Infected Poppy Fields

by Alathia Paris Morgan

  The generals were barely into their 100 day offensive and we were overwhelmed with those who were dying to take a bite out of us or each other. Thankfully General Pershing had taken me seriously and ordered a gas attack over the very area that held most of the infected.

  Now, the wounded pouring had to be examined before we could work on them to see what had caused their injury.

  I’d taken over the leadership in our portion of the camp and was busy running back and forth between the tents receiving newly wounded to those already treating them.

  “Nurse, can you help me?” I tapped one on the shoulder and she turned with an angry look on her face.

  “Can’t you see I’m a little busy here?” She snapped before recognizing me from a chance meeting at the lunch months earlier.

  “Doctor Fitz, I’m sorry.”

  I halted her apology.

  “Ms. Stevens, we have a situation.” I began to explain the details, “There are some soldiers that have bites or unusual looking wounds coming in from the fields. I’m going to need to make sure that all of them are put into one tent. Can you make sure that only those who have normal wounds are placed together?”

  Her face turned white and for a moment I thought she might faint on me. “Nurse Stevens?”

  “It’s back.” She looked up at me her eyes betraying her fright. “The undead are back and they’re killing people again, aren’t they?”

  “How did you know that?” I questioned shaking her by the shoulders, “No one else knows what this is. Have you seen it before?”

  A slight nod from her and I looked around for a slightly quieter place to ask a few questions. Spying the side of a tent that was out of the way, I pulled her out of the main roadway where trucks were flying through headed to and from the front.

  “Can you tell me what’s happening? Do you know how to stop it? Are those already bitten able to be saved?”

  “No,” Her voice was so low, that I had to bend closer to hear her.

  “Um, no.” She cleared her throat and spoke up, “You can only kill those already dead and hope that the dying don’t turn. I was on the boat when this happened and we barely escaped with our lives. If the ship hadn’t sunk, we would have been dead.”

  “Wait! You were there?” I breathed in awe that I’d found one of the few survivors. The fact that she was here when I needed information the most might just prove to be a godsend.

  “Yes, but I was just a nurse. It was Nora and the head steward Jonathan that made sure most of the people on the boat were saved.”

  “Nora Ryan?”

  “How did you know her last name?” She searched my face trying to find something familiar in my features.

  “My uncle was Dr. Hughes on the ship. He was the drunk that didn’t help out that much. I have her journal that somehow got put into his doctor bag.”

  She started to walk away.

  “Please help us stop this. You know more about it than any of the other nurses and I can’t do it alone.”

  “You can’t stop it.” She backed toward the tent trying to get away from me.

  “Maybe we can’t, but we certainly won’t if we don’t have help.”

  As she turned to walk away, the rope holding up the tent was in her way and she fell to the ground in the darkness.

  Unable to leave her there, I held out a hand to help her up.

  “Please? It will be different this time.”

  With a sigh, she took my hand and dusted off the dirt from her uniform.

  “I ran last time because I was scared. I promised that I would never let myself run away again. I’ve endured bombs, small rations, lack of sleep, so can any of that really be worse?” She seemed to be trying to talk herself into it.

  “What if the undead are back? I survived it last time and I can do it again.” She looked up at me with determination etched into her stance, “What do you need?”

  “Separate those who might be infected from those who aren’t. Then put a few soldiers to guard those who might be and have them strapped down to the beds.”

  “Got it. I know where we can get some extra rope.” She gave a salute and took off running.

  I watched her leave unsure if she was running from more instructions or toward the danger around the corner.

  A growl from behind me was the only warning that I had that something was behind me. I grabbed one of the tent stakes lying next to me and used all of my strength to land a blow into the dead’s head.

  He fell to the ground and I looked at him in horror. Already his skin had a pasty look of someone who was dead or dying, but it was the absence of his stomach that really explained what kind of problem we were facing.

  These things could move around no matter what kind of damage we did to them unless it was a head shot, the dead were going to keep coming.

  I made my way to the officer’s quarters.

  “These are orders from General Pershing. He’s given permission for me to speak to all the men, immediately.”

  While not entirely true, I would deal with the fallout later because we needed to get this under control. We had something almost as threatening as Germans walking around our camp and we needed to get it handled immediately.

  -----

  Having done all I could to prevent things from becoming worse, I headed back to the field hospital to see where we were at.

  If I’d thought there was chaos before, it was much worse now. Doctors and nurses were both afraid to help those in pain for fear of what they might become.

  Patients had been strapped down, but there were a few men that were already starting to turn.

  I picked up a random gun that was lying around and walked over to a man ready to tear me apart.

  The shot rang out and everyone that was living stopped what they were doing in shock. Those that had been infected were still snarling and growling.

  A few more well placed shots took those that had turned and ended the cycle for the moment.

  “You killed them.” One of the British doctors accused.

