The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Buried Instincts

by Henson, Lynn

  “Alright, I’m Doctor Clemens. I’m here to conduct a complete body examination,” he stated matter of factly. “Since you’re in the hot seat, I’m going to need you to take off your clothes,” he said to Blake. He looked abashed at Tiffany who had turned a little paler as he took his shirt off. Tiffany averted her eyes and he stripped down completely. The doctor looked carefully at Blake’s collection of bruises and scrapes that he’d accumulated since escaping from Los Angeles, sometimes turning on and shining the nearby light on some of the scabby abrasions. “That’s fine. You can put your pants back on,” the doctor finally said. When Blake did, the doctor took his blood pressure and used the stethoscope to listen to his heartbeat. “Great. Looking good. You’re done. Miss? Please hop up here.” Blake hopped down and the doctor took the paper off the examination bed and handed it to him for disposal. He opened the cabinet under the bed and pulled out a new one for Tiffany. He noted that his sanitary paper had his ass print embedded on it. I love toilet humor. Tiffany paled even more and stumbled a little when trying to get up on the bed. The doctor looked on, concerned, but patiently waited for her to regain her balance and get onto the bed unassisted.

  “Would you like the female nurse to conduct the physical examination?” the doctor asked.

  She shook her head a couple of times. “I just want to get this over with,” she told him.

  He nodded, “Alright. Please remove your clothing, and I’ll make this as painless as possible.”

  She removed her top and Blake looked away deliberately, but not so quickly as to miss a fleeting glimpse of her finely proportioned breasts. She heard her hop down from the bed and a slight rustling told him that her shorts had come off as well. The doctor shuffled around a little as he searched her for signs of infection. “Ok, good. You can put your clothes back on,” the doctor said as he wrote something on his notepad and faced away from her. Blake couldn’t help but steal another glance at her as she was getting dressed again. She looks like a nice healthy corn fed girl. He took a final look as the top was going over her head to be rewarded with a glimpse of the bottom third of her intriguingly round breasts. He looked down at his shoes guiltily. After she was clothed again, the doctor checked her vitals as had been done to Blake and dutifully recorded the results. “Ok, great,” the doctor said at last. “All we’re going to need now is a blood sample from each of you. Nurse Stodge will be here in a moment to get it.” He left the room briskly and unceremoniously. Nurse Stodge, the woman that had been manning the reception area reappeared and smiled briefly at them before going to one of the cabinets and pulling out the things she’d need to take blood. She glanced at Tiffany and turned to Blake, “You’re first. Get up on the table please.” He did so and held out his left arm for her. She wrapped a small piece of rubber around the arm and tightened it a bit. A vein bulged out and she opened a packet and rubbed the area with a wipe soaked in something to make the area sterile. She then took careful aim and poked the vein with a syringe and slowly drew back on the plunger. It filled up with his dark red blood and she extracted the syringe from his arm then placed a cotton swab onto the minuscule hole in his arm. “Hold here, press firmly,” she recommended as she took the syringe out of the room. She came back after a moment and gestured for Tiffany to sit up on the table. Blake hopped off and she got on to it in a kind of daze. She held her hand out to Blake as the nurse went about prepping her arm for taking the sample. Blake stood near the table and gripped her hand firmly. She watched the proceedings out of the corner of her eye and when the nurse aimed the syringe at her vein she closed her eyes tightly and squeezed Blake’s hand. The syringe went in and she squeezed, hard. His eyes teared up and he wanted to jump up and down and scream, it hurt so bad. She’s crushing my hand!

  “Relax, relax!” Nurse Stodge protested as blood all but flooded into the syringe. Tiffany did relax and when the pressure around his hand was reduced, Blake couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Nurse Stodge pulled the syringe out and quickly put a cotton ball over the poked area. She walked from the room with the blood-filled syringe leaving Blake to try to regain his composure. Tiffany had opened her eyes and was applying pressure on the cotton ball. She released Blake’s hand and gave him a relieved look. “Thanks, Blake,” she said breathlessly. “I’m terrified of doctors and I hate shots.”

