An increase in search and destroy missions kept the night time active with gunfire and mayhem, as the tragedy at the hospital led to a communal need for payback.
Mace and a few others used the backhoe to create two new graves in the graveyard, and on the third day, they had a quiet ceremony with Father McCann giving the eulogy. What no one noticed when they returned was that forty doses of antidote had gone missing.
Chapter 49
Rob half sat, half sprawled on the floor of his room, his back propped up against the side of his bed. He washed down a handful of Vicodin with a swig of Jack Daniels. He was wasted out of his skull and mumbling about his face. He drunkenly pushed himself off the floor and staggered forward, almost falling into the dresser. He held on to the dresser to keep himself upright, and then staggered towards the broken glass that still littered the floor from the mirror. He plopped down and picked up one of the larger pieces, which was shaped like a quarter moon. It swayed in front of his face as he tried to look at himself, then he flung it against the hotel room wall.
“Fuck.”
He lowered his head and shook it lazily. “No, No, No!! Fuck!!” He tried to get up but fell backwards into the litter of glass. He started to laugh as he drunkenly rolled over, placing his hand over a piece of glass and embedding it in his palm. There were little blood splotches on his back from where the glass had cut him, and a few small pieces were still dangling from his back.
He leaned back against the bed, pushing the glass in further but not feeling it, staring at his palm. He could see the piece of glass stuck inside but didn’t care about pulling it out. His brain was swimming in alcohol and drugs and his thought process was slow and murky. He stared at the glass in his palm and slowly got an idea.
He scooted forward, found another jagged piece in the little pile, and brought it up to his face, staring at it. Drool was dripping down his chin, but he didn’t seem to notice. He leaned back again and stared at the ceiling. It had all gone terribly wrong. He was on his way to ruling the city and now he was just a freak show hiding out in his room.
He heard the door knock in his head a full ten seconds after Kevin had rapped his knuckles against the wood. He shook his head as he comprehended the action and unsteadily pushed himself off the floor, stumbling to his feet.
“Whoozit?” he yelled as he staggered towards the door. He heard nothing in response but made a beeline for the door, crashing into it, unable to halt his progression. He wiped the drool from his chin and opened the door, swinging it wide and slamming it against the inside wall.
“Whadyawann?” he lisped as he stared at a double image of Kevin at the door. Kevin smiled without speaking and moved inside the door. Rob tried to smile but a drunken grimace was all he could muster. He knew what Kevin had come for. “Fuuckyooo. I awmost took care of it,” he said as he staggered around, heading back towards the bed.
“What are you talking about?” Kevin chuckled as he followed Rob inside the room. He unsheathed the knife from his belt as he walked inside. “You look a little unsteady, Rob. Why don’t you sit down?”
Anger flashed through Rob and he tried to turn and face Kevin but he tripped over his own feet and fell into the wall, leaving a mark before ending up in a drunken sprawl across the floor.
“Fuuckyooo!” he yelled from the floor as his middle finger waved out from his body. “I know what you dooo,” he said as his arm collapsed back across his body.
Kevin looked over him and smiled. “You’ve become a freak show Rob. You know that, right? I’m just here to put you out of your misery.” His smile grew larger. “Hell, if I looked like you I know I’d rather be dead.”
The blade shown in the reflection of the overhead light and Rob waved his middle finger towards Kevin.
Kevin started laughing. “What are you going to do, Rob? You’re all fucked up. You’re making this too easy for me.”
Rob tried to spit but a bubble of drool formed on his lips. “Fuuckyooo.” He dropped his head down and closed his eyes.
The smile shrunk from Kevin’s face as he moved around Rob to take him from behind. “I never liked you anyway. I always thought you were an asshole.” He lifted Rob’s head and put the blade under his neck, swiftly slicing it across, opening the jugular. Rob gurgled as blood poured from the wound and Kevin let go of his head, letting it drop back to the ground.
Kevin whistled as he wiped the blood from the knife on the bed sheets. He could feel the power and the sexual excitement building but was disappointed in the lack of intensity that fulfilled the moment. “That was too fucking easy,” he said as he sheathed the knife, looking over Rob’s corpse. “You’re gonna miss all the fun.”
Chapter 50
Jade couldn’t believe that she’d forgotten about Sarah Thompson as she rushed to the hospital elevators. Three days: She’d forgotten about her friend for three whole days. She pushed the elevator button and anxiously waited for the doors to open. She needed an escape from the heaviness of the last few days and hoped that she’d be able to find Sarah again. She thought about how excited she had been when they’d first connected and felt a twinge of sadness that those feelings had dissipated so soon.
The elevator door opened and she hurried in, pushing the third floor button and looking at her watch: 10:20 am, roughly the same time she’d connected with Sarah before. She tapped her foot on the elevator floor, wishing she could make it somehow go faster. It was normally slow anyway, but felt especially so today. As it reached the third floor, it slowed down dramatically as it prepared to open, and Jade began pacing in anticipation. “C’mon already,” she stammered, rushing out as it opened and heading towards the office she had connected on before.