  “No, they were already dead.” I motioned to a couple of soldiers that I’d found to come with me.

  “Take these to the edge of the field after the nurse gets their names written down.” Even in the middle of infected epidemic their families still deserved to be notified.

  The British doctor headed toward me with rage fueling his steps.

  “You’re the one that’s going to die.”

  I held up a hand, “Stop for just one second. Watch.” I pointed to another man that was missing most of his neck bleed out.

  He stood there impatiently watching as the poor man breathed his last.

  “Now, that’s even more proof that you’re a horrible person.” He yelled.

  “No, Edward. Look!” One of the others cried out causing him to focus on the deceased again.

  The man with the neck wound began to thrash about and growl trying to get to Edward.

  “Why did he do that?” Edward stepped back almost tripping over another cot.

  “Because he’s been infected. Once death takes over, then the infection brings them back to life and their only thought is to feed on live flesh.” I walked over and used the gun one last time as the body stopped moving and was finally still.

  “If you can save someone from their injuries then do so, but be careful. When they die don’t delay and make sure that they don’t become undead.” I warned.

  Edward got up from where he’d landed on the floor and took the gun out of my hands. He then pointed it at another body taking the shot.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He apologized.

  “It’s all right and we want to help as many as possible, but we can’t take the chance that this will spread. No one is to be sent back to the base camp until approval has been made that they aren’t infected.”

  It took everyone working together, but we quickly sorted out those that were in need of help and the ones that had turned were carried out after t
hey were no longer a threat. Shooting the dead in front of the soldiers had a demoralizing affect and we started having them shot outside.

  The sound could still be heard, but it wasn’t as horrible as seeing it happen.

  When the sun came up, I went to see how the other tents of wounded had faired.

  Somehow during the night, I’d quit listening to the sounds of shots that had become so frequent.

  I stepped over the dead where they had been left on the ground. It appeared that a battle had been fought here amongst the camp between the same sides.

  Holding the pistol tightly in my hand, I ducked into the other tent where Judith Stevens was still moving around.

  “You’re alive.” I hadn’t meant for it to come out as a surprise, but with so many dead, it was a miracle that anyone was alive.

  “Of course.” She answered in a clipped tone. “I believe I mentioned that I’m a survivor.”

  “You did and I’m sorry I doubted you. Can you give me a status report?”

  “I’ve gotten all those who seem to have normal wounds here in this tent. We’re still strapping all of them down just to be on the safe side. The tent on the other side hold mostly dead or those with bites, who haven’t died yet.” She walked with me to the other tent and raised the flap.

  Hundreds were dead and piled on the sides of the tent providing an almost natural barrier to other trying to escape. At each of the two entrances, soldiers stood making sure that as soon as someone growled they would be taken out.

  I moved amid the cots to check on those that hadn’t turned yet.

  “From what I’ve seen, those that are infected turn pretty quickly even if they were alive. Why are these remaining ones alive? Have new ones come from the battle field?”

  Judith shook her head, “They put a stop to anyone coming here from the battle fields. We had to get this under control and with it being dark there was just no way to protect against it. I’m not sure why these haven’t turned. There must be a reason, but I can’t see an explanation for it.”

  “Give them another few hours and if there’s no change I think they can be moved out of the tent of death.” I had no idea how to proceed from here and I wasn’t even sure that we were out of danger yet.

  Soldiers were wandering around looking lost when I came out of the tent. “Hey, can you help us out? We need to do a sweep of the entire camp to make sure that we don’t have any stray undead people waiting to attack us.”

  Others began to join in and pretty soon the camp had been cleared with a few stragglers being shot on the spot.

  Now that most of the immediate danger was gone, I wanted to see if Emma was safe. I needed her to still be alive.

  Lieutenant Roman was no longer in front of their door and I raced inside only to find him lying on one of the cots strapped to the bed.

  “What happened?” I hurried to his side to examine him.

  “He was shooting anything that moved toward us, but something came around the corner and before I knew it he’d been bit. Whatever bit him, he managed to kill it. I wasn’t going to let him die so we drug him inside and put him there.” Emma explained in a shaky voice.

  “We’ve been taking turns since then to make sure that nothing else came near us.” May held a gun like, she’d been doing all her life.

  “I’m going to get him moved and a new set of guards outside that will also circle around to make sure that nothing is lurking out there.” I stood and motioned for the guys that had been following me around to carry him out.

  “We’ll take good care of him. If we can save him, we will.” I promised.

  I was still standing there when General Pershing drove up and hopped out of his vehicle.

  “How are we holding up ladies?” He asked surveying the tent that was still standing.

  “Um, okay for the moment, General.” Emma answered her voice sounding much firmer now.

  “Good to hear. I’m hoping that you can point in the direction of the doctor that spread the alarm. I need to consult him on the battlefield and the havoc that’s happening there.”

  I raised my hand tentatively, “I’m the doctor, sir.”

