by Nate Castle
Shelby grabbed Noel and gave her a little shove in the direction of the Dodge dealership.
“You got this girl,” Shelby said.
Inside the dealership, Noel located a desk that looked like it belonged to an executive. The drawers to the desk came open no problem, and she shuffled through the contents until she found a box that contained keys, the type of keys you get when you rent a car. She grabbed the box and walked out the back door toward the Dodge truck section. Shelby followed along, about half a step behind Noel.Noel stopped about halfway down the first row and began pointing the keys at a truck on her right. She would click the unlock button on each key and if the truck didn’t make a noise signifying that it had just been unlocked, she would throw the key on the ground. After seven tries, she found the key that unlocked her truck of choice. It was a Dodge 3500 MegaCab, Cummins Diesel Truck, painted MSU Spartan green.
The two girls hopped in the truck and drove it off the lot back to the Subaru. They quickly transferred all the contents from the Subaru, including the dog Milo, and hopped on the frontage road back toward the highway. Shelby could tell that driving this truck instantly gave Noel a confidence boost, which was a good sign.
4 APHRODIASIAC
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“We gotta get him to a hospital!” Garrett yelled to Logan.
They had begun heading east towards Washington D.C. after hearing the President’s announcement. They had been riding three wide in the front bench of the construction snow plow truck, when suddenly Sal, who had been driving, collapsed face first into the steering wheel. Logan, who was riding in the middle since he was the smallest of the three men, reacted quickly and was able to bring the truck to a stop in the middle of the interstate and avoid what could have been a deadly 70mph crash.
It was a struggle for Logan and Garrett to move Sal to one of the passenger seats, but once they did, Logan hopped in the driver’s seat and they began looking for a hospital.
“Problem with a hospital is there won’t be any doctors there. There will be drugs, but how will we know what kind of drug(s) to give him?” Logan said. “Maybe a pharmacy is a better bet?”
“The pharmacy will be easier to navigate, but my guess is we need is a shot of adrenaline and one of those defibrillator devices to get Sal’s heart going again,” Garrett said after he had placed his finger on Sal’s neck and found no pulse.
Four minutes later, with Logan driving like a madman, they had arrived at Decatur General Hospital. Luckily there were signs on the interstate stating which exit to take for the hospital, so there was no guesswork involved.
Garrett sprinted into the hospital, found the nearest gurney with wheels and rolled it out to the truck. Logan and Garrett lifted Sal onto the gurney and pushed it into the elevator. Garrett pushed the button for the 3rd floor which was labeled Emergency Room, because he figured that would be where the most hardcore drugs were located. The elevator lights were on, but the door didn’t shut. The elevator may or may not have been broken, but Logan and Garrett didn’t have time to waste.
“Fuck it, we’re taking the stairs,” Garrett said.
They wheeled the gurney to the nearest staircase and began to carry it up the stairs, Garrett had the back, Logan had the front. Logan reached the 3rd floor, Garret’s end of the gurney was still a few steps behind.
Suddenly Garrett lost his footing and fell backwards, appearing to land on his neck. Logan had a tight grip on the gurney, so luckily it didn’t fall when Garrett took a tumble.
“Holy shit,” Logan said aloud.
It took Garrett about 30 seconds to come to because he had been knocked out by the impact. When he did he said, “You got this Logan, don’t worry about me right now, Sal is the number one priority.”
Logan wasn’t about to argue with Garrett and quickly started pushing the gurney down the hall, as if he were pushing a blocking sled in high school football practice. Logan heard a noise coming from a room on the left. He peaked into the room and saw a dark colored man (from first glance he looked of Indian descent), rifling through medicine cabinets, and throwing various vials and bottles into a duffel bag.
“Hey, are you a doctor?” Logan yelled.
The man turned around to face Logan.
“Technically no, but I might be able to help. My name is Sumesh,” he said.
“Thanks Sumesh, I’m Logan. My friend Sal, here on the stretcher, is unconscious, possibly had a heart attack.”
