“I’ll need someone to stitch it back together. None of you would happen to know how to do that, would you?” When no one answered he shook his head. “Didn’t think so...” He closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers. “Alright…” He took off his belt and began wrapping it around his arm. “If I don’t tie this off I’m not gonna make it out of this tunnel, let alone to a surgeon.” He had to strap it on tight, tighter than I would have imagined to get the blood flow to slow down. “That’s the best I can do for now.” He leaned against the window.
“So where are we going?” Elizabeth asked from the front seat.
“I don’t know, I don’t think we ever planned this far ahead.” I said back.
“We need medical attention, or at the very least medical supplies. And I get the feeling we’re not going back to Ashville.” She added.
“I have an idea.” John said. “There’s a prison not far out of town. If the staff is still there they have an infirmary. They usually aren’t the best equipped, especially not for our situation. I know they send people to the hospital for more serious surgery all the time, but I still think it’s our best bet.”
“Ok, I know where it is.” Elizabeth replied.
It was a few minutes before I asked John “Were you going to do it?”
“Do what?” He asked me back, still looking into the darkness out of the window.
“Were you going to kill me?” I had to wait a long time for his answer.
“I don’t know… maybe…” It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but if he had denied it outright I don’t think I would have believed him. He continued “I certainly didn’t want to if that makes you feel any better.”
I waited a little bit to ask my next question. “So… Why did you ever take money from those assholes?”
John drew out a long exhale. “I guess I owe you that much.” He took a moment to collect his thoughts. “When you first start out as a cop, it all seems so simple, right is right, wrong is wrong… but then things change… Or maybe I should say you change. I never wanted to take a bribe Mark… I just got into a bad situation.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Alright, so one day I’m out on patrol. It was early in the morning, and things were kind of quiet. That’s when a call comes over the radio. It’s a domestic dispute, and I was hoping that it wasn’t who I thought it was.
See, this shit head Gregory Shills was a real piece of work. He was the scum of the earth, but I think the worst part was that he was just smart enough to not get caught… When you’re a cop you get to meet a few of these people, they just keep popping up, but never seem to go away for good.
Anyway, I guess his girlfriend had a penchant for running her mouth, whereas he had one for closing it, with his fists… Piece of shit. But she never filed charges so… There was nothing we could do. I knew one day we were either going to find out she went missing or come upon her battered corpse. And that’s just the way it is sometimes.
Well, things were different that day. When the address came over the radio I was the closest unit by a long shot. I knew if I could catch him in the act we could at least do something. So I rushed to the scene thinking that this time I might just get him. Well, that’s not what happened.
I came around the corner to Shills on the ground surrounded by six guys. He was beaten within an inch of his life. So Harry is there, and he walks up to me and gives me some bullshit. ‘Morning Officer. Me an’ the boys were just out for a walk when we came upon this gentleman in need of some help… I think we’ve got it covered though.’ He pulled out a fat stack of cash and shoved it right in my hands. Then he says ‘I think we’ll be done by the time you take a ride around the block.’
It wasn’t even about the money, I couldn’t have cared less about that, but seeing someone finally take that bastard down… It just felt right, even if I knew it was wrong. Shills called out to me ‘Help, they’re going to kill me. Please help.’ Yadda yadda yadda, he was begging me.
But I just looked right at him and said ‘You earned it.’ So I took the money, rode around the block and sure enough, they were gone.
What I didn’t know was that one of the bastards had caught me on camera taking the bribe. So Harry comes to me and gives me a deal, take money to look the other way and try to keep attention away from them. I couldn’t exactly say no, if I didn’t take the money they were just going to force me to by threatening me with the evidence. It was a shit deal, but my only other option was to turn myself in…
That’s part of the reason I was so willing to skip town. I was already planning to before all this shit started. When the drug bust happened, I knew he would come knocking… It was only a matter of time.
If it wasn’t for this zombie shit I would’ve been long gone. Since my partner died I shouldn’t have even been at work. They give you time off for that kind of shit. Hell, you get a couple weeks just for having to fire your gun. But emergency services get the shit end of the stick in situations like this. We weren’t staffed to handle this crap, so they called me in. That’s just my shitty ass luck I guess.”
He paused for a moment before bringing up the elephant in the room. “If any of you aren’t comfortable being around me… I understand. We can split up after we make it to the prison, one way or another.”
“No, that’s alright.” Dennis said, his voice still emotionally drained. “You risked your life to save Jill when it mattered… You made mistakes, but I don’t think you’re a threat. So long as everybody else is ok with it, I won’t push you away.”
“I’m fine with it.” Elizabeth said nearly as drained as Dennis. “What about you Mark?”
As I looked at John I could tell he was genuinely remorseful. And as I didn’t think he had anything else to hide I didn’t want to hold it against him. “I guess… he can stay with us.” We were quiet for the rest of the ride.
