“I hope so.” Anastasia reached into the front pocket of her shorts and pulled out her mobile phone. She flipped to her photos and showed the paramedics a picture of Zoe. “Have you seen her?”
The blonde medic took the phone from her and carefully studied the photo.
“Hold on a second.” He turned to his partner, who was standing over an unconscious black man that was strapped securely to a table. Two security guards also stood carefully watching the unmoving man. Anastasia thought the fella on the table looked a little familiar.
“Jango, ya got a second?” He shouted over to the wiry, shaved head paramedic.
“Sure, Hardy. This bloke is out,” he said, as he pulled off some latex gloves and tossed them in an overflowing garbage can. “What ya need?”
“You remember this bird?” The paramedic showed him the photo on screen. The other man took the phone from him, stared at it then handed the mobile back to his partner.
“She was here about a half hour ago.” Jango glanced over at Anastasia. “She was pretty sick. I tried to get her to stay, but she didn’t want to wait. I remember she said ‘this was a load of shit!’ and left.” He saw the sadness in Anastasia’s eyes. “Sorry miss.”
“Do you know which direction she went?” Anastasia asked, as the paramedic, Hardy, handed her back the mobile phone.
“No,” Jango frowned, as he slipped on a fresh pair of latex gloves. “Sorry I can’t help you.”
“Have you tried having security look for her?” Hardy asked.
“No.” Anastasia shoved the phone back into her pocket, obviously upset she’d missed her friend.
“They might be able to help you.” He motioned to the two security guards standing over the restrained man on the table. “I wish I could do more for you but…” Hardy glanced around the crowded tent, “we’re pretty swamped.”
“Thanks, really. I’ll give security a try.” She gave Hardy a sad smile. “Do you know where their office is? Those two blokes look kinda busy.”
“Yeah, busy gettin’ in our way.” Hardy gave the two guards a fake smile and gently took Anastasia by the arm. The young paramedic led her out of the tent.
“Just take a left when ya leave here and keep going straight for a bit, you’ll run right into it. One of them prefab trailer buildings.”
“Thanks again.”
“No worries. Good luck.” Hardy gave her a warm smile, then ducked back into the busy Aid Station.
Anastasia nodded, and quickly turned and headed away from the overcrowded tent. As she pushed her way through the throngs of festival goers, Anastasia could hear the loud thumping of the bass guitar coming from the stage. Right now, Anastasia couldn’t make out the song, or the band playing it. Everything was muted and muffled, her desperation at finding her girlfriend was really playing with her senses.
Eventually, Anastasia found the small building that was the main security station and hurried inside. As she closed the door behind her, Anastasia noticed the office was almost as busy as the Aid Station. Two long lines of noisy and unhappy Festival attendees were formed in front of a counter, with two harried security guards frantically trying to deal with their individual issues. The packed office smelled of suntan lotion and sweat. Frustrated, Anastasia figured it would be a good hour before she would even get any help from the security guards. Even then she wasn’t sure if they would be much help. Rolling her eyes, she once again pulled the door open and stepped outside onto an elevated handicap ramp. Hoping that maybe she’d get lucky and spot Zoe amongst the crowds moving back and forth outside the station, Anastasia stood just watching. After several, fruitless minutes of crowd gazing, she let out a tired breath and ran a hand through her hair. Zoe, of course, was nowhere to be seen.
Desperate to locate her girlfriend, Anastasia quickly ran back to their campsite hoping that maybe Zoe had wandered home to their tent. If she hadn’t, Anastasia knew Ben and the others would help find where Zoe had gotten to.
“You okay, Ana?” Ben asked, as she hurried over to where he sat in a lounge chair. “Zoe alright?”
“She’s not here?”
“No.” Ben frowned. “I thought maybe you two had…”
“I- I can’t find Zoe,” she said, running a shaky hand distractedly through her long hair.
“You check the Aid Stations, Ana?” Joshua asked, as he quickly stood up from his lawn chair.
