Suddenly, when the Dead man was but one step away from claiming the flesh he craved, he turned his deathly gaze slowly away from Steve. Something behind Steve had caught the Dead man’s attention, something that interested him more than Steve’s body hanging there ripe for the slaughter and whatever it was had also caused the girl to abandon her fruitless efforts to get to Steve as well. As if instantly forgotten, her withered hand fell from his boot and she awkwardly turned her stiff body away from him. Whatever was behind him had certainly been considered a better option by the Dead pair; though he had no idea how their decaying brains had been able to make such a choice. How and why they made their choice, it didn’t matter, because all Steve knew was that it had given him a few more moments of life to live.
Ignoring the pain from his ribs, Steve began to move his shoulders left and right. Slowly at first, and then increasing in strength, the movement made him spin back and forth. When the momentum had been built up enough for the rope to spin him round, Steve was shocked by what he saw walking calmly down the road towards the two enraptured Dead.
There, walking towards him as if he wasn’t about to encounter two walking cadavers hungry for his flesh was a large man. He was shirtless, exposing the muscles of his broad chest and thick arms to not only the winter cold, but also the Dead. Walking with his arms opened wide, as if to welcome their deathly embrace, he was gladly showing the Dead a menu on which his flesh was the only dish pictured and they wanted it all.
‘Come on, you pus bags,’ Phil said, waving the Dead closer. ‘Come get yourself some of what you need.’
Tearing his eyes away from the approaching mad man, Steve noticed that behind him, further down the road, a cart had pulled to a stop. Without warning, a hatch opened silently on the roof of the cart and a young Middle Eastern looking man rose with a bow in his hand. As Steve began to spin back to face his original position, he just caught a glimpse of the bowman taking aim on one of the corpses. With the whistle of an arrow flying through the air, followed swiftly by a crunch and then the sound of something heavy falling to the floor, Steve knew he would live to see another day.
‘Sorry, Britney,’ he heard the shirtless man say. ‘You’re just not my type.’
A grunt of effort and then a sickening cracking sound came again and again. Quickly, the cracking sound developed a wet, sucking quality and as Steve began to twist back to face the shirtless man, he was thankful to see that he was repeatedly stamping down hard on the girl’s skull. With a snap, the man’s boot finally did enough damage to her rotting brain to put her to rest.
‘I take it you’re Private Blackmore?’ Phil asked, smiling up at the battered man as he began to wipe stinking bits of the girl’s brain off the sole of his boot.
‘Yes,’ was all Steve could say. ‘You?’
‘Phil,’ he replied, walking over to place Steve’s feet on his shoulders to brace him up. ‘Now, let’s get you down from there before I freeze my tits off.’
***
Each time the Doctors looked away or were too engrossed reading test results to notice her, Alice would slowly and carefully draw the scalpel blade she held in her fingertips slowly against the strap of her restraints.
She hadn’t known why the solider had tossed her the blade but after he had been dragged outside, she had clearly heard his shouts. They wanted her baby or rather, they wanted what he held in his tiny veins but more importantly, they wanted to prove they had been right. Her baby would be forced to pay the ultimate sacrifice to prove these doctors had been correct with their formulae and microscopic engineering. Now that the antivirus had established itself with her baby, his very blood alone was the stuff of legend. They would grow the cure to the Death walker plague from his blood and her baby would be the saviour of the human race. However, like all Messiahs, first he would have to die so that they could live. If they were right, he would be a Messiah who would never rise from the dead.
