Outbreak: Long Road Back

by Van Dusen, Robert

  Frays frowned slightly. Where was she supposed to find anything the kids would want to listen to her read? The few books they had went up with the Resettlement Center. Eventually she relented and let the little ones pull her to her feet. “Alright, kiddos.” Frays sighed as the kids pulled her along “Let’s see if we can find something to read.”

  Frays could not believe her luck as the three of them sat under a tree near the TOC. Of all the things they had found in the mercs’ possessions somebody had found this battered leather bound copy of The Bible. Paulie and Becca had fallen asleep fairly quickly so she sat there absently stroking Paulie’s shoulder as the little boy used her thigh as a pillow while she read. She thought about what Becca had tried to say a little while ago. And…she realized something. She loved these sweet little bitty guys. They needed her and…she…she needed them too.

  A shadow caught Frays’ eye. Lacey stood about ten feet away grinning at the three of them as tiptoed over and sat down. “Hey” he whispered as he reached out and put his hand on top of Frays’. “You guys having a good day? Nice haircut by the way.”

  Frays beamed back at him as she put aside her book. “Thanks.” She gritted her teeth when Becca stirred and shifted then stuck her little thumb into her mouth before settling back down. The two of them just sat there watching the kids for a few moments listening to the breeze in the leaves overhead. “So…I’ve been thinking…” Frays began nervously.

  “Yeah? That’s never a good sign.” Lacey said drawing an anxious little chuckle out of Frays. She scowled as if trying to figure out how to put whatever she was thinking about into words. Or she was not sure of his reaction. “Uh oh. This looks serious.”

  “Wh…I…I’d like you and the kids to move in with me.” Frays said quietly. She rubbed Becca’s shoulder and smiled wanly at the sleeping little girl. “It…it’ll be a tight fit but we can make it work. We can find some cots for the kids and set them up in the corner. None of us really have a lot of stuff so it’s not like we’ll need a lot of closets or anything.”

  Lacey frowned slightly as he ran his fingers lightly over the back of Frays’ hand. He sighed heavily and looked around. “Is it alright if I think about it for a little while?” he asked. Lacey scooted over a little and put an arm around Frays. “I mean…it’s kind of a big step.”

  Paulie sat up a little bit and rubbed his eyes. “Why do you want us to live with you, Amy?” the boy asked as he rolled onto his side and looked up at the grownups. He knew that Amy and Daddy liked each other sort of like how Daddy liked Mommy.

  Frays smiled and ran her fingers through the boy’s hair. “I like you guys and I’d like to see you more often. Would you like that?” she asked softly. The little boy put his hand on Frays’ and squeezed her fingers.

  “I guess it would be okay.” Paulie said after a few moments. He liked Amy and she was starting to be more fun to be around. She had stopped acting so weird around him all the time…and Amy was a real good tag player. She was almost as comfy as Frannie but not quite. Amy’s leg made a good pillow though and she smelled nice. Plus she did know how to make pancakes.

  Frays smiled at the little boy. “Don’t worry, kiddo.” she said quietly as she continued running her fingers through the boy’s hair. “It’ll make doing storytime and stuff like that easier.” It really did not occur to her that, in the absence of the caretakers, she might have to take over babysitting duty for Lacey once in awhile. Not that she minded…

  “Do we has to read the bibble?” Becca asked groggily as she sat up and scooted against her father’s side. “God’s mean.”

  Frays looked crestfallen for a moment. “What do you mean, sweetie?” she asked.

  “God took Mommy away to heaven.” The little girl said as she snuggled against her father’s side. “God took your Mommy and Daddy too.” Becca frowned at the book next to Frays’ leg. “God took eberybody only he didn’t take bunches of them all the way and they hurt people. He’s mean.”

  Frays looked at the little girl for a long moment as she tried to think of something to say. “God loves everybody.” she began. Truth be told she had found herself wrestling with the same sort of questions for over a year. Why did God spare her in Iraq? She should have died on that bridge in Boston months ago and all the other times since. “It’s…it’s just that sometimes bad things happen to good people. Or bad things happen to bad people. But when bad things happen to good people God takes them to live with him in Heaven forever. Understand?”