“Yes, yes I did.” Anastasia turned and nodded at him. “I also went to the security station, but they were too damn busy to help!”
“The shower and rest areas too? You check them?” Ben asked, concern in his voice as he leaned forward in the lawn chair.
“Yeah, seen more nasty skin than I ever wanted to, but no Zoe.” Anastasia dropped heavily into Joshua’s lawn chair, she was mentally and physically exhausted.
“Maybe she went down to the concert and got lost?” Samantha said, as she bent down and opened the lid of the ice chest. Joshua slapped her playfully on the behind. Samantha jumped a little and giggled as she handed him another cool bottled beer.
“Thanks luv.” Joshua started to twist the top when he caught Anastasia staring at him with eyes full of deep despair. Feeling a little guilty, and thinking better of it, he sat the bottle back down.
“She wouldn’t do that,” Ben said, as he glanced over at Anastasia. “Would she?”
“No.” Ana shook her head. “She was doing pretty badly. Some paramedics saw her, said she looked really sick but she didn’t want to wait to be seen so she left. Zoe was in no shape to go down there to the concert. I’m really worried, Ben.”
“No worries yet, Ana.” Ben set his beer down in the sand and jumped to his feet. “No worries, we’ll find her.”
“Yeah, Anastasia.” Joshua took a quick swig. “I’ll wake Ryan and Emma up and we will all have a look-see. A good old-fashioned search party.” The big Maori said, trying to ease her fears with a warm smile.
“Thanks.” Anastasia nodded nervously.
“Sounds good, mate.” Ben scooped up his beer and pointed toward the remains of the prison. “We can start over there. Maybe she just got a bit turned around, ‘appens all the time on the island, so I hear.”
“You don’t think Zoe went to the show do ya?” Samantha asked again, hoping they could just head over to the Festival stage and let the others look for Zoe. Anastasia adamantly shook her head no, in response.
“No way,” Anastasia said, loud and stern causing the others to stop.
“Well, okay then.” Joshua awkwardly cleared his throat and swiftly reached behind his lounge chair for his flip flops. “You two get to searchin’ and we’ll catch up with you soon as I get Ryan and Emma up.”
Ben nodded quickly and motioned for the shaken Anastasia to follow. “Come on Ana. We’ll find her. Like I said, no worries.”
COCKATOO ISLAND AID STATION
“Right now?” One of the two security guards, who were tasked with watching the unconscious DonDarrion Rhodes, asked as he spoke into his radio.
“Big fight near the dock!” A panicked voice crackled over the walkie’s speaker. “We need help, now!”
“Shit!” The guard dropped the radio to his side and looked over to his partner. “Ya hear that, Vinnie?”
“Yeah!” The other guard nodded, then pointed at the subdued DonDarrion. “What about this piece of work? You know the Chief will have our asses if something ‘appens.”
“Shit.” The guard let out a frustrated breath, then spoke back into the radio. “We can’t leave; we have a perp we’re supposed to be guarding.”
“Then at least send us one of ya, asshole! We need help!” The voice sounded panicked.
“You go,” the other guard said, staring down at DonDarrion. “He’s strapped down and sedated, plus I got the medics here to help, just in case.”
“You sure, Vinnie?”
“Yeah, I’ll radio you if there’s an issue.”
“Right.” The other guard spoke into his walkie, “this is Por
ter and I’m on me way!”
“Looks like we lost one of the two stooges.” The paramedic Jango, whispered to his partner, Hardy, as the security guard ran out of the Aid tent.
“Good. It’s crowded enough in here,” the medic said, as he handed several Ibuprofen to a young girl, who was dressed in a see-through t-shirt and too short cut-offs, that stood at the front of his line. “Take two of these and drink plenty of water,” he told her. “They should help bring down your fever. Also find some shade to rest in.” The girl nodded her thanks and disappeared back into the festival.
