Survivors in a Dead World

by Gary M. Chesla

  “My leg hurts and so do my ribs on the right side,” Carrie replied. “But I guess I’ll live, at least everything has stopped spinning. It was making me dizzy as hell. I should be able to travel whenever you want to leave, so when do we leave?”

  “Maybe tomorrow,” Bob replied, “that is if we can figure a way out of this church. You two have been sleeping most of the day. It will be dark in another hour. I figure we will just stay here for tonight. Tomorrow, maybe between the three of us we can come up with some way to get over to the hospital. Hopefully we can get up to the helipad and fly back to Mercy.”

  “Nothing personal Carrie,” Tom smiled, “I’m not sure if I want to fly anymore.”

  Carrie smiled but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to fly anymore either. The last week she had felt more like a test pilot than a helicopter pilot.

  “What if that helicopter won’t run?” Carrie asked.

  “One problem at a time, Red,” Bob sighed.

  Carrie started to get up, “You want me to go take a look? Maybe I can help.”

  “Not now, Red, just relax,” Bob said.

  After a good night’s rest and we get ourselves together, we can worry about what to do tomorrow,” Bob said as he picked up some clothes and handed them to Tom and Carrie. “Here, I found some of the priest’s robes up front. We can use them as blankets to keep us warm tonight.”

  Bob then moved over to Carrie and pulled up her shirt.

  Carrie swatted at his hand and looked startled, “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m going to check to see if you broke a rib,” Bob replied, “What did you think I was doing?”

  “Oh,” Carrie grinned.

  “Just pretend I’m the doctor Red,” Bob said as he pulled her shirt back up and ran his hands over her ribs.

  “OK, but what do you plan on bribing me with to get me to take off my pants?” Carrie smiled.

  “Be quiet Red and take a deep breath,” Bob said seriously, “and keep your pants on.”

  Carrie took a deep breath as Bob felt her ribs.

  “Usually I get dinner and a movie before a guy tires something like this,” Carrie smiled.

  “Well, now that you mention it, I found some wine and some communion wafers with the robes,” Bob replied. ”Sorry the movie is out but I tell a good story.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Carrie smiled at Bob.

  “Behave yourself, Red,” Bob said.

  “I don’t know how you do it where you come from, but weren’t you supposed to give me the wine and wafers before trying to ‘examine’ me?” Carrie grinned, “To make me more cooperative.”

  “You’re bad and you call me a pervert,” Bob smiled, “Now I’m going to check your leg. You’re not going to bite me are you?”

  “No,” Carrie smiled. “As long as it is just my leg, then I want dinner. I think I’ll pass on the story. I’ve heard my share of stories before.”

  When Bob was done he looked at Carrie, “Well Red I don’t think anything is broken, but I would recommend you see a good shrink.”

  “I bet you are also a part time shrink too,” Carrie smiled. “You’d probably like to get me on a big comfy couch.”

  “You’re hopeless Red,” Bob smiled and opened a bottle of wine and slid it across to Carrie along with a tin of wafers, “Here eat some wafers if you can keep quiet long enough.”

  Bob opened the other bottle of wine, took a sip and handed it to Tom, “Here, this will help you sleep tonight.”

  “Thanks,” Tom said as he took a drink and grabbed a handful of wafers, “my ribs and leg are fine in case you were wondering.”

  “I don’t know which is worse, having to go outside with all the dead or being stuck in here with you two comedians,” Bob grinned.

  “If you asked me, I think you seem to enjoy being in here playing doctor,” Carrie grinned before talking another long drink of wine.

  Bob shook his head.

  Tom handed the bottle back to Bob and he took another sip.

  Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Carrie holding the bottle of wine he had given her above her head.

  “You like wine?” Bob asked when he saw Carrie had just finished the last of the wine from the bottle he had given her.

  “It was good,” she smiled. “I haven’t had wine in a long time.”

  “You’re going to pay for that in the morning,” Bob laughed.

  “I thought I already paid for it,” Carrie smiled. “Besides this church wine doesn’t have any alcohol in it.”

  Bob shook his head, “Eat some wafers and go back to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day and I need you rested.”

  “OK, but only if you will give me a drink of your wine,” Carrie grinned.

  Bob looked at Tom.

  “It’s OK with me,” Tom laughed. “Me and wine don’t mix too well, at least it didn’t the last time I had any.”

  “One more drink Red,” Bob laughed. “If you have a hangover and can’t fly that helicopter tomorrow, that is if we can get to it, I’m going to kick your ass.”

  Carrie giggled and took another drink, “I don’t think so.”

  “I guess we will all find out tomorrow morning,” Bob laughed.

  Doc and Jim stood out on the helipad.

  “I’m worried Doc,” Jim said. “They should have been back hours ago.”

  “I’m concerned too,” the Doc replied.

  “I hope they didn’t have problems with the helicopter again,” Jim said.

  “As long as they didn’t crash, helicopter problems would be preferable to some of the other possibilities I can think of,” the Doc answered.

