by A. L. White
“Step three is?” Lori asked impatiently.
Bob took a long shallow breath before he went on. “For obvious reasons the young fella and I are going to be sidelined. You three will have to go in with the Lads and…..”
“Virginia will have to stay here in the RV with you!” Lori demanded.
Julie agreed wholeheartedly. “I have seen what can happen in that building; it’s no place for a little girl!”
“Maybe, maybe not. I have seen how she handles herself and that bow. You need her and the Lads in there I am sorry to say.”
Somehow Lori knew that Virginia had no fear when it came to the zombies and stayed cool and calm at all times. There was no denying what Bob was saying, as much as she would prefer her baby sister to be here and safe. There was no guarantee that she wouldn’t freeze up again when the chips were down. Virginia didn’t freeze up the last time and if not for her, she and Bob would be dead now. This other woman Julie, well Lori didn’t know what to think.
“He is right, we need Virginia with us,” was all she said as she walked away from them.
“The Lads will lead the way and keep you as safe as they can. If they don’t want to enter a room or area, you don’t want to either. You understand what I am saying miss?”
Julie shook her head and replied, “Then we need to get started, Jack doesn’t have much time.” She pulled out a pistol and held the butt toward Bob. “Can you show me how to shoot this?”
Bob laughed and then smiled at her. “Not today - you want to be as quiet as church mice while you’re in there. Let the Lads and the girls with their bows take care of anything that comes up.”
They had moved Bob to the front Passenger seat of the RV. He wanted to be where he could keep an eye on their progress and have a good view of everything else in that direction. After a few convincing words with Jack, he was propped up at the small table watching the other direction. None of them knew what Bob had whispered to him but he sat up on his own and with their help made it to the table. Virginia gave Bob a long goodbye hug and took the Lads out to the truck where all three climbed into the bed. Lori started to say something and then decided not to. She almost believed that if she said goodbye something bad would happen. Julie must have felt the same way because she just walked out behind Lori without a word to Bob or Jack.
The first two steps had gown relatively smoothly if not overly tense. They had found where the ambulances had delivered the live specimens to the medical wing. It was surrounded by a fence with the gate still intact. There was enough room to fit both the truck and RV inside the enclosure even if Bob thought it was a little too tight of a fit. There wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver around the vehicles but it seemed safe. Lori had thought that she had been on the edge scouting and moving to the enclosure. She really hadn’t had time to think about going into the building. Now after Bob insisted on having his AR15 and all the ammo they could stack within reach brought to him, the tension from the next and final step was weighing heavily on her. She could see it in Julie as well; her movements and facial expression were that of a person moving forward into sudden death. Virginia wasn’t fazed at all; since all of this had happened, the little girl had been replaced by this “new” Virginia. If she had more time to think on that alone it would have been a lot for Lori to comprehend. There wasn’t time, not now, they had to go inside of that place and it looked scarier by the minute. Virginia opened the door and said “Zeus, Perseus, lead!” The large dogs scrambled out the door and smelled all around the vehicles. Only when Virginia saw them sit in front of the RV did she say “Let’s go, its time,” and climbed out of the RV moving toward the dogs. Lori and Julie paused for a minute as if they were trying to find a reason not to go or maybe remind them of why they had to go.
“Good luck and be safe. Don’t worry too much about the little one. The Lads will take care of her and her you.”
That didn’t help much but it did get them moving. Slowly they made their way to the dogs and joined Virginia. They all moved forward to the door with the Lads leading a few feet in front. Zeus constantly sniffed around for danger, then would look back to see where Virginia was. At the door Julie opened it a crack and peeked in. Satisfied that there were no signs of movement she pulled it all the way open and started inside. Perseus stepped in front of her blocking her with his body and pushing backwards. Zeus came between them and the door and stared in looking like he was going to pounce on something any minute. He then went through the doorway and Perseus followed. Everything looked in place here, nothing like the section that Julie had fought for her life in a short time ago. Then they began to notice the spots with dried blood and body parts here and there. Julie motioned up a corridor that went off to the west and started to walk down it. Virginia grabbed her arm halting her and snapped a finger. Hearing this, the Lads switched directions and headed up the corridor. In a few minutes it became obvious to all why Julie wanted to go that way. There at the end was a large double metal door that was wide open. Julie pointed at it and whispered, “That’s the only way to get from this wing to the other wings. We should close the doors if we can.”
Lori and Virginia nodded yes and moved toward the doors. There were half eaten corpses blocking the left door and the right was soaked in blood. The Lads were not paying attention to the bodies, letting the others know that they were really dead and of no danger. Virginia went to the right door and started pulling it closed while Julie and Lori went to the left side. They had tried to pull the door closed without moving the bodies and got a dirty look from Virginia because of it.
Lori bent down and started dragging them into the hall, pausing to see if there was any reaction from the Lads. Seeing none she continued fighting back the urge to vomit from the sight and smell the whole time. Once everything was cleared both she and Julie pulled the door to meet up with the other one. At the very end the door seemed to stick and Julie’s face went pale.
