Lindsey thought about it. Most of the children had gone to a shelter in Iowa when the hospital had been evacuated. Besides Autumn, there were now only two remaining children. Their mother had been forced to shoot their father after he’d been infected, and she was still suffering from the trauma she’d experienced.
“I wish Cheri could do it, but she’s barely able to take care of her own kids right now,” Lindsey said. After a few more moments, she asked, “What about Marian?”
Marian was also an RN. She was in her forties and, while she had no children of her own, she had a niece and nephew that she doted on.
“We’ve only got about a dozen patients now, and we still have five nurses, if you count Marla. I’m sure we could handle things without Marian if she’s willing to take care of this guy,” Keith said.
“I know she loves kids,” Lindsey added. “It might even take her mind off of worrying about her sister’s family.”
“I’ll go look for her,” Keith said. “Thanks, Lindsey.”
~*^*~
~05~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
Snake looked up to see Marian hurrying his way with the toddler who had been rescued the previous day. There was a look of concern etched on her face, which worried Snake. The woman had been an ER nurse at St. Mary’s for twenty years, and she wasn’t easily agitated, except when she was forced to work with Marla.
“Snake!” she said, out of breath. “I’m glad I found you. I just came from the ER, and there’s quite a commotion going on. Some of your guys, well, they seem to be a bit angry at that little girl, the one who helps Dr. Doune.”
“Autumn?” he asked. “I know she can be a bit mouthy, but these guys aren’t exactly thin-skinned. What’d she do?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “You’d better get down there, though. They’re not too happy.”
Snake shook his head and sighed. He knew that some of the men were getting bored with being stuck in the hospital, but he had hoped that a couple days of rest would do them some good.
When the outbreak had happened, Snake and most of his crew had been helping to build an addition on a shelter downtown. There had been seventy men with Snake that day. While he hadn’t known all of them well, there were some he’d known most of his life. Wolf had fought with Snake in Vietnam. Others had been with him during his days as the leader of a biker gang. When Snake had turned from his old lifestyle, he had formed a group called God’s Grunts. Determined to spend the rest of his life making amends for his past transgressions, he’d started putting his efforts into helping the less-fortunate. Along the way, he had recruited others like himself, mostly men who had been living destructive lifestyles and had been headed for disaster. Of the original seventy men, only thirty were still alive, most having died in the first few days of the plague. Since that time, Snake had gotten to know the remaining men well, and he trusted most of them with his life. While many of them had questionable pasts, they were trying to mend their ways, and so far they had been coexisting with the others in the hospital without too many problems. Still, old habits die hard, and there were times when Snake had to step in and defuse a situation.
Hurrying to the ER, he could hear the sounds of chaos as it filtered throughout the corridor. When Snake arrived, the men quieted down and found their seats at a large table.
“What’s going on here?” he asked, slightly confused.
“Nothin’, Boss,” Moose said. The big, blond biker looked down at the table, straightening his cards. “Just playing a game of hearts.”
Snake saw a large stack of bills piled in front of an empty seat.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, boys, but since when do you play hearts with money?”
“Well, we started playing hearts,” Gunner replied, “but we kind of progressed to poker. It’s no fun without a little change involved. Besides, what else is there to do?”
“You know how I feel about gambling,” Snake scowled. “Starts out innocent enough, but eventually somebody gets their panties in a bunch, and I end up having to thump someone.”
He surveyed the room. “By the way, where’s the girl?”
“What girl?” Gunner asked.
Snake thought he heard a muffled pounding coming from somewhere nearby.
“You know who I’m talking about,” Snake said, impatiently.
“We ain’t seen Autumn,” Moose said.
Gunner gave him a sharp elbow.
“I see,” Snake said.
The blond biker took a sudden interest in his cards again.
Snake looked around the table until his eyes landed on Mouse, a small, nervous man who had ridden with Snake for years. As Snake walked over slowly, he could see that the anxious biker was already beginning to sweat. “So, Mouse, you seen Autumn?”
Mouse looked to the others for help, carefully avoiding Snake’s probing gaze. When nobody jumped in to help, Mouse’s eyes dropped down to the kitten in his arms, his almost constant companion since he’d rescued it a few days earlier.
“Uh, she was here a minute ago,” he said, swallowing hard. “I think I’d better go feed the kitten.”
“And where might Autumn be now?” Snake asked, putting his face inches from Mouse’s. The pounding got louder, and Mouse’s eyes darted toward the closet.
“You didn’t,” Snake said, stepping back.
“She was cheating, so we gave her a time out!” Mouse explained.
Snake scanned the room, but every eye refused to meet his.
“You guys locked a nine-year-old girl in a closet for cheating at poker?” Snake asked.
Almost on cue, the men slowly lowered their heads in shame.
“Dr. Doune was busy with something else, so we let her play a couple hands with us. We didn’t know she was going to cheat,” Mouse protested. “We had to do something.”
“We were only gonna leave her in there for a minute or two,” another one added.
