“Tell them to find cover if they even feel just a hint of rain. Otherwise, they need to get up here, ASAP.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Ryan mock salutes me.
“Didn’t know you could be so bossy.” Ace says.
I feel obliged to explain. “I have to check on Colin; he was bit.”
Jason is right on my heels. “Wait… what?”
“There was this guy, well… you saw.”
“I didn’t know he was bit.” Jason tries to hold me back.
By now, we have reached Colin and Blake. Both are just closing a door, and I assume they put the infected man in there.
“Let’s get the other,” Colin says.
“We can’t put them together.” I stop them.
I can tell they still don’t understand, so I explain. “Remember the people who were attacking each other? What if we lock those two together, and they kill each other?”
“Does one more or less really matter?” Ryan walks in with a sneer of disgust on his face when he sees the dead woman.
“Of course, it matters,” I say scathingly.
“Okay, one thing after another. Let’s get the guy from the doorway.” Colin gives me a wink. “Into a separate room.”
I ignore the wink and grab his arm as he is about to pass me. “Hold on; the others can do that. I need to check your arm.”
“Yeah, about that.” Jason pipes up. “Nothing against you, Thornton.” He holds up his arms in a surrendering gesture. “But we might have to kill you.”
I search his face for traces of a bad joke, but there is nothing but seriousness written across it.
“Have you lost your mind?” my voice drips with accusation.
Jason looks down at the floor. “Well, no, not me….” He glares pointedly at Colin. “But he will if he was bit.”
“What in the devil’s name are you blabbering about.” Blake finally speaks up while Colin leans against the wall, arms crossed over his chest with an amused expression on his face -as if the whole thing has nothing to do with him.
“Zombies, man,” Jason says. He looks a little embarrassed but also filled with conviction. “If those things aren’t zombies, then I don’t know what is.”
“No, you don’t,” I spit out between clenched teeth, walking forward and getting into his face. “You have no idea what you are blabbering on about.”
He looks a little ashamed, but he doesn’t back down. “What else do you think they are then?”
“People.” My voice goes silent, the way it always does when I’m about to lose my temper, but Blake and Colin are the only ones in this room who know this.
“Regular, normal people. They are sick with something; I don’t know what. Something is screwing with their minds, but they did not die and come back from the dead.” I argue.
“And how do you know that?” Jason challenges me.
We are almost nose to nose at this point. Neither one of us realizing that the rest of our group has arrived, even Angie’s little whimpering is not registering with us.
I start ticking off my fingers with each point I make. “They don’t only die when shot in the head.” Tick, pointer finger. “You can render them unconscious.” Tick, middle finger, and I smirk at that one.
“They breathe and have a heartbeat.” Tick, tick. Ring finger and little finger. I stare satisfied up at Jason.
“Doesn’t mean they are not contagious.” He counters unimpressed.
I swallow; I have to give him that, but hell if I’ll admit his point. “That’s why I need to check on his arm, instead of standing here, arguing with you.”
I turn and pull Colin by his shirt into an empty examination room. Blake follows after he gives a baleful glance at Jason.
Colin hops on the table. “And who made you a doctor?”
I rummage through the drawers and collect what I need. I tilt my head and give him my best sarcastic glare. “I’m the next best thing you have right now.”
He waves his hands in front of him in a gesture of surrender. “Just asking, since you are collecting scissors and needles and shit.”
I point at a glass cabinet filled with medicine by the front office and tell Blake, “Go see if you can find some Lidocaine and Penicillin.”
Then I turn back towards Colin. “For the past six years, I’ve wanted to become a vet. So, I’ve been working every free second with my aunt, who is a vet. Will that qualify me?”
Colin raises an eyebrow. “Probably, if I were a pet.”
“No, you are not a pet, but you’re not that different from an animal.”
He acts as if I’ve hurt him. I shake my head. “I didn’t quite mean it that way. But if you’re uncomfortable with me doing this and rather run around with a bite….”
