“I’m here to see my friend Caleb White, please.”
“I’m sorry he is under quarantine. He’s positive for the infection.” She felt bad having to break the news to the tall lovely woman before her, who looked like she was ready for a long rest herself.
“No problems there,” Gloria removed her sunglasses and squinted in the harsh lights of the hallway, “I’m already infected.” The nurse initially looked panicked and uncertain of what to do, then decided there was only one thing to do.
“He’s in room 306. Be careful of all the police outside his room. There was a murder, if you can call it that, of Dr Abrams’ pet zombie. They just opened his door, shot him down and closed it again. The doctor was also brought in today after being murdered. This place is going nuts.”
Just a Z, wonder why they even investigate his murder. What do I call them? It isn’t racist, but just as bad. She tried to keep her thoughts in check as she passed the crime scene and noticed the body on the floor. She had to ask the security forces woman protecting the crime scene a question. “Is that the Z the doctor kept as a ‘pet’?”
“Yeah, word has it he knew he was going to turn and they asked to watch him turn and to study him. He had been a Corporal in the guard.” The airman replied harshly.
“Did he turn long ago?” Gloria asked curiously.
“He turned within a few days of the outbreak. Why do you ask?”
“It’s not often you see an infected wearing a top and bottom and is mostly clean, that’s all.” She continued to Caleb's room, the security forces woman now staring at the corpse.
Caleb was resting comfortably when Gloria entered his room. She took in the view of him in his bed, hands cuffed to the rails on each side. His ankles were restrained, a chest strap kept him from moving and he had a bite mask on. The guard sitting in the chair next to him saw her looking in. “Ma’am, you don’t want to be in here. They brought in this Z barely a couple hours ago. We still don’t know how dangerous he is.”
“He’s a hell of a lot less dangerous than I am. If those restraints aren’t removed in the next five minutes, I’ll do it myself. Now you either remove those restraints or call someone who can. If I have to do it, someone might get hurt!”
The man straightened up in the chair and gave her a onceover, trying to decide if she was a risk or not, finally stopping his perusal at the .45 on her hip. “Get a doctor to sign off on that. That’s the only way they’re coming off. You can threaten me all damn day, lady.” He replied, his voice rising. The security forces investigating across the hall heard the commotion and one of them came over.
“Do we have a problem here?” The man, a captain, asked neutrally.
“My friend has been tied down to the bed and forced to wear that damn mask for no reason. He might be positive for the infection, but he’s no risk.” The captain’s eyebrow lifted at her remarks, he turned towards the bed and looked closely at Caleb.
“I understand having to follow orders, even I have to follow orders,” Gloria began to feel like she was gut punched, “so I’ll give you new orders. Remove that damn mask and his restraints now or I’ll have you in my jail for false imprisonment. That man is a hero and I’m doing my best right now not to pull out my pistol and whip you with it. Do you understand me?”
The guard didn’t answer as he was removing the mask and pulling off his keys to unlock the handcuffs. His hands were noticeably trembling.
“Ma’am, if there’s anything else I can do for you just let me know.” He said it loudly and clearly so the guard would definitely hear and understand as well. “I’m Captain Bryan Conrad, I’m responsible for security and a friend of Caleb’s.”
“Thank you, Captain Conrad. I’m Gloria Alban, my friends call me Grits.” Gloria pulled off her sunglasses and continued, “I hope you’ll call me friend, too.”
“Damned if you ain’t just like that boy. What’s your story, Grits?”
“My short story is I was an Air Force officer until a few days ago when it became open season on all infected. I chose to run instead of fight. Caleb and I were on our way to Texas when we had a little trouble and here we are.” She looked him in the eyes and figured she’d make one more point. “That infected that was murdered, was not ‘totally’ infected. I noticed he had on clean clothes and he didn’t stink too bad.”
