Survivors in a Dead World

by Gary M. Chesla

  Without the helicopter and without Bob, their minds were now wondering about their own chances to survive and to make it to somewhere safe.

  The doctor started the meeting.

  “You of course all know that Bob, Tom and Carrie left early yesterday morning and have not returned. I am still hopeful that they just had some minor problems and will return later today,” the Doc said.

  “What do you think happened?” Ken asked.

  “I would not have any way of knowing,” Doc replied, “anything I might surmise would be purely a guess on my part.”

  “Do you think they crashed?” Jim asked.

  “If they did, it would have had to be in the river,” Ken suggested, “I kept watching out over the north side of the city and I didn’t see any black smoke in the sky like you would see after a crash.”

  “Bob said he wasn’t sure if he could trust that helicopter anymore after that last accident,” Ed added.

  “Gentlemen,” the doctor interrupted. “Making wild unfounded assumptions will not serve any purpose. I called this meeting so we could make concrete plans to leave the hospital while we can.”

  “I was hoping we would be able to leave in the helicopter,” Jim replied.

  “I’m sure we all were hoping that,” Doc added, “but we have to assume that will not be an option for us.”

  “Bob might still come back,” Bill said. “Maybe he just ran into a temporary problem. He is good at fixing problems. I think we should wait a while.”

  “I too am hoping Bob will still return,” Doc replied, “But if he doesn’t return by tomorrow, we need to be prepared to leave on our own.”

  “We have only been able to find enough rope and cords to make a line that is about twenty feet long,” Ken said. “We are going to need more time.”

  “I don’t think we have much more time,” the doctor replied. “We will need what food we have left to keep us alive until we can make it to someplace safe outside of the city.”

  “Even without the rope, we still haven’t figured out how we are going to get out of the hospital and cross the Boulevard of the Allies,” Jim added.

  “I have a plan,” the doctor said.

  The others all stopped talking and looked at the doctor.

  “As you are aware I have been performing experiments on the two dead creatures in room 1019. I believe I have a way that we can safely cross the highway,” Doc stated, “The twenty foot of rope you have made would have been nice if it was longer, but I feel we can make due.”

  “There are so many of those things out on the road,” Jim said. “Even the bottom two floors of the hospital are now crawling with those things. Twenty foot of rope is too short to even get us out of the hospital. I don’t see how we can even get to the hillside.”

  “The results of my experiments have shown me a way that we should be able to just walk out of the hospital and cross the highway,” Doc said.

  “How can we do that?” Ken asked.

  “In my experiments I found a way we can walk among the dead and they will just ignore us,” Doc replied.

  “That sounds too good to be true,” Jim said. “The only way the dead ignore anything is if it is already dead.”

  “You are correct,” Doc smiled.

  “Do you mean we have to die before we can get out of here?” Ken said sounding skeptical. “That doesn’t sound like much of a plan to me.”

  The doctor laughed, “No we don’t have to die. We just have to convince the creatures that we are dead.”

  “Those things aren’t much for conversation, Doc,” Ken replied. “Did you learn to speak zombie or something with your experiments?”

  The others laughed.

  Doc laughed, “No, I’ve learned all you have to do is confuse them. They appear to identify us by the sense of sight but also more importantly by the sense of smell.”

  “So if they can’t see us or smell us, they don’t know that we are there,” Jim said. “But how can we walk across the road and not have them see us.”

  “We can’t,” Doc replied, “But I found the key is to not let them smell us.”

  “We all smell pretty rank,” Ken laughed, “the dead in Philadelphia can probably smell us from there we all smell so bad, nothing personal guys.”

  The others chuckled.

  The doctor laughed, “Instead of trying to tell you what I mean, let me show you.”

  The guys watched as the doctor walked out of the room. A few minutes later he came back into the room wearing the sheet he had worn in John’s room when he tested his hypothesis.

  “Holy Shit,” Ken yelled as he jumped out of his chair and moved to the back of the room.

  The others cringed in their seats and pushed their chairs back away from the doctor.

  “That is you Doc, right?” Jim asked as he held his sleeve over his nose to fight off the smell.

  “Yes it is me,” the doctor answered.

  “That looks like a Halloween costume I had one year as a kid,” Ken laughed, “all except for that damn smell.”

  “The smell is the key,” the doctor said. “When I wore this sheet, the dead, John in this instance, looked at me for a second but then totally lost interest in me.”

  “Are you suggesting that all of us wear a sheet like that?” Ed asked.

  “Let me go and remove this sheet before we continue,” the Doc said and quickly left the room.

  He returned a few minutes later.

  “This is better,” the doctor smiled, “I believe the smell of the sheet confuses the dead and they think we are one of them. As we know the dead have no interest in attacking each other.”

  “So again Doc,” Ed asked, “You intend for each of us to wear a sheet like that?”

  “What is all over that sheet?” Bill asked.

  “I split open one of the dead and covered the sheet with the creature’s blood and organs,” the Doc replied.

  “How long would we have to wear that thing?” Jim asked, “That’s gross as hell.”

