It shouldn’t have, but it made me sort of chuckle. It wasn’t the first beating Lev had taken. He was still healing from the broken leg and being shot.
“When do you want to go?” I asked.
“As soon as possible. It’s still early in the day.”
“Beaver Valley. We haven’t been that way. I’m not sure what stage the infected are in. But we’ll try.”
“Fleck can take me. In fact, you’re our best shot if something happens.”
“Yeah, but I’d feel better with Fleck here. He’s a good shot too and he stands a better chance of moving Lev than I do, if need be.”
“Agreed. Let me walk Bella through what she needs to do, and if you’re up for it, we’ll head out.”
I nodded, then walked outside to find Fleck.
It was amazing to me that when the whole thing started it was just my family. My father, husband, stepmother and children. We’d gone to the cabin, one we had ready to go, on my brother’s advice. It was just us, until we arrived and found Cade had claimed squatters’ rights to our cabin. His medical knowledge and immediate reaction to jump and help my husband who had been bitten, sealed him a place in the cabin and in all of our hearts. Lev’s family owned the neighboring campground and before long he joined us. But one by one, we died off. Then my brother’s arrival was the finishing touch.
Too much to think about, but life gave us another shot. Gave us more people to care about. In a way that sucked, because that was possibly more ways to get emotionally hurt.
Fleck and Bella had joined us right after we had been attacked and removed from our camp. They were with a larger group who were also attacked by the same people. With them was Christina, a young pregnant woman who was injured. Ben delivered her baby boy before she had died. I thought it was ridiculous at first to bring a baby, one who cries, into a world where a single noise could be a death sentence.
They named him Christian, after his mother, and Bella, the teenage girl who was probably reckless and mischievous, took on the role of his mother.
It was good to have them with us. I liked them.
Fleck was a no-nonsense, straightforward person. A bulky guy who had wrestled in an independent circuit. He always wore a bandana on his head. I never saw him without it, so it was hard to say if he was hiding hair or not.
Fleck was a worker, never lazy and was unloading the station wagon when I stepped outside.
“Hey.” I walked up to him.
“Hey.” He pulled items out from the back. “How’s Lev?”
“Stable. Ben and I are gonna take a ride to the hospital to get supplies.”
“I figured that was gonna be needed.”
“Yeah, so are you okay staying here?” I asked.
“Yeah, you sure you want to go? I mean, you had an ordeal.”
“I’d feel better with you here. There’s an extra can of gas in the shed if you…” I noticed that Fleck had paused in removing things. “What’s wrong?”
He lifted the wrench I had used the night before. It was covered with a dark brownish red substance. I knew what it was.
“Nila, what the hell?” He showed me.
“Don’t ask.”
“Alright, I won’t. I’ll get the car ready for you.”
I thanked him and told him I wanted to check on Lev and Katie before I headed out again. I was tired and a part of me worried I wasn’t in the best shape to make the trip, but I had to.
Katie was awake, sat in the living room on the couch, doodling on a tablet of paper. Her hand moved about seamlessly as she lightly hummed, almost as if she were in a trance.
“Hey, sweetie, how are you?”
“I’m fine, Mommy.”
“Do you feel like talking?”
“Nope.” She shook her head.
“Honey, I’m going with Ben to get supplies for Lev. Fleck will be here.”
“Okay.” She looked up to me. “Mommy?”
“Yes.”
“Is Lev gonna die?”
“Ben says no.”
“He’s very bad. He looks bad.”
“I know. I take it you have seen him since we got back?” I asked.
She nodded with an a-huh. “I watched Ben fix him. He put a cut right”—she pointed to her drawing—“there.”
The picture, while still on a child’s level, was clearly of a bloody Lev.
“I’m drawing so I can show him,” Katie said. “Maybe you should take a picture of him so he can see how bad he was.”
“Maybe.” I mussed with her hair, attributing her attitude to shock and went to the back room where I knew Lev was resting.
When I walked in Ben was speaking to Bella and they both stopped.
“Is he awake?”
Ben shook his head. “He won’t be for a while. I’ll be ready to go when you are.”
“Fleck’s prepping the car.” I walked to the bed. Lev looked so helpless. His face was swollen, bloodied and bruised, as were both his hands.
He had to get better, he had to.
I quietly said my goodbyes to him, assuring him I’d be back. I didn’t know what was out there, infected or not, dangerous or barren, but it didn’t matter. It was for Lev. And if it were me in that bed, it wouldn’t matter to him either.
FOUR
PICKING
I didn’t know very much about anything medical, but I knew my surroundings and the area around the cabin. Corbin and I had previously gone to a veterinary hospital because we didn’t want to chance hitting a major hospital—something we ended up doing later, anyhow. It was hard to gauge what was waiting for us, what obstacles, and it was better to stay in rural areas rather than populated. We always had to assume the worst waited for us, and we were usually correct.
This time, though, Ben specifically said a hospital. Beaver Valley.
