There are large sections missing from the hospital inventory, mostly Gov controlled items that were carefully rationed even before chaos reigned supreme. Thankfully, nothing on my list falls into that category.
Once I’ve filled the duffels with everything I need from the pharmacy, I quickly locate a small storage room and find most of the remainder of the list.
When the bags are full, I zip them shut, and start back towards the room where I was lowered into the hospital. As I approach the rope I notice a large sign swinging lightly from the ceiling. It reads ‘cafeteria’, and points down another hall. I tie the rope around the handles of the duffle bags and gesture to Derek that I will be just another minute.
He begins to pull up the rope as I detour down the hall and into the cafeteria. The room’s large, and filled with tables, chairs, Passives, and not much else. Since the space is more open, it’s less work to push past the Passives, so I quickly make my way to the counter where a basket of rotted fruit and moldy muffins sit. I hop over the counter, past the expired food, and find a large door that I assume leads to the storage room. The room is chock full of canned, boxed, and otherwise preserved and edible things, in quantities that should keep us all well fed for a long while. I search around for something to carry the food in, but come up short. The best I can do for now is empty a case of chips and fill the box with an assortment of the most nutritionally dense items that I can carry.
When I get back to the rope, I tie it around my hips again, sit back with the box on my lap, and let Derek pull me back up through the skylight. I tell them both about the food supply and plans are made to return later that day with bags and more people to carry supplies back to the two bases.
With the sudden abundance of food, we’re able to spend the next week choosing a suitable location for half of our group to move to when the split occurs. Erin and Kyle end up finding the building, and everyone pitches in reinforcing the doors, clearing out the bodies, and otherwise preparing the space for inhabitants.
It seems that everyone’s resigned to the inevitability of the split, and while there’s a great deal of sadness at the idea, everyone’s glad that the new base is not so far away. There have even been rumors of forming a walkway to make it easier to travel between the two bases. I’ve no idea how this would work, but everyone’s been talking.
While this is going on, I receive permission from Glory to join Deirdre’s group on day trips to the residential parts of town to find as many housers as we can. The many small and ever changing groups of people that move from house to house, the way that Erin used to before she joined our group, are hard to track down, and even harder to convince. We tell them about the abundance of supplies that are now accessible from the hospital. Many remain skeptical and refuse to come with us; they’ve grown quite accustomed to the ‘every man for himself’ survival tactic. Others join us readily, coming along on our daily hospital runs, and filling their bags with much needed supplies before returning to their homes.
The work feels good, and we reach a lot of people. Before long, housers are showing up at Deirdre’s doorstep, having heard about the food and medicine they’re handing out.
Within another week, I feel like I’ve met everyone in town, and once again, I’m reminded how lucky I was to have been found by Derek and Kyle that first day.
This morning, when I arrive at the apartment, Deirdre takes me to see the sick woman. The boy is back at her bedside, accompanied by a man who, I assume, is his father, the doctor that tried to help deliver her baby. I notice the change in the boy before I notice the woman. He’s smiling and playing with a pair of toy cars with all of the enthusiasm that a little boy should have.
The woman herself is still pale, but her cheeks are a healthy pink, and she’s awake now. There is a sadness in her eyes, but the doctor reaches for her hand and it subsides. I wonder if the three of them are a family now, or simply travelling companions. Relationships are so difficult to categorize these days.
The woman looks up and smiles as I approach with Deirdre. “You must be my hero.”
“Hey,” says the doctor, with feigned indignity.
“My other hero,” she corrects, giving his hand a squeeze.
“I guess so,” I say. “I’m glad you’re doing better.”
We chat for a few moments before Deirdre leads me back into the hall, insisting that I can go back home today, and I should take a couple of days off, and if anyone shows up, she’ll give them food from her own supply for now.
“Are you sure?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she replies insistently, “You’ve been out with us every day for almost two weeks. You need your rest.”
“I have been kind of tired,” I admit, thinking back over all of the walking around town, and the long days of gathering supplies from the hospital.
“Go home. Rest,” she instructs firmly. “You’ve done more for us then we’ll ever be able to repay.”
“You don’t have to,” I say. “I don’t need you to owe me.”
Deirdre smiles, and for a moment I don’t see the dark bags under her eyes, or even the scars on her face. All I can see is happiness lighting up her eyes, and it strikes me suddenly how beautiful she must have been, before all of this.
I walk leisurely back to the base, stopping at two different salons before I find a bottle of leave-in conditioner. When I arrive back at the base, I immediately find Kimberly and we dash off to one of the bathrooms.
As leader-in-training, Kimberly’s always burdened with concern for the welfare of the group. I think that it lets her ‘mother’ just enough to fill the void, or at least distract her from it. When she’s not in business mode, we enjoy sneaking off to a quiet corner of the second floor to gossip and chat. I never really thought that I wanted a big sister, but somehow it feels like I have one, and I like it.
Kimberly trims my hair, fixing the uneven spots from my last self-inflicted hack job. We both use the leave-in conditioner, then lounge around and chat all afternoon before she has to go and attend to something with Glory.
