by catt dahman
“He’s very brave and strong, kind of a cowboy but brilliant actually. He’s the best Father on earth and loves Beth.”
“I hope we find him soon.” John didn’t know where this conversation was headed.
“I met Beth when she crashed her car.I was with some more people: Andie and all of them, and I have been with Beth ever since. I watch out for her, you know. She and Katie are my family.”
“I hope we watch out for one another. I would be glad to have you watching out for me,” John said as he tried to befriend Hannah.
“You’re my team so, of course, but Beth, Mom, she’s special.”
“She’s a very nice lady.” He was neutral.
“I would kill to protect her.” She smiled without having gotten a book, backing to the door, “and gladly.”
15
The Truth
Even with the tractor-trailer trucks they had liberated and used, bringing in the supplies from the Sam’s Club Warehouse took three days and many hours of backbreaking work.
They not only had truckloads of food, but also mattresses, linens, bath supplies, items for animals, books, chemicals for the pools, toys, medical supplies, and cases for the guns. They found and transported cleaning supplies, furnishings, camping gear, outdoor furnishings, sandboxes, swing sets, and a pair of trampolines. The kitchen was restocked with utensils, and more tables and chairs were added to the mess hall.
The best find was a bunch of greenhouses that simply needed to be erected, filled with soil, and then planted with seeds. It would be days before everything would be unloaded, inventoried, and put away for later.
Julia’s team organized and guarded the operation, and although a few dozen zombies had to be put down, there were no injuries.
More survivors trickled in to join the compound, and the cowboys from surrounding farms herded more cattle to the compound, adding to the horses, pigs, ducks and geese, chickens, and goats. They had a small herd of emus that people had promised to research and then take care of.
Sunday morning, Beth and the girls, with many others, attended the Catholic services while Protestants met for a service close by. Beth left Hannah questioning the priest with a look of regret and pity; he would have to handle her himself.
“He’s awake.”
Beth, Len, and George nodded, but none of them heard a word Doc said, warning them to take it slowly and calmly, as they filed in toward Earl’s bedside.
Earl was bandaged and wrapped, bruised purple and black and swollen everywhere. He looked more dead than alive, but he was smiling weakly, showing a mouth of broken teeth. He was thankful to see them and spent a few moments thanking Beth for rescuing him.
“We ran right into the raiders, the RA,” he said after telling them about how he, Kim, Andie, and Mark were trapped in the hospital parking lot by the zombies.
Earl confirmed that Bryan and Hagan were bitten and hidden in the cab of a truck for a while. With few choices, they decided on the hero’s way out, throwing their only grenade into the back of the truck with several cans of gasoline.
The explosion broke, battered the zombies, and cooked many, and the fire burned for days, destroying many of the walking dead.
Earl wasn’t able to talk too much, and some of the words were garbled, but he managed to explain the details as best he could.
Everyone was quiet for a full minute, thinking about the two men.
“Did the RA capture you all?”
“Yeh. Bunch of nuts, they grabbed us and made us slaves for them; that is how they do things. Since we were with Andie and she’s African American, we were considered to be ‘lesser humans’.” It sounded like “Yeh…bun nuts…gabb uth and may slay fa ‘dem...how dey do tings. Sin wit And an see Afca Mer, ell we er sider ta be less hu-ans.”
“That’s archaic,” George said.
“We had to dig the latrine, chop wood, start the fire, cook, and get water, anything for them. And they dislike people of color, but they sure as hell used Andie.” Earl showed disgust. “Ooze And E.”
“Used Andie? Raped? Poor Andie. That makes me sick,” Beth said.
Earl nodded, “Ray And E.” Raped Andie.
“Day can-bals.”
“They are cannibals?”
“Yeth.”
He spoke in his mangled speech, trying to convey the meanings. “We… chained…beaten...beating slaves is good for them. The guys I belonged to kept getting drunk, and that’s usually punished with death since they couldn’t do their jobs,” he said, “ Chay…be..in…be in goo for dem. Guy I be-ong to kep get dunk….”
