Chapter 8
I woke up with a stiff neck from sitting in the driver’s seat for most of the night. I could tell the sun was up because the garage was bathed in pale light from the skylights. I stretched and looked over at Kyle, who was still wearing the body covering part of his biohazard suit. He was beginning to stir. “Kyle,” I said, patting him on the back. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, my head hurts!” he complained. “What happened?”
“You were shot with a tranquilizer dart,” I said.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“We’re close to Ransdell, hiding at the truck stop. We’re in the garage,” I answered.
“You did it, Casey. You got us out of there. Where are Verna and Jordan?”
“They’re in the back of the truck. Do you feel like going to check on Verna?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said.
We climbed out of the cab. Kyle took off his biohazard suit. We walked around to find Jordan and Verna still asleep. “You want to go see if we can find something for breakfast?” I asked. Kyle nodded, and we went back to the kitchen and found that the electricity was still on. I looked into the freezer and found some cans of frozen orange juice concentrate, sausage patties, and French toast sticks. I went to the stove and put on a couple of skillets to cook the sausage patties and warm the toast sticks. “Kyle, can you fix this juice?”
“I’m going to have to boil some water,” he said. He found a pot and filled it at the sink. He brought it over to the stove and placed it on a back burner. I finished cooking the sausage and the toast sticks were golden brown. I removed the food from the stove and placed it on a platter.
“I’m going to check on Verna and Jordan,” I said. When I reached the back of the truck, Jordan and Verna were sitting up and talking. Verna was back in her olive green medical scrubs. She was looking over the documents she'd taken from the research facility. “How are you both feeling?” I asked.
“I’m still feeling weak,” Jordan said.
“I’m okay,” Verna said. “But my knee is missing the morphine.”
“We’ve made some breakfast in the kitchen,” I said. “Come on and get some.” I helped Verna down from the truck. She put the documents in her pants pocket.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“We’re at a truck stop. We’re the only ones here, and the building is secure,” I said.
Back in the kitchen, Kyle was pouring the orange juice into a pitcher with ice. I picked up the platter of sausage and toast sticks and carried them to a table in the dining room. Jordan brought out plates and utensils. Kyle poured glasses of juice for everyone and brought out a bottle of syrup. We ate without talking. When we’d finished, Jordan broke the silence.
“We need to decide what we’re going to do now,” he said.
“I think we’re all in agreement that we need a plan,” I said. “Does anyone have ideas?”
“The only way we’re going to make it is to somehow get outside the contaminated area,” Kyle said.
“If we can get back to civilization, we can get the information out about what the army is doing in the research facility. They have to be stopped,” I said.
“It’s not the army,” Kyle said. “It’s BioGenetics. They’re the ones who developed the virus in the first place. I doubt that the soldiers know what’s really going on. They wouldn’t allow it.”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is how we get out.” Verna said. “We don’t know which direction to go or how far. They may have us surrounded.”
“Actually, we do know which direction to go and how far,” Kyle said. “I saw a map of the contaminated zone back at the compound. The northern border of the contaminated zone has the smallest military presence. If we can make it three hundred miles, we’ll be safely outside the zone. The last military post on the map is in a town called Ellington.”
“But won’t that take us past the army depot where this all started?” Jordan asked. “Won’t they be looking for us?”
“Yes, they probably will be looking for us,” Kyle admitted, “But we can find another vehicle and get out of these clothes. We won’t be easily spotted.”
“Kyle, can we take the radio out of the truck and use it to monitor what the military is doing?”
“Excellent idea!” Jordan said.
“Yes, I can put the radio in any vehicle we use,” Kyle answered.
“So what is our next step?” Verna asked.
“We need to get one of the vehicles out there working and gassed up for the trip,” I said.
“Which one will it be?” Jordan said, looking out the windows at the abandoned cars and trucks.
“We should pick one close to the garage. Remember we’re going to have to push it inside,” I said.
“I saw a van outside last night,” Jordan said. “We should take that. It will have room for supplies.”
“It’s settled then,” Kyle said. “Let’s go push it in now.”
“It was in front of the last door,” Jordan said as we went back to the garage.
Kyle opened up one of the storage boxes on the side of the truck and pulled out four assault rifles. He loaded them quickly. “We’ll need you to operate the door and cover us with the gun,” I said, handing one to him. In his condition, I didn’t think he could help us push the van inside. I showed him how to operate the door controls. I smashed the sensor beside the door so it would go down without stopping.
