Snake went to talk to one of the guards then started back to his room. He smiled and nodded toward Helga as he passed by. “Those will never hold her,” he said. “Remember King Kong? He ain’t got nothing on her.”
Doune hoped that the biker was exaggerating, but he wasn’t going to bet on it. His eyes shifted to Helga, who made the gurney look small.
“I have injections ready for her if necessary, but frankly the bite appears to be healing rather than getting worse. She probably isn’t infected, though she may be an even bigger threat if that’s the case, at least to you. She’s been talking in her sleep and has had a few choice words for you.”
Snake was about to ask the doctor exactly what Helga had said, but he remembered that Autumn was nearby, and Helga’s vocabulary wasn’t always PG. Then again, Autumn wasn’t your typical nine-year-old. The kid was mature beyond her years, both in intelligence and in her knowledge of the world. Snake was sure the girl had heard worse, so he finally asked Doune for the gory details.
Doune lowered his voice and repeated Helga’s threat.
Snake turned pale and swallowed hard.
“Of course,” Doune added, “I don’t think that’s physically possible, but perhaps she was speaking metaphorically.”
“I hope you’ve got a good supply of that sedative,” Snake replied before walking away.
He made it as far as the door to the doctor’s lounge before he was stopped again.
“We need to figure out where to hide the guns,” Jack told him. “I don’t know how early the Coast Guard choppers will arrive in the morning so I think we ought to get this done tonight.”
Snake rubbed his beard as he thought about it. “Is there any place in the hospital they won’t search? Walk-in freezer or morgue, maybe?”
“I can’t promise that they wouldn’t find them there,” Jack said. “I’m guessing they may do a pretty thorough search. I was kind of thinking about someplace outside of the hospital. Maybe a nearby building they wouldn’t even think about.”
“It would have to be close,” Snake said. “We can’t risk hiding our stash in a building that might get bombed.”
“What about the truck?” Jack said after a few moments of silence. “We could hide the guns in the back and park it nearby. We could even make it look like it’s been wrecked; throw up the hood, park it at an angle.”
“I like it,” Snake said. He looked longingly at the door to the physician’s lounge, where the nice, soft sofa awaited him. Sighing, he said, “I’ll get some of the guys to help me.”
It took a while to find just the right spot and to stage the accident. They had emptied the truck earlier, but after stashing the guns and ammo in the back, they piled some furniture inside and left the back door hanging open. Snake yawned as he regarded the final product.
“Let’s go get some sleep,” he told the others as they killed off a few stray zombies. “Those choppers will be arriving early, I’m sure.”
He was more than ready to collapse for a few hours, but was stopped again, just inside the door.
“Had a little problem while you were gone,” Wolf said, keeping his voice down.
“What now?” Snake asked.
“That guy nurse, Keith, went after a couple of the guys. He was drunk.” He nodded toward the ER where Keith was passed out on a gurney near Helga.
“Where’d he get booze?” Snake asked.
“Mouse had something to do with it, but I can’t get a straight answer out of him.”
“Nothing new there,” Snake snorted. “I don’t think Mouse knows how to give a straight answer. I’m kind of surprised, though. Keith didn’t strike me as the drinking type. I thought he was all into health food and working out.”
“I guess his wife got killed today,” Wolf said. “Her building was of those that got blown up.”
“You sure?” Snake asked.
“Pretty sure. Keith was on the phone with her when it happened. He kind of flipped out. That little Filipino nurse, Amelia, said she’d never seen him like this.”
“Is he okay, now?”
“Yeah, Doune gave him a shot of that stuff that he gave to Helga. He says they’ll both sleep for a while.”
“All right. I’m going to try to do the same, but I’m sure I won’t need one of Doune’s shots,” he said, tiptoeing past Keith and Helga to get to his room. He slept for almost two hours before being shaken awake by Jack.
“What?” Snake growled, sitting up.
“We need you in the Crow’s Nest. Something is going on and I’m not quite sure how to handle it.”
Snake thought that seemed odd since Jack was the man in charge of security. He was curious but Jack wouldn’t explain more.
“You’re going to have to see this for yourself,” he said.
“All right,” Snake said, getting to his feet. Still half asleep, he made his way with Jack to the elevator and took it to the fifth floor. He yawned widely as he and Jack stepped out and went to the Crow’s Nest. Mouse met him at the door.
“Uh, boss, we got a problem,” Mouse said.
“Yeah, I keep hearing that lately,” Snake said with a long-suffering sigh.
The others were gathered at the window and Jack walked over to join them.
“Keith found a bottle of tequila and finished it off,” Mouse started.
“I heard that, though I’m still not clear on how he got the booze,” Snake said. As far as he knew, there wasn’t a drop in the hospital. “I heard you had something to do with it.”
“Well, I, uh, kind of came across some on our last supply run,” Mouse admitted.
Snake’s attention was momentarily distracted as Wombat wrote something on a whiteboard then held it up to the window.
“But you don’t drink,” Snake looked back at Mouse, confused.
