by Dulaney, C.
“Oh my God, what happened?!” she cried, running over to me. I just let my hands and Mia’s shirt fall away from my face. She gasped so suddenly it sounded like she choked.
“Well, if your nose wasn’t broken before, it sure as hell is now, girl.”
“I’m gonna kill that asshole,” Jake muttered and spun around to leave. Mia grabbed him before he could get past her.
“Hey,” she said, trying to get his attention. “Hey! Now, you knock that shit off, Jake. I mean it. I don’t know what went on in that building, but I can tell it was pretty bad. Emotions running high and all that. The best thing for all of us to do right now is cool off. Hear me?”
Mia stood between him and the stairwell, while Nancy made a quick assessment of my face, and simply waited him out. He huffed and puffed a few times, eventually seeing things her way and backing off. In all the commotion I didn’t noticed Gus sitting at my feet until he whined very softly.
“She’ll be alright, little man. Come on, let’s get to the infirmary so we can get this cleaned up. Jacob, run downstairs to the second floor and get Dr. Carpenter, he’s in room 275. Well what are you waiting for, go!” Nancy said firmly and waited for Jake to head off down the stairs before leading me down. Mia and Gus followed closely behind. Luckily for everyone, Jake cut off and went through the door to the second floor just as Michael came running up the stairs.
“Oh God, Kasey, are you alright?” he asked, just as fussy as Jake had been. He met us coming down and Nancy pushed him to the side, dragging me along behind her.
“Get out of the way, young man.”
He stepped to the side and let us pass, then took up the rear behind Mia and a very upset little beagle. Outside the main door stood a group of maybe ten men, all armed and listening closely to John.
“Split up, search every building. If you find them, shoot first, then radio me. Don’t let those bastards get away. Let’s move.”
A few hurried past us and went inside the dorm, the rest moved off and split up into small groups. Even though my face throbbed, I glanced up once again to the rooftops; there were still snipers on watch duty, and Jonah was still on the wall. Smith was next to John, but Martin was nowhere to be seen. It’d probably be best if he and Jake didn’t run into each other for a while.
Nancy shuffled past the crowd and continued on to the infirmary, talking quietly to me the whole way. Gus was trotting next to me, Mia hung back and talked a few moments with Michael and John. Once Jake came outside with a grumpy Dr. Carpenter in tow, she caught up with him and the three of them followed us across the courtyard.
“You keep this up, Kasey, and there’s not going to be a single body part of yours I haven’t had to bandage up or stitch back together again,” Nancy groused. She opened the door to the clinic and I followed her down the long hall with Mia’s shirt still pressed to my face.
The clinic took up a large section of the first floor in the south building. The other half was the cafeteria. I wasn’t sure what made up the second and third floors, so far I’d had no reason to go up there. I assumed they were just more detention levels. The clinic was set up much like a modern hospital; the entrance was mostly dedicated to trauma and emergency cases, then further back, down a series of hallways and corridors, were the individual rooms, exam rooms, a physical therapy room, and even two operating rooms. The prison was like a small city, being mostly self-sufficient. I was curious to explore the rest of the complex eventually, that is if we decided to stay. As far as I knew, that invitation may have been revoked when Cal was found dead.
Nancy led me to the first trauma exam room and helped me climb up onto the bed. Gus sat on the floor, close but not underfoot. The doctor came in and went right to work helping Nancy clean my face. Mia and Jake stood back, leaning against the far wall with their arms crossed and looking very stern. If my face hadn’t felt like it was going to blow right off, it was exactly the sort of scene I would have found inappropriately hilarious.
“Oh my, young lady. Did you get hit by a bus?” Dr. Carpenter asked, rhetorically I hoped.
The bleeding had finally stopped, which made clean-up a breeze. When it was all said and done, my nose was broken, again, both my upper and lower lips were split, and I had lost a tooth. But not any of the front ones, thank God. Bastard had somehow knocked out one of my canines. Well, maybe I’d be able to pay him back someday. It’s a funny world.
