“Come here, buddy,” Wolf said to the older boy.
“Go ahead,” Kris said, giving her son a smile.
“What’s your name?” Wolf asked.
The boy eyed the biker warily and said, “Jared.”
“I’m Wolf,” the biker said, lifting the boy to sit in front of him where he’d be easier to protect on the ride.
“That’s an awesome name,” Jared said.
“Maybe we can give you a cool name like that, too,” Wolf grinned.
“Justin, you go with that man,” Kris said, pointing to Fish, who was motioning him over.
The younger boy hurried over, and Fish lifted him onto the bike.
“How far away is this school where your friend is?” Snake asked Kris.
“Not far at all,” she said, giving him the directions.
“That’s close to our route,” Snake said. “We’ll swing by there and check it out.”
Kris climbed onto Moose’s bike and held onto his jacket with one hand, while she kept her other arm around the sleeping child in the sling.
The bikers began to move out, dropping the dead with their firearms to clear a path. There were shooters riding on the first two bikes and the last two, with a couple more scattered throughout the group. They concentrated on only taking out the targets that were truly a threat. Making a head-shot from the back of a moving bike wasn’t easy, so there wasn’t much point in trying unless the target was close
The bikes made their way down the street, dodging stalled cars along the way. When they arrived at the school, Snake stopped to take in the scene. He could see about two dozen people standing on the roof. Some were waving frantically, but others watched the bikers with obvious apprehension.
Snake pulled up next to Moose and asked Kris, “Which one is your friend? These guys look a little nervous so it might help if she sees you.”
Kris scanned the small group on the roof and said, “I don’t see her up there.”
The dead were thick around the school, and at the sound of the bikes, they began to turn away from the building.
“We can’t stick around,” Snake said. “But we can come back with the truck.”
“If they’ll even want to come with us,” Wolf pointed out.
Snake motioned to the others to turn off their engines. Once it was quiet, he yelled to the survivors on the roof. “We’ve secured St. Mary’s Hospital. If any of you want to join us, we’ll try to figure out a way to get you there. We’ve got plenty of food and water, too.”
Snake glanced at Lindsey, who called up. “It’s all right. These guys are harmless. I work at the hospital, and we have several doctors and nurses still there as well. If anybody needs medical attention, we can take care of them.”
There was some discussion amongst them, and someone loudly asked the others, “What choice do we have?”
“You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to, but we’ll help however we can. Gotta go now, but we’ll be back!” Snake yelled up to those on the roof.
The bikes roared to life, but as they turned to leave, Snake saw Kris motioning frantically, so he stopped.
“That’s her!” she yelled pointing at a dark-haired woman by the gate. “Jennifer!”
The woman appeared to be alive from the back. She was wearing a flowered skirt and heels, and her white blouse showed no sign of blood or gore. She was also completely surrounded by the dead.
Kris was already off the bike and running toward her with the baby.
“Moose! Get her!” Snake yelled. “That woman ain’t alive!”
~*^*~
~11~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
“Would it be possible to get a computer for Autumn to use in the office?” Doune asked when Jackson finished with the laptop.
“I need it for filing and stuff,” Autumn added, not revealing her true intention of downloading music and playing video games.
“I can give her one of the older computers once I get a few more of them running. It might not be able to do quantum physics, but she could play games or check e-mail on it once we get it hooked to the network.”
“That would be fine,” Doune said.
“I’ve got a list for Snake, and if he can pick up some wireless cards, I’ll try to save one for Autumn’s computer. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait until Sparky can run a cable to the lab.”
Sparky paused what he was doing long enough to tell them, “I can try to get to it tomorrow.”
Doune thanked him.
“Listen to this,” Claire said suddenly. “There’s a place in Montana that is supposed to be safe. It’s in a valley with steep mountains, and they’re working night and day to build massive gates at both ends.”
“Did you get this from a reliable source?” Doune asked, skeptical.
“I don’t know, but there are several people discussing it, and some of them are supposedly at the place now. It sounds like it might be real.”
She read a bit more then said, “They insist on quarantine, of course, but there’s a lab already there and they’re studying the plague.”
Doune stepped a little closer. “Is it run by the government?”
“No, the land belongs to a rancher, but he was leasing some of it to a private university, which is why the lab was there.”
Claire followed a link and was soon in a chat room where the Montana facility was being discussed. She broke in and introduced herself when she had the opportunity and was able to get quite a bit of information. She passed on some questions from Doune about the lab, as well. The conversation continued for a while before her internet went out.
“That’s the fifth time in the last twenty minutes,” she said, sitting back in her seat, annoyed. “What do you guys think about this place? Did it sound legit to you?”
“They seemed to know what they were talking about,” Doune pointed out. “As least as far as the lab goes and details about the university. It could be legitimate.”
“I’m glad to hear about this place, but Montana is a long way from here,” Claire said.
