by S. M. LITTLE
“Get what you need and meet me on the back side of the hospital. I’ll figure out how to get us out of here,” he told her.
With that, they both headed to their offices. Lucy grabbed everything she thought they would need. She had her pistol with her and she still carried a backpack. It was a habit formed from her college days.
She knew they need to swing by her apartment before they headed to her sister’s farm, so clothing and food she could grab there, but medical supplies would come in handy. She grabbed her stethoscope, some medical journals and books, jammed them in her bag and left her office.
She had to pass both the cafeteria and the pharmacy before getting to the back door. Luckily for her the cafeteria was first, so she could tell anyone who saw her she was headed to the pharmacy.
She started her journey along the corridors of the hospital, trying to appear as if she was on a mission. She was on edge because she was taking off, so every person she passed, she imagined them stopping her and questioning her on her destination. Paranoia was starting to set in after so many hours of sleep deprivation.
Lucy finally made it to the cafeteria, and it was a disaster. Staff were shoving against the cafeteria doors, trying to get them shut after loading in the last batch of bite victims. Changed ones were pushing back, making it almost impossible for the staff to close the doors. Blood was all over the floor, making it slippery and hard for anyone to gain traction to keep the doors shut. Lucy could see it was a losing battle and picked up her pace. The Changed were going to storm out of the cafeteria any minute.
People called out to her for help but she kept walking. Lucy turned a corner and started to hustle. The pharmacy was just ahead, and she was quickly running out of time. She made it to the pharmacy and told the pharmacist what she was looking for. Antibiotics were top on her list, followed by pain killers.
“Dr. Bailey, you know you need a script to take all of this out. I don’t care how bad it is in the ER,” the pharmacist told her.
“Jim, I don’t have time to write four hundred scripts. I need those meds now!” she hollered back at him. She could hear the people in the cafeteria, and they were about to lose control.
“Dr. Bailey, I told you—” the pharmacist was cut off by shrill screaming from the cafeteria. The Changed had made it out.
“Jim, run!” Lucy yelled at him and took off for the back door. Jim never made it more than three steps out of the pharmacy before a couple of Reds charged him. As Lucy opened the back door, she had a thought ‘I don’t have to be faster than them, just faster than you’.
She ran out the back door right into Greg’s arms. She didn’t realize it was him and started thrashing about.
“Lucy, it’s me,” Greg told her. “Stop hitting me.”
Breathless and sweaty, Lucy finally stopped and looked at Greg. A tear dropped from her eye and she quickly wiped it away. She was a tough broad, and she had to act like it.
“Let’s go. We need to go by my apartment first. I have supplies there,” Lucy told him. She quickly ended their embrace and headed out.
She was on guard, due to the Changed escaping from the cafeteria, and it was a good thing. She got to the corner and stopped. Peeking around the corner, she could see National Guard troops cordoning off the hospital. There was no way they were going to get to her car and drive out. They had to go on foot.
Her apartment was only a couple of miles away, but in these conditions, it might as well be in the next county.
“Bad news, Greg. They’re locking down the hospital. We have to go on foot,” she whispered to him.
“Wonderful. Lead the way,’ he said.
Lucy took them on a southerly route through the forest behind the hospital. They had barely made it into the trees when a couple of soldiers came around the back of the building.
“We can stay hidden in the trees for most of the way but we will have to cross a couple of roads. One of them will be in front of a Walmart,” Lucy told him. “We need to stay together. Don’t get separated.”
“I’m on you like glue,” Greg said, and Lucy chuckled a bit at that. Fine time to have gutter thoughts, Lucy thought to herself.
They made their way south through the trees until they came upon the first road crossing. Lucy looked left and Greg looked right. Greg briefly wondered if that was because of the side of the bed they would sleep on. Fine time to be thinking about beds, he thought to himself.
“Clear,” they said at the same time and bolted across the road. They were in sync with each other, not even having to talk before acting. Fine time to be thinking about sex, they both thought at the same time.
Running through the woods may seem all fine and dandy when you’re not doing it, but late evening with people looking to eat you makes it a bit difficult. They both were getting scratched by thorns, tree limbs whipped in their faces, and dirt crammed into their shoes. It was not fun.
“I need to stop,” Greg said. He had somehow gotten a cut on his forehead, and it was bleeding.
“Let me look at that,” Lucy said. She carefully examined him in the fading light, trying to get a clear idea of how bad it was. Greg grabbed his cell phone to use the flashlight option, but Lucy stopped him cold.
“Do you want everyone to find us?” she whispered. “That light will attract anyone close to us.”
“Sorry,” he said.
She continued to look the wound over and determined that it wasn’t too serious, but a good cleaning and a bandage would help.
“Did you grab any supplies before you left?” Lucy asked him.
“No, should I have?” Greg asked. He may have been a brilliant doctor and was incredibly good looking, but he had a lot to learn about being in an apocalypse.
