by Mark Clodi
An Hispanic woman came by and brought her another box of tissues, taking away a plastic bag full of used ones. Her name was Evaine, maybe Whitney could get some information out of her.
"Miss? Miss?" Whitney called quietly. The young woman, who had been walking away, turned back questioningly, "What happened to the others who came in with us?"
"Oh, your friends?" the woman came over Whitney's beside and put her hand on Lauren's head, "The doc gave the boy a tranquilizer, he was not doing really good and we, well, we had to do something. One of your friends, Angie?"
"Aggie." interjected Whitney quickly.
"Aggie? Okay Aggie is with him, the boy Ron he is feeling better, doc gave him pain medicine, but doesn't think his…his testicles, suffered more than bruising.", the woman blushed, "The other guy, Juan…John, he is doing okay, but doc is pretty sure his jaw is busted. Doc set it up and wrapped him, he is with the other three over with the older kids. Doc said Michael, he needed a surgeon, so he put him in a pickup truck and took him over to the hospital after getting him stable here. Doc doesn't know about your ribs and doesn't want you moving around much, but he says even if they are broken there is not much he can do for them. He", Evaine pointed at Craig, "is probably the worst off person we have here and rates a bed. Your sister, she can probably go with the others or stay here, she is okay, just has some scrapes and bruises."
"Can I leave? I mean, if I feel up to it?"
"Ah, you mean will I stop you? No. We want to bring you down to the real hospital though, on the next trip, you and him." again Evaine pointed at Craig, "You both need x-rays. Hank says there is a guy from the military that is going to meet them at the hospital, so he is going down there and you guys are supposed to go with them. I brought you fresh Kleenexes for the trip, you are supposed to be leaving soon."
"I don't want to leave my friends, if they are not going I am not going. Neither is Craig."
Evaine's smile faltered a bit, "You'll have to fight the doc about that, I don't know who is going on this trip, they want to move all the wounded and children down to the hospital today, you should go though, it is a real hospital and they can take care of you better there. Look here they come now. Please just go get checked out. Michael is there, so you can check on him, right?"
A balding older man approached the beds beside a taller middle aged guy. The taller guy came up and thrust his hand out at Whitney, he spoke with a mild southern accent, and Whitney recognized him, "Whitney right? I remember you from the clinic, Juan and I ran into you there."
"Yeah, I remember, Hank, huh? I don't want to leave the others here. I think we should stay together." said Whitney.
"Yeah, I thought you'd say that. We got a bus, the wounded will take up half of it, I think we can fit everyone in. I just hope no one else complains about you kids getting to go before the other kids, still you killed Dave, and most of you need medical treatment."
"Hank…" the older man began. Whitney recognized him as the doctor from the clinic where they had met Hank. Hank shushed the doctor with a wave of his hand.
"They are all they have, like family, we are not splitting the other families up. They can go together. Michael was already rushed over there." Hank's words carried authority and 'Doc' just nodded. Whitney appreciated the gesture.
Doc spoke up, "We don't have any gurneys or easy ways to get you onto the bus, I wrapped your ribs, but it is still going to be uncomfortable." He held out two tablets in his hands and Evaine got a water bottle from the stand beside the bed. "These are pain killers, they will not knock you out or anything, we need you to be alert in case the zombies hit the bus, we will need every set of eyes we can get. Okay?"
Whitney took the pills, hoping she could trust the doctor. The group moved off and let her relax for a little while. After fifteen minutes she did feel pleasantly numb however when the time came to move it did, indeed, feel uncomfortable.
Chapter 29
When the helicopter landed there were a dozen people on the roof to meet them. It was a small helicopter, it only had three people inside and looked like it might carry six at the most. Hank and the group from the Mike's Club were not at the hospital yet, they were well on their way and reporting very little early morning activity, loading the bus had taken longer than everyone had thought, then there were a few unhappy people at the club who disagreed with who got to go on the bus and in the caravan that went along with it. Juan shrugged his shoulders, the quasi authority they had was just that, they didn't have a way to force people to do anything. His fantasies about building a better society with the survivors had taken a few hits recently, none were a worse blow than the near riot that Hank had to deal with just to get those people over to the hospital. In the end Hank calmed the crowd down by assuring them they should all be moved by the end of the day to the new facility except for a core group of volunteers who were going to be left in charge of defending the club and it's vast array of useful food and materials for the good of the group.
The helicopter wound down and as the blades slowly stopped the man in back opened his door and hopped out. He was Hispanic, which Juan had not suspected over the radio, plus what Hispanic parents name their kid 'Ed'? He approached Juan confidently and put out his hand.
"So are you the leader of this group then?"
"Ah, no, not really, I mean this group at the hospital, sure, but we got another guy really in charge, he is on his way, coming over from the club." Juan answered.
"In a bus?" seeing Juan's nod, Ed continued, "Okay good then, we saw a bus with some other vehicles coming this way from the air, the only vehicles moving, couldn't miss them. Shall we go inside?"
