Outbreak: Brave New World

by Van Dusen, Robert

  A shot rang out and the creature slumped forward over Laura’s lower half when its skull exploded like a watermelon at a Gallagher show. Screaming, she tried to extract herself from the inert form when Adam was at her side. He was barely aware of it when Frays and Rodriguez came hurrying up, covering the area around them with their weapons.

  “Baby, you okay?” he asked desperately as he grabbed his wife under the arms and pulled her away from the corpse. “Laura, you okay?” Lacey desperately started patting her down, hoping that she was not hurt.

  “It’s alright, Laura. Laura. Look at me.” Rodriguez said calmly as she pushed her carbine around her torso on its sling and crouched beside the screaming woman. “Laura, you’re alright. We got you. You’re gonna be alright.” She pulled a pair of latex gloves out of her CLS kit and snapped them on. “Tell me where it hurts, okay?”

  “My arm.” Laura said quietly, breathing heavily. She looked down as Rodriguez started patting her down, trying to see where she might be hurt. “I think I broke my arm.” Frannie started getting a little concerned when she saw how pale and clammy her patient’s skin was getting. She cast a worried glance at Lacey then continued working on the woman.

  Frannie felt like she had swallowed a stone when she saw the gouge ripped out of Laura’s calf. She felt around in her Combat Life Saver kit and frowned. “Hey, Frays do you have a bandage? Looks like I’m out.” Rodriguez asked as she started trying to staunch the dark red blood oozing out of the wound.

  “Here.” Frays said as she felt around in her own CLS kit and handed Rodriguez a pressure bandage wrapped in plastic. The woman did not dare take her eyes off of her sector of fire for more than a half second at a time. Noise drew infected and Laura was screaming like a stuck pig. She spared a glance at Lacey and tried to give him a reassuring smile and prayed silently that Laura had cut her leg on something as she started covering their position again.

  It only took Frannie a couple minutes to get the bandage in place. She turned her attention to the woman’s arms. “Good news is I don’t think you broke your arm.” Rodriguez said with a small grin as she finished checking her out. “Just banged it up pretty bad. Are you hurt, Lacey?”

  The man looked blankly at her for a moment. “Yeah, Yeah I’m fine.” he said then glanced down at his wife. “Let’s get out of the rain, baby.”

  Amy and Frannie looked uneasily at each other as Lacey helped his wife back towards the house. Rodriguez glanced over her shoulder at Frays. “Holy shit that was a helluva shot. Sixty meters or so right through the dome.” Frannie said with amazement as she smiled a little and clapped her friend on the shoulder. “Remind me to not to piss you off.”

  “D-Did she get bit?” Frays asked her voice barely above a whisper as they started up the stairs. Her stomach roiled like a pot of boiling water as they climbed. It was all that Rodriguez could do to look at her friend and nod. Amy frowned sadly and shook her head as they climbed over the gap and onto the deck.

  “Oh, God…”Amy whispered and crossed herself. The children were in the dining area sitting in their father’s lap and crying their eyes out. Lacey looked up when they entered. Jessica stood near her husband with her arm across George’s shoulders. Carl was seated at the table, looking morose. “Where’s Laura? How is she?”

  “Back bedroom.” George said quietly. He looked at his wife and looked at the table. The big man took a deep breath and looked at his daughter across the room. “She doesn’t look like she got hurt that bad.”

  Amy swallowed hard and let her eyes rest on the children for a moment before looking at their father. “Did…did she get bitten?” Frays asked once she could open her mouth. Please, please Saint Adrian help us out here… she prayed silently as she watched everyone’s faces. Frannie had treated the woman, but…

  Lacey’s face twisted up as he held his children. “I-I dunno. Maybe.” he said quietly, rocking the kids. Amy shook her head and sank into the recliner, pressing the palms of her hands against her eyes and barely aware that Frannie passed by her. Her limbs felt like they had been cast from lead when she finally managed to heave herself out of the chair. She put a hand on Lacey’s shoulder on her way towards the back bedroom. “Where are you going?”