  Becca shrugged. “But why didn’t God let Mommy stay with us?” She hugged her father and buried her face in his chest. “Daddy? Why?”

  Lacey looked helplessly at Frays as he held his daughter. Frays shrugged and scooted closer, the two of them holding the children. “I dunno sweetie.” he muttered into the little girl’s hair. “I miss her too. We all do. But we’re together and Daddy and Amy and Uncle Carl and Aunt Frannie and everybody here we’re gonna do everything we can to keep you guys safe and sound.”

  Paulie scowled at his father. “Nuh uh.” The little boy pushed away from Frays and stomped away with his little hands balled into fists. Frays glanced at Lacey then got up and followed after him. It only took her a few seconds to catch up to the little boy and sweep him up into a big bear hug.

  “C’mere, buddy.” she whispered into his ear. Frays gave the little boy’s cheek a peck and held him tight as she rocked him from side to side. Paulie’s body felt like it was made out of wood in her arms. The woman’s lower lip trembled as she continued to rock the boy and hold him tight as his tears started to moisten her neck. A snatch of half remembered song occurred to her that Dad would sing to her when she was little. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey…you’ll never know dear how much I love you… Please…please don’t take my sunshine away…”

  She walked around with him for a little longer murmuring quietly into Paulie’s ear before meandering back towards Lacey and Becca. “I think its naptime.” Frays said quietly as she gently shifted Paulie’s weight around. The little guy was starting to fall back asleep again and it was kind of hard to keep hold of him and her M4 at the same time.

  The two of them took the kids up the stairs towards Frays’ room. She smiled and nodded to a man that she recognized but could not think of his name off of the top of her head and his nametape was covered by his body armor. It was hot and sticky in the former hotel even though everyone had their windows open as the building was meant to have its central air conditioning running. “I shouldn’t have said anything.” Frays said over her shoulder once they were alone in the stairwell and hiking up to the third floor where her room was “I didn’t mean to upset the kids, man.”

  Becca seemed to be half awake in his arms. “It’s alright.” Lacey grumbled under his breath. He was sweating like a pig. He had to admit that he did like the view…being a couple steps behind Frays as she led the way inside put her butt at just about eye level. “I guess it’s good that we’re finally talking about this stuff.”

  Frays walked into the hall and down to room 312 which was four doors down on the right from the doorway they had just come through. She watched Lacey out of the corner of her eye gauging the man’s reaction as he came into the room and looked around. There was the small bathroom immediately to their right though it was now darkened as the lights did not function with the closet opposite that. There was nothing in there except a couple hangers.

  Frays put Paulie down on the bed and smiled at the boy as he squirmed into a more comfortable position on the bed. She sighed heavily as she watched the children on the dingy and stained bedding. It was so long since the poor things had slept on an actual bed… Frays smiled at Lacey then raised her arms to shoulder level and let them fall to her sides. “Whelp! What do you think?”

  Lacey regarded the little room. It was the standard low budget hotel room: threadbare carpet on the floor, stuffed chairs and small table in the corner, pressboard dresser opposite the bed
with a defunct blank television screen sitting on top of it. The nightstand next to the head of the bed had a chintzy clock radio perched on top which was just as dead as the television on the other side of the room. The slight breeze coming in through the open windows did little save push the hot, fetid air around a little. Frays was right: it would be tight but they probably could make it work if they got rid of some of the furniture… “Moving up in the world, huh?” he asked nudging the woman with an elbow.

  “Dang right!” she said as she put her carbine in the corner. Frays took off her helmet and plate carrier before flopping into one of the nearby chairs. The air in the room had this weird chemical tang to it that she could not quite place, something like strong disinfectant. Frays grinned and held up her hands. “I got an actual bed and everything.”

