by Lundy, W. J.
David had unlocked the safe. Brad lifted the M4 and shotgun and handed them to David who sat them near to the back. Then he did the same with Sean’s weapons. David pushed the safe door shut then secured the chain around it and latched the lock. He looked up at Sean for approval as he finished the task. Sean forced a smile and nodded.
“I think I would prefer to be armed, but if this makes you more comfortable, I will go along with it,” Sean said.
David laughed and stepped away from the safe. “I think it will make us all feel better. I noticed you removed a part of the weapons.”
“Just the bolts. That makes me more comfortable,” Sean said, smiling sincerely this time.
“Very good then, we are both satisfied,” David laughed. “Would you like some taken up? The kitchen should be open now.”
Sean looked at him, puzzled. “The kitchen? I won’t turn down a meal if that’s what you are asking.”
Alex grunted and sat at the desk. “I wouldn’t say that, you haven’t had it yet.”
Luke laughed loudly and slapped Alex. “You are ruining my new friend’s surprise.”
David interrupted, shaking his head. “Enough, boys. Alex, we are closed for the night, that door stays locked, nobody in or out. Luke will be down to relieve you in a couple hours.”
“Yes Uncle,” Alex answered.
David walked to the steel door at the back of the room and rapped three times. As before, the door opened and a new face looked out at them. A skinny old man dressed in heavy pants and a turtleneck sweater gave Brad a surprised stare before looking back to David. “Whatta yat?” the man asked with a thick accent.
“This is it,” David responded.
“And who are they?” the man said, pointing at the strangers.
“They are guests, thank you, Robbie.” David said as he pushed open the door and walked past the guard. “This way.”
Sean again shrugged to Brad as he followed David through the doorway. The door opened into a small landing. There was a set of old cast iron stairs going up which David took two at a time, then turned a corner and continued to another steel door. At this door he pulled a latch and the door swung in revealing another long room filled with small living encampments.
David stopped in a large open space and waited for the men to enter the room and fall in beside him. “This is our camp. We took over the entire second floor, we could still move to the third floor if necessary. Right now the third floor is reserved for the single men.”
Brad looked around the large room, the size and shape being identical inside to the one below where the vehicles had been parked. “How many families do you have here?” he asked.
“There are ten families, but over a hundred and twenty residents. Many of us here are alone, not everyone was lucky enough to get their families out,” David said, placing a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I was lucky enough to get my nephews out, but we couldn’t locate my brother and his wife.”
“I am sorry for your loss,” Brad said.
“Many have lost more,” Luke replied solemnly.
“How long have you been here?” Brad asked.
“I’m not much for counting days, but we moved to this place about two weeks after the lights went out. We had held up in our homes for a while, then set up a tiny camp in the woods outside of town. But as the weather turned bad we needed to find something better. My father knew of this place, well, more than that, my father worked here as a young man.
“No one had been here in some time; the fences kept out most people. My father said the place had high brick walls and fenced-in yards. It seemed ideal at the time. I’d say this place has served us well. This factory thrived in a time before technology. Many of the woodstoves are original, there is a boiler in the basement, and water tanks all over the property.”
Sean looked around and nodded in agreement. “I tell ya, I’m happy to see folks getting along so well. It brightens my spirits.”
“Come now, let me show you to your man, right this way,” David said, indicating for them to follow him.
As they walked down the center of the room, Brad looked at the makeshift shelters on either side of the path. The living arrangements reminded him of the warehouse in Hairatan, back where they had built the refugee camp for the locals. The thought of Hairatan depressed him, the impossible task of trying to get his men home still was at the back of his mind. How was he supposed to rescue them when he couldn’t even rescue himself?
Brad followed the other men, preoccupied with his thoughts as they passed through the factory floor and through another door. They had entered into another office space. The room was filled with makeshift cots and boxes of personal items. Brad looked around the room and saw Hahn sleeping on a bunk. Brad quickly walked across the room and went to his side.
Hahn was still unconscious. His armor and shirt had been removed, and his damaged left arm was elevated and loosely splinted, resting at an angle going away from his body. Hahn’s arm was black and discolored, his fingers a twisted mass of dark blue and purples. Hahn’s head was to the side and he was breathing shallowly, sweat beading on his forehead. A door opened at the end of the room causing Brad to turn.
A young man, cleanly shaven, approached the bed. He gave Brad a dirty look as he went to push past him. “Ah, the rest of the brave Americans,” he said sarcastically. He moved between Brad and the bed. “Excuse me, I need to treat this man.” The young man removed a glass bottle from his pocket, then used a syringe to draw out the fluid which he stuck into an IV bag that was plugged into Hahn’s good arm.
“Will he be okay?” Brad asked.
The man continued to work on Hahn as if he hadn’t heard the question. After taking a quick check of Hahn’s vitals, he pulled the blanket up to Hahn’s neck then took a step back to face Brad.
The young man looked Brad in the eye. “Will he be okay? He is most likely going to lose that arm, possibly die of infection or maybe blood poisoning. Have you seen this man’s toes? The frostbite, and what the hell happened to his head? Is this how you take care of your friends?”
