
“It’s probably not going to be the last time you hear that either,” Carrie said softly. But now her facial expression was relaxed and her eyes twinkled giving off an ornery look.
“Probably not,” Bob smiled.
Chapter 8
Jim sat on the radiator by the windows in their room. He had his arms wrapped around his legs which were pulled up close to his body. From where he was sitting he could look out around the edge of the blinds that were pulled all the way down to the bottom of the frame. From where he sat he could get a glimpse of the dead that were wandering around the school building. He was worried.
He had heard the sounds of the dead outside the building all during the night. It wasn’t unusual to hear the dead outside at night. What was so unusual was to hear them out there all night long. Jim didn’t know if the dead had followed them back from the river or if the dead had somehow just accidently wandered by the school and spotted Jim and his sisters. Whatever it was, Jim was worried that the dead somehow knew he was in the school.
Why else had they lingered out there so long?
Jim wasn’t able to sleep well last night. The sounds of the dead kept creeping into his mind during the few times he had managed to drift off to sleep.
Jim would have gladly welcomed his old dreams about being paddled in front of the class for one of his many grade school indiscretions. From those dreams, he always knew he would wake up and know they were just annoying memories from the past. Nightmares about the dead didn’t end when you woke up, they just became more terrifying.
The dead had taken his parents, his friends and all of his past life. Now they wanted him. Even worse, they wanted Debbie and Monica. Jim wasn’t sure if the dead wanted Ed or not, but from the worried look in Ed’s eyes, Jim knew Ed didn’t want to find out.
The poor dog was now lying next to the radiator, staring up at Jim, as if begging Jim to protect her.
Debbie and Moni had been sleeping the last Jim had looked at them. Thankfully they were able to get some rest. They either weren’t as worried as Jim was, or they had more confidence in him than he did in himself right now.
Debbie walked over and put her hand on Jim’s shoulder.
Jim jumped, startled by the touch, “Oh it’s you Deb. Sorry I didn’t hear you get up.”
“I just woke up,” Debbie replied. “What are you thinking about?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Jim smiled glancing out the window.
“Yea,” Debbie answered. “But they have been out there before. I don’t remember ever seeing you look this worried about the dead being outside.”
“We had food stocked up in here when they came around before,” Jim replied. “We don’t have anything left and I can’t remember the last time there have been so many of them out there. I was starting to think conditions were getting better, not worse.”
“We still have four fish,” Debbie answered.
“We have to eat them today or they will go bad, then we are completely out of food,” Jim said then added. “This group doesn’t seem like they will be leaving anytime soon. We could be in trouble.”
“We’ve been in trouble before,” Debbie replied.
“This feels different,” Jim said as he sat there thinking.
“I’m beginning to think we made a mistake staying here so long,” Jim added.
“We would have probably left a long time ago if we weren’t waiting to see if Mom and Dad were going to come back,” Debbie replied. “But we didn’t. No big deal.”
“Yea, but I still think we waited too long,” Jim said softly. “When they didn’t come back after a month, we should have left. Now we’re stuck here, surrounded and we don’t have any food. We should have left months ago when the food started to run out in town. I’m getting sick of fish.”
Debbie laughed, “Me too. I think the only one of us that isn’t sick of fish is Ed. Of course she will eat anything.”
Jim smiled.
“I should have gotten us out of here months ago,” Jim replied. “I could kick myself. I just hope it’s not too late now.”
“We all thought about leaving,” Debbie said, “but this was the safest place we knew of. As bad as I wanted to get out of here, I didn’t push it. We were safe here and we had enough to eat. I think the Shrimp has gained ten pounds since we came here. It really hasn’t been that bad. We’re still alive. That’s more than anyone else that lived in New Florence can say. Besides, where would we have gone? Dad was right. There probably isn’t any place out there any safer than New Florence.”
“Safer, probably not,” Jim sighed, “but there has to be somewhere with more to eat. If we stay here we will probably safely starve to death.”
“Then let’s leave,” Debbie said.
“Look at all of them out there,” Jim said.
“They will leave,” Debbie smiled, “sooner or later.”
“You understand what we are going to be up against out there?” Jim asked.
