Before Safe Haven_Lucy

by Christopher Artinian

  Mike grimaced as the needle went into his arm. He looked away, hearing the hiss of the syringe as it slowly filled with his blood. His eye twitched a little as he thought back to the blood he had seen earlier that morning.

  “Okay, all done. I’m out of lollipops, though, I’m afraid.” She smiled as she put a small plaster over the needle mark. “All righty then. If you could strip down for me while I get this labelled.”

  Mike was clearly embarrassed but did as requested. Lucy placed the phial of blood in her case next to three others and wrote out a little label which she carefully attached. She entered some more notes into her laptop, and by the time she looked up again, Mike had stripped down and was standing with his hands carefully clasped in front of him.

  “Head down, please,” she said as she flicked through his hair like she was looking for lice. She checked behind his ears, gently upturned his chin, moved one hand to the back of his head and kept one hand at the front to angle him towards the light. She extended his arms and checked both sides.

  Mike was impressed by how thorough she was, and the embarrassment of being naked dissipated with the realisation that she probably did this dozens of times a day. The doctor completed her examination of the front of his body and gently turned him round. He felt her light hands touch his shoulders, and he could sense the movement behind him as she carried out the physical. Then she stopped. Mike heard her take a step back and felt the cold air against him when just seconds before it had been warmed by her breath. He heard footsteps move across to the door and the handle turn.

  “Samantha, can you come in here a minute, please?” Lucy asked, sounding so casual that for a split second even Mike didn’t think anything was wrong.

  The nurse walked through the door, closing it behind her. Silence.

  Mike angled his head round, conscious of the fact that he was naked. He looked at the two faces behind him. Their eyes were focussed on his lower back, and he noticed that Lucy had unclipped a walkie-talkie from her belt. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  Samantha slowly looked up. Her eyes met his, and where there had been compassion and warmth just a few minutes earlier, now there was sorrow. Her mouth opened slightly but nothing came out.

  “Before using the RPA this morning, was there any contact between yourself and Mr. Munro?” Lucy asked clinically.

  “No. Why?”

  She raised the walkie-talkie towards her mouth, but Samantha gently grabbed her arm. “Mike, you’ve got a scratch just above your left buttock.”

  A look of realisation swept over his face, and he let out a premature sigh of relief. “Bloody hell, you got me worried then.”

  The walkie-talkie was inches away from Lucy’s mouth. “If you’ve got an explanation, I want to hear it quickly. Otherwise, I’m going to have to get the guards in here.”

  “Look, this morning, after...well... I had to get Alex in the body bag by myself. Em was downstairs with the kids, and I just wanted the job done. I did the best I could, but I was rushing, and after I got his legs into the bag, I stood up quickly and caught myself on the corner of the chest of drawers. It was just a scrape, honestly.”

  Lucy lowered the walkie-talkie. “Show us. Show us exactly what happened.”

  “Do you mind if I put some clothes on first?”

  “Hurry up.” The two women gave each other a look that Mike couldn’t read.

  A minute later they entered the bedroom. Lucy noticed the wet patch next to the bed. “What’s that?” No compassion. This was still serious. Mike hadn’t convinced her.

  “That’s where I threw my guts up after killing my stepfather.” Mike was getting annoyed with the doctor’s accusatory tone. “Look, I can’t even imagine the horrors you must have seen in the last few months, but this morning I... I did the most horrible, sickening thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. I wanted to be strong for my family, because they need someone to be strong for them. But that sight, that realisation was too much for me, and I was sick. I vomited and retched until there was nothing left. I know that’s not manly or brave or heroic, but that’s what I did.” Mike’s voice shook as he relived the memory.

  The stern look on the two women’s faces eased a little. “Mike, can you show us how you got scratched?” Samantha asked.

  Mike went across to the chest of drawers and demonstrated. Lucy walked over and got him to do it again, pausing him at the point of impact and pulling his jogging pants down a little to see if she could marry the wound with the corner of the piece of furniture.