  “You did good,” he managed to reply as he resisted the urge to cradle his hand to his chest.

  She got to her feet and almost started skipping towards the door. Blake followed after her sheepishly, wondering if he shouldn’t stay and ask the doctor to x-ray his hand. They walked down the short hallway and rejoined the others in the waiting area.

  “No big deal, right?” Kim asked when they opened the door and rejoined them.

  “Y-yeah,” Tiffany answered with relief. The window slid open and Nurse Stodge smiled out at them.

  “Everything looks alright, but it’ll take a day to process the blood tests,” Stodge informed them. “They’re waiting for you outside. They’ll escort you to a place to sleep. Have a good night everyone.” They all stood and queued up at the door with Kim pushing it open to go outside. As promised, there was a military vehicle waiting for them as well as a soldier carrying an assault rifle. The soldier and the gunner on the truck watched them attentively as they piled into the vehicles. Once everyone was properly situated the military vehicle drove slowly and after making sure it’s two wards were following, started accelerating towards wherever they’d be bedding down for the night. They’d only driven for a couple of minutes when the lead vehicle stopped in front of one a series of structures. This one had a door and two windows in front and the roof was rounded on either side, making the building look extremely utilitarian. It looked more like a shipping container than a place to sleep. A soldier jumped out of the truck and directed them to park their vehicles by the right side of the building. Bree and Blake both did as they were directed to and they shut off the cars. Everyone got out, carrying some of their things with them. Blake looked in the back at Gao and Doris who were picking up several large white shopping bags, the kind that you got at chain clothing stores. He exited the vehicle and once his passengers had also come out, locked the vehicle and walked over to them.

  “Need a hand?” he offered.

  Gao handed him a couple of the bags then picked up the remainder and started walking towards the building. Doris followed after him, looking back at Blake, “Thanks, Blake,” she said graciously.

  If the soldier thought this odd, he didn’t give any indication. He looked them over and nodded, then turned towards the door and unlocked it with one of the keys on his key ring. He went inside and after a moment, the lights turned on inside. The soldier came out again and motioned everyone inside. They filed in one after the other and spread out to have a look. Rows of bunk beds lined either side of the building. Lockers were placed between bunks, and the fluorescent lighting that hung overhead really made the space feel spartan. The soldier cleared his throat and the group gave him their attention. “This is where you’ll be sleeping tonight. Tomorrow, someone will come to get you and go over your situation with you. Please don’t leave these barracks until we send someone for you.”

  “Wait, are we like... prisoners?” Kim asked quickly.

  “You are not prisoners. But we would appreciate your co-operation and your patience tonight and tomorrow. If anyone needs to get something from their vehicles, now’s the time,” the soldier answered with an air of professional tolerance.

  Blake raised his hand up, “I need to get something. Can I have the keys, Bree?”

  She held them out to him brows going up in question.

  “Snacks, water, and cat,” he explained.

  “Oh, I’ll help,” Bree decided, hanging onto her keys.

  They went outside and Bree opened up her car and popped the hatchback. He opened his backpack and filled it with various snack foods and filled the remaining space with bottled waters. He pulled aside a denim blue jacket and Bob r
aised his head slowly and gave him a look that seemed to overflow with annoyance. Blake picked up the cat anyway and Bob tried to make himself more difficult to hold by squirming around. Bree grabbed some more waters, recovered the denim jacket, and then closed the hatchback. They walked back inside.

  “Have a good night,” the soldier said and before anyone else tried to speak, he promptly walked outside and closed the door behind him. There was metal grinding sound and they could hear a metal bolt locked into place. Gao dashed forward and tried the door but couldn’t get it to open.

  “Not prisoners, huh? That is fucked up,” Gao observed.

  Bob finally reached his breaking point and squirmed free, dropping to the floor and darted under a bed.

  “They probably just don’t want us running around the base at night,” Blake reasoned.

  “Yeah, but locking us up?” Lisa said suddenly, voice sounding raw. “Are we any better off than before?”

