No other plan, just go.
With no destination in mind other than south, Tasha and Melvin would leave town, they’d get out before lock down, and that was what was most important, they’d figure it out once they got across the border.
<><><><>
The short car ride was filled with back and forth emotional checks between Brady and Jason.
“Are you okay?” Jason asked.
“Not really, I’ll be fine though. You?”.”
“Same.”
A few moments later, another version of the same exchange took place and it was that way the entire distance to the hotel.
Brady wasn’t okay. It really would be a while before he was. He couldn’t even process what had happened to his mother. He would eventually. Face it, deal with it. But at that moment, Jason’s family was priority.
The lives and welfare of his wife and child.
The parking lot of the Marriott was void of cars, yet litter was strewn across the surface. Open suitcases and clothes scattered about. It was desolate, on the positive side, they saw no infected or bodies. Brady pulled the car up to the main doors, none of the windows were broken, but it was hard to see inside with the tinted glass.
“What now?” Jason asked.
“We go in,” Brady said. “We look for Corrie and the baby.”
“You think they’re still here?”
Brady shook his head. “I don’t know. Looks like everyone up and took off. But we have to look, right? See if we can find them.” He looked back to Bert. “Do you want to stay in the car?”
“No. Do you?” Bert retorted.
“We’ll find a place to keep him safe,” Jason said.
“I can handle myself,” Bert replied.
“Really, dude?” Brady said sarcastically. “You think?”
“Yes, I do.”
Brady shook his head again then reached down to the floor of the passenger seat. “Meat Mallet, or rolling pin.”
“We have the gun,” Jason said.
“Not enough ammo,” Brady responded. “Plus, we don’t know if infected are around. Guns make noise. Noise will draw attention.”
“You have a point. Rolling pin.”
Brady handed Jason the rolling pin and armed with the mallet, he stepped from the car first aiming in the direction of the front doors.
He didn’t wait for Jason or for Bert to get out, open his walker and roll his way there. Brady went to the doors. He wanted to make sure it was clear. The hotel was dark and those things could lurk anywhere.
The revolving door was jammed, and the electricity was down, causing the sliding doors to remain closed. Using his fingers he pried the door open some and slipped through. Brady didn’t worry that something would be lurking, it felt too still. His first thoughts were that an evacuation had taken place. That the hotel was empty. If that was the case, then Jason would have a hard time locating his family, but that meant they were alive and that was the most important thing.
The lobby was large and open. Brady didn’t see or hear a soul. He also didn’t smell anything foul.
Within a few minutes, Jason entered with Bert.
“Clear?” Jason asked.
“Here, at least,” Brady replied.
“How are we going to find them?” Jason asked.
“They always make you sign a paper, right? There’s got to be a file where they keep them all.”
“There is,” Bert said. “Always behind the desk. They file them. If she was still here when everyone left, then the register paperwork would be here. Problem is, would it be under her name?”
“We can check,” Brady went behind the desk.
The three of them opened drawers, checking everything, trying to determine the filing order.
“Here.” Jason shouted.
Brady looked over his shoulder, Jason held a sheet of paper. “Did you find them?”
“Yeah, I did. They are on the fourth floor.”
“Let’s go.”
Jason looked at Bert.
“Yep, you got me there,” Bert said. “I’m not making it up those stairs. I’ll wait here.”
“No, you can’t,” Brady said. “There’s a small office.” He opened the door behind the front desk. “Wait in here, in case those things come.”
“Lock myself in that room?” Bert asked.
Brady nodded.
Bert shrugged. “Okay.” He inched his way to the room. “If you don’t come back, no worries, I have my soup.”
“We’ll be back,” Brady said. “Just don’t leave. Alright?”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good. We’ll be back.” Brady reached for the door.
“Hey,” Bert called out before the door closed. “Good luck.”
Brady nodded and closed the door.
After walking from behind the front desk, they quietly sought out a stairwell. There was one near the banquet hall section of the first floor.
While the hotel seemed quiet, it wasn’t. Noises carried to them. Shuffling, banging. They knew they weren’t the only ones there in the hotel. They just didn’t see anyone else and were left to wonder, who or what was in the hotel with them?
“They’re up there, right?” Jason asked, standing before the stairs.
“Yes, they’re up there.”
After a nod of agreement, Jason opened the door.
The stairwell was empty. They climbed the eight flights of stairs to the fourth floor, saying nothing, keeping quiet.
Outside the door to the fourth floor, they paused to catch their breath. Jason pressed his head close to the door to listen, then with his kitchen utensil weapon he pushed open the door. Immediately, after stepping onto the fourth floor, they retreated back into the stairs.
They had to come up with a plan.
A way to get to the room.
A problem stood in their way, or rather several of them.
The hotel was quiet, but without a doubt, it wasn’t void of beings. In fact, it was worse, the entire fourth floor hallway was crawling with infected.
