by catt dahman
“No idea.”
Rea and Rev moved slowly.Gore was all over the carpet, leading from the bedroom to the front door; it squished with every step. Both bedroom doors were open, and the pair wondered which to look at first or whether to look at the tiny living area.
“I have it,” Kim said, sliding towards to second bedroom door. Beth shadowed him. Henry and Natalie joined them to look over the living area.
“Clear,” Natalie called in a minute or two.
“Clear,” Kim said. “Kid’s bedroom. No kids. Three beds.”
Rev fired three times in the other bedroom and then stepped back. He shot and killed a man who was in the bed, literally drenched with blood.
To his and Rae’s surprise, the man did not moan and wasn’t reanimated. Rae looked perplexed. Usually, that far gone, they reanimated quickly. Why wasn’t he moaning and drooling, too? She took in all the blood that covered the bed, the floor, and that was tracked out beyond the room.
She moved closer.
The man’s legs were eaten down to the bone, as were his arms and chest. His stomach was intact. “It looks tidy.”
“It’s a mess,” Rev said.
Rae shook her head, “No, look, not only is he not chewed on, but he’s bitten very precisely, and the action must have gone fast; he was eaten before he turned, so it was very quick. Someone was hungry.”
“The woman. Susie?”
“She didn’t look bloody enough to have done this, did she? Maybe, Rev.”
“You’re right. His is though.” Rev looked him over. He couldn’t get up or do much; he was eaten to the bone here. Like a crawler, only worse.” He went to the other side of the bed.Blood was all over that side, and it was splashed all around and was tracked away from the bed. It looked as if he were killed first, and she was second, but that still made no sense.
“Susie got up and walked that way towards the door. She was bitten and got up.”
“So assume he bit her, and she tried to get out.” Rae walked in the bloody footprints to the bedroom door. “She opened the door.”
“And the kids?” Kim asked. He and the others turned to look at the still-closed bathroom door where they heard noises. He and Rev walked to the door.
“Go,” Kim said.
Rev swung the door open, but nothing jumped out at them.Sobs came from behind the blue floral shower curtain. Behind it, two kids, a girl and boy, both under six, sat there in tears. “Oh, man….” Rev backed into Kim. “They’re bitten.” Part of him wanted to cradle them and sooth their crying, but they had bloody bites on their shoulders, and he couldn’t imagine touching them with the infection in the bite.
Steve was called, and he came in from the hallway where he was looking at injuries. “Oh, Okay. Hi, there. I’m Steve,” he said to the children. “We’ll get you all fixed up here as soon as we can. Don’t be afraid.”
Beth felt sick.
“Hey, Beth, come on; don’t pass out on me.” Kim turned and helped her from the room. She went deathly pale, seeing the children bitten and bleeding; it was her weakness.
“Here, get Beth in my room,” Henry said, “get her to sit down and drink some water.”
Kim did that; while in the other room, Steve issued orders and sent people to fetch what he wanted; the rest in the hallway stood while Doc waited for Rev and Rae whom he assumed were in charge of this scene.
“What in the hell is going on?” Len came running in.
“We have two children, infected, and Steve is with them while Natalie and Rev are on guard; he’s dealing with…that,” Rae said. “Beth is okay; she got queasy when she saw the children, but Kim is with her. Man and woman put down inside.”
“We have two put down here in the hall. One was the teen daughter of that couple, and the other was someone passing by, we think. The teen was infected and bitten and began chewing on this guy. Both were turned and moaned; these three came by and were attacked by them.”
Len looked at the three who sat against the wall. He knew them only slightly, two girls and a man who was a father to at least one of them.
The man was bitten badly, chunks missing from his arms and fingers bitten off; he was pale and already sick-looking with purple shadows beginning to blossom beneath his glassy eyes.
The blonde had a bite on a cheek that looked painful, and a bigger bite on one hand between the webbing of her finger and thumb. The one with darker hair had a bite wound on her calf muscle and more on her arms.