He shakes his head and offers his injured arm to me. “By all means, please, go-ahead Doctor Tinker Bell.”
I want to answer, but a loud argument from outside gets my attention.
“…just saying, Landers. What if he turns? He is a freaking Marine or something; he’ll kill us all.”
“Just a second.” I nod at Colin, but Ace steps in my way. “I got this, don’t worry. They are morons.”
He pats me reassuringly on the shoulder and nods at Colin. “Go take care of him.”
I smile thankfully at him. “Thanks, Ace.”
Ace closes the door behind him, and it finally gets quiet enough in the little room so that I can give Colin my full attention.
I have him rest his hand against his thigh and support his arm with my left hand while my right prods carefully against the jagged edges of his wound. It stopped bleeding for the most part but is angrily red. I can already see the beginning of an infection, which worries me because it’s happening fast, even for a bite wound.
I don’t say anything about it, though, neither do I say anything about how ugly the wound looks and how much it must hurt him. I can even make out the outline of the mouth and teeth as they bit into his flesh, ripping it in the process.
I found a numbing gel in one of the drawers, which I apply generously with a swab before I cleanse the wound with iodine. Blake comes back in, holding up a small vial of Lidocaine.
Among other things I found is a set of sterilized instruments, including a syringe. I pull on the little plunger and fill the glass vial with Lidocaine. I can’t contain a grin as I tell Colin this will hurt some. There’s something about him that turns me spiteful and makes my blood boil, but this will be my revenge for his latest Tinker Bell comment.
To his credit, he doesn’t flinch while I keep injecting him a few times around the bite area. Blood is still oozing from a couple of places.
“I think we’ll only need two or three stitches.” I indicate the places where the blood is coming from, “But I’ll need to cut a couple of pieces of your skin off, where it’s too jagged. Not much, just a little, it’ll make it easier for me to pull the skin back together and sew it.” I explain while I add more iodine.
“Whatever you think needs to be done,” Colin says, and there is not a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Distrustful, I double-check the vial to make sure it’s just Lidocaine and not something else, like morphine, because Colin is way too accommodating for my taste. It’s just Lidocaine, though, which in turn is making me distrustful of Colin. What is he up to?
“Help me with the examination table, Blake.”
Together Blake and I lean the table back so that Colin is more comfortable. Since it was meant for animals, it’s still way too short for him, but it’ll have to do. I ask Colin to put his injured arm over his chest so I’ll have easier access and can use both of my hands.
While I wait for the Lidocaine to take full effect, I sort some stuff on the small metal tray I assembled. From outside, we can still hear angry, raised voices, and choose to ignore it for now.
I hand the tray to Blake. “You can assist me. Did you find some Penicillin?”
He holds up another vile for my inspection. I nod appreciatively. “Amoxicillin. G
ood.”
I turn to Colin, questioning: “You are not allergic to penicillin, are you?”
“Not that I know of.” He smirks his arrogant smile, making me want to slap him.
We never did get the Epinephrine for Angie, I think dismayed. That would come in handy right about now. I prepare an I.V. with a saline bag I found among all the other things. It’s amazing how many medications are the same for people and animals. I push Blake away from Colin’s right side and prepare his other arm for the I.V. when a shot rings out from the waiting room area.
“God, dammit.” Colin tries to get up, but Blake and I push him down.
“I’ll go check it out,” Blake says and leaves the room.
Soon after that, we hear a commotion on the other side of the door, and I look at it alarmed—my right-hand almost automatically reaches for my gun, tucked behind my back.
“I don’t think you should hook me up until we know what’s going on out there,” Colin suggests while putting his hand on my arm.
I’m strangely aware of his fingers on my naked flesh while we wait. A few minutes later, Blake comes back in.
“It’s okay. They are just blustering about zombies and shit.”
“What was the shot?” I ask.