  She re-clipped the walkie-talkie to her belt and stood there, studying Mike in silence. The seconds dragged into a minute, and she walked across to the chair Mike had been sitting in the previous night. She flopped into it and let out a deep breath.

  “Well? Don’t leave me hanging, Doc,” Mike pleaded. “Do you believe me?”

  She leaned forward and brushed her hands over her tired eyes. “We got a directive through this morning. I haven’t even had chance to share it with you yet, Samantha.” She looked at the young nurse and continued. “There have been mutterings about it for a couple of weeks now, but as of zero six hundred hours it became official. Scratch victims are to be dealt with the same as bite victims. No tolerance, no leeway. If a member of an infected household has injuries that are consistent with scratch marks, they’re meant to be treated as if they are infected.” Lucy looked down to the ground, defeated. “I do believe you, Mike, but that doesn’t matter according to the new rules.”

  The colour drained from Mike’s face. “So what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that if I follow the new directives, I have to get the guards in here now.”

  “I swear on my life, on my sisters’ lives, on my brother’s life, I was not scratched by Alex. “Please, my family need me. Please don’t do this.” Mike looked at Samantha, who once again opened her mouth but couldn’t speak. The tension in the room was palpable.

  “Don’t worry, Mike. I’m not going to report this. I think the new orders are madness. The measures that were brought in to deal with scratch victims were the best chance we had of developing a vaccine for this thing, but now it’s like they’ve just given up.” She sat back in the chair, drained.

  “Lucy, are you okay?” Samantha asked, moving towards her.

  “No. No, I’m not. Downstairs I was a few seconds away from having someone executed for scratching themselves on a piece of furniture. I honestly don’t know what the hell we’re doing any more.”

  Samantha crouched down beside Lucy and spoke gently. “You’re doing everything you can. A lot of doctors back at the base wouldn’t have paused for a second. You did. You’ve done the right thing, and you haven’t just saved one life today, you’ve saved four.”

  Lucy smiled sadly and stood up. “Well, we’d better get back to the base.”

  “Doc, I owe you one. Stuff that, I owe you a damn sight more than one.”

  “Keep your family safe, Mike, and we’ll call it even,” she said and left the room.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Lucy walked out of the door and saw the two soldiers chatting in the front of the ambulance, they did not see her. She ducked around the side of the house and crouched down, with her back against the wall. A flood of tears streamed down her face. She was in Hell. She had died the day her Charlie had died, and this was it now. She had gone to Hell, and she was going to have to suffer like this for eternity. Every child would remind her of what she had lost. Every moment would be one more that she had to suffer, alone, in a nightmarish world where things made less sense by the day.

  She took a breath and wiped her tears away. She couldn’t let anyone see her like this. She was hanging on by a thread as it was. The last thing she needed was for some well-meaning do-gooder psycho-analysing her. She shimmied up the wall, wadded the bottom of her sleeves, gave her eyes one final dab and walked back down the path to the ambulance. She climbed in to see the body bag laid out on the opposite gurney. The two men in hazmat suits sa
t looking at it, lost in their own thoughts. Samantha climbed into the back of the ambulance shortly afterwards. Her cheeks were an uncharacteristic bright pink, and despite the last few moments, Lucy forced a smile to at least try and give the impression nothing was amiss.

  “So, he remembered you,” said Lucy as the engine started and the military ambulance pulled away.

  “We were just talking. He asked me to thank you again,” replied Samantha.

  “Uh-huh, and how did he thank you exactly?” Lucy teased.

  “Get lost,” said Samantha turning bright red and giggling a little.

  “Hey, I don’t judge. You’ve got to get your fun where you can,” Lucy replied. “He had a great ass too, I wouldn’t blame you,” she forced a smile.

  “Stop it!” said Samantha turning a beetroot colour.