  “I-I’ll take care of it, Lacey.” she said carefully. Her hand was trembling as she reached for the doorknob. You can do this. Frays told herself as her hand closed around the knob. She took a deep breath and half turned towards the others. “I’m sorry, Lacey. I’ll take care of it.”

  “What do you mean ‘take care of it’, Amy?” Carl asked anxiously. The boy stood and looked from his father to Amy and back again. “Take care of what!?” He started towards his sister and stopped. “Dad? Mom? What’s she talking about?”

  Lacey fixed Frays with an icy knowing glare. He knew damn well what Frays meant. “You keep your hands off my wife.” he said coldly. Becca and Paulie looked wide eyed at their father. Neither one of them had ever heard Daddy talk to anyone like that before. “Laura’s gonna be fine. Don’t you touch her.” Amy noticed the way her father’s face seemed to sort of blank out behind Lacey and became a little startled. She frowned, nodded and went to lean against the low fence that separated the dining area from the living room.

  “So…is anybody gonna answer me or what?” Carl asked. He looked around the room, trying to figure out what exactly everyone was so upset about. There was definitely something going on here. Amy puked her guts up at a goddamn picture, Dad was pissed off at seemingly everybody his big sister was pregnant of all things and now Adam’s wife was hurt and HE was pissed too…

  “Hey, Carl” Rodriguez said quietly as she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb “Let’s talk outside, man.” Carl stood up and followed Frannie out the back door and hopped up on the wall. Frannie could not help herself: she pulled out her cigarettes again and lit another one. She leaned against the wall a little ways from the boy and took a drag off of the cancer stick, exhaling a series of smoke rings.

  “Cool!” Carl said with a small grin as he watched the woman’s jaw go up and down. His mind wandered for a second as he wondered if she had ever done anything else with her mouth. He shook himself and his insides went all kerfuffle when Frannie smiled at him. She looked a lot like that Air Force chick from that movie Battle: Los Angeles but with kind of a Tom Berenger in Platoon thing going on. “…can I…”

  Frannie laughed. “No way, man. I got a feeling your old man would have my ass on a stick.” she said, drawing a chuckle out of the young man. Rodriguez sighed and shook her head. “What did they say on the TV?”

  Carl squirmed uncomfortably. “I dunno…there was…like…rioting or something.” he muttered, running his hand over the top of his head in an unconscious imitation of his father. “Dad said Amy called from the AFB. Then some of the news guys the next day said it was because of some disease or something. They said the people who had it would bite, like they were rabid or something.”

  “Yeah.” Rodriguez said quietly after a few seconds. She stared off into space for a few moments then concentrated on the burning end of her cigarette. “Or somethin’.” She rolled her eyes and exhaled a plume of smoke through her nose. “If you get bit, you get sick. You get sick…you die…sorta. I dunno. I’m not a fuckin’ doctor or anything.” Carl looked at Frannie with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, I know how it sounds, man. I woulda called bullshit myself if I didn’t see it happen.”

  “No way.” Carl said, fixing the woman with a look of utter disbelief. “Uh uh. Bullshit. No way. Doesn’t happen.” He shook his head and looked at Frannie again. “Nope, sorry Frannie. Bullshit.”

  She frowned, took a deep breath and paused for a moment. The rain was starting to stop finally, dwindling down to a few scattered pings and thumps on the corrugated steel over their heads. Frannie tried to squeeze that last little bit of tobacco off of the end of the cigarette’s filter. “Your sister, Lacey there and…some other people that were working with her got attached to my squad. We got tapped t
o go look for these supply guys that got lost or something.

  “We were in this little town and your sister broke off from the convoy to pick up this civilian. Once we got out, we circled up and Ea…the medic checked her out. She’d been bit or something and Lacey shot her in the stomach. LT went apeshit, trying to get your sister to arrest him…the medic to patch her up. She stopped screaming for a couple seconds then she got up… Your sister shot her in the head.”

  “Geez, he gutshot her? That’s cold, man.” The boy shuddered, obviously thinking twice about making fun of Lacey ever again. “How did you know this chick was dead or whatever?” Carl asked nervously. He found that he was strangely excited by the fact that Frannie was telling him this story. His dad and Amy never talked about what they did in Iraq. They always treated him like a little kid and it kind of pissed him off sometimes. “I mean…did you go up and poke her or whatever?”

