“I think she pegged you two,” I said, chuckling. “No sense denying it, now.”
They headed down the hall towards the other office giving me lecherous smiles as they walked away. I knew what they meant, and I should have resented it. I’m a married man, and they both knew it. But by the same token, it was nice to think that a young and attractive woman would be interested in an old codger like me. It didn’t mean that she was, but it was nice to think it. Hell, just because I’m married doesn’t mean I can’t run to the end of my chain and bark once in a while. Once I turned off the light, I started to step over her bedroll to mine when she spoke up.
“Do you mind shutting the door?” she asked, softly. “The light from the hallway will keep me awake.”
“No problem,” I muttered, and nudged the door shut with my foot.
I had to use my flashlight so I wouldn’t step on her. Once I made it to my bedroll, I sat down and started removing my weapons, gear and boots. I could hear her getting ready for bed, behind me.
“Wylie?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I replied, softly.
“I know you’re married and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything,” she said, softly.
“Ok,” I replied eloquently.
“But, will you put your arms around me?”
“Yeah, I can do that,” I assured her.
I held her there in the darkness, her head cradled on my shoulder. I could feel her tremble against me, which at first I took to be fear. But then I realized that she was softly crying. I could feel the tears beginning to soak into my t-shirt. After the hellish day that we’d had, it was all finally getting to her. I couldn’t blame her. I was doing my best to keep it all together, myself.
“It’s ok,’ I whispered, stroking her hair.
“No, it’s not,” she sobbed, her voice choked with tears. “I don’t want to die.”
“Well,” I said as comfortingly as I could. “I’ve got no intention of dying, just yet. If we stick together, we’ll come through this. You’ll see.”
“Do you promise?” she asked, her voice trembling as much as she was.
She looked up and into my eyes. There was just enough light in the small room that I could see the glistening of tears in them. The pale blue of her eyes seemed almost translucent in the scant light coming from under the door.
“I promise that no matter what, I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll die before I let them get to you.”
“I guess that means I have to keep an eye on you, too,” she said, chuckling softly through the tears.
“Yeah,” I replied. “You saved my butt a few times today.”
“Consider us even,” she said. “If it weren’t for you, there’d be a lot less of us here.”
“I had good help.”
“Thanks,” she said, her voice more steady now.
“Do you have any family around here?”
“My parents live in St. Louis. I haven’t been able to reach them for three days, now.”
“Anyone around here?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“Not really. I came down here to go to school at MSU and I joined the Guard to pay for it. I don’t have any family here, just an ex-boyfriend. Although, he’s probably a zombie by now. He lived in a dorm on MSU.”
I didn’t want to say anything to hurt her, but she was probably right. MSU was zombie central, right now. I’d seen it when we went for the Sheriff. Thankfully, their attention had been on something besides us, or we’d have never made it out of there. Considering the amount of students who lived in and around that campus, it was no wonder the place was crawling with the dead.
“I’m sorry, kiddo,” I said. “Do you want to try to call your folks with my cell phone? It was still working, earlier.”
“No, thanks,” she relied, sniffling. “I’ve tried mine several times. They both have cell phones and they both go straight to voice mail. The last time I tried, it said that they weren’t in service. I can’t get through.”
“The entire St. Louis grid must be down,” I said, frowning.
“Yeah, that’s what I figured, too.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll contact the Evac-center,” I said. “I’ll see if they can contact the St. Louis Evac-center and try to locate them for you.”
“You can do that?” she asked, excitement in her voice.
“Sure, why not?” I said. “I’m the Sheriff, now. I’ll bet they’d be glad to help us out.”
She hugged me tightly, then. Before I realized it, we were kissing. It happened so suddenly, I wasn’t sure I was really it was really happening. Although I knew it was wrong, it felt amazing to feel her warmth against me.
“Stop,” I said, reluctantly forcing myself to stop. “We can’t do this. I’m a married man.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, huskily. “I just don’t want to sleep alone, tonight.”
“You won’t.” I promised, forcing myself to remain strong. “I’ll be there for you, I’ll hold you, but I can’t break my marriage vows. If anything, they’re even more important to me now. With the world going to shit, we have to hold on to something.”
“We also have to take what comfort we can,” she replied, softly. “There isn’t much left to be had, anywhere. Tomorrow, we might both be dead.”