“Yes, you should have,” she glared at him. “Nothing we can do about it until we get to my apartment.”
Moving on, Lucy led them through the woods and across each road crossing until they reached the road with the Walmart. They stopped in a deep ditch to check on the situation in front of them. The road in front of them was a busier street with traffic lights in front of the store entrances. Lucy’s apartment was on the back side of the Wal-Mart, but there was a wooden privacy fence in between the two buildings. It was tall and not easily climbed.
The Walmart parking lot was packed full of shoppers and looters. Lucy couldn’t see any of the Changed around, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. It sounded like the shoppers were battling with the looters, and the score was tied.
“If we skirt around the store and stay in the shadows, we might make it,” Lucy told him. “My apartment is on the other side of that fence.”
Greg just nodded and surveyed the scene. He was trying to get his mind in the right place for this. He chose to be a doctor because military life wasn’t for him. Bad choice on his part, he thought. He didn’t want to upset Lucy any more than he already had, as he was still smarting from the glare she had given him earlier.
“Lucy,” he whispered. “That might not work. I just saw flashes of light from the darkness where you wanted to go. It looked like cell phones coming to life and blinking back out.”
“Good boy,” she said as she patted his head. “You’re learning. Ok, all we can do is either go the way I first said, or straight through the mess in the parking lot. It’s getting dark, so we might not see anyone before we run into them if we skirt around.”
“The mess might not be any good either. Looks like it’s starting to get rough,” Greg said. “I’m thinking we go around.”
“Yeah, my thoughts exactly. There are no good options here,” Lucy said. Together, they approached the road and made it across. They were ten feet past the road when they came upon a green one. It stumbled towards them, arms outstretched. Gurgling, it tried to reach them but wasn’t nearly fast enough.
With a start, Lucy and Greg both switched direction and headed for the parking lot.
“The mess it is,” Lucy breathed out. The green one had startled both of them,
but other than a small gasp, they managed to hold themselves together.
They trotted to the parking lot and made as wide a berth around the fray as they could. Everyone seemed too busy with the fight they were in to notice them. They made it to the side of the Walmart building and hightailed it to the fence.
Greg put his hands out with his fingers laced together, in a clear sign that he was going to boost Lucy over the fence. She stuck her foot in his hands and he lifted her up. She quickly scanned the area behind the fence, saw it was clear and jumped over.
Greg, after helping Lucy, grabbed a dumpster from behind the store, wheeled it over to the fence and climbed up. Just as he was clearing the top of the fence, gunfire rang out from somewhere behind him and bullets blasted holes through the wood fence close to his feet. He finished climbing over and both of them ran to Lucy’s apartment building. They were inside before anyone could see them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE WHITE HOUSE
President Ford sat at his desk in the Oval Office. He was about to address the nation. Indecision and ineptitude had further pushed the situation to the edge of collapse.
The cameraman gave him his cues and he started speaking. In the room with him was the Vice President, Secretary of State, Speaker of the House, and most of the other cabinet members. Ford had already told the Vice President he was to stay at his side through the duration of the crisis.
“Fellow Americans. Friends. The last few weeks have proven difficult. We are under duress from an unknown assailant. Many lives have been lost, and while we mourn for our friends and family, we must strive to do better.”
“The massacre at Charleston, which is still ongoing, and that many of you have heard about, is unwarranted and uncalled for. These ‘Changed’ people are still humans. We must find a way to bring them back. I have called for a cease fire from all military forces currently engaged there. To those on that base, lay down your weapons and proceed to engage with our fellow Americans through peaceful talks.”
“With that said, I encourage you to stay in your homes. If you happen to come across a ‘Changed’ individual, it our recommendation that you leave it alone. If you do not provoke them, they will simply wander off and leave you alone.”
“I have met with the great Governors of our country to institute a nationwide shut down of everything except essential services. Watch your local news channels for further information regarding that. Furthermore, all emergency services personnel will be required to report for work in the coming days. This is mandatory, as social unrest, along with the Changed, make it imperative that all emergency essential services remain available. Many National Guard members throughout the country have already been implementing this measure, and I fully support such a move.”
“I have, just today, signed an executive order halting the Posse Comitatus Act. For those of you who are not familiar with the act, the Posse Act, for short, forbids the United States military from acting as policemen. In short, all military forces will be allowed, along with Homeland Security, to act in any manner they deem fit for the situation. This will allow our professionals to regain order and end this situation, quickly and peacefully.”
“For those who do not feel safe in their own homes, FEMA will be instituting ‘Safe Zones’. These will be camps set up that anyone can go to for protection, food, water, and medical services. I cannot stress enough, the importance of these camps. There are many Americans who don’t have a home. They will need these camps to survive.”
“For anyone choosing to go to a camp, you will be issued a ‘safe code’, which will allow you passage into said camps. If anyone is caught in a camp, without a code, they will be arrested and charges will be filed.”
