Blue Plague The Fall

by Watson, Thomas A.

  He knew the infected were in the ER. Looking around him for a more standoff weapon, he turned and saw an IV pole. Sliding along the floor to the IV pole, Bruce pulled the top half out of the stand. Now he had a four-foot metal pipe that at least gave him some distance. The soldiers were still firing single shots in the waiting area with an occasional burst of automatic gunfire. Some of the shots were getting closer, but they were still a ways off. The ER was a big place––from end to end, it was over a hundred yards long and a hundred and twenty yards across. He debated on using his pistol but decided against it. The military had been in a firefight with someone, and Bruce did not want to be confused with the attackers. Then a thought crossed his mind. If the infected could use weapons then it was game over.

  Bruce crept back over to the door leading into the hallway from the doctors’ and nurses’ area. He laid on the floor and slid to the bottom of the door looking out in the hallway. Whoever the infected were fighting, they were fighting back with everything they had. Just as Bruce was getting ready to go out and help, he saw the male attacker take a burst of gunfire right to the back, exiting the chest. All the man did was stand, turning toward the source of the firing. The female attacker did not even take notice. The blue male infected saw someone after he turned then started walking to him as another three-round burst ripped through his chest, blowing out his back. Bruce had shot many people in combat and had never seen anyone take damage like this. Six rounds had just went through this man’s chest; not only did he not react, he was advancing. Just then a bust hit the man in the face. The head just vanished, and the body fell to the floor like a switch had been turned off. Then the female attacker’s head snapped sideways as a single pistol shot rang out. The lady on the floor was crying, holding her arm.

  Bruce then noticed the patient’s gown on the lady lying on the floor. He heard footsteps coming down the hall and saw two soldiers approach the lady lying on the floor. One was holding his rifle, scanning the area, and the other was holding a pistol at his side. The one with the pistol pointed it at the lady on the floor, firing one shot and hitting her in the forehead. As the soldier looked up, Bruce saw it was Captain Asshole.

  The captain turned to the soldier, telling him to get a barricade over the door then send a few men outside to see if anymore infected were in the area. If any were spotted, he wanted them shot. As the soldier ran off, the captain walked into the doctors’ and nurses’ area and saw the staff lying on the floor.

  He said, “Everyone can get up now. A large gang tried to get into the hospital, and we killed all of them. Then we had several infected come into hospital during the engagement. We have secured the area, but I want everyone checked for bites by my first sergeant. “

  Turning around, he saw Bruce against the wall with the IV pole in his hand. “That won’t do you much good, nurse. But it’s okay. We protected you, boy. Now I want you to get those bodies out of the hall and put them on a stretcher now,” the captain replied with a smirk.

  Bruce stood up, dropping the IV pole with a clang on the floor. He did not want the asshole to see it as a threat. The captain still had his pistol out, and Bruce did not want to give him an excuse to use it. But be damned if Bruce was going to be his bitch.

  “You can kiss my ass, Captain. I have six patients on vents and another four to check on. In the last seventy-two hours I have slept one hour, and I can’t remember the last time I ate. Your job is to protect the institution so the medical staff can perform their job. I know your orders would not include having medical staff deviating from patient care. Especially since there are several soldiers who are wounded and under our care. If I’m not mistaken, your men are on a rotating sleep cycle, so if you want them moved, get them to do it. I don’t care if those bodies decompose where they lay,” Bruce said in a matter-of-fact tone.

  “You seem to know a lot, nurse,” he said, enunciating “nurse” and walking over to stand in front of Bruce, stopping about five feet from him. “Did you serve, boy?” the captain asked, trying to get a rise out of Bruce.

  “No, Captain, I have always worked as a nurse,” Bruce said, hoping this would at least get the idiot off his ass.

  “You will address me with respect, boy, and you will do what you are told. Do I make myself clear!” he yelled at the top of his voice. “Your skinhead appearance does not intimidate me in the least with your faggot earrings.”

  Staff was standing around the ER as they watched the verbal exchange of a little white man no taller than five-foot-six and weighing 125 pounds, who was pointing his left index finger up in the face of a white man who was six-foot-four and 280 pounds with muscles bulging over his entire body. Everyone knew that if the little captain did not have his pistol out, he would be getting his ass kicked.

  “Captain, I have said all I’m going to say. I have patients to see. Just remember there are over five thousand employees in this hospital. You only have about ninety soldiers here. You do the math,” Bruce said, turning and walking away. He did not like turning his back to the asshole but did not have much of a choice. Plus, he wanted the asshole to think that Bruce did not see him as a threat.

  “Is that a threat, boy?” the captain yelled.

  “No, just a fact,” Bruce said, walking off.

  Just then, a soldier ran up to the captain and whispered something into his ear. The captain looked at the soldier and the Captain headed out of the ER at a fast pace with the soldier following. A steady tempo of gunfire could be heard from the front of the hospital. Bruce turned and seeing the son of a bitch had gone Bruce sat down in the first chair he found. He knew if he had attacked, he could have killed the captain, but his men would have killed Bruce. Never reinforce a losing position unless no other option remains.

