Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise
Page 15
When he saw the dejected look on Moose’s face, he added, “Look, once you’re done with your three hours, you can do guard duty upstairs for a while. Bull and Wrench can take him up.”
Moose grinned and headed into the crowded quarantine room.
~*^*~
~17~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
Lindsey went with the others into the quarantine room but had to stand since it was filled with the ten adults from the school and over thirty children. Almost immediately, the blonde began to flirt with the younger bikers, paying particular attention to Wombat and Moose.
Lindsey leaned against the wall, hoping the next half-hour wouldn’t drag too badly. Within a couple of minutes, Wombat surprised her by coming to stand beside her. She turned and gave him a smile. The time always passed more quickly when she was able to lose herself in conversation with the biker.
Snake looked into the quarantine room and shook his head. “Looks a little crowded in here.”
“It’s like a sardine can,” Wolf said, from somewhere in the back of the room.
The teachers were doing their best to keep the children calm, but they had their hands full and the room was noisy.
“I think I’m gonna go back out and get some shopping done,” Snake said. “Haven’t seen any jets today and it’s kind of late in the day for them to be starting. Quarantine should be empty by the time we get back. Anybody want to go along?”
“We’re in,” Wombat said, grabbing Lindsey’s hand and making a path through the crowd. Most of the bikers followed.
The blonde shot a look at Lindsey as she passed by, but Lindsey ignored her.
“So what was up with that?” Wombat asked after they went downstairs.
“Up with what?”
“You and that blonde chick were glaring at each other. I half expected a fight.”
“Really?” Lindsey asked, surprised. “I thought I was ignoring her. She and I had a little run-in during orientation. Apparently she doesn’t think she needs to have a job here.”
Wombat grinned. “So that’s why you were upset earlier?”
“That’s why,” she said. “Maybe I’ll tell Helga that the blonde model is after Snake. I could take care of two problems at once.”
Wombat just laughed as he got on his bike. It took a few tries before he was able to start it.
“Does it do that a lot?” Lindsey asked, worried.
“Not often,” he said. “It’s a piece of junk, but my bike got flattened by a truck on the first day of the outbreak. I had to take this one, but I’m keeping my eyes open for something better.”
~*~
“Careful,” Chuck growled as the two bikers began to wheel his gurney down the hall. “This hurts like hell.”
“Chuck? You’re alive?”
The bikers stopped rolling the gurney for a moment, and Chuck turned to see a dark-haired woman standing in a doorway.
“Oh, hey, how are you?” he asked, recognizing the voice. “Eighth floor, right?”
“Right, I’m Claire,” she said, stepping over. “I’m so glad to see you alive. We thought you were dead, or we would have tried to get you out.”
Which is exactly what I was trying to avoid, Chuck thought. He’d been certain that if they’d known he was still alive, they would have come up to try to rescue him, and they would have learned about his large stash of supplies.
“I heard your voice through the vents, but I was too weak to get over there to answer,” he lied.
“I’m so sorry,” she said again. “We should have gone up and checked.”
“It’s fine,” he told her. “You probably wouldn’t have had time. The bombs hit shortly after you spoke to me, so if you’d come to get me, you’d probably all be dead.”
“Still . . .”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, giving her a weak smile as he was wheeled away. “Everything is fine now.”
~*~
“Let’s take all three trucks,” Snake said. “Maybe we can fill them with supplies while we’re out. The fewer trips we make, the better.”
He picked up some more of his crew on the way down, hoping that a large group would speed things up. Billy led the way with the loader again. Snake hadn’t been sure about taking him back out so soon since he hadn’t had much to eat or drink yet, but Theresa had come to the rescue with a couple of sandwiches and a large bottle of water for him to take along.
“Xena, you want to ride in one of the trucks?” Snake asked.
Lindsey heard a growl escape Helga.
“No, thanks,” she said. “I’ll just ride with Wombat.”
“I will ride with you,” Helga told Snake after shooting a dark look at Lindsey.
Lindsey had to turn away to hide her grin after seeing the look of desperation on Snake’s face.
The truck at the end of the street and the car next to it both had to be moved to get the loader out of the park area, but it didn’t take long to do the job and replace the vehicles. As the bikers made their way down the streets, Billy pushed the vehicles aside as he had done earlier. The Motorcycle Mega Warehouse was their first stop. They had piled a few boxes against the doors before leaving, and the boxes were still in place.
“Let’s make it fast,” Snake said.
Besides bringing out the belongings and supplies that Kris had left behind, they picked up leather clothing in various sizes for those who hadn’t been able to join them. Snake decided that it wouldn’t hurt to have a stockpile on hand. By the time they were done, the guards outside had their hands full.
Moving on quickly, they checked the grocery store where they had first run into Helga. There hadn’t been much left before, but this time the shelves were almost bare.
“Guess we’re going to have to find a new grocery store soon,” Snake said as they returned to their vehicles.