He shrugs his shoulders and holds up the revolver Jason had earlier. “As I said, he got a little carried away, and I don’t think he should have this back for a while.”
I shake my head in disgust while Colin laughs. Actually laughs! I want to smack him. “You know he wants to kill you, right?”
Colin laughs harder, and that arrogant expression that irritates me so much is back on his face. “I would sure like to see him try.”
A phone rings, it’s Blake’s. He holds it up. “Dad.” He answers it and puts it on speaker.
“Hey guys, did you find a safe spot to hang out?”
“Yeah, we’re okay. How far away are you?”
“Not far, but it started to rain. I figured I’d better pull over and wait it out.”
“Don’t get out of the car.” I’m surprised by the shrillness in my voice and the fear for his life.
“Hey Viv, is that you honey?”
I clench my jaw at the term of endearment from him. We used to have this amazing relationship, all of us. We used to go camping together and on vacations, but that was before he and my mom got together and tore us all apart.
“Don’t worry. I’m okay. I won’t get out. How about you guys? Is it raining?”
“There were some weird clouds earlier,” I say, ice sneaking back into my voice. “But we don’t have a window right now.”
“Colin was bit, and we are trying to take care of his arm,” Blake explains.
There is a moment of silence. “Bit?”
“Nothing bad, dad. Just one of those crazy people.” Colin tries to downplay it, but we can all hear the alarm and worry in Colin’s and his father’s voice.
“When was that? Are you doing okay?”
“I don’t think this is contagious.” I interrupt. “But I want to take care of it, so it doesn’t get infected.”
“We don’t know if it is contagious or not,” Martin says quietly.
“I’ll have Blake tie me down once Viv is done with me. That way, nobody gets hurt in case…” Colin trails off and lets the rest of the sentence hang.
There is not much more to say. Martin promises to be here in about fifteen minutes. But we all know that as long as it is raining outside, he can’t leave the car. They hang up, and we exchange worried glances.
“How long ‘til this anesthetic will wear off?” Colin finally asks to interrupt the silence.
I shake my numb head to clear it. Even though Colin and I fight like cats and dogs, there is a weird sensation in the pit of my stomach, imagining him turning into one of those crazy people or not being around. “Let me finish the I.V.”
I’m used to laying I.V.’s on animals, but a vein is a vein. It doesn’t take me long to get the drip going, and I attach the Penicillin to it.
“We need to find some pills too. Better too much than to be sorry. I really don’t think you’ll turn into one of those… crazies, but the human mouth is one of the most populated Petri dishes you can come in contact with.”
“On it,” Blake says and leaves the room again.
I make my way to Colin’s other side and start snipping away at the ragged looking tissue. Some of my chestnut hair falls out of my ponytail, and Colin gently tugs it back behind my ear. I look at him in surprise.
He smiles. “You have to be able to see, right?”
“Right.” I nod, feeling strangely flustered.
It doesn’t take long to cut away the jagged edges, and soon I’m able to put a couple of stitches into the two deepest puncture marks. Once I’m finished, I add some more iodine and antibiotic ointment. I check the drip.
“It should be done in an hour.”
Blake comes back in with a large bottle of Penicillin pills. “They all quieted down outside. They found and broke into a couple of vending machines.”
Crashing and pounding sounds come from one of the doors where we put one of the tied-up men. I wonder briefly who these people were before the rain. Was one of them the vet? But that brings my thoughts back to the woman I shot, and I turn that train of thought off fast. Shelve it, I think. Shelve it for now.
The banging continues, and Blake looks at Colin. “Should we go check or something?”
Colin shakes his head. “The door will hold. It’s not worth the risk of anybody else getting injured.”
He holds out his hands since I’ve finished bandaging his arm. “Impressive, Dr. Doolittle.” He nods at me, and I shake my head in annoyance. To Blake, he says: “You better get me tied up, little brother.”
“I really don’t think that’s necessary.” I object and bite my tongue as the idea of muzzling him on top of tying him down occurs to me.
