The Apocalyptic Nurse (Book 1): Plagued Road Home

by Bell, A. E.

  She looked on the other side of the counter and saw Creed laying there. She ran to him and bent down, “What the hell happened to you?”

  He struggled to answer, “I don’t know.”

  She started assessing him to see if one of those things had bitten him. He didn’t have a single bite on him. She couldn’t understand. She didn’t see any visible injury. He was slowly coming to, “Evie, one second I was walking around looking at all the cool shit and the next thing I know, I hear you calling for me. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming until I saw you walk past.”

  Evie was confused, “Are you hurting somewhere? Do you feel like somebody hit you in the head again?”

  He answered, “No, but I do feel like I have one hell of a hangover.”

  She laughed, “Well, did you stop at the bar on your way down here. I have been trying to find you for over an hour. Now let’s get your ass up and get back out to the SUV.”

  Creed grabbed Evie’s gun and simultaneously pushed her out of the way. He shot three quick shots. She bent down and covered her ears. She thought maybe he had gone postal and was trying to kill her. After she stopped hearing gunshots, she heard a thud. She looked over, and it was a strange guy. She grabbed her gun back, “What the fuck was that all about?”

  Creed shrugged, “Well, I guess I should’ve just let that fucker chloroform you. I guess that explains the hangover.”

  She helped Creed on his feet. They both walked over to the stranger. He was holding a folded-up bandana in his hand. Evie picked it up and sniffed it, she threw it down on the ground, “Yep, I think that’s chloroform. I wonder why he didn’t just shoot us. He has a shit ton of guns around here to kill people with.”

  Creed replied, “I don’t know. I had just diverted the horde away from us, and when I walked past this place, it looked cool. I figured you would forgive me if it took a few extra minutes. Especially if I brought back some cool shit.”

  She shook her head. She figured that was what he would do. It still didn’t make any sense why this guy was drugging people, “What’s his endgame?”

  Creed said, “I don’t know, but I don’t think we should try to find out. Not our circus, not our monkeys. We need to get a few things and then jet.”

  Evie went to the front window and gave Jade the thumbs up to let her know everything was okay. She yelled to Creed, “You know space is limited so only grab a few things.” She grabbed a few things of paracord, a set of walkie-talkies, and some batteries. Creed grabbed three military style sleeping bags. They both hauled ass out the door before anything else could happen.

  They both climbed into the SUV. Sylvie was upset, “Why did it take that long? Y’all always leave us in the car, and we gotta sit here and worry. I’m not a baby. I can help too.”

  Creed turned around in the seat, “Listen, we can’t risk you getting hurt.”

  Sylvie blasted back, “Then what was the point of teaching me to shoot guns, shoot bows, hunting, and living off the land. Wasn’t it just for a time like this? What happens if something happens to you? You are always about being prepared, but shouldn’t I be prepared in case something happens to you?”

  Evie smiled at Creed, “She has a point.”

  Creed rolled his eyes, “She might have a point, but I’m not ready to have this discussion yet.”

  Sylvie whined, “But dad.”

  Creed sternly told her, “Not now. I don’t want to hear one more word right now.”

  They drove down the road in complete silence. There was never even any discussion on whether to take Jade with them. They just drove. As they were driving, they noticed a small sporting goods store. Evie pulled into the parking lot. Creed inquired, “Why are we stopping here? We don’t have any space for anything.”

  Evie replied in her usual smartass manner, “Just get your ass out, I need your brute strength.” He followed her into the store. She went between the camping and fishing aisles. She pointed at a roof storage carrier, “We need you to install that. It will give us a place to store more of the necessities we need.”

  He shrugged, “Sounds good to me. They’re easy to put on. It won’t take me but a few minutes.” He took it outside and started putting it on top of the vehicle.

  He tapped on Sylvie’s window, “Why don’t you go help your mom.”

  Sylvie smiled and hopped out of the car. She walked into the store and found her mother. Evie was surprised to see her, “So your dad gave in did he?”

  Sylvie smiled, “Of course, he did. It was just a matter of time.”

