One of the last messages was from Andy. “Rose! Get your ass into work. Shit has gone crazy. The CDC can’t handle this and Green Forks is fucked. We’re doing the best we can but get in here motherfucker!”
The final voicemail was from Chief Hill. “Jordan Rose? This is Chief Hill. We’re ordering all available persons to report to work immediately. The department’s resources are maxed out and we’re only at about half staff. If you get this message, know that you’re hereby being ordered to report to work immediately. Once this crisis is resolved and it’s determined you ignored this order, you will be fired. This isn’t a choice.”
Rose looked at the timestamp of the voicemail, it’d been left over a day ago. Rose knew that Green Forks must be in some serious trouble if no less than the Chief of Police was leaving voicemails like that. Rose knew that she had a duty to go into work, but she still had Kate upstairs. Rose scrolled through her phone and called Andy. “Rose! Where have you been? We really need your help...When can you get in here?” said Andy, sounding excited and exhausted at the same time.
“Andy, Kate was sick. She’s dead.” Rose had wanted to phrase it better than that but the words just kind of poured out of her mouth. There was a long silence.
“Jesus, I’m so sorry. That...that would be a good reason not to come to work. Not that it matters really anymore,” said Andy, trailing off.
“I need your help Andy,” said Rose. “I need to bury Kate and I don’t want to do it alone. I think I’m going to do it out back somewhere. Like next to a tree or something.”
“Oh...Rose, I..” said Andy, slowly. There was another long silence and Rose could hear the police radio constantly talking in the background. “Look, Rose we’re busier than we’ve ever been and you aren’t the only one to not show up for work, at least half the PD is gone and the rest of us are working nonstop-no breaks or anything.”
“It’s ok, I understand. Once I take care of Kate, I’ll be able to come in. It’s just something I need to do first. I’m sorry Andy,” said Rose remorsefully.
Andy sighed into the phone. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thanks Andy,” said Rose, feeling the first tugs of a smile forming on her face for the first time in many days.
“No problem Rose,” said Andy, hanging up.
Rose placed the phone down next to her and finished eating her lunch, drinking several glasses of water before deciding she was done. Rose then climbed the stairs back up to the second floor. Sitting down in a chair next to the bed in the spare room, Rose took Kate’s hand. She was stone cold now but Rose didn’t care. This was the last time Rose would be able to hold Kate’s hand and she wasn’t going to let a little thing like death get in her way.
Chapter 5
Busy was something that Andy wished he was. He wouldn’t define the volume of calls that Green Forks PD was getting as busy. Ludacris, that would have been a better way to describe it. Andy had barely slept in days and he was working whenever he wasn’t sleeping. The Green Forks that had existed days before was gone-it was just chaos now.
After the meeting with the CDC, Andy and Rose had worked an uneventful night. They’d gone their separate ways after work and just as Andy sat down on his couch and cracked open a beer, the phone rang. It’d been Rose. Kate had been injured dealing with a patient and Rose was on her way to go visit. Andy had told Rose to call him if she needed anything. Immediately after hanging up with Rose, the phone had rung again. Green Forks had experienced its first and second homicides in many years and they needed extra people to cover the road. The first was at the hospital, the guy who’d attacked Kate had also apparently killed his mother. The second victim was a teenager who looked like he’d been mauled by a wild animal but inside his own home. No one thought it was related to the CDC meeting, but when the next mauling death came in, Andy started putting it together.
Green Forks PD investigated the first several murders like they always did. Called in detectives, took evidence, pictures and everything else but after several days, the bodies were piling up. Soon there were dead bodies being called in every hour and three times as many medical calls for people who’d been attacked by other people. The hospital quickly became overwhelmed, many of the staff had taken some sort of unexpected leave after Kate’s attack there, and once the patients started attacking other patients...That’s when things started spinning out of control.
The shootings started around the same time as the dead bodies. Just like the murders, the first couple of police-involved shootings were investigated thoroughly, but after a while, they started happening so often that they just couldn’t be investigated that way anymore. Andy’s first shooting had been traumatic, but the second and the third and the fourth had come so soon after that it was hard to remember why. The infected people just kept turning up at calls he was responding to and all you could do was shoot them. Andy had stopped home and gotten his personal AR-15 semi-automatic rifle so he could shoot from further distances. Other officers were getting sick and he didn’t want to be one of them.
At the end of each day, Andy thought that day had been the worst of his life until the next one came. Whatever horrors Andy had encountered the previous day, he went up against them again the next day and then some. They used to remove the dead bodies, of the mauled or the ones they shot, but now, where would they put them? There were so many dead people...The dump? They’d never be forgiven for that once this was all over. There were no easy answers.
When Andy got the call from Rose about Kate, he’d known that something was up that was preventing her from working. Rose never went days without returning Andy’s calls, and especially not returning calls from work. Andy was glad that Rose was ok but crushed that Kate was dead. The three of them had been a team and while he felt like the third wheel at times, Kate always was happy to have Andy around and that lessened the awkwardness.
