by T. W. Brown
“Some nasty sorts wandering the wasteland,” the doctor commiserated. “And folks thought that the South Side of Chicago was a rough neighborhood before.”
Latricia and the doctor chuckled at the comment and Catie joined in despite not having a clue as to what these people found so funny.
The doctor set his little black case on the table and turned his full attention to Catie. “I need you to get out of your top so I can get a look.”
“Excuse me?” Catie said, taking a step back from the doctor.
“I can’t very well treat your wound with your shirt on…?” His sentence ended on a upwards lilt that indicated a question; it took Catie a few seconds to realize that he was asking her name.
“Catie.”
“Very well, Catie. If I am going to clean up and treat that injury, I need you to remove your shirt.”
Catie started to unbutton the first button and then froze. She cast a hard look over at Jordan who was now peeking out from under the brim of his ball cap.
“Jordan…wait outside,” Latricia said once she followed Catie’s gaze and realized the reason behind her reluctance.
The man gave an indignant groan and got to his feet. He opened the door, but turned and shot Catie a sly wink as he left. Yes, she thought as she resumed unbuttoning her shirt, he was tops on her list of people to kill.
The doctor swooped in with gauze and a bottle of iodine solution that he used to clean the area of the wound. He took a good look and whistled his appreciation.
“Lucky you…this baby looks pretty clean as far as wounds go, and good field stitching, Latricia.” The woman made an embarrassed sound and smiled for real at the praise. “Little bit more to the left and it might have nicked the collar bone,” he said as he bandaged the injury with clean gauze.
Catie sat quietly as the doctor did his job. Latricia had moved over to the seat by the door and was trying to act casual. That put Catie’s senses on high alert.
“Okay, just a little blood draw and we will be done,” the doctor said with a casual smoothness.
“Blood draw?” Catie asked, trying to sound curious rather than confrontational. Nobody required a blood draw after being stitched up…any idiot knew that.
“Just want to be sure there is no infection…nasty germs out there these days. If you test for anything, we can send you on your way with a few antibiotics…not much, because our supply is limited, but I can at least tell you what you may want to be on the lookout for if you do a little scavenging. You’d be surprised at how much antibiotic medication is sitting unused in people’s medicine cabinets.” The doctor pulled out a syringe and a pair of tubes for the blood.
Catie noticed the tension appear around the doctor’s eyes. She also caught a glimpse of another hypodermic rig that had something in it. Latricia had suddenly found something interesting to check out in a nearby cabinet, and Catie was certain that she spied a shadow move just outside the closed door where she had no doubt Jordan Cranston stood at the ready should she offer any resistance.
“Makes sense to me,” Catie said with a laugh; she was proud of in how genuine it sounded.
The doctor’s shoulders slumped noticeably as the tension left them, and Catie had to suppress a laugh at just how bad he was at trying to pretend this was all perfectly normal.
Catie watched as the doctor swabbed her arm just below where he had tied off the rubber band. She was not squeamish around needles; even as a child she had insisted on watching as the needle punctured her skin. For some inexplicable reason, it fascinated her.
She watched her blood squirt in small jets as it filled first the one tube and then the other. When it was done, she received another swab of alcohol and a Band-Aid slapped over a cotton ball. She mused at how oddly normal this all seemed; just like a normal trip to a normal doctor.
“Shouldn’t take long and we will have you on your way.” The doctor closed up his bag and exited.
He was barely out the door before Jordan entered to rejoin them as Catie finished buttoning the top few buttons of her shirt. Again, Catie saw something pass in the looks that Latricia and Jordan gave each other.
“Of course you are welcome to stay for the day and head out in the morning if you like,” Latricia finally broke the growing and tense silence.
“I really should get out and look for any of my group.”
“So…” Jordan hopped up on a counter and pulled out a knife, using the tip to carve out whatever he could from under his nails, “…you never really said where you and your group was headed.”
“South—” Catie stopped before another word came out of her mouth. If Kevin, Heather, or any one of the others had said where they were headed, it would seem odd if she gave the same locale. “Figure the warm climate might be easier come next winter,” she finished, hoping that her ruse was successful.
“Never much cared for the South,” Jordan said with a grimace. “Folks down there still a bit too hung up on the whole racial thing.” Latricia gave a sound of agreement.
“Yeah…well I don’t imagine that is the top concern these days,” Catie quipped.
“No?” Jordan said with a raised eyebrow. “You think that with the end of civilized society there might be any reason some of those racist bastards might not be out hangin’ brothers just because they can?”
“No, they probably are. I imagine a lot of people are taking advantage of this situation…true natures showing up and exposing people for what they really are in a twisted Lord of the Flies sort of way,” Catie replied, making sure to keep her focus on the eyes of both her so-called escorts. “Some folks say this has brought out the worst in humanity…I think it has simply shown people for what they are deep down.”
“Oh yeah?” Jordan challenged. “And what might that be?”