“Worst festival I’ve worked,” Jango said, as he cleaned up and disinfected a long, nasty scratch on the back of a shirtless, near drunk, surfer type.
“Yeah, I’m with ya on that mate.” Hardy waved another patient forward. “A bit much today.”
“Got anything for fevers?” An overweight, middle-aged man in an open, Hawaiian shirt asked.
“Sure, mate.” Hardy nodded. “‘Ave a seat and let me have a look.”
“Fuckin’ heat,” the man grumbled, as he sat down on the examination table. “Told my wife we needed more beer, but does she listen?”
“You boys need some help in here?” A fit, black-haired woman dressed in a medic jumpsuit asked as she entered the tent.
“Hey Ames!” Jango shouted, as he wrapped a bandage around the surfer’s scratch, “we sure do!”
“Great Amy!” Hardy grabbed a disposable thermometer and placed it in the Hawaiian shirted man’s mouth. “We could use the help.”
“Dispatch sent me over, said you lads needed help.” The attractive woman set her med packs down on a table. “Guess this island has gone koo bananas all of a sudden.”
“You aren’t wrong, Amy.” Hardy said, pulling the thermometer from the man’s mouth. “You do have a fever, Sir, cans of beer not the answer.”
“Beer’s always the answer,” the man said.
“Take three of these,” he said, handing the man Ibuprofen. “Lots of water.”
“Beer.”
“Ok. Beer. But make sure your wife keeps you in the shade, wet cloth on the forehead wouldn’t hurt either.”
“Fat chance of that.” The man swallowed the pills and took a swig from the water bottle Hardy had offered him. “My old lady would like it if I got sick and passed. Beer my boy. Beer is the answer.” He patted the paramedic on the shoulder and waddled out of the tent.
“I think he likes beer,” the new paramedic, Amy, said, as she unloaded her kit.
“Hell, I could use a beer right now,” Hardy chuckled, as he wiped his forehead with the back of his arm.
“Hey!” The security guard, Vinnie, shouted towards the paramedics. “Can I get one of you to have a look at this guy. I think he’s coming to!”
“Sure,” Jango said, mildly annoyed as he helped the surfer off the table. “Off you go, mate. Don’t get it wet.” The paramedic pulled off his latex gloves, tossed them in an overflowing garbage can, then tugged on another pair. “I triaged him when security brought him in, I’ll have a look.”
“Thanks,” Hardy said, as he hurriedly moved on to the next patient.
“What’s up mate?” Jango asked, as he strode over to the table, snapping his gloves as he did so.
“He’s freakin’ me out mate!” Vinnie said, as he motioned to DonDarrion’s face.
“His eyes just popped open. They keep moving side to side, but he’s…”
“Let me see.” Jango sidled up to the table and stared down at DonDarrion’s still form. The black man’s eyes were wide open and, oddly, moving side to side like the guard had said. It reminded him of someone with Nystagmus, but only more aggressive. “Hello mate, I’m just going to have a look at your eyes. As he reached down to gently touch DonDarrion’s cheek, the black man let out a feral growl and clamped his teeth down on Jango's forearm.
“Fucker just bit me!” The medic shouted, as he pulled his bleeding arm away from DonDarrion’s bloody jaws. Stringy bits of Jango’s flesh dangled from the angry man’s teeth as he struggled to get free from his restraints. “Fucker!”
“Grab him mate!” The other medic, Hardy, shouted to the security guard. Vinnie just stood frozen in fear at the wild man that was flopping around and growling on the examination table.
“Shit!” Jango collapsed to his knees as he grabbed his bloody arm, the infection swiftly speeding through his system. The medic gripped his bleeding wound with his right hand, trying to apply pressure to it. The man had bitten right through the arm of Jango's white Aid jacket.
“Here!” The female medic, Amy, ran over to help her partner who was struggling to restrain the man on the cot. The crazed man snapped his jaws at the two medics, trying to bite them, too. Black spittle flew from his mouth, as he slobbered and drooled, still aiming to tear the medic’s flesh.