  “We would only need to wear the sheet until we made it to the other side of the highway and started down over the hillside,” the doctor replied. “I would however suggest we find a plastic container or bag to put the sheet in afterwards. It may come in handy at a later time. We would probably run into large groups of the dead again before we get where we are going.”

  “Where are we going Doc?” Bill asked.

  “I found a map of Pittsburgh, which all of you are free to examine,” Doc replied, “any suggestions you have would be appreciated. In lieu of any other suggestions I suggest we float down the river to the Waterfront. We can resupply there and continue to use the river until we get away from the city. Hopefully conditions will be better away from the city.”

  “That sounds like a long time in the river. Doc, honestly I can’t swim very well,” Jim said.

  “Here is my plan,” Doc replied, “This should answer that concern. I think we should divide up our remaining supplies between each of us. That way if we find ourselves separated along the way, we will each have our own supplies to hold us until we are able to regroup. Each of you can find a laundry bag in the janitor’s closet to carry the supplies. Also each of you can pick out a sheet from any of the rooms. Cut a hole near the center so you will be able to see. Down on the eighth floor you can find a supply of air mattresses. You should each pick an air mattress to put in your laundry bag with the supplies. When we get down to the river, we can inflate the mattresses. They should make drifting downstream manageable for all of us.”

  “That should help me handle the water,” Jim said but he seemed concerned. “You said when you had the sheet on in John’s room he didn’t seem interested in you, but is this really going to work when we get out in the street and are surrounded by hundreds of those things. Maybe it was just John that wasn’t interested in you. I don’t want to walk out there and then discover I’m in deep shit.”

  “I feel confident this will work. My experiments wi
th the other two dead creatures verify my theory,” the doctor said. “The day we leave, I will go first so that all of you will see that it will work and you can safely cross over to the hillside. You will also be able to verify it will work before we leave the hospital. When we pass through the dead on the bottom floor, you will be able to see for yourself that it will work before we go out into the larger masses,” Doc replied. “That should make you feel at ease before we go outside.”

  “Yea, on the bottom floor there won’t be as many and together we would be able to fight them off if there was a problem,” Ken said. “Even if this works Doc, it will be scary as hell with those things so close to us.”

  “And gross as hell,” Jim added. “You still smell like one of those things and you took that sheet off a half hour ago.”

  “The only solution I can suggest for the smell is to see if you can find some soap or shampoo in one of the rooms to take with you to clean up later,” the Doc smiled, “As for being so close to those scary things, all I can say is you must remain calm. Sudden movements will attract their attention and they may want to investigate. You need to remain calm and just stagger along slowly no matter how many of them are out there or how close they get to you. You just need to remain calm and you will be fine. Remember, it will only take you two minutes tops to stagger across the highway. You just need to control your emotions for those two minutes.”

  “Those will be the longest two minutes of my life,” Ken chuckled nervously.

  “The key word there is life,” the doctor smiled. “This will be very scary and it will not be without danger. Make no mistake, it will be very dangerous. If you feel you cannot do this, you do not have to try it. However, what other options do you have? I assure you this will work if you just remain calm. Now I will ask who is coming with me?”

  “I’ll go,” Ken said. “As I see it, we don’t really have much choice. But again I will only do it if I see that you made it across the Boulevard first.” Ken laughed.

  “If the Doc and Ken make it across, I guess I will go too,” Jim said.

  Slowly the others all agreed.

  But of course it all centered around the doctor making it across the highway first.

  “OK Doc,” Ken said after the group had finished committing to the plan, “When do you plan on leaving?”

  “I suggest we get all the items we will need together today. We will divide up and pack our supplies tomorrow. We can double check that everyone has what they will need tomorrow. We can then have a going away feast,” the doctor smiled, “get a good night’s sleep and leave the following day. That will also allow three days for Bob and the others return. If they are not back by then, we can only assume the worst and then we must do what we feel we must do to survive ourselves.”

  “One question Doc,” Jim asked.

  “Yes Jim,” Doc replied.

  “Do we have to put all that blood and guts on our sheets tomorrow?” Jim asked.

  “We should wait until right before we leave to saturate our sheets,” Doc replied.

  “Good,” Jim smiled. “I don’t think I could stand that smell for two days.”

  “That and,” the doctor added, “we also want our sheets to smell their worst when we go outside the hospital.”

  Ken laughed, “Just in case one of those things has a cold and can’t smell too well.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Ken’s last comment made the doctor stop and think. He had assumed that all of those creatures could smell.

  He hadn’t considered what might happen if one or more of those things weren’t fooled because they couldn’t smell and so didn’t rely on their sense of smell to determine whether the doctor and his group were alive or dead.

  That would obviously not end well.

  “But then again,” the Doc thought, “What other choice do we have. It was the only plan we could come up with that held any chance of getting us out of the hospital.”

  Their only other options were to stay and starve or try to outrun the dead on the streets of Pittsburgh.

  “We will just have to chance it and hope the odds are on our side,” the Doc thought.

  Chapter 19

  Bob woke up. The first thing he noticed was the warmth and softness against his arm and side.

