The Rectify Series (Book 3): Rectify 3

by Druga, Jacqueline

  The infected neared and Talbot stood by the back door, seemingly trying to convince Cathy to move.

  Clay ran to them, pushed Talbot away with an order to go, and then Clay yanked Cathy from the car.

  “I will not leave you, and I will drag your ass,” he told her. “You called me for help. I’m here. Now move it!”

  She sobbed in fear, lagging behind Clay every step of the way. She moved in zig zags, her legs wobbling as she ran.

  Clay waved his arm to Talbot. “Just go. Go. Quit looking back. Hit the main road, you’ll see the prison. My people are waiting by the south entrance.”

  Talbot nodded and ran.

  “I can’t,” Cathy slowed down.

  “A little more. A little more and we can walk the rest of the way.”

  “I can’t.” Cathy dropped to her knees. “I can’t breathe. My legs won’t work.”

  “Listen to me,” Clay said. “We’re almost there. We only need a little more distance between us and them. Okay?”

  With a weakened cry, Cathy nodded.

  At that moment, they heard what sounded like a short muffled scream.

  Cathy looked up quickly. “What was that?”

  Clay heard it but pretended he hadn’t. “Nothing. I didn’t hear anything. Let’s move.”

  His encouragement got her up, and despite having to still pull her, they moved quickly.

  As promised, just as they hit the small wooded area, Clay slowed down the pace. They had to be diligent keeping a keen eye out for straggling infected. He knew other than the group at the trailer office, there weren’t any larger groups.

  “Just stay quiet. Sound attracts them,” Clay said.

  The moment they emerged from the woods to the road, Clay recoiled slightly. He wasn’t expecting what he saw.

  Three Codies were hunched over Talbot’s body, congenially sharing his midsection.

  Talbot wasn’t dead, or at least Clay didn’t think he was. His right hand twitched as did his head, his eyes stared at Clay as if trying to convey the words, ‘help me.’

  Cathy let out a blood curdling scream, catching the attention of the infected as they stood.

  Hating to do it, because sound was like a dinner bell, Clay pulled out his pistol and fired a single shot into Talbot’s head.

  Cathy screamed again.

  Still, they had a chance to get by them. There were only three, they were slow, and Clay could see a clear, straight shot to the back wall of the prison.

  Clutching Cathy’s hand, he pulled her to the left to avoid the Codies. Somehow that wasn’t what Cathy wanted. She moved in the opposite direction, toward her husband, crying out his name.

  What was she? Nuts?

  “Talbot!”

  Clay pulled her towards him, he had her by the hand, but then so did one of the infected.

  The infected lunged down, taking a bite out of her arm, causing yet another scream from Cathy.

  Seeing more Codies making their way toward them, Clay didn’t have a choice. He shot the one that bit Cathy, then hurriedly shot the other two.

  It was a lot of work, took a lot of his strength, but Clay dragged a bleeding and hysterical Cathy back to the camp.

  Bit or not, infected or not, it didn’t matter.

  Dying out there at the jaws of the infected was not an option for any human being.

  No one was turned away at his camp.

  They’d help her and try to make her comfortable.

  When she died, which she probably would, and when she revived, they would rectify her. But it would happen in a safe environment, surrounded by people, not Codies.

  It was the humane thing to do.

  FOUR – STUFF

  Ella needed a nap, she hadn’t slept much and if she were going to try the great escape to get them transportation, she needed her energy. She didn’t sleep long, the baby started crying, waking her. Not so much the noise of his infant wail, but the thought of getting him to safety.

  Then again, sleeping in the middle of the living room next to a comatose ‘fallen’ didn’t help.

  The soldier’s name was Bradly. He was one of Tom’s men who, like millions of others, took the inoculation against CO-D4 and just fell into some sort of deep sleep.

  Tom and James brought him into Rhonda’s apartment under the guise of help, but a part of Ella thought it was more to see what was going to happen to him.

  She staggered from the living room into the kitchen, pausing to look out the window.

  James and Tom stood on the fire escape. She could see them out there talking.

  It was cooler outside, not much, but the apartment was sweltering.

  She boiled water using the sterno stove and made a cup of coffee, then sat at the kitchen table.

  There were items there she hadn’t noticed earlier.

  A military style radio with headphones, a shoulder harness, a revolver, something that looked like a wallet and another item, a music player. She found it odd because the music player had an eighth inch cord extending from the headphone jack and connected with an adapter to the military radio.

  After looking at it in her ‘just woke up’ state, she realized it was a way for Major Tom to play music for his men.

  Men who went on rectify raids. Putting down infected like they were rabid animals. In his defense, many of them were.

  The longer an infected was revived, the more dangerous they became.

  Sipping her coffee, she shifted her eyes again to the window and flipped open the wallet.

  It was an identification wallet. A military ID that said ‘R-Team’ on top, as if anyone would ask to see his ID when he showed up to rectify at a home or business.

  His name was on the card, Major Thomas Leland.

  It wasn’t a bad picture.