  But the Doc felt the more drastic possibilities were more likely this time. Over the last few weeks he had been having the feeling that their good fortune was running out.

  First was the incident with the helicopter. Next was John’s accident and now Bob, Tom and Carrie. What would be next?

  The size of their group had now been cut in half.

  He knew if it wasn’t this, it would soon be something else.

  He hoped Bob was OK and would come back tomorrow, but somehow he felt he had seen the last of them. He had seen it coming. The fact they had all managed to survive at the hospital this long was amazing. Given what was going on everywhere else, their time at the hospital could even be considered enjoyable.

  But all good things had to come to an end and it appeared the end had started.

  If the rest of the group was to survive, it would be up to him now.

  If Bob didn’t return by tomorrow he would get the group together and explain his plan to get out of the hospital and go down to the river.

  They would need to start preparations to leave.

  First he needed to find a map and find where they could go once they left Mercy Hospital.

  Maybe they could float downstream and make it to Costco. If they could make it to Costco, there would be enough food there to last them until they could plan on where to go next. But that would be a long dangerous journey.

  It had been nice staying here at Mercy Hospital, but it was time to move on if they wanted to survive.

  Now it was up to him.

  Bob was lying under the robes he had found to keep them all warm. He was only able to sleep in short spurts. His mind kept coming back to the sights he had seen from the upstairs window. Getting across to the hospital was going to be near impossible with those things out there.

  His mind kept reflecting back to his conversation with the doctor yesterday morning. The Doc said in his experiment that the answer was right in front of him if he could only look at the problem in a different way, he would see it.

  Apparently after the conversation with Carrie the doctor found the different angle to look at the problem he was searching for.

  Bob wished the doctor would have said what that angle had been. Maybe what the doctor had discovered could help him with the problem here.

  Maybe tomorrow he
could talk to Red and after listening to her unique take on things, be able to figure some way out of here. It was all he could think of for now.

  He was tired and could feel that the wine he drank had gone straight to his head.

  He started to worry that he might be the one to wake up in the morning with a hangover.

  Bob chuckled to himself, “Red would never let me live that down.”

  But then he relaxed and decided to try and get some sleep. He needed the rest to clear his head so he could face tomorrow’s problems. Besides, Red had drank so much wine, she would be lucky to remember who she was, let alone remember what Bob had said to her about kicking her ass if she woke up with a hangover.

  Bob heard something moving.

  His first thought was to wonder if one of the dead had found a way into the church.

  He listened to the movement. It was coming from over by Tom or Carrie. Maybe one of them needed to get up and find somewhere to go to the bathroom.

  He listened carefully as the sound of someone or something shuffling got closer to him.

  He was about to get up to be sure what he was hearing, when a person dropped down and crawled under his robe with him and put their arms around him.

  “Red,” Bob whispered as a head snuggled up against his chest and the feel of warm soft flesh slid across his arm, “what are you doing?”

  “How did you know it was me?” Carrie whispered, her words slurred.

  “Just a wild guess,” Bob whispered back and then hesitated, “Red, where is your shirt?”

  “My ribs were hurting,” Carrie giggled, “I thought you might want to check them out again.”

  “Red, you’re drunk,” Bob said. “I want you to go back over where you were sleeping.”

  Bob waited a few seconds.

  “Red did you hear me?” Bob asked.

  All Bob heard in reply was Carrie snoring lightly against his side.

  “OK Red,” Bob sighed, “You can sleep here, but only so I know where you are. In your condition you would probably end up trying to go outside and run down the street.”

  Then another thought crossed his mind. She is going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning. It would probably be a lot safer if she woke up somewhere other than next to him, especially when she realized her shirt was missing.

  Another thought crossed Bob’s mind.

  Bob moved his hand down to Carrie’s bottom, “It shouldn’t be too traumatic,” he grinned, “she still has her pants on.”

  If she didn’t feel so damn good lying there next to him, he would have carried her back over to where she had been sleeping, right next to the two empty wine bottles.

  Chapter 17

  Jim checked to make sure the coal bin door had closed the entire way.

  The last thing he needed right now was to have one of the dead follow him into the basement.

  “What happened?” Jim asked. “It looked like the dead were getting into the school but I couldn’t go around out front to see.”

  “The Shrimp and I were bowling,” Debbie started.

  “I won,” Monica said.

  “You didn’t win,” Debbie said, “Now be quiet for a minute.”

  “I saw that big tree fell,” Jim said. “Did it hit the school?”

  “We were bowling and I heard a loud crash. The whole building shook,” Debbie said. “I went down to see what happened. Long story short, the tree hit the entryway and knocked out the front of the building. The dead must have heard the noise and started coming towards the school.”

  “How bad was the damage? Can we fix it?” Jim asked.

  “No, the entire entryway is gone,” Debbie replied. “The glass shattered and is all over the hallway. The frame was knocked twenty feet into the building. The building is wide open. When I saw the dead coming, I ran back to our room and got our sleeping bags and we came down here. The dead were pouring into the school and we barely made it.”

