Level Six

by Dean, Jane

  “What if we get to the hospital and they aren’t there or they’ve been killed?” she yelled up front.

  “They’re fine!” Tom yelled. “They’re all there, we can feel it. It’s probably the best place to regroup and set up.”

  “You can’t know they’re okay,” Kat yelled.

  “Yes they can Kat! You’re going to have to trust them and let them look after things,” The doctor said.

  “Don’t worry Kat,” Tom said. “The hospital might be our best option.”

  She caught Scott’s eyes on her in the rearview mirror. “You’re familiar with the area?” he asked.

  Kat was surprised to see that Scott was softening and attempted to make small talk. His lip raised in a slight smile. “It’s not small talk,” he said. “I only ask because we’ll need tactical experience to clear the area, cordon off roads and gain supplies.”

  The professor patted her hand and watched their progress down the highway. “There could be survivors out there Kat,” the doctor said. “They won’t trust the likes of our military friends I’m guessing. They need us to help with a lot of things.”

  Tom looked over at Scott who rolled down the window to set his large arm on the ledge.

  “My sister’s kids were born at Yakima Memorial.” She yelled again nodding her head. The air was cold and blew in fiercely through the passenger side. She pulled her coat closer and tucked her hair into the back of her collar. She tried not to let the breath leave her and she rushed on as loud as she could to be heard over the engine and wind. “I know Yakima better than anyone. The town has backbone. We look out for each other.” Scott nodded and they listened as she continued to talk.

  * * *

  “Do you hear that?” Mark asked.

  “Yes.” Ursa said. “Is it a plane?” They went to the window to look out into the sky. “I don’t see anything.” They could hear an engine revving outside and grinding gears.

  “It’s someone shifting gears. It’s a truck. Look over there.” Mark pointed to movement in the distance. The sound was getting louder.

  “It’s them,” she said.

  “Who?” Mark asked. They ran to the neo-natal ward to return the babies they were carrying to basinets with Em.

  “Em,” Ursa said. “Someone’s coming. Stay here. We’ll be back to let you know what’s going on.” Em nodded and closed the door behind them.

  “Who is it Ursa?” he asked again.

  “It’s my father.”

  “How do you know? It looks military to me.”

  “He’s with some people. I can feel he’s with them and they’re here to help. I know it. We should get ready to cover them and get them inside. Let’s get downstairs.”

  “How are they going to find us here? Maybe we should send up a signal on the roof.”

  “Don’t have to. They know we’re here. I told them,” she said. She flew down the stairs. Mark gave up trying to keep pace with her and joined her at the emergency room doors. She had her eyes closed but opened them now as he joined her. She noticed that he seemed shorter than before, or had she grown? Her joints had been stiff and wondered with the changes to her body would stop.

  I can feel Callum and Tod nearby too. They’re coming back.”

  The loud engine of the truck rounded a corner and pulled up close to the emergency room doors. Walkers approached from all angles. They hung off the truck and climbed onto the roof. The truck was almost completely covered with moving corpses. Shots rang out from the truck effectively taking down a dozen of the closest Walkers.

  “There no way they’re going to make it in here in one piece,” Mark said.

  “You’re right.” Ursa said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The windows of the truck were rolled up and the shooting stopped. Nothing happened and they stood waiting. Ursa walked to the large double doors. “Close them up behind me. They’ll be coming in.”

  “Where the hell are you going?” Mark asked. “They’ll rip you apart.”

  “I’ll be fine. Stay alert.” She ran out the doors and began yelling. The Walkers scrambled off the truck and hundreds ran to her direction. She sprinted at an incredible speed away from the rotting corpses in pursuit of her. She stretched out her legs and took a breath of fresh air away from the decomposing flesh of the horde. Going out too fast she slowed her pace to let them catch up. Mark was letting the group into the hospital.

  Three of the men were huge and had to duck their heads to enter the doors. They came back out in a few minutes and began firing into the crowd. Ursa saw an opening and ran at top speed back to her father. He stood in the doorway looking in her direction but she knew she was too far away for him to see her clearly.