“Which is why I gave it to Keith,” Mouse said, as though that explained it all.
“Okay,” Snake said, trying to follow Mouse’s convoluted story. “So you gave Keith a bottle of tequila and he drank it. I don’t think that’s a huge problem. He just lost his wife so he got drunk and passed out. And why are so many lights on in here?”
“So people can see inside better,” Mouse said.
“Four!” Someone called out.
“Why would they need to see inside?” Snake asked, turning to look at the men at the window again.
“You kidding? That’s at least a six,” another biker said.
“It kind of goes along with this problem,” Mouse said.
Snake kept finding himself distracted by the others. He turned back to Mouse, “The problem with Keith getting drunk?”
“No, that’s not the problem. The problem is that he left.”
“Let’s go with five,” Wombat said, writing on the board again before holding it up.
Snake looked at the bikers in utter confusion, but then he realized what Mouse had said.
“Left?” Snake repeated, looking back at Mouse again. “Left the building?”
Mouse nodded. “There’s more.”
Snake just stared at him, not wanting to ask.
“Helga saw him leave and she followed him out. The two of them are on a rampage outside,” Mouse said, nodding toward the window.
“Helga? She was strapped down with those heavy-duty straps,” Snake said with a frown. “Did she break out?”
“Not exactly”
“Mouse?”
“She threatened me, Boss. The stuff she said she’d do if I didn’t let her loose, it was horrible. Maybe she wouldn’t have really done it but . . .”
“She would have. You don’t know Helga,” Snake said, walking over to join the others. He looked down at the parking lot, which was also thoroughly lit up. There were bodies strewn everywhere and in the middle of it all was Keith with a sledgehammer and Helga with a crowbar.
“Oooooh,” came several voices in unison as a couple of the bikers looked away. Keith had just brought down the hammer on the skull of a crawler. It looked lik
e something Snake had once seen the comedian Gallagher do to a watermelon.
“That’s a nine, for sure,” Moose said.
“A nine?” Snake asked.
Wombat showed him the whiteboard with the number nine on it, before holding it up to the window.
“Should we go help ‘em, Boss?” Moose asked.
“I don’t know,” Snake said, scratching his beard. “We might just get in the way.”
“That was my thought exactly,” Jack sighed. “Which is why I woke you.”
Snake stood at the window for a while longer, watching as the dead trickled into the parking lot, only to find their final deaths at the hands of the two warriors. Most of the bikers had their rifles ready, just in case, but so far no assistance had been necessary. “Let’s just see how it goes for now. Is someone by the door to let them back in?”
“Fish is,” Mouse said. “He’s listening for them to knock or for us to call down.”
“Ouch!” someone said as Helga split a skull with the crowbar. “I give that one a seven.”
Wombat erased the nine and drew a seven on the board before holding it up.
Helga looked up at the window and frowned before looking around. She walked over to two zombies that had just made their way into the parking lot and she stood between them. As they both turned toward her, she swung one way with the crowbar then the other, dropping them both within seconds of each other. She looked up at the window.
“Eight,” Mouse said. Others agreed.
Wombat held the sign up and watched as Helga crossed her arms.
“Maybe we’d better make that a nine,” Mouse suggested.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Wombat said, changing it.
Helga grinned after the board was held up again, and went back to her work.
It was another hour before the two were ready to come inside. When they were told they had to go through quarantine, neither of them argued. Keith found a gurney and promptly passed out.
Once he was sure that Helga wasn’t going to need to be restrained again, Snake said, “I’m heading to bed.” Sunrise would be at 7:00, which was only a few hours away.
“I think I’m going to stay up and work on the generator with Spencer since the electricity has been flowing a little more consistently at night,” Jack said. “I can sleep some more tomorrow after the helicopters leave.
“Sparky,” Snake said. “His name is Sparky.”
Jack grinned. “All right. I’ll try to remember that.”
Snake made his way to the lounge next to the ER. When he entered the room, he thought he could actually hear the couch calling to him. Peeking out the door, he got the attention of a biker passing through the ER.
“Pass it on to the rest of the guys. If anyone wakes me up before the choppers arrive, they’ll be shot.”
The biker laughed, but Snake didn’t crack a smile.
“Dude, I’m serious,” Snake said with a straight face. The biker quickly dropped his smile and nodded his head. The door slammed.
~*^*~
~33~
Snake had managed to sleep for less than an hour before being awakened at 3:45 a.m. by Fish.
“This better be important,” Snake said sternly, trying not to lose his diminishing sense of humor.
“Sorry, Boss,” Fish apologized. “But the guys in the Crow’s Nest want to show you something.”
“What, did Keith and Helga go back outside?” he asked.
“No, this is something else,” Fish said.
Promising himself some more sleep once the crisis of the hour was resolved, Snake sighed deeply and headed to the top floor. He walked into the observation room where a young biker with rather large ears was looking out the window. The biker turned to look at Snake when he entered the room.
