Jack parked the truck, and the two got out. They both had their masks down. Wanda was crying. She ran up to Brenda and hugged her.
"Oh God, I thought you were dead," she said.
Jack looked at me and nodded a greeting. He looked like he'd been crying, too.
"Where's Hunter?" Wanda said. "Is he okay? I saw the two of you on the roof and--"
"Hunter went back in," Brenda said. "I told him not to, but Jamal was on that fire truck...."
Both women hugged each other again.
"Are they coming?" Ed asked.
"Some are," Jack said. "But we lost...we lost...um....some didn't make it."
Ed shook his head.
"I told him it was too dangerous," he said. "That cocky sumbitch."
"Well, we agreed to do it," Jack said. "So I guess it's on all of us."
"It ain't on me," Ed said. "Don't you put it on me neither. I had my say on it."
Jack looked up at the sky then down at his boots. I felt like I was intruding, so I went back inside.
A few minutes later I was sitting at the table with Sara when I heard a vehicle pull up outside. Loud voices got close to the door. The front door opened. Wanda and Brenda came in first. Wanda was still crying.
"...y'all did what y'all was supposed to do, it wouldn't have happened!" said a new voice.
"What are you talking about?!" Jack said. "We did everything right."
"That engine siren should have started up the very second they got word about the batteries, and you and Wanda should have been drawing them away with your horn. We talked about that."
Jack and the new guy walked in.
The new guy looked at us.
"Who is this, and why are they drinking our coffee?"
"Don't be like that, Nathan," Brenda said. "They saved my life and Hunter's life."
Nathan stared at us a little longer then nodded.
"Sorry," he said. "It's been a bad day, but I guess you know that."
"Yeah," I said.
He stepped up to us, extending his hand.
"Nathan Camp," he said. "I appreciate your help out there."
"Sure," I said, shaking his hand.
He was loud when he talked, loud when he walked, loud when he moved, and his handshake was entirely too hard; I didn't like him.
"Thanks for the coffee," I said.
He stared at Sara a little longer than necessary then went to the office.
"Don't go in there," Brenda said, "Dr. Barr is helping one of their friends--"
Nathan opened the door anyway. I could see Jen on the desk in just her underwear. Dr. Barr was checking her ribs while Connie bandaged her leg.
"Hey!" Dr. Barr said. "I have a patient!"
Nathan didn't apologize or make an effort to leave.
"I need to talk to you, Travis," he said.
"I'm naked here! Shut the door, asshole!" Jen yelled.
He closed the door and without another word went into the garage.
He came back with a shotgun.
"I'm going back for them," he said. "Jack, Ed, and the new guy are with me.”
Jack went outside.
I didn't move.
Ed looked at the floor.
"Come on, boys," Nathan said. "You earn your keep."
"I've earned my keep plenty today," I said. "I'm not going with you. I need to be with Jen."
"The hell you're not."
"I am not," I said. "We're not staying anyway. We just came to drop off Brenda and see the doctor."
He glared at me.
"There are real people out there," he said. "You understand? Real people that ain't sick. They need help."
"I do understand," I said. "I'm sorry."
He pushed Ed aside and walked out without another word.
Brenda, Wanda, and Ed were quiet after Nathan left and wouldn't look at me.
After a few minutes, Dr. Barr came out of the office, poured himself some coffee, and sat at the table with us.
"Connie is helping Jen get dressed," he said. "She said I could talk to you. My guess is that the bullet went into her leg, struck the femur, and then changed direction, exiting out the side of the leg. She was lucky, because if it had gone the other way it could have hit the femoral artery, and there would have been nothing I could do about that; she would have bled to death. Also, it is fortunate that she didn't go into shock. She's a tough girl."
I nodded.
"Obviously, I don't have x-ray equipment here. I'm going to guess that her femur is fractured. She needs to stay off that leg for a while. I'm going to put it in a splint to immobilize it. I'm not going to stitch the bullet wounds; they need to drain. I gave her a tetanus shot, too. Connie and I went into the hospital and pharmacy and took a lot of meds a couple of days after everything happened, so she got the best treatment I was able to give here. It's not ideal, but--"
"What about her neck?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said. "I was coming to that. It looks kind of nasty. We have someone in our group--a boy named Jamal--who had a bite like that on his arm. The human mouth is full of bacteria anyway, and I guess for these...things...it's ten times worse. It just didn't want to heal. I'm going to give her a course of antibiotics to take over the next few days. Nathan and Jack probably wouldn't like me doing that, so we aren't going to tell them."
He gave me a look to make sure I understood. I nodded.
"Okay," he said. "Also, her ribs might be cracked or bruised, too. They were very tender. I wrapped them, but that is the best I can do. Nathan is really keeping an eye on our pain meds, so I would suggest you going to Wal-Mart or one of the pharmacies for some ibuprofen. If you find some stronger pain meds, don't give them to her without asking me first about dosage."
"So we can go now? I get the impression Nathan doesn't like me much."
"Nathan comes on kind of strong," Dr. Barr said. "No, I would prefer if she stayed here for a day or so, so I can keep an eye on those holes in her leg and see how the antibiotics are working."