<><><><>
It had only been moments, but Linda swore she felt worse. Perhaps it was because she saw her reflection, the reality of her future and the fact that her life was going to end on the cold bathroom floor.
What was her legacy? A lifelong soldier, no family to love or miss her. Adored by countrymen who would be too consumed with everything to even care if she lived or died. Did it even matter? Her infection told her she was probably misguided in thinking she could stop it. She had to get it together. Knowing the time frame of the illness, she had a good day before she was too sick to do anything, but while she still had her strength, she was going to fight.
With trembling hands, she grabbed her phone.
There was only one person that she could call. With blurry eyes, she sought out the number in her phone and pressed call.
The moment he answered she felt relieved. ‘Brian,” she spoke his name.
“Colonel? Is everything alright?” Brian asked “Are you on your way back?”
“I’m not coming back and everything isn’t alright. I’m … I’m … Brian, I have it.”
“Have what?”
“The infection.”
Silence
“How?” he asked. “You were fine.”
“I know. The best I can figure is I caught it early, before we knew anything. When I was going back and forth to the hospital.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m so sure, I have locked myself in the ladies room.”
“Why? Get out of there. Get help.”
Linda laughed. “You and I both know there is no help to get. I can’t come home.”
“You can’t stay in a restroom, either.”
“I won’t. It shouldn’t be long before word gets out that an infected is in the bathroom. They’ll shut down the rest stop and I’ll be able to leave. I don’t know where I’ll go, but I’ll leave.”
“You’ll keep m
e posted, right?”
Linda nodded, cleared her throat of emotions and said, “Yes,” she paused. “We got approval.”
“Yes, I know. Orders came through to move troops.”
“Good. How are you feeling, Brian?” she asked.
“I’m fine. I’m in the office.”
“Stay there. Stay safe. I need you to work on something for me.”
“What is it?”
“A secondary plan.”
“I don’t understand,” Brian said. “You already laid out a detailed plan for the war.”
“I did. That was, as you said, for the war. To kill the infected. Stop the spread. That’s already done. I have a plan to fight this, and win, but I need you to work on a plan on what to do if the war is unwinnable. I need you to come up with a way for the human race to survive,” she said.
“I already am.”
The conversation was brief after that. Linda disconnected the call with the promise she’d check in again.
She would try her best.
However, for the moment, until the rest area was cleared and she could leave, Linda needed to rest. She was tired and sick. Every inch of her body ached.
Sitting on the floor of the rest room, making sure no one would come in, she sat against the door, rested her head back and closed her eyes. She hoped getting some shuteye would give her enough strength to push on, or at the very least get out of the bathroom.
SIXTEEN – RIPPLES
“What happens when there are no more soldiers left to hold the fort?” Gil had said to Vivian not one hour earlier.
Now, still in their lounge chairs, they watched as every single soldier was air lifted off the island by way of a Chinook. Gone.
Sound travelled and before the large chopper arrived they could hear the arguments entail about the abandonment. Actually, they couldn’t make out the words being said, they didn’t know what it was about until the team of soldiers withdrew from the pier.
Gil asked one, “You letting them ashore?”
“Not our problem now,” the soldier said. “We’re being deployed.”
“Deployed?” Gil asked. “As in war? Boots on the ground?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Where are you being deployed to?”
“Our unit?” the soldier replied. “Cleveland.”
The second they pulled back there was an entirely different feel to everything. It was immediate, like the end of a movie.
Vivian continued to watch the ferry that rested on the lake about half a mile from shore.
There wasn’t much conversation between her and Gil, they just sat there, staring out, bottles from the bar between their chairs.
She turned from her ferry watching when she heard footsteps, Aaron approached.
“Do you need one of us to test?” she asked.
“No.” He shook his head. “I need one of those bottles.”
“Take your pick,” Vivian said.
Aaron reached down with a ‘thanks’.
Gil asked. “Was it every soldier that left?”
“Yep. Everyone and … every gun. Okay, just about every gun. We still have a hand gun here and there. Maybe if we scour the island we may find a few. The soldiers were vital. We needed them here to keep the island safe.”
“It has to be pretty bad inland if they pulled them,” Vivian said.
“Twenty-five percent of the states are infected,” Aaron replied. “They’re sending soldiers in to defeat the infected. Every single one is needed on the streets, or in the camps. Thousands are sick and those thousands will become those things that are taking over.”
Gil lifted his glass. “You know, if I were in Sandusky or any of the areas around the lake … one of the lake islands would be the first place I would head.”
Aaron nodded. “Me, too.”
“My guess is a handful of immune, a few doctors and a couple dozen sick are on this island. We’re shit out of luck if someone, or a group tries to come here. We can’t defend it.”
“I know,” Aaron said. “But what can we do?”
“Replace the soldiers. Bodies are a defense.”