Sean, having heard enough, moved Brad aside and stepped forward. “How long have you been in here, kid? Do you even remember what it’s like outside?” he said in a low, serious voice. “He hurt his head in a plane crash, then probably ruined his feet leading a horde of those things away from the survivors. His arm? Yes, once again he fought off a horde to allow the rest of our team to escape.”
David quickly stepped between them. “Easy gentleman, our young doctor has had a rough few days himself. I’m sure if we all take a step back you will find our Doctor Ericson here is highly qualified, his bedside manner just needs some work.”
Sean clenched his jaw, then with a thoughtful expression he nodded his head. He turned and walked towards the wall and sat on a long bench, leaning back and stretching his legs before letting out a long sigh. “Thank you Doctor, I appreciate everything you have done for my man,” he said.
Brad smiled and took a step back, leaning against the opposite wall, amused by the exchange, knowing Sean would rather beat the man senseless than put up with the doctor’s shit. But surprisingly, Sean’s new tone appeared to be working. The doctor’s demeanor relaxed and he went to the same bench and took a seat next to Sean. “I apologize for my harsh words. As David said, it has been a long week,” Ericson said.
“You really think he will lose his arm?” Brad asked.
Ericson put his head down. “I’m afraid so. The shirt we peeled off of him seems to have qualities that prevented the spread of the infection, but there has been excessive tissue damage and too much time lost to try and save the arm. Right now fever and sepsis are the problem. Removing it will be risky, but it may have to be done if we can’t break the fever.”
“Risky?” Brad asked.
The doctor looked up, making eye contact with Brad. “Yes … we are short of medical supplies, especially antibiotics.”
“Well hell Doc, we have stuff,” Brad said, moving quickly
across the room and unsnapping his assault pack from the larger rucksack that Luke had carried into the room. Brad unzipped the top of the bag and spread the bag open, showing Ericson the contents.
Ericson stuck his hand into the bag, digging through the items. “This is quality medicine, more than any soldier would be carrying, why do you have this? Where did you get it?” he asked suspiciously.
“We have more injured friends in our party that needed medical supplies. We made an excursion into a small town near here, and we raided a medical clinic,” Brad said.
“The clinic? The one near the evacuation center? Impossible, that place was overrun long ago,” Ericson gasped.
“We were told the town would be occupied, but we had no idea how bad.” Brad paused, looking down at the ground. “Anyway, none of that matters now, we have medicine … can you use it?”
The doctor took the bag from Brad and continued to look through it before sitting it next to his feet. “Yes of course, I’d like to get your man started on some of these right away, but you said there were more of you? Who told you about the town and the clinic?”
“Can you save his arm?” Brad asked.
“This will help, but I can’t make any promises, now about the clinic?”
Brad looked to Sean, unsure of how much information he should share. Sean acknowledged him with a nod and took over the conversation. He tactfully caught David and Ericson up on where they had come from, and how they became stranded on the island. Sean told the story of the plane crash and their wounded, how they had raided the town and barely made it out. He was very careful to withhold information on the farm and the names of the family that took in his men. He was still unsure who these people were and if they could be trusted.
There was a knock at the door interrupting Sean’s story. The door opened and an elderly woman entered, pushing a cart filled with bowls of stew and pieces of hard bread. “Supper is ready, gentlemen, wish I had more for you,” the woman said in a joyful voice.
“This will be fine, Mary, just leave the cart. I’ll see that Luke brings it back to the kitchen,” David said, signaling for the woman to leave.
“Alright, alright, I can see you boys are busy, just make sure you don’t keep these gentlemen too long. They look very tired and in need of a bath,” Mary said, walking from the room and closing the door behind her.
David handed out bowls of stew. “Well, that explains the increase in activity.”
Sean nodded, using a spoon to take a mouthful of the liquid and smiling at the taste. “Yeah, sorry about that, the plane crash drew several of them in from the city. The stew is very good by the way.”
“Thank you, it’s lobscouse. Mary will like hearing that. So these friends of yours? Where are they now?”
“I’m not sure,” Sean said, not completely lying. “We were separated after the crash. They took shelter on a farm; we were trying to locate them when we ran into your boys.”
“On the highway … yes, the daily supply run,” David said, nodding as he sopped up the remainder of his stew with a piece of bread. “My boys go out every day, raiding empty homes mostly, sometimes markets or warehouses. They have become very good at it.”
“How do they keep from leading the primals back?” Brad asked.
“Primals?”
“The creepers,” Brad said, correcting himself.
“Ah yes … Primals you say, well the ones that show themselves in the daylight are very slow, and even a bit daft. As long as you don’t leave obvious tracks, they are fairly easy to lose when in vehicles. We never stay out past dark, that’s when the others come out, the Buhmann … they are fast and clever … But I’m sure you know all of this,” David said, placing his bowl back on the tray.
Ericson had just finished injecting another round of medication into Hahn’s IV bag. “You say you have more injured men? If you take me to them, I will treat them in exchange for the remainder of these medical supplies. You have more than enough.”
“Ericson, wait,” David said. “You’re our only doctor, I can’t allow you to make that deal.”