“Better safe than sorry. We don’t know anything for sure. We don’t know how long you have to be exposed to the rain to go crazy; we don’t know how it works, if it is contagious, if it is reversible, we don’t know anything.”
Silence follows that statement, as all our thoughts drift into different directions. After a moment, Colin asks Blake quietly. “What about mom?”
I take that as my cue to leave the room in search of water or something. There hasn’t been any time for anything since this whole thing started. It seems all we have been able to do is to react from one thing to another. I sure as hell haven’t had any time to digest the death of my dad yet or anything else that has happened, and I did. The least I can do is give the brothers some privacy to talk and mourn.
The mood outside is subdued. Cory is quietly talking on his phone in a corner, while Ty is scrolling on his phone. He must have found a charger because there is a cord connecting his phone to the wall. He looks up and winks at me. I nod back and try a small smile.
Somebody must have moved the woman’s body somewhere since it’s not there anymore. Only a big puddle of blood remains, covered partially with a towel, long soaked through; contemplative, I stare at it for a moment. I killed her. I shot her.
Strangely I’m not experiencing any remorse or anything. She was going to kill Blake. I decide I don’t want to think about it any longer and check on the others.
Ryan and Jason sit close together, as far away from everybody else as possible, in a corner. Their expressions are tight while whispering furiously to one another. I have a pretty good idea what they are talking about but ignore it for now.
I make my way to the door. Somebody closed it and put a chair in front of it to keep unwanted guests out. After Colin kicked it in, it probably wasn’t working too well any longer.
The narrow but long window by the door has not suffered any damage, though, and I chance a peek outside. It got dark, although it’s barely seven o’clock in the morning, the weird clouds are covering the entire sky, and rain is pouring down in sheets, just like the night when we dro
ve through Anaheim. Goosebumps rise on my arm, and an involuntary shiver runs through my body. Something about this rain just doesn’t sit well with me.
Normally I love rain and thunderstorms. There is nothing better than sitting by the window with a good book and listen to nature rage outside. But this rain is not natural, and for the first time, I wonder if it is even of this world.
A car drives up. For a second, the headlights blind me before the vehicle turns slightly and parks. A dark figure sits inside, staring up at the house, and I hesitantly wave, although I know he probably can’t see me. Even if I can’t make out the figure, the truck is unmistakable Martin’s. It’s his pride and joy, a completely souped-up pickup truck. I turn the light on and off in quick succession, to the protests of the boys, which I ignore, to let Martin know I have seen him. He waves through the windshield and turns his headlights on and off.
There is nothing we can do as long as it’s raining. He can’t chance running into the house with it still going, not even if it only takes a few seconds; we just don’t know enough about it. We don’t know how long somebody has to be exposed in order to turn. My dad and Blake’s mom were only in the rain for under ten minutes, but it could only take one or less. There’s just no telling. We are not going anywhere anyway, so there is no reason for Martin to chance it.
“They are bombing more cities,” Ty says quietly to no one in particular and the room at large.
He keeps his eyes on his screen. “Phoenix, New York, and I guess El Paso. Seems like it rained there yesterday while we were still at the Amusement Park.” He looks up sadly. “But it’s also happening all over the world. And everybody is bombing their cities trying to contain it.”
“Lyon in France, Bilbao, and Torrelavega in Spain….” He reads off countless names of other cities in countries near and far away. Most of the names mean nothing to me, but the numbers are staggering.
“I don’t get it; where did the rain come from?” Ace wants to know.
“Mother nature had enough.” Ryan.
“Nah, McCarthy. My money is on aliens.” Jose pipes in, watching Angie play in a corner with an assortment of stuffed animals.
I agree with his assessment, but I’m not in the mood for a lengthy discussion; plus, I want the Thornton brothers to know their dad has made it and is safe in the parking lot.
The Rain | Part 1 | The Beginning Page 11