“It’s on account of them meteorites, nothing to get worried about.”
“Pa.”
“Yes boy?”
“How come no one’s turned out to look for Ma and they looking for that Firth kid?”
Frank stopped and looked at his son.
“They ain’t looking. The Sheriff done called the search off. It’s not safe up here ‘cause of the wind. Besides Jedrey ain’t exactly no one now is he?”
Frank surveyed the rough ground about them; the odds of somebody sick with no footwear making it this far was pretty unlikely. Yet he had to find her and with weather changing it needed to be fast.
“Hey Pa!”
Kurt’s voice brought him back to present.
“Take a look at this.”
Frank had missed the light blue shred of cloth fluttering in the wind. He walked forward and took the item from the small bush. It was from Nancy’s night-dress, the one he’d bought from Fosters at Christmas time.
“Is it Ma’s?”
Frank turned the fragment around in his hands and then gave the boy a triumphant look.
“Yep, it sure is, best give the others a call.”
Kurt called across to the others and soon they were joined by his brother and Jedrey.
“You sure this is from Nancy?”
“I got this colour one but she wanted a green one, I thought she’d hate it but she said it reminded her of the sky.” He placed the remnant into his pocket. “I’m sure enough.”
“Well at least we know she come this far.”
Bodien stopped talking; pointing to a small shed a way off.
“Frank, what’s that up ahead?”
“That’s the old powder shed they used to keep dynamite in when there was a mine here abouts. It’s been closed up since ever I can recall.”
“I reckon we need to take a look; it’s the only shelter till your place.”
“Mr Bodien, you reckon we gonna find Ma in there, Sir?”
“Well, we just may there Larry boy, let’s take a look.”
Bodien led the other three over to the small derelict stone structure. Its door long rotted away, the heavy roof cast an impenetrable blackness within. Tall grass hid the base of the walls and partly obscured the doorway. These last remnants of the once busy mining industry were gradually fading away to nothing.
“Hey Ma you in there?”
Larry ran excitedly towards the doorway and began calling. Bodien called to the boy, as he reached in his daypack for the flashlight. “Hold up there now son, watch for snakes.”
The boy disappeared into the gloom only to re-appear almost instantly. A huge smile spread across his face.
“I found her, I done found Ma.” With that, he dashed back into the powder shed. Frank felt every fibre in his body tingle; the Lord had returned her to them just as he’d prayed. He felt like shouting for joy and weeping at the same time, then he looked at Bodien. The man’s face was a mask of apprehension; suddenly Frank was gripped by a feeling of panic. What if Eastman was right? What if...?
“Larry, wait, wait!”
He shot ahead of the others and crashed into the tiny space. He could make out a figure crouching in the corner of the room. Larry was calling to his mother and as he reached at the figure the glare of the flashlight lit up the figure’s face. The hideous features that looked back at them were no longer Nancy Jorgan. The creature caught Larry’s arm, sinking its teeth into the soft flesh of the back of his hand. The boy let out an agonised cry of pain and fell against the wall. This nightmare seemed far from content at the paltry mouthful of flesh and reached out to grab him again. Frank sprang forward and pushed the creature back, pulling his son into the outside sunlight.Larry stumbled backwards onto the hard ground, holding his hand in front of his stunned face, the blood soaking his sleeve.
“She bit me Pa, why’d she do that?”
He looked into his son’s tearful eyes and saw shocked betrayal staring back at him. What had she done?
“Pa, look up, she’s a coming outside!”
Frank looked up and saw Kurt’s trembling hand pointing back at the doorway. The apparition was standing just outside of the doorway in the grubby pale blue nightdress, now stained with Larry’s blood. Frank gasped, stifling back tears as he saw the sunshine reflect on the wedding ring. Was this his wife, his Nancy? Out of the corner of his left eye, he could see Bodien draw his pistol and aim at Nancy.
“Put that thing down Jedrey.” Frank pointed his shotgun at the other man.