“It’s fine to eat other people for dinner but not get drunk…Riiight. That makes a lot of sense,” Len snapped in disgust.
“Dat Frank guy says they needed more ‘centive and just sent us ‘way. I dunno why they blamed me for their drunkenness, but they ‘cided to punish me for it, beat the hell outta me; I thought they would kill me.”
“They beat the slaves and then got drunk?” Len asked. Earl nodded.
“They almost did kill you,” Doc said, watching his patient for any signs of over-exertion. He held water for Earl. “Take small sips, and don’t over do it.”
“Kim?” Beth had to know. She waited patiently and could wait no longer.
“Beth, he…‘live when they threw us out so was Maaak and And E. They been beaten little, not like me; they okay; they were ‘live when I last saw them.”
“Kim is alive. And Mark and Andie,” Len translated, though they all had understood that part; it was worth repeating. Earl nodded again and smiled.
Beth put her face into her hands and cried for a while, relieved to hear it. George and Len both patted her back. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time,” Len said.
“Doc says…men who had me…dead?”
“Yep. Hannah chopped one up, and the other was shot,” Beth sighed, “I mean they tried to get Hannah and Jet, you don’t know him yet, but Jet shot one man dead, and Hannah had this crazy sword; she kind of…ummm…killed him with it. She is a pistol.”
“Good.” Earl glared, but seeming a little puzzled about Hannah and the sword or why she was out with the team, chopping at people. “They were some evil men. RA is bad…you can’t think…things they do…’nuff…make…sick.”
Doc gave Len and the others a warning: do not upset his patient by that line of questioning. Len knew that part, morbid and frightening details about just how bad this other army was, could wait a while anyway. Getting the information about Andie, Mark, and Kim was what had been top priority for them.
Doc checked Earl’s vitals again, fussed over straightening the covers, and gave the visitors another warning look.
“When do you think you last saw Kim?” Beth asked.
“When the men…tossed out…long that was ago.”
Four days.
“How would we fare with a rescue attempt?” Len asked. He ignored the dirty look Doc gave him, needing to know that.
Earl looked dejected, “Less than one percent. If attacked, the first thing that is drilled into heads…the first is every slave is shot in the head before RA returns fire to whoever is shooting.
Slaves are replaceable, they say. There were a few try…slaves killed for the trying.” He was getting more difficult to understand as he became more fatigued, and his mouth ached as his broken teeth tore at the inside. He spit blood but motioned to Doc he was okay.
Len didn’t even translate that. Everyone understood the information.
“Then what do we do?” Beth asked.
“They’re smart if they can find a way to escape,” George said.
“More escapes than you guess…most found…and…you know…but…slavers we with…dumbest sons bitches…sneak liquor…and escape.” It was a terrible effort for Earl to talk, but he was trying his best to give them what information he had. He was frustrated.
“Kim would wait to be sure,” Beth said, “he’d not be thinking of his own chances but of Mark and Andie.”
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“Guy escapes…he slave…he got away…they beat me…thought I helping him…I keep quiet; he was not chained.”
“Good for him.”
“Good may find us…told him…he say all die…parents…sister…he not come this way. Bad…he doctor,” Earl was getting tired and slurring more as exhaustion claimed him.
“Doctor?”
“Yeh,” Earl said.
“From this area?”
“Yeh, Doc Teeve…” Earl yelped as Beth grabbed his hand in a vise-like grip. “Hiiii…ooooh…that hurt.”
“Teeve? Did you mean Steve? S-T-E-V-E?”
“Beth, he has broken bones,” Doc snarled, yanking at her arm. He was getting angry now and physically ready to kick them out.
“Beth?” George took her hands in his own, grimacing at her strong grip as she shook.
“I’m sorry, Earl; his name was Steve. And he’s a doctor with parents and a sister here in this area? Was he medium build, with sandy hair, and looked too young to be a doctor? More of a hick accent than I have? A stupid diamond stud in one earlobe?” Her voice went shrill.