The pilot and co-pilot were getting out of the helicopter, Ed turned towards the dozen or so people and said in a raised voice, "Okay people I am going to talk with Juan and we are going to wait for the guy you chose as a leader to get here to decide what we are going to do. We saw his bus from the air and he should be here soon. I gave my assistant" he pointed at the man whom Juan had assumed was the co-pilot, "the information we have to share with you, so he should be able to answer all your questions. No holding back on anything either, ask and if we know, we will answer. Right now I am going to steal Juan away from you so we can talk before the other guy gets here."
Lowering his voice he said to Juan, looking at Nanci, "Your wife?" Juan nodded, "She is not excluded, but I feel we need to show leadership here to get organized, we can't do that by committee. There has got to be a room we can use to meet right?"
"Oh yes the doctors had plenty of conference rooms, we have on set up, and there is a small auditorium we can use if we need to meet with everyone. We have coffee and food, if you or your men are hungry?" said Nanci.
"Sounds good, coffee is always welcome. Shall we?"
Juan led Ed and Nanci through the doors down to the conference room on the second floor. They spoke for about fifteen minutes before Hank showed up. Hank arrived with some hubbub, he was surrounded by people as he came up to the conference room door and he was having some difficulty getting into the room, not so much because the crowd was mobbing him, but because he was trying to get everyone's version of the last day's events at once. Finally Hank held up his hands and said, "Okay, okay, this is not working, I have to go talk to the General or whoever he sent to speak with us. I will catch up with you people later. The bus is going back for a second run, we need to get some of you double checking the rest of the hospital to make sure it is safe. Most of the wounded are already here with this last load, I am sure we could use more help taking care of them too. I will try and speak to all of you if I can when you are working, if you don't know what you can do to help, just talk to Jack or Charlie, I am sure they can find something to keep you busy."
After saying that Hank pushed the rest of the way into the conference room and closed the door behind him. Looking around in surprise he said, "Oh. For some reason I thought there would be more people here, just the chiefs then, eh?"
Ed Stanson
had stood up when the door opened, with Juan and Nanci mimicking his action. Approaching Hank Ed put out his hand and said, "You must be Hank, I am Ed Stanson, of the 19th Special Forces Group." shaking Hank's hand he continued, "I am very pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure is all my, er, General? Mr. Stanson."
"Major, sir." Ed replied.
Turning from Major Stanson Hank shook Juan's hand, then half embraced him before turning and hugging Nanci and saying, "Keeping him out of trouble Nanci?"
"Sì Hank, mostly, you hungry? The cooks made muffins, and we have coffee?"
Hank nodded to both and Nanci went and got him a plate, loading it up with two muffins and making him coffee from long practice the way he liked it. After all four of them had all the muffins and coffee laid out before them and were sitting down in the plush conference room there was an awkward silence. Finally they all started to ask questions at once, then broke into nervous laughter, the Major gestured for Hank to go first.
"Okay then, well what can you tell me about what is going on Ed? Or should I say Major?"
"Either is fine, I probably have more information about the overall situation in the region than you do, but so far as what is happening over all I am not sure you won't know as much as I do."
Juan chimed in, "Is there still a United State? Is help on the way out here?"
Ed looked at them and said, "Of course there is a United States! As for help, we might be a bit lacking. The bomb this morning was supposed to get rid of the major problems in the area, we are, in a military sense, behind the front lines. Even given that most modern warfare philosophies would discount the term 'front line', that does best describe the situation. There were outbreaks of the enemy in Denver, LA, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, New York, and Miami. And that is just in the US, our data on the rest of the world is limited, it seems that every major land mass has had an outbreak, but not as many cities were hit as in the US, which points to us as the origins of the problem. The current thinking is the whole mess started somewhere in Florida, with hurricane Melony just easing up off the coast the area is a mess and communications are very bad."
Hank said, "Okay so you say we are behind the lines, are the zombies that organized?"
"Zombies? Right now we just refer to them as 'the infected', yes, they do have the characteristics of a horror film zombie. Are we behind the organized lines? I would have to say yes and no. There does seem to be some organization at some level, something or some one is directing attacks, like the one on the radio station, we have reports of what we have termed 'Super Infected', er 'Super Zombies' that seem to be the leaders and can control other less able members of the enemy, sometimes some of them even seem to have regained some of their memories and abilities to think. There are other reports as well, of almost, well, lets just say unexplained abilities."
Juan nodded, so did Hank, the Major looked at them and went on, "I see you might be able to confirm a few stories I have heard too. I have to tell you I have not been out yet, this is my first foray into the field to meet you guys. I have been sending out troops on reconnaissance patrols and to keep down any zombies that get close to the base. I have not seen any combat with these things, you guys have me beat there, I would bet, and any information you could give me would help. So far what I know is not good."
"Yeah, okay, we can help with that, some of your boys had to get back from the radio station. I mean the guys that came in here said some made it back or were headed back?" asked Hank.