“Hey, Boss,” he said a little too cheerfully for Snake. “I think that building across the park has power. There’s some kind of light going on and off in the window. Maybe a machine of some sort.”
Snake looked to see a rhythmic pattern of flashes coming from the other window.
“How long’s that been going on?” he asked.
“Well, it started just after Keith and Helga came inside but it’s been going off and on ever since then,” the man replied, scratching his fuzzy beard.
Snake looked at the young biker and shook his head.
“You can’t tell when someone’s signaling Morse code with a flashlight?”
He went to the phone and put it on intercom, announcing that he was looking for someone that knew Morse code, and that they were needed in the observation room.
~*~
Keith was sitting with Jack in the cafeteria, nursing a hangover, when they heard Snake’s message.
“Morse code, huh?” Keith said. “Did I ever tell you that I was once a Boy Scout, Jack? Guess I’d better get up there and see if I can help.”
“Have fun with that,” Jack said, taking another sip of coffee. He saw Lindsey enter the room and walk over to get a cup of coffee before walking his way.
“Is this a private party, or can anyone join?” Lindsey asked.
“It’s a little crowded here,” Jack joked as he pointed out the empty chairs surrounding the table. “But I think we can fit you in.”
She sat down and took a sip of her coffee.
“I’m so glad we still have a few luxuries,” she said, setting her cup back down.
“Not bad for instant. Next trip to the store, I’ll have to remind Snake to bring the real stuff back.”
“We got some yesterday but I guess it probably hasn’t been taken to the kitchen yet,” Lindsey said, yawning before taking another sip. “I’m just glad it’s not decaf.”
“Why are you up so early, by the way?” Jack asked.
“Autumn just can’t wait to get down here in the mornings to help Doune,” Lindsey said. “I guess I don’t need to come with her but I hear her moving around and it wakes me up.”
“I guess it’s good that she’s got something to keep her busy.”
“Definitely,” Lindsey said, taking another sip. “It’s not good to have too much time to think these days.”
“You looked a little down,” Jack said. “Everything all right? I mean besides our current situation with the undead and all.”
“Just thinking,” Lindsey answered. “Trying to decide whether to stay or go. Then there’s my mom and dad. Last time I was able to contact them, they were fine, but I can’t help but worry. I just hate not knowing what’s going on in the rest of the world.”
She took a sip out of her cup and looked at Jack. “What about you? You never talk about your family. Anyone out there you’re worried about?”
The long pause that followed made Lindsey think she may have hit a sore spot.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”
“It’s okay,” Jack said, staring at the steam rising from the cup. “I’ve no family out there to speak of. My wife left this earth two decades ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Lindsey said, not knowing what else to say.
“It was kind of sudden,” Jack continued. “That woman had a heart of gold. Unfortunately, that’s what got her killed.” Jack paused, seemingly deep in thought.
Lindsey shifted uncomfortably, wanting to know more, but she thought better about prodding him on.
“She was a social worker,” Jack finally said. “She insisted on going into the areas where most of her peers refused to go. Her cases were children of crack addicts and prostitutes. She said someone had to help them. Might as well be her. We were never able to have kids, so, honestly, she loved these kids like they were her own.”
“How did it happen?” Lindsey said, breaking her silence.
“She was on a routine visit to one of her long-term cases. A twelve-year-old kid had been returned to her mother a few weeks earlier. Her mother had been a meth addict, but had been clean for two years. The visits were going well and they had plans to get out of the ghetto
and start a new life. Unfortunately, the woman’s meth-crazed ex showed up. When my wife arrived, the man was beating the crap out of the girl’s mother. My wife should have just called the cops, but that’s not how she was. She tried to stop him and was stabbed eleven times. A neighbor called the cops and when they showed up, the guy came at them. He went down in a flurry of shots. My wife made it to the ER but died a couple minutes before I got there.”
Lindsey sat in silence, again at a loss for words.
“At least she didn’t have to live through this,” Jack said, fighting back emotion. “She died helping people. Wouldn’t be a bad thing to have on your resume when you meet your Maker, don’t you think?”
Lindsey simply nodded.
~*~
Keith made his way to the observation room, grateful for something to take his mind off of Shanelle. He didn’t know for certain that his wife was dead, but he knew that it was likely. There were other possibilities and most of them weren’t any better. He couldn’t stop his mind from going through all of the scenarios. She could be trapped in a collapsed building with zombies all around. She could be wounded but alive, but even if that were the case and they had the resources needed to dig through the rubble, the undead would probably make a rescue impossible.
When he reached the room on the top floor, he greeted Snake.
Snake was glad to see Keith. He’d been afraid that Dr. Doune would show up, and he and Snake had nothing in common other than a mutual distrust of each other. Keith seemed to be a little more down to earth than the doctors and a lot easier to be around than Doune, in particular.
“You’re up early,” the biker said. “How’re you feeling today?”
“Like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Keith admitted, “but I used to know Morse code and I think I still remember it, though I may be a bit slow this morning.”
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