"Okay," I said.
I looked at Sara and she nodded.
"On the upside," Dr. Barr said, "at least I didn't have to dig around in her leg looking for that bullet."
Connie came out of the office and told us it was okay to see Jen.
Jen was sitting up on the desk with her injured leg stretched out in front of her on a splint and her other leg hanging off the side.
She was wearing a blue and white long-sleeved dress. It was a little big on her, but she looked nice in it.
"You doing okay?" I asked Jen.
She shrugged.
"The doctor said we should stay," I said.
"Yeah," she said. "I'm sorry."
"I'm just glad there was a doctor and medicine. I was really worried about you."
"Shut the door, okay?" she said.
Sara went over and closed it.
"When Connie was in here, and it was just me and her, she was asking me if she could come with us," Jen whispered. "She doesn't like it here."
"What did you tell her?" Sara said.
"I told her it wasn't up to me. I really don't want her to, but she's a registered nurse, and it might be good to have her around."
"Why hasn't she left?”
"By herself? She can't get anyone to leave with her. She said a couple of others aren't happy either, but they like the electricity, and they're afraid to go out on their own."
"They do have a nice setup here," I said.
"She told me she overheard some of the men talking one night after everyone had gone to bed. They were talking about trying to find young women in child-bearing years....you know, to continue the human race and all that."
"Oh," I said, puzzled.
It seemed kind of early to be talking like that. It was a bad time to be having children. Frankly, if the talk did indeed happen, I think their motives were probably baser. They were probably all thinking about the sex they weren't having and were using something altruistic like the continuance of the human race in th
eir conversation to justify something less than consensual. Jen was right; they were turning into cavemen.
"She's the only woman in her group that falls into that category," Jen continued. "All the other women here are either close to or past menopause."
I didn't think that mattered.
"Oh," I said again. "Have they tried to pressure her?"
"I don't know," Jen said. "She didn't really have time to tell me more. I don't want a bunch of extra people living with us, but I don't want a woman to be forced into being a baby machine, either."
Again, I doubted it was about babies.
"She should come with us," Sara said.
"Sometimes men sit around and bullshit," I said. "They were probably drinking and shooting off at the mouth. There may not be anything to it--"
Sara and Jen rolled their eyes at the same time.
"--but," I continued, "I don't like that Nathan guy at all, and the sooner we can get away from him, the better."
"Nathan," Jen said. "That's his name. Connie doesn't like him either."
"Whatever you two do, don't mention where we are living now, and—“
"I lied to Connie and Travis," Jen said. "I told them we were living north of town near the chicken plant."
"Good," I said. "We don't know if we can trust them."
"I'm sorry we can't go ahead and leave," Jen said. "I suppose we could...."
"No," I said, "I don't want to risk you getting worse. Then we'd have to come back out here. It is best if we stay cordial; we never know if we'll need Dr. Barr to help us again."
"I think he'd help us again," Sara said. "He's really nice."
"He's a sweetie pie," Jen said.
An obvious look passed between Jen and Sara that was easy to interpret, but I didn't say anything about it.
"Travis asked if we'd be joining them," Jen said.
"You mean staying here with them permanently?"
"Yeah."
"No," I said. "I'm not interested in that."
"Good," Jen said with a smile.
"I really think Connie should come with us, if she wants to," Sara said.
There was a knock on the door. Sara opened it. It was Brenda.
"I'm sorry to intrude," she said. "Would y'all like something to eat?"
"I don't want to eat your food," I said. "I know you all will need it."
"It's alright," she said. "You’re guests. I don't think three extra burgers are going to break us."
"Burgers?" Jen said.
"Yes," Brenda said. "We brought in two chest freezers about three days ago. We have lots of meat and ice cream and--"
"Ice cream?" Jen said.
"You'll eat with us," Brenda said. "It'll be a very late lunch or early supper. I really don't have much of an appetite after today, so if Nathan says something we'll just tell him that y'all are eating my, Hunter's, and Jamal's rations."
She started crying.
"I'm sorry, Brenda," I said.
Sara went up to her and hugged her.
"We're okay, Ms. Brenda," Sara said. "We ain't hungry, neither.”
Sara and I left the office so Jen could rest. We sat in the break room area and looked at magazines. I was hungry, and I could hear Sara's stomach growling, too. We could smell the burgers being cooked in the garage, and I wished we had accepted Brenda's offer.
Connie came in carrying a tray. She opened the office door, and presented Jen with a plain hamburger and some beans. Jen looked out at us.
"Eat as much as you can," Connie said. "You need the protein to help you heal."
She left the office and looked at us.
"I'll bring yours right out," she said.
I was relieved.
The front door opened, and three new men walked in. Two were just a little older than me and one was sixty or more. They looked haggard and sad.
They stopped when they saw us and said hello. Connie came in with our food. When she saw the men, she called out into the garage that the men were back.
"We've been so worried," she said to them, "we didn't know who made it and who didn't."
"It was bad," one of them said. "We tried to lead them away, but it took a while. We never did find Brenda or Hunter."