“I know and I’m going to get the bastard responsible for the murder. I found this crumpled up in his hand.” Conrad pulled a baggie out of his pocket with a crumpled photo inside of a man and woman with a small girl. “This is Corporal Albert Connors. Doctor Abrams found a cure and he was murdered to keep it a secret. We’re going to have to have one of the docs here perform an autopsy to see if they can find out what was done to him to cure him before he was killed. I thought he’d given up, and then something motivated him to find the cure.”
“It better be done soon if he injected something into him. The injection site will heal itself quickly and you’d never know. I’ve scratched myself plenty of times and been amazed how quickly I heal.”
“Can you two go get a room?” They both looked over to see Caleb struggling to sit upright and obviously flinching in pain from the effort.
“Just lie back and embrace the suck. You’ll be good to go before you know it.” Conrad replied.
Gloria ran across the room and hugged him, giving him a kiss on the lips, not hiding her emotions. Caleb grunted from the pain yet pulled her to him to get another, longer kiss. When they separated, he was grinning through his pain. “Captain Conrad! Damn nice of you to visit me. Can I get my truck back?”
“No way in hell, its mine now. But I will let you have what’s left of your junk you left behind. Unfortunately, we had a party and finished your beer and booze along with the junk food. You still have all your MREs and dehydrated food. If you had let me know you’d be back I would’ve kept them for you. Conrad let out a laugh at the crestfallen look on Caleb's face. “Your truck and most of your loot is safe. I’ll park your truck out front for when you get released. Your old room is still yours as well. I’ll leave the key with your truck.” Conrad reached over and shook Caleb's hand. “I’m sorry, duty calls. I’ll try to stop by later. And you, you can get the hell out of this room before I let her shoot you.” The guard who had been trying to melt into the wall didn’t need any additional urging to leave.
Gloria surprised herself when she crawled onto the bed with Caleb, wishing she was small enough for him to hold her in his arms, and threw her knee over his thigh, and her arm across his chest, nuzzling her lips against his neck. Caleb began to speak when he felt her hot breath against his neck turn to a steady hard breathing as she passed out. Initially he just smiled at the few folks who walked by the open door and then just went to sleep.
“Ma’am, I came by to pick you up, so we could do our mini-maneuvers.” Gloria heard the voice but didn’t see anyone, so she cuddled deeper against Caleb and then heard the voice again. This time she could see his shadow projected against the wall from the open door. The first thought she had wasn’t possible since she was laying on her pistol.
She tried to get up and found her side was asleep and the pistol had left a bruise against her hip. She realized if she tried to roll over she’d fall on her backside. “Little help here, Sergeant?” she whispered as not to wake Caleb. She put her arm in the air and was surprised when Sgt Bo Hopkins instead, grabbed her under both arms and lifted her as effortlessly as he would a small baby, up until she could put her feet under her, he then let her go. She turned to face him, slightly embarrassed. Bo broke out in a big smile.
“Ma’am, I envy you and your boyfriend. The world has gone to hell and you made your own little piece of heaven. Don’t let anyone take that away from you. I found a little Ville south of here called Orin, a couple dozen or so houses and trailers. You can show me what you’re able to do with the Z.”
“Okay Bo, you lead the way.” Gloria took one last look over at Caleb and could sense he was awake and in
a good mood. “I’ll be back for you later, laughing boy.” Caleb burst out laughing as soon as she said the words. “See Bo, I knew he was playing possum. That’s part of my Z-skills.” She then went over and gave him one last kiss and a warning, “You better get healed fast or I might just need to find a replacement for you.” He just closed his eyes and smiled, she could sense he was asleep again before she left the room.
“Any updates on the mission you can tell me? I promise not to share it with the infected.”
“After our little practice scrimmage, maybe ma’am.” Bo answered, “I have a pickup out front we can use to get to the Ville.”