“Nancy, you can stitch the lips, I’ll set the nose. Now this is going to hurt─” the doctor paused before saying my name, suddenly aware he had no idea what it was.
“Kasey,” Nancy said.
“─Kasey. Would you like something for the pain first?” His hands were poised on either side of my nose.
Mia was covering her eyes and Jake was biting his own lip so hard he’d brought blood. Voices and footsteps tromping down the hall distracted the good doctor for a moment. He backed away from my aching face and stepped out into the hall. A group of John’s men asked him a few questions, gave him a few instructions, then went on about their business, which, unfortunately, allowed Carpenter to get back to his.
“Now.” He cleared his throat. “Where were we? Oh yes, painkillers. Would you like some?” His fingers were pressed firmly against my nose, and it was already stinging like a bitch, but I couldn’t afford to be foggy-headed right now. Not with two nutjobs running around the complex.
So I shook my head no and squinted my eyes shut.
“Nancy, hold her shoulders. We’ll make this quick.” And before the words were even out of his mouth, he twisted his hands suddenly, pressing and pushing roughly with his fingers, then yanked back and to the left.
Snap, pop, that’s all she wrote. I passed out and slumped backwards, but my nose was nice and straight again.
* * *
“Keep this ice pack on your face for a little while, hopefully it won’t swell much,” Nancy said and adjusted the ice across my nose.
I didn’t thank her; it still hurt to talk. She’d done a nice job stitching just above and below my lips, but the lips themselves looked like hell. Swelled and purple. Mia said it made me look like a punk. I told her in so many grunts to kiss my ass.
John still had men searching the grounds. If Harvel and the other fellow were still here, they were well hidden. Jake was in the hallway making up with Michael and Smith. Martin, however, was still on watch duty. And the zombies, well, the zombies…they were still flocked on the northern approach, moaning and groaning. No more runners had been reported. Not yet. The longer the swarm stayed, the higher the risk of more runners showing up.
“Such a pretty face, please stop letting folks use it as a punching bag,” Nancy said, brushing the back of her hand across my cheek.
I knew she was teasing, but I couldn’t voice my disagreement, or remind her that the first time wasn’t my fault. So I just shrugged, a what-can-ya-do? sort of thing, and watched her leave the room. Finally alone except for Gus, who was sitting anxiously next to the bed, I leaned back until I was staring at the ceiling.
Might as well take advantage of the situation and grab a few winks.
Jake popped his head into the room and asked if I needed anything. After telling him no, he let me know he was going to do another sweep of the building with Michael and Smith. I grunted and waved him away, part of my mind wondering where Mia had gone off to. The other part was already falling asleep.
The last thing I remembered hearing was the guys stomp off down the hallway, and I didn’t wake up again until sometime after three, when Nancy rushed frantically into my room and scared the crap out of Gus, who woke up startled and baying his little head off.
“Kasey, Kasey! Wake up!” she said, shaking my shoulders. My head throbbed and there was a sharp ache in my nose and mouth, so her shaking the daylights out of me worked better than any pot of coffee.
“I’m awake!” I slurred/shouted. She pulled me up into a sitting position and was squeezing my shoulders tightly, but at least she had stopped sh
aking me.
“What the hell’s wrong?!” I asked. She was sweaty and out of breath like she’d just ran the entire way across the complex. Turns out, she had.
“The deadheads…” She paused to gasp a few ragged breaths. “The zombies are inside the fence.” Another gasp. “They’re right outside the prison!” If she hadn’t been so out of breath, she would have been crying, so terrified she was.
“Ok, easy, Nancy, just breathe. Breathe, that’s it,” I forced myself to say.
Not only was my mouth beat to shit, my guts had suddenly clenched and my diaphragm felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. I had her hands in mine now and waited for her to settle down before asking what had happened.