  Samantha was a sweet girl. She was the closest thing that Lucy had to a friend, but Lucy didn’t want closeness. All she wanted was to be left alone with her thoughts of another world and another time. A friendly chat and a laugh every now and again was the closest she wanted to get to anyone. The noise of the engine drowned out the last chortles from Samantha, and they remained silent for the rest of the journey ‘home’. Was this really what counted as home now?

  Home used to mean family more than a building. Home was mom and dad and a brother. Home was spending summer working at her uncle’s farm, and being happy. Happiness! She could almost remember that feeling. She could almost reach out and touch the mental images that danced in front of her that once made her happy. But that’s all they were now...images. She doubted that life on this planet had much longer to run, and the chances of her finding happiness again were non-existent. So, she would spend whatever remaining time she had in contemplation, waiting until she was taken and could join her beloved Charlie once again. It wouldn’t be long.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” said Samantha as the ambulance pulled into the car park of the motel and attached field hospital.

  “Huh?” replied Lucy.

  “I was asking what you were thinking. You had a smile on your face.”

  I was thinking about dying so I could finally leave this fucking nightmare behind and be back with my little girl. “Oh, erm, nothing,” she replied.

  “A few of us are going to have a couple of drinks tonight, do you fancy joining us?” asked Samantha.

  “More homemade wine?” asked Lucy.

  “No, actually. Zofia and Amelia, the polish sisters, they made some blackberry vodka. It hits the spot,” said Samantha, with a genuine smile on her face.

  “Not for me, I think I’ll get an early night, if I’m allowed. God knows how many more times we’ll get called out today before we can rest.”

  “Actually, you and I aren’t on call for the rest of the day...Dr. Ramirez and Olivia are the on call staff,” replied Samantha.

  “Oh. That’s good. It will give me time to catch up with my ward rounds.”

  The ambulance came to a stop and Lucy and Samantha climbed out, while the hazmat team dealt with the body. Lucy put the strap to her laptop case over her shoulder and strolled back into the half-built motel, with Samantha by her side.

  “You should take some time out for yourself too, y’know,” said Samantha.

  “Thanks, but maybe another time,” replied Lucy.

  “Okay,” said Samantha, smiling, “I’ll hold you to that.

  The pair parted, and Lucy headed back to her room. The ward rounds could wait a while. She needed to just crawl under the covers and reboot.

  When she woke up it was four pm. What was going to be a short power nap turned into a full on afternoon siesta. Her stomach grumbled, and she realised she hadn’t eaten anything since the previous evening. She threw some cold water over her face and headed to the mess, which was what would have been a large food court. The signs for various fast food chains were lit up in cruel goading, as the meals that were dished out bore no resemblance to the mouthwatering options illuminated on the wall menus.

  Lucy took her tray and opted for a simple pasta dish, some salad and a crusty roll. She was about to sit down when she heard her name called.

  “Lucy!” She looked up to see Samantha beckoning her to a table where she was sitting with a few other girls.

  “Crap,” she whispered under her breath, before forcing yet another smile, and heading over.

  Lucy was introduced to the other women. Two of the names she recognised from earlier. “So, you’re the bootleggers?” asked Lucy smiling.

  Zofia and Amelia laughed. “You could say that. It was our grandfather’s recipe. People from our country still stick with tradition. There are a lot of garden shed stills,” said Zofia, giggling.

  “You should come join us,” added Amelia.

  “That’s very kind, but…”

  “Oh, come on,” said Samantha. “It’s always a really good laugh. When was the last time you really let your hair down?”

  Before my daughter was murdered by a drunk driver. Why do you ask? “It’s been a while,” she replied.

  “Come on, it will be fun,” said Zofia.

  “I need to do my rounds,” replied Lucy.

  “Fine, when you’re done, it’s room twenty-three, we’ll have started without you,” said Amelia.