  She ran past the firing military men and into the hospital to her father. “Ursa, I thought I’d never see you again, he said embracing her and looking at her eyes and changed appearance. He stroked her hair and began to cry.

  “Get upstairs,” Ursa said. “Up to the 3rd floor. You can take the elevator.”

  “How are you feeling Ursa? I’m sorry I had to do this to you.” The doctor said not wanting to leave her and unable to look away from her eyes.

  “I’m okay Dad. Better than okay. I’ve felt better, but you go and I’ll come up with the others. We’re set up in the operating room with a friend. He was hurt.”

  “I’ll take a look at him,” Dr. Myers said and ran to the elevator with Will, Kat and the monkey.

  “Callum and Tod are on their way. You go and we’ll make sure they get in safe. Mark, go with them. Help dad with Marshall.

  “I’ve brought Thantos, we might be able to do something for him if I’m not too late.” The elevator doors opened and the group headed upstairs. Ursa felt that the monkey had picked up an image of the children from Ursa’s mind and let out a scream as the elevator climbed.

  Ursa stayed at the doors to watch the two hulking men open the doors and kill a handful of Walkers before closing them again. She could feel their thoughts but wasn’t comfortable communicating through images and ideas it felt disturbing to have them probe her mind for information and she blocked them out. “I need your help,” she said. “My brother’s on his way with a friend. They don’t have any guns.”

  “We know,” Scott said. She knew the man’s name and that he was angry. The force of his emotion hit her in the chest and she had a moment before she could take a breath. They could hear the car driving into the lot. The Walkers who were scratching on the doors turned and ran toward the noise. Ursa could see Tod driving into Walkers who clung to the hood of the car. He stopped suddenly causing a Walker to fly off the front. It got up and rushed the car again. Tod and Callum were trapped, surrounded by dozens of Walkers all clawing to get through the windows.

  Scott walked out of the hospital and sent a shower of bullets into the horde. Ten fell and others pulled away from the car and ran toward him. He continued to fire until they got closer he then glanced quickly left and his long legs traversed the ground with incredible speed. He avoided all the Walkers in front of him and doubled back to the car. Tod and Callum got out and began running. Scott picked up Tod, Tom grabbed Callum and ran into the hospital into the Emergency Room. Ursa was barely able to close the doors behind her before a Walker slammed so hard against the glass that he could hear his skull crack. Tom and Callum men leaned against the wall breathing heavily.

  “Okay,” Tod said. “Who are you?” he craned he neck to look up at the men. “Wait, no, don’t tell me. I need to lay down first.”

  “Come up with us. We’ve got food and you can clean up,” Ursa said.

  TWENTY

  Ursa left the men to eat and clean up. Kat and Dr. Myers were checking on the babies and helping Em. Ursa could feel that Em was glad to have help with the children. “How’s Marshall looking?” She asked, moving over to the side of the bed

  “He hasn’t woken up yet?” Ursa asked.

  “No,” Mark said. “I don’t know what else to do for him. You have to be prepared,
he may not come out of it.”

  “I’ll go talk to dad to see if there’s anything he can do,” Ursa said.

  “Here, I’ll join you. I’d like to find out about this vaccine Thantos.”

  * * *

  Em stood to the side and looked at the small bodies around her. Some were crying some had fallen asleep exhausted. The smallest lay quiet and almost didn’t look like he was breathing. “We’re going to inject them with an experimental serum?” she said. It wasn’t quite a question. She said it out loud to convince herself that it was the right thing to do and that it was about to happen.

  “Dr. Myers says that there are definitely risks to doing this,” Will said. “I’ve worked with him on Thantos for years and I won’t lie. We’ve seen some terrible reactions to earlier formulae but this one is as solid as we can get it.”

  “Has it been tested on human babies?” she asked. “I have a feeling that it hasn’t.” Em’s mouth was downturned slightly at the corners. She frowned at each baby and tucked the corners of their blankets around them. “They don’t deserve a world like this,” she said.