  Looking up, Bruce saw Mike walking toward him. “What the fuck do you think you are doing? That asshole will kill you. Can’t you keep your mouth shut?” Mike exclaimed.

  “He irritated me, and he will not kill me in cold blood in front of witnesses. Now if I had attacked then he would have had his reason. If it would have been just me and him with only his troops around then he would have shot me, but that was not the case,” Bruce said with certainty.

  “You were taking a big chance there, brother. I was getting behind the SOB to get a shot, but it would have been the Alamo,” Mike said.

  “Yes, I saw you moving into position. That was the main reason I walked off. I did not want you busting caps and get the soldiers in here. Too many people would have been hurt,” replied Bruce.

  “Come on, Angela is in the break room. Let’s go,” Mike said, heading to the break room.

  Bruce got up and followed him out into the hallway where Bruce had seen the infected attack the woman. The university police and several soldiers had placed the bodies on a stretcher and were moving them into the waiting area. The smell in the hallway could have gagged a maggot. Being a nurse, Bruce had smelled some of the most god-awful smells known to man. They did not even come close to what he smelled now. It actually left a taste in the mouth it was so strong. The taste was worse than the smell. Avoiding stepping into any blood puddles, he followed Mike into the break room. Closing the door behind them, Angela was crouched down in the corner.

  “Is it over?” she asked.

  “For now,” Mike replied.

  “Then what is all that shooting outside?” she asked.

  “Probably the military shooting infected that came because of the noise,” Mike said.

  “Well, what is the plan?” she asked, walking over to them. Angela was a very young-looking doctor whose patients often asked her how old she was. With her small stature and long brunette hair with curls, she looked like a teenager instead of twenty-seven. She was not quite five feet, with a very small frame, and was a knockout. Bruce and Mike just looked at her like she was one of their kids, just like they looked at most of the residents in the ER.

  “Angela, we all need to go into the bathroom so we can talk without someone walking in on
us. We can’t risk someone finding out because the more people that know, then it’s a greater risk. But if one of the staff comes in here and sees you walking out of the bathroom with two men, the rumors will fly. With that thought, if a soldier walks in, we can blow it off as some kinky action, but you do have to think about your reputation. I also don’t want your husband to go crazy,” Bruce said, looking into Angela’s eyes.

  “Bruce, screw a reputation. This is end-of-the-world shit. If you think we have even a small chance to get out of here, I’m in, but I have to get my baby. If you can do that, I will walk out of the bathroom butt naked telling everyone you two were good. As far as my husband, he would not believe it. He knows I love him,” she replied.

  “I don’t think you will have to go that far because if it did, I would have some explaining to do with my wife,” Mike said, walking toward the bathroom.

  The bathroom in the break room was unisex and had a shower in it for decontamination. It was large and fit the three very easily. Bruce looked at the shower with a longing. That would feel so good right now, he thought. He had sweat rings around his neck and large sweat stains on his scrubs. Both Mike and Angela looked the same. The only place that was clean was their hands, with the constant hand washing they had to do. Bruce closed and locked the door, motioning the others to lean closer.

  Bruce outlined his plan in a whisper, “At 5 a.m., Angela, go get your son and tell them you are taking him to the ER so a pediatrician can examine him because the last time you were there, he had a fever, and with the close proximity of the kids, you want to make sure he is okay so nothing can spread. Then you tell your husband to meet us in front of the cafeteria. After everyone is there, we walk down the hall to the medical school. Before getting to the med school, there is a door that leads outside to the loading docks. Then we walk around the back of the hospital to the parking lot. As we leave, I’m going to spin the tires and drive out very fast. This will get the attention of the soldiers and make them run to the front of the hospital. As the soldiers are distracted, Kelly, a nurse in the ER, will yell for everyone to run out to the ambulance bay to their cars.” Bruce finished his outline, looking at each of them.

  “Why are we going to make noise leaving? Why not just sneak away?” Angela asked.

  “I want to give the ER staff a chance to leave,” Bruce said.

  “Won’t the soldiers shoot at us?” she asked.

  “Probably, but the university police said a few cars were still moving on the roads. I’m hoping that we can get some distance before they open up. Make no mistake, it is dangerous, but if we stay here we will die,” Bruce told her.

  “Okay, I’m in,” Angela said.

  “Shouldn’t you talk to your husband?” asked Mike.

  “He will be in, and if not his ass can stay here, but me and my baby are out of this place,” she said with determination. Just then someone knocked on the door. They all froze. “I’m in here,” Angela said loudly. “Hurry up. There is a line out here,” came a reply. They did not recognize the voice. Bruce motioned for them to lean back in the little huddle.

  “Is there any questions?” he asked.

  Both Mike and Angela had several and some input. After a few more minutes, they were satisfied with the plan. They had been in the bathroom for a little over twenty minutes. As Mike reached for the door, Angela grabbed his hand.