She turned the corner to the office and stopped in her tracks, her neck tingling as goose flesh spread down her neck to her arms, a wave of revulsion churning through her stomach. She fought the urge to throw up as she stared at the back of Gilbert as he faced the computer screen, naked from the waist down and fondling himself.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she yelled, shocked and disgusted at what she was seeing.
Gilbert jumped up, spinning around to face her, immediately turning a deep shade of red, and attempting to cover his genitals with his hands.
“What are you doing here?” was all he could think to say. Jade looked from him to the computer screen, where a picture of a young girl no older than twelve was splashed across the screen, naked and set in a provocative pose. She felt her cheeks go flushed with anger and she instinctively moved towards Gilbert, who was quickly backing into the corner, grabbing his pants, which were on the floor next to the chair, and hurriedly trying to put them on.
“You sick bastard,” she yelled, “You were a principal, for God’s sake. What did you do to your students?”
Gilbert finished putting his pants on and tried to brush past her, keeping his head down and remaining silent. She stopped him with a hand to the chest, squaring off in front of him and blocking his exit. “You’re not just walking away from this. Who the fuck are you? What have you been doing?”
Gilbert gave her a dirty look. “Get out of my way. I don’t have to talk to you.” He tried to brush by her again, the touch of his shoulder against her skin igniting a flame within her. She hit him across the face with a closed fist and immediately withdrew as a flash of pain spread from her wrist to her brain.
Gilbert let out a yelp and clutched his face. “You bitch! You hit me!”
At his words she exploded, the events of the last few days being punctuated by the perverted encounter and she hit him again despite the pain in her wrist. He turned towards her and swore again, and in that instant she decided the best recourse would be a well deserved kick to his groin, which she delivered full force, sending him to the ground clutching himself and crying out in pain.
“Touch that, you freak!” When she kicked him she felt a sudden stab in her belly and she winced, grabbing her stomach as the pain intensified and she backed away from Gilbert
. She looked at him through clenched teeth and realized he wasn’t getting up anytime soon.
“You’re leaving as soon as you can get to your feet. If you don’t, I’ll sick the dogs on you. You got that?” She felt another piercing needle of pain and doubled over briefly before looking up to address him again. “I’m going to make sure everybody knows what you were doing.”
Mace came rushing down the hallway, pausing at his bedroom door to gather himself before entering his hospital bedroom. Jacqueline, another Kaiser nurse who had come back to help at the hospital had sent word that Jade had been injured and their might be a problem with the baby.
Jade was lying on her side facing the opposite wall as he walked in and moved briskly but gently up to her side. He leaned down and touched her shoulder. “J, what happened? Are you okay?”
Jade rolled over and stared at him through puffy and bloodshot eyes, and his heart sunk at the sight of her. She gave him a small, loving smile as she saw the look of fear and concern on his face. “I’m fine.” She looked at her stomach through the sheets and tapped it lightly. “We’re both fine. It was just a scare.”
Mace noticed the ace bandage wrapped around her wrist when she tapped her belly. “What happened to your wrist?”
She smiled and gave a slight shrug. “I sprained it on Gilbert’s face.”
Mace cocked his head as the fear and concern turned to something darker. “Gilbert? What are you talking about? What happened?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to get all upset again. Let’s just say I found him doing things on the computer upstairs that would categorize him as a pedophile.”
Mace looked like he’d eaten a lemon. “What? What happened?”
She shook her head again. “I went to try to connect to the internet and found him fondling himself to a picture of a very young girl. I kicked his ass and sent him packing. I’m sure he’s gone by now, although I have a feeling he left with a limp.” She smiled again briefly before slowly grabbing Mace’s hand and squeezing it. “I want to leave here Mace. I don’t want to have the baby here. Not anymore. Not after everything that’s happened.”
Mace felt a supreme sadness as he studied her face without commenting.
“It could have just as easily been us if you’d been infected,” she said. “I don’t understand the purpose of any of this anymore. Just what in the world have we created?”
Mace couldn’t even think of that possibility. “I don’t know. I don’t understand it either. I think I would have rather been infected from the beginning and not know what was going on.”
Later that evening Mace found himself discussing with Father McCann that very scenario: “What is it that we have done? If this is the extent of it, all we’ve done is create more misery.”
Father McCann shook his head. “No, I’m sorry but I disagree. What we’ve accomplished is a great deal more that what you realize. If it wasn’t for what we’ve done, how many more would have perished?”
Mace was hearing none of it and he let it be known by an emotional display. “I am plagued nightly by visions of what I saw in that room. What about what is happening to those who get attacked now? After the antidote?”
Father McCann continued to shake his head. “There are casualties in any experimental antidote.” He looked at Mace with a look of pure regret. “If I could change anything that has happened, I would gladly lay down my life to do so. But if you look at the number of people we’ve helped, the answer remains clear.” He paused for a second to collect his thoughts.