Tomorrow’s been designated as a day of rest for everyone - no training, and no outgoing missions at all.
I eventually make my way into the sleeping room, sit down on my bed, reach under my pillow, and pull out the journal. I’ve been meaning to read more of it, but have been too tired since joining the ground team. Turning the leather book over in my hands, I contemplate my place here and my mission: a mission that is, in essence, to help people, to make Dale proud. And right now, in this moment, I feel for the first time like I’m doing that. I smile, squeeze the journal into my chest, and then slide it into my bag. Contented, I pull the sheets up and fall asleep before anyone else even enters the room.
I awake groggily as the mattress moves beside me. It’s dark out, and must be well into the night. It’s awfully late for my bunkmate to be coming to bed, so I turn over, intent on asking her what she has been up to, but before I get the chance, a hand claps over my mouth, cutting off any sound I might have made in protest. My eyes go wide as every ounce of sleep drains from my body, but it’s too late to scream.
Chapter 14 – Six Pitchers Deep
I struggle for a moment, filled with a mixture of anger and panic. In the moonlight, I catch glimpses of my assailant’s shaggy, blonde hair, and suddenly recognize the owner of the hand. I stop moving, and glare up at Kyle.
“Shh,” Kyle instructs, cautiously pulling his hand away. “I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Oh, good job,” I whisper loudly. “Next time, why don’t you wear a hockey mask, too. That’s super calming.” I pull the covers over my head, intent on ignoring Kyle until he goes away.
“The guys are sneaking out,” he whispers. “I think we can catch up and follow them.”
I pull the covers down just enough to look up at the noticeably excited teen. “Who’s sneaking out?”
Kyle lists a few names, all members of the ground teams, including my bunkmate and Derek.
&
nbsp; I look over to see that the other half of my bed is, in fact, empty. My mind suddenly flashes to my own teenage years, sneaking out after dark to meet up with friends at some predetermined rendezvous, or a forbidden party - oftentimes, just to sit in the woods with a case of beer, just because we weren’t supposed to, just to prove that we could. It hadn’t occurred to me that the teens here would do the same thing, though the people that Kyle named are not teenagers, but rather adults in their twenties. I guess that makes sense, though. The world that we face now is so much more dangerous than the one that I remember so fondly. So the role of ‘rebellious teen’ is cast to older players, while actual teenagers, like Kyle, are viewed as children and left behind.
This thought would fit nicely in my mind, except for the Derek part. I can’t imagine him sneaking out with the gang. He strikes me more as the person who’d tell them all to go back to bed.
Kyle offers me his hand. Curiosity getting the better of me, I grab it, and let him pull me to my feet. We sneak quietly out into the hall, stalling as we reach the staircase. Kyle shushes me, drops my hand, and sticks his head out the open window. The sound of careful footsteps and lighthearted laughter filters down from above us. Kyle climbs out the window, onto the emergency ladder, then waits for me to do the same.
I’ve never bothered to go up to the third floor of the building, mostly because the only access is from this window. The stairs that previously led up to the apartments above the office building were long ago destroyed, making the emergency ladder that connects the second and third floors the only way to get up there.
Once the sounds above vanish entirely, we climb up the ladder and through a window into what had been someone’s living room. Despite the fact that we clearly heard people up here just a moment ago, the apartment is silent and deserted. Kyle ventures down the hall and into a small bedroom, then waves me over. The room has been picked over, and the mattress on the bed removed – although I’ve no idea how they managed to get it down onto the second floor, where I assume it has been taken. There’s a large window wedged open with a piece of wood, and a long board shoots out from this room across the narrow alleyway gap and into another on the other side. The board provides a seemingly functional path into the next building that avoids the ground level entirely.
“Seriously?” I ask, as Kyle examines the board.
“Yeah,” Kyle replies. “I caught them a couple days ago building the path. I’m not sure where it goes, but I think it’s a trial run for the whole network idea... thing.” Kyle climbs up onto the board, positioning himself on his hands and knees and without hesitation or further discussion, begins crawling to the other side.
“Kyle!” I call after him in a harsh whisper.
He doesn’t respond, instead waving wordlessly for me to join him. His excitement is both obvious and infectious, and I roll my eyes, knowing full well that I’m going to follow him.
I climb up onto the board as Kyle did, then crawl out into the cool night air. I peek down to see that there’s just one Passive in the alley below, shuffling her way along the wall of our building. She doesn’t seem to be aware of the activity occurring far above her head.
When I reach the other side, a hand shoots out of the window to assist me. I grab it and am immediately aware that this is not the same hand that pulled me from my bed a few minutes earlier. I duck my head into the building and hop off of the board to find Derek glowering down at me. Kyle stands sheepishly by his side, hands stuffed into his pockets and a defeated look on his previously exuberant face.
“You two, home. Now.” Derek orders us with the same authority that he uses during training sessions. Kyle’s frown deepens into a scowl, but he doesn’t protest.