“Frank, that ain’t Nancy no more, that’s a killer now!”
“I ain’t telling you again.”
Bodien slowly lowered his automatic but kept his finger on the trigger then backed away. “Okay, it’s your call, what you gonna do next?”
Frank watched as she stalked closer, he would have to act fast; otherwise somebody else could get hurt. The truth was he didn’t have a clue. Desperately he tried to work out the next move.
“Jedrey, I need your rope.”
****
Eastman was troubled. He drummed his fingers on his desk rhythmically and looked over at Benteen, sitting in front of him.
“How’s Kate?”
Benteen pushed the small of his back up against the chair, and widened his eyes looking back at Eastman.
“It was all pretty damn gruesome, buddy. Hell of a thing for her to see, but she’s a tough girl. She’ll get over it.”
“Still no sign of Mike Woodridge?”
“Nope.”
“All wiped out, the whole bunch. No sign of any guns being used; Mike would use his last shell to protect his family. We gotta be looking at him being infected.”
Benteen flicked through the statement. “Yeah, I reckon so. All the bodies were well chewed. Kate reckoned they’d shut the inside door, but Mike got in through the outside one. What a mess. When can we get some people back up there? We gotta find him.”
“Bill says the weather front could last a few days. Gerard, we got too much going on to think about another search party. We still got Conrad and Nancy to find yet.”
Benteen nodded and raised his eyebrows.
“Tall order then? Beats me how Bill can tell all that, without the computers?”
“It’s only if you want stuff online. He uses all those aerials and such to take the readings. I gotta call him soon, any case. You can ask, if you want.”
“I guess it ain’t no rocket science. What you make of this search and Tony Firth?”
“I was gonna ask you what you made of it, since you were up there with him?”
Benteen shifted in his chair. “A day back and he’s banging my door down to look for his kid. Yesterday and he’s more taken by some guy that ‘might’ have been there. Now today, we ain’t seen his hide for jack. That’s some real odd dealings.”
“He’s been sort of weird since the health center; reckon I’ll pay him a visit later?”
Benteen punched the air. “I’d have loved to seen his brother’s face when he took all that crap back to Wal-Mart.”
“Though I’d have preferred it better if we’d had to take it back from him.”
Eastman’s radio set burst into life. “Bill Merka calling Brad Eastman. Over.”
“Yeah, Eastman here. Your ears gotta be on fire, I was just about to call you. Over.”
The voice on the other side of the call sounded agitated.
“Brad, I got activity up at Murray Ridge, there’s a bunch of guys putting up some kinda equipment. Over.”
Eastman sat forward in his seat and stared at the radio set intently. “What kinda equipment Bill. Over?”
“Can’t tell. It could be some type of radio mast, not sure. Over.”
“Okay Bill, keep an eye on them, I’ll send Gerard and some of the guys up there. Out.”
Eastman replaced the handset and looked at Benteen. “Take some boys up with you, have a look what those bozos are up to. Be real careful, they could get hostile.”
“They w
ant hostile,” Benteen’s lips curled in a sneer, “I’ll give ‘em damn hostile. Now where’s Sarge and his rocket launchers when you need him, hey?”
“Oh, he’s up there all right.”
“How come? I thought you’d pulled the plug on any searches, cause of the weather?”
“I have, but Sarge is on a ‘Sarge mission’ looking for Conrad. He’s got a theory.”
“Sarge on a mission with a theory; that ain’t never a good thing.”
“Never mind all that. I don’t want any fire fights up there. You gonna have civilians with you. Take care.”
“You know me, Boss.” He got to his feet and grinned. “The soul of tact.”
Eastman looked back at him, open mouthed, then pointed to the door. “Vamoose!”
****
Anne Lenski was sitting in her office with Vinnie and Leona Arcado; the look of worry on their faces cut her to the bone. She detested this aspect of her job; the anguish mixed in with that little slice of hope was a heart-rending cocktail. Before calling them to discuss Tony, she’d wracked her brains on what to say. However, with them sat directly in front of her, she found it near impossible even to find the opening line.
