Matt says, “But we aren’t cops.”
Phil says, “I am and TJ is.”
Matt says, “Well I ain’t. Shaun isn’t and Ryan isn’t.”
I shout, “It doesn’t matter. The SUV’s are police sheriff SUV’s. They only saw the outside of the SUV’s and thought I was a cop.”
Matt says, “Oh. I got it. We need to paint these SUV’s then.”
Chris says, “My uncle has a paint shop, and he can paint your cars whatever color you want.”
“Okay great, we will do that, but I think we have a bigger problem than the SUV paint color.”
Phil asks, “What is it?”
“Remember at the hardware store, the guy called themselves Conquerors and something about a leader?”
Shaun says, “Yeah. That guy said we were all dead.”
Chris asks, “What? We are all dead?”
I grab Chris by the shoulders and say, “Relax. That guy is dead now, don’t cause a panic around here.”
I let go of Chris and say, “I saw a billboard that had a symbol and a phrase on it.”
I grab a stick and draw the symbol and write the words in the dirt.
Matt says, “Obey or Be Conquered.”
“Yeah. I think that group is pretty big and taking over a lot of the area. We need to be careful.”
Matt looks at the symbol and says, “I’m pretty sure the symbol is symbolic of Conquerors.”
Shaun says, “I don’t care what they want to be called, but I do know that they aren’t taking over or conquering anything we have.”
Phil says, “If they have the numbers, then they might be able to. We have to tread lightly for a while and see what we can find out about these guys.”
“Good idea. Let’s keep runs to a minimum. Avoid any places that have that symbol on it and be quiet about all this. I don’t want people panicking.”
Carlos asks, “Is the party still on for tonight?”
“Yeah, definitely. We have to celebrate closing up these entrances and have some fun.”
Carlos smiles and says, “Okay great. When do you want to get everyone together?”
“Let’s do it around sunset. Which should be in about 5 hours from now. Today is a good day and let’s have some fun. I’ll see you guys later.”
The guys and I leave Bobby G’s front yard and go into our homes.
Phil and I walk into my house. Phil goes into his room, and I walk towards my bedroom.
As I’m walking towards my bedroom, I see Lauren working hard in the backyard.
I walk through the sliding glass door and towards Lauren.
I open the screen door from the lanai and say, “How we doing farmer girl?”
Lauren pulls up a weed from the garden and says, “I’m just great. It’s hot as hell out here. I’m sweating, and I need a drink.”
“Well you and the garden look great. Let’s come inside and take a shower. We have to prep for the party tonight.”
Lauren runs over to me, jumps into my arms, wraps her arms and legs around me, and gives me a big kiss.
We walk back into the house and into the bathroom. We enjoy some nice quality time together in the shower.
I exit the shower and start to get ready for the party.
Lauren towels off in the bathroom and starts to get ready as well.
I get all the coolers and supplies ready for the party.
Everyone is bringing something to the party, as we all know to pitch in around the neighborhood with anything we can do.
I walk over to my dad’s house with the cooler and other items for the party and place the items in his house.
The sun is starting to set and it’s almost party time.
Bobby G and I walk outside and start to setup the tables, chairs, and coolers in some of the shaded areas.
People start to come out of their homes and congregate around Bobby G’s Oak tree.
It’s a nice night for an outdoor party. Not too hot, and we have a nice cool breeze.
Carlos, his wife Gloria, and their two kids are there. Chris, Jamie, and several of Chris’s family members are there as well.
Lauren walks over with Matt, Kylie, Nicole, and Mia.
Shaun, Lisa, and TJ bring over some things for the party.
I see TJ and ask, “Where is Odin?”
TJ replies, “He is in the backyard at Shaun’s house. We setup a big runner for him to run around in, but also we caged it all in, so that he cannot get out of the backyard.”
Lauren says, “I want to meet Odin.”