  “When she stood up to go after LT some of her guts looked like they were falling out.” Rodriguez said quietly, a small shudder running down her spine. She looked at the charred end of the filter sticking out from her fingers and slipped it into a cargo pocket. “Nobody…just…walks around like that.”

  “Whoa! Disgusting!” Carl said with a wide grin. He scooted a little closer to Frannie and looked at her, the mirth falling away from his face. Rodriguez dug out another cigarette and lit it, an intense scowl crinkling the scar tissue on her face. He had the very familiar feeling that he had said something he should not have. “Shit, I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

  Frannie shook her head, rolling her eyes at the kid. “No, man. Forget it.” she muttered around a plume of smoke. She was starting to wonder what was happening inside and Carl was seemed to be calmed down. Frannie glanced at the half of a cigarette still smoldering between her index and middle finger then flicked the cherry off it and ground the smoldering tobacco under the heel of her boot. “C’mon, let’s get back inside. I wonder if everybody’s come to their senses yet.”

  Carl glanced at Frannie. “I…um…really didn’t mean to be like a jerk or anything.” the boy said under his breath as he scratched the back of his neck and looked away. “I’m sorry. Everything’s just so…screwed up. I didn’t mean it if I made you mad or anything.”

  Frannie looked at him and shook her head a little. “It’s not you, man.” she said at last. She made a strange face, glanced at the toes of her boots for a second. “Hell, I guess I’m trying to get all this shit strait in my head too.” Rodriguez held the door open for him and followed him into the foyer. It seemed like it was quiet inside…

  Lacey glanced after Rodriguez as she took Carl outside then turned his attention back to Frays. He wished that she had taken the kids with her. They did not need to be here for this… God, when are you gonna stop shitting on our heads? Adam wondered as he squeezed his children tight. “Don’t worry, guys.” he whispered into Becca and Paulie’s ears “Mommy’s gonna be alright. You’ll see. Frannie and Amy took real good care of her.”

  “Look, Lacey…lemme just go in and check on her.” Frays said quietly as she started towards the door. She crept quietly along, watching Adam out of the corner of her eye. “I’m Combat Life Saver trained. I’m just going to make sure she’s okay, alright?”

  “No, honey.” Jessica nearly shouted. An uncomfortable tension squirmed around in her guts. “Just…just sit down. Please? T-The police or a doctor or somebody will be here and they’ll take Laura to a hospital.” She put an arm around her husband’s neck, allowing him to hold her before rushing over to the phone on the counter next to the microwave a few feet away. Jessie smiled nervously at her daughter, the woman’s hand resting on the handset. “I’ll call them. They’ll be here any minute.”

  Amy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Mom? Please, alright!?” she grumbled as she turned sharply towards her mother, taking great pains to keep her voice down. The room felt very hot all of a sudden and it was kind of hard to breathe. Frays paused squeezing her eyes shut for a moment and willed herself to take a couple deep breaths. “I-If the police show up I…don’t think they’re going to help.”

  “What do you mean?” Jessie looked from her daughter to her husband and back again. “What do you mean they won’t help?” She left the phone on the hook and crossed the dining area to stand near her daughter. “Amy? You’re shaking. Sit down, baby. Come and sit down.”

  Frays let her mother guide her to one of the empty chairs at the dinner table. Lacey watched George suspiciously when the big man got up and got Amy a glass of water from the tap and put it on the table in front of her. He kind of suspected that George had something to do with that red mark on his daughter’s face, never mind that the asshole did not have to go yelling at him like he did right in front of his wife…

  “I…” Frays began then stopped to take a sip of water. A little of the liquid overtopped the edge of the cup, spilling onto the table. Frays rubbed the side of her neck and absently wiped the water up with her sleeve. “I-I dunno, Mom.” she said quietly. Amy glanced at Lacey, their eyes meeting for a split second. “I dunno what happened. I-It was bad.” Frays rubbed her hands together nervously and tried to take another sip of water.