I opened my mouth to argue with her, but couldn’t find the words. I was at a complete loss. She was right, but so was I. The paradox was killing me. I think she could sense the turmoil inside me, and pressed it further. I could feel her fingers as they slid down my chest in slow, deliberate circles. I could feel the warmth of her breath on my face, and smell the faint traces of alcohol on it.
“Besides,” she whispered into my ear. “I’d never tell anyone. We both need to be held, and to feel alive after everything we’ve seen today.”
The wheel in my brain was turning, but the hamster was dead. I couldn’t argue with her, despite wanting to and not wanting to all at the same time. In the end, the vision of my wife being alone with the kids and not even knowing if I was still alive or not won out. I couldn’t betray her like that. She was alive and waiting for me to come for her and the boys. And more importantly, she was armed.
Chapter Eight
Serve and Protect
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life.
A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
- Mark Twain
04 April
That night, I had the zombie-Viking dream, again. This time, I remembered more details. An angry Gothi[12] had struck a deal with Loki, for immortality. Loki the Trickster gives him what he asks for, but not in the way he expected. Loki turns him into an undead creature, cursed to live for all time. The cursed Gothi begins biting and consuming his own Kindred, turning them into zombies. I watched it all from the eyes of a warrior who fought against the undead.
I awoke in a cold sweat with Spec-4 still asleep on my shoulder. I really didn’t want to wake her, she looked so peaceful. So I slid out of bed as quietly as I could, trying hard not to wake her up. I pulled on my zip-side tactical boots and buckled on my duty belt. Then I slipped out of the room and gently pulled the door closed behind me. I still felt shook up from the dream, but forced myself to think about the task at hand.
I stumbled down the hall towards Booking and grabbed a cup of what could only dubiously be referred to as coffee. It tasted horrible, but it did the trick. I could feel it kicking in almost immediately, knocking the worst of the cobwebs out of my mind. I mumbled a few half-hearted “good mornings” and headed for the break room. I could smell food even before I cleared the main sliders, and it urged me on to find the source. Whatever it was, it smelled good.
Inside the break room, I found a big breakfast laid out for us. There was bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, oatmeal, cereal and coffee. It was real coffee, too. Having made that wondrous discovery, I poured my Booking sludge down the sink and hoped it didn’t eat through the pipes. Then I started to pour coffee in
to the same Styrofoam cup, but thought better of it. I didn’t want to contaminate the new coffee. So I tossed out the old cup and snagged two new ones.
Then I filled both cups and two trays with food. I really piled it on, too. I loaded up the eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, even some milk and oatmeal. Then I balanced it all as carefully as I could and headed back towards the sliders. Amazingly, I made it back to Spec-4 without spilling anything. She sat up when I clicked on the lights. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times before she focused on me and the trays.
“Breakfast in bed,” she said. “My hero. You really know how to treat a girl.”
“I left my shining armor and white horse outside,” I replied, chuckling.
“Fine, fine, just give me the bacon,” she said, hungrily.
I laughed as she took the tray from me and dug in with all the gusto that only a soldier can muster. We both ate in silence for a few minutes, savoring the meal as much for the warmth and sanity it imparted as for the nourishment. I felt almost normal, for the moment. I knew it wouldn’t last, but I really didn’t want to think about that. For now, I just wanted to eat and pretend that the world outside hadn’t gone insane.
“So,” she said, sitting up on one elbow. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“I have no idea. I’ll have to check in with Master Control. I know we have to take back Delta Pod, today. I also want to try for any other officers that we’ve been able to locate.”
“What’s the priority?” she asked, chewing on a piece of bacon.
After a moment’s hesitation, I said, “The officers. We’ll make them the first priority, unless they’re about to break out of Delta, or something.”
“Thanks for letting me sleep, and for the breakfast. And for everything else, too.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts. When we lose the grid, we’ll only have the generator for a week or so. Maybe longer depending on how much of the facility we have to run power to. When the generator goes, we’re eating MRE’s and cold canned goods.”
“Yum,” she said, with a smirk. “I lived on those things in the ‘ghan. I can eat them, but I don’t like it.”
“Yeah, me neither. Maybe we can find more fuel for the generators. It’s something to think about, later. Once we’ve rescued all the officers and survivors we can find.”
She just nodded and kept eating.
“I’m going to run down to Laundry and get our uniforms out of the dryer. Then I’m going to Master Control for a sit/rep[13].”