~*~
Autumn livened up a bit when she heard about the group in Montana. She had assumed that other survivors around the country were either holed up in cities, waiting to die, or packed into concentration camps. The news about the place in Montana meant that there might still be freedom and safety somewhere on the planet. As the others discussed what they had heard, Autumn interrupted.
“Isn’t Montana close to Yellowstone? I hear the wolves are making a comeback there.”
She ignored the strange look she got from Jackson, and she turned to Dr. Doune.
“Who do you think would win; a pack of wolves or a pack of zombies?”
Doune regarded Autumn for a moment then said, “Wolves, unless they were badly outnumbered. They’re too fast for a zom . . . an infected person to catch otherwise, I would think. My question is whether or not animals can become infected. And if so, would they be slow like the humans are?”
Autumn pondered Dr. Doune’s answer. Wolves had always fascinated her, but she knew they rarely attacked humans. The thought of a pack of infected wolves, the perfect killing machines, obsessed with consuming any living thing, actually frightened her. She wondered if the wolves would inherit the same clumsy gait with which the infected humans were cursed. The voices of the group seemed distant as she imagined the carnage that would ensue.
~*~
Lansing, Michigan
“Jennifer!” Kris yelled again, running for the gate where her friend stood with her head bowed toward the ground.
When Kris got within a few feet, Jennifer lifted her head. A slight scratch ran down the woman’s cheek, milky white eyes telling the rest of the story. The dead woman slowly lifted a hand, reaching out toward her friend with a moan.
Kris seemed stunned, backing away when the baby woke and started to cry.
Moose reached her and grabbed her arm to guide her back to the motorcycle as the dead bega
n to move their way.
“She’s gone,” he said.
“No,” Kris said, looking back as tears began to fall.
“Sorry,” Moose said. “We need to get out of here, now.”
When they returned to the bike, Wolf said, “Lady, think about your kids. That was a stupid move.”
Snake opened his mouth to chastise Wolf for the harsh words, but he knew the biker was right. Kris and her daughter could have been killed.
Kris looked down at the child in her arms, paling as she finally seemed to realize the danger in which she had put her daughter. She got onto the bike in a daze. As the motorcycles rolled away, Kris turned her head to watch Jennifer, who was still reaching for her.
Snake glanced back at the dead woman, too, wondering just how they had come to live in a world where a scratch could be deadly. As they made their way back toward the hospital, he made mental notes as to which buildings were still standing. When they reached the remains of the office building from which Jackson, Claire and Dustin had been rescued, Snake stopped his bike and motioned for the others to shut down their engines so that he could talk to them without yelling. The street ahead of them ran straight to the front of St. Mary’s.
“It looks like the gate is clear,” he said, “so I want you guys to take Kris and her kids to the hospital. Bring the truck back with more of the guys. We’ve got a rescue to make.”
“You staying here, Boss?” Wolf asked.
“I want to look the park over real quick. I think if we could find a way to close it in, we could put the space to good use. Moose, you stay so I can talk to you about it. Kris can go with one of the others.”
There was some quick rearranging, and soon three of the motorcycles raced down to the gate which was opening for them.
When Moose fired off a shot at an approaching zombie, Snake waved his arms to get the man’s attention.
“Silent weapons, dude,” he said. “We don’t need to draw every zombie for miles around.”
“Sorry, Boss,” Moose said, sheepishly. “Guess I forgot.”
~*~
Malibu, California
The six soldiers stood on the roof, waiting as patiently as possible. Hixson’s second-in-command, a man named Wood, finally said, “We’re going back in. They should have been here by now.”
As he started to follow the others, a call came through on the radio from Robert Burnell at the Yucca compound.
“Hixson and Rayburn still aren’t back,” Wood said, motioning for the others to keep going.
“We need that package, and we need it now!” Burnell yelled.
“We have the package,” the soldier said. “Hixson brought it up, but he had to go back down for Rayburn. I guess the doctor is having some trouble with all the stairs.”
“Forget them,” Bob said. “Hixson had a little job to do, and it may be slowing him down. He’ll have to catch up with us later. Just get that DVD back here. Are you sure it’s the right package?”
Wood didn’t reply at first. Burnell was not his superior, and he bristled at the thought of taking his orders, as did most of the others. He wouldn’t leave his sergeant behind if he had another choice.
“I already sent the others in after Hixson,” Wood said. “We’ll leave as soon as they return.”
“I want you out of there in two minutes!” Burnell yelled. “With or without them!”
“I’m not leaving my squad behind!” Wood snapped.
There was a long pause before Burnell’s voice came through again, sounding calmer.
“Okay, you’re right,” he said. “Check the package and make sure it’s what we’re looking for. We probably won’t have a second shot at this.”
Wood picked up the package and looked it over. “It’s addressed to Dr. Rayburn and the stamp looks like it’s from Colombia. There’s a DVD inside. I can feel the edges.”
“Open it to be sure.”