  “Good thinking,” Jim said. “Is there anything left upstairs we still need?”

  Debbie thought, “The only thing I can think of is our can opener. We don’t really have anything else.”

  “We can find another can opener,” Jim replied.

  “My book and my crayons are upstairs,” Monica said, “can we go get them?”

  “We’ll see,” Jim answered.

  “We need to get out of here,” Debbie said.

  “I know, but don’t panic. I don’t think the dead can get down here. I think we should stick to our plan for a few more days,” Jim answered.

  “We can’t live in this dark hole,” Debbie protested. “I can’t see my hand in front of my face.”

  “Did you close and lock the door at the top of the steps?” Jim asked.

  “I closed it, I think,” Debbie replied and thought, “but I didn’t hang around long enough to make sure it was locked.”

  “I’m going to check it,” Jim said. “That door will keep the dead out. Once we’re sure it is locked, we can go out in the cafeteria during the day. There will be light out there. We’ll still sleep in the boiler room because it’s the safest place.”

  “Then what?” Debbie asked. “How long can we stay in the cafeteria?”

  “The dead should go away like they always do,” Jim said. “We can just stay down here and follow our plan. I caught seven fish today. That should hold us for two days. Tomorrow I’ll go out and look for a car.”

  “OK,” Debbie thought for a second and then continued, “We stick to the plan, but when you go to look for a car, we all go. I think we need to stay together. We could have been killed today. I don’t think we are all that safe where ever we are, so I would feel a lot better if we would just stay together.”

  “Alright,” Jim said, “but for now you and Moni wait here while I go check the door.”

  “Take Ed,” Monica said, “Ed can see in the dark.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Jim said.

  Monica pushed Ed into the front of Jim and he took the wiggling ball of fur.

  “Just be real quiet and listen,” Jim said and slowly turned the handle on the boiler room door.

  Light came into the room when he pulled the door open a crack.

  Jim could now see Debbie and Monica huddled together next to the furnace.

  “I’ll be right back,” Jim said as he stepped out into the hallway and closed the door.

  He moved over to the entrance to the stairs that went up to the main floor. Jim stepped inside the stairwell and looked up at the door. It was too dark in the stairwell to see all the way up to the door but he could hear the dead banging into the other side of the door as they shuffled through the school.

  “OK Ed,” Jim whispered, “Be serious for once and watch for zombies.”

  Ed wagged her tail. Jim could feel her tail slap against his side.

  “I’ll take that as a maybe,” Jim said as he started up the stairs.

  He held his hand out in front of him to feel for the door.

  Ed’s tail continued to wag until Jim’s hand bumped into the door.

  “Good girl,” Jim whispered as he lowered his hand along the door, feeling for the door knob.

  When he felt the doorknob, he moved his fingers until they griped the center button. He pushed it in and turned it to the right.

  When the knob gave off a soft click, Jim relaxed.

  This wasn’t the first time Jim had used that button to lock this door. The first time he had locked this door was when he was in fourth grade.

  He was the last kid in his room in line when his class lined up and went down to lunch.

  As he went through the door, he pushed and turned the button and locked the door.

  The first fifteen minutes of lunch time was much quieter than usual without the fifth and sixth grade classes.

  It wasn’t until the principal went upstairs to see why the last two classes hadn’t come down to lunch that it was discovered that the door was locked.

  It was probab
ly the only thing Jim had gotten away with in his six years in elementary school.

  Jim smiled to himself, it was about time something around here reminded him of something good and hadn’t ended with him getting his butt paddled.

  He turned and started back down the steps. The dim light coming into the stairwell from the cafeteria made the trip back down much easier than the trip up.

  After reaching the bottom step, Jim walked out into the cafeteria to make sure it was still clear.

  Jim then opened the boiler room door.

  “We’re OK, come on out,” Jim said.

  “I was starting to feel like a damn bat,” Debbie said.

  “Damn bat,” Monica chuckled.

  “You can’t blame me for that one,” Jim grinned and set Ed on the floor.

  Ed started running around the cafeteria sniffing the new surroundings where she wasn’t allowed to go before.

  “Well Shrimp, it looks like you get to eat in the cafeteria at a table today,” Debbie smiled.

  “Can I pick the table?” Monica grinned.

  “I guess so,” Jim answered, knowing what table she would pick, “I’ll get the stove and fish from the boiler room while you go pick a table.”

  Chapter 18

  Doc gathered the remaining members of the group.

  Jim, Ken, Bill and Ed sat talking quietly in the room when Doc entered.

  Their topic of conversation was about what might have happened to Bob, Carrie and Tom.

  Their guesses had ranged from the helicopter crashing into the Ohio River to them being attacked and killed by the dead once they landed at Allegheny General.

  Their mood was somber. No one had suggested the possibility that Bob and the others could still be alive.

  They had all assumed that if Bob was still alive, that he would have returned somehow by now.

  With the sound of the groaning dead echoing up from down on Fifth Avenue and the knowledge that John was lying dead in his room a few doors down, they weren’t feeling very optimistic about Bob and the other’s chances.