~*~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
“Wish I could help you with that,” Bull said as Wrench helped Dr. Sharma pull the gurney out of the elevator on the fifth floor. With his left arm in a sling and little strength in either of his injured arms, physical labor was out of the question.
Wrench grinned at the other biker. “Sure you do, buddy.”
Dr. Martinez met them near the nurses’ station.
“Where do you want him?” Wrench asked the doctors.
“Let’s put him right there,” Martinez said, nodding toward an empty room. “I want him close to the nurses’ station.”
Once Chuck was taken into his room and moved into a bed, Debbie hooked up an IV and got him started on some fluids. Dr. Martinez came in and did the exam, agreeing that there were probably a couple of broken ribs.
“We’ll need to do some x-rays, but the generator’s acting up, and I’m not going to drag you all the way downstairs again until I’m sure it’s worth it. We’ll let you rest and rehydrate first.”
“Fine with me,” Chuck said, closing his eyes. “I just want to sleep.”
“He is supposed to be strapped down,” Dr. Sharma said.
“There’s no way we’re going to be able to put straps on him,” Dr. Martinez said. “We can’t do the chest straps because of his ribs. We can’t restrain his ankles and wrists because of other injuries. I’m pretty sure he’s got some other broken bones, and he’s covered with scrapes.”
“Dr. Doune will not be pleased,” she said.
“Well, Dr. Doune has never been known for his compassion,” Martinez said. “If he doesn’t like it, he can talk to me about it. I’m not doing the restraints. We’ll have two armed guards, and the door will be closed.”
When the generator sputtered to a stop again, both doctors began to move at once.
Dr. Martinez yelled over his shoulder as he hurried off, “That door is to stay closed.”
Wrench walked over and lit the lantern on the desk. Candles and lanterns had become a common sight all over the hospital since the generator had been going out so often. While dim light
seeped in from the windows, it wasn’t enough to dispel the darkness that filled the halls.
The biker disappeared into an empty room and returned with a couple of chairs, which he placed outside the door. Less than a minute later, the lights came back on as the generator started up again.
“I hate guard duty,” he sighed. “What could be more boring than sitting here outside a door, guarding someone that’s stuck in bed?”
“Standing guard outside Dr. Doom’s lab,” Bull replied. “I’ve pulled that duty a time or two.”
“At least it was down on the first floor at that time. There was some action going on,” Wrench said. “Up here? Nothing.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Bull said, fingers drumming nervously on his knee. He glanced over at the nurses’ station, wondering where they kept the meds.
One pill.
He told himself that it was all he’d need to take the edge off his pain. It would also relax him and help to get rid of the jitters.
“Turn that light off!” Chuck yelled as Debbie started to leave the room.
The RN flipped the switch off and closed the door. Bull watched her carefully as she entered and left a couple of the rooms, but she didn’t seem to be taking any meds with her.
Bull had spent some time in the hospital, back before the world had ended. He didn’t remember a lot about the accident that had put him there, except for suddenly seeing a minivan coming into his lane. He’d been told that he’d been run over by two different vehicles before traffic had finally come to a stop. He’d been stuck in a hospital bed for a month, though much of that time was a blur. It was when he’d first learned to like pain pills.
At St. Mary’s, the pharmacy was no longer in use. It had become a storage room, meaning the meds had to be somewhere else. Bull thought that they might be on the fifth floor where all the patients were. He just needed to figure out where.
When the nurse returned a while later, she dug through a drawer and produced a key, immediately getting Bull’s attention. He watched as she went down the south corridor, though he quickly lost sight of her. Standing, he pretended to stretch and finally walked to where he could see her unlocking one of the doors, though he couldn’t see the number. A few minutes later, Debbie appeared again, making her way down the hall with a tray full of small cups.
Bingo, Bull thought. He just needed to figure out how to get into the room. There was no way to do it with others around, and Wrench wasn’t likely to leave his post.
Almost half an hour later, Bull still hadn’t come up with a plan, and he was growing more anxious as thoughts of taking a pain pill or two were consuming him. Debbie had come back and was talking to Wrench, but Bull was only half-listening to the conversation.
“I figured Hawk would be up by now,” Debbie said. “He’s pretty regular with his smoke breaks. I join him when I can.”
“It’s been kind of crazy today,” Wrench pointed out.
The lights flickered then came back on. It happened two more times.
Debbie shook her head. “That’s getting annoying.”
Wrench’s reply was drowned out by the buzzing of the radio. Bull was so edgy, he almost jumped.
“Yeah?” he said, answering the call.
“It’s Jack. Is Wrench there with you?”
“He’s right here,” Bull said. “You need to talk to him?”
“Can you just send him down? I think the generator’s finally going out for good. I was hoping he could do something to keep it running until we can get the parts.”
Wrench frowned, having overheard Jack’s message. “I was afraid of that. Pretty sure it’s the injector pump. Tell him I’ll be right down.”