It was a good hour drive, and while most of it was a highway, I wondered if there was a reason he chose that one.
“I knew about it and saw it when we went to The Green,” Ben explained, referencing the safe camp that we had found overrun. “It was pretty accessible when we passed it, no barricades, not a lot of traffic. Why do you ask?”
“Because there’s a hospital in Cranberry that would take us half the time to get to.”
“Yes, but didn’t we determine Cranberry was pretty blocked by traffic?”
“Coming from the city, yes,” I replied. “They barricaded that. But when we did the highway, there wasn’t much blocking the exits and the area where the hospital is, that’s pretty spread out. The hospital is on its own grounds.”
“Do you think we’d be able to get close to a door at the hospital? We’ll be searching for a lot of supplies. And Cranberry is backtracking.”
“Not really backtracking. Maybe a little, but I’m sure,” I said. “It’s set pretty far back from the road. We’ll be able to get to it. That’s a lot of grounds to be filled with cars and dead.”
“You’re sure?” Ben asked.
“Very sure.”
And I was.
Then we stopped on the highway. Just before the exit.
I was pointing out where it was and that we could see the hospital from the road, when Ben suggested we pull over and take a look before we get out.
It was a good thing we did.
Where had they all come from?
The usually green grounds that surrounded the hospital were covered with vehicles. All types packed in so tightly that not a spot of grass could be seen. It was if they’d all driven up there trying to get in.
The spaces that were between the cars were filled with rotting bodies, or rather the remains of bodies. Worse than that, the dead, the infected that had died, meandered through, bumping into cars, squeezing by, ripping their own flesh from the bones as they did, then reaching down to pick the bones of those already ripped apart on the lawn.
“They’re still there,” I spoke softly, in shock and in awe.
“Did you think they wouldn’t be?” Ben asked.
<
br /> “Yes. I mean, after Canada, after being up north and not seeing many, I kind of thought or rather hoped…”
“They’d all died off?”
“Yes.”
“Ever think maybe Canada cleared a path, killed a whole slew off? And as for them dying off, this thing, dying off, that’s really not going to happen. As long as they”—he pointed across to the moving bodies—“are still there.”
“That’s not true; they can’t spread the virus,” I said. “A virus needs a living host. They’re dead. Cade proved that when he got bit and never got sick.”
“Maybe my son was immune like Katie or Corbin,” Ben suggested.
I winced. “Oh, no, I don’t want to think that. It was such a brilliant theory when Cade said it.”
“Alright, we’ll stick with the virus needing a living host. But they aren’t dead. The blood is still semi-red which means some oxygen remains. It’s not coagulating, it’s moving.”
“There’s no heartbeat.”
“That you can hear.” He exhaled. “Let’s get moving. We still have a long drive ahead of us.”
I don’t know why I had a reluctance to leave at that moment. Part of me wanted to stand there, study what was happening below.
We got back in the car, turned around, and started in the direction of Beaver Valley.
The highway for the most part was clear. Cars stalled on a lane here or there. I wondered why they had stopped, what caused them to do so. I imagined someone in the car that had gone from the sick stage to the infected stage, which happened quickly.
Going from slowly suffering to suddenly wanting to rip someone’s throat out.
We made it to Beaver Valley Hospital and while it was nowhere near as crammed with cars, we still couldn’t get close enough to the doors without having to walk some distance. It was going to be interesting carrying the supplies and the weapons we’d brought in case we had to fight the infected. Not that we’d brought much. We each had a gun, which we probably wouldn’t use because of the noise, and a blunt object. Mine was a tire rod—it rested in the belt of my pants. I would have grabbed the wrench but Ben claimed it first.
Concrete barriers encircled the hospital campus. The lawn and driveway were packed with military vehicles.
“While we were at the cabin,” I said, “the world fell apart. But they tried, you know. I could see how hard everyone tried to fight back. What happened? How did we lose?”
“I was on the boat,” Ben replied as we walked. “I guess those doing the fighting found they needed to fight for their families and left their posts.”
“Can you blame them? We did in our own way. If everyone had stood their ground and fought. If no one had run away, we probably wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“I wouldn’t say that. It got ahead of us before we knew it. I like to believe that someday, somehow, we’ll fight for it again. Try to bring it back, you know.”
“Ben?” I noticed we weren’t walking toward the main hospital building. “Where are we going?”
“We can get what we need there.” He pointed to the professional building next to it. “I’m sure of it. I’m also sure the hospital is pretty much, how do you keep saying, picked over.”
After a few more feet we stopped. A car was parked against the barrier. It seemed out of place. The front end was smashed, yet it didn’t appear to have hit the barrier.
The driver’s door was open. No one was inside.
Ben stared at the car.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There’s no weathering on this car.” He turned and pointed to two cars a few feet away. “This car hit those cars to get here.” He walked to the car.
“What are you doing?”
After reaching in, he withdrew his hand and rolled his fingers together. “This blood isn’t that old.”
“Oh, Ben.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. “Wipe that off.”