  Then he remembered why he felt so warm and comfortable. He opened his eyes and looked down at Carrie, snuggled up against his side, looking sweet and innocent.

  Bob chuckled to himself, “With the light coming in through the church windows, it will soon be time for me to pay the price for my enjoyable night.”

  It had been a long time since Bob had slept with a woman snuggled up close to him.

  It brought back memories, good memories that unfortunately made him hurt deep down inside.

  Carrie started to move around in her sleep.

  She moved her hand up over his chest and touched the side of his face.

  Bob could feel her suddenly stop and her entire body went tense.

  “Here it comes,” Bob smiled, thinking to himself.

  Carrie’s eyes slowly opened and suddenly grew large.

  “Robert,” Carrie said.

  He was surprised because he had never heard Red call him anything but Bob and of course, pervert. Bob was sure that would soon enter into the conversation.

  “Yes dear,” Bob replied, knowing that using the word dear would probably piss Red off.

  He was surprised, she seemed more restrained and in control than he had expected. He thought by now she would be hysterical.

  “What the hell are you doing in my bed or spot or whatever the hell you want to call it?” Carrie asked sternly.

  Now that tone was more like what he had expected.

  “I’m not in your bed,” Bob said calmly.

  “So I’m just imaging this,” Carrie said, “I’m just having a nightmare, right?”

  “No you’re not imaging a thing,” Bob replied, “We’ll let me correct that. I don’t know what that mind of yours is imagining right now, but you are not imagining that you are in bed with me.”

  “Then if I’m not imagining this,” Carrie said, saying the words slowly, “Then tell me what the hell you’re doing in my bed?”

  “And I will say it again,” Bob smiled, “I’m not in your bed. You’re in mine. Take a look if you don’t believe me.”

  Carrie looked at Bob for a minute, not sure what to do.

  “Take a look Red,” Bob said.

  Carrie raised her head and looked down the robe blankets and saw her meg-shift bed across the room, along with the two empty wine bottles.

  Carrie started to sit up but Bob put his arm around her and pulled her back down.

  “You don’t want to do that,” Bob said.

  “Yes I do,” Carrie insisted.

  “Trust me, you don’t,” Bob repeated.

  “Why the hell not,” Carrie asked then her expression changed. “Unless you’re not done with me yet, is that it?”

  “The reason,” Bob said slowly, “is because you’re not dressed.”

  Carrie’s eyes grew large, then she ducked her head under the covers.

  Bob could hear her under the covers saying, “Shit.”

  Carrie’s head came back out from under the covers and she looked at Bob.

  “So I see your plan was to get me drunk and then in the middle of the night you dragged me over here so you could take advantage of me,” Carrie said, but instead of anger, Bob saw pain in her eyes. “I would have expected that from most guys but I didn’t expect that from you.”

  “That’s not what happened,” Bob replied.

  “Right,” Carrie replied.

  “Nope,” Bob smiled.

  “Well then why don’t you wipe that triumphant grin off your face and tell me,” Carrie said now sounding indignant.

  “Well, I was comfortably sleeping here last night, in my own bed. I really wasn’t sleeping, it was more like I was thinking about our problem. Then some good looking red h
ead came over to my bed, taking off her clothes along the way. Then this red head dropped down on top of me and said, ‘My ribs hurt and I thought you would like to check them out again.’ Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, this attractive red head was too drunk and passed out before she could take advantage of me,” Bob said.

  Carrie stared at Bob for a few minutes then her head disappeared under the covers.

  He felt her feeling around down there for a few seconds and then her head popped back out from under the covers.

  “My pants are on,” Carrie said sounding surprised. “Why? Did you put them back on me?”

  “No,” Bob replied, “Your pants are still on, only because you were too drunk to take them off too.”

  “You mean you didn’t take them off of me after I passed out? Carrie asked. “Why not?”

  “Why would I do that?” Bob smiled.

  “I assumed,” Carrie looked at Bob, “You know, it certainly appears that I asked for it. Obviously I deserved whatever happened.”

  “No you didn’t,” Bob said. “You were drunk and you didn’t know what you were doing.”

  “That never stopped any guys before,” Carrie sighed.

  “Well I’m not just any guy,” Bob said. “I don’t need to be like that, no matter how tempting the opportunity might be.”

  Carrie looked at Bob, “Bob, I’m sorry I thought you took advantage of me.”

  Bob looked at Carrie and decided to rub it in just a bit more.

  “Red, I’m pissed at you for two reasons,” Bob said.

  “I’m sorry,” Carrie said again.

  “The first reason is because the first thing you thought was that I took advantage of you after you were drunk and passed out,” Bob said.

  “I said I’m sorry,” Carrie said. “It was my fault.”

  “Second,” this time Bob smiled, “I can’t believe you would think I had to get a girl drunk before she would sleep with me.”

  Bob smiled again, “I must concede to get a girl like you to sleep with me, a few drinks couldn’t hurt, but still Red, give me some credit. But again, since you’re the only girl I know right now, maybe you’re right.”