TJ says, “That’s not the best idea. Odin is a K-9 cop and isn’t really the friendliest dog to most people. His training made him a cop first and a pet second.”
“How does he do with the zombies? Does he attack them?”
“Actually, he does. He does pretty well with them. He attacks their arms and legs, while I take them out with a weapon,” says TJ.
Lisa asks Nicole, “Where is my little guy Mason?”
Nicole replies, “My mom is watching him. He still has a cough.”
I overhear the conversation between Nicole and Lisa and walk over to Nicole.
“Is everything okay with the babies Nicole?”
Nicole replies, “Yeah. I think so. Mason has a cough and has had the cough for several days now. Mia is okay though.”
“I want to check Mason out later if I can. It’s probably nothing, but I want to make sure.”
“Sure, no problem. My mom is watching him now. Whenever you want, you can come over and check him out,” replies Nicole.
Shaun is talking to TJ about a variety of things, but they get into the subject of the military.
Shaun asks, “What branch where you in?”
TJ replies, “I was a Marine, before I became a cop.”
Phil asks, “What’s up with that MacDill base around here? Can you get us in there?”
TJ replies, “Yeah actually, I can. My father works there. It’s a nice base. Any particular reason you need to go there?”
“I want to check it out and get any supplies that we can. A functioning military base can be a game changer for us,” says Phil.
TJ says, “Sure no problem. We can go anytime you want.”
Chris walks over to me and says, “Yo Ryan, this is my Uncle Tony. He has the paint shop.”
I shake Tony’s hand and say, “Oh yeah. Great. I hear that you can paint our police SUV’s.”
Tony says, “Yeah. I can pain them whatever color you want. Black, Blue, Red, whatever.”
“Okay great. Can you do it here, or do we have to bring them to your shop?”
Tony says, “If you want it done right, we need them in the shop. It’s not far away and should only take a day or two for the vehicles you want painted to be ready to go.”
I shake Tony’s hand and say, “Okay great, we will setup a day that works for us both.”
Several hours go by and everyone has a good time at the party. Everyone gets to know each other better and just relax for once.
It has been a race to get to this point now, and by no means are we one hundred percent safe, but we are at a good point for now.
As we are winding down the party and cleaning up, Nicole comes running over to Lauren and me.
Nicole says, “Ryan, please come quick. Mason isn’t doing very well. I think he’s really sick.”
I immediately run over to Nicole’s house and find Ann holding Mason in the living room.
I take Mason from Ann and place him on the sofa. Mason is alive, but showing signs of an illness. It’s hard for me to tell what illness as I can’t get any blood work done or run any tests.
Mason starts to cough. He has a congested cough that sounds like whooping cough.
I look at Ann and ask, “How is Mia doing? Is she sick also?”
She started coughing today but overall, she is fine.
I feel Mason’s head and it’s warm. He has a fever, a cough, and is showing signs of being sick.
“Please sep
arate Mia and Mason for a while. I don’t want Mia to catch anything more from Mason. What antibiotics do you have in the house?”
Ann runs into the bathroom and grabs all the antibiotics from the medicine cabinet.
I examine what antibiotics we have and pick a general broad-spectrum antibiotic. Without knowing exactly what he has, we won’t be able to know what medicine is best for him.
Nicole and Lauren come into the house and see Mason lying on his back on the sofa. He coughs and it triggers Nicole to start crying.
“Is he okay Ryan? Is he going to be okay?” asks Nicole.
“He should be fine. He looks to have an infection, but I don’t know exactly what it is. I won’t be able to know without blood work, but we can still treat his symptoms like his fever and cough.”
Nicole says, “Okay. What did you give him?”
“I gave him a broad-spectrum antibiotic, so far. Keep Mason away from Mia, keep him hydrated, and keep an eye on him.”
Matt and Kylie walk into the living room and Matt asks, “Is everything okay? How is he doing?”
I look at Matt and say, “He’s okay. He should be okay, but I want to give him and Mia some injections just to be safe.”
