Infected World Trilogy (Books 1-3): They Only Come Out At Night

by Guenther, David

  Paige sat on the floor, hugging her kids as Gloria dropped to the floor. Her right hand made a clack sound and she looked over to see she was still holding her pistol with the slide locked back. A small team was looking over Paige and her children for any bites or other injuries when another group entered to see how they were doing.

  “Sister Gloria, that was a wonderful rendition of the Lord’s Prayer, I’ve never heard it accompanied by weapons fire before.” The man standing before her was perhaps the palest man she’d ever seen, especially in the ‘Valley of the Sun’ as they called the area. Her face burned from embarrassment, yet she didn’t sense he was making fun of her. She stared back at him as he continued to look at her and smile. He was at least six foot five, muscular, and had the greenest eyes she’d ever seen. His total lack of hair just made him seem exotic to her.

  “Gloria, that was very brave of you, and foolish to do what you did. You’d better spend the night behind the walls. Our friends out there don’t seem to be very happy.” Pastor Rebecca Hilton smiled, then continued, “I guess we’ll be seeing you for Sunday services after all. The men were quite inspired by you leading them in prayer.”

  “All the same, I think I’ll just find a bed and crash before I collapse.” She looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was 0510.Not even a full hour had passed. I wonder what the rest of my day has in store for me.

  Chapter 3

  Converse County Airport, Wyoming. April 5, 2029

  Oh God where am I now? Hmm, let’s see, disinfectant and other chemicals, must be the clinic. I wonder if I’ll ever wake up two mornings in a row in the same place? Caleb wondered. He could sense someone at the door just before it opened.

  “Good morning, Airman White, and how are you doing this morning? I decided with all the excitement you already had, we’d let you sleep in. Are you hungry?”

  “Morning, Capt Abrams, the extra sleep felt good. I think I should stay here for at least another night of observation.”

  “You mean another night away from sharing a tent? They are forming units today, part of that is also moving folks into town. As a matter of fact, while you are under my observation, I’ll be using your skills. I’m going into town to check out the hospital. I want you to be part of my team to make sure the hospital is secure. We’ll use your spidery sense in case there’s any Zs still hiding in the hospital that may have been missed when they cleared it. It might even be a good idea to have you billeted at the hospital as a Z monitor. Anyway, you can go over to the dining facility and get something to eat before we go. I’ll go over to the SFs and get your weapons while you do that.” The doctor left and Caleb wondered just what lay ahead for him.

  Good, the bitch must be off duty, he thought, as he saw a new woman wearing green scrubs sitting at the counter by the main entrance to the clinic.

  “Excuse me sir, will you be here for another night? The night nurse didn’t say and I haven’t found your chart.” The nurse looked about 24, was slim and cute. Caleb debated between giving a smart-ass answer, or hitting on the civilian, then he remembered his condition.

  “Thanks, Ma'am, I’m not exactly sure, to be honest. Guess you’d have to ask the doc. I’m off for some breakfast.” Caleb opened the door that was facing the morning sun, Oww oh shit! Caleb slid his patrol cap further down to block out the sun as he felt an intense headache jack hammering inside his skull. He walked as fast as he could without creating more pain by jarring his head. Thankfully, the walk was short. He opened the door and found the cooks were starting to clean up.

  An airman noticed him and came to the serving line. “I’m sorry, the line is closed. Let’s see what we still have for you. We have some bacon, French toast and grits left, how’s that?”

  “That’s fine; I have a massive headache, hoping this will help kill it.”

  The girl gave him a sympathetic smile and loaded his ‘to go’ box, making sure to give him all the remaining bacon. “Here, I hope this helps.” The girl held up a blister pack of aspirin. I hope your day goes better.”

  Caleb didn’t know what to say; everything was in short supply, or soon to be, and this girl was giving him the aspirin. “Thanks, you’ve made my day and restored my faith in my fellow man, err, woman.” The girl just smiled and waved him off as she grabbed the empty serving pans to take in the back. Caleb’s outlook was improving as he walked back to the mobile clinic, carrying his breakfast and a couple of cartons of milk. A major was walking in his direction. As they passed Caleb rendered a verbal greeting since his hands were full, “Good morning, sir,” and kept walking. The major looked as if he’d just kicked him in the balls.