  The room was silent for a long minute, save for the sound of the children sniffling. They could hear the back door open followed by Frannie and Carl talking in low voices to one another in the hall. “Guys, go sit with Frannie for a minute.” Adam said quietly as he lowered his children to the ground. Rodriguez could not help but smile when Paulie and Becca let her scoop them up and carry them to the recliner. “Me and Amy are going to check on Mommy, alright? We won’t be a minute.”

  Frays looked at her mother. “Don’t worry, Mom.” she said as she glanced at the kids in the other room and checked her M9 under the table. “It’ll be fine. Lacey’s gonna be right there. Nothing’s gonna happen.” Jessica tried to ignore the way her daughter’s hands were shaking when Amy stood up and went to the bedroom door.

  Lacey was behind her. She paused, screwing on a cheerful face before turning the handle and opening the door. “Hey, Laura.” Frays said with a small smile as she went inside “How’s the arm? Feeling alright?”

  The woman looked pale and sweaty as Amy snapped on a pair of latex gloves. She frowned as she did it. Not only did Laura not look good at all, she only had one other pair of gloves left. They were going to have to go into town soon. “So…sorry I was such a bitch.” Laura said as Frays examined her right arm. There was an enormous black and blue mark where it looked like she had hit it on a tree or something on her way down the hill. “I didn’t know about…before.”

  Adam sat on the bed next to his wife and held her hand, his face heavy with concern as he watched Frays examine his wife. “C’mon, baby. Just relax.” he whispered as he brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. “We’re gonna take good care of you and you’re gonna get better. It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

  Amy’s lips pinched together in a thin line. “Don’t worry about it.” she said and forced a smile. Frays checked the bandage wrapped around the woman’s calf and nodded to herself. The wound seemed to have stopped bleeding. Hopefully she was just in shock or something. She had lost a good bit of blood fairly quickly… Amy went to the closet, took down a couple pillows and put them under the woman’s feet. “You just rest. We’ll be in to check on you. Are you hungry or anything?”

  “No, thanks.” Laura said as she squirmed a little. “I’m a little cold.” Lacey was off the bed and rooting around in the closet in a flash. He found a quilt and took it down off the shelf. He nodded appreciatively when Frays removed her gloves and helped him spread the heavy blanket over his wife.

  “Take a nap, baby.” Adam said and smiled at his wife. He rubbed her shoulder for a little while, still smiling at her. “I’ll bring you some soup or something later, okay?” Lacey turned and walked out of the room leaving Amy alone with her. Frays smiled too then followed after the man.

 
Jessica was in the kitchen making something for lunch when he came into the dining area. The kids looked up then climbed out of Rodriguez’s lap and sprinted across the floor, wrapping their arms around their father’s legs the second they saw him come out. Frays laughed quietly as she closed the bedroom door behind her. “Those kids love their daddy, huh?” the woman asked with a small nervous smile as she paused only to clap Lacey on the shoulder before drifting towards the rocking chair in the living room.

  Carl came over and sat on the couch. He looked uneasily at his big sister then smiled. “So…I’m gonna be an uncle, huh?” he asked. The boy looked uncomfortably towards his father and shifted on the couch cushion. “That’s pretty cool.”

  Amy’s eyes flitted towards her father and nodded. “Yeah, looks like.” Frays shrugged and crossed her arms over her stomach as she started rocking slowly. She frowned and glanced at Rodriguez across the room. Frannie shrugged almost imperceptibly then got up and went into the kitchen to help Jessie. Not for the first time since they arrived at the camp Frays found herself missing Jacob, the man she had started dating at school after she returned from Iraq. They had only been going together for a few weeks but she had loved him and now he was gone and she was pregnant with his baby and Dad was angry with her and he should be here to help take care of their baby but he was probably dead….

  Carl smiled. “Right on, Aim.” he said as he held out a fist. A brief smile flashed across his sister’s face and she bumped fists with him. “I’m gonna be the best uncle ever just you wait. You need a sitter or whatever I’m there, sis. Don’t worry. I got it.” The boy giggled excitedly at the thought of meeting his new niece or nephew. “What are you gonna have? Boy or girl?”