I set her down, and La Araña immediately began changing her dressing in an expert and economical fashion. She had a med kit in her bag that was pretty much a field trauma kit, definitely pre-War gear. I watched her start an IV on Gabby, and grabbed the IV bag to hold it up after she set it on the back of the couch. Then she pulled out a vial with a white powder inside, filled a syringe with clear liquid, and injected the liquid in the vial, mixing it and then drawing it back into the syringe. She injected it in Gabby’s thigh, then sat back and sighed.
“This is as much as I can do for her here. We need to get her to the other side of the lake—there’s a veterinary clinic over there that’s been relatively untouched. I should be able to find what I need there to remove the bullet and sew up anything that’s been damaged. The good news is that the internal damage probably isn’t too bad, or else she’d be dead by now from blood loss.”
She reached for the IV bag, and fiddled with the control below the drip chamber. “Hold it as high as you can—I’m going to force fluids on her so we can move her.” I did as she asked, and waited in silence as she opened up the IV line while monitoring Gabby’s vitals.
While we were watching the bag empty I decided to get some answers. “What’s your real name?”
She pursed her lips and remained silent as she checked Gabby’s pulse. “Captain Lorena Perez, United States Army Veterinary Corps.”
I took a moment to chew on that last bit of info. “So how did you get a nickname like La Araña?”
She frowned and creased her brow, not necessarily at my question, but because of the task at hand. “Lorena. La araña. I grew up around a bunch of boys who didn’t know how to handle their attraction to the sole female in their circle of friends. So, like most men, they compensated with aggression and ridicule. The nickname stuck.”
I nodded. “So, it’s a badge of honor to you now.”
She cocked her head slightly. “Perhaps not in the same way your nickname is to you, but I’ve grown fond of it over the years.”
“And how do you know who I am?”
“Word travels fast about hunters who are good at what they do, and not many fit your description.”
“That’s what Gabby said. Why’re you looking for me? You got a vamp problem or something?”
She sighed. “I can explain it to you later. Right now, let’s just focus on keeping Gabby alive.”
She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and checked Gabby’s pulse, and I noticed again that she was a very attractive woman. I laughed under my breath, and that seemed to garner her attention.
“What’s so funny?”
I shook my head and grinned. “Oh, it’s nothing.”
She shrugged. “If you say so.”
“Well, it’s just that Gabby said you reminded her of someone’s grandma.”
Her face cracked in a tight smile. “She would. Think about it—there aren’t that many older people left. To a kid growing up in the post-War era, everyone over thirty is old.”
I nodded in agreement. “Hell if I don’t feel old, especially after the last few days.”
She ignored my comment and stood up as her eyes searched the room. “Enough talk—we need to get her moved to the vet clinic. Help me rig a stretcher.” Despite being a bit nonplussed at being ordered around, I grabbed several curtain rods and some rope from the curtain pulls, and slapped a makeshift stretcher together.
The captain looked it over and nodded. “Not much, but it’ll have to do. Out in the shed back behind the house, there’s an old ATV utility cart. We should be able to use it to get her to the clinic.”
Well, the good captain is just full of surprises. “So how long had you been casing the place before you woke me up?”
“Not long. I move through this area about twice a year, and when I travel I make note of structures and equipment in case I might need them later. I saw the cart on my last trip.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you through here on a regular basis?”
“Medical supplies, mostly. Vet clinics are full of them. This area was evacuated right after the bombs fell, and that means most of the vet clinics didn’t get picked over. I take what I can carry, and hide the rest in caches for future use.”
I had to hand it to her, she was a resourceful woman. Apparently, the Army trained its veterinarians well. Of course, I knew there was more to her story than she was letting on, but I could deal with that later. Right now I just wanted to get Gabby patched up.
The mule was out in the backyard grazing when I went to get the cart. I rigged up a harness to hitch it to the cart, and Captain Perez led the animal while I steered the cart to keep it from going off course. It was an awkward arrangement, but effective. About a half a mile down the road from the silo house, I cleared my throat. “If you don’t mind me saying so, it’ll be late afternoon by the time we get to the other side of the lake. Is that going to give you enough time to patch her up, and still allow us to hole up somewhere safe?”
Captain Perez nodded. “It won’t be pleasant, but we can lock ourselves up in the back of the clinic. The only windows are high on the wall, and the building is reinforced cinder block with metal exterior doors. I’ve stayed there a few times before—it’ll hold for the night.”
Satisfied with her answer, I occupied myself with pulling security and keeping the cart on the road as we trudged our way to the clinic.
- - -
Once we got within spitting distance of the clinic, I motioned for her to stop. “Are you sure this place is secure?”
She nodded. “This area was supposed to be our rendezvous point when Gabby found you. So, I’ve been patrolling around here during the day looking for you and Gabby, and sleeping in different safe houses I have set up around here each night.”
“Well, you certainly seem to know enough to survive out here. But just to be safe, let me go on ahead and make sure there’s nothing waiting for us inside.”
She rolled her eyes and pointed up the road. “Be my guest.”