  “Halt, Airman. Is that the way the Air Force enlisted personnel are trained to greet an officer?” The major looked like he was ready for a coronary.

  “Yes, Sir, it is how we are trained. ‘If unable to render a salute because our hands are full, give a verbal greeting when near to the officer’.” Caleb’s voice dripped with venom, and the officer picked up on it.

  “You’re an insolent little bastard aren’t you, Airman?” The officer looked like he was only getting up.

  “Major, I don’t know how the fuck you’ve survived the zombie apocalypse up to this point, without the Zs or your own men killing you. Now go climb back down into the hole you fucking came out of. Good day, Sir.” Caleb turned and walked back to the clinic, waiting for either a whistle blast or the major to chase after him. By the time he got back to the clinic, his appetite was gone and his head was throbbing. The thought of climbing into his truck and driving off was stronger than ever.

  Caleb wolfed down the food, expecting Army MPs to knock down his door any second. Then there was a knock. Caleb jumped with the knock on his door. “Enter” he called.

  Doc Abrams stood in the doorway, holding an M4 and an old set of load-bearing suspenders and belt. “This isn’t regulation, but Capt Conrad said it’s what you had. He also said he was pleasantly surprised both the M4 and the 9mm appeared functional still.” He dropped the weapons and gear on Caleb’s bed. “Major Powers said you did a good job passing the test also.”

  Caleb looked up from the M4 he was examining. “Major Powers, Sir?”

  “Sorry, Caleb. Before I gave you a weapon and a clean bill of health I had to give you some type of test. That seemed to cover quite a few areas, all in one.” Caleb looked at him, confused.

  “Sir, I told off the Major. I was expecting the Army MPs to come busting down my door and take out all their frustrations on me.”

  “When Major Powers insulted you using obscenities, that crossed the professional line. Overall, you showed great restraint considering the last five days.” Abrams jumped in surprise when Caleb slammed the magazine into the M4.

  “I’m ready to go when you are, sir. How are we getting to the hospital?” Caleb clicked his belt buckle shut, then snapped on the strap holding the 9mm thigh holster to his leg.

  “I have a SUV to get around in. Since the town is ‘clear,’ we don’t need to go in with a tactical vehicle, or armored. I’ll get my keys and we can go. I’ll see you at the front door.”

  The nurse at the front counter raised her eyebrow in curiosity, seeing the young patient from earlier now loaded down with full battle rattle. Caleb saw the look and only gave a shy smile before ignoring her, not wanting to start a conversation with the pretty girl.

  “Let’s do this!” Abrams walked on by as Caleb was temporarily frozen in shock. The Captain was wearing a bright orange snowmobile suit with body armor over it. He had a 9mm strapped to his hip and a carbine slung over his shoulder, under his left arm, he carried a police riot helmet with full-face shield.

  “Uh, Capt Abrams? Is there something else I should know before we go?” Caleb asked nervously, staring at the outfit.

  “Oh, this? After watching folks become infected, I swore I’d protect myself from that ever happening to me. I believe there’s a good chance we’ll encounter the infected and I’m going to protect myself. If there ar
e any in the hospital, we will withdraw until a clearance team can come in and take care of the problem. The hospital is pretty good size, five stories. It was the county hospital. When I wasn’t in uniform, I worked there as a general practitioner. I’m not looking forward to finding the rest of the staff still there.

  The drive to town was less than three miles, yet it took a while as the highway was clogged with civilian and military vehicles. Civilians were returning to their homes while military work details began to start cleaning up the bodies that littered the streets and buildings.

  Abrams cringed as he drove over bodies he couldn’t go around. Caleb finally realized the problem the doc was having. “Sir, pull over and let me drive, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be driving over the bodies of my neighbors and friends I grew up with.”