“How do we do that?” Aaron asked. “Where do we get the replacement soldiers?”
Gil didn’t say anything, he only pointed. He pointed to the ferry out in the bay. “Let them come ashore.”
<><><><>
Had they made the wrong decision? Tasha was all about leaving, getting out of the zone, heading south, she failed to see the reality of it. It was a mass exodus. Her and Melvin weren’t the only ones leaving.
Highways were not built to handle every single car and when nearly every car in the area jammed the highways at the same time, everything stopped.
Tasha and her husband Melvin made it eight miles out of the city when their pace slowed down to a crawl, another three miles and it was a parking lot, every lane, even the shoulder of the road was nothing but cars. The continuous sound of beeping horns finally ceased and people shut down their engines.
Tasha and Melvin did the same. Within hours the highway went from a parking lot to a campsite. People roamed around, talking to others. What else was there to do?
Not Melvin.
The rear hatch of their SUV was lifted. Melvin sat in the back under the hatch door.
Tasha walked about staying close to their vehicle, trying to hear what others said, listening to the radio message that was nothing but a repeat.
People bartered and traded, cooked on tiny grills as if they were there for the duration.
Tasha wanted to keep her supplies hidden. She didn’t want others to know what they had. After circling around she returned to her SUV and to Melvin.
“Think we should leave?” she asked.
“And go where?”
Tasha shrugged. “Back home.”
He shook his head. “Is back home any better?”
“I don’t know. We wanted out. We’re out. Now I’m wondering if we should have stayed home.”
“Hindsight is a wonderful and cursed thing.”
“True.” Folding her arms, she leaned on the vehicle next to him. “You think the highways will ever clear?”
“Nope.”
“Then why are we staying here?”
“Nowhere else to go,” Melvin said. “We wait. We have what we need. Time will tell us where and when to go. I believe that.”
“I’m sorry I made us leave.”
“That’s fine. It’s either waiting out here or at home.”
“Home would have been safer.”
Melvin winked, “I’ll give you that.”
“So what now?”
“Now, we can just sit here, talk, watch our belongings, see what …” Melvin quickly turned his head.
“What? What is it?” Tasha asked, but before he could answer she heard it. A scream, it was followed by another, they came from behind them in traffic.
Melvin slid from the back end of the SUV and stood. He looked outwards searching for an answer to what they heard.
“See anything?”
“No.” He jolted when gunfire rang out and the singular screams and cries turned into a chorus.
“What do we do?”
Just as he was about to answer several people ran by, squeezing their way between the cars.
“Mel?”
Melvin took her arm and opened the back door. “Get in.”
“People are running.”
“I see that.” He inched her inside.
“Why are they running?”
Once Tasha was inside, Melvin saw why they ran. It was still in the distance, and he had only seen them on the television, but he was certain the infected had descended on the highway.
He could see them attacking, or at least it looked like it. He knew for certain when a woman covered in blood bumped into him, then after stumbling, kept on running.
Hurriedly, Melvin inched both front seats up.
“Get on the floor,” he instructed. “Now!”
; Tasha did as instructed.
Melvin grabbed a blanket from the back end, climbed inside and wedged himself between the front seat and back, then hit the locks on the door. He was face to face with his wife. Tasha was on the floor behind the passenger seat, him on the driver’s side, he brought the blanket over them.
They didn’t move. They didn’t make a sound.
Unable to see what was going on around them and outside the vehicle, they could only rely on what they heard. Mixed with cries of anguish, outside sounded no less than like a damned world. How long it would continue, or how long until it was safe remained to be seen, but one thing was for sure, they weren’t going anywhere. Not anytime soon.
<><><><>
The west stairwell exit was four doors from room 422, yet Brady and Jason couldn’t get near it. The infected swarmed the floor as if protecting something. Brady came up with a plan, the best way for Jason to get to the room was for Brady to distract the infected so they cleared out of the way. The next obstacle would be for Jason to get into the room. The electricity was down so it made sense that the card key system was as well.
Hopefully, Jason would knock once on the door and get his answer.
However first, Brady had to implement his plan. He left Jason at the west wing stairwell. The fourth floor wasn’t the only floor with infected, although the other floors weren’t as bad, and Brady couldn’t figure out where they all came from. Were they guests? Did they just wander in? If that was the case, why here?
The eighth floor was clear.
No infected in sight and the doors to most of the rooms were ajar. Brady made his way from the west wing stairwell to the east, and then down the stairs as quietly as possible to the fourth floor.
Carefully, he opened the door and peeked out. He quietly propped open the door. He would call them, get them to follow, lead them up to the eighth floor and then Brady would cross down the hall to the stairs, shut the door and head back down to the fourth floor.
That was the plan.
A short whistle was the start, then Brady called out, “Hey, come and get me.”
Three Miles Out: Book One Page 12