“You remembered,” Kyle teased.
“Like I would forget,” I smirked. I handed another gun to Verna and showed her how to aim. “You push with Kyle from the back while I steer and push from the driver’s side. Got it?”
“No problem,” she said.
Jordan opened the door, and Kyle, Verna, and I rushed to the van, watching for stray zombies. Kyle and Verna ran to the back while I slung my gun strap over my shoulder and opened the driver’s side door.
“Push!” Kyle ordered.
We all began to push. The van was difficult to move, but it inched slowly forward.
“Hurry up!” Jordan yelled from the doorway. “They’re coming!”
I looked behind us and saw a group of zombies running across the concourse toward us.
“Keep pushing!” Kyle yelled. “We’re almost there!”
Jordan stepped outside the garage and started shooting rapid fire into the undead throng. Several of them fell to the ground, body parts and black blood sprayed into the air. I pushed as hard as I could. The front of the van cleared the doorway. I looked back and saw four zombies rushing forward. I slammed the van door and ran to the back to help cover Verna and Kyle. “Keep going!” I shouted to them. “You can make it now.” I took aim and fired alongside Jordan. The last zombies exploded in the hail of gunfire. Flames and smoke shot out of the guns. The van rolled safely into the garage, and I ran back inside as Jordan closed the door.
“Casey,” Kyle said. “You guys take the back seat out of the van and start packing supplies while I check out the engine.”
I opened up the back door of the fan and crawled inside. I unlatched the bench seat and scooted it out the back. “Verna, help me lift this seat out,” I said.
Verna took hold of one end of the seat, and I took the other. We carried it into the garage and set it aside. “Let’s start with food and water,” I said. Jordan, Verna and I went back through the dining room.
“We should check the convenience store first,” Jordan suggested. “We need to look for non-perishable items in sealed containers.”
I looked behind the checkout counter and found some empty boxes that had been broken down. I folded three of them back together and gave one to Verna and one to Jordan. “Fill them if you can,” I said.
The shelves in the store were mostly empty, but we did find several cans of deviled ham and chicken, some crackers, and junk food. I spied a door with a padlock on it on th
e back wall of the store. “I’ll bet that’s the stock room,” I said. “We should check it out.”
“How?” Verna asked.
“I’ll be right back,” I said. I ran to the garage and grabbed a gun. I went back to the store.
“You’re going to blow it open?” Jordan asked.
“That’s the plan,” I said. “Now get back!”
Verna and Jordan took cover, and I opened fire on the door. Sparks flew as the bullets struck the door. I aimed at the lock, and the doorknob blew off into the air. I waved the gun smoke away from my face. “All clear!” I said victoriously. The door stood open, and we went inside the small stock room. It was filled with cases of goods for the store. We sorted through the boxes and took all the ones containing canned meats, soups, and beef-a-roni.
“Do we need all of this?” Verna asked. “We’re only going three hundred miles.”
“We don’t know what we’ll find out there,” Jordan said. “It’s best to be prepared.”
We found jugs of bottled water and plastic utensils in a corner of the stock room. We carted boxes back to the van, making several trips. Verna took a box of aspirin and two containers of antiseptic wipes. I took a road map from a rack at the checkout counter and stuffed it into the back pocket of my scrub pants. Opening the cash register, I was surprised to find some cash hidden under the change drawer. There was about two hundred dollars. I put the cash in my front pocket. I found some tacky, touristy-looking t-shirts and suggested we all put them on. They would be less conspicuous than our institutional-looking scrubs from the compound. I wished we had different pants, but there were none in the store.
We decided to save some room in the van for ammunition and other military gear. “Kyle can help us sort through what we’ll need from the truck,” I said. We went back to the garage where Kyle was working under the hood. I handed him a t-shirt. “It’s less obvious than your military clothing,” I explained. “At least you’ll look like a civilian from the waist up.” He took the shirt and changed.
“I’m finished with the van,” he said. “The radio is installed and working, but I’m concerned about the alternator though. The belts were shot, and I replaced them. I started the engine, and there’s a charge going to the battery, but it’s not working as well as I would like for it to.”
“Should we get a different vehicle?” I asked.
“No, we don’t have time to check them all out. It’s already late afternoon.” He dropped the hood. “I think this is as good as we’re going to get.”
