by Bob Howard
Even through the pain, Perry screamed at Whitney.
"You promised me, Whitney. You promised me."
She could see there were tears on his cheeks, but he was being more brave than she thought she ever would be. Without thinking, she raised her gun and fired two shots, one for Harold Thornton III and one for her good friend Perry.
Olivia made it up six flights before she started to slow down. She made it two more floors before she sat down on the stairs and started to cry. The two gunshots came from somewhere below, but they were muffled. She pushed herself up from the stairs and went through the door of the tenth floor. There was a W on it.
The elevators were nearby so she ran over to them and pressed the button to go up. When the door opened to the middle elevator, she expected to find the thing inside that had been chasing her. As she got in she noticed the numbers on the left elevator were steadily coming up from eighteen. She didn't think the infected dead could push an elevator button, but she didn't want to find out. She stabbed at the button for the first floor repeatedly, hoping she would get to there before the other elevator.
It seemed like it took forever for the door to close, and then it seemed like it took even longer for the elevator to go from the tenth floor to the first floor. When it finally opened, Olivia ran out just as the first door opened. She screamed when she saw Whitney standing there with a gun pointed limply at the floor. Whitney was wracked by sobbing and shook from head to toe.
Sam ran out of the control room to see what was happening and found Olivia helping Whitney walk from the elevator. She couldn't talk, and she was shaking her head from side to side.
"Where's Perry?" asked Sam. "He was with you when you went down there."
Sam sounded frantic and kept trying to look around Whitney and Olivia into the empty elevator.
"He's not coming," said Whitney. "He's gone."
Now it was Sam's turn to cry. He knew what must've happened, and even though Perry had picked on him from time to time, he had still been like a brother.
"Maybe he's okay," he choked out at Whitney. "Maybe we could go down and bring him back up here."
Whitney just slowly shook her head at Sam. She knew Sam had probably been the cause of this, but she felt more sorry for him than mad. She knew he would blame himself no matter how long he lived from this day forward.
Olivia was piecing it all together. She didn't know about the promise between Whitney and Perry, and she didn't know that Whitney had ended it for Perry, but she understood that Perry was dead, and Whitney had a gun in her hand. She also saw something unspoken between Whitney and Sam that said it wasn't their fault, whatever it was that had happened.
"Whitney?" asked Olivia. "Can you tell me if there's still an infected in the bottom floor?”
"Not anymore," she answered barely above a whisper.
"Was there just that one?"
Whitney looked like she was thinking it over for a moment then shook her head.
"I only saw one, but I didn't go in every room."
Sam was crying, but he managed to add that he only saw one old guy, and he went in a lot of rooms trying to get away from it.
Olivia helped Whitney and Sam to the control room and scanned the monitors that showed the harbor. The Coast Guard ship was tied to the end of the dock, and she could see the men helping to steer a plane into position at the long side of the dock.
The adults were all excited and ready to move on from Fort Sumter when they came down the ladders into the shelter. They expected to find Olivia and the kids just as excited, but when they saw the tear streaked faces and that Perry wasn't with the others, they didn't need a crystal ball to know something bad had happened.
The Chief, Tom, and I took and elevator and headed for the bottom floor without hesitation. Kathy took Whitney and Sam to another room to see what she could do to get them calm. Bus went along because the obvious had to be done. They would need to check the three of them for bite marks. Olivia was content to let Chase check her, but Bus and Kathy both said she had to come with them. There was no guarantee that Chase would tell them if Olivia had been bitten.
On the bottom floor, it didn't take long to find where it had happened. We saw that Whitney had done Perry the ultimate favor, and she hadn't missed. We searched through the rooms and found the massive laundry area. There were sheets still in their packages, so we took two we could use to wrap the bodies in and carried them to an elevator. Bus told us there was a morgue on the third floor near the main surgical suites, and we decided that was a better place for Perry than trying to take him outside.
As we rode in silence up to the third floor, the Chief checked the pockets of the infected dead and found a wallet. When he flipped it open, he was surprised by the name on the Washington, DC license.
"This explains the crashed helicopter topside," said the Chief, "but how the hell did he wind up as an infected all the way down on the bottom floor?"
He showed the license to us, and we were just as surprised.
"Wasn't he like number three in line for the Presidency, Chief?" I asked.
"As far as I know, yes. I hope the President and Vice President did better than him."
When the elevator doors opened, we carried the bodies to the morgue and found they had sealed drawers. There wasn't much we could say after closing the drawers so we just went back to the elevators and rode to the first floor without talking.
Kathy and Bus met us at the control room and reported that no one had any bite marks. The common opinion was that there had only been one infected dead on the bottom floor, and we were all being tough on ourselves because we had not taken the time to check all of the floors below.
The Chief said, "We sent the kids down there to inventory stock, and it never occurred to us that there could have been an infected dead down there. Hell, there could have been one on every floor for all we knew."