“Monsters.” Catie shrugged her shoulders and noticed that, of the two, only Latricia winced. “Deep down, we have always been about survive and conquer…survival of the fittest…and most ruthless. Good people are a rarity these days.”
“What’s that say about you?” Jordan continued to press.
Catie was silent, but she gave a smile to the man trying to push her buttons that caused him to take an involuntary step back. She used that moment to take a step closer to the man and was actually surprised when he took a second step back.
“I’ve done what I had to do to stay alive,” Catie finally said in a whisper. “I have discovered that there is a whole world outside of protective barriers that will eat you up and spit you out. I have discovered…” Catie paused and shook her head as a realization hit. “I have discovered that you need others to make surviving this whole nightmare worth the time and constant energy. Not just people above and below you in some chain of command. No…you need friends that you care about and that care about you. Otherwise, you are not really any different than those things walking around out there.”
Jordan recovered and suddenly seemed to realize that he had taken a couple of steps back from this woman about half his size. Standing up straight and throwing his chest out, he took a step forward and stared down at Catie with a leer.
“I discovered that maybe it was time for a change…maybe it was time that the people everybody ignored got their chance to make this a better world.” Jordan continued to stare down at Catie who refused to back down or flinch.
“What did you do for a living before all of this?” Catie asked out of the blue. When the man did not answer, Catie repeated the question.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Jordan finally said with a dismissive wave as he walked over and flopped down in the chair by the door.
Catie glanced over to see that Latricia had perked up at the question. Not only that, but there was something in her eyes that looked an awful lot like sadness. Something in what was being said had made the woman think; about what, Catie had no idea, but it was obviously unpleasant.
“Just curious.” Catie turned her full attention back to Jordan.
; “I worked here at the college.”
“You were a professor?” Catie asked. The look in his eyes gave him away. When he remained silent, Catie decided to press the issue. “Janitor?”
“Why a janitor? Is that because I’m black, so obviously I must have been the janitor here?” Jordan snarled.
“I asked first if you were a professor,” Catie reminded.
“Ain’t none of your damn business what I was, and it don’t matter now anyways.” With that, Jordan pushed up from his chair. “Now, you’ve seen the doc. We got a room you can stay in ‘til he gets back with your test results.”
Latricia and Jordan escorted her down the hall and out to another building. Once again, Catie was scanning and coming up empty. How could a place with so many people seem so deserted? She was now certain that something was going on here.
The room turned out to be an office that had obviously belonged to a cluster of math teachers based on the books still on the shelves that were on the wall. At least all the desks and other furniture had been removed.
A row of cots against one wall each had a single pillow and blanket. At least there was a window (which Catie noticed immediately was covered on the outside with some sort of heavy duty metal mesh). She could see outside, but the view consisted of nothing more than the wall of another building about ten feet away and the dirt path between them.
“Wait!” Catie turned as Latricia and Jordan started to leave. “Am I a prisoner here?”
“You have your weapons, everything you came with. It’s just that we don’t really know you. Surely you cannot expect us to simply allow you free run of our compound,” Latricia said matter-of-factly. “The doctor will have everything ready for you in the morning. If I don’t see you then, best of luck to you.”
Catie looked around the room and then back to the pair standing in the doorway. “But you said something about a meal? And what about if I have to use the bathroom?”
“Back behind that partition is a bucket…and we will have a plate brought to you. Just like room service,” Jordan said over Latricia’s shoulder. Catie saw something in the man’s expression that had her deciding that, no matter how tempting it would doubtlessly look and smell, she would not be eating the meal.
And then the door closed leaving her in the gloom of the day’s fading light that trickled through the window. Sure enough, about an hour later, a pair of men arrived with an actual cafeteria tray that was heaped with some sort of hot vegetable stew over rice and a big slice of fresh bread.
Giving the stew a longing look, she picked up the bread and inspected it. She doubted they could bake knockout drugs into a loaf of bread, so she decided to allow herself the one luxury.
Biting into the chunk of warm, crusty bread, Catie could not help but allow a soft sigh of pleasure escape her lips. She savored each bite, allowing it to almost melt on her tongue.
When she finished, she went over to the shelf on the wall where rows of bottled water sat neatly under a sign that read: Please, take one, but save the rest for the next person.
After inspecting the bottle’s seal and giving it a good wipe down and then squeeze to ensure to the best of her ability that nothing had been injected into it, Catie took a drink.
It was seldom that she enjoyed the luxury of drinking water that was not rain water or something filtered through a carbon insert. While it did not compare to the piece of bread, it was still very good.
After dumping the rest of her meal into the toilet bucket, Catie climbed into bed and decided to take advantage of the chance to get some rest. She knew herself well enough to know that she would not sleep through somebody entering the room; her senses were far too aware for that to be a likelihood.
As she drifted off to sleep, she almost felt guilty about Aleah and Rose out there having to fend for themselves. Still, this was the calm before the storm; she had a feeling it would be a rough next couple of days.
5
Battle
“I think you all need to hear what Mister Perry has to say,” Carol huffed, her hands on her knees as she fought to catch her breath.