When they heard the soldier shout his warning, Dr Morris and Dr Chambers had carried on regardless of his accusations. They did not care if she now knew what they had planned. For them, this was simply what had to be done. It was only when Alice caught the eye of the other younger doctor, who she remembered was called Dr Avery, that she saw any remorse and shame. He instantly dropped his eyes back to his microscope and nervously glanced back and forth at a pile of papers. He hoped she hadn’t seen him looking at her but his twitchy movements and the blush of shame rising up the back of his neck, spoke volumes. Even one of the soldiers who had been brought in semi-conscious had tried to push himself up on one elbow when he heard the shouted warning. He had looked at Alice with a sad drowsy look in his eyes, his mouth opening and closing mutely as if he wanted to say something reassuring. However, Alice could see he had been hit pretty hard on the head and even if he was on her side, he was in no state to help her. It was going to up to her to do something and if it meant killing someone so that her baby could live, then so be it.
‘Well, the incubation period will be up in an hour or so,’ Dr Morris said looking from his watch to his female colleague, as she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand to ease her aching muscles. ‘We’ll take one final blood sample from the foetus for comparison and then induce labour.’
‘Why aren’t we doing a C-section,’ she asked, giving up on her tight muscles. ‘We’ll be able to report back to Dr Farrell our findings within a few hours if we do.’
‘No, Dr Farrell ordered that the birth be as natural as possible, because any local anaesthesia that would be needed to perform the C-section could interfere with results we get from the foetus,’ he replied. ‘Also, without the process of birth to jump start the clearing fluid from the lungs, there could be breathing difficulties and that’s the last thing we need’
‘Okay,’ Dr Chambers said, pulling a pair of surgical gloves from a box on the wall and walking over to Alice.
‘Now, we’re not going to have to put you under again, are we?’ she continued, giving Alice a stern look as she pulled the ultrasound monitor back into place. ‘It’s quite a straight forward procedure, retrieving a blood sample from the foetus. You’ll only feel a slight cramping sensation as the needle breaks through the placental wall, that’s all.’
Now that she knew what they had planned for her son, Alice needed to be on the lookout for every opportunity that might offer her escape. She could ill afford to spend any of the time her son had left unconscious.
‘Just get on with it,’ she said sharply, turning away from the woman who was willing to be complicit in the murder of her baby.
In her hand, the scalpel blade itched to not only finish cutting through her restraints but also do some serious damage to these people who had casually planned to take her child from her. However, with the female doctor paying such close attention, she knew she would have to bide her time, keeping it hidden from sight in her clenched fist, until the ideal opportunity presented itself. Only then would she show them what it meant to really live among the Dead for all these years and how it changed a person, making them capable of the unexpected.
After lifting up Alice’s gown and squeezing a small amount of lubricant gel on her stomach, Dr Chambers began to move the handheld transducer back and forth to determine the position of the foetus.
‘There it is,’ she mumbled to herself, as she studied the flickering image on the monitor.
Reaching over to a drawer, she pulled out a device that looked like a long metal tube with two buttons near one end, while at the other end the top of a small glass vial could be seen. Placing the flat end against Alice’s stomach, Dr Chambers double checked the foetus position again and when she was satisfied, pressed the first of the buttons.
‘This will just pinch for a second,’ she said to Alice, never taking her eyes from the monitor. ‘Try not to move.’
There was a small mechanical buzzing sound as the thin hypodermic needle was driven into Alice and as it pierced through the placenta and into the amniotic sac, Alice wi
nced from the sharp stab of pain.
‘Almost done,’ Dr Chambers said, some long forgotten bedside manner slipping into her tone by habit rather than concern.
Alice didn’t know if she had expected to feel anything from her baby when the blood sample was taken but as Dr Chambers pressed the second button and the small vial began to turn red, there was no sudden maternal claxon going off inside her. Pressing the first button again, the needle was slowly withdrawn back into the metal tube and with a ‘click’ she released the already sealed small vial of blood.
‘Done,’ said Dr Chambers, pushing the monitor back into place and turning to hand the vial to Dr Avery.
Instantly, it was as if Alice, as a person, was forgotten again. Now that the doctors had their precious sample, she was merely the incubator in which their test subject was housed. Already the younger male doctor had placed the glass tube containing her son’s blood into another device. What it did or how it did