Kylie says, “We don’t have anything like that here.”
“I know, we need to go back to the hospital for the supplies that we need for the babies, but also for setting up a medical house here in the neighborhood.”
Lauren says, “What? You are going back to the hospital? It was overrun with zombies that last time we were there.”
“I know, but we have a bigger team this time and we have to get setup for illnesses, injuries, and anything else that comes to this neighborhood. We have to always be ready for things like this.”
Nicole asks, “What are we supposed to do until you go to the hospital?”
“I gave him some antibiotics just now. We keep giving him the antibiotics and keep him cool. Avoid the heat the best that you can. We will go to the hospital tomorrow morning.”
I say goodbye to everyone in the room and exit Matt’s house. Shaun, Phil and TJ are finishing the cleaning up outside from the party.
I run over to them and say, “Guys we need to go to the hospital tomorrow morning. Mason is sick, and I think Mia is starting to get sick.”
Phil says, “What? We need to get them better Ryan.”
“We will Phil. Don’t worry about that. We just need to get back to the hospital and get supplies, vaccines, and other stuff for the babies, but also for everyone else in the neighborhood.”
Phil asks, “What about the supplies we got the last time we were at the hospital?”
“Those are a good start, but the babies need vaccines, and other pediatric medicines. We have somethings, but we need a whole lot more for us and everyone here at the neighborhood.”
TJ asks, “When do you want to leave?”
Phil interrupts, “Now. We need to go now.”
“We can’t now Phil. It’s too dangerous now, plus the babies are doing okay. They aren’t dying right now, we have some time.”
Phil is ready to go now, but understands that it’s unsafe to go now in the middle of the night.
I look at the guys and say, “Be here and ready to go early tomorrow morning, like sunrise early. I don’t want to wait and see with the health of Mason and Mia. We need to stay on top of things.”
CHAPTER 8
HOSPITAL RUN
The sun is just barely up, when someone rings the doorbell and knocks several times at the front door.
Phil gets out of bed and answers the door. Matt walks through the doorway and into my house. He is ready to go get what we need from the hospital.
I exit my bedroom and walk over to Matt.
Matt says, “Let’s go guys. We need to get to the hospital.”
“Okay, Matt. We will. Go wake up Shaun, and we’ll be ready.”
Matt runs out of the house and over to Shaun’s house.
I look at Phil and say, “That’s the first time I have seen Matt ready before all of us.”
Phil says, “Yeah. He must be really worried about those babies.”
Phil and I go back into our bedrooms and get ready for our trip to the hospital.
I get my gear on and kiss Lauren on the forehead as she sleeps in the bed.
I whisper, “Goodbye sweetie. I love you.”
Lauren who is half asleep still, says, “I love you. Be careful.”
Phil is already outside and putting his gear and bags in his SUV.
Matt and Shaun walk over to meet us in the driveway.
Matt is frantically pacing in the driveway and asks, “Okay. We ready to go guys?”
Shaun says, “Not yet. We have to wait for TJ. He should be here in a couple minutes. “
Matt says, “What’s taking him so long? We should already be there.”
I walk over to Matt to help calm him down, as he is out of control this morning. He is unable to focus on anything, but getting to the hospital and getting the babies better.
I call Matt over and say, “Matt. I know you want the babies to be fine. We all do, but you need to relax and calm your nerves. I don’t want you to make a foolish mistake today that could get you killed.”
Matt understands what I’m saying, but doesn’t want any part of it, he is very focused on the single task right now.
TJ comes driving down the street, after being let in by the guards at the South entrance.
Matt sees TJ driving down the street and yells, “Finally. Can we go now?”
I look at Shaun and say, “Control your boy there. He needs to calm down, before we get to the hospital.”
We all pile in to Phil’s SUV. Phil exits Bobby G’s driveway and drives towards the South entrance. TJ and Odin follow behind in TJ’s jeep.