Normally, I’d do the same, but I haven’t allowed myself to be dragged from bed for nothing. “Derek!” I shout, startling both men. “I’m twenty-four years old, just a few years younger than you, and you’re treating me like a child. If I’m grown up enough to go down into the hospital by myself, I’m pretty sure I can brave the scary night air like a big girl.”
Derek surprises me by shrugging and responding simply, “Okay.”
“What?” Kyle jumps in, his tone now demanding. “Why does Katie get to go with you?”
“Number one, ‘cause she’s an adult,” Derek answers matter-of-factly, although his face betrays the obvious irritation that he’s feeling, “And number two, I’m not her guardian.” He points sternly to the window. “Go home Kyle, or I’ll tell Glory that you brought Katie out here.”
Kyle, now certain that there’s no arguing, turns and climbs back up onto the board and shuffles back across to the first building. “You’re a dick.” He calls through the open window once he is safely on the other side.
“So what?” Derek calls back, still pointing at his brother.
Once Kyle’s out of view, Derek turns and begins walking away, toward what I assume is the next window pathway. He calls over his shoulder at me, “You can come, but you’d better not slow me down. The others are already ahead.”
I resist the urge to cross my arms defiantly at the accusation, and instead sprint to catch up. “If I knew where we were going, you’d be the one trying to keep up.”
“You walk like you’re five feet tall,” Derek says, lengthening his strides in an attempt to prove that I will be the holdup.
I quicken my pace to keep up. “And you walk like you’re trying to wake the dead.” I look up to see a flash of a grin flicker across the usually stoic man’s face. I reply only with a small grin of my own.
We continue in silence for the rest of the trip, passing through the interior of two more buildings before taking to the roof of the fourth where another board connects us to the roof of a fifth building.
Once across, Derek leads me to a hatch – not unlike the one on the roof of the MegaMart – flips it open, and begins climbing the ladder down into the building.
I’ve resisted the urge to ask where we’re going pretty well, assuming that Derek’s not in a talkative mood. However, once we descend the ladder and step out into the main building, I can’t stop the question from popping out. “What is this place?”
The room is vast and open, bordered on all sides by ancient brick and metal without a single window in view. The main floor is taken up by what was obviously a production line of some sort. Barrels, large metal kegs, and cases of brown bottles lay both abandoned on the floor as well as lined up against the farthest wall. There’s a hazardous-looking metal walkway high above the assembly line, which provides a route to each corner of the room, as well as what looks like an office, and the roof access hatch, from where we just came in.
That grin appears again on Derek’s face, and stays there this time as he spots the others lounging at the far end of the overhead walkway. From here, I can see four of my team members, including the two guards, Erin’s trainee, and my missing bunkmate.
Erin’s trainee looks up and waves at us. Derek looks over at me and jerks his head towards the group, implying that I should follow, so I do.
As we approach the assembled rebellious twenty-somethings, I can see that they’re sitting casually around a pony keg, a pile of plastic pitchers, and several drinking glasses. Without hesitation, one of the guards picks up a glass, already filled with golden liquid and hands it to Derek, and the other fills another glass and offers it to me.
I accept it with a curt nod and stare at its contents. “Beer?” I ask, almost unable to believe what I’m seeing.
The other guard pats the ground in a gesture that universally means ‘sit here’ as he answers. “Yeah, we found this place while testing out the walkway idea. I didn’t even know it was here when the city was still a city. ”
I sit down and take a long swig from the glass, then roughly wipe the foam from my upper lip with the back of my hand. It’s warm, well, room temperature really, appealing nonetheless. “It hadn’t even occurred to me how much I’ve missed this stuff.”
Derek smiles, already ha
lf finished. “As long as you don’t tell anyone about this, you won’t have to miss it anymore.”
I smile at him and take another sip. Looking around at the group, all smiling and laughing, I feel as though I’m a part of something. And not a team, or a unit, but something familiar, more like friends. I haven’t realized how much I miss that, either.
I don’t know how long we all sit there, maybe just an hour or so, but it doesn’t take long for all of our worries and the current reality to fade away as we toast our secret hideout and chug back copious amounts of the room temperature brew.
Erin’s trainee is the first to turn in for the night. Her announced departure is met with mock booing, but she waves it off and yawns luxuriously as she gets up and makes her way slowly down the walkway, back towards the hatch.
A half hour later, the others all decide to head back so that they can get a few good hours of sleep before sunrise. Derek opts to stay behind to finish off the current pitcher, and I stay with him, wanting to soak in every possible moment of this temporary escape.
As the trio stumbles off, Derek tops up his glass, then gestures to me with the pitcher and a raised brow. I nod once and hold out my glass, allowing him to empty the remaining content, filling my glass almost to the top for the fourth time that evening. We sit in surprisingly amiable silence for a few minutes, and when the silence is finally broken, it’s by Derek and not me.
“I didn’t know Kyle knew about this place,” Derek said. “Sorry you got dragged into it.”
I shake my head. “He didn’t know where you were going. He just said he’d seen you making a path. And I’m glad I came. This has been fun, you know, just getting away.”
“Even though the beer tastes like crap?” Derek asks.
Population: Katie Page 15
