by catt dahman
Mark nodded down the road to the gate. “Hopetown. Home. Where you headed?” He wasn’t about to stand down.
“The same. Sorry to meet you this way.”
“Yep. Sorry thing for sure. I gotta tell the man’s family he died right here this close.”
“I’m so very sorry. We’ll see you there, and I will personally apologize,” the man said. He rolled up the window, and they waited patiently for the big truck to go by.
Julia scowled, reached down to help Mark back in, and said, “I don’t think they’ll fit in very well. Assholes.”
Len watched the exchange, wanting to get involved, but allowed Julia and Mark to handle it. He felt better when Carl drove into the first gate. The Humvee wasn’t part of their crew, and whoever was in it could wait. “Is he okay?”
Conner took one look at the people in the back and shook his head regretfully. “We’re going to do this one at a time.”
“Manny hit his head in the crash, Conner and Len, no bites; he was killed just now thanks to those jerk offs in the Humvee.”
“We saw. I don’t think the driver saw you guys, but that’s just some shitty luck,” Conner said.
Men came forward to remove Manny, covering him with a sheet handed over to them. Pak stepped out. “We have some injuries from jumping across roofs and falls. I skinned my hands and arms.”
Conner and his help did a check, winced at the abrasions, and waved him on to Johnny and the next gate where they were checked thoroughly before he could go to medical. Big Bill came next, carrying Misty in his arms. “I’m doin’ fine, but little girl here has done banged up her knee something awful. I’ll take her on up, Mark after they say we can go.”
“Thanks, Big Bill.”
“Hey, Johnny,” said Misty as she gave her a wave.
“Glad to see you, Misty. We’ll get you all checked and through….”
“Just my knee, Harold knocked me down, and I banged down on a
pocket knife…awe…never mind,” she said, “long story. He’s eaten anyway.”
Matt got out with help from the rest, his jeans stiff with dried blood, hands and arms skinned. “No bites, no skin left on me…shingles on the roof. Broken arm, too.”
“Jumped off a house.” Walt hobbled. “Broken rib maybe….” He faltered, leaning on Matt. He was pale with the pain of his broken bones.
“He’ll need a litter,” Conner said, “check and take him to Doc on a litter; get them moving along.”
“Civvies?” Len asked.
“No, Sir. None of them made it. We had a bad time of it,” Mark said.
Conner motioned Carl to go to the second gate, get checked, and park.
“Julia?”
“No injuries. Tired. Sore.” Julia smiled at them as best she could. “Dehydrated.”
Len whispered to Mark and Julia that Kim was back. Their eyes lit up, and they had questions, but he said he would tell them later. “Glad to see you back. You okay, Mark?”
“Sore and tired, I’m okay,” Mark reported, “I think I’ll hang back and see who our guests are.”
“Second gate and then you can,” Conner reminded him. Mark nodded.
Conner finally let the Humvee pull into the first gate. His team checked the others for bites, but there were plenty, including Len, who had guns leveled and ready to fire.
A man stepped from the passenger side, arrogantly smiling. “Looking good here; I like the security.” He wore BDUs with a silver pin, indicating he was a Colonel. Davis was embroidered on his right side. Len thought he walked like a true officer with years of experience.
“Thank you, Colonel Davis,” Len said.
“And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?”
Len only paused a second. “Colonel Leonard Bernhart, US Militia. You are at our base camp, Hopetown. I’d like you and anyone with you to please step out of the Humvee, one at a time and let us run a cursory check. Then, you will be put through to the second gate to be checked for infection. We all go through this every time we leave this base and return. Your driver may pull through after that.”
“Leonard,” Johnny said as she laughed.
With a grin, Len flipped her an obscene gesture.
Mark watched with interest as the two men eyed each other, wondering, testing, and being curious.
“Of course.” The Colonel stepped over and explained to the people in his Humvee and then turned back, looking contrite. “I do apologize for the accident. It was an unfortunate mistake, and I will take it up with my driver at a later time. Sir.”