Tony opens the gate for us, and we drive through the South entrance gate.
“Matt, let’s stay focused on staying alive as well as getting the supplies and medicine from the hospital,” says Shaun.
Matt gives Shaun an annoyed look and says, “I know what you and everyone is saying, but I really don’t care right now. I just want the babies feeling better. I will be safe at the hospital, stop worrying about me. You sound like Kylie.”
“Easy big man. We just want to see you stay alive. The babies would be missing out if you weren’t around.”
Matt jokingly says, “I’ll show ya big man.”
We all have a good laugh and the tension is broken.
Phil pulls into the parking lot at the hospital, and it’s empty. No zombies or bodies moving in the parking lot.
Phil parks in a parking space right by the emergency room entrance, and TJ parks in a parking spot in the row next to us.
TJ exits his jeep with Odin. Odin starts to bark as he looks at the entrance to the hospital.
The guys and I exit the SUV and walk over to TJ.
Phil asks, “What’s up with Odin?”
TJ replies, “He smells something around here. It could be people, zombies, or both.”
I look up at the 2nd floor of the hospital and see the hole that Phil, Lauren, and I escaped from. Vultures and other birds are flying in and out of the hospital through the opening.
I can picture the whole situation that we went through before. Tying the sheets together, lowering Lauren and Phil down to the street. It was a daring escape and hopefully this trip is much smoother.
As I’m looking towards the emergency room overhang, a zombie comes flying down from the overhang and narrowly lands on me.
I luckily had enough time to move out of the way. The zombie falls from the overhang and lands on his head. His head explodes when he lands on it.
“What the hell was that?” asks Matt.
I point at the opening in the second floor and say, “It came from there. Phil and I made that hole in the hospital before, last time we came here. I broke the window, and we came down this overhang and we escaped.”
Phil says, “Zombies were
all over the place. Ryan fell on top of the SUV and narrowly got away. It was awesome.”
“Yeah. It was pretty awesome, but we can only say that now as we got away safely. We need to be careful this time and stick together.”
Odin starts to move towards the hospital and bark a lot more.
TJ says, “Odin senses something inside, so we need to be careful. Odin is ready though.”
TJ unclips Odin from his leash and Odin goes running into the hospital.
We all look at TJ and wonder if that was a good idea to just let Odin go inside like that.
Shaun asks, “You sure Odin will be safe?”
Odin comes prancing back to TJ with a zombie arm in his mouth.
TJ says, “Yeah. I think he’ll be alright.”
“Okay guys, the plan is to hit every floor for everything that we can get. Fill those bags with anything you think is needed. If you aren’t sure if we need it, but you can take it, just take it, as I don’t know if we will ever be back here again.”
TJ says, “I’ll stay out here with Odin and keep the vehicles safe and parking lot clear of any zombies or problems.”
“Sounds good. Let’s head inside and go to the lobby. Look alive and get your weapons ready. Use whatever weapons you want, but try to keep it quiet unless there is no other choice.”
We all get our weapons ready and head towards the hospital emergency room lobby. The lobby is a mess, blood is smeared all over the walls, bullet holes are in the walls, the floor has decaying dead bodies all over the place, and it smells bad as we walk by the front lobby desk.
Matt walks by a group of bodies lying face down on the floor. A zombie grabs one of his pant legs and is trying to pull Matt down. Matt breaks free and Shaun stabs the zombie in the head with a knife.
Shaun asks, “You okay? Did he scratch you?”
Matt checks his left leg and sees that the zombie did not scratch his leg.
Matt says, “I’m safe. He didn’t get me.”
Shaun whispers, “Keep alert. That was too close.”
We make it to the nurses’ station and see the body of a nurse face down on the grey countertop. The nurse has a bullet hole in the back of her head.
I see a medicine cabinet that has some medication, bandages, and other medical supplies.
Fight 4 Us: (Book 3): Refuge Page 8