“You need to be helping us and not pointing guns at us,” the man snarled, watching Teeg, Ivory Joe, and Bernie.
“As soon as we can,” Doc said.
“Dude, we’re trying, but we have a bit of a mess, right? Just hang on. They sent for medical supplies,” Teeg said.
The siren finally stopped blaring. That meant everyone was supposedly into the basement except for the medical staff and paramilitary teams.
“How did this happen?” Len blurted.
“We need to deal with this: nine infected,” Doc hissed, “five still with us.”
“Yes, but we also need to know how we have infection here when we haven’t been out of the gate.” Len needed to stop time and think this over, but everyone was looking to him for answers.
“Len initiated Safety Zone.”
“Thanks, Beth.”
“Len, Listen to me; listen for a sec. All went to the basement as required. But we don’t know if anyone else was infected or how this began. We have no idea who is safe now.”
Len, at first, just stared at Beth. It was sinking into his brain what Beth was saying, and for a second, he felt dizzy. “My, God, Beth, what….”
Johnny and Conner moved forward. Thankfully, Conner was there since the other gate team was on duty. Pan stood with them. “I have checked both of them, and they have checked me. We have no wounds.”
“I don’t either….” Len began and heard the same thing being said all around him, so he understood immediately what that meant.
“Henry, may we use your room a bit more? Thanks. Pan? I’ll join you, Beth, and Kim? Please come with us? Doc?” He handed his AK-47 over to Johnny to lead by example.
As they went into the room, Johnny spoke, “Conner and I will hold this area secure.
Everyone, please put all weapons down or put them away until we can secure you.”
“What?” Rae asked, and then she understood and complied. With confusion, others did the same.
The door opened. “Rae? Gun?” Beth asked. She took the AK.
“Gotcha.” Rae handed it over and went into the room. Len took his gun back from Johnny.
“Rev?” Kim asked.
“Here ya go.”
Rae and Rev stayed to check people for a while, borrowing another room for the women to be checked. They cleared Steve, Velma, and Ann quickly, and in a few minutes, Steve and the women were back from the death room, faces set in hard lines and sad, but he closed the door. Rev went in, fired two shots and returned, closing the door again.
“Big cups of Southern Comfort and lemonade. Then, they were mostly asleep, and I did a lethal morphine dose,” Steve whispered to Kim and Len about the children. “It was as easy as I could think to be.”
“I need to get my kids out of the basement,” Beth said.
“Beth, they have to be checked. You said it yourself.”
“Len, don’t you think I will follow protocol? Would I risk us all?”
“I know you love your kids,” Len said, “Beth; I love them, but we can’t mess up at any stage. You know this as well as I do.”
“I’ll be with her. I’ll personally take this assignment and follow protocol,” Kim said, “if I can borrow two people to help us?”
“Len, we need orders, now,” Beth said.
“Rae. Rev. Your team covers the basement now. I want them checked one by one. And I want a freakin’ list, cross-referenced with Misty ASAP, of everyone in this place.
Beth, you carry a master list, and get me a copy yesterd
ay. I want Jules up here yesterday.
I want Carl and Teeg to check the gate crew and the crew on guard, which is Mark’s team. Once Mark and they are clear, I want the grounds covered, and if everyone gets checked ten times, I don’t fucking care.”
“Got it.”
“Ivory Joe and Bernie, since you are clear, I want you, Natalie, Charles to clear the big house and lock it down. I want Mark and Misty, once cleared, to escort each small group that Beth and Kim okay. No one comes in without Beth, Kim, Mark, and Misty. If they try warning, then shoot to kill. No exceptions. Carl and Teeg will help you once those are cleared and re-cleared.”
They moved out.
“Anyone have any answers? I don’t need any questions right now.”
Steve watched his other patient sipping the cups of alcohol and lemonade. Velma and Ann tried to say calming things, but both girls wept.
“Is Dad going to be okay?” Blondie asked.