Guns were lowered as Julia and Mark left the second gate, and the people from the Humvee got out and followed protocol with a general unease. There were three other soldiers and an older man in semi-combat gear that carried some papers in a case.
Davis came over, after being checked, to shake hands with Len. “Sorry, as you know, very little if any military is left, so I put together my own, such as it is. You’ll have to understand that it’s the best I have been able to do. I suspect from your group’s name that you did the same?”
“You would be guessing right. I took them and trained them in some of the ways I was taught. Not the same as before, but they’re a damned fine crew.”
“ I wish you were training some of mine then. I’m impressed. You must be the group going in, bringing out survivors, and getting supplies; I heard good things about you. We are located in New Boston at a safe zone, and I have built a small military group as best I could.”
“That sounds fine.”
“I am here in person to speak with you, there is too much stuff I wouldn’t trust to a radio, and I’m sure it will be a long talk with a lot of questions.”
“You are welcome here. You have me curious as to what news you have for us,” Len said.
The Colonel looked back at the older man. “Len, if I may call you Len; you’ve heard the Red infection called other things?”
“I heard it called Diamond Flux after that nutty scientist who designed it.”
Colonel Davis chuckled. “That one there….” He pointed to one of the men with him. “That is Dr. Henry Diamond, the nutty scientist.”
16
Details
Len didn’t share that information except with George since there would be a million questions and it would require a meeting of the community board. He asked the Colonel to defer questions and information and let this be just a connection of two communities before they sat down and spoke. “I had some come in injured and one…well…your driver is on my shit list, but anyway, I have a responsibility to check those injured and handle that first.”
“I understand. How can I help?”
“I’ll leave you with our governor and some guides so that you can get the guided tour.”
“And not wander around alone. I understand. A governor. Impressive.”
“He may be the only governor left in the US.” Len didn’t explain any more than that.
Davis laughed.
“And I’ll check my people. We’ll have a good dinner, next I’ll check with you, and then we’ll meet in the morning if that is okay?” Len asked. The timing wasn’t bad; it might be to their benefit to let this man wait a little so he could see he wasn’t especially important to them.
Len stopped to speak to George and then to Beth and Juan whom he charged with showing the group around, finding them quarters to sleep in that night, and showing them where they would eat. Mainly, he cautioned them not to say too much and to gather any intel they could.While the Colonel was a real former US military, the rest weren’t, and the doctor was Henry Diamond whom they would introduce only as Henry.
“We’re on it,” Beth promised Len.
“Imagine, the crazy Dr. Frankenstein is here with us,” Juan said, “I can’t wait for the meeting.”
Len waved.
“Doc, tell me some good news,” Len said as he went into medical bay where luckily, Doc had help; he had called for Ines, Ann, and Velma.
“Ki
mball is out with painkillers. The wound is a little red, so I have him on antibiotics, but he’s coming along as expected. Misty has bruised her kneecap, I believe, but with no x-rays, she will be taking it easy.I suggest horseback duty or such…light on her knee and swimming in the river to help range of motion.”
“Okay, so she’ll be okay?”
“Should be fine. She’s hurting, but no painkillers right now; don’t repeat me, but she’s pregnant.”
“Wow.”
“I agree. Wow. She’ll tell Mark, so we’ll keep it our secret. I have recently been accused of having a big mouth.”
“No. Really?”
“I know…shocking. Pak is getting cleaned and bandaged; it’s painful to clean his hands and forearms, but the dirt and grit have to come out, and the wounds have to be disinfected. Velma is doing it, not a fun process…then cream…lots of gauze…and a couple of pills. I am going to release him.”
“Sounds painful.”
“When I tell you what we did, you’ll be amazed we made it,” Julia told Len as she listened. “We had to leap roof to roof.”