"Brenda is here," Connie said. "Hunter didn't make it."
"Jamal, Anne, and Willy didn't either," one of them said.
"Nathan and Jack have gone out to look for you and the others," Connie said, setting our food in front of us.
The three men stared at us. I didn't know what they were thinking, but I doubted they liked that we were eating their food after a day like today. They were probably angry and looking for someone to take it out on.
"We drove out to the church like we were supposed to, but nobody ever showed," one said. "Mr. Peterson, Linda, and Pat were supposed to be waiting there for us."
"We haven't seen them," Connie said. "Maybe Nathan will find them."
Nathan and Jack returned an hour later alone. They'd had no luck locating the other missing people from their group. I suspected the others had decided to live somewhere else and had slipped away.
Everyone was upset over the losses. Seven people from their group hadn't come back, and even though they'd only been together for a little more than a week, it was easy for me to imagine how difficult it must be for them.
Sara and I tried to stay out of their way by hiding out in the office with Jen. We could hear some loud discussions going on in the garage. I couldn't hear all of what was being said, but some of it was over the failed plan to eradicate the infected, and some of it was about us. Nathan played a big part in both.
After a few minutes, Nathan stepped in the doorway. Jack and one of the other men were behind him. Nathan was at least a head taller than the other men and half as broad. His wavy reddish-brown hair was singed on the left side of this head, and his left ear had a bandage on it.
"What are you still doing here?" he said.
"The doctor said Jen needed to stay and--"
"What are you still doing here?"
"We're with her," I said.
"If you don't pull your weight around here you have to go," he said, "and all you've done is mooch our food and take a coffee break when people needed your help."
"I don't--"
"You ain't welcome here," he said. "It's been decided that you should go."
"Decided by whom?"
"There is a chain of command around here. We have to keep things orderly to keep people fed and safe. I’m not going to have anyone here that doesn’t do their share. Like the Bible says, if you don’t work, then you don’t eat."
"I'd be happy to go, just as soon as the doctor says Jen is able."
"No," Nathan said. “She’s hurt, and she’s hurt because Hunter shot her. I figure we owe her a little something for that. I’ll let her stay until she’s well enough, but you have to go now.”
"I'm not leaving her.”
“Then take her with you. Either way, I want you gone.”
"Stop," Jen said. "They'll go."
"What?" I said. "Jen, I--"
"It's okay," she said. "Come back in a couple of days and get me."
Then she looked at Nathan and the other two.
"Would you three excuse us?"
"You've got five minutes," Nathan said.
"Make it four," Jen said.
They stepped away from the door and Sara closed it.
"Assholes," Jen said.
"Jen, are you crazy?" I said. "I'm not leaving you. I'm--"
"Please shut up for a second," she said. "I want you and Sara to go back to Wal-Mart before it gets too dark and get the stuff we collected. I'm not going to be getting around much for a while, and we need those supplies more now than before."
"But we can get that later. I'm still going to have to find food."
"I'll be fine," she said. "That stuff might be gone later. I'll ask Connie to sit with me. It'll give me time to talk to her."
I pulled the .38 out of my coa
t pocket.
"Here," I said. "Take it. It's empty, but they don't know that."
She took the weapon and hid it under her sheet.
"I'll be okay," she said. "Come back in a couple of days. I'll leave then whether Travis says I should or not."
"We'll be back tomorrow to check on you," I said.
"Before you leave ask him if there is any medicine you should find for me."
"Jen, this is a bad idea..."
"Well, it's screwed up, that's for sure, but I'd rather hang out here with these jerks and keep my leg or my life than leave and lose one or both to infection. Travis said that could happen."
CHAPTER 36
Nathan and two of the other men stood out front to see us off. Ed held the gate for us as we pulled out.
"I really don't like leaving Jen here," I said.
"She can take care of herself," Sara said. "You know that."
"I know that," I said, "but I feel like I'm abandoning her."
"It's only for a couple of days," Sara said. "Connie and Brenda both said they would sit with her."
"It doesn't bother you?" I said.
"If it was someone else, I might be worried, but not Jen. Anyway, you know she and I aren't exactly best friends."
I nodded. I felt the urge to apologize for Jen, but I didn't.
We had not gotten very far from the high school when the big pickup showed up in my mirror. They were following us and being kind of obvious about it. The funny thing is I don't think they knew they were being obvious. These were the ones Darwin would get.
"Why would they follow us?" Sara said.
"Maybe they want to know where you and Jen live."
"We were already with them," Sara said.
"Yeah."
It seemed to me that they would have been better off feeding us, being nice to us, and making our stay in the maintenance building as comfortable as possible. It would have made their group very appealing, considering they had electricity and a doctor. Jen and Sara might have wanted to stay with them. They had a couple (or more) bad apples that were making a miserable life even more miserable. The rest of the group should lock the gate while they're gone and let the infected have them.
I didn't want to lead them back to the stables or Wal-Mart, so I stuck with Jen's story and headed north. I didn't want to go too far because it was already late afternoon, and it would be dark soon.
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