Andy wasn’t quite sure how he was going to get away from work as the calls for help seemed endless, but not going wasn’t an option. Rose was Andy’s best friend and she needed him. So when Andy was sent to a part of town that was in the general direction of Rose’s house, he just stayed signed on to the call instead of letting his dispatcher know he was done and ready for the next call. The police department was one of the few secure places left in the city. They had barricaded the building and had taken a couple officers off the road to guard the barricades. Some of the officers and dispatchers had brought their families there to hide out until this passed...which everyone hoped was sooner rather than later.
The National Guard had come to town just the day before. Andy had hoped their arrival was a good sign, but once they arrived, they apparently determined that Green Forks wasn’t where they wanted to set up camp and moved on north. Their arrival had gotten everyone’s hopes up but it was a fatal blow to morale when they left taking only Chief Hill and his family with them. That’s when Andy knew they were going to have to ride this out on their own. No one was coming to their rescue.
When Rose called, it was the early afternoon but Andy wasn’t able to finish up and sneak away until the late evening. The sun was just starting to set as he pulled into Rose’s driveway. Only 6 days earlier he’d been parked in the same spot around the same time of day joking with Rose and Kate before heading off to work. Now, he was there to help Rose bury Kate.
As Andy knocked on the side door to Rose’s house, she came around from the back of the house. Andy noticed right away that Rose seemed much worse for wear but thought better about saying anything. Instead of inviting Andy inside, Rose croaked “I’ve already finished the hole, right next to the big birch tree out back. Kate’s already back there, I just wanted someone else here when I buried her.” Rose’s eyes were puffy and bloodshot, she’d been crying for some time.
“No problem Rose,” said Andy taking a step back away from the door as Rose turned and headed back toward the backyard.
Andy followed closely behind Rose around the
house and toward the birch tree. Despite the fading light, Andy could distinctly see a multitude of cuts, bites, scratches, and other wounds all over Rose’s arms, legs, face and neck. This worried Andy. He’d seen enough of all of the stages of this new disease to know how quickly someone can go from sick to raging psychopath. Andy moved up next to Rose as they walked through the yard so he could get a better look at her injuries. “When did she die Rose?” asked Andy softly, trying to act casual.
“The night before last. I’d been keeping her in our bedroom but she just got too violent. I wrestled her down into the basement and she was there for about a day before she died,” Rose said quietly.
Andy did some quick calculations in his head as they came up to the birch tree. “So Kate’s been dead for almost two days and was raging in their basement for a day before that” Andy thought to himself. “Assuming Rose got all those injuries dragging Kate to the basement, that would put Rose’s infection date at least three days ago, possibly four. If Rose was infected, she’d at least not know who I am...and would almost definitely be in the rage stage by now…”
As they stopped at the hole Rose had dug, there was a large rolled blanket Andy assumed Kate was wrapped up inside of. But despite the solemn occasion, the realization of his thoughts hit him like a lightning bolt...Rose was immune to this disease! “Jesus Christ…” Andy muttered before he could catch himself.
Rose, not privy to Andy’s thoughts, reached over and grabbed his hand. Andy could tell from the movement of Rose’s hand within his that she was crying. Andy couldn't push from his mind what this revelation could mean for Green Forks and the world. Andy found himself staring blankly at the hole in front of him, completely unaware of what was going on around him.
Distantly, Andy was aware of Rose letting go of his hand. He thought he heard a voice but it seemed very far off.
Rose placed a hand on Andy’s shoulder. “Andy, are you ok?” asked Rose, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“What-oh yeah...I’m so sorry Rose. What did you say?” said Andy shaking his head remembering he was at Kate’s funeral and should probably participate.
“Could you help me put her in the hole? I don’t want to just dump her in there.” said Rose.
“Sure,” said Andy, blushing with embarrassment. Rose grabbed Kate under her shoulders and Andy by her legs. Together, they lowered Kate’s body into the hole in the ground. They stood together in silence for a moment looking at the blanket wrapped around Kate’s body. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without her,” said Rose to Andy. Rose sniffed, turned then grabbed a shovel out of a nearby pile of dirt.
“Once we get through this disease stuff, I can help you out as much as you need, ok Rose?” said Andy, turning away from Kate’s grave to face Rose. “Do you want help with filling in Kate’s grave?”
“No, this is something I want to do myself. Thank you for helping with getting her in there though,” said Rose. Rose thrust the shovel back into the dirt pile, walked over to Andy, and gave him a brief hug. “Thank you for making the time to come by,” Rose whispered, turning away from Andy and grabbing the shovel again. Andy could tell that she was crying again. Andy considered going over to comfort her more, but in the end decided against it. As Andy walked around the house back to his cruiser, he could hear the steady thump and hiss of dirt being shoveled back into the hole.