“What the fuck is wrong with him?” She shouted, trying to avoid DonDarrion’s teeth and hands.
“Came in with several bites! Security brought him in, then one left to handle some other shit!!” The medic said, finally securing a strap across the man’s chest and arms. “He passed out, then woke up like this!” He secured another strap lower, then another around his kicking legs. The man continued to struggle, but at least he couldn’t get at the two medics.
“Damn!” The female medic said, watching the crazy man violently squirm in his restraints. “Never seen anything like that!”
“PCP.” The medic named Hardy said, off-handedly. He looked over to where the security man, Vinnie, had been standing and saw the man had quickly fled from the tent.
“Chicken shit!” Amy yelled after him.
“Aw, shit!” Hardy turned to see Jango laying face down on the floor of the big infirmary tent. Most of the other patients had run off when the man started going crazy. “Jango!” Hardy quickly knelt down next to his unmoving partner and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Jango!”
“Fuck!” The female medic shouted. Hardy heard what sounded like the table being torn in half. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the crazed man, that had once been DonDarrion Rhodes, easily rip the wood and aluminium table to shreds.
“Run!” Hardy shouted to the other medic, who just stood in shock watching.
“For fuck sakes, Amy! Run! Get security back here!” And the younger medic ran.
Hardy swiftly returned his attention to the downed Jango, he knew he had to get his partner to his feet before that madman was able to attack them again. Desperately trying to rouse the unconscious medic, Hardy suddenly felt the hot, fetid breath on his neck. Without thinking or looking, the former SAS medic threw an elbow at DonDarrion’s face. The blow connected sending the ravenous attacker backwards and off his feet. Grabbing Jango by the right arm, he dragged the wounded medic away from the maniac and behind the cover of a portable rollaway filled with medical supplies.
“Hold on, Jango,” Hardy shouted to his silent partner. The thing that had been DonDarrion was now on its feet and running towards the medics. Jaws snapping so hard his teeth were breaking, the crazed man sprinted across the empty tent. The medic was going to go hand to hand with DonDarrion but he thought better of it, and quickly grabbed up one of the small first aid kits and tossed it at the man’s face. The heavy bag smashed into DonDarrion throwing him off balance and giving Hardy enough time to pull a mini fire extinguisher from its mount. The medic charged at the lunatic, jamming the extinguisher hard into his chest.
“Fuck!” Hardy heard the cracking of ribs, as he continued to drive the man backwards, away from his injured partner. Growling and still trying to grab at the medic, DonDarrion tripped over the broken table landing hard on his back. Without hesitation, he latched onto Hardy’s pant leg, trying to get to the flesh beneath. The medic kicked the lunatic off his leg and staggered out of his reach. Tired of the fight, Hardy swung the extinguisher at the man’s head. The heavy tank smashed a good- sized divot into DonDarrion’s forehead. With a low gurgle, he spat up some black blood and went limp on the floor. The me
dic had definitely heard a deafening, cracking sound when he struck the man’s skull. Without knowing his attacker had already died minutes ago, Hardy was pretty sure he’d just killed the man.
“Jango!” Hardy slowly turned to where he’d left his friend. “Jango!” The wounded medic slowly got to his feet and made a strange, jerky turn in Hardy’s direction. The exhausted medic noticed the same strange, hungry look in his partner’s eyes as the crazy man he’d just put down. Jango let out a primal growl and with teeth snapping, he charged in the other medic’s direction.
“Fuck…me.” Hardy said, raising the gore covered fire extinguisher up to his chest. As the thing that had been the medic Jango sprinted at Hardy, it tripped over an upturned chair, flew a few feet in the air and slammed head first into one of the thick, metal tent supports. With a sickening thud, Jango's head split open like a melon and the medic’s body fell backwards to the floor. Letting out a breath, extinguisher at the ready, Hardy slowly walked over to where his partner lay.
Zombie Island Page 15