Earl looked as if she had slapped him. “How hail you know? Doc Teeve, yeth.Teeve.” It still sounded like ‘Teeve’ when he said it.
Beth didn’t know what to say. It was impossible. “He was in Shreveport, and we heard they were hit hard; I didn’t dare hope my brother made it.”
“Your brother?” George asked gently.
“Steve. And he escaped? Did they find him again?” she asked Earl.
“No…he away,” Earl said, upset by not having been able to tell his friend about the doctor. Still, she looked happy like she had looked when he was able to tell them about Kim, Andie, and Mark.
“He and Kim are both out there, but I should be upset they aren’t here.I’m just so thankful they are even alive, both of them,” said Beth as she sat back. “I am a mess of emotions right now. I wanna run out and get them back here; I’m happy and sad; I’m amazed. Thank you, Earl. Thank you.”
“They’ll find their own way to us; they’re smarter than the raiders; we can’t fight that army and have those three get shot,” George warned.
Beth nodded. She felt a million feelings, but she wouldn’t run out and get herself and them killed. She knew Kim would frown at her, tell her just to let him do his work, and get all three to safety, to have faith and trust him. Sometimes, it wasn’t easy.
“We will wait for both of them to come home, Beth,” Len said. “Misty is going to be so happy. Earl, you have made a lot of people happy.”
“I would be happy if you would let my patient get some rest,” Doc grumbled. “You all have your good news, two times the good news; can he rest now? And you can interrogate him more when he’s stronger.”
“Interrogate?” Len asked, “Really? We didn’t even interrogate him.”
Earl’s eyelids fluttered, and Doc deftly gave him an injection and sternly told the three visitors to leave, “He’s exhausted and in some terrible pain.
It’s hard to find many bones unbroken, and I have no idea how many muscles and organs are bruised and torn; he has broken off teeth that I’ll have to remove when he’s stronger. He won’t get around as well; if he even walks again, I’d be shocked. The only good news is he doesn’t have a brain injury, and he’s strong and healthy or was before,” he whispered to them harshly.
“Ate. Oy.”
“What? Doc ‘hang’ on.”
“Y’all need to get out now,” Doc ordered.
“Ate,” Earl said.
“Ate? Wait?”
“I E oy.”
“I’m not getting that,” Len said as Earl looked upset that he couldn’t get them to understand him. Doc hesitated, seeing this was important to Earl.
“Rah. Oy.” “Rah-oy. Roy? You saw Roy? Is he with the RA?”
“Yeth,” Earl lay down, glad they understood at last.
“Son of a bitch,” Len said, “thanks, Earl, you gave us good information. Good sitrep.”
They followed him out and sat while Doc poured each of them a drink. Beth waved hers away, saying she was calm and felt better than she had in a long time after hearing the news. “I knew Kim was alive.”
“That is incredible. If anyone could escape, it would be Kim, Andie, and Mark; those three are crafty,” George said. “I feel as if we got a gift, hearing that, and then your brother, Beth; it’s just some damned fine news to get.”
“I’m glad we had some good news,” said Doc smiling thinly.
“It’s a good day.”
“Oh, hold that thought a bit. I do want to bring up some bad news,” Doc said. “And this may be a good time so you can use your think tank to see what it means in the long run.”
“You look worried.”
“Worried, curious, scared,” Doc said. “With the Diamond Flux or Red, we know little about why it was developed or how.
But I’ll explain. The virus was first; people caught it. I don’t feel any of us had a natural immunity so to speak…as in we just weren’t affected. I feel that whatever the virus was, it was something each of us had connected with on a tiny, non-lethal way before, giving us immunity. A vaccination if you will.”
“We were vaccinated?”
“No, not how you’re thinking. We were given vaccinations against some diseases by using a small sample of that virus that was dead, and it protected us later from taking other diseases.