Snake threw his hands into the air and walked over to the closet. Opening the door, he saw a very annoyed-looking Autumn.
“Those guys are a bunch of poor losers,” she said, stomping out of the closet.
“I apologize for my crew,” Snake said. “Sometimes their manners ain’t the best.”
As Autumn moved past Snake, a card dropped out of her sleeve.
“Hey!” one of the men yelled, pointing to the Ace of Hearts as it fell to the floor. “See? She’s cheating!”
Autumn quickly looked down at the card on the floor, her face turning red. She scooped it up and put it on the table.
“Wonder where that came from,” she said.
While many of the bikers were skilled poker players, they had managed to play fairly. Autumn, on the other hand, obviously had no problem with cheating. Snake knew that the last couple of years had been tough on her, and it had undoubtedly changed her. He’d seen it happen before to kids who learned the hard way that life wasn’t always fair. Some of them tended to skew the luck in their favor when they could.
“Dudes,” Snake sighed, “you shouldn’t have been gambling anyway, let alone with a nine-year-old.”
“I’m almost ten,” Autumn pointed out.
Snake nodded toward the pile of cash on the table in front of the empty seat.
“I’m guessing this is yours?”
“Yes,” she said, scooping up her winnings, though she did look a little guilty about it. She glanced at the bikers as she stuffed the money into her pockets. For a moment she stood by the table, slightly embarrassed. “Maybe I can talk Theresa into making brownies today or something,” she said, as a peace offering.
“You gonna just let her keep that?” Moose asked, ignoring the girl’s comment.
“I’m good with brownies,” one of the other men said.
Another nodded in agreement.
“Yep,” Snake said to Moose. “Unless you want it to get out that you locked a nine-year-old girl in a closet after she beat you at poker.”
“Proba
bly no place to spend it anyway,” Moose rationalized. “She can keep it.”
“Thought so,” Snake said, turning to leave. “Guess I gotta find something to keep you guys out of trouble.”
~*~
Nick Doune poured himself a cup of coffee and walked over to the table where Jack was sitting.
“Do you mind if I join you?” Doune asked, nodding toward the empty chair.
“Please do,” Jack said, surprised that the doctor would actually take time out of his day to mingle with the regular people. “To what do I owe this honor?”
“I wanted to discuss something with you,” Doune admitted. “I need a bigger lab, and I was thinking about the library on the second floor. It’s right across from the physical therapy room, which would be a better quarantine area since it has a locking door.”
They had set up quarantine in the hospital’s ER, and the bikers had been using the waiting room as a general purpose area. While anybody leaving quarantine would have to get past the bikers in the waiting area, it could probably be done fairly easily, due to the open layout of the two rooms.
“Well,” Jack thought for a few seconds. “I don’t think anyone will argue the importance of figuring out this virus.”
“Parasite,” Doune corrected him.
“Parasite,” Jack replied, rolling his eyes. “If none of the others object, I have no problem with it. I think Snake’s men are getting a little antsy. It may actually give them a project to keep them busy until the bombs stop falling.”
The military had been bombing the city for days in hopes of destroying some of the buildings that had been completely overrun. Jack wasn’t sure how they had made this determination since they’d obviously been wrong in the case of Keith’s wife’s building. At least a dozen survivors had died in the collapse of the apartment building, and Jack wondered how many others had been sacrificed in Lansing. Killing the infected in that manner made no sense to Jack. The destruction of the roads was also making it difficult to move around the city. Of course, the city was supposed to have been evacuated, so Jack guessed that nobody was too concerned about its current condition.
Those in charge of the bombing campaign had promised to stay away from the hospital and a small area around it. Snake and his crew had managed to get in a “shopping trip” just before the bombs had begun to fall on the neighborhood, but since that time, most of the residents had been staying close to the building.
“There’s Snake now,” Doune said, spotting the man heading their way.
“Just the man we’re wanting to see,” Jack said. “Mind if we have a word with you?”
“I already talked to my guys,” Snake said. “And I think all that money will go a long way to help Autumn get over any trauma from being locked up.”
Jack looked at Snake in confusion.
“Uh, unless that’s not what you want to talk about,” Snake said.
“What happened?” Doune asked, frowning. “I don’t need a traumatized assistant.”
Snake gave them the summary of the gambling incident, apologizing for the behavior of his men.
“It doesn’t sound as though any harm was done,” Doune said, “though it does raise concerns about how things might go this winter if the snow has us all confined to the building.”
“I’ve been worried about that,” Snake said. When he asked what it was that they wanted to talk to him about, Doune told him about his request for a larger lab.
“I’d say the fact that you need something done and my guys need something to do is a good coincidence, but I don’t believe in coincidences,” Snake said, smiling. “When would you like to start?”
“As soon as possible,” Doune said. “Some of my equipment is being stored in the basement, due to lack of space in the lab. I’m finding it difficult to proceed with my research without it.”
“Maybe we should have a short meeting first,” Jack suggested. “We’ve had some other requests for rearranging, so we may as well get this all figured out at the same time.”