Conrad face palmed himself for missing the most obvious clue available to him. He went to the security office and began to go through the various re-writeable disks used with the security cameras. The first one he found was by the building entrance where the doc was talking with the guard, then the guard took something from his belt and gave it to him. Conrad switched to another camera and tried advancing the time stamp until he could see Abrams outside the infected’s room. He was on his belly wearing a heavy pair of gloves, holding the small door used for food open. A hand shot out almost too fast for the camera to see. It was fast and blurry, but it looked like Conrad had grabbed the infected’s hand and then used his other hand to press something against it before the hand disappeared again back inside the room. It only took him a minute to combine what he saw between the two videos and went to Conrad’s office. Sure enough, on the top of his desk was a yellow and black stun gun. Now I just need to test my theory, preferably without becoming infected…Grits! Lord, let her still be here. Conrad picked up the stun gun and hurried out to the hallway. He made it less than two steps and he went flying.
“Oh my, I’m sorry Captain Conrad. I didn’t see you until it was too late.” Grits bent over and almost pulled his arm from the socket helping him to his feet.
“Actually Grits, I was coming to find you. I need a big favor from you.” He handed her the stun gun and continued, “I think the secret cure for the infected is an electric shock. I watched security film footage of the doc using this on the infected Corporal. Can you find some more infected to test it on? But keep it secret.” Gloria looked surprised, but figured there was no one else, just her and Caleb to try it, and Caleb was out cold for the night.
“I think we can test out your hypothesis, Dr Conrad.” She broke out laughing at her little joke. “You can keep a secret, right Bo? Now we have two objectives for the night.” She opened up the device that looked like a pistol handle with two small metal probes at the end. Inside she could see it held a single 9 volt battery. “Let’s get a little extra ammo in case this works. Imagine spending the rest of your days hunting infected with one of these, to cure them! I see hundreds of prior infected clearing out malls, with no danger to themselves or the infected. Lets move!”
Gloria stopped a nurse and asked if she had any 9 volt batteries and was pleasantly surprised when she went to a cabinet and pulled out an unopened box of batteries. “Thanks, I’ll bring back any I don’t use. Captain Conrad will replace these for you. Gloria ran for the exit, her heart pumping, Bo right behind her.
“Do you want to run all the way to Orin? Or should we take my truck?” Bo shouted as she ran past his truck.
“I can run forever you know, and never get tired. But I don’t know the way to Orin, so why don’t you drive us.” Her heart was thumping at the prospect of all the good she could accomplish. She didn’t see the miles of fields go by, not until he turned off the road onto a bumpy gravel road. Gloria tried to clear her mind to concentrate. They came up to the first house that appeared dilapidated, paint peeling and no vehicles nearby. “The house is empty. Let’s go to the next one.”
Bo drove for a hundred feet trying to see anything on the road or in the fields on both side of the gravel road. “Stop here! We have a pair in the field near us. Lock the door.” Gloria jumped out of the truck, as the pair shrieked and ran for the truck. She could sense their excitement and it became infectious. When they both slammed into the truck she could sense Bo getting upset, and noticed the automatic in his hand. She walked up behind the male and pressed the stun gun into the middle of his back and pressed the trigger. He spasmed as the tiny blue lightning arced into his skin, before falling to the ground. His companion looked back at her, puzzled for a moment until Gloria pressed the gun into her shoulder and pulled the trigger. The blue electric arc again lasted for a second before she collapsed on top of the man. Gloria, grabbed the woman and dumped her in the back of the pickup, trying to avoid how bad the unwashed woman smelled. She tossed the man in on top of his partner, and then she felt like her clothes had just been oiled, and not with a perfume. Bo unlocked the door for her, and then almost gagged when she got in.
“Don’t you say a word, mister! I have a better sense of smell than a dog and I’m suffering worse than you. Now drive forward until I tell you to stop. I wonder what these two are going to be like when they wake up? Will they just be pissed off Zs, or will they be the first of the new army to cure the Zs?” Bo didn’t say a word as he put the truck in gear, and rolled down his window.