  Abrams slammed on the brakes and leapt from the SUV, going to the back bumper before losing his breakfast. Caleb walked around the front of the vehicle, climbed in behind the wheel, and waited for the officer. Turning on the radio to cover the sound of the retching from behind, he found himself listening to the same station from a few days earlier that liked to play classic Zombie songs. He raised the volume to hide even louder retching when he heard the song’s lyrics and burst out laughing,

  “Hold your head up, oh

  Hold your head up, oh

  Hold your head up, oh

  Hold your head high.”

  “Pretty fitting music wouldn’t you say, Caleb?” Abrams asked through the open window before climbing in.

  “Damn, Sir, there’s just something spooky about that radio station. Every time they play a Zombie song, I feel like it’s going out to me.” Caleb almost pulled away from the curb at the same time four Strykers sped past. “Damn Army! Idiots can’t follow the speed limits!”

  “Boy, there are no speed limits in the Zombie Apocalypse.” Abrams said with a straight face, before losing it. Caleb laughed with him as he pulled out. Maybe it’s going to be a good day after all.

  “Take a left up here on Center Street. The hospital is one block down on the right side. Before we go in, drive around the building completely, drive up on the grass if you have to. I want to check the windows and doors for any damage before we go in.” Abrams missed Caleb’s lips move up into a smile for a moment.

  “Looks good so far, I guess we don’t even have to leave the streets. No broken windows and the doors are all closed. We might be lucky after all.” Caleb disappointedly finished his circle of the hospital and parked outside the emergency entrance.

  “Doc, one thing you may have forgotten. This part of the state didn’t go down when the national power grid did. All the power doors open and close when you walk up to them, so the Zs could have come back any time. More likely though, it made it easier for the Zs to get out of the building. I wonder how many people turned and then were trapped in buildings, unable to get out?” Caleb gave an involuntary shudder, remembering the Zs he freed from the dormitory back at Peterson AFB.

  “I’ll lead since I know the layout of the hospital. You keep an eye on my six and let me know if you sense any Zs. I know we should be loud as hell going through here to attract them, I’m just afraid they aren’t the only thing we have to worry about.” Abrams stepped in front of the door and it slid open. The stench of dead bodies was strong, but not as overpowering as either’s previous experiences entering buildings inhabited by the Zs. “Good thing the epidemic hit as fast and as hard as it did. Imagine how many bodies we’d have here if they were all brought in to the emergency room.”

  Caleb froze, he made an ssshh noise to Abrams. When he turned to look back, Caleb pointed to his ears and then out ahead of them. Abrams stood to the side and let Caleb take the lead.

  That was brilliant of me, now I get to be torn apart first if there’s anything or one in here. This is ridiculous, the two of us doing this. We should have waited for the cleanup team to come in and remove the bodies. He heard the sound again, at first it sounded like someone typing on a keyboard; the clicking sound was getting louder. A small deer turned the corner in front of them, then stopped when it saw them. “Bambi? I got this wound up for Bambi? I’ve had dogs back home bigger than that thing.” Abrams laughed at his remark, then stopped when two does turned the corner.

  “Unless you want to shoot Bambi with his mama and auntie, time to back up out of here before they feel threatened.” Abrams slowly walked backwards. Caleb followed, wanting to pick up the pace. The three deer slowly followed them towards the door. “Would you believe this has happened here before? Just keep moving, when we get outside, get into my SUV as fast as you can.” Abrams turned and ran as soon as he was out the door. Caleb sensed he was alone and didn’t wait to run as the deer were already picking up speed. Abrams stood by the SUV holding the door open then climbed back in quickly as Caleb and the deer drew near. Caleb dove through the back door with Abrams closing it just as the doe slammed into it, then shook her head and ran after the other doe and fawn as they continued to run down the street.

  ‘Ha ha ha, that was fun! I’m not going back into that fucking hospital without at least a full fire team!” Caleb reached for his canteen and took a deep swig of water as Abrams did the same in the front seat.