"Don't blame yourself, Chief. We all agreed the rest of this place was safe," said Kathy.
"Maybe we did get a little careless," he argued. "We made an assumption, and that got one of us killed. We have to be smarter. Ed's uncle wouldn't be saying we've been thinking like survivors."
"Speaking of surviving, Chief. We don't have time to worry about what's happened," I said. "We have most of the day left. What do you say about getting this job done?"
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Old Friends
Jean had to make a decision. The longer she left Captain Miller and his soldiers out there, the greater the danger for them. They looked like they were here to stay, and they looked like they were setting up a fine perimeter against the infected dead, but someone had blown up the Russian ship sitting in their moat, and whoever they were, they were still out there, too. There were also those men in the gunboats, and she didn't want to see them kill and any US soldiers.
Captain Miller had periodically rebroadcast his message asking for Chief Barnes, and Jean was tempted to answer, but something kept her from just pushing that microphone button.
"Aunt Jean, there's a man outside the front door."
Molly had been watching the camera feeds from all around the island. If the rest of their group came back, they would see the large encampment on the beach and might try to enter through one of the emergency hatches. Jean wished over and over again that she could make radio contact with Eddie so she could tell him about the Army being outside.
"Aunt Jean?"
Jean had heard Molly, but she didn't react because she was so deep in thought.
"I'm sorry, Molly. I didn't mean to ignore you. What's the man doing?"
"He wants to talk to the Chief, and if the Chief isn't here, he wants to talk with someone who can tell him where the Chief is."
Jean was confused about how Molly knew so much about what the man wanted, so she looked at the monitor. Captain Miller was holding up a sign in front of the camera that said exactly what Molly had told her.
Before Jean could change her mind, she keyed the micr
ophone button and said, "Miller, this is Barnes."
They could see the Captain react outside, and it was the smile that convinced her she had done the right thing. Captain Miller looked ecstatic.
Before he could answer, she keyed again and said, "Unsecured transmission."
The Captain stopped short of pressing his radio button then said, "Roger, awaiting instructions."
Jean thought about her choice of words. She saw that Molly was watching her intently. Above all, she had to be sure Molly stayed safe.
"Molly, I need for you to do something for me. I'm going to have him come inside alone. On my signal, I want you to push this button."
Jean showed her the button, and Molly said she understood. Being a bright girl, Jean had explained all of the controls to her. She knew that button would lock the door from the inside, and the only way out would be if you knew the combination.
Jean keyed the microphone and said, "Door will open in five if all clear except Miller."
She was pleased to see he didn't hesitate. It was a good sign when the men standing guard by the door hurried down to join the rest of the soldiers. Captain Miller looked at his watch then went to stand by the big vault door that kept Mud Island secure.
At five minutes, the big wheel lock rotated, and the door swung silently open on its massive hinges. Captain Miller stepped wide eyed into the outer room. Jean enjoyed his expression. Everyone who saw the inside of Mud Island was impressed by the outer rooms, then they got a real shock and saw the main rooms.
The Captain had barely gotten inside the door when it began to close. He got out of the way and watched the lock spin until there was an audible sound from the metal pins that slid into their slots. He turned and was surprised that there was a cute little pregnant woman standing in the next doorway watching him.
Jean already knew about the promise Captain Miller had made about owing Chief Joshua Barnes a favor at Fort Jackson, but Captain Miller wouldn't know who she was.
"Hello, Captain Miller. I'm Jean. Forgive me, but we have some rules about letting people come inside Mud Island. I need for you to get naked, please."
Captain Miller was the kind of man the men and women in his unit respected. That was in part due to the fact that he led by example. He was genuinely shy around forward women, and despite the fact they were in the middle of an apocalypse, he reacted as if Jean was being personal. He blushed and couldn't even speak.
"Don't worry, Captain. I wasn't making a pass at you. I need to check you for bite marks. I'm a nurse, and I'm pregnant, so I'm not just using that as an excuse to check out the package."
Jean smiled, but inside she was laughing. She was trying not to let it out and was losing the battle. She had never referred to it as the "package" before, and she had said it to sound tough, but it had come across funnier sounding than she thought it would.
Captain Miller was a deep shade of red as he took off his uniform.
"Just out of curiosity," he said, "what would you have done if I had refused?"
"You wouldn't ever be able to get back outside to your men and women," she said, "and if I know anything about officers, their people are family. Besides, I think you understand."
He did understand, and she was right about his people. He wanted them to be safe and he wouldn't sacrifice them for permanent safety for himself. He felt really exposed, but he finished undressing and then rotated in a circle with his arms spread.
"Satisfied?" he asked.
"Don't misinterpret yes as being enthusiasm," she said. "Just take it as appreciation for easing my mind."
Despite being caught off guard, Captain Miller liked this little pixie brunette with the courage to make him follow the rules. As he put his uniform back on he told her they had a similar procedure in place for his troops.