  She lifted one eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at Tom. Usually military men look older than what they were. Tom actually looked younger than the age on the ID. She wouldn’t have guessed him to be more than thirty-five, when he was in fact turning forty-five in two days.

  “Happy Birthday, Major Tom,” she whispered, closing the wallet.

  As she brought the cup to her lips, she glanced down at the music player. Genuinely curious as to what the R-Team listened to when they did a rectify raid.

  Not seeing the harm, she lifted one of the earpieces to her ear and pressed play on the music player.

  Nothing happened. Nothing played.

  She lifted the player looking at it, then decided to switch the ear buds from the radio into the player.

  That worked.

  Music played.

  At first, she didn’t recognize the intro and then the signing began.

  ‘Ground control to Major Tom. Ground control to Major Tom.’

  She nearly spat her coffee.

  “No way,” she laughed.

  “Something funny?” Tom asked.

  She didn’t see or hear him come in and Ella jumped.

  “Sorry, I was just—”

  “Touching my stuff?” Tom asked.

  “In her defense,” James said. “You kind of just left it out.”

  “Let me ask you something Major …” Ella cleared her throat. “Tom. Is the music choice by chance or is it an ego thing?” she asked jokingly.

  “What does she mean?” James asked.

  “Ha, ha, funny.” Tom took the music player from her. “It’s not an ego thing. At first, it started as a joke. My men always sang that song to me. Then the song became a timing thing on the raids. It just times everything perfectly and we never needed to speak, only listen.”

  “What song?” James asked.

  Ella started to sing., “This is Major Tom to ground control …”

  “Stop,” Tom requested. “Please.”

  “I’m sorry. I am. And in all seriousness, will you explain the timing to me? I find it interesting.”

  “You’re not joking?” Tom asked.

  Ella shook her head. “Everything, when it comes to the Codie
s is about timing.”

  “Then I will,” Tom said. “Speaking of timing.” He pulled a chair out at the table. “James tells me you want to take the fire escape on the opposite side of the building. Hit the pavement and make it to the med station.”

  “Get one of those trucks left there, yes.” Ella nodded. “I think it’s our best shot. I would take the fire escape from the roof, there aren’t that many Codies. I can get through them and out run them. I have done it a ton of times.”

  “I think it’s insane,” James added.

  Ella looked at with seriousness. “We need to get out of here. I told you this. It’s the best way., We need to get to a safe location to formulate a good plan to get the people out of Sanctum. Being here, in the inner city is not the best place. I ‘ll get the truck, bring it to the fire escape or the side entrance. It’s our best option.”

  “I agree,” Tom said. “I think I should go.”

  “No offense, Major,” Ella said. “But I can do this. I can do it fast and, besides, there’s a fallen on the couch. What if he wakes up, what if he’s a Codie or worse? You’re a lot better equipped to handle that situation than me or James. No offense, James.”

  “None taken.”

  “Okay,” Tom said reluctantly. “We do this. I’ll watch from the roof. If I see trouble, I’ll follow. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” Ella said.

  “We get the truck, we get out,” Tom said. “I say we make a pit stop at the R-Team base. There’s an armory there, we can get weapons and supplies. Then head … where?”

  James answered. “My house. My neighborhood was heavily patrolled so there were very few Codies, and I’m guessing my neighbors all were inoculated.”

  “Yeah, it was pretty quiet there.” Tom replied. “So that’s the plan. Let’s do this. Finish your coffee, Ella, daylight’s burning.”

  “Roger that, Major, I’ll take my protein pills and put my helmet on,” she joked, referencing the song lyrics.

  “Funny.” Tom nodded.

  Ella downed her coffee, placed her cup on the table and stood. “To the roof.”

  FIVE – BEHIND THE WALLS

  The website once claimed it to be the Alcatraz of the East Coast, and when the West Virginia was built, the architects probably didn’t plan on it being a viable fortress for an apocalypse.

  Maybe they did.

  Clay worked there before the CO-D4 virus and he wasn’t a seasonal employee. He was administration and did summer tours. During the Halloween season he oversaw the haunted prison, and even came up with the ‘Spring Fling’, which was a reenactment of a prisoners last day on death row.

  Other than a historical site, the prison was also a training facility and while half of it was spooky and run down, a good portion of it was in fair condition.

  That was the portion where people lived.

  It offered protection. Surrounded by thick concrete walls, and plenty of grass in the center for farming.

  Before things started getting bad, Clay lay claim to the prison, speaking to others who worked there about making it a retreat and fortress. They all thought he was insane and that things would be back to normal.

  Moundsville, Wheeling and other surrounding areas didn’t have the Codie cleanup crews like most places. No one came in at night and took out the ones that wandered. No special teams had gone into homes and cleaned them out.

  It was like another world.

  While other cities were still going to Starbucks, Moundsville was under siege from the infected by the strain. They lost their electricity long before anyone else.

  When news of the cure finally hit them, Clay sent a couple men to Steubenville to try to get a batch, but the men never returned at all. It had been days.

  Clay all but gave up until he himself took a ride to Washington, Pennsylvania an area only twenty-five miles west of him. There he saw it was a dead world. No people, only Codies.