Chapter 23
Douglas, Wyoming. April 14, 2029
General Peters looked at his entire staff with their extended staffs after Agent Allison Ali had presented her documentation on why Richard Etchberger had never been a legal president. She was followed by OSI Special Agent James Glock giving his briefing on the murder of Captain Abrams and Bunny, including the video and the additional video of the killers being swarmed by the infected. Some folks had actually clapped. The last video was of the acting president firing on the messenger, and the security team’s fire decapitating him. “Gentlemen, everything I showed you is how things happened. Without seeing the videos, it would sound like I just tried to commit a coup against a sitting president. I want your opinions to help keep there from being any doubts about the legality of my continued leadership of the country until properly relieved.”
“Sir, we play these exact same videos at formations until every soldier, airman, and guardsman has seen them. Then we play it on TV ten times a day. Everyone collecting a check will be required to watch them until we are sure everyone has seen them. There’s going to be the nuts that think it’s all a conspiracy, but I don’t think we have to really worry. I just hope that bit about a cure didn’t die with the Captain.” Brigadier General Davis suggested.
“That part where they discuss the cure before the doc is murdered will be edited out. Until we find the cure I don’t want false hope. That can turn to frustration and then anger. We are still trying to find out all we can about there being a cure, so not a whisper from any of you until I say so!”
Bo watched Gloria deposit the thirtieth body in the back of the pickup. The majority of the bodies were totally nude with only a few partially clothed above the waist. He tried not to say anything when she got into the cab as he caught himself ready to wretch. “Okay our night’s over. I think you passed any test I could think of and you were able to keep your cool. Now what do we do with the bodies until they wake up? I have a feeling they’re going to be a little unhappy, especially if they wake up as part of a meat mountain.”
“How about we find a drive through car wash, minus the wax job?” Gloria suggested sarcastically.
“There’s a pool and rec area at my hotel. We can back up to the door and deposit them in there and spray them off and cover them with towels. Then contact the hospital and pass the buck from there,” Bo said.
“How about if when we get to town we just call that Captain Conrad, and leave it in his lap? Hopefully they don’t wake up as full Zs.” Gloria counter-proposed.
“Let’s just get moving, I want to be gone when they wake, regardless of what they wake up as.” Bo started forward, the truck almost bottoming out with its load of bodies going over the heavily rutted road.
South of town a roving patrol stopped them before they could enter. It didn’t loo
k good to have a truckload of bodies. “You need to contact Captain Conrad ASAP. I guess he’s the top cop, provost marshal, whatever you want to call him, just call him quickly before they start to wake up! Gloria urged the two corporals. She kept watching her watch as the corporals kept getting passed from one person to another until someone finally gave them an order.
“Ma’am, there’s a high school that was going to be used to process new people entering the city. My orders are to take you over there and ensure the bodies are deposited in the gym. There should easily be enough room for thirty biters.”
The corporals led the way, Gloria suspected they had gotten lost on the way. When they did arrive, there were already a couple of dozen vehicles parked in the streets. There were two cars with the flags for a one star and a two star, general. For the first time, she began to get nervous. Captain Conrad was waiting in the street and directed them to a short driveway that had access to huge garage doors. They were greeted by a medical team carrying stretchers as soon as they entered the building.
A medical officer in full MOPP gear was highly agitated when she saw the way the bodies were dumped in the back of the truck, and the fact that neither of them had protective gear. “How can you be so inhumane, they are living beings! Do you know the risk you took? You could have become infected!”
“Sweetie, I spent the night collecting all these living beings. They stink like shit and worse. My partner there, doesn’t because he stayed in the truck where he was safe. For me, I AM INFECTED! All I want now is a shower and a clean change of clothes.” She pulled off her shades and the medical officer still stepped back, dressed as she was.
“We’ll need to quarantine you to make sure you didn’t pick up anything from them.” A loud groan from the bottom of the pile changed the entire picture, as increased emphasis was directed to moving bodies more rapidly, each one quickly being taken to a cot and covered with a blanket. Gloria simply watched everything going on and was amazed at how well organized it all was working out.
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