“They’re still not entirely sure, but it looks like the Warden did leave the prison. But he didn’t go out through the south gates because there’s been people up there watching and they haven’t seen anything. They checked the stable and there’s a horse missing, so they figure he stole it and rode out to the east side of the inner fence and cut a hole in it. He cut the fence, Kasey!”
After her fast, rambling explanation she started crying. I pulled her to me and hugged her tightly, the pain in my head and face forgotten, and comforted her until she had a hold on herself again.
“How do they know there’s a hole in the fence?”
I knew the spotlights didn’t reach as far as the fence. I suppose there are only so many conclusions one could draw if deadheads suddenly started appearing from nowhere. I also figured there was more to it than what she had said so far, but I wasn’t going to push her. She wiped her eyes before continuing.
“At first there were only a few of them, spaced apart and staggering around. Now, I got this from one of the girls in the dorm, as we were rushing to the garage. I don’t know all the details, just what she overheard Michael telling Kelly. But anyways, someone rode out part way and used binoculars to look at the fence. They said it looked like there was a huge hole in it. So I’m guessing it was big enough to get a horse through. That’s what everyone is saying though, that Harvel stole a horse, cut the fence, and rode out.”
“He must have cut the outer fence too, if the deadheads are getting in,” I said, mostly thinking out loud. She nodded with vigor and looked like she was waiting for me to tell her what to do. “Okay, Nancy, so you guys were told to get back to the garage, right?”
“Yes, get to the garage and have the vehicles ready to leave at any moment.” Her eyes were wide and pleading with me.
To do what? I was sure everyone able to handle a gun was getting to the roof, preparing to handle the problem. The swarm was probably on the move, heading in the direction of the hole, but they were slow. It would take some time for the majority of the mass to get in, and as long as there were snipers up top picking off the early arrivals, it was time they could use to send some people out to fix the fence until daylight came and it could be properly reinforced. I did what I could to convince Nancy of this, talking in a slow, calm voice, rubbing her arm and nodding in all the right places. Then I reminded her how strong she was, how she had taken care of four “kids” and a dog all winter long, in conditions no one had seen since before the discovery of electricity.
“That is true,” she said, that old cocky smile returning to her face.
“That’s right.” I rested my hands on her shoulders. “Now, what are we going to do?”
“We’re going to kick some deadhead ass.”
“And what are we not going to do?”
“Roll over and take it up the ass.”
“That’s right. Now, get to the garage with the others. Take Gus with you. I’ll get myself together here and head up to the roof, see what I can do to help. Listen to me, if I think the shit’s getting too deep out there, I’ll come down and tell you, okay? Do you trust me, Nancy?”
“Of course I do, girl. You go do your thing, and I’ll do mine.” She hugged me tightly and turned to leave. “Oh, and watch that mouth,” she said over her shoulder.
I hopped down off the bed after she and Gus disappeared through the doorway, and walked over to the chair in the corner. My rifle was propped behind it, but my ammo box was still on the north wall. I made a mental note to retrieve it first before coming back and going up to the roof. I jerked my flannel shirt on and bent over the sink against the wall to splash a little water on my face. I didn’t hear the door click shut because of the running water. When I lifted my head to check out my nose and mouth in the mirror, I saw Harvel’s bitch flipping the deadbolt.
* * *
Mia dropped two ammo boxes on the graveled roof and looked out at the increasing number of zombies staggering in their direction. Snipers scrambled into position as quickly as they could after arriving, coming from all over the complex after Michael had barked the order over the radio moments earlier. She’d watched Nancy run into the infirmary and assumed the older woman was on her way to fill Kasey in on what was happening. The older people and the children were being herded into the garage by Kelly. There were a handful of other snipers scattered across the other rooftops and back on the wall.
For being such a clusterfuck, they’re sure getting their shit together in a hurry, she thought.
Jake spotted her and jogged over. “Hey, you ready?”