  “No they don’t.” Will said.

  “We can all agree on that,” Dr. Myers said walking into the room with Mark. “Mark has agreed to assist us. Will over here please? Em can you help to give us more information about the children. Are they only premature or are there any birth defects to consider or syndromes that you’re away of.”

  “I have all their charts here. There are two that may need more attention. Little Ian over here was born prematurely and with suspected fetal alcohol syndrome and Annie was born with a ventricular septal defect.”

  “Is that serious?” Kat asked.

  “It’s a hole in the wall between the ventricles,” Em said. “In her case we planned to monitor the defect.” Em looked up at Dr. Myers. “What’s the mortality rate doctor?”

  “Some of them may not survive but those who do will have a better chance of surviving out there.” Dr. Myers pointed out the window to the Walkers below. “We can’t stay here. It’s too risky and we can’t move these babies if they rely on breathing support.” Em stared out blankly, unseeing down to the street and considered the options.

  “Maybe they weren’t meant for life here,” she said. “Maybe we should take the easy way and help them to avoid misery. I’d rather see them fall asleep and not wake up then watch them ripped apart.”

  “We’re not going to let either of those things happen,” Dr. Myers said.

  “We have to try to help them,” Will said. “You need to trust us. Look at Ursa and look at the men who came in with Dr. Myers. They’re good people trying to help and survive. They look different but they’re still human. Let us at least try.”

  Em picked up a baby and rocked it. Tears welled up in her eyes. “If any of them don’t react well, we have to agree to put them to sleep. They’re not experiments, they’re human.”

  “Agreed. I’ll do it myself and it’ll be painless,” Mark said. Em nodded her head at him, placed the baby back in its bed and looked over the small line of needles on the tray.

  * * *

  Em administered the last dose of Thantos to the smallest baby. Tears ran down her face and dripped onto the flowers and butterflies that decorated her scrubs. Strips of sheets had been torn and used to secure the babies to their small mattresses. “After the Thantos has taken effect we’ll need to give the supplement,” Dr. Myers said. “They’ll need a lot of calories as their bodies change and grow. Ursa’s finished the supplement and has finished her transformation. It’s not without pain and we won’t know how each child will react.”

  Will held Em’s hand as they sat next to the window. She tried to remain professional and disconnected from the children but her eyes filled with tears and she began to sob uncontrollably. Will handed her a tissue. “You need to cry it out. It’ll be okay.” Will said. “They’ll be okay.”

  Ursa and the other Sixes appeared in the doorway. “We felt suffering and came to find out what was happening.” Their eyes scanned the room.

  “They’ll be fine Ursa,” Dr. Myers said. The screams of the children reached a higher level. Some of the loosely tied sheets began to strain against the little bodies. Kat ran to each bed to check on the children.

  Scott walked to the window. “They’re coming,” he said. His deep loud voice cut through the cries of the children.

  “Who’s coming? What are you talking about?” Dr. Myers ran to the window and couldn’t see anything.

  Scott turned to look at the three standing in the doorway. Ursa shook her head and Scott let out a heavy breath before looking around the room then storming out pushing past her and out into the hall.

  “What is it Ursa?” Dr. Myers asked.

  “There are helicopters coming. The military’s coming for them,” she nodded at Tom and Craig. They’ve come to take them back.”

  “How can you know that?” Mark asked. The sound of helicopters came from outside. Dr. Myers could see them approaching the hospital.

  “Scott’s already on the roof. He says they’re AH-64s. They don’t want to bring us back. There here to make sure we don’t come back,” Tom said. Dr. Myer and Mark went to the window. The dark grey helicopters travelled swiftly towards the hospital.

  “How do they know they’re here?” Mark asked.

  “Tracking device on the truck,” Ursa said. “Led them right to us.” Shots were fired above them and the sound of a low flying chopper came up on their right and past not far from the window they were in. Dr. Myers looked into the eyes of the pilot as he flew close then bank right to make another pass higher.