“I’m just an intern at the hospital, I’m in my first week on the job to be completely honest , so I won’t feel comfortable doing anything but basic treatments. I came back to this hospital today so that I could get as many drugs as possible to bring with me to DC, as I’m assuming there will be people needing some medical attention there,”Sumesh said. “Anyway, help me get your friend into this room, we’ll see if we can revive him.”
They wheeled the gurney into another. Sumesh grabbed a device with two paddles, that looked like some sort of heart-starting machine, the kind you always see doctors using in the movies. Logan ripped off Sal’s shirt so that the paddles could be applied directly to his skin.
“Stand back in 3-2-1,”Sumesh said.
Attempt number 1 failed. Sumesh turned up the voltage on the machine to try again.
“3-2-1” Sumesh said to Logan.
Logan put his ear close to Sal’s mouth and felt his chest, but felt no pulse and heard no breaths.
“There is one thing we can try, at your discretion though. I am in the development phase of a drug called Moroclanadium. What it does is tricks the brain into thinking that all the organs in the body are working properly, and so the person that takes it can function normally for up to 72 hours before once again going into cardiac arrest. Now, I haven’t worked out all the kinks yet, so it won’t work on anyone with Blood Type O, and also the length of time that the person will stay conscious for varies depending on the person. I’ve done some test trials on mice and the shortest time before the drug wears off has been 8 hours,” Sumesh said.
“So by taking the drug, there is a chance we can extend Sal’s life long enough to find a doctor that can operate on him or whatever?”
“That’s correct, I am hoping there will be some doctors in DC when we arrive.” Sumesh said.
“What are the side effects of this drug?”
“I haven’t got that far in my research yet, so I can’t say. And I’ve never tried the drug out on a human,” Sumesh said.
“Let’s do it, I don’t see us having any other option.” Logan said.
Sumesh pulled a hypodermic needle and a bottle with a blue liquid in it out of his duffel back. He dipped the needle into the bottle until the chamber of the needle had filled up with the liquid and administered the shot to Sal’s right forearm.
“What now?” Logan said.
“It takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour see any effects of the drug, so you might as well get going towards DC, “Sumesh said.
“Oh shit, I forgot about Garrett,”Logan said.
“Who?”
“The other guy that was with Sal and I. He had a nasty fall down the stairs when we were trying to carry Sal up to the third floor. I better check on him,”Logan said.
Sumesh followed Logan to the staircase where Garrett had fallen. Garrett was still lying in the spot where he had fallen, but at least his eyes were open, and he didn’t appear to be paralyzed.He had one arm clutching his ribs, indicating that might be the most painful area of his body.
“That was the nastiest fall I’ve ever seen, I thought we lost you there buddy. I’m glad to see you’ve sprung back to life!” Logan said to Garrett.
“I think I cracked some ribs. I’m in excruciating pain when I try to sit up.” Garrett said.
Sumesh said, “I’ll be right back.”
“Who is he?” Garrett said.
“I didn’t quite get it straight, but he is like half-a-doctor. He’s either in medical school or finished with med school, but now doi
ng his apprenticeship at the hospital. Anyway, he is the guy who is hopefully saving Sal’s life.”Logan said.
Sumesh returned a minute later with a plastic orange pill bottle labeled Noraclytonic 8mg.
“Take one of these every 3 hours and your rib pain will disappear,”Sumesh said to Garrett. “I trust that you won’t abuse it and take more than one at a time. These pills are about as hard as you can come by when it comes to painkillers so be careful.”
“I must be going now I have to fetch my family before we make our way to DC,”Sumesh said.
“Wait, your whole family is alive? The chance of that happening is highly unlikely from what I’ve witnessed in the aftermath of the attack,” Garrett said.
“Yes, fortunately they are. In my religion we don’t believe in the use of cell phones, so none of us had cell phones on us at the time of the attack,” Sumesh said.
“Smart family if I’ve ever seen one,” Logan said.