  Evie became serious, “Well, you might’ve sweet talked him, but you better make sure you stay alert and aware of your surroundings at all times, young lady.”

  Sylvie rolled her eyes, “Momma, you know I will. I promise I will be super careful.”

  Evie grabbed a backpack and filled it with all the freeze-dried foods she could find. She handed it to Sylvie, “Here put this on your back.”

  She picked up a couple of belts and multi-tools. She also grabbed three bows, several arrows, broadheads, and some archery tools to replace what they had lost in the RV. Evie knew that they would need these things to hunt for food because it was going to get scarce quickly. They were headed out the door when they heard something banging on a fitting room door. Sylvie asked, “Shouldn’t we go see what’s inside that fitting room?”

  Evie looked Sylvie dead in her eye, “Sweetie, some things are best left alone. Everything we do from here on out needs to be aimed at getting home.”

  Sylvie’s eyes filled up with tears, “So if we see someone that needs help, we just leave them?”

  Evie replied, “I didn’t say that, but we don’t need to go looking for trouble either. Come on, we need to go now.” Sylvie hesitantly followed her mother.

  When they got outside, Creed put everything inside the carrier. He opened one of the SUV doors, “Alright, let’s load up. I think we have worn out our welcome.” Evie and Creed let Jade drive which freed them up to be able to shoot out the window if they needed to.

  They were almost to the City limits when Jade slammed on the breaks, grabbed the tomahawk that was sitting between her and Evie, jumped out of the car, and walked quickly to an infected, and started beating it mercilessly. Even after the infected had fallen to the ground, she just kept hitting repeatedly. The infected’s head and neck area looked like rotten ground beef. She calmly walked back to the SUV, picked up a towel from under the seat, and wiped the guts off it. She then sat down, shut the door, and started driving like nothing ever happened.

  Evie and Creed looked at each other trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Finally, Evie asked, “Umm, Jade, What was that all about?”

  Jade never missed a beat, she just calmly answered, “That was the guy that held me hostage. I wanted him wiped off the face of the planet.”

  Evie didn’t say another word. She just looked back at Creed, her eyebrows raised. Evie didn’t have to speak most of the time for Creed to know what she was thinking, and he was pretty sure she was thinking what he was thinking, and that was, don’t cross this bitch.

  Evie was feeling particularly anxious. Kentucky was finally within reach, but she knew that anything could happen between here and there. She leaned her head over onto the window. She just watched blankly as the trees were going passed. Each tree that passed, her eyes got heavier. Within a few minutes, she was asleep. Creed quickly followed suit.

  Chapter 14

  Jade just did as she was instructed and kept driving East. A few hours later the car came to a grinding stop. It jarred Evie awake. When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was the Gateway Arch. She jerked herself up and asked Jade, “Is that the fucking Gateway Arch? Please tell me it’s not the Gateway Arch!”

  Jade answered, “Yeah, why?”

  Evie threw her head back on the headrest, “Well, this is a shit sandwich.” She started looking around and saw that they were right in the middle of St. Louis.

  Evie slapped Creed’s kn
ee, “Wake up.”

  He jerked awake, “What?”

  She said, “We got problems. Serious problems. Jade’s ass just drove us to the middle of St. Louis.”

  Creed surveyed the area, “Fuck, Jade, why the fuck did you bring us to St. Louis? We never go to big cities.”

  Evie chimed in, “It’s like a cardinal rule or something. No big cities. You have T-totally screwed us.”

  Jade became defensive, “If you didn’t want me to go to a big city, you should have told me. I just went the way I thought would be best. I just thought we could jump on the interstate in St. Louis and make it easier.”

  Evie squawked, “That’s cardinal rule number two. NO FUCKING INTERSTATES.”

  Jade broke down in tears, “Why are you blaming me? You just told me to drive. You didn’t tell me any cardinal rules. How was I supposed to know?”

  Creed put his hand on Evie’s shoulder, “She’s right we never did tell her any of this. We can’t blame her. We need to figure out what to do from here.”