  They ran out into the hall and left Em with the screaming babies. “Wait! The children!”

  “You go!” Ursa said as the men looked back. “I’ll stay with Em and Kat.”

  Dr. Myers, Will and Mark ran up to the roof. A voice over a loud speaker sounded down to them. “We don’t want to hurt you. Come with us and we’ll get the medical help you need.” Scott look back to the doctors standing in the doorway and smirked. Will came up to join them and let Sally down from his shoulder. The monkey sat calmly on the pebbled rooftop.

  A few shots were fired from the lead chopper and hit the roof in front of the three men. Concrete flew up and hit them but they didn’t move. Scott moved a hand up and motioned it quickly over his head. The helicopter was sent hurtling down into the parking lot below.

  “Oh my god!” Will yelled. The three men turned at one and walked back to the door. The monkey followed them as they descended the stairs.

  Will put his hands in his hair and stared at the smoke and fire. The second helicopter pulled up sharply and left travelling back toward the Yakima base. Will ran to side to see if there were any survivors. The helicopter was in flames and the heat from the ignited fuel sent waves of heat up forcing him to move back to protect his face. Walkers were drawn to the movement and ran into the wreckage burning up and falling over and running in different directions on fire.

  A deep voice called up from the stair well. “We need to leave doctor. It’s not save here now.”

  “The children?!” Mark said.

  “They should almost be ready.” Dr. Myers said. Will let’s talk to the men and see if we can secure them in the truck. Will ran down the stairs first and opened the door to the 3rd floor. Dr. Myers and Mark were behind him when he was taken down by Marshall. Will’s screams caused the monkey to scream and jump on Marshall’s back grabbing his face and pulling on his hair. She bit into his face but Marshall continued to tear into Will. A metal rod went through Marshall’s skull and he dropped to the floor. Ursa stood with the weapon holding it above her. On her face was a look of horror and disbelief. Sally ran back to Dr. Myers and Ursa held the rod high in the air and brought it down and into Will’s head. Sally screamed at a feverish pitch at Ursa until Mark picked her up to comfort her.

  TWENTY-ONE

  “We can’t stay here.” Scott walked in on the group working to remove
the strips of bed sheet holding down the babies. Ursa looked up at his approach then continued working.

  “We’re taking them with us,” she said.

  Scott looked down at one of the babies who turned his head to look at him. Tom reached out for Scott’s arm. “He take them,” he said. “They’re with us now.”

  Scott nodded. He, Tom and Craig each picked up mattresses and bedding and took them to the door. “Assemble, food, medical supplies, and weapons, whatever we can take in the truck. We move out in one hour.”

  He didn’t look up at the group who stood and stared at each other for a moment.

  “Move!” he yelled and walked out of the room.

  “What’s our alternative?” Callum asked. “We’ve got food, water, medicine and access to more outside.”

  “The water supply isn’t being manned anymore by the city,” Tod said from his position on the floor. We could wake up one day and not have potable water. The dead are piling up outside. That could mean disease, rodents getting into the hospital and contamination. Scott’s right we should leave this place.”

  Scott walked back into the room and picked up more supplies. “Why are you all standing around?” he asked.

  “We have to get back to Rene and Melissa. They could be starving and maybe worse,” Tod said.

  “You have friends somewhere near? When did you see them last?” Scott asked.

  “They’re near,” Ursa said. “We can pick them up,” her voice was flat and commanding.

  Scott seemed to hesitate for a moment then nodded.

  “Scott?” Kat asked. “What’s wrong with the hospital? Why should we leave?”

  “Our situation here will change quickly in a few days,” Scott said in an even tone.

  Tod closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “We shouldn’t wait,” Ursa said standing up. “I agree with Scott we have to leave and collect Rene and Melissa. We can ask Raj and Amy to join us.”

  “So what?” Callum said and threw his hands up into the air. “How much safer is it out there?”