  Lacey grinned as he eased into the other chair. “Trying to bribe me or something?” he asked as he reached out and took her hand. He looked at the children for a long heavy minute before looking Frays in the eye. “I…I dunno about moving in together or whatever, Amy. I mean…don’t get me wrong I like you a lot and I really appreciate what you’re doing with the kids. I know it can’t be easy for you.”

  Frays shrugged and seemed to shrink ever so slightly. “It’s alright.” she mumbled as she scratched the back of her neck. There seemed to be pieces of hair in the collar of her shirt or something. “I…I don’t mind. Really. It’s good. It…you know…helps. I guess. I dunno…I mean I just want them to be happy and have some kinda normal childhood.”

  Lacey felt a pang in his chest. “Good. I’m glad.” he said after a few moments. It felt like he had a stone in his throat that he could not swallow nor spit out. The two of them stared at each other for what seemed like ages. At long last he stood and leaned over Frays’ chair, his hands resting on the armrests his face inches from hers.

  She smiled at him. “Me too.” Frays said as he gradually leaned in closer moving like a glacier. The tips of their noses touched as they stared into each other’s eyes. Frays felt warmth that had nothing to do with the summer heat spreading through her abdomen. He kissed her gently at first then practically smooshed his lips into hers. His tongue probed her teeth trying to find its way into her mouth. She put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back. “The kids.”

  Lacey sighed heavily. “Yeah.” he whispered as hovered over the woman. The man breathed in her scent greedily wanted to bury his nose in her hair to smell if she had washed it as well as gotten the new hairdo. She had brushed her teeth recently or at least used mouthwash. Her mouth had a minty kind of taste to it.

  “I’ll start moving some stuff around in here if you want.” Frays said softly. She put a hand on his cheek and ran it down his neck, their noses almost touching again. He gave her a quick peck on the lips and grinned.

  “I guess we can give it a shot.” he murmured as he regretfully pushed himself away from the woman and went to the bed. “Hey kiddos. I gotta get back to work. Be good for Amy, alright?” he asked as he gently woke his children and received a hug and kiss from each of the little ones. Paulie eyed his father suspiciously. Daddy was making a strange face.

  “Were you smooching Amy again?” the little boy asked making Frays and Lacey burst out laughing. Paulie scowled at his father and the woman sitting across the room. He most certainly did not see what was so funny about the whole thing.

  Lacey frowned at his son and sat down on the bed. “Look buddy…” he said quietly. The man glanced at Frays on the other side of the room. “You don’t have to call Amy mom or anything if you don’t want to, alright? We both love you guys a whole bunch and she’s going to help me take care of you.”

  Becca sat up and looked at Amy then back at her father. “So Amy’s gonna be like Mommy but not Mommy.” the little girl reasoned then shrugged. “Amy’s already like the Mommy for lots of people. Makes sense.”

  Lacey smiled at his daughter’s description of Frays’ job. “Yeah I guess you could say that, Becca.” he said and struggled to his feet. He could not help but envy Frays. It had been a long time since he got to spend the entire day with his kids. A muffled WHUMPH made him stop in his tracks and turn to look at Frays.

  She was on her feet too. “I guess it worked.” Frays said with a nervous grin. The kids gave the two grownups confused looks. “Me and your Daddy made a trap for the Bad People. He made it so that they would explode.”

  Chapter Nine

  26 July 2011 1025 hours NorthCom Forward Operating Base Freedom Sanford, Maine

  Carl looked around the back of the stake bed truck and smiled nervously at his big sister. She smiled back and flashed him a surreptitious thumbs up. He had his father’s pistol on his hip and a new to him Mossberg 500 shotgun clutched in his sweaty hands, the muzzle resting on the railing. The young man could feel the others looking at him. Part of him could not believe that he was actually doing this: after all the fuss Amy had put up she had told him that they were going out again in the morning and he could come if he wanted.

  The way Amy…er…Sergeant Frays explained it their mission was three fold. First they were going to check out where the first bomb went off and assess the damage. After that the squad was to push farther into Sanford, driving around town for a little while to see what was going on in there and set up another device. While they were out and about they were also to see if they could find the local library and track down any useful books they could scavenge. “I’ll bet you never thought I’d be excited about going to the library!” Carl shouted over the noise of the vehicle’s engine.