I took off into the trees and came up through the brush to the back lot of the clinic. There were old dog pens all along the back of the building, and as I got closer I noticed carcasses of animals inside the cages that I assumed were abandoned dogs. I silently cursed whoever did it; I mean, wouldn’t it have been better to just turn them loose? Sometimes, I just didn’t understand people.
Everything looked secure as I came around to the rear entrance, so I went back and helped Captain Perez to bring the mule and cart through the front drive. True to what she’d told me on the way over, the place was completely deserted and untouched. I was shocked that the place hadn’t been ransacked, and said as much to her.
“Well, this area got evac’ed pretty quickly. And with it being so close to the Corridor and San Antone, not many people come through here, either. Well, except for some really adventurous scavengers, but it’s far enough off the main roads to have escaped their notice.”
We took the mule and cart around the back of the building, tied the animal up to let it graze, and then brought the kid in through the rear entrance. A thick layer of dust covered most everything, but the clinic had a surgery suite for animals that was still in good condition. Captain Perez had me lay Gabby down on the table, and I helped her remove the kid’s clothing and prep her for surgery. The kid looked a bit better after getting some IV fluids, but she was still in bad shape.
Once everything was ready, Captain Perez told me what was going to happen. “I have to open her up, to make sure she doesn’t have any internal bleeding, and also to remove any bullet fragments that are in there. I’ll need you to stick around in case I need a second pair of hands. You up for this?”
“Doc, I’ve seen my share of battlefield surgery. Let’s just get this over with.” She nodded and we began. It didn’t take long for the doc to find the round. She pulled it out with a pair of forceps and dropped it in a metal emesis pan with a loud ping.
“Now why in the hell
would someone shoot another human with a silver bullet?” I wondered aloud.
The look the doc gave me said she knew something I didn’t. “Maybe that’s all he had on him at the time.” I found that hard to believe, because silver was getting harder and harder to come by these days. Lots of people started hoarding it after the War, thinking it was going to be good for trade, which made it difficult to find unless you came across a cache. Turns out, it ended up being pretty valuable, just not for the reasons people thought it would be.
So, I wasn’t buying it. Those punters that were with Pancho Vanilla knew they were chasing humans. Silver rounds were something you only loaded when you thought you were going to be coming up against one of the more powerful occult species, since regular deaders could be taken out with lead bullets. Unless they suspected there might be a rev’ or a nos’ hiding out in the settlement, it didn’t add up.
It looked like someone had taken a pot shot at her through the boat hull, which must have slowed the round enough so it didn’t do any significant damage. The doc said if it’d hit any vital organs then she might not have made it. Mostly what she had was muscle and connective tissue damage, along with a nicked small intestine. In less than an hour she had stitched Gabby back up, and we left her on the table with a fresh wound dressing and another IV bag hanging from the wall.
Just as we got done with Gabby’s surgery, I heard several voices coming from the road that ran in front of the clinic. Whoever it was, they were being loud and apparently didn’t care who heard them. That meant a large group, maybe scavengers, probably punters. If they were scavengers we were screwed, because they’d be sure to check this place for supplies, and not all scavengers were friendly when it came to staking a claim. But if they were punters, well, they’d probably just move along to the Corridor and miss us completely.
I looked at the doc in disbelief. “I thought you said hardly anyone came out this way!” I whispered as I tore off my surgical gloves and mask.
She looked at me with concern in her eyes and pulled her mask off. “Normally, they don’t. I have no idea what would bring someone out here, but whatever it is it can’t be good.”
“I’ll go check it out—just stay here with Gabby, and make sure you lock the back entrance.” I grabbed my rifle and gun belt, and sprinted to the front of the clinic.
- - -
[4]
PARTING
When I got to the waiting area of the clinic, I put my back to the wall next to the doorway and took a quick look outside. What I saw made my blood boil; it was a large group of punters coming down the road, about a dozen, and they were hauling along a kid of maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. They had him chained to four saddled horses with a collar around his neck. Every so often, one of the horses would get out of sync, and he’d get dragged off his feet. It looked like they’d been at it quite a while.
As they got closer, I could see that the collar was made of thick leather with metal spikes on the inside. The kid had to keep his hands on the collar to keep it from digging into his skin; otherwise every time he got yanked off his feet he’d get stabbed by the spikes. Apparently he’d only been partly successful, because there was dried blood running down his bare chest and arms. He was dressed in an old ratty pair of board shorts, of all things, and his feet were bare. “Poor miserable son of a bitch,” I said under my breath.
As soon as I spoke, the kid’s head swiveled around, almost like a dog listening to a noise in the distance. Then, he looked toward the clinic, and I could swear his eyes locked with mine. I could see the desperation in his eyes, like an animal with its leg caught in a trap that it couldn’t escape.
I heard Captain Perez come up behind me. “Doc, you ever seen something like this before?” I motioned out the window with the barrel of the HK.
She sat still for a moment, surveying the cruelty of the scene before us. Then, she nodded, ever so slightly, as if she didn’t want any part of what was going on out there. “He’s not our concern though. Gabby needs to heal up, and then we’ll move to a more secure location.”
I looked at her like she was the coldest bitch in hell. “You’re shitting me, right? I mean, I’ve seen punters treat people badly, but this—it’s inhumane. You wanna just leave that poor kid like that?”