I glanced over at Mister Perry. He looked like the stereotype of a high school science teacher. He was tall and skinny and an unhealthy looking pasty white that made his obvious nervous perspiration look like a greasy coating. He wore some of the thickest glasses that a nose could support, and his hair was slicked down on his head in probably the dorkiest hairstyle I’d ever seen in my life. He had huge eyes that were magnified to cartoonish proportions due to his thick lenses.
It was very apparent that Mister Perry was not comfortable with all of the attention suddenly directed his way. He fidgeted and started wringing his hands and had to almost be physically dragged into the living room where everybody sat. Graham was looking at Carol with a raised eyebrow, but she tilted her head towards Mister Perry and gave a curt nod.
“He smells funny,” Thalia whispered loud enough for everybody in the room—Mister Perry included—to hear.
Somebody shushed her, but I don’t think the man was paying any attention. He looked…scared.
“Mister Haynes did not do anything wrong,” Mister Perry blurted so quickly that the words all ran together.
“Tell them what you told me, Gerald,” Carol urged with a softness in her voice that actually seemed to put the man at ease.
After a loud gulp, Gerald Perry began to recount the events of the run. For the first part of his story, I was nodding along. It was almost my account word for word. He even mentioned how it seemed like I was being ignored or frozen out by the group. When he got to the part about the child zombies, I could tell that he was visibly shaken by what had happened. I was also surprised to discover that he and a few others on the team had witnessed exactly what had gone down with me and Frank.
“After Mister Haynes vanished into the building, Jessie called everybody back and said that we were aborting the mission. She said that there was no point in making this run, and that we should use the current distraction to assist in our escape.”
Great, I thought. I did not like the idea of being referred to as “the current distraction.”
“The only problem was that a few of the others balked at just leaving Frank to possibly turn.”
This was getting better by the second.
“Things got a bit heated and there were even a few weapons drawn. Sheldon and I sort of guided the other guys from the engineering team back just in case it got violent. Fortunately, Jessie backed down. She and Joshua agreed to put Frank down if there was enough left that might come back and to at least check on Mister Haynes.”
“Excuse me,” Dr. Zahn interrupted, “but we pretty much know this already. Do you have anything that would be considered useful?”
Leave it to the doc to get to the point.
“Actually…” Carol Wills spoke up, shooting a bit of a nasty glare Dr. Zahn’s direction as she spoke, “he does. Go ahead and tell them, Mister Perry.”
“The night before we made the attempted run on the Güstav-ödeen warehouse, I was having trouble sleeping.” Mister Perry blushed and looked around with a sheepish expression plastered on his face. “I don’t do well outdoors…never was much of a camper and the ground was so uncomfortable, I think I was sleeping on every sharp rock in the area. But anyways, I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I found some nearby brush and was going about my business when I heard voices. They were whispering, but not very well if keeping quiet was their goal. I heard Jessie, Joshua and three voices that I did not recognize in a very heated conversation.
“Jessie was telling somebody that she would only be able to keep our teams out of this place for a few more weeks at best. She said that Graham was becoming insistent, and that she felt he would mobilize a much larger force to make another trip if this one failed. At some point, Joshua suggested that these strangers that they were talking to bring in one of their herds. He said that they would need to lose a few people to give their story so
me weight when they returned to La Grande. He also said that they could blame the losses on Mister Haynes. They were still talking, but I did not want to get caught, so I slipped back to my bed.”
“And you didn’t think to say anything to…I don’t know…ME!” I snapped, jumping to my feet and wanting nothing more than to smash this geek right smack dab in the mouth.
“I was…” Mister Perry looked to be on the verge of tears. “I was scared.”
“Lot of good that would have done if—” I shut my mouth so hard that my teeth clacked. I was not going to give up BP, Grady or his group.
I noticed Dr. Zahn’s sideways glance; it was really only a flick of her eyes, but I could tell that she was wondering what I might reveal if I started blabbing. I had never been a good actor, and my mom knew if I was lying before the words had finished spewing out of my mouth. I took a deep breath and tried to pretend that I was attempting to get my anger back under control.
“A lot of good that would do if I had ended up being ripped to shreds by that zombie herd. As many as there were, at least there would not have been enough of me to come back.” I saw the slightest of nods from Dr. Zahn.
“I think we have heard enough for you to know that William was at no fault,” Dr. Zahn said as she turned all of her attention to Graham. “I suggest that you assemble your council, or whatever you call it here, and decide how to deal with your people.”
“I-I-I am—” Graham started, but the doc was done listening.
“Please, show yourselves out.” Melissa had gotten up and moved over to open the door.
“This is just—” Graham was still trying to apologize or plead his case, but nobody in this room cared to hear it.
“Go away, you bad man!” Thalia said with a stomp of one tiny foot and her arms crossing her chest. It would have been cute and comical if I had not suddenly remembered the day that she had me step back so that she could kill the zombie version of her dog. That serious look on her face was in no way meant to be cute or comical; she was as serious as a heart attack.