“I ran tests on Tony,” she began. “I’m afraid they all came back positive ...”
“But that’s good right? Positive is always good, right Doc?”
“No, Vinnie, no. In this kinda thing, she means it’s bad.”
“Your wife’s right, in this case it means Tony is infected with the virus.”
Anne saw the awful recognition dawn on Vinnie Arcado’s face as he finally grasped the implications. His eyes shot open wide and his breathing became heavier as he placed his hand over his mouth. Anne desperately tried to recount the response she’d rehearsed for this part of the dialogue however, her mind was blank. She looked at Leona, the woman’s eyes had welled up with tears but she was putting on a brave face.
“Doctor, what are his chances?”
“Well Mrs Arcado, I’m giving him broad spectrums of shots. Antibiotics aren’t a good treatment for a virus. I just don’t have anything else.”
Anne doubted even with the resources of a hospital, there was any hope of redressing the condition. The X-ray of the boy’s internal organs had shown severe damage. This could only mean that they were in the process of liquefying. This was beyond repair, she couldn’t hazard a guess but the boy didn’t have long.
“So what, you just gonna give up on him?”
Vinnie Arcado leant angrily over the desk to Anne.
“Can’t you try something else?”
“There’s no question of giving up. I’ll try everything on the shelf and I’ll do everything I can. But he’s just one very ill boy.”
Vinnie sat back down with a heavy thump and rubbed the tears from his eyes. Leona reached over and tightly held his hand. It amazed Anne at just how strong this woman was.
“Are you sure Tony’s got this infection? I don’t understand; he wasn’t bitten. I thought that was how you caught it?”
“No. It only has to get into the bloodstream for someone to become infected. A bite seems the most common way but contact with any body fluid is enough. I’m so sorry, there’s no question. He is infected.”
“I know he’s ill but you can cure it, right?”
“I’ll try my best.”
She hoped she’d concealed her fears well enough from him to take some tiny speck of optimism.
“Can we see him?”
“Yes of course, but we’ve had to move him to the isolation section, we can’t risk infection. I’ll fix you both with protective clothing. I won’t be long.”
She was glad of the break to leave the room and she stepped into the corridor. As luck would have it, Elle-May was coming towards her.
“Jeez honey, you look as if you just got outta the ring. You okay?”
“I feel like it too. I just told Tony’s Mom and Dad he’s got the virus. What I didn’t tell them was that he’s dying and I don’t have a damn clue how to stop it.”
“You can only do the best you can for him. That’s only thing anybody can do.”
She caught Anne’s arm.
“Yeah, so I keep telling myself, only I don’t think it’s going to be enough? Elle-May, can you find two suits for Tony’s parents? They want to see him.”
“Sure thing, Norris will go dig some up for you. You need anything else?”
“Has Jill turned up yet?”
Anne had not seen Jill Paxmore for days, she’d tried to contact her using the CB radio but Jill and Al had gone to stay with her brother Edge Biggs, in town without the radio. Anne had meant to call around but there’d been no chance. Now she was concerned.
“No, she should’ve been here this morning. Why don’t you get someone to call over?”
“Elle-May your talent is wasted here. Can you sit with Tony’s folks while I call Brad?”
“Yeah sure, what about the suits though?”
“I won’t be that long.”
Elle-May nodded and Anne left for the reception area. Within a few short moments she’d rounded the corner and sat down at the desk, operating the radio set. She pressed the handset call button and was through to Clara.
“Dr Lenski calling Sheriff Eastman. Over.”
“Clara here, go ahead Doctor. Over.”
“Can you ask Brad to send someone over to Jill Paxmore’s brother’s place. Over?”
“Sorry Brad’s off site. How can I help? Over.”
“She hasn’t turned up for work. In fact, no one’s seen her or Al for a few days. Over.”
“Yeah, that’s kinda funny, Edge was supposed to be on patrol last night and he didn’t show. No one’s seen Al either in a while. Over.”