  Frays grinned at her brother. “I didn’t know you could read!” she shouted back. There was a now familiar stink in the air as they got closer to the area where the first IED had been set up. Carl’s stomach lurched when he noticed half a human head lying on its side on the blacktop as the truck rolled past. He could have sworn that the head’s one good eye blinked at him. He stood up in the bed of the truck and shaded his eyes and promptly leaned forward spewing his breakfast out onto the street.

  The scene vaguely reminded him of the famous panorama shot of the wounded soldiers in the movie Gone with the Wind. There were bits and pieces of bodies littered all over the field several of which were still moving. Frays reached out and grabbed Carl’s shirt and pulled her brother down into his seat. “Stay the freak down.” the woman hissed into Carl’s ear. Standing up like that was a great way to draw sniper fire.

  “Holy fuckin’ shit…” Pittman mumbled under his breath. There had to be a couple hundred bodies in various states of obliteration strewn all over the place. The cars they had rigged were blasted to bits. A van was flipped on its side like a beached whale. He frowned and shook his head when Sergeant Frays took a now almost thoroughly useless Smartphone and switched on the video capture feature.

  “This is Sergeant Amy Frays, FOB Freedom, NCOIC of Third Platoon.” she stage whispered as she panned the camera around, doing her best to capture all she could of the destruction “Looks like an initial blast crater some eighty meters across ten meters deep with secondary blasts ten or fifteen meters across and maybe six inches deep. I won’t hazard a guess at how many deactivated hostiles. It’s likely that more were vaporized by the blast than are in evidence here.”

  The woman panned back and forth a few more times before shutting down the phone and putting it away. “Alright, let’s go!” Frays shouted as she pounded on the back of the truck’s cab with the butt of her fist.

  The vehicle’s motor rumbled when Grimes stepped on the gas and the truck lurched into motion. Something squished and filled the air with a smell like a skunk’s rear end soaked in floor stripper and sealed in a Ziploc bag for a month under the truck’s tires. Now it looked like Carl was not the only one in danger of getting reacquainted with their breakfast. Frays covered her mouth and nose with her forearm trying to block out the horrid stench.

  They rolled about a quarter mile or so farther into the city proper all of them watching their surroundings warily. At any
moment hundreds of reanimated corpses could come slouching out of doorways or alleyways. Frays also found herself watching for the telltale signs of an IED or a sniper lying in wait for their truck. There were likely other healthy people hiding in the city and they might not be favorably disposed towards any competition for resources.

  The streets seemed deserted, the sounds of the truck’s engine echoing off the empty buildings the only sound they could hear. According to what the few people that were still kicking around the FOB who had lived in the area said the nearest library was about a half mile or so north of where they had dropped off the IED the first time they were out here.

  Carl swallowed hard when the truck pulled up to a building with the words Goodall Memorial Library on a sign out front. Amy and a couple of her guys were going to go inside and look around while he pulled security on the truck with the driver and passenger. He watched nervously as his big sister and the other Marines jumped out of the back of the truck and filed into the building with their carbines at the ready.

  Frays barged through the door into the foyer sweeping the area directly in front of her with the muzzle of her M4. She pushed the pressure switch of her weapon’s tac light intermittently banishing the shadows as they advanced into the room. There was a set of doors made out of heavy safety glass about ten feet way that looked to be unsecured. Frays lowered her weapon and took up a position against the door and nodded when Pittman came up to the doorways.

  The rest of the squad followed Pittman through the door and into what looked like the main area of the library. The place was full of bookshelves and tables all neatly arranged as if the librarian had just ducked out to go to the bathroom. However there was so much dust it looked like everything had a fine coat of fur. “Alright. Quick and careful. Clear.” Frays reminded everyone as they peeled off by battle buddy teams and spread out to make sure they were alone in the expansive collection of books.