“Julia and Mark need to hydrate and use some lotion, and they should be fine with rest and fluids, but I intend to check them both as soon as I can get to them. Pan is okay. Carl is fine. Both need to get fluids in. Walt will be here for a while; he’s has an IV to hydrate him. He either broke or bruised his ribs when he jumped off of a house.” Doc wiggled an eyebrow.
Julia nodded. “Told you it was heavy duty stuff.”
“I don’t get what all they were doing; I just patch them up. Both legs probably are bruised up. I don’t think he broke his hip, but it’s sore. A few fingers are broken, and Ann is setting them, along with his broken wrist. Four weeks and then light duty.”
Lance barreled in, looking for his father and brother, and Doc stopped to point him the right way to his father.
“Matt’s knees are skinned up, but they look and feel worse than what they are. He’ll be okay once he’s cleaned and bandaged. His arm is definitely broken, and Ines is going to help me set it. I’ll keep him for a week as well if he’ll cooperate.”
“Thanks, Doc. And make sure Julia and Mark get their fluids; both are over achievers.”
“Will do.”
Julia looked at Len. “We almost made it back with our teams intact. I feel shitty losing Manny. Mark told us about Maryanne’s vision, and we nearly ruined it; we tried to but then….”
“What part went well, though?”
“Matt was my right hand out there. For a while, it was Walt and Manny, and they were unbelievable in the field, but then Matt stepped up, and we wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t…but he’s hurt…and Walt is hurt…Pak…and Manny died, Len,” she rambled.
For the first time, Len watched Julia cry. He hadn’t distracted her. He sat down next to her and hugged her as she cried against his shoulder. She didn’t have the words to explain how hard she had tried to get all the survivors and her team back, and with Mark’s team helping, she thought it was in the bag, but it wasn’t.
She tried but was going on almost no food, little water, in the heat and humidity.Harold shoved people to zombies every chance he got. She was, as she told him, not a super woman, had no smart assed comments, and wasn’t tough; she was just Julia who was very tired and dehydrated with a feeling of failure weighing her down.
“I lost Manny…in sight of the gate…I lost him,” she cried harder, then suddenly stopped, going limp against him.
“Doc? Doc, I need you…hurry.”
“What? Oh, hell. Let’s look.” He checked her vitals. “Get her to one of the rooms, Len.”
Len picked her up in his arms, scared.
“Stop looking so damned worried. She passed out,” Doc said, “let me get an IV in her. Len, someone needs to get more medical supplies with the way we are using them. That means another hospital.”
“Is she okay though?”
“I don’t look panicked, do I? She’ll be okay. I need to get her hydrated, and she is over stressed and exhausted. I’ll shoot her up and keep her over night. Stop worrying. And go away. She needs rest.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. She’s mentally and physically beat.”
Still concerned, Len left.
It was time to eat, so Len needed to get food to the patients, but Doc hadn’t said how many would eat. Len decided just to send a lot of food for everyone and let the patients pick and choose what they wanted.
He saw the dining hall filled with hungry people, sent word for food to be sent to medical bay, got his own plate, and found a seat. Hannah waited for him with a devilish look on her face.
Hannah smiled broadly at Len. “We have plenty of spinach tonight.”
17
Angels and Demons
At one end of the table sat Henry Diamond, at the other, George.Colonel Jack Davis and the driver, John Ponce, flanked the scientist. Len and Beth sat next to George with Julia, Pan, Doc, Mark, Conner, and Johnny. Juan, Rae, Alex, and Nick stood uneasily on one side with two pseudo soldiers on the opposite side.
The US Army faced the rest with warm smiles. The US Militia of Hopetown looked back at them with suspicion.
“We enjoyed dinner last night and got some good sleep. Thanks for welcoming us,” Davis said.
“We’re glad you came to visit.”
“I thought Dr. Diamond…we thought you were dead. In Germany,” Pan said. “I see you aren’t…that’s good, but we are very confused now.”