Flu shots were that way; you didn’t get the flu because you had immunity because of the injection, but we didn’t have shots against Red. We had contact with it as a safe version sometime in our lives that most people never had.”
“How?”
“Oh, if I knew that, I could maybe develop vaccines for everyone and save the rest of humanity from ever being infected,” Doc chuckled. “No way to know, but I am guessing on that part.
The virus entered the victims, and it replicated and grew in live people, live cells.The key is they were alive, so it could take over; viruses aren’t all excited and into dead people and dead cells, see?”
“But the zeds,” Beth said.
“We’re only to first stage: The Red. By the time we have the coma, the virus is full-blown and very happy in its host.
Now imagine this: a prion, and I don’t have the energy to even explain that, except to say that it is DNA or RNA-based, piggybacks on the virus.”
“Why did they need a prion? Why not make the virus able to cause this? Why did they need a piggyback?” George asked.
“Good question. You get a gold star, George. Indeed why? While we might have immunity to a virus, we sure don’t have immunity to a prion. It was as simple as this: someone was smart in designing it, remember? Hedged that bet.”
“That’s…well…it’s diabolic, pardon the drama.”
Doc nodded at George. “It is. So the Reds, once infected, act according to what the prion causes in the brain…the rage, feeding…eating people…no memory or skills; they are people with holes in their brains who just do what the prions say to do.”
“Okay. I follow that part. I think. I see them like people with remote controls in the brain, making the zeds behave certain ways,” Len said.
“Interesting view, Len,” Doc noted.
“I know; I need a head doctor.”
“The Reds get up, and they are being ordered, in a way, like Len said, to spread the disease. That is their ultimate purpose.
So they spread the stuff: they bite, and prions are spread by body fluid. They infect people, and those get up and carry on the process. The eating keeps the bodies going, but I suspect the ones we think of as dead, really bite and chew to spread the infection but don’t need the food.”
“Are they dead? Like Sally said?”
“I can’t say for sure what dead is anymore with all this dead, deadish, deader. Stage one: Reds are alive. Stage two: the infected ones, infected by the others; they are deadish, mostly dead, but the prions keep them moving…like you said, Len…but mo
re of a puppeteer. Hand up the ass thing.”
“You said the virus replicates in living cells. Living,” Beth said.
“Another gold star. Exactly. So, you see the infected don’t start bleeding out their bodily orifices; they are what we all call zombies: torn up and deadish. What is being passed is not the virus, then, but the prions.”
“I have a feeling this knowledge, your hypothesis is based on something we brought back in those papers and samples,” Beth said, “and you seem unhappy with this new knowledge.”
“I am. Of course, scientists were working on a cure or something to help, and they accomplished part of that, I feel. I don’t have the means to figure out what is in that injection nor do they know how, but let’s see if you can earn more gold stars.
You use the injections and salve on the wound of your patient. Hot diggity damn, but it holds the infection back, and you have less pus, swelling, and discoloration; the process stops. Now what is wrong with that scenario?”
“Ummm. Nothing. The infection stops,” Len said, puzzled.
“Wait. It stops, but if it isn’t going forward, is it, what is the term? Does it retreat? Does it reverse?”
Doc slapped his knee and poured fresh drinks for him and those who wanted them. “That was what they didn’t think about. Or care about, I don’t know.”
“So the infected bite just sits there? I mean, wait, it can’t just stay like that; it has to either heal or get worse, and the person lives or dies, or in this case, lives or changes, or both,” Beth argued.
“Imagine this patient: he’s had this treatment, but the infection halted as far as the patient going septic and turning when he dies or whatever he does. But that prion is still replicating in the brain.”
They sat for a second, thinking about that.
“The prion runs the…behavior…the rage and craziness…the violence? So I can’t get my own brain around this, and I don’t even have a prion poking holes in it,” Len complained.
“Are you saying my patient…she gets the treatment and the other symptoms stop?She doesn’t turn or die, but her brain is full of prions and holes, so she is violent, attacking others? Is she contagious?”