  Evie and Creed got out of the car to try and figure out what to do. It became clear that Jade had stopped because there was a military blockade further up the road. Creed talked to Evie over the hood of the SUV, “I’m going to go further up and see if we can turn once we get up to that intersection.”

  Evie kept her eye on Creed. He got to the intersection, and she saw him turn in all directions. He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. She knew what that meant so she told Sylvie, “I’m going to go back to that intersection. Keep your eyes peeled.”

  As Creed was making his way back to the car, Evie had already started walking towards the intersection behind them. He could easily see her. He made it back to the car when she made it to the intersection, she motioned for them to back up.

  Creed climbed in the car and directed Jade, “Put the car in reverse, I think Evie has found a way to go.”

  She put the car in reverse. When she got to the 4-way stop, she abruptly stopped the car and waited for Evie to get in and tell her what to do next.

  Evie announced, “I think if we go left we will find a way out of the city.”

  Jade did not say a word, she just did as Evie instructed. She was frustrated because she felt as though Evie was constantly jumping down her throat. She wasn’t accustomed to being fussed at like that. She was the first one in her family to be born in America. Everyone else had immigrated there from North Vietnam. Her family was never as direct as these people. She was starting to doubt whether she made the right decision. Although, she knew that given the situation she didn’t have a choice. Her choices were to stay and die or to follow these people and possibly live.

  Evie was giving her directions when suddenly, the road was impassable. There were two cars in the middle of the road. Evie and Creed once again got out of the car. Creed told Evie, “We need to see if the keys are in those cars, if not we will have to push them.” Evie walked over to the first car. There was an infected inside, sitting behind the steering wheel. She took out her knife and stabbed it in the eye socket. She felt the black slime from the fluid within the eye. It made her sick to her stomach to know it had gotten on her hand. She pulled the infected out of the car and wiped her hand on her pants, “Gross, this shit is getting old.” She got inside the car and drove it up onto the sidewalk.

  Meanwhile, Creed checked the other car, but there were no keys to be found. He yelled out, “Damn it, there aren’t any fuckin’ keys.”

  Evie hollered, “It doesn’t matter. I think we made enough space to get through. We need to go. I’m getting creeped out for some reason.”

  Creed knew if Evie had a bad feeling it was time to go. For some reason, Evie’s bad feelings never ended well. They drove up towards the next stop light. As they neared it, they saw two vehicles come out of nowhere and block the street. Evie yelled out to Jade, “Put the car in reverse.”

  Jade put the car in reverse and looked in the rearview mirror. She saw someone getting inside the car that Evie had put on the sidewalk. The stranger pulled the car back into its previous spot. They were essentially trapped. Evie said, “Floor it, we can knock one of those cars out of the way.” Jade put the car in forward and drove as fast as she could.

  The people that were blocking their way opened fire on them. Creed screamed, “Kids put your heads down.”

  They hit the car. It moved a little bit, but still, need to be moved more if they were going to get through. She backed up some and then put it in drive. She slammed into the car a second time. The entire time people were shooting at them. It worked. She was able to move the car out of the way. The men followed behind the car shooting their guns.

  Evie yelled out, “This is why we stay away from fucking cities! Just keep driving!”

  A man was standing in the middle of the road ahead of them waving his arms. Jade began to slow the car down, “What if he needs help?”

  Evie said, “You have one of two choices you get out and help him, and I leave your ass or you fuckin drive like your life depends on it. Because it does.”

  Jade had no choice but to drive by the man waving his arms. She pleaded, “What if that man back there needed our help? How can you do that to someone?”

  Evie snapped, “What if he was one of those freaks back there that are shooting at us? Then, your compassion is going to get my kids or me killed, and I’m not going to allow that.”