Wood tore the envelope open. “There’s a blank DVD case inside . . .”
“Open it.”
Wood stuffed the manila envelope under his arm so that he could use both hands on the case, but his attention was diverted by gunfire. Stuffing the DVD case back into the envelope, he ran to the roof exit and started down the stairs but was stopped moments later by his men who were hurrying back up.
Wood ended the call with Burnell and tried Hixson again.
“Hixson! Are you down there? What’s going on?”
Unlike the previous four times, Wood finally got an answer.
“Get out of here!” Hixson’s voice could be heard on the radio, gasping for breath. “The door gave in. We’ve both been bitten, and I think Rayburn’s dead. You need to leave right now!”
“We can’t leave you there!” Wood said, watching as the others rushed onto the roof, the last of them still firing down the stairs.
“This is an order! There’s nothing you can do for me, and I won’t have your deaths on my hands. Get out of there, now!”
For a moment, Wood said nothing, but when he looked at the others, he knew that Hixson was right. The sergeant was already a dead man, and bringing an infected body back wasn’t an option. Wood yelled a command and followed the others onto the helicopter. He looked out his window to see the dead beginning to emerge onto the roof as the chopper rose into the air.
~*~
Yucca Compound, Southern California
“I don’t get it,” Bob said. He stood and began to pace as the credits of The Sound of Music played on the large flat-screen TV. “Why the hell would Petrov send this? We watched the whole damn thing, and there was no secret message stuck in the middle of the DVD. Nothing. Why would he send it?”
“The package was taped shut,” Madec pointed out. “I would guess that someone tampered with it.”
“Someone in Colombia?” Bob asked.
“Not likely. Not unless they knew about it. My guess is that it was Hixson or Rayburn.”
“Before they died?”
“At least one of them is still alive,” Madec said, “obviously.”
“You heard what Hixson told the others,” Bob said, confused. “They were both bitten. And he’s not answering his radio.”
Madec sighed deeply and looked at Bob.
“You think that he faked that?” Bob finally guessed.
“We’ll try to track them through Rayburn’s phone,” Madec said, “but I’m not holding my breath.”
~*~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
Rather than returning to the lab, Doune sat at one of the empty tables with his laptop, wanting to be nearby if there was anything else from the settlement in Montana.
Thomas, the CNA, walked into the room. “Any luck getting online yet?” he asked.
“We’re online,” Jackson said. He pointed to three computers that stood on a long table. “We’re saving those for people who want to check mail. I’d get your messages out fast. Sites are going down all over the place.”
“What do you mean?” the CNA asked.
“The internet is essentially just a series of computers, but those computers are all connected through cables and wires and satellites etc. Cables break, computers shut down, and lots of other things could happen. I doubt there are many people out there right now to fix them. Once some of the bigger hosting services lose power, we’re going to see sites dropping off like crazy.”
Thomas hurried over to the computer and began to type.
“I need those bigger hard drives,” Jackson said to Dustin. “I’m going to download as much information as I possibly can while we still have internet. Now that the plague has spread to the rest of the world, I think we’re going to be losing sites a lot faster.”
“It’s spread to the rest of the world?” asked Doune. “I thought it was still confined to the Americas.”
“Take a look,” Jackson said, turning his laptop so the others could see. “The plague hit Los Angeles, San Francisco, and most of the eastern coast a few days ago. Today it’s in ot
her parts of the world.”
Doune moved closer to look at the cities that were marked in red on the map. There were red dots scattered across Europe, Asia and Africa, but the biggest concentrations were in the Americas on the coasts. Central America was awash with red.
“Why on the coasts?” Doune wondered out loud.
“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “Claire thought that it might be because of the refugees coming by boat from Central America.”
“Maybe,” Doune said, looking at the pattern, “but I’d think they’d look for the nearest land. This seems to indicate that they’re landing all over the coasts, not just in the obvious places.”
“It’s doubtful that they’d have sophisticated equipment to help with directions,” Claire pointed out. “These are probably people grabbing a raft or a small boat and hoping for the best.”
“Still, he’s got a point,” Jackson said, frowning. “How do you accidentally bypass Florida and end up at Canada?”
Doune felt a cold chill roll over his body.
“What if it’s not refugees?” he asked. “If the infected are truly dead, as they appear to be from all my testing, water may not be a barrier for them.”
Jackson grew thoughtful as he mulled over the doctor’s words.
“Let me get this straight. You think the dead just wandered into the water down in Central America, and eventually ended up on other beaches?”
“Either walked or washed up,” Doune said as he looked over the map. “I think it’s likely.”
“I guess I never thought about it, but there’s no reason to assume that wouldn’t be the case,” Jackson said.
“It’s not like they’d die from drowning,” Claire added. “They could just keep on walking or floating until they reach land again.”
Autumn couldn’t help but visualize one of the infected, arms outstretch as it lumbered through the water with hair and clothing flowing behind.
Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise Page 10