“Let’s just get some of that pain down,” Steve said as he and Doc gave them shots. It felt funny to use a needle without disinfecting first, amid all the blood.
“It hurts,” Brownie said, “my arms….”
“You’ll feel better in a bit.”
“Stop.” The blonde kicked at Steve now. “Dad?”
Len had no choice. The man was dead and infected and would be up and moaning in a few seconds. The two girls were terrified of Len, who with his gun ready, stood over the man. “Len, better do something.”
Len fired into the man’s head as the blonde looked at him and tried to scream. Both girls slumped now. “I’m awful sorry.”
They waited, and Len shot twice more.
“Steve, explain this to me?” Len asked. He told him what Rae had said.
“Let’s say Dad was bitten, and he bit Mom when she came to bed. The three kids had to be attacked after she turned, and since he wasn’t moving around, it was she. The two locked themselves in the bathroom to hide from her.
The teen gal ran to the hall, but she was already turning so figure she was bitten before the little kids.”
“Okay. Got it.” Len surveyed the scene. “So teen runs to this hall, turns, and grabs the man.”
“And then Dad and the two gals came along. The blonde Kristal said they thought the teen and the man were fighting, that he tried to grab her. They didn’t know she was infected. So the man was infected, and Dad and teen girls try to separate them….”
“Ahhh. Yep.”
“Teen bites Krystal, and then Joy jumps in.While they are fighting, Man turns, and while he is on the ground, he bites Joy’s legs.
Dad jumps in, and about that time, everyone else gets here. Chaos.”
“All of this is chaos. We know that Ivory Joe and his son Bernie put the man and teen girl down. Then they held everyone here while waiting for Beth, Rae, and Rev to return.
Then, Safety Zone was initiated.” Len grimaced. “Now, we have this mess to clean up.”It was clear he meant more than just securing everyone and cleaning the mess in the hall of the bodies.
Doc looked around now. “You’re saying the dad was in bed, attacked the woman and caused this.How did he get infected? Rae said he wasn’t.”
“He wasn’t checked at the gate properly. We didn’t check well enough; we dropped the ball. I don’t know him but….”
“That’s impossible, Len. He has been here at least two months; you didn’t see him much because he wasn’t on work detail since he had a heart problem that I was working on with him. We had him on new meds, and he dropped some weight so that he could work.”
“You saw him, then,” Steve said.
“Definitely. I examined this man, and he wasn’t infected. He didn’t have any old injuries or anything.”
“It wasn’t the kids or teen. It was the woman,” Steve said.
“She was just with a friend and was not sick. Even if she was and turned right here really fast, the blood tells a different story.
He bit her. He was infected first,” Len said. “Did he go out, stick his finger out the fence, and get bitten? Do we have a zombie hidden somewhere?”
“He didn’t go many places; I don’t know, Len. Let me go look again,” Doc said. When he returned, he was shaking his head. “Len, we have a problem.”
“Awe, ya think? As if I don’t know that much. What’d ya find?”
“I don’t know who chewed him up or who bit the women, but I do know this much; he wasn’t infected.”
“Huh?”
“Nope. His throat was cut, and then he was chewed and eaten.”
“Since when do zoms use knives to cut throats?” Steve asked.
Len thought about that. “So we have someone who likes to cut throats and eat people and is infected?”
“Someone got him, cut him, and ate him; then weird as it is, someone bit her, and we know the rest.”
“And I thought just plain zombies were bad enough,” Steve said.
23
Security
Although they cleared more to help with checking everyone, Beth got her girls out of the basement as fast as she could. Hannah was angry that she couldn’t help, but Beth explained that protecting Katie was her prime goal, so Katie should get her sword and dismember any who threatened them, which mollified the pre-teen a great deal. “Everyone is running around down here, Mom. People are just acting crazy: hiding and running to find a way out.”
“Good that you’re out then,” Beth said, “as soon as you and Katie are cleared, you will go to the big house.”
Hannah and Katie were both completely checked and cleared, which made Beth feel a million times better. Kim said Jet was cleared, and Beth kissed all three before she let Mark escort them to the big house.