“If we died right now, it wouldn’t stop what we’ve accomplished. We have effectively stopped the infection from spreading in this area. Over fifteen caravans have left to create more help centers. We’ve brought back hope to a people who had lost it. What comes next is beyond our control. We were never meant to see the whole picture. There are those that are brighter than us that will figure out how to fix what’s gone wrong. We were just meant to bring hope: A possible answer. We were never meant to have the whole cure.”
Mace looked at him in exasperation. “Are you telling me that John’s life was just expendable? What about Maria’s? They were just pawns in a game? That’s bullshit. They were people with real hopes and dreams just like us. And now they’re gone: In a way that I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”
Father McCann reached across the table they were sitting at and touched his hand. “I’m not asking you to understand on an emotional level. This has always been far beyond our personal relationships. I told you from the beginning that this was something that would transcend us. We are just pieces in a much larger puzzle.”
Father McCann could feel the tension and anger in Mace’s demeanor and squeezed his hand a little harder. “I’m sorry. This has never been about us. I hope you understand that. We were just meant to be the beginning.”
Mace pulled his hand away as his rage simmered just below the surface. “Jade is pregnant. Everything is about to change. We are bringing a child into this fucked up world and I needed some reassurance that things will get better. How could this not be about us?”
Father McCann looked at his own hand and felt the coldness in the room. He looked at Mace with the pure sorrow of a man who had nothing but truth to offer. “This could take generations to resolve. God’s time is not measured by man’s expectations.”
Mace pushed himself away from the table and looked at the floor, refusing to make eye contact. “Well then I guess we’re done talking. I have a family to attend to. If you have nothing further to offer, I believe there is nothing further to discuss.”
He got up and left the room, turning his back and not allowing Father McCann to see the tears that had built up around his eyes. He would let them spill on solitary ground.
Chapter 51
Gilbert was trembling uncontrollably as he reached the hotel entrance to the Embassy Suites. He had been consumed with fear the entire walk, expecting someone or something to jump out of the shadows and attack him, but he had only seen a handful of infected along the way. Consumed with their own nightmarish visions, he’d been able to proceed undetected.
He was met by a guard no older than twelve that Kevin had deemed expendable at the entrance, and word was quickly relayed through Walkie-Talkie’s that they had a visitor. Kevin met Gilbert at the door. He recognized him from the hospital. As he walked into the open, he scanned the immediate area for any other intruders.
“Are you alone?”
Gilbert nodded, wanting to get inside as fast as possible. “Is Rob here? I need to talk to him.”
Kevin smiled at the mention of Rob. “Weren’t you the one that was the principal?”
Gilbert nodded quickly, anxious to get indoors. “Yes, yes I was.”
Kevin moved around him, patting him on the shoulder. “Well then come on in. I always had a lot of respect for principals when I was in school.”
Gilbert relaxed a bit, reassured for the moment and eager to find a safe place to stay.
Kevin began to feel the power come over him and smiled larger at Gilbert. “I’ve got something to show you.”
Inside the hotel, Gilbert was surrounded by a half-dozen boys who eyed him suspiciously. Gilbert could smell alcohol on their breath and could tell by the dilation of their pupils that they were high on drugs. He nervously looked from one to the other, smiling uneasily and searching for Rob. “I was looking for Rob,” he finally stuttered, confused by the smiles that appeared at the mention of his name.
“Rob’s not here,” Kevin replied from behind as he placed a hand in the middle of his back. “There is someone else we’d like you to meet, though. We think you might hit it off.”
The boys started laughing and slowly parted, creating an opening where Gilbert could see something moving awkwardly in the atrium pond. As his eyes adjusted to the figure, he felt a hand push him forward and soon it was joined by others. As he made out the bloody, crazed features of Butters, he felt his knees go weak and he tried to run, but the hands held
him tighter and continued to move him forward.
He yelled out in fear as the twisted, grimaced face of Butters became clearer and the red infection of his eyes stared wildly in his direction. The boys began chanting, “Butters, Butters, Butters,” and Gilbert screamed again, gripped by fear, struggling to escape.
“No!!!”
He briefly looked at the creature in the pond, recognizing it as once being a young child, and he cried out for help as one of the boys slapped him across his cheek. The sting sent needles through his face before another slap landed in the back of his head. As he was pushed over the small ledge and inside the pond, the slaps turned to punches and he tried to cover up from the reign of blows landing all over his body.
He could hear Butter’s shrieks as they pushed him closer and he was paralyzed with fear, but he couldn’t see where he was as he tried to cover his head from the strikes. He tripped in the pond and fell to his knees in the shallow water, looking down to realize that he had tripped over a detached human leg. He shouted again in terror, soiling his pants and falling into the water as everything went black around him and he fainted.
Chapter 52
“Mommy, Buster can come too, right?” Chelsea was busy brushing Buster’s fur with a Barbie comb as she looked up with childlike concern at Lisa. “I can’t go anywhere without Buster, Mommy. I need to take care of him.” She looked back at the dog and continued to lovingly stroke his fur.
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