  After a few turns, they were safely away from the men shooting guns. When things calmed down, Evie told Jade, “I think we need to have a discussion. You think I am a terrible person because I was not willing to stop for that man. And I honestly don’t care what you think. I am more than willing to help people when I’m in a position that I can safely do so. Hell, I helped your ass. But, you are never going to survive if you don’t smarten up, girl. The world has changed overnight. It’s now a dog eat dog world. People are taking what they want from the weak, and these things that used to be human are eating the rest. Well, I for one am not going to let myself or my family become food for the infected. I’m also not going to let people steal our shit without a fight. If you are gonna survive you need to get that naive ‘kumbaya’ shit out of your head.”

  Jade replied, “You have your opinions, and I have mine. I’m just not the type of person that can turn my back on other people.”

  Evie was becoming increasingly annoyed, “Yea, well that’s probably why you ended up chained up in some dude’s basement.”

  Jade had tears running down her face, “You are the meanest person I know.”

  Evie just dismissed her, “Yeah whatever. And I guess that perverted dude, that held you captive was prince fuckin’ charming. Just don’t talk to me. I can’t handle any more of your of your bullshit.”

  Creed put his hand on Evie’s shoulder, “I think you have said plenty. Just because you can rip someone to shreds with your words doesn’t mean you should.”

  Evie didn’t answer, she just stewed. She knew she went too far. She wished she hadn’t, but she didn’t understand how anyone could be so naive. She wasn’t trying to blame the poor girl for what had happened to her even though that’s the way it sounded.

  Creed began giving Jade directions to try and avoid these two women killing each other. Evie just looked out the window at all the damage that had happened within this city. There were windows broken out everywhere, cars burning in the middle of the street, entire buildings that were on fire, and smoke filled the air everywhere. She couldn’t help wondering why this girl ever thought it was the way to go.

  They were stopped again by another deserted military barricade. The family had nowhere to go. The road was blocked to the left and right, and they surely couldn’t go back towards the people that were shooting at them. Evie turned towards Creed, “I don’t think we can get out of St. Louis by car. We are going to have to hoof it, and I have a feeling it’s going to suck.”

  Creed inquired, “Are you sure we can’t figure out another choice?”

 
; Evie replied, “Look, I’m open to any ideas you have, but I think we are just going to keep hitting roadblocks.”

  Creed became excited, “I think I got an idea. Why can’t we use one of those Humvees? We don’t have to get through the roadblock. We need to walk around it, take the vehicle, and if we come across another barricade, we do the same thing over again.”

  Evie smiled, “I guess it’s worth a try. Besides, I know how you have always wanted to drive a Humvee.”

  He acted like a kid in a candy store when he realized that he was going to drive a Humvee. Evie had trouble understanding how he could be so giddy at a time like this, but that was her husband. He always found a way of seeing the silver lining. He had been doing it their entire relationship. Somehow, he could always reassure her that everything was going to work out.

  He walked over to the nearest vehicle and realized there was an infected trapped inside thrashing around trying to get out. Creed opened the door and spiked him through the ear with a knife and then leaned him forward and spiked him in the brain stem to make sure he was gone. He threw the infected out of the vehicle and wiped the seat off with an old rag he saw laying in the floor.

  Evie decided she would ride in the back seat with the kids and Cinnamon. She wanted to be able to shoot the 50 cal if she needed. She made Jade ride up front. She was still angry at her for dragging their asses to St. Louis. The more she thought about it, the more irritated she became.

  Cassie looked scared, “Will we be at your cabin soon? What if we don’t make it?”

  Evie tried to console her, “Honey, we are getting closer to the cabin. Not making it is not an option. You can’t think that way. We will be there soon.” She picked the little girl up and gave her a little hug and placed her in the Humvee. Cinnamon jumped in and sat in the floor in front of her feet.

  Sylvie didn’t miss a beat. She just grabbed her stuff and climbed into the Humvee. She found a small notebook laying under the front seat. She picked it up and started reading it, “We are on our second day of the assignment. I am starting to doubt what we are doing here. They have us shoot people on sight if they try to escape the barricade. People are getting angry and trying to kill us. I don’t know if I will survive this. I’m most afraid I will turn into one of those abominations. I fear that God has forsaken us.” That was the last entry in the journal. She decided to keep the journal and read it from the beginning.