“Looting and riots have been a mainstay in our country for months. It is time for that to end. I have signed an executive order giving the right to any police officials or military personnel, to use lethal force at their discretion. I know this will be met with varied degrees of acceptance, but we must come together, as a people, for the betterment of our society.”
“Lastly, with the suspension of the Posse Comitatus Act, I have instituted Martial Law. It is with regret that I have ordered this. Too many people are taking liberties with some of our unfortunate citizens. I institute this with the full intention of removing it as soon as it is convenient. Curfews across the nation will now be set at 8 o’clock, p.m. You must be indoors by 8:00 pm, local time. Anyone outside after curfew will be detained until further arrangements can be made. If everyone just stays home, we can avoid any unpleasantries.”
“Our country’s finest scientists and doctors, along with the CDC, are working night and day to find a cure for this…situation. We must trust in them to lead us out. If you are one of the many that have been called to duty, know your country stands behind you, as you toil away in your labs. We know you can save us. While the rest of the country works to limit any damage, you must remain in your labs, to find a way out.”
“We may be facing dark times ahead, but as Americans, I know we will persevere through it all and come out better on the other side.”
With that, any TV screen that had the President on went blank, leaving many in the country scratching their heads and in the dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Bob was beside himself. The President had truly lost his mind. He had only seen one of those monsters, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more of them. Bob had told Tina about Ted, and what he had gone through. These things were killers, to the nth degree. How could they hope to ever save any of them?
“Tina, what the hell was that?” Bob asked her. “I’ve seen one of these things. They’re like a terminator. They can’t be reasoned with or bought off. They don’t stop, ever. The only solution is to kill them, all of them.”
“The President has issued his orders. It’s not right, by any means, but we are safe here. Let me do my work so we can get out of here,” Tina said.
“What do you need to finish your work?” Bob asked.
“I wish it was that simple, I really do. It’s not,” Tina said, sighing deeply. “No one has been able to dissect one of those things, to even figure out what they are. Even then, it could take years before we figure anything out.”
“Years?” Bob asked, exasperated at that thought.
“Yes. Years. We are all doing what we can, but the science behind it all is intensive. It may never be over,” Tina told him.
It took Bob a few minutes to digest that little nugget. He didn’t come to grips with it lightly. He got dizzy for a moment as the reality of their situation hit him. He wavered a bit before sitting on the bed in the room they had been given.
“Are you ok?” Tina said as she rushed over to him.
“No, I’m not. My head is swimming from what you just told me. I know I needed to hear it, but all the dreams we had for a family have just gone up in smoke. Everything we wanted out of life has changed,” he told her, still dizzy. “We wanted children. How can we bring a child into this kind of world?”
“We can’t,” Tina said softly. She too had been thinking about all of this. She had forced it out of her mind earlier so she could focus on what was in front of her.
“Maybe in time we can, but not now. There is too much to get done, and it’s become much too dangerous for a baby,” Tina told him. She was trying to be reassuring. Bob had wanted to have a son in the worst way.
Bob cleared his head and stood up. “I’m with you, baby. Whatever you need to get us out of this, I’m here.”
“It’s not just me, Bob. There are thousands of doctors and scientists researching this, but it’s going to take time,” she said. “I have to get to the lab. Wanna come?”
“Yeah, not in the mood for any more Sponge Bob DVD’s right now,” Bob chuckled. It seemed like everyone in the Institute had a moment when reality hit them, and they needed to have a moment to sit and think it through.
They walked to the
lab together, hand in hand. When they got there, the lab was a beehive of activity. They walked in to find another doctor giddy with excitement.
“We verified that whatever this thing is, it is transmitted through the bite of one of the infected,” the doctor said. “We think there’s more, but we need a Changed to run tests on.”
Tina was astounded that they had gotten that much information.
“Where did you get this?” Tina asked.
“The Institute for Global Health in Germany,” the doctor said. “They actually caught one of the Changed.”
“Have they figured anything else out?” Tina asked.
“Yes, they think it’s a virus, something from nature. Could be an animal to human transmission, but they are not sure. It’s hard to get a handle on it. The medical histories from patients are hard to come by because, well, they change before we know they have it,” the doctor said.
“Does the CDC have anything new?” Tina probed further.
“No, they have nothing new. Figures it would be the Europeans to get answers first,’ he said.
“It’s not a contest, doctor. There is no first place, just winning the race, together,” Tina scolded him. Too many times, Tina had watched a young scientist lose focus by trying to be the first to find something or do something. The only race that mattered right now, was the race to find a cure.
“Very right, my apologies,” he stammered out and went back to his station.
“Would it really help to have one of those things?” Harry asked, as he walked up behind them.
“Holy puckered butt, batman! You scared the hell out of me,” Tina said as she regained her breath. “Warn someone before you walk up behind them.”
“Sorry. Would it help?” Harry asked.
“Yes, it would. It would progress our research tenfold,” Tina replied.
“Well, let’s make that happen,” Bob blurted out.