That was good news to Jean. So far, she and her friends had seen enough examples of people hiding their bites and then infecting others. Families protecting family members, friends protecting friends, shipmates protecting shipmates, and most likely soldiers protecting soldiers. They may be even worse about it because of their rule never to leave a fellow soldier behind.
"When we make camp, all soldiers, myself included, have to report in at the medical tent once per hour for examination. After we have contact with the dead, everyone gets inspected at the same time. This may be the longest we've gone without having someone else check my package. When we're on the move, we try to stop every two or three hours for an examination. From what we've seen, there have been more units killed and ships sunk by ignoring that rule. People just don't want to admit when they've been bitten."
"That has been our experience, as well, Captain. Thank you for understanding," said Jean.
Jean motioned for her guest to follow her, and he couldn't wait. When he stepped through the door, the first thing he saw was the decontamination room, and he had the decency to say he was impressed, but when he stepped through the hatch and walked into the main living room, he couldn't speak.
Molly came up to stand close to Jean, and Captain Miller introduced himself. Molly was polite but suspicious, and he sensed it.
Before he could reassure her that they weren't the bad guys, Jean took the lead again.
"Captain Miller, we realize you could take what we have, but we hope you aren't that kind of person. We'll be more than happy to give you some supplies, let your people get some hot showers, and even wash your clothes for you, but you made a promise to Chief Barnes, and we hope you keep it."
Captain Miller gave Jean his best smile and said, "Jean, when I told that group out there we found Chief Barnes, all they wanted to do was shake his hand."
He looked around at the monitors, the furniture, and the overall living conditions. All he could do was shake his head. He could see into the kitchen and dining area and knew someone had put everything they had into this place.
"I didn't see the plane out there. The Chief's not here?"
"No, but I'm hoping they'll be back soon. We lost our main power cable when someone blew up a ship that was sitting in the waterway between the island and the mainland."
Jean led Captain Miller into the kitchen and got him a cup of coffee, which he breathed in as if he hadn't enjoyed the experience in a long time. After she got him situated at the table with the coffee and a slice of pie, he looked like he wasn't sure of what to do or say next.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Jean.
Molly sat down next to the Captain with a piece of pie for herself and a glass of chocolate milk. He looked at Molly, and Jean could see that he was choked up with emotion and most likely couldn't swallow. He had tears in his eyes that were just starting to reach the point of rolling out.
"I'm so sorry," he said, "but it almost feels normal here. How did you do all this, I mean this is incredible?"
Jean sat down with her own coffee and told Captain Miller about Uncle Titus, the cruise ship, how they met Eddie, and everything since. When she got to the part about how they took Molly and her father to Alabama and brought back Molly's mother, Captain Miller explained how Chief Barnes had saved hundreds of soldiers by pulling one of the craziest stunts he had ever seen. She told him that was just the way the Chief does everything.
She went on with her story and told him about the Russian ship that had arrived out of nowhere. She explained about that they captured her and she almost died on the ship. When she told him about her fever after being scratched, he told her that answered one question. They didn't know if a scratch was as fatal as a bite, and now they knew. His best theory was that the virus became active if it transferred in bodily fluids like saliva or blood.
Jean said, "As I told you, I'm an RN, and I didn't want to test the theory first hand, but since the body is mostly water, I would worry about sweat, blood, and saliva. I don't know why they still have saliva, but I don't plan to do an autopsy on one to find out."
The Captain ate some of his pie and took a swallow of coffee. From the look on his face, she could
tell he appreciated both.
"The last the Chief said about you guys was that you were probably on a ship north of here at a place called the Norfolk Canyon?"
Captain Miller kept chewing, but there was a pause. He took another swallow of coffee, and Jean refilled his cup.
"I still can't believe you have coffee," he said.
"We have enough for all of your people, Captain. I'll get it for you if you want."
"That'd be great, Jean," but I'll answer your question first.
"We were trying to put together a counter strike from a carrier group over the Norfolk Canyon. It was close enough to the mainland for us to put together a pretty good effort, but we kept running into problems. The Chief and the rest of your group came along during one of our attempts to establish a forward base. That's why we were at Fort Jackson. The problem was that you just can't underestimate what those things can do. The sheer numbers of them, the fact that they aren't afraid to die, and the fact that only head shots can kill them are all things that make them hard to beat."
"You tried again?" asked Jean.
"Repeatedly," said Captain Miller, “and getting the brass to understand the logistics was a nightmare. They kept insisting that we bring back any civilians we found alive, especially VIP's. They sent us into DC to look for the President even though everyone knew he had to be in hiding somewhere. We finally found someone from the Vice President's security detail, and even though he had a bad bite mark, the brass insisted on bringing him back. The next thing we knew, we were fighting for our lives on our own ships. The last time we saw the carrier we were staying on, there were people jumping overboard to get away from the infected. We escaped in several helicopters, but none were completely fueled, and we had to abandon them up the coast."