  “Did you sense anything while we were in there, Caleb?” Abrams voice was, once again, serious.

  “No, Sir. I think if we try to check out the hospital, it’d be waste of our time, especially if we can’t secure it.”

  “It doesn’t matter; I have to wait until we clean out all the bodies before we can do anything. I was hoping things here would be better here than what we found.” Abrams got out of the SUV and dumped his body armor in the backseat, then stripped off his snowmobile suit. Caleb stood watching, feeling ill at ease. He didn’t sense any Zs but there was a sense of malevolence, someone close by was anxious to strike out and hurt them. Caleb didn’t say anything about his feeling and only felt relief once they were driving back to the airport.

  The woman watched them go from her hiding spot on the second floor. She felt cheated as she left the window. Knowing someone would be back, she tore off her top and carefully removed the bandages covering her burned chest and left arm. She quickly tore open the small packages of antibiotic ointment, and carefully covered her burns, and then placed self-adherent foam dressings over the wounds before wrapping them with clean stretch gauze. She refused to take anything for the pain, instead using the pain to fuel her anger and desire for revenge against those who had murdered her infected husband, and later attacked her with helicopters when she fired on their leader. She dressed as rapidly as she could before filling her bag with more medical supplies. She started to open the door and saw her reflection in the mirror. Only a little of her beautiful blonde hair remained after the rest of it had been burned off. The side of her face was still discolored and misshapen. She grabbed a pair of scissors and hacked at what was left of her hair. When she finished, she punched at the mirror, feeling the pain in her hands while releasing another feeling that compensated for it. She continued down the hall so she could get back to her home and wait until she had her chance for revenge. Those she would have called comrade less than a week before were now her mortal enemy.

  Chapter 4

  Surprise, Arizona, April 5, 2029

  Gloria looked around the school cafeteria that was now the communal dining area for Sanctuary. Like school when she was a kid, she noted everyone sat in small cliques that had already formed. She was satisfied to sit alone and enjoy her coffee when she felt she was under observation. “Grits!” was shrieked in unison as two freckle-faced, red-haired girls ran noisily across the dining room. Behind them, their father walked with his cheeks almost as red as his head of hair. Gloria barely put her coffee down on the table before both girls were hugging her like long lost family. She fought back the tears when she saw they were wearing Oliver’s clothes.

  “I thought you were going to stay in the mountains in your RV?” Don, the girl’s father, asked, obvi
ously happy to see her again. “Girls, go get your trays and bring them over here, then grab mine please.”

  “Actually, I was planning to check this place out all along. I sent you over first to make sure it was safe first.” Gloria looked him in the eyes, waiting for his reply.

  “That was smart of you. You managed to be rid of the girls and me, while finding out if this place was safe or not. What dorm do they have you living in?”

  “I spent the night in the guest dorm, usually I sleep in my RV. There was too much activity outside for that this morning.” Gloria took a sip of her coffee and tried to ignore the kids running with their food trays.

  “They told me the Zs can detect us from some distance away, why would they make you stay out there where it’s so dangerous?” Gloria grinned at the question and fought back a laugh.

  Sliding her sunglasses up, she shrugged, “Beats me, I guess they think I’m safe out there. Don’s eyes got wide when he saw her dilated pupils and looked like he was fighting to keep himself from bolting away from her.

  “Grits, thank you again, for saving our lives last night. I thought we were dead for sure when the Zs surrounded us in the house and again, when both mobs of Zs started to chase the kids and me after I stupidly fired that shotgun in the middle of the street. I may as well have been ringing a dinner bell.”Paige blurted out her thanks. Behind her, standing next to the table, her boy and girl each held a food tray, yet hid behind their mom as she spoke.

  “Please join me. Paige, this is Don, Don meet Paige. Both parents took a moment, sizing up the other and their children. Gloria laughed at the pair, drawing their attention to her. “The pair of you remind me of my best friend in Atlanta. Every time she broke up with a man, she’d look over any new man she met the same way the two of you are looking at each other now.” Both looked sheepishly back at the other and laughed as well.