Shaking his head Ed said, "Not as many as you might think, that was a clusterf..", Looking at Nanci, he amended himself, "a…mistake from the get go. We deal in wounds, a normal enemy is bogged down, demoralized and defeated when he sees the wounded pouring in and hears of the dead left on the field, these things are not affected by wounding, our technological edge is not completely negated by their durability, but it is hampered. We were ordered to secure the radio station and tried to do just that in a conventional way, with only the most basic of information. It was not enough and we did not know who or what we were fighting. I have some video of the confrontation and we are learning from it, most of those men died. The few who made it back are more than half crazy and are getting the rest of my guys, worked up. No one likes to play soldier when their wives, girlfriends, parents and children are in immediate harm's way. Most of those at the base were reserve units, the special forces I am in command of were already serving overseas, I am, was, just pushing paper around on this side of the Pacific until we shipped out to relieve the rest of my unit."
Juan eyed him, "So, what, who you have, are mostly new guys and reserves?"
"Oh it is not like that, you don't get recruited into the special forces off the street. I have a lot of well trained infantrymen under my command, with a core of instructors who are literally the best at what they do in the world. Most of the new recruits are veterans of the war too, they have been around the block a few times, I have too for that matter, I didn't walk into a rear echelon job, I was assigned to it when I was recovering from an IED that hit my command vehicle. We have combat experience. Plus the reserves have already done one tour overseas. The United States Army is the most highly trained armed force in the world and the men I now find myself in command of are good representatives of that training."
Hank snorted a bit "You sound like a recruiter Ed. So the base is mostly empty? Is it more secure than this place?"
"I couldn't make the numbers to be a recruiter, they have a tough job these days, who wants to die in desert half the world away? The base is more secure, but not much more, it is not a fortress, just chain link fences with a guard house at the front to keep the riff-raff out. I have the troops putting up guard towers today, right now we can see things pretty good with our helicopters, but we don't have unlimited fuel and the way things are I think we can safely say we are not going to be getting any more for months, if not years."
"'The way things are', how are 'things'? Do you know?" Hank asked.
Ed looked a bit worried, his clean shaven face frowned at them and again he shook his head, "Not good. Between the edges of Colorado up to the Mississippi there are few reports of enemy activity, the area is mostly secure, but that is a lot of territory, Chicago is a nightmare, it would be worse than Denver, but let's face it, Denver is gone, there is almost no one left here, the enemy moved up into the mountain towards the smaller towns pursuing anyone who got out or they flooded the plains heading towards North Platte and Kansas City. Further south Pueblo is still fighting and they are holding better than Colorado Springs did, New Mexico is still mostly untouched, though there are reports of enemy actions in Santa Fe. Wyoming? Pretty clear right now. The Dakotas are clear and Canada, internal Canada is still clear too, the coasts of the entire continent are dealing with enemy incursions. A bright spot is Mexico City, no reports of enemy activity, over a million God damned people and nothing going on there at all. Yet. Hell I read a report before I left and I could spend half the morning relying the information to you guys, do you have any specific areas you want to know about?"
"Well, we could head north? Try to get to Wyoming or north east to the Dakotas? How is Boulder? Or Fort Collins?" asked Hank.
"Boulder is like Denver, a lot of stragglers, a few humans moving around or trying to contact us with cell phones or radios, Fort Collins is the Pueblo of the north, they didn't get hit so hard, but they have less people to help fight the enemy off, it would be tough to break out with the number of people we have, especially the non-fighters."
"You got a plan, you must, it is what you do. If we can't leave then we stay here. Bunker down and wait the zombies out or for something else to change?"
"Yes Hank, that is what I was thinking, we still have a bunch of, well not even second line machines now, but the older vehicles and civilian vehicles will work to forage food, gather survivors and keep us alive. There is still food and fuel here and in Colorado Springs to keep us well fed and comfortable for years if the number of survivors w
e estimate we have to care for is even close to accurate. Hopefully we got most of the enemy leaders with the nuke this morning, they could be the real problem."
"I don't know, I am not so sure staying would be a good idea, the food will run out, the fuel will go, what will we do if the numbers you have are off, or if the zombies come back? Can you defend us with the guys you have?" asked Hank.
"If the enemy came back we could not stand against them." Ed let them digest that for a moment before continuing, "It is a numbers game, the base is a fort, we have ammo and guns, we have mines, bombs, grenades and a few people who know a whole lot of dirty tricks. All those pluses are wiped out by the sheer number of enemy personnel that we could be dealing with. I have already said the base is nothing more than chain link fence, heck in some areas it is only a normal barbed wire fence. That means we would be using the guard towers and buildings as firing positions, and they were not designed for that. We don't have a bullet for every man woman and child in the front range, let alone the state of Colorado. When you factor in that each of the enemy must have their brain destroyed, not their hearts or legs or guts…", Major Stanson shrugged his shoulders, "This isn't a Rambo movie, my guys are good shots, but a head shot every time? Against a moving target, hundreds, thousands, even millions of targets, it is just not possible."