She gave me a thumb’s up and continued to eat. I shoved most of my breakfast into my mouth on the way back to Laundry. I dropped off the empty tray in the break-room and tossed my clothes in my locker. Then I dropped by and gave Spec-4 her uniform.
“Laundry service,” I said, tossing it to her.
“What’s this?” she said, snagging it out of the air. “I specifically recall asking for extra starch and a good pressing. I’m not paying for this.”
“Take it up with the manager. I just work here.”
“Should I stay in cop uniform or change back into my ACU’s?”
“Up to you,” I said. “But the ACU’s will probably be more comfortable. If you need other clothes, we have black BDU’s in the supply room.”
“I’ll take you up on that, later,” she said. “Right now, I’ll stick with my own.’
She didn’t waste any time, and started changing right in front of me. I played the gentleman and averted my eyes. Well, I mostly did. I’m married, not gay. I couldn’t help but notice that she decided to go with the tactical thong. It looked pretty damned good, too. Then I excused myself and headed out the door.
From out in the hallway I called back in to her. “I’m heading up to Master Control. You can join me when you’re ready.”
“Same goes for you,” she said, laughing. “I’m not dressed yet.”
“That girl’s gonna be the death of me,” I mumbled as I walked away.
Shaking my head a couple times, I headed for the stairs and tried to get my mind on other things. It almost worked. The Lieutenant was waiting for me when I walked in to Master Control. He didn’t look like he’d slept much, if at all. I made a mental note to have Medical check on him, again. We needed him at the top of his game. He really was the glue that was keeping this operation afloat.
“What’s new, L.T.?” I asked, trying to sound chipper.
“Hmm, where to start,” he said, and handed me another cup of coffee.
I took a sip and was happy to see that it really was the good stuff. It was even better than the break room coffee and many times superior to the Booking sludge. I savored the rich flavor, and thought I tasted a hint of chocolate. He talked while I sipped.
“We established contact with six more officers. Two are barricaded in a Convenience Store out on West Sunshine, and the other four blockaded themselves inside a Drugstore at Battlefield and Campbell.”
“Are there any civilians with them?”
“The first group said no. They’re alone in the C-store. But the second group has about a dozen survivors with them.”
“That won’t be an easy rescue,” I said. “We’ll need the transport bus for that one. Anything else?”
“Yes. Seven more made it in last night, while you were asleep,” he said. “I would’ve called for you, but you looked like you needed the rest.”
“So do you, sir. Have you slept at all?”
“I tried,” he said. “My arm hurts too bad to let me rest. So, until it eases up, I’ll live on catnaps and coffee. At least, so long as the coffee holds.”
“Who made it in?”
“Ian Shane and his family got here around 0200,” he said. “Marty Cooper made it back with Johnny Bowman and Luis Ramirez from C-shift.”
That was good news. Shane, Cooper and Bowman were all friends of mine from my shift. Ramirez was from C-Shift, but was a solid officer. I knew him pretty well, too. I was happy that Ian Shane had gone out and brought his wife and two kids back in with him. That was great news to me. It gave me hope that I might be able to do the same for my family.
“What about Delta Pod?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Don’t worry about Delta. I have teams assembling to go in there, now. Webber is leading the upper tier team and Matthews is leading the lower. They’re going to use the same tactics you did in Bravo Pod, last night.”
“Tell them to be careful, but give them the green light,” I said, nodding my approval. “Do you want me to go in with them?”
“Let someone else go into Delta,” he answered. “I’m sure that they can handle it. Besides, I figured you’d want to start planning the rescue of the officers we contacted.”
I nodded in agreement. He was right, of course. I couldn’t do everything, myself. It was best to let others handle things, when I could. It wasn’t easy for me to do, though. I was more of a George Patton, than a Dwight Eisenhower. I couldn’t see myself leading from anywhere but the front.
“Attention all units,” said the L.T. into the radio. “You are clear to proceed.”
Several responses of “copy” came back over the speaker. Then, moments later, I felt more than heard the thump of grenades detonating down the hallway. It had begun. I watched on the big monitor as the teams moved in, top tier first just like we’d done the night before. The tactics were just as effective for them, as well. It played out more or less like the scene from Bravo Pod. With the only exception being that no one fell down the stairs. Only I did that, and I still felt the aches and pains from the tumble.
Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) Page 18