“I wish you guys the best and hope that I see you again in the near future in DC. I truly hope that you can find medical attention for your friend Sal within 72 hours, if my drug indeed does act like it’s supposed to.”
“Thank you Dr. Sumesh, we’re very grateful for you help,”Logan said.
“Yeah, you’re a real champion Dr.,”Garrett added.
Sumesh gave the two a nonverbal salute and headed down the stairs to exit the hospital. Logan grabbed Garrett’s arm and helped him to his feet. They hustled to the room where Sal was stationed on the gurney and started wheeling it back to the staircase.
“You see that glass cabinet labeled anesthetics?”Logan said. “I think we should grab some. It might come in handy for use as a weapon, if we get in a violent encounter with someone, we can stab them with a needle to put them to sleep.”
“One good idea after the next Logan,”Garrett said as he located a hand towel to wrap his hand.
CRACK
With one punch, Garrett shattered the glass covering the cabinet. An alarm sounded when the cabinet had been breached, but that didn’t phase Garrett. He grabbed two bags of anesthetic along with a 20 pack of hypodermic needles.They made it back to the truck with no incident this time on the staircase. Sal was still unresponsive, but they hadn’t given up on him yet.
“I don’t know why, but I really trusted that guy Sumesh. I bet he’d be the type of doctor that wanted what was best for the patient, rather than what’s going to make the hospital the most money. I think his drug has a good shot of reviving Sal.”Logan said.
“Attention, this is President of the United State Thomas J. Taylor……Please report to the White House immediately….”
The President’s recorded message replayed from a loudspeaker outside the hospital.Logan and Garrett looked at each other as they heard the message played again.
Garrett said, “You think there’s any downside of following his orders and going to the White House?”
Logan replied, “How do you mean?”
Garrett said, “Like, do you think it’s possible that our government might have been responsible for the attack and now they are trying to get everyone who survived to come to DC so that they can finish us off?”
Logan said, “That’s the craziest theory I’ve heard all year. Besides, we have to find a doctor for Sal or else he will die in a couple days. There is a much greater shot of us finding a capable doctor in DC than around here.”
5 BAND OF BROTHERS
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“SAL YOU’RE ALIVE!” LOGAN AND Garrett both yelled in unison as they saw Sal’s eyes open up.
“What happened to me?”Sal said.
“You had a heart attack,” Logan said.
“And I’m fine now?”Sal said.
“Yep buddy you’re good to go,”Garrett said.
Logan and Garrett had decided to not tell Sal the whole truth about the pill that Sumesh had administered. They both agreed that Sal would be more focused, if he didn’t have to worry about the fact that he might die in the next 72 hours.
“Alrighty then, what’s the plan now?” Sal said.
“We try to make it to DC in three days. I figure if we drive for twelve or thirteen hours per day, we can make it the 2600 miles from Reno to DC in that time frame,” Logan said.
“What world are you living in Logan? Something is bound to happen along the way that will slow us down. I’m not sure what, but I am sure that it won’t be a routine trip. We haven’t seen much of the aftereffects of the attack yet, but I can assure that shit is about to get weird.” Garrett said.
“I do appreciate your leadership and optimism, but a more realistic timetable for this trip is seven days. I agree with Garrett,” Sal said.
Logan himself didn’t believe that the three day estimated time of arrival was going to be easily doable either, but if they didn’t make it to DC in three days, then Sal might be out of options unless they happened to stumble upon a doctor along the way.
“We need a new truck. One that can fit at least 20 people,”Garrett said.
“I’m listening,”Logan said.
“Guaranteed there will be other survivors heading east that we will cross paths with. Might has well have them join our caravan, strength in numbers. I’m thinking a car carrier semi-truck is what we need to get. It has so much potential.First off, people we pick up can ride in the cars that are on the trailer. Second, we will have an excellent supply of fuel because we can siphon out of the cars on the trailer and lastly, if we get in trouble in any way, there will be about ten escape vehicles on the truck’s trailer that we have at our disposal,” Garrett said.