The rooftop buzzed with organized chaos, and the only thought that kept snaking its way through her mind was, Get the hell out of here. Get Kasey, Nancy, and Jake, and get the hell out of here.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” Mia answered and slipped the rifle sling off her shoulder. Jake jerked his thumb towards the roof’s edge.
“Let’s do this.”
* * *
Oh shit! Where did he come from? Then: There was only one horse missing.
“Well, well, well. Didn’t think you’d be seein’ me again, did ya, whore?” the man said with his back to the now shut and locked door.
Gunfire had commenced two stories above my head, so I knew my screams wouldn’t be heard. I was still wearing my pistol, but Harvel’s pet already had his hand on his, so I knew I’d be dead before I could get a shot off.
Shit.
I didn’t know whether this dude had planned this in advance, or if he’d simply been left behind by the Warden. I suppose in the grand scheme of things it didn’t really matter. I noticed his right hand was a crushed, bloody mess, and it was his left hand that was wrapped around the grip of his handgun. Did he intentionally use his off-hand to beat the face off Cal, knowing he would need his gun hand later? Guess it made sense, if he had escaped with the Warden, which I assumed was the original plan, he’d need his gun hand in one piece to fend off the zombies outside the fence. Hell, outside in general.
“There’s something I’ve been wondering about, if you don’t mind humoring me a bit before inflicting whatever sort of torment you’ve got in mind for me,” I said, desperately trying to stall until I could think of a way out of this mess.
He smirked and shrugged, then pulled his gun from its holster and let it dangle casually at his side. “Sure, why not. Make it quick though, I got places to be.”
The only thing I could think to ask was his name, since I’d been referring to him as bitch up until this point. Think, Kasey, think! I resisted the urge to glance around the room for anything I could use against him, or use to distract him long enough so I could draw my weapon. Instead I pictured the room in my mind, scanning across what I could remember seeing in the short time I’d been there.
I forced the tremor out of my voice and tried to sound conversational. “What’s your name anyway? I don’t think I caught it.”
My nose picked that exact moment to begin itching, the sort that hits you all of a sudden.
I twitched and lifted a hand out of reflex before I could stop myself, which provoked the trigger-happy bastard in front of me to yank his gun up and fire off a shot in my direction. I yelped, dropped to the ground, and rolled to my right towards the bed. It was the only thing in the room that separated us, though it
wouldn’t prove to be much of a barrier if he decided to unload his gun on me. He got off two more rounds by the time I came to a stop, and without taking time to think, I drew my pistol, came up on one knee, and fired.
Except he wasn’t standing by the door anymore, so my shots were wasted.
“Drop it.” The sneaky monkey had gotten behind me and was standing about three feet to my left.
Crafty sonofabitch. My arms were beginning to shake.
He’d used the very short time it took for me to roll towards the bed to scramble behind me, shooting a couple times as a distraction. Both my hands were wrapped tightly around my gun, and for one insane second I thought about swinging around and doing my best to nail him. Lucky for me, it was only a fleeting thought. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself, but for the first time since last October, it didn’t work. This guy had me by the balls, so to speak, and I was about to disarm myself. Everyone was on the roof dealing with the larger problem, and no one would hear me scream.
No one will hear me scream.
“I said, drop it,” he said, spitting out the words.
I admit I was starting to panic. Very badly. The only thing I hoped for at that moment was for this asshole to get close enough so I could fight him hand-to-hand. If he didn’t, if he somehow incapacitated me, knocked me over the head with his pistol, tied me up, and a hundred other terrifying horrors my mind decided to throw at me all at once, then I’d be screwed.
No chance of fighting him off, no chance of living through this. I’d seen what he’d done to Calvin, and I was sure he’d want revenge for that day on the wall. I knew fighting him hand-to-hand was probably suicide, but I’d rather take my chances at that than letting him somehow restrain me, giving him plenty of time to torture, beat, rape, and whatever else his twisted mind wanted him to do.
“Alright, let’s just take it easy. See, I’m dropping it.” I released my grip on the pistol and lowered it to the floor.