“Why are you carrying that?” Ben squirted some in his hand.
“Your son.”
He smiled slightly. “Next question.” He handed the bottle back to me. “Why are you not concerned with what I just said?”
“The blood is fresh. Or close to fresh.”
“I think whoever this is came here looking for something.”
“Certainly couldn’t be for help. No one is here.”
“Nila,” Ben spoke passively. “If this blood isn’t all that old, that means this person was probably bit and if he or she was, that means…”
“Infected.”
Ben nodded. “They’re somewhere. Be ready.”
There really was no way to be ready for an infected. They came out of nowhere and with a vengeance, all we could do was be diligent, eyes open, ears listening.
We could see, when we climbed over the barrier that whoever was injured had done the same. A trail of blood led to smeared bloody handprints on the concrete.
As we approached the door to the professional building, we saw the infected had done the same.
Why the medical building?
Any normal person looking for supplies would go into the hospital
Unless, like Ben, they knew they could get what they needed there. Or, maybe, they knew they were dying and just needed someplace to do so.
That was probably wishful thinking and giving the infected far too much credit.
Ben looked inside the building before opening the door. After a beat, we stepped inside.
It was dark with the exception of the light that came in through the windows. The lobby was large with a high ceiling that exposed the entire second floor, and an open staircase leading up. There was a counter desk in the middle directly in front of the elevators.
Ben walked to the directory. “We’re in luck. Second floor.”
“How do you know?”
“Plastic surgeon—we do a lot of procedures in the office.”
As we turned toward the stairs, I heard it.
The all too familiar snarl of an infected.
It was somewhere, I just had to pinpoint where.
I looked one way, Ben another, until I heard the running. Then I knew, it was coming from above.
Just as I looked up, the infected barreled across the second floor directly our way. Only he didn’t stop. He ran into the railing and toppled straight over, landing with a thud on the floor not three feet from us.
It only took a second before he jerked, twitched and began to get up.
Ben reached for the wrench and I pulled the rod out.
“I got this,” I told him, both hands holding the object as I walked over to the infected while he was still near the floor.
I had every intention of raising it and with all my might, impaling him in the head. In fact, I did those exact motions, but the end of the rod didn’t penetrate the skull and the force of the connection vibrated the metal object sending a painful shock into my hands.
“Damn it, why doesn’t that work?” I asked, frustrated.
“The skull is a lot tougher than you think.” Ben wound back the wrench.
As the infected began to stand, Ben wielded the wrench, cracking him in the back of the head. The infected went down.
“Is he dead?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I think.” Ben nudged him with his foot.
The infected didn’t budge…at first. Then suddenly, he snarled and grabbed onto Ben’s leg. Ben, still holding the wrench, nailed him again.
“He is now,” Ben said. Using his shoe, he rolled the body over. There was a bite mark across the front of his throat. “Bet this is our car driver.” He started to walk away.
“I think we should hit him again.”
“Nila…”
“Just to be sure, let’s hit him again.”
“Be my guest.”
I had every intention, and when I raised my tire rod, I looked at him.
His eyes were open but they were lifeless. The familiar black veins created a spid
er web across his cheek. He was young, maybe in his twenties with darker hair. It was wavy and in that instant, I saw more than an infected.
His eyes were green, they hadn’t lost their color yet; his lips were full and parted showing his slightly imperfect teeth
That look right there made me see him…he was human.
He was helpless and had probably been scared in those last moments of his life. The young man on the floor wasn’t a monster, he had been sick. He was somebody’s child. Some mother out there loved him, wanted the best for him, had worried about him every single second after the outbreak occurred.
It broke my heart for him and for his mother, and I was about to do a repeat performance and desecrate him.
No, I couldn’t.
I don’t know what happened to me in that second, why suddenly I saw the face of humanity in a being that would tear me apart.
“Nila,” Ben called my name.
I hooked the tire rod back onto my belt and before joining Ben, I crouched down and closed the young man’s eyes. “I’m sorry for what happened to you.”
“Ready?” Ben asked.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod and followed him.
That young man was the last surprise guest we saw on the hospital grounds. On the supply run we saw others, some on the road, by cars, some just wandering, but they weren’t a threat. We managed to get all the items on Ben’s list from the professional building and take it back to the wagon in two trips. As we had time, we also stopped at the Costco. Surprisingly, it hadn’t been picked clean.
We’d been away long enough.
For the time being, we had the things we needed. Now Lev needed us so we headed back.
FIVE
TIME BEING
“I had a revelation,” I said to Lev. He didn’t hear me, or at least didn’t acknowledge I had said anything. He hadn’t woken up the entire time Ben and I were gone, but on the positive side, Bella said he did stir.
He wasn’t going to react, but I wanted to talk to him anyhow.
“Yeah, my revelation. The infected…are people. I know. I know, I can hear you.” I did a close Lev imitation. “Nila, we know this, we know they are people, what else would they be?”
My Dead World 3 Page 2