“That’s a good argument Garrett, but there’s one flaw in your proposal. The semi-truck runs on diesel fuel, so you won’t be able to siphon gas from the cars on the trailer to use for the semi truck unless they also run on diesel,” Sal said.
“If we manually pick what cars or trucks to put on the semi-truck, then we can make sure that we have enough vehicles that run on diesel, so that Garrett’s siphoning idea will be realistic,” Logan said.
“I like where your head’s at. I saw a sign for a Truck Stop a few miles back; let’s go there and look for a car carrier semi-truck,” Garrett said.
“And then after that we need to offload the cars that are on it and find a bunch of diesel pickup trucks to add to the car carrier truck,” Sal said.
“Which means after we get the car carrier, we need to find a Home Depot. I bet you $100 that we find enough diesel pickup trucks there to fill our whole trailer,” Logan said.
Garrett and Sal laughed.
Garrett said, “First to the truck stop, then to Home Depot. By the way, currency has lost its value since the attack in case you forgot, but I’ll still take you up on your bet offer.”
~~~
Upon arriving at Big Al’s Truck and Grub, it didn’t take long to spot a car carrier semi-truck. Garrett, who had been driving this time parked the snow plow truck alongside it and the three of them hopped out. Logan opened the cab door to the car carrier and in the driver’s seat lay the truck’s former driver, now dead.
“Dead bodies are creeping me out less and less now, I’m getting used to seeing them,” Sal said.
Using nonverbal cues, the three men grabbed ahold of “Abe” according to the patch on his shirt and lifted him out of the truck and lay him down on the sidewalk.With the keys still in the ignition, Sal started up the rig. Logan and Garrett took the supplies from the bed of the snow plow truck and transferred them to the cab of the car carrier. It was a nice cab, with a sleeper bed behind the driver’s seat. The contents that Logan and Garrett had transferred took up so much room though, that there was no room in the cab for them to sit, so they decided to hop on the trailer of the truck and ride there for the time being.
“All set?” Sal said.
“Yee haw! This is like the good ole days back in high school riding around in the beds of trucks,”Garrett said.
Fifteen minutes later they had located a Home Depot. Garre
tt’s guesswork did them good. From the car carrier trailer, he had been instructing Sal which way to go and what turns to take, using the hand signals that they make you memorize when you take your Driver’s License test. Garrett got pretty in to it, and started turning the hand signals into dance moves. At one point Sal looked into his side view mirror to see what Garrett was signaling and misinterpreted the signal because Garrett was embellishing the signals with his own dance moves.
Sal turned right instead of left and Garrett started hollering at him: “Yo, you turkey, I said left not right!” He had to repeat this 3 times before Sal who saw Garrett yelling rolled down the window to hear what he was saying. At least these two guys are entertaining, Logan thought to himself.
Once they got to Home Depot, Sal decided to take the reins, “Alright fellas, time to put your big boy pants on. Here’s what’s gonna happen: Garrett, you are going to be in charge of offloading the cars that are currently on the trailer, and then replacing them with the trucks that Logan and I bring to you. Since you had that tow-truck gig a few years back, you’re also in charge of making sure the trucks are chained and secured properly to the trailer. This all needs to happen in thirty-seven minutes or less. Hands in boys, ‘Unstoppable on 3. 1-2-3”
“UNSTOPPABLE”, they all yelled after Sal had counted to 3.
Sal’s thirty-seven minute clock had started. It was a thing of beauty. Garrett was a speed demon when it came to unchaining the cars on the trailer, reversing them down off the trailer and parking them out of the way, so that Logan and Sal had room to maneuver. Garrett removed twelve cars from the trailer; it was now empty. Logan and Sal had been scanning the parking lot looking for diesel pickups and when they found one they drove it over to the car carrier, left the engine running, and then went back to get another one. They had created a single file line of pickups.Thirty-nine minutes later, the job was complete.
“God Damnit, “ Sal cursed under his breath.