  They all seemed kind, and friendly and determined not to let the whole end of the world thing beat them. “Okay,” said Lucy, disbelieving what she heard coming from her own mouth.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The government had implemented a set of proactive rules and procedures in the event of an outbreak. The city of the outbreak would be put into lockdown, quarantined. Hospitals would be closed and all non-critical patients would be sent home where relatives and visiting medical professionals would take care of them. There was a strict curfew in place. All commerce came to a halt, unless someone worked for a utilities company or an industry that was deemed vital for the continuing function of a district, they had to stay in their homes. The army and police, patrolled the streets, and the only time the general public was allowed to leave their house was on rations day. On these days, a large public or commercial property became a distribution centre, and people would show up with a ration voucher, claim their family’s weekly food, toiletries and hygiene supplies, and head back home.

  It seemed draconian, but sometimes, draconian measures were what was needed to stave off total disaster. The dead coming back to life and feeding on the living, that fell under the ‘disaster’ category. The total part, well, that had been avoided for the time being.

  So the field hospital that had been set up on the outskirts of Leeds, one of two cities where an official outbreak had been identified, was for those patients who were critical and could not be cared for in their homes. There were more armed soldiers than medical staff present, just in case, but no incidents had occurred during the time Lucy had been there.

  There weren’t a huge amount of patients at the hospital, and even less were under Lucy’s care, but she felt duty bound to check in on them every day, even though a whole host of other qualified medical staff had attended to them.

  Lucy always saved Miss Darwin to the end. She was a retired school teacher. She had never married and had no family to look after her. She suffered from motor neurone disease and up until recently had been adequately cared for in a nursing home, but after developing pneumonia, she had needed hospitalisation. Despite her suffering, Miss Darwin was always full of positivity and fight, and it did Lucy’s soul good to spend time with her.

  Because of her condition, her mouth muscles didn’t work too well, and a lot of people had difficulty understanding her, but not Lucy.

  She walked into the facelifted shipping container, passed two empty beds and sat down at the side of Miss Darwin. “Hi, Peggy, how are you today, sweetie?” asked Lucy.

  “Still not dead,” she said with a wry smile on her face.

  “Good to know,” replied Lucy, looking at Peggy’s chart.

  “Find yourself a
man today?” asked Peggy.

  Lucy laughed. “Two actually. One’s taking me out for a meal tonight, one tomorrow. I’ll bring you a doggy bag.”

  Peggy nodded. “Nothing too spicy, it gives me heartburn,” she replied.

  Lucy smiled and reached out, taking hold of Peggy’s hand. “How are you feeling? Seriously.”

  “Seriously...my chest feels better than yesterday. My breathing’s a little easier.”

  “That’s good,” said Lucy, putting the ear-tips of the stethoscope in and placing the bell on Peggy’s chest. “Breathe for me,” she said.

  “I am breathing,” replied Peggy, “It’s a habit I’ve had since birth.”

  “Funny! Now take deep breaths, in and out,” said Lucy. Peggy did as she was asked, and Lucy removed the bell and pulled the tips out of her ears. “That’s good, it does sound better than it did.”

  “Told you. You’re not getting rid of me so soon,” said Peggy smiling.

  “I’m glad about that, sweetie,” said Lucy. She jotted some notes on Peggy’s chart and sat down.

  “So, having another early night?” asked Peggy.

  “No such luck. I got dragged into a night in with the girls,” replied Lucy.

  Suddenly, Peggy’s face lit up. “That’s wonderful. You need to let your hair down now and then.”

  “I’ve let my hair down plenty in the past. Now I just want to sleep,” she said.

  “Youth is wasted on the young,” replied Peggy.

  “I suppose I better go,” replied Lucy. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said getting up and beginning to head out.

  “No, you won’t,” said Peggy.

  Lucy spun back around, “What do you mean?”

  “Your dinner date. Remember, nothing too spicy for me,” said Peggy and laughed to herself.

  “Of course, I’d forgotten already,” Lucy winked, “See you tomorrow, Peggy.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The hallway was deserted. Lucy walked down, checking the door numbers. Twenty-two...and twenty-three. She paused before knocking. She could go back to her room and say she just felt too tired. “Screw it,” she said. Maybe just one drink. She rapped on the wood three times.