He asked Debbie, “Can you let the docs know that the generator is going to be down for a while?”
“Sure, I’ll warn them,” she said, taking off down the hall.
~*~
Lansing, Michigan
The group moved on to the home improvement store to see if they could find supplies for the fence they wanted to build around the park as well as other supplies on their list.
There were a couple dozen dead wandering around the parking lot of the home improvement store, but not enough of them to cause Snake much concern. Once the vehicles were shut off, the bikers began to clear the lot with their silent weapons. Helga stayed close to Snake, and Lindsey almost had to laugh at his expression. He looked like a trapped animal.
“I almost feel sorry for him,” she told Wombat, nodding toward Snake.
“Sure you do,” he laughed, pulling out his machete.
Lindsey readied her crossbow and carefully chose her shots. She tried to remember to stand and breathe correctly as she released the arrow. Her first shot skidded off the skull of a dead man, but the second one brought him down. She was able to put three of the dead to rest before the parking lot was clear. Retrieving her arrows, she cleaned them off before returning them to her quiver.
“Is that starting to feel more comfortable to you?” Wombat asked her, nodding toward the crossbow.
“It is,” she said. “I’m no expert yet, but I hope if I keep practicing, maybe I’ll get good enough to keep up with the rest of you.”
“It wouldn’t hurt for you to learn how to use other weapons, too,” Wombat mentioned.
“I have my gun,” she reminded him.
“I meant other silent weapons.”
“I’d rather not fight them that way,” Lindsey said. “I had a close encounter when we cleared the office building, and that was enough for me.”
“But what if it happens again, and you don’t have your gun or crossbow handy? You need to be able to take them out with a crowbar or a pike. And it would be good for you to know how to fight, so you can push them away or get out of their grip. It could buy you a little time to get your weapon ready.”
They began to walk toward the building as he added, “We also don’t know what kind of living people we might run up against. So far we’ve been lucky, and everyone’s been decent, but that might not always be the case.”
“That’s true,” Lindsey said. “As things get worse, I’m afraid we may see people growing a little more desperate than they’ve been so far. Do you know how to fight?”
“I had my share of brawls when I was younger,” he admitted, “and I could teach you some basics.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared, if you don’t mind teaching me,” Lindsey said as they reached the entrance of the building.
Helga and two others stayed outside to keep the parking lot clear as the rest of the group got ready to go inside. Snake called into the store before making an attempt to enter. The yell brought two zombies from the depths of the building, and Snake stepped back to let a couple of the men take care of them.
“Now, remember, it’s a big place so be careful,” Snake said as they entered the building. “They could be anywhere in here. Don’t get cornered.”
“Got a crawler over here,” Fish yelled from behind a counter. He grabbed his bludgeon and made short work of it before going to look for more.
Lindsey and Wombat rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a ghoul. With a quick whip of his machete, the biker relieved the dead man of his head. He stepped back as it bounced on the ground, teeth still snapping. A fast jab through the ear finished it off.
Lindsey had her crossbow, but she knew she probably wouldn’t be able to use it inside the store. With the aisles blocking her view, there was too much of a risk of hitting a live person. Wombat was right. She needed to learn to use other weapons.
Within ten minutes, the store was cleared. Snake pulled out his list and tore it into segments.
“Electrical,” he said, holding up one of the pieces.
One of the bikers grabbed it and took off with a few of the others.
“Lumber.”
“Got it,” Wombat said, taking the paper.
Lindsey decided to tag along with his group as Snake continued to hand out assignments.
“Time’s up!” they heard Snake call from the front of the store a while later. “Everybody out!”
By the time they got outside, Helga already had a pile of bodies in the center of the parking lot. Others were jumping in to help, but there were a number of dead who were still on their feet.
“Where’s Mouse?” Snake asked, looking around. He let out a long sigh. “Someone better go back in and get him.”
~*^*~
~18~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
Bull let Jack know that Wrench was going to come down. With the other biker gone, Bull hoped that he could get the pills before Debbie came back. He stood up, ready to move down the hall.
“Don’t let Wrench leave until someone else gets there,” Jack said. “I’ll send someone up to take his place.”
Bull swore silently, squeezing the radio a little tighter until he remembered the conversation that the nurse had just had with Wrench.
“Can you send Hawk up?” he asked.
There was some muffled conversation in the background then Jack said, “He’s on his way. Have Wrench come down as soon as Hawk gets there.”
“Will do,” Bull said, setting the radio down. The seconds seemed like hours as he waited.
Within a few minutes, Dr. Martinez returned with Debbie, who was telling him about the generator.
“It’s going to get crazy as soon as that generator goes off,” the doctor said. “I’m going to check on our new patient while I can.”
Bull frowned, hoping the doctor wasn’t going to be there long enough to screw up his plans. He listened as Dr. Martinez entered the room, only to be met with a tirade from the patient.