“I’d appreciate if you could look into it for me Clara. Over.”
“No problem, I’ll try send someone as soon as I can. Is there anything else? Over.”
“No thanks. Call me when you can. Out.”
****
Bridget looked in amazement at the collection of medicines on the living room table. Tony had brought everything from simple pain-killers to antibiotics. The medicines were grouped into categories with a set of typed instructions on how to use each of them. She shook her head in bewilderment. Tony would be the one to use these, it was difficult enough for to manage her vitamin supplements. She looked at her husband as he came back into the room.
“You figured out how to use any of this?”
“I gave him some of the pain-killers and started the other stuff.”
He looked at his Seiko watch. “We gotta dose him up very four hours. We gotta be on the ball with this.”
“Think any of this is gonna work Tony?”
“It’s gotta work.” He walked to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a large brandy. “Any news from outside?”
“No, only they’re still looking for Nancy Jorgan but...”
“How come they’re looking for her and ain’t looking for Conrad?”
“What? Cause he’s upstairs or you forgotten, jeez.”
“I ain’t stupid,” he rounded on her. “I know that, but they don’t do they?”
Bridget came right up to Firth’s face. “That so, well maybe you ought to be up there looking for our boy!”
“Yeah well, you don’t have to be up there to be up there if you take my meaning?” He gave her a sly wink as he took a large sip of brandy.
She pointed to the medical supplies. “What he ask for this lot? What’s he want from us?”
“Nothing. He’s my brother.”
“Yeah, that’s what worries me. He don’t do anything for nothing; he’s gonna want something.”
“Look, he...”
Firth was cut short by the sudden knocking at the front door. Bridget moved swiftly to the window and peeked through the net curtains.
“Who the hell’s that?” hissed Firth.
She held her finger to her lips and bid him silence. “Well it sure ain’t the AVON l
ady. It’s Brad Eastman!”
“What!”
She sprang back from the window. “What we gonna do?”
Firth jumped up from his seat and blew loudly into his cupped hands.
“He’s come about the meeting. Quick, get all that crap hidden away.”
“Are you nuts? Just don’t answer the door!”
“Car’s still out front, he may have seen you at the window. We can’t risk it. Take that into the other room. Damn it!”
This was no time to argue; Bridget scooped the medication up in the table-cloth and dashed into the other room. Firth steadied himself, walked to the door and opened it. Eastman was standing on the doorstep, with a smile.
“What took you so long; you think I was the repo guy or something?”
“Sorry I must have been dozing.”
“I wiped my feet, Tony.” Eastman gestured towards the hallway.
“Oh yeah, sorry.” Firth moved aside and showed the other man into the hallway. He led Eastman into the living room and frantically scanned the area for anything incriminating left behind but he could see nothing out of place. Firth sat in his armchair and Eastman sat on the sofa and placed his hat on the small coffee table.
“You come about the meeting?”
“Well, that also, but I wanted to see if you were all right after the search yesterday?”
“All right? Sure I’m all right. My town’s falling to bits and my boy is still missing. Everything’s just dandy.”
“I’m sorry about calling the search off.” Eastman shifted awkwardly on the sofa, “but I gotta think about the search teams.”
“Frank’s up there looking for Nancy, maybe I should go look for Conrad?”
Eastman averted his gaze then looked directly at Firth.
“Frank found Nancy. She took a chunk outta Larry.”
“Oh my God! She’s, she’s...”
“Yep. And so is Larry now.”
“Poor Frank, what lousy luck.”
“That’s not all. Kate found what was left of the Woodridges all over their kitchen earlier.”
Firth held his head in his hands. “What the hell did we deserve to have all this happen?”
“Mike Woodridge’s gone missing so I put an APB on him. Looks like he may have ‘turned.’ I don’t think we can take chances anymore. Anybody that’s infected has gotta be brought in for treatment.”
Containment_A Zombie Novel Page 21