  Kim gripped Lisa’s arm and squeezed reassuringly. “Let’s not get all paranoid. Let’s just wait and see. I think if they were going to kill us, it would’ve been easier to do it outside. But they brought us in and gave us medical examinations. If I were wearing a mood ring it would say ‘Cautiously Optimistic’.

  “Yeah, what she said,” Blake agreed.

  “Then we should make ourselves comfortable,” Bree suggested and walked over to a nearby bunk bed and started pushing on the mattress with her hand, testing the firmness.

  Everyone else started picking out their beds and putting sheets and blankets over the mattresses once they’d found one that met their standards. The bedding was clean if a bit worn, which was probably understandable considering how much use they’d seen over the years. The building itself seemed like it had been cleaned with some regularity, but that didn’t change the fact that it was old and used and no matter how hard you try, it’ll never be as clean as when it was new. Blake took a bottom bunk in the center part of the barracks, depositing his backpack into the nearby locker. He then made his bed as best as he could in as little of an amount of time as he was capable of for the menial task. He put the pillow in place and inspected his work. Satisfied, he sat on his bed and opened up a cream-filled snack cake and inhaled half of it. Tiffany, who was the only person who wanted a top bunk was sitting cross-legged on her bed and watching him eat. He held up an unopened snack cake at her and she nodded eagerly. He tossed it up and she managed to catch it despite his lousy throw. She unwrapped and held up the cake in salutation. He returned the gesture and they both took bites. He looked over at the others as he chewed, taking the scene in as he relaxed. Gao had convinced Doris to set up his bedding for him and she was trying to convince him that they could both fit in one bed. Gao looked annoyed, but let Doris fuss over him anyway. Kim, Bree, and Lisa occupied a row of the bottom bunks, with Kim in the middle so that she could talk to her sister or her friend with ease. The barracks felt empty as they were only occupying a small percentage of the available space. He polished off his artificial spongy treat and got to his feet, intending to take a look at the showers. He walked past bed after bed until he reached them. After a brief look, he immediately wished he’d had some shower slippers. The whole room had a chronic case of soap scum. He grimaced but decided to suck it up and take a shower. He turned on the water to make sure it worked. The water came out cold, but gradually warmed up. He turned it off and went back to his bed to recover a towel he’d seen in his locker. He got it and slung it over his shoulder and thought for a minute. Then he walked over to Doris and Gao’s shared bunk where Doris was going through the shopping bags and pulling out different kinds of clothes and cutting the tags off them. Gao was ignoring her, choosing to read Money magazine on the quarter of the bed that hadn’t been occupied by Doris’s clothes. Doris looked up, “You need something, Blake?”

  “I was hoping you have some shampoo I could use?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah!” Doris exclaimed and she grabbed a rather large designer handbag that had the letters MK in a circle hanging from it and started to root through it. He looked over at Gao while he waited.

  “Money magazine? Isn’t that a little irrelevant now?” Blake observed.

  “Whatever,” Gao replied from behind the magazine. Blake walked over and looked at what Gao was reading. Splayed across the pages was a buxom Latina woman with long voluminous hair sprayed artfully across her shoulders and touching the nipples of her perfectly shaped breasts. And other than on what was on top her head, there wasn’t a single strand of hair to be found on her naked body. Gao closed the magazines with a snap, rolled them up and raised it as if to hit him with it. “Go away. I am concentrating,” Gao threatened fiercely.

  “Here’s what I have!” Doris said brightly holding up several small plastic bottles half filled with liquids of various colors. “This is shampoo,” she explained, handing him one of the bottles. “This is conditioner,” she added, handing him another bottle filled with white stuff. “And this is body wash,” she finished, handing him a small bottle with a pink ball-shaped lid filled with amber gel. “Do you need any lotion?” she asked.

  “Er... for what?” he replied, confused.

  “For soft skin. Or how about some moisturizer?” she suggested. Gao snorted from behind his magazine.

  “I’ll just stick with the basics, thanks, Doris,” he said backing away with the bottles he had. He walked back to the showers and washed vigorously. Then he just stood under the running water trying to rinse away his accumulated tension from the last couple days. He finally turned the water off and dried himself off with the coarse towel. He felt so refreshed that he didn’t even mind the slimy floor as he walked out and put on his freshest set of clothing. Towel in hand, he walked back to his bed and passed all of the girls heading in the opposite direction. They had several towels, their sleep clothes, and luffas piled up in their hands. “Can I have the bath stuff back Blake?” Doris asked. He handed them back to her.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Bree sniffed him as they passed. “That’s nice,” she commented. “You actually smell good.” He smiled and continued on to his bed. I think I smell effeminate, but whatever. He tossed the towel in his locker and lay down on his bed. He looked over at Gao who had put his camouflage magazine aside and was engrossed in looking at his copy of Hustler. Blake snorted and closed his eyes, relaxing.

  forty-six

  Blake woke up slowly. He felt a warm pressure lying on his stomach and he cracked open his eyes to see Bob, curled up on his belly, asleep. He looked around curiously and everyone was still sleeping. He stretched slowly, trying not to bother the cat and then closed his eyes again, thinking about the day ahead. I’m sure someone is going to tell us what’s going on today. With soldiers here, we should be safe. I wonder if I’ll have to become a soldier and earn my keep around here? I guess that wouldn’t be so bad. If this situation doesn’t get better in a couple of weeks it would be nice to have a definite purpose. Will the others want to stay? I don’t think there’s anywhere else to go, and if they were happy staying in a couple houses with power and access to food then I can’t see how they wouldn’t want to stay put. This is even better because there’s order. He shifted and Bob woke up. The cat stood up and stretched lazily, yawning as he did so. Then he walked up Blake’s chest, sniffing at his mouth. Bob meowed quietly.

  “You’re probably hungry,” Blake guessed. He turned on his side, and Bob walked off him to the edge of the bed and hopped to the ground. He sat up and let his legs dangle off the bed then grabbed his backpack. After rummaging through it he pulled out a can of tuna and his trusty can opener. Bob looked up at him from the floor expectantly.

  “Sorry, I don’t have a dish for you. You’ll just have to make do,” he said to the cat as he removed the top from the can and set it down on the floor. Bob sniffed tentatively at the can and then began to eat.

  There was a knock at the door and then it opened a second later. A helmeted soldier walked in, his rifle slung over h
is shoulder. “Good morning!” he called in a loud voice. Blake saw people stirring in response to the voice. “The base commander would like to meet with you in one hour,” the soldier continued. “Please be ready at nine fifty. We’ll be picking you up at that time.” He turned sharply and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

  Blake heard groaning and saw Gao struggle to free himself from his bedsheets and Doris who was sleeping pretty hard still. Her mouth gaped open and she looked like she’d crashed into the bed, her appendages stuck out in every direction. Bree rose immediately and was getting herself into order. Kim had pulled her pillow over her head and wasn’t moving. Lisa sat up and was staring straight ahead. Tiffany hopped from her bunk in a pair of running shorts and a pink tank top, her hair extending in every direction. She jogged towards the bathroom, toothbrush, and toothpaste in hand.

  Blake made a decision and found his own toothbrush and followed after Tiffany. When he got there, she was engrossed in her teeth brushing with an ample amount of foam coming out of her mouth as she brushed. She glanced at him and he stuck out his toothbrush in response. She shrugged towards her toothpaste, “Grrrh heeee yeeersehhh,” she told him. He took the toothpaste and applied a liberal dose to his toothbrush.

  “Hit me,” Bree said from behind him, holding her own up. He gave her as much as he had done for himself.

  “Tha suhtoo murrr! Yer ohhreee sppohsta yu ahpee,” Tiffany protested.

  “She’s right you know,” Bree said and started brushing her teeth while watching attentively in the mirror.

  Blake shrugged and brushed his teeth, wishing he had brought his electric toothbrush with him. About thirty seconds later, Blake spat out the toothpaste and cupped his hand to the water and rinsed his mouth out. He rinsed off his toothbrush and shook his hands dry. He looked up and Tiffany was still brushing her teeth fervently, foam slowly oozing from her mouth into the sink. She looked at him and her eyebrows narrowed, “Dun aw wedee? Bwaashh ferr ooo minarrs ah rees!”