“We both knew that sooner or later we would have to go out there,” Debbie answered, “If you think now is the time, I’m with you. Where do you think we should go?”
“Eventually I think we should go up in to the mountains. Someplace where the dead aren’t,” Jim answered, “but in the near term we need to go somewhere where we can find enough to eat.”
“That sounds like a lot of walking,” Debbie frowned.
“I think we are going to need a car,” Jim said. “I was thinking I would try to first find us a car. We can’t expect to get very far on foot. It’s too dangerous.”
“Not one of those bloody meat wagons out front?” Debbie said looking horrified at the thought.
“Definitely not,” Jim grinned. “There has to be some clean cars somewhere around town. It just might take a while to find one that will still run. The batteries have been sitting unused for a year now. Most of them are probably dead.”
“Zombie cars,” Debbie grinned.
“No,” Jim smiled, “just zombie batteries.”
Debbie thought for a few minutes, “We’ve always had a plan before whenever we did anything. So maybe we should make a plan now too and think this out, so why don’t we do this?” She thought for a few seconds, “What you think of this, for the next week let’s spend one day fishing so we can eat. We can spend the next day looking for a car. We can alternate days until we find a car that still runs. That way we won’t starve while we look for a car and we will still be safe here at the school.”
“OK,” Jim replied, “That sounds like a plan. After we find a car then we can get out of here.”
“Maybe instead of leaving right away,” Debbie thought out loud, “We could use the car to go over to Seward and Bolivar to make sure we can find food there before we give up the safety of the school here. After we make sure those towns are safe enough and we can find another safe place to stay, then we could leave. With a car maybe we can use the school as a base for a while, a safe place to stay until we know for sure where we want to go. If that doesn’t pan out we know we can still manage to get by here, even if it means eating nothing but fish.”
“I like that plan, it sounds like a good idea.” Jim smiled. “Sometime little sister you amaze me.”
“I’ve been doing more than staying here at the school and playing hopscotch with the Shrimp, big brother,” Debbie smiled. “I’ve been thinking about what we should be doing too. I’m not a dummy. I know what’s going on. I’m more than just your hot little sister.”
“I can see that,” Jim laughed. “But I’m not so sure about the hot part.”
Debbie laughed, “Yea, even if I was, who cares anymore. But I think I have a hot plan anyhow.”
“It is if we can find a car,” Jim laughed.
“Yea, well I can’t help you there,” Debbie smiled, “I wasn’t old enough to get a driver’s license before this all started. All
I know about cars is that you start them with a key, but no one would ever let me even try that. You’ll have to teach me and the Shrimp how to drive.”
“If we can find a car,” Jim smiled, “I’ll be happy to teach you how to drive, but Moni, I’d rather teach Ed how to drive.”
Debbie laughed, “It would probably be safer.”
Jim laughed, starting to look more relaxed.
“Why don’t you try to go back to sleep, you look beat,” Debbie said. “I’ll cook up the fish later today. Maybe those things will go away by tomorrow and we can go fishing tomorrow again and then start looking for a car.”
“I do feel like I could get some rest now that we have a plan,” Jim said. “I’m glad we talked. My mind was a blank. I’ve been trying to think this through all morning but nothing was coming to me. I guess I was too worried to think straight.”
“Jimmy,” Monica spoke up making both Jim and Debbie jump, “You want to play hopscotch with me and Ed?”
Debbie laughed, “No, Jimmy is going to get some rest. I’ll play with you. But if you and Ed both start cheating, I’m going to quit.”
“Don’t worry,” Monica smiled, “I’ll make sure Ed plays fair today.”
Chapter 9
Ricki woke up at the first light.
He hadn’t slept very soundly last night. His mind was too busy thinking.
His mind had been working overtime ever since he saw that guy going around the side of the school building in New Florence yesterday.
First he had to decide whether the guy he had seen was real or not. As much as he thought he had seen a ghost, he had to rule that out. If he had seen a ghost then any plans he was thinking about would be for nothing.
The guy had to have been real. Of course if he had been a ghost, with what Ricki was thinking, it could still work out as long as he was a friendly ghost. Even that would be better than staying with Jamal and his crew any longer.
Survivors in a Dead World Page 11