“What is it?” Lori asked.
Julie’s mind was all over the place. It was an old building and some of these old doors needed to be slammed if you wanted to shut them. Bob had said they could make no noise, “be quiet as church mice”. In her rush to make sure that nothing could get in here from the rest of the building they didn’t search the rest of this wing. If they slammed it and something was in here they would be trapped between the door and them now. She stepped back and raised her hands to her face; it was too much to deal with. Lori moved to her and patted her on the shoulder and repeated, “What is it Julie?”
Virginia didn’t like what she saw and stepped up to the right door calmly looking it over. When she had seen enough and made her decision she motioned up the hall to the dogs. They took their place on the opposite side of Lori and Julie watching down the hall. Virginia opened the door about a foot and then put all eighty-five pounds of her body behind one hard pull of the metal door. With a thunderous smack it closed and latched. Julie and Lori looked as if someone had just handed them a death sentence but they didn’t faze Virginia. She moved up to the Lads and loaded her crossbow with an arrow. “Zeus, Perseus, find” was all she said and the dogs were off sniffing inside every open door in front of them. Only when they moved to the next door in line did Virginia move.
When they were nearly at the end, the hair on the back of Zeus stood up and he hunched down in a low growl. Perseus moved up beside him and mimicked Zeus; there was no question that something was in the main hall now. Virginia moved up and let go of an arrow striking a zombie in the eye. Then another and another. She glanced back at Lori and said “A little help please,” with the calmness of someone asking you to go for a walk with them. Lori stepped up but was still safely behind the dogs and began picking her targets. When the last one that they could see fell down motionless Virginia again commanded the dogs to go and find. The dogs both went their own ways into the hall and then returned in a few minutes giving the all clear. Julie made her way past them and went to the medical lab and paused at the door. Zeus
crooked his head looking at her and then got up and trotted into the room. It was safe for them to enter.
“Let’s get them in here so I can get started,” she said to Lori and Virginia.
CHAPTER 8
They brought Jack in first and Julie went right to work on his leg. She cut his pant leg out of her way and started to clean the wound properly for the first time, pouring peroxide directly into it. She didn’t notice any infection setting in yet and made a mental note to watch it closely while she continued to clean it until it looked as good as she could get it. Gripping both ends at the break she forced them back together. Grabbing the splint she had set down earlier on a small table within reach, she placed it carefully on the leg rendering it immovable, stitched the wound up and placed a thick gauze bandage over it, holding it in place with tape. Then there was Bob in the next bed laying there with his eyes as wide as saucers. Watching Julie work had left him speechless until she made her way to his table pulling the stethoscope from around her neck. Bob waved her off and looked away from her as if not seeing her meant she wasn’t there. Julie ignored him and placed the cold end inside his flannel shirt listening to his heart.
“Nothing wrong with me young lady. I am old and a little tired is all.”
Julie was concentrating on his heartbeat and ignoring him. In ordinary circumstances she would have moved Bob to the intensive care unit and kept him there for observation; maybe ran a few tests to make a correct diagnosis. Now, all she really had to go on were the symptoms she could see or get Bob to admit to.
“Any dizziness?” she asked Bob.
“No more than usual. I get winded easily and then dizzy.”
“Have you felt overly fatigued?” Julie asked. “Weak?”
“Well I am three days older than dirt and took on a bunch of dead creatures, stabbing myself in the leg in the process.”
Julie smiled at him and replied, “Bob I am not the enemy and we need you. I need to know what I am treating if I am going to be able to help you stick around a little longer.”
Behind her she heard the dogs panting and turned to find the lads and Virginia standing there. Julie smiled and started to give a report on her patients when she noticed Virginia pointing to the windows. Her head was drawn to the direction and she now saw it. How could she have not noticed that this whole time? There at the window were the makings of a large herd of zombies, their dead decaying faces staring blankly in at them. When she turned back to say something, the lads and Virginia were gone. Julie had thought to go after them but she needed rest and the zombies were outside. Closing her eyes for a few seconds she was startled by Lori’s voice and jumped, causing the herd outside to move closer to the windows.
“Can they move?” Lori asked as she came into the surgical room.
“They shouldn’t be moved for a day or two.”
“You have seen that, right?”
“Yes, Virginia brought them to my attention. We are safe in here thank God.”
Lori shook her head violently and replied, “Here is not the problem! Follow me please.”
Julie followed her to the door that led to the enclosure holding the truck and RV. Lori paused before pulling the door opened and said, “Get yourself ready for what you are about to see. No screams, no sudden movement and for heaven’s sake don’t wig out on me.” She pushed the door open slowly and let Julie take in the reality of their new situation.
The enclosure was surrounded by what had to be thousands of them. The cyclone fence was bulging inward at some places groaning under the mass weight pushing forward. Julie wanted to scream and find another place to hide until this whole damn thing was done and over with. There was no hiding for them here, only death, and she knew that as sure as Lori did. It took every bit of will power to keep up a calm demeanor, to not scream and most of all not find a way to just end her life right here and now.