“We need for you to look through the gear on the truck and decide what we need to take from it,” I said.
Kyle nodded and began looking through the metal boxes mounted on the sides of the truck. He took several boxes of ammunition, a couple of extra rifles, and some other gear in bags. He loaded a large backpack with a metal frame. As I watched him work, I was struck by an idea. I picked up the biohazard suit I’d tossed on the floor last night and gathered up the scrub tops we had taken off. I tossed them into the truck. “Everybody give me your hospital bracelets,” I said, running around to collect them from the others.
“Okay,” Kyle said. “I’ve got everything we need, so let’s get in the van and go.”
“Wait,” I said. “I have an idea. Jordan, open the garage door behind the truck.” I handed rifles to him and Verna. “Cover the doors. Kyle, I need your help.” The garage door opened. “Help me get four of these zombies into the truck.”
Kyle looked at me doubtfully.
“Come on!” I said. “I’ve got an idea to throw the army off our trail.”
I took Kyle over to the bodies of the zombies we had killed. I identified two males and two females and snapped the hospital bracelets around their wrists. The bodies were mangled and missing parts, but they would work for what I had in mind. With Kyle’s help, we hoisted two zombie bodies into the back of the truck and placed two more in the front cab. I hopped into the driver seat and started up the truck. I drove it out onto the concourse and parked. I ran back to the van. “Okay, I said. “Let’s go!”
We climbed into the van. Kyle took the driver’s seat and started pulling away. I grabbed a rifle, aimed out the window for the fuel tank on the truck, and fired as we pulled out of the lot. A ball of fire engulfed the truck and shot flames and billowing black smoke into the air.
“Great thinking, Casey!” Kyle said, giving me a high five.
“Thanks,” I said. “Verna, hand me some of those antiseptic wipes.”
From the back of the van, she gave me one of the plastic tubs of wipes. I used several to wipe my hands and arms and gave some to Kyle who did the same. I wiped the gun down and told Kyle to clean the steering wheel. When we’d finished, I tossed the used wipes out the window.
“Do you think it will work?” Kyle said, looking out the back of the van and watching the flames in the sky as we drove.
“It will unless they do DNA testing on the bodies,” Verna said. “But either way, it may still get us some time because the testing can take a few days.”
“Don’t they have to have viable samples as well?” Kyle asked.
“Yes, and it is possible that they may not get good samples because of the intensity of the fire,” Verna answered.
“I don’t think they’ll waste time on testing. Once they identify the burned out truck, they’ll think it’s us and drop it,” Jordan said.
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “By now, they may realize that we know what’s going on in that laboratory. They will want to make sure we’re dead.”
“And when they find out those bodies aren’t us, they’ll continue searching,” Kyle said.
“And then, they’ll kill us,” Verna said.
“That’s not going to happen,” I said. “We’ll leave the country if we have to.”
“Until then we have to make the best time we can,” Kyle said. “But we should probably take the back roads instead of the highway. The military and police are more likely to use the main roads.”
“You think the police will be after us too?” Jordan asked.
“We have to assume the army will communicate with them and let them know we’re fugitives,” Kyle said. “Until they find the truck, we’re being hunted.”
I pulled the map out of my back pocket. “I thought we could use this,” I said, opening it up. Kyle grinned. I found our location on the map and studied the nearby northern routes. “It looks like we can take 59 up ahead. It runs north, almost parallel to the Dixie Highway.”
Kyle glanced over, and I showed him the route. “That will work,” he said. He turned off the highway and onto 59, which was a narrower, two-lane road leading through the countryside.
“I’m going to turn the radio on so we can monitor military communications,” I said, flipping up the power switch. There was nothing but static.
“Just leave it on low,” Kyle said. “We’ll hear it if anyone transmits.”
“Is anyone else starving?” Jordan asked from the back seat.
We had been so busy working that I hadn’t thought about food, but my stomach started growling almost on cue. “Yes, let’s eat,” I said.
Jordan climbed into the back and rummaged through the boxes. He climbed back into his seat with an armload of cans and some plastic forks from the convenience store. He handed each of us two cans of food and a fork. Beef-a-roni and potted meat. We pulled open the tops of the cans and ate as we drove.
“We should reach the border of the contaminated zone in about five hours, right?” I asked.