“I have no desire to sit through another meeting, but I suppose it would help to get things moving more quickly,” Doune said.
“I’ll have someone make an announcement. Right after lunch, okay?”
“Fine,” Doune said, standing. “I’ll use the time to draw up a floor plan for the new lab.”
~*~
After lunch, Jack stood up to speak at the front of the cafeteria.
“Can I have your attention, folks?” he asked, holding a sheet of paper containing some hastily scribbled notes. “As you are all aware, the military will no longer be able to offer its services.” He paused as a bomb exploded in the distance, causing a slight tremor throughout the hospital. “At least not in a helpful way,” he added.
Some nervous laughter could be heard as he continued.
“Those of us who are still here, with the exception of our bedridden patients, are here by our own free will, and we’re here with the understanding that this could be our home for quite some time. We’re hoping that, once the bombing ceases, we will continue to be a beacon of light to any survivors who may be left. In the meantime, we’ve had some suggestions on rearranging to make our surroundings more workable.”
“Let me guess,” said Thomas, the last remaining CNA. “Dr. Doune wants his own floor.”
Snake, who was standing next to Jack, couldn’t help but grin.
Doune looked at his watch, ignoring the comment.
“Dr. Doune has pointed out the benefits of using the physical therapy room for quarantine, and I can’t argue with his logic. This way, those who we suspect to be infected can be moved to the adjoining room so they won’t be a danger to others. We’d like to move his lab to the library since it will be in close proximity to the quarantine rooms.”
Jack held up a hand when he heard some murmurs.
“The exercise room and the library will be moved to the first floor. We also want to set up a TV room in the ER and maybe set aside a few rooms for reading, playing games and things like that.”
“We need more books,” Marian said.
“Once it’s safe, well safer, to move about the city again, we’ll pick up some video games and books,” Snake said, “though I’m still not thrilled about the idea of looting stores. We’ve been leaving IOUs in case things get back to normal, but I don’t want to go nuts just taking anything we want, either.”
“I’m not so sure it would be considered looting if Lansing has been written off as a loss by the rest of the country,” Dr. Doune pointed out. “We may as well take the things that can be put to use here since anything left will be in danger of being destroyed by the attacks.”
Jack looked around and saw that most were in agreement.
“The military knows that we’re doing some scavenging,” Lindsey pointed out. “Lee even had them hold off on the bombing for a day so we could pick some supplies up. I’d consider that approval.”
“I still don’t feel right about risking lives over a TV or books,” Snake said. “So far we’ve just gone out to rescue people or to pick up food or materials for the walls. These were things that we needed to stay alive. You’re talking about luxury items now.”
Wombat finally spoke up. “I know you want to keep us safe, mate, but we’re going to go bonkers being locked up in here. I’d rather be doing something useful out there than to be stuck inside this building all the time. Sure, it’s dangerous, but so is riding a bike, and that was even before there were zombies out there. It looks like we may be here for the long haul, and it’s my guess that we’re going to be bringing in more people. If we don’t make this place livable, we’re going to be at each other’s throats in a very short time.”
Snake mulled over the Australian’s words then looked around the room.
“Not sure I’d put riding a bike in the same category as fighting off the living dead, but I do get your point. Where do the rest of you guys stand in this? Moose? Wolf?”
“I’m okay as long as I
’ve got something to build,” Moose said, “but I’ve got to keep moving, or I’ll go nuts.”
Wolf shrugged. “I don’t need to be out there all the time. Getting a little too old for that, but I also don’t mind getting out now and then.”
Most of the bikers, as well as Lindsey, agreed that they were willing to take some risks to be out of the building.
“I do think we ended up here for a reason,” Snake said. “We were meant to help others, and that isn’t going to be accomplished by hiding away inside the building. Shopping for furniture isn’t quite what I had in mind, but these supply runs do give us a chance to look for survivors while we’re out. I don’t suppose it’ll hurt to pick up some things that’ll make life a little easier for everybody here.”
As the meeting progressed, Theresa brought up the issue of food. “We’re okay for now, but it’s not going to last forever, especially if we bring in more people.”
“Last time we went to the grocery store, the supplies seemed to be dwindling,” Snake said.
Dustin, the only teenager currently at the hospital, raised his hand. “My parents have a big farm outside of town, and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind sharing their crops. I’ve talked to my dad on the phone a few times and they’re doing okay out there.”
“Glad to hear it,” Snake said. “Maybe we can do some trading with your family or other farmers. You want to mention that to your dad next time you talk to him?”
“I will,” Dustin said.
“It would be good to know how things are outside the city, anyway,” Snake added.
“It sounds like the roads are bad,” Dustin said. “My dad said he tried to come and get me when everything first happened, but there were roadblocks up, and the traffic was jammed up on the highway. I told him I was safe here, so he shouldn’t try to come into the city.”
“For sure. Tell him we’ll take you home once we can get through.”
Wolf had a suggestion. “There’s lots of deer out in the country, too. Maybe we could bring in fresh meat while we’re out there.”
Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise Page 5