“Beep, beep!” Virginia said from behind them just loud enough to be heard. Once again she had assessed the situation and acted while the others were staring death in the face filled with indecision. She had Bob in a wheelchair waiting to go through the doorway.
Lori smiled at her and took over the pushing. “Get the other one you two and let’s get out of here.”
Julie and Virginia went back to get Jack while Lori slowly got to the door of the RV and helped Bob up. He was a little stronger today and that was a good thing for them both. Ordinarily there was no way Lori could get him up into the RV by herself. She focused on Bob and the job at hand not letting her fear see or even think of the mass death trying to get her. It worked; she had Bob sitting at the table with a big smile just in time to help them get Jack inside. That was a little harder. Jack was drugged up and the leg didn’t bend with the splint on but the three somehow muscled him up and to the bed in the back. They all sat looking at each other for a few minutes but not seeing anyone. Exhaustion was starting to run its course. Bob broke up the self-pity party.
“Lori can you blaze us a path through them with the truck?” he asked.
Lori shook her head slowly but wanted to say no.
“Good, just put her into four wheel drive and go, don’t stop for nothing. Okay?”
Lori again shook her head yes.
“Can you drive a stick?” Julie asked.
Lori shook her head slowly no in reply.
“You will have to do it then,” Bob said, then added “If you’re not up to it, I can try if you get me in the cab.”
They all knew, well everyone but Bob knew, that he was doing good helping them to move him but driving was out of the question.
Julie closed her eyes and turned toward Lori. “If anything happens to me, there are pain pills and antibiotics in that black bag I brought in there with Jack. Don’t give him more than two pain pills every two to three hours. Try to get him to every four to six hours if you can. The Nitro pills and patches for Bob are in there too. He knows how much he needs.” She stood up and Virginia ran over and hugged her, letting her emotions show for a second and then turning them off and walking away. Lori didn’t know what to say so she didn’t say anything.
“Right, let’s get this show on the road ladies,” Julie said as she walked out of the RV and pushed the door shut. She had hoped that she had just looked confident in what they were planning to do, not knowing if it was for her or for the girls. She could hear the murmur of the herd and wondered what caused that. At the truck she climbed in and belted herself in, then took it off so that she could reach over and lock the door.
The motor started right up with a roar from giving it a bit too much gas and the herd surged forward when the fence of surrounding the enclosure gave way. Julie didn’t look to the left or the right, her sight was fixed on the gate and what lay beyond it; not the thousands of dead that made up the herd but what lay beyond them. Green open fields with nothing there but the gateway they had driven through coming in, a tree and the road that she was determined to reach safely.
She put the truck into gear and let out the clutch causing the truck to lurch forward and stall. After a few deep breaths she pushed the clutch in and started the motor again, this time letting the clutch out and giving the right amount of gas to start forward against the dead crowding around the truck. Their faces were distorted and mangled looking; the smell was almost more than she could bear. The truck moved through the zombies like a warm knife cutting through butter. There were no screams of pain or no cries for her to stop and that was a good thing. Julie was more determined than ever to get out of here alive. She wasn’t going to be eaten in the yard of a former juvenile prison.
Pushing the clutch in and shifting to second gear as the truck plowed over the zombies, it felt like she was driving down a slightly bumpy road, one with the dead grabbing hold of your mirrors. She could see in her rearview mirror that the RV was staying with her and the zombies were still grabbing hold of the walls of the truck bed. Julie didn’t stop. She may have even closed her eyes at some points; didn’t know and didn’t
care. They were thinning out now and the open field was just a few seconds away and then freedom. The old man said the truck made easy work of getting through almost anything and she now agreed.
After she made it through the gate Julie drove about a mile down the road back toward the highway and pulled over. She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes for a few seconds. Behind her she could hear the RV coming up and slowing to a stop. She heard the now familiar sounds of the dogs checking the area around the vehicles, then the sound of Virginia’s voice calling to Perseus. She opened her eyes, grabbed the pistol and climbed out of the truck. Surprisingly Bob was standing there with a big shit-eating grin on his face. He didn’t say anything but Julie knew he was pleased and probably surprised at how well she had done. Virginia nodded in the distant way, which as far as Julie knew was just how the little girl was and Lori ran out of the RV and gave her a big hug.
“Let’s not have a big celebration just yet,” Bob said pointing at the herd, now a decent distance from them but shifting and heading toward their spot.
“Where to now?” Julie asked.
The sudden realization that there may not be any place left to go had finally dawned on them. Jack and Julie knew what to expect at this lab, the others had not. Deep down Lori had hoped for something or someone to be here with news of how everything would be back to normal soon. Now she thought she was no better off than if she had kept Virginia at their home.
“I have a few ideas we can all talk about later in a safer place. For now, I know an area not generally used by your average person. Could be a safe place to hold up for a few days and get our bearings.”
No one said anything - not much point. If not for Bob none of them would have made it this far.