If Rose was immune, that was excellent news. Pulling out of Rose’s driveway, Andy felt happier than he had in days, odd coming from the funeral of one of his best friends. He’d have time to grieve Kate once they beat this disease, he thought to himself, justifying his feelings. However, as Andy pulled away from the house, it started to sink in what his uncle and Dr. Knight had said about finding a cure by any means; this now applied directly to Rose. Andy’s initial jolt of happiness was turning bitter by the second. Was he going to have to sacrifice his best friend for the greater good?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rose lived on the far hilly outskirts of town and so Andy’s trip back in was usually a scenic one with great views of the town and the surrounding country. In the evening hours, Green Forks was like a cluster of lights hidden in the middle of a forest. However, this trip revealed just how troubled they really were. From above, Green Forks appeared to be on fire, a new development since Andy went off the grid for Kate’s funeral. There seemed to be at least five or six separate locations that Andy could see that were burning. Andy knew that resources were dangerously thin, possibly nonexistent, so if there were numerous large fires burning in town, that was a really bad sign.
Andy called into dispatch to see if they had any updates. “Dispatch, this is Unit 679, are you aware of several fires that are currently burning in town?”
“Lawson? Where have you been? We’ve been trying to reach you for a while, we thought you were gone,” dispatch answered. Oddly, it was an officer answering him on the radio, not a dispatcher. “We’re recalling all units back to the PD. The city is lost and we have no means to defend it any longer. We’re going to regroup and either hunker down here or evacuate to another location.”
“Received, I’m en route back,” said Andy. Not good.
As Andy cruised through the town, he quickly realized why that decision had been made. Only hours ago, the city was bad, but now it was a war zone. Many of the fires were downtown and quickly spreading to other buildings close by. The volunteer fire department was nowhere to be seen. The infected were now visible running in small packs through the streets and Andy thought he may have seen a dead body or two as well. Things had gotten much worse and regrouping seemed like the right strategy as he drove on. Andy sped up and got to the PD faster than he normally would have...there was no traffic save for the occasional abandoned car in the road. Andy made the turn from the main road onto the side road that led to the police department. On the corner, Andy saw a person hunched over and squatting down. Andy slowed down and opened the passenger side window of his cruiser to tell the guy to seek shelter. “Hey buddy, it’s not safe out here. Go find some place to hide until this blows over!”
Slowly, the man turned his head to look at Andy. Andy had thought the man was wearing a dark shirt but instead realized the man was covered in blood. By the light of the street lights, Andy could see that blood was dripping from his mouth and ragged flesh was hanging from his teeth.
The man hopped up and turned toward Andy hissing at him. Behind the man, Andy could now see he had been hunched over another person. With all the blood, it took Andy a second to realize who he was looking at. It was their dispatcher Jen Johnson. She, like everyone else was wearing the same clothes she’d been wearing for days now and the long, bleach-blonde hair confirmed it. How or why she had found herself out on this corner, Andy didn’t know, but what disturbed him the most was that Jen had been very pregnant the last time he’d seen her. Now Jen appeared to be missing the majority of her torso.
“Oh holy fucking shit!” Andy yelled slamming the gas in his cruiser and rolling up the window as he went. The man didn’t follow but stared at Andy’s cruiser as it sped away. Flying into the front parking lot of the police department, Andy threw his car into park, grabbed his duty bag, and ran toward the barricade in front of the PD as fast as he could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andy was greeted by several fellow officers on guard duty as he crested the piecemeal barricade blocking the front entrance to the PD made of benches, scrap plywood and metal as well as several dumpsters.
“Good to see you back Andy,” said one of the officers. “Sergeant Heffernan is looking for you,” said the other.
“Jen’s gone,” said Andy solemnly to one of the guards, still shaken from the sight.
“Yeah, she left a little while ago...something about family in Canada. Stormed out, jumped in her car and was gone before we could stop her.”
“She didn’t make it,” said Andy pushing past the guards and making his way inside the police department. Andy couldn’t help but breathe a si
gh of relief as the front doors closed behind him. Why would Jen leave this place? The police department was one of the only safe places left in town. With their generator and stores of food and water, they could last for several weeks until the government got this outbreak under control. Despite how quickly Green Forks went from no sign of infection to full-blown outbreak, Andy was still confident that the government would persevere. The last few days had convinced him that if it took some unconventional experiments and some test subjects had to make the ultimate sacrifice to stop people from being eaten alive, maybe that was worth it. What did Jen ever do to be killed and her unborn child ripped from her body like that? The ends have to outweigh the means in cases like this shouldn’t they? With Rose being immune, she could be the key to help turning this whole situation around. Rose wasn’t out there on the streets, she didn’t know how bad things really truly were. She’d just been dealing with Kate, she didn’t know the extent of the destruction the infected were causing. If Rose knew what her immunity could do to help out...
Andy was still internally debating when he came to the office door of Sgt. Heffernan. Sgt. Heffernan had taken over the Chief’s office on the second floor after Chief Hill had fled town with the National Guard. He’d begrudgingly taken over as their de-facto leader, mostly due to the fact that all the other officers senior to him were either missing, dead, or infected. Sgt. Heffernan had moved his family to the police department as a precaution, and that had turned out to be a very wise decision, especially after seeing Jen’s demise less than a half-mile away.
Break Away (Jordan Rose Duology Book 1) Page 7