  Soldiers at aid stations were lying on the ground, people in medical camps seemed to have just dropped.

  Welcome to the Apocalypse, Clay thought, ‘Hell, I’ve been living in a dead world for a couple of weeks.’

  He and the others at the prison were pros.

  In actuality they had been there for twenty-seven days.

  However, Clay had rescued more people in the past couple days since the cure was delivered, than the prior month.

  Those people told Clay what happened to the world.

  He rescued anyone still breathing, even if they were injured.

  They were life.

  And he wasn’t sure if they’d turn. There was one man in his camp who was bitten three times in six months since the outbreak, he never got sick. Clay attributed it to the fact the man was tough as leather with skin that looked like leather, too. Eighty-seven years old, a bottle of vodka a day drinker and a smoker.

  Tough guy.

  His lack of moving fast was what caused his bites.

  Clay made his way to the medical room just off of the reception area. It had used to be the director of tour’s office, but it was transformed by making two trips in a truck to the Chain Name Urgent Care office.

  Jerry, the fire chief was acting doctor, and he did a good job at it.

  He pretty much treated wounds, made people comfortable and rectified them.

  Jerry looked tired when Clay walked in. It had to be something else that was getting him down, Clay knew they weren’t that busy.

  Cathy, the new woman, was on a cot sleeping, her arm bandaged, Jerry sat next to her. His hands were folded with head down. His eyes looked deep and dark. Clay cleared his throat to announce his presence.

  “Hey, Clay.” Jerry stretched and stood.

  “How is she?”

  “Well, injury wise, she is good. She had the CO-D4, without a doubt.”

  Clay shook his head. “Aw, man.”

  “It’s a blessing for her,” Jerry said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Cathy, that’s her name, wants to die. I mean she didn’t up to the point she was bit. She had her husband.

  “How do you know this?” Clay asked.

  “She was lucid. We get the radio calls and people come in. Some injured, some not. They all talk. She talked. She said to me she and her husband did some pretty stupid things the last couple days in the name of survival.”

  Clay chuckled. “Yeah, running to a dead end is one of them.”

  “They weren’t thinking clearly, Clay. Both their small children were ripped from their arms. She carried one, he carried the other and they held on,” Jerry glanced down at her. “She said they held on so tight, but still the infected got them. They were running for their lives. Broken people, broken hearted.”

  “That’s the poet in you coming out in your description, Jer.”

  “Can’t help it. I’m a writer, too. Anyhow. Her husband was the last person she had left. Now that he’s gone, she’s ready to go.”

  “I don’t blame her. Sounds like you were really affected by her story.”

  “Of course, I was,” Jerry snapped. “I’m not heartless. I just feel guilty.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because I haven’t lost anyone. I had no one to lose. So, I have no way to relate. I can only be sympathetic. And I am.”

  “I know you are.” Clay reached out and gave a squeeze to Jerry’s shoulder. “We couldn’t do this without you.”

  “I wish I could do more. I wish I could help them. It exists, you know,” Jerry said. “The cure. The treatment.”

  “Yeah, but Jer, you heard the people that came in, right? They said the ones that received the inoculation got sick and went into some sort of deep sleep.”

  “I did,” Jerry said with a nod. “But even without thorough testing there had to be a reason they released the vaccine. There had to be research that said, ‘hey this works’. They didn’t just whip something together and hope for the best. That’s not the way it works. At least I wouldn’t think so.”

 
“So, if that’s the case, why didn’t it work?”

  “Oh, it did. It did. Out there, somewhere, people are alive because it worked. Maybe not many, but they exist,” Jerry said. “We just need to find them.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Hell yeah. Each life we save matters. Each life we lose is another victory for extinction, and that’s part of the battle, my friend,” Jerry said. “We can’t afford to lose.”

  SIX - UNDER FOOT

  The smell of the dead carried in the slight breeze. With rising temperatures, the rotting intensified and every time the wind blew, James caught a whiff of it as he stood on the roof with Elle and Tom just before he made dash for a truck.

  He listened to Tom instruct Ella like she was a soldier going into battle. Actually, she was. But more so a soldier sneaking into enemy territory.

  “This is the mini rectifier,” Tom said, handing her the small handheld item. “It is for close range rectifies. If they close in on you, use this. Press it to the head, press the button, that’s it.”

  “Why would she be that close?” James asked.

  “She could be surrounded or surprised.” Tom then handed her a gun. “You know when and how to use this, right?”

  “I do,” Ella said.

  “Good. There’s a round in the chamber so be careful. Remember, they’re still human with human weaknesses. Sweep the legs if need be. Keep a two foot distance, dash and spin.”

  “Ground control to Major Tom,” Ella said. “This isn’t my first rodeo running from the Codies. I got this. No worries.”

  “I know. I know,” Tom told her. “Just get to the mobile hospital. Any truck you see should have the keys in it.”

  James watched as she nodded her agreement then turned to him. He walked over to her. “Just be careful.”

  “I will.”

  “Whoa, hey, wow,” James waved his hand in front of his face. “Have you … have you been drinking.”