Chapter 25
When we got out of the tunnel it didn’t take Elizabeth long to figure out how to use the truck’s knobs and levers to make its normal tires come down, though it was a little bit of a hassle to get it disconnected from the train car. Lucky for us there wasn’t anyone guarding the exit, even though there were a couple of trucks waiting to be loaded up. Outside of the city was a different world, yes there were still wrecked and abandoned cars here and there, but it was mostly empty. I don’t know if it was because the quarantine was still in effect or what, but we weren’t going anywhere near the city to find out. We were grateful for how much easier it was to travel. It only took us near half an hour before the prison came into view. It was trashed.
“What the hell happened here?” I asked.
Elizabeth answered me. “It looks like this place was hit too.” A huge section of the fence was torn down, and there were zombies inside.
“That’s not what I meant.” I paused for a moment to really survey the scene. “Look over there.” I pointed to a small huddle of zombies gathered around a gnarled figure. “Is that a person on a pike?”
“Oh my…” She let out horrified. “It’s one of the guards.” The body was propped up on a makeshift spear running straight through the center of its body and out the top of its head. It was only mounted a few feet higher than the zombies, just high enough for them to have eaten its legs. As we got closer I could make out what was left of the blood-covered uniform. She was right.
“Zombies don’t do that…” I said quietly. “He’s been there a while though.”
“How can you tell?”
“He’s rotting.” There wasn’t much of the body to really tell, but his face was missing its eyes, a huge swarm of flies surrounded it, and maggots were crawling all over it.
“Everybody be careful.” John said in a dull tone. His voice was weaker than normal, and when I looked at him I could tell why. He had lost a lot of blood. The color in his face had faded, and he was slouching back to rest as much as he could. “We don’t know if whoever did that is still here.”
“G
reat.” I said.
John continued. “If I had to guess I would say they aren’t around. If that really is a guard over there then it was most likely the prisoners. If that’s the case, then they wouldn’t want to stay here if they could leave.”
Dennis finally spoke again since back in the tunnel. “Don’t let your guard down. We don’t know that for sure.” His voice was still empty as if he were doing his duty from beyond the grave. “Where is my gun?”
“Here.” I passed it to him in the front seat. “I grabbed it when we were leaving.”
John reached for his holster. “Shit… I was too concerned with my arm when we were leaving. I forgot to grab mine.”
“You’re telling me we didn’t grab any of those guns but this one?” Frustration broke Dennis’ apathetic tone.
“I…” I started.
“Fuck!” Dennis shouted and paused for a moment. He made sure the gun was in working order and checked how many bullets were left. “I’ve only got half a mag…”
“That’s it?” John asked.
“Most of the ammo was in a bag. I put it down during the firefight in the tunnel. We should go back.”
John rubbed his eyes, before speaking. “I don’t think I have enough time for that…”
Dennis looked back at John holding his tongue for only a second. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” He opened his door and stepped out of the truck. “We’re going in. I’ll get their attention, you drive as close to that open door as you can.” He pointed exactly where to go. “I’ll meet you inside.”
He didn’t even give us time to agree before he slammed the door and started shouting to get their attention. It didn’t take long before he had their undivided attention. We waited just long enough for the door to be clear when Elizabeth hit the gas. We were able to get remarkably close as the truck went over most of the obstacles with ease, but we were stopped by a concrete barrier and had to get out.
We hustled to the door as fast as we could. I was the first one to make it inside only to be greeted by a zombie grabbing at me from the dark. Elizabeth came in with Jill in tow, she shoved the zombie that I was struggling with to the ground where I stomped its head in.
A few seconds later John made his way through the door behind us. It was obviously hard on him in his condition. He was breathing heavily and looked wobbly to say the least.
“Hold up.” John said. “Guard my back, I’ll wait at the door for Dennis.” It took longer than I thought it would. We tried to keep as quiet as possible for the sake of keeping the door free from their attention. A few muffled shots came through the door and finally Dennis emerged. They slammed the door shut behind them and locked it.
“We’ll have to do the same thing to get back to the truck when we’re leaving.” Dennis murmured under his exhausted breath.
We looked down into the hallway, and it was dark. I shouldn’t have been surprised really, prisons are built for their security, and windows are a weakness, so the small amount of light which crept through the cracks of the door quickly faded into the blackness of the concrete walls. “Nobody has a flashlight do they?” I asked knowing the answer all too well.
I was half expecting John to snap at me sarcastically but all he said was “Let’s go.”
We crept slowly and quietly into the blackness, though as our eyes adjusted to the light, we found we weren’t completely blind. There was just enough light to make out a good section of the hallways. “Do we even know where we are going?” I whispered.
“No, but keep it down. We don’t know if any of those things, or anyone for that matter, are in here. We’ll just figure it out as we go.” Dennis said quietly.
After maybe five minutes or so of walking around, going through doors, and killing the occasional zombie, John broke the silence. “Something’s not right.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Nothing is locked…” He was looking around. “If nothing is locked then. Hang on, we should go back.” We didn’t question him when he led us to what was some kind of holding area, with a glass wall. “There, we need to get to the other side of that window.” We walked around looking for a door that led where we wanted and sure enough it was unlocked. “Good, I didn’t think it would be unlocked, but, give me a second.” He was rooting around in a locker until he found what he was looking for. He flicked on a flashlight which was more than bright enough to light up the room.