“I’m sure this has been a huge shock to learn that Dr. Diamond isn’t the bad guy, nor is he in Germany,” the Colonel said. “The President of the United States was not even aware of all this until right before the bombs were dropped…hours in fact. The bombs should never have been dropped, but the people in charge pressured him, and he couldn’t share this information with them either; dropping the bombs was the lesser of the two evils at that point.”
“So up to those hours before Alan pushed the buttons, he didn’t know Dr. Diamond was right here in the US?” Nick asked.
“I beg…oh. I apologize, Sir. I didn’t recognize you as the President’s brother. And that is affirmative,” Colonel Davis said smoothly.
Nick came over to shake his hand, eyes still suspicious. He was the President’s brother, but he was loyal to those in this room. “Was that smart not to tell my brother? He is the President.”
“I can’t answer that, Sir. We had some time as the other countries fell to the infection. You know how fast it spread and wiped them out. Before we knew it, we were dealing with it, and we didn’t have the knowledge or resources to handle anything on this level. For all we had, there was no way of dealing with anything that spread that fast with such an impact all at once.”
Dr. Diamond cut in, “We knew it was imminent, but the contagion rate was at fifty percent. Airborne. The CDC said to isolate the ill and defend when they woke. That was all we could do. In the best case, the fifty percent uninfected should have been gathered in bunkers, and all of the ones in comas should have been hit with bombs and obliterated.”
“People wouldn’t have done that, would they?” Alex asked, “Would people have left sick children and family?”
“Exactly,” the Colonel said, “the only choice was simple, not a choice. Imagine the feeling of being able to do nothing.”
“I think we have all felt that,” Len said, easing the temper he saw rising in Julia and some of the rest. “We have all been in the trenches, Doctor.”
“Of course. My apologies. I just wanted to stress how we could have ideas about how to best handle the infection; nothing was really available to be put in place that would stand a chance of working. I’m telling you this because I want you all to know that we were bested.”
“I never thought I would hear that from the science community and the military. Wow,” Len said, rolling his eyes a little.
“What you’re about to hear…few people have ever heard. We didn’t dare talk
about this before.”
“This is nerve-wracking. Exactly why are you here to meet with us, and why are you able to share such classified information now?” George asked. To him, it seemed that people spent way too much time explaining why they couldn’t talk about something than just discussing it and finding solutions.
If people knew more about the Red virus that swept the globe, would it have helped? Would they have all reacted differently if they knew that in a hundred percent of the cases, a person would awaken from a hemorrhagic coma, would attack loved one, and eat flesh? Could they walk away or put loved ones down such as the people who were forced to do that after the infection served up people chasing their family down streets to devour them?
Maybe.
“Simply because it benefits both of our communities.”
“Is the so-called treatment of injections and salve part of this?” Doc asked. Only he, Len, George, and Beth knew about that, and Doc had burned all their samples. Anything that could halt the infection and leave a person a partial zombie was bad news, in their opinion. He ignored some of the puzzled looks from his own side, but a half cure was worse, in that case, than no cure at all.
“You have discerned more than I would have expected,” Dr. Diamond said. “Amazing. How do you know about that protocol?”
“I stumbled onto it, we figured it out, and it was destroyed. This was a treatment that kind of froze the process so people could be half turned and just stay that way,” Beth explained to the rest. “I found it, I figured it out with help, and it was destroyed because that treatment is really sickening to anyone who thinks we have a soul.”
“Good. It should all be destroyed since it was a foolish endeavor to solve the crisis, and it was doomed to failure. I didn’t advocate that. It was a desperate attempt from Atlanta, and it was shipped to a few places for trial.
When I heard about it, I deemed it was ineffective and a reprehensible protocol. Did you see any results from a trial?” Diamond asked. He was curious. In no situation was a report of any trial of the experimental treatment reported to him.
Beth glanced at Juan who had been at the National Guard Station with her team. “We saw the results. How is one hundred percent infection? There was a group that may have had no infection at all but still died. Turned. The protocol, as you call it, was possibly the direct cause of a large group of people being bitten and eaten alive. Other than that side effect…gee…it was fine as an experiment.”