She shrugged. “Like I said, not our problem. We have other matters to attend to.”
“Oh, so now it’s ‘we.’ Don’t think I’ve forgotten our little conversation from earlier about how you sent Gabby out looking for me. I don’t know what the hell you’re up to, but I intend to get answers from you, and soon.”
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re going after that kid, aren’t you? I’m telling you not to do it—it’s a mistake you’ll regret.”
Speaking in measured tones to ensure the punters couldn’t hear us, I decided to let the good captain know what I thought about her opinions. “Doc, right now I could give a rat’s flying fart what you think. I came out here for one reason, and that was to get proof of ’thropes in the Corridor so I could convince the settlements in the safe zones to prepare for an assault. So far all I’ve managed to find is a kid you sent into the Outlands alone to find me, for God only knows what reasons. I don’t know what your game is, but the more time I spend jacking around here, the less time I have to get word back to my people about what’s going on out here in the Corridor.”
She crossed her arms defiantly and gave me a pissy look, gesturing out the window with the bloody rubber surgical glove that was still in her hand. “Alright—if you want proof of ’thropes hunting the Corridor, I’ll tell you where to find it. It’s walking down the street right in front of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“That kid isn’t human—he’s a lycanthrope. Probably a wolf-type, although it’s hard to tell from here. But since they’re the most common, I’ll just assume that’s the case.”
“And how exactly do you know all this?”
She leaned back against the front counter of the clinic and crossed her arms. “Well, you’ll just have to stick around to find that out, won’t you?”
Obviously, she thought that withholding information from me would keep me around. Instead, it only pissed me off that she was trying to manipulate me. And I had a sneaking suspicion she’d been doing it from the start, from the very moment I met Gabby. Well, I was tired of being played; I was going to do this my way, and get the answers I needed with or without her help. I watched the last of the punters turn the corner, and brushed past her to go pack up my stuff.
She called after me, sotto voce, still concerned that we might bring attention to ourselves by speaking too loud. “Where do you think you’re going? I seriously hope you’re not going after that, that thing.”
I looked back at her as she followed me down the hallway that led to the kennels and treatment rooms. “That ‘thing’ as you call it looks like it’s at least part human—or that it once was. And if it is what you say it is, then maybe ‘it’ has the answers I’m looking for. So, yeah—I’m going after him.”
The doc grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around, no mean feat considering the difference in size between us. She looked up at me and got in my face the best she could, standing on tiptoe and poking me in the chest for emphasis. “Before you go trying to rescue that animal you should consider your own kind. Think about what Gabby sacrificed to find you! And now, you’re going to risk your own life and abandon her, all to save some lab animal who’d sooner rip your throat out than look your way twice?”
I just stood there looking at her, not really sure if I even wanted to engage her in this discussion. Her almond eyes bored into mine with conviction as she continued. “Scratch, this is going to sound like the ravings of a lunatic, but hear me out. For the last eight years I’ve been working on a way for humans to fight off the occult species, and I’ve—found—something that could potentially save the human race. But, I need someone I can trust, someone with your skills, to help me pu
t my plan in motion. If you run off and get killed now, I don’t know who else I can get to help me. So, please, I’m begging you to stick around and let this go.”
Now this was just getting weird. Sure, I was curious to know what the captain was up to and what the hell she was about. But I needed to get some distance between me and the situation before I could think clearly on it. Answers could wait, and so could her crazy plan, whatever it was. Right now I just needed to clear my head, get the intel I needed, and get back to my people. And I wasn’t going to accomplish any of that by sticking around here waiting for the kid to get better.
I gave her a look, shook my head, and then brushed past her and grabbed my gear. “I’ll be back in two days. If I’m not back by nightfall of the third day, feel free to move on without me.”
“You’re making a huge mistake.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Take care of the kid.”
“Sure, whatever you say, pendejo.” With that, she turned and walked off to the surgical suite.
As she was leaving, I whispered loudly back at her, just for spite, “And don’t forget to lock the door behind me!”
- - -
After I left the clinic I tracked the group until nightfall, and watched from a concealed observation point as they settled into a safe house located in an old abandoned industrial district. The location consisted of a metal warehouse and an enclosed area that was surrounded by an eight-foot chain link fence topped with razor wire. Not a bad place to stay, if you didn’t have to worry about vamps, and I suspected that these folks had a truce with the local nos’ that kept them safe. Even so, no sooner did dark fall than they had a dozen or so deaders milling around the fence. Good. It would help mask my approach when I snuck in later.
I was observing them from the roof of a neighboring structure, mostly hidden by the roofline and a vent turbine. There was a bright mid-phase moon out and the sky was relatively clear, so I was able to observe their movements with a fair degree of accuracy. They were fairly organized for a group of punters, running patrols of the fence line every twenty minutes or so. The place was large, and it looked like it’d been used by some sort of power company in the past. There was equipment strewn all over the place inside the fence, as well as large spools of steel cable and whatnot lying about. All that junk provided lots of cover, which I would use to my advantage once I got inside.
THEM (Season 1): Episode 2 Page 3