Ericson put his hand up. “It’s okay David, and the man is right, it has been too long since I have left this place,” he said, looking to Sean.
Sean looked at Brad, who shrugged his shoulders in response. “I sure would appreciate the help, but I can’t guarantee what meds will be left after treating our injured.”
“Well I’ll take that risk. Your man won’t be mobile for some time. But I assure you, he will be safe here. The rest of us … we can leave in the morning. The boys can drop us where they picked you up, or give you a ride to the door if you want to give us the names of the family,” Ericson answered.
Sean and Brad sat silently searching for the right response.
David smiled. “I appreciate you protecting the family that took in your men. This is a remote area, and we know most everyone in these parts. From the location where Luke picked you up, it could only be a couple places. I’m thinking either Taylor’s farm at the end of the valley, or the Emersons’.” David walked to a locked cabinet. He took the combination padlock in his hand and began to spin the dial. “The Taylors, now that would be a hell of a walk, way down the valley they be. And being that Luke salvaged goods from their farm not ten days ago, I’d say I can scratch that name.”
David made the final turn of the lock and pulled it open. He opened a cabinet door and revealed several bottles of alcohol and a number of glasses. “Brandy be okay for you, Sean?” David asked.
Sean smiled. “Very nice, thank you.”
David pulled the bottle from the cabinet and slowly began filling glasses and passing them to the men as they finished their dinner. “So, I heard tell on the fate of the Emersons; seems his wife was attacked. They went to town and the clinic looking for assistance as things fell apart. Nobody has seen them since. Luke went by their farm, but things were torn apart so he let the place be. We try to distance ourselves from danger.”
Sean took a sip of the brandy. He closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of it. “This is very good,” he said as he took another sip. “Staying clear of danger is a good policy. I’m sorry friend, but those names do not sound familiar to me.”
Luke, having been silent the entire time, finally moved forward to speak. “There is another place uncle. The Murphys’ … You know my pal Thomas’s place. They are a bit off the road and up the mountain, but I bet if anyone was to survive, Old Man Murphy and his boys would.”
David laughed and refilled his glass. “Good ol’ Jeremiah … I nearly forgot about him.” As he said the words David caught the look of recognition on Brad’s face. David put the top on the bottle and tossed it in Brad’s direction, who caught it and refilled his own glass before handing the bottle off to Sean.
“Yeah, Jeremiah is a tough one. Did some time in the Army, a good brood of sons too, and his wife is a nurse even, or was at some point—”
“Now wait a minute!” the doctor interrupted. “So there is a nurse living up the road, and you all neglected to tell me about it? Or to go and get her?”
David laughed as he pulled the glass away from his lips. “Ericson, we have been busy you know, and who knows if the Murphys are even alive.”
“Damn, if there is a chance of a nurse living up there, then I think we need to check it out. I have sick and injured children here,” Ericson said, barely concealing his frustration.
Sean sat his empty glass on a table before speaking. “I don’t know anything about a nurse or these Murphys, but if it’s important to you all, I’d be more than happy to patrol up the road with the doctor here and visit their farm. In exchange for treating my man, of course.”
“Deal!” Ericson blurted out before David could give an answer.
“And the rest of the medical supplies?” David asked.
Sean smiled again, “Well those have been earmarked for my wounded, but if we happen to find them out there on the road, and we find we have enough for our needs, I’l
l gladly hand off the remainder to you.”
David looked to Ericson and studied his expression. “Doc, if you think it’s worth the risk ...”
“Of course it is, we have children dying of simple infections, and we need these antibiotics,” Ericson said eagerly.
Sean stood, reaching across to shake David’s and Ericson’s hands. “It’s done then. Now the lady had said something about a bath?”
21.
Luke had relieved Alex from his watch. The younger boy was now giving the men a brief tour of the bachelor’s quarters at the top of the building. He led them up to the third floor and showed them a small storage room; it was one of the few empty spaces that had a locking door. The room had random supplies stacked along a wall, items they must have considered valuable, but had no urgent need for.
Alex explained that his uncle thought they may be more comfortable in a private room rather than sleeping in the larger open bay. He gave Sean an old skeleton key to the small storage room door. The men were told they could leave their bags there while they used the wash room. Sean and Brad dropped their heavy rucksacks, but elected to take their smaller assault packs and side arms with them to the bathroom which was located off the back of the larger space.
The room had once been a latrine of sorts, although now badly antiquated and falling apart from decades of neglect. A long rusted steel countertop with embedded sinks ran along a wall. On the opposite wall sat a row of porcelain commodes. Two out of the three were broken into shards. A large thirty-gallon barrel of water rested against a wall below a window, and a smaller pail sat next to it. Luke had demonstrated to the men how to flush the badly stained working toilet by using the bucket.
“I know it looks a bit gross, but it beats going out back to the outhouse, especially in the dark,” Alex explained.
On the counter sat two large plastic wash basins and tin pitchers filled with hot water. Next to the basins were two neatly stacked sets of towels with a fresh bar of soap on top of each. Another set of pitchers were resting atop a blazing wood stove. Luke told them to use as much water as they needed; the barrel would be refilled with snow during the next workers’ rotation.