“Nice.” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah.” John continued. “It looks like there’s a few more of them. It’s too bad there isn’t any riot gear left… It looks like this place was looted.”
Dennis grabbed a light of his own and opened the door. “Let’s keep moving.”
“Hold on.” John had since given up on the locker and instead turned his attention to a desk. “There might be a map in here, bingo.” He pulled the paper out and sprawled it out on the desk knocking everything off of it. “Let’s see… We are-” He was running his finger over the map to try and make out the path we had taken. “Here. And the infirmary is over here. Ok let’s go… Hopefully it’s in better shape than the rest of this place.”
Moving through the halls was much less daunting when we could actually see clearly, plus the map showed us right where to go. There were a few zombies along the way, but at this point they were nothing that we couldn’t easily deal with. It was the concern that other people might be there that slowed us up. If it weren’t for that it would have only taken but a minute or two, but as things were we didn’t want to walk into something we weren’t prepared to handle, so we took it slow.
Finally our flashlights bathed the sign for the infirmary, and we breathed a great sigh of relief, that is until we opened the door. The room was trashed, most of it had been looted, and what was left was thrown on the floor by whoever had been here.
Dennis was obviously not happy with the situation. “This was a waste of time.”
John on the other hand looked as if he had been fully defeated. “Well…” He slumped his back against the wall and slid down the ground. “I guess… that’s it then.”
Chapter 26
We were pouring through the pile of what was left of the medical supplies trying to find something that might help. “Don’t bother…” John said lifelessly.
“We have to try something, it’s not over yet.” I replied trying to keep my mind on the task at hand.
“Listen Mark, even if somehow you find everything I need… Do any of you know how to stitch me back up?”
The room fell quiet except for the sound of us searching, which slowed down to a halt. “So…” I said trying to find the right words. “You’re quitting, just like that?”
John chuckled just faintly. “It’s not like I want to die… I just don’t see a way…” He took a deep breath. “Can I have a word with Mark?” He waited for everyone to get his meaning, when they didn’t he spelled it out. “Alone…”
“Sure.” Dennis said and opened the door to the hallway.
“Alright…” Elizabeth stood up from the pile of junk she was looking through. I could barely hear her speak with Dennis when she left the room with Jill right beside her. “I found some gauze, we can at least wrap your eye up while we wait.” They closed the door behind them.
“What…” I started. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“First things first, help me lay down on that table.” I helped him get to his feet. He was a lot weaker than he would have liked to show the others. I think a part of the reason he wanted them gone was to spare his pride, but I knew it wasn’t just something that simple. He took a seat and rolled onto his back, getting into the most comfortable position he could on the patient’s table. “That’s fucking better.” He barely let out.
“What did you want to talk with me about?” I asked after a few seconds.
“Well it seems I’m gonna die here. There’s a couple things I want to get off my chest first.” He rubbed his forehead. “Damn it my arm fucking hurts…
Well whatever. This isn’t the way I thought I’d go.”
“And how’s that?”
“A massive heart attack on my yacht while banging my smoking hot wife!” I couldn’t help but laugh alongside him at his stupid joke. “I can’t say I’m too upset about this though, a crooked cop dies, and a little girl lives… I’ll take that as a win.”
“You didn’t really think that thing with the yacht was going to happen, did you?”
“Nah… But I always really hoped.” He smiled at me.
“You’re not married are you?”
“No…” He looked up at the ceiling. “I was always too busy with work, and I guess I never felt the time was right to go looking… Shit I should have just taken the chances when they came.” He paused for a moment. “That’s one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about. Mark I don’t know how fucked up the world is out there, hell it could be… well… hell out there. This shit could spread to every corner of the world for all we know, so anyway… You need to tell Elizabeth how you feel.”
My face turned bright red, as I wasn’t exactly comfortable talking with other people about it. “I don’t think now is a good time.”
“Have you not been listening? There may be no other time. I’m not saying it’s ideal… or even good timing, but come on. If you don’t make a move then you’ll never know.
“Dude she just watched her ex die…”
John smirked for a second. “Yeah, but he was an asshole. I’m just saying one day you’re going to wake up and realize that it’s the things you didn’t do that you regret more than the things you’ve done. And trust me, I’ve done a lot of bad things!” He laughed. “Just do it. If she says no, she may say yes later, but if she says yes… Well, you get the idea.”
“I guess so… I mean if that’s your dying wish.”
“Don’t go putting it that way…” He turned his head away from me. “But still, do it… There’s one more thing that I wanted to bring up.”
“What’s that?”
“Listen Mark, you’re smart, you have a good sense of what’s right and wrong. Now I don’t know if the world is ever going to get back to the way it was but… Mark, you’d make a good cop.”
The Red X Chronicles (Book 1): Emergent Page 14