  “Wait,” she said, taking her scrub top off then undoing her scrub pants. “You two take off your tops and act like you are pulling up your pants when we walk out,” she said.

  “I can’t. I have a gun on me,” said Bruce. Mike was taking off his top, exposing his large chest.

  “Well, we have to sell to whoever is out there we were doing something,” she said.

  “Okay,” Bruce replied, kicking his shoes off and pulling his scrub pants and underwear off. His scrub top covered his body holster, and he moved his magazines under his shirt.

  “Not shy, are you?” Angela said, gasping, looking down.

  “You were the one who just pulled off her top in front of us, girl, showing off hooters,” Bruce said, naked from the waist down.

  “It’s not like you have not seen hooters before, Bruce, but you’re probably right,” she said, reaching around and taking her bra off. She looked at Mike’s muscle-packed chest then to Bruce’s large muscular legs.

  “You guys work out a lot, don’t you?” she said.

  “Every day. Now, let’s go before something comes up; I would prefer not walking out with a boner,” Bruce said, looking at Angela’s very sexy body.

  Mike and Angela giggled as Mike grabbed the door with his shirt in his hand, holding up his pants. Angela had her shirt and bra in one hand, holding up her pants with the other. Bruce followed them out naked from the waist down except for his socks. When they walked out into the break room, there were two female nurses, one male nurse, and a soldier standing in a line outside the door. All four stood, shocked, with mouths open.

  “Dr. Collins, Bruce, what were you doing?” Claire, one of the female RNs, asked, holding her hand over her mouth but still looking at each of them.

  “Teaching anatomy,” Bruce said.

  They walked to the other side of the break room, laid their clothes on the table, and started redressing. Bruce kept his back to the wall getting dressed in case his top came up. He did not want to advertise that he was armed.

  “Is the class over?” Samantha, the other female nurse, asked. “If it’s not, I would like a lesson,” she said, giggling.

  “We can have our own class,” Gavin, the male RN, said hopefully.

  “You don’t look like them,” Claire said to Gavin, who was overweight.

  “I’m in shape,” said the young soldier.

  “No, that’s okay,” said Samantha, walking into the bathroom.

  The three finished getting dressed and walked out of the break room to find the hall had been mopped and cleaned. Angela said she was going upstairs to talk to her husband. Bruce and Mike went back to work until it was time to start the escape.

  It was almost 11 p.m. and, despite having almost no sleep, Bruce was buzzing from the adrenaline. It only took half an hour until the whole ER had heard about the break room incident. There were giggles and smirks from everyone in the ER. Hospital flings were not uncommon, but never that flamboyant. Bruce felt sorry for Angela because she was going to bear the brunt of the gossip. Granted, it would not be for long, he hoped, and if this virus came to an end, they would all be looking for jobs.

  Bruce was making rounds at 2 a.m. when Mike came up and told him Dr. Caldwell had tried to rip him a new one. Mike said he told him if he did not like his actions then fire him so he could go home. They both laughed as Mike walked off to check on his patients. Then Bruce saw Angela in the front of the ER looking at him. She gave a nod and a sexy wink. A nurse beside her started laughing. The shooting had almost come to a stop an hour ago; now just an occasional shot could be heard.

  At 4:30, Kelly came back and told Bruce she would watch his area. As Bruce grabbed his messenger bag, he leaned forward and asked her, “You do have your keys, don’t you?”

  “They have not left my body since I got here. I did walk around telling everyone to make sure that they had their car keys. I did not say why but told them if the chance came, we needed to be ready. Now, what happened in the bathroom?” she asked with a grin.

  “Nothing,” Bruce replied with a grin.

  “Well, come get me next time for nothing,” Kelly said, popping him on the butt.

  Bruce laughed, thankful she did not hit his gun on his back. Grabbing his bag, he headed to the stairs and went down to the basement where the cafeteria was. Walking past it down the hall, he wanted to make sure that no one was outside the door. When he reached the door, he looked out the little window, seeing nothing. He then cracked it open and could not see anyone, so he stepped outside, careful not to let the door go because it would be locked from the outside. The alley that led out into the p
arking was about twenty feet long and narrow. He would have someone hold the door when everyone got here so he could look around before they left for the car. The sky was getting pink, but the outside lights were still on. He walked back to the cafeteria doors. The cafeteria had not opened since he and Mike had been there. Bruce did not want to know how they were feeding the patients in the hospital.

  Mike was the second to arrive, then Alex, Angela’s husband. His face was red, and he was looking at the floor.

  “Nothing happened, son,” Mike told him.

  “I know Dr. Collins, Angela told me why all of you put on the show, sir,” Alex said.

  “My name is Mike, and do not add sir, either,” he said to Alex.

  “Well, you did get to see my wife half naked. So I guess I can use your first name,” Alex said, laughing.

  “Don’t you even think of calling me sir, either, Alex,” Bruce said.