“That depends on what we run into,” Kyle said. “When the sun goes down, we may have to get off the road, especially if we hit a town. We’ll drive until we get close to Ellington, and then we will have to cross the border of the contaminated zone on foot.”
“On foot?” Jordan called out. “Can’t we just keep driving?”
“There will be road
blocks,” Kyle explained. “They’re not letting people out. We’ll have to walk to find an unpatrolled place to cross over.”
By nightfall, we had made good progress. I flipped on one of the lights above my seat and looked at the map. “Looks like we’re about a hundred miles from Ellington,” I said. “There aren’t any more towns on the map between here and there.”
“I think we need to find a place to pull off the road where we can spend the night.” Kyle said.
“Shouldn’t we keep going?” Verna asked. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”
“If we get some rest tonight, we’ll be in better shape to walk tomorrow,” Kyle said.
“Kyle’s right,” I said. “We should rest up.”
As Kyle drove, we both looked for places to pull off the road. We came to a field with a gravel road leading up to an old barn. “Let’s stop here,” Kyle said, pulling the van up close to the barn and turning off the engine and turning off the radio.
“I don’t like this,” Verna said.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We can sleep in shifts. I’ll take the first watch for two hours and then I’ll wake Kyle. He can watch for two hours and then wake Verna. Verna will watch for two hours and then wake Jordan. Give me your watch, Kyle.” He unclasped his watch and handed it to me.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Jordan said.
“Me too,” Kyle said.
“Maybe we should all go. We’ll take turns while the rest of us stand guard,” I said.
We all climbed out with our guns and formed an arc around the side of the van. We took turns going to the bathroom in the middle. It felt ridiculous, but it worked. We all climbed back into the van and locked the doors. We adjusted our seats into reclining positions, and soon Verna, Kyle, and Jordan were sleeping soundly. I sat listening to the sound of their breathing, my mind racing with thoughts of tomorrow’s mission. Waiting in the darkness with no one to talk with, I thought I’d try the radio. I carefully turned the keys back in the ignition, turned the volume dial very low, and flipped the switch. The familiar static filled the air. For a long moment, I just sat there letting the noise push all thoughts from my mind. I’m not sure how long I’d been listening when I heard a voice break the static.
“Base to all units. Base to all units,” the voice said. “The depot research center has developed the first successful treatment for the virus. BioGenetics has begun producing the serum. We anticipate that distribution will begin next week. Continue maintaining a secure perimeter around the contaminated zone until further notice. Over.” The static resumed. I switched off the radio and turned the ignition key back to the off position. I looked at Kyle’s watch. My two hour shift was up. I nudged him awake.
“While you were sleeping, I heard on the radio that BioGenetics has developed a serum to treat the virus,” I told him.
“That’s good news,” he said.
“But it doesn’t change anything for us, does it?” I said. It wasn’t really a question.
“No, it doesn’t,” he said. “They’ll still want us dead. We know too much.” He laid his arm on my shoulder. “Get some rest. Tomorrow we head for Canada.”
I stretched and then curled up in my seat to go to sleep.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of the van starting up. Kyle drove us back onto the road, and headed toward Ellington. Jordan was in the back munching on some crackers. Verna was still sleeping soundly.
“It’s great they’ve found a treatment for the virus,” Jordan said when he saw that I was awake.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I said. “At least there’s hope now.”
“You don’t sound happy about it,” Jordan said.
“I am glad that it will all be over soon,” I said. “But life will never be the same for us. Our families are gone. We’ll never be able to go home.”
“We have each other,” Kyle said, touching my hand.
We were about a mile outside of Ellington in a heavily wooded area when Kyle pulled the van off the road. “We should walk from here,” he said, shutting off the engine.
I turned in my seat and woke Verna. We each grabbed bags of food and supplies and a gun and walked into the woods. The ground was uneven, making it difficult to walk while carrying a load. The thin slippers they’d given us at the compound weren’t good for walking on the rough terrain. We cut deeper and deeper into the woods, constantly heading north.
“We should be close to the end of the contaminated zone,” I said, estimating that we’d walked about a mile.
“Yes, I suppose so,” Kyle said. He stopped and scanned the area. “Looks like we’ve found a safe place to cross over.”
“Then let’s go,” Jordan said.
“Thank goodness,” Verna said.
“Yeah,” I said, taking Kyle’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Viral Dawn Page 8