They were clearing people and sending them over when Julia arrived.
“I’m headed to help Len.Beth, Juan asked about you and the kids. He’s at the gate on horseback, covering the grounds; he is cleared,” Julia told her with a quick hug. “You okay?”
“Yeh.I am stuck here to secure these people, but Jules, something is bothering me.”
“What? Is it Kim?” Julia whispered.
“No. He’s okay…not him…something. We went to Safety Zone because of the Zs, but that meant we weren’t secured.We don’t know how the infection got in but it did though, yet something is bothering me, and I can’t get my mind focused.”
“Just do your job, and relax. Breathe. Let it come to you,” Julia said. “Juan is about frothing at the mouth to see you; he’d be so pissy to hear you’re with Kim; that’s funny.”
“Only ‘cause you find weird things funny. I guess so. Thanks. Go; Len needs you yesterday.” She saw Rae and Rev taking large groups to the big house.
Mark was back to escort another group to the big house. “Who ya got ready?”
“These people are ready,” Kim said. He sent them off with Mark. He made sure Zane and Gabe were checked and sent on. He told some of the other trained people to get some ammo since they mostly had nothing but side arms as none had been on duty. This was so confusing that some of them would be checked a dozen times before they got it right. The infection was never supposed to be inside the gates; what happened?
“I’m ready, too,” Misty said, “that’s got to be half. I’m…what’s that?”
Beth, Misty, and Kim ran down the stairs to see what was going on. Teeg met them at the bottom step. “No, get the hell back up there.”
“What? Why?”
In the basement behind doors, they could hear screams, yelling, and things being tossed around. Kim yanked the door open, and Conner pulled it back closed.
“Get up the stairs, Kimball,” he shouted. Kim jerked the door open again, telling people to back away from the door. Conner looked defeated.
Teeg pushed at Beth. “We’re breached down here. Someone is infected, and everyone just went running off into the tunnels. We’re not secured here.”
“Go, I’ll handle it,” Kim said to Beth, “I don’t have time to a
rgue.”
“Kim.” Beth felt a dizzying wave of déjà vu wash over her. Hadn’t they had this same conversation before in the hospital parking lot? She left, and Kim went off to be captured by the RA .Then they thought he was dead.
He leaned towards her, and she thought he was going to kiss her. Then, Teeg would pick her up and carry her away. This all happened before. “If you pick me up, I will shoot you, Teeg.”
“Wow,” he said, “violence.” He stared unhappily at Kim, Misty, and Beth.
“Rae?”
“Yes? What’s going on?” She looked down.
“Don’t take another step. Got it?” Beth called.
“Okay.”
“If anyone tries to come up without me or Kim, Nick, or Misty, give one warning and then a head shot. Like Len said. Got it?”
“Got it. But….”
“You seal the door. We will set up security here, check, and then send people up after we evaluate. No one comes up and out unless we okay it. For a while, we won’t be up either…if we try…well…you know what to do. Get word to every place the tunnels connect to…one warning then the killing shot. No exceptions.”
“Seriously, Beth, why don’t we wait?” Rev tried.
“We don’t have the time. Tell me you understand the orders I just gave you.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Rev said unhappily.
“Yes, Beth.” Rae closed the door and locked it, already issuing requests and orders, sending people running.
Carl and John stood in the first room, and John came back inside with two people. Beth asked Conner to lock that door. “I want everyone checked. Even us, again.”
After that, they looked to Beth again.
“We’re going to do this methodically.”
“Someone is a hybrid, right? That’s why you checked our necks,” Teeg said.
“I think so. I don’t know for sure; maybe I am obsessed with that idea and the hybrids, but that’s what nagged at me. I thought the hybrid was the dead man in the bed maybe, but it’s not, I guess.”
“But we don’t know, do we?”
“I may be wrong:someone was hurt on the second floor and brought it down here; I don’t know anymore,” she admitted.