  “Ah, wonderful. I won’t have to drive all around this place trying to find you then.” He got back into the vehicle as if he expected me to just follow along.

  After a quick glance toward, Emma who gave me a shrug, I jumped in and took a seat as the drive took off.

  We went straight to the highest point around where we could see the battlefield from many points.

  I shielded my eyes from the bright sun and looked out over the vast space separating the two sets of trenches from each other.

  The field was littered with the dead. Some of the bodies were still moving, but they weren’t getting up from where they lay.

  It was the trenches that drew my gaze next, where there were men trying to get over the tops of the trenches only to be pulled down by the large groups of undead.

  They’d become bottled up in sections as the soldiers had protected themselves by closing up some of the trenches so that the undead couldn’t come through.

  “How do we kill them? They are wearing helmets and make shooting them very difficult.” The General waved to the problem areas. “We cannot leave our men in those death traps.”

  The few areas that we’d managed to take over on the German side had given us new sections of trenches to work with and clear out.

  “Is there a way to have one of our sharpshooters get close enough to take them out? Or could we throw a grenade over the barrier and blow them up?” I suggested unsure of what they were trying to do.

  “Hmm,” The general looked thoughtful. “We still can’t go over the top yet, but the machine guns are out of commission. A few grenades might work. Let’s try it on that section the furthest from our troops.”

  The driver had plugged into one of the telephone wires and was relaying the message to those behind us.

  I watched in fascination as they attempted to get close enough to throw a few grenades. The infected in that section were blown up, but the rest were still moving. Bodies that been torn apart still moved around as if trying to get to fresh victims.

  “It appears that putting gas through the trenches is going to be our only course of action.” The General sighed, “I was seriously hoping that we didn’t have to take it this far.”

  “Start evacuating the troops even those on the German side and then have the planes start sending the gas down. It will take a few hours to get all those men headed in the opposite directions, but we can get it done.”

  The trenches covered hundreds of miles of area and the men would only need to move over about twenty miles. The area would be clear after about twenty-four hours for the men to move back into and take over their previous positions.

  “We’ll need to move those who don’t have the virus back to the base hospital. What are you going to do about the camp?”

  “I don’t believe that the gases will come in this direction, but we’ll make sure to move things back as much as possible.” He assured me.

  “Then I should get started so we can get as many of those guys out of there as possible.”

  The driver unhooked the portable phone and took his place in the driver’s seat again.

  “Thank you for all of your help, doctor. The AEF is very grateful to you for saving us from what would have been a complete disaster.”

  “No, thanks are necessary sir. It’s what anyone in my situation would have done.” I climbed out of the vehicle and made my way back to the hospital tents. It was time to decide who was going to live and who wasn’t. Not something that anyone wanted to have to deal with.

  -------

  Within hours of the gas being delivered over a fourth of the battle field, the Germans negotiated for peace. While the actual papers weren’t signed, both sides had been told to cease fire which gave everyone a chance to collect their dead and give them a proper burial.

  As the cease fire con
tinued over the next several weeks, the need for surgeons slowed and we all began to think of going home.

  The future suddenly seemed to be within my grasp, but there was something missing and I knew there was one thing that I needed to do.

  Catching a ride to the mansion where all of the Hello girls were being housed, I stood outside nervous that she would turn me away.

  “Oh, look what we have here.” A few of the girls gave whistles as I walked past dozens to reach the front door.

  “Is Emma or um, Ms. Bedford here?” I cleared my throat hoping it would get rid of the frogs in my throat.

  “Whom shall I say is calling?” Mrs. Potter asked eyeing me with suspicion.

  “Doctor Fitz.”

  “Ah, so you’re the good doctor I’ve heard so much about. Very well, we sent her out for some fresh air in the garden.” She began walking through the halls until reaching the back door that led to a huge maze.

  I wandered down the path hoping that I could find her, but she was sitting on the bench in the middle of the garden.

  “Hey, Emma.” I spoke as I approached so I didn’t startle her.

  “Joseph, what on earth are you doing here?”

  “Well, now that the armistice will be signed next week they’re talking about sending all of us home. I wasn’t sure what you’re plans are, but I couldn’t imagine not seeing you when you make it back to the states. Would it be okay if we went out on a few dates?” I twisted my hands together hoping for the best.

  She reached over and took my hand guiding me to the bench next to her. “I would be honored to see you when we return to New York. What are you going to do when you get there?”

  “Even though I feel like it’s my fault that the whole undead outbreak happened, so I want to start studying the science behind what could have been the end of the war. I feel like the Germans are way ahead of us in figuring out what this virus is capable of.”

  “It sounds like the perfect place to start and I’m certain that I’ll be able to get a job with any of the expanding telephone companies to work on their switchboards. It will be so boring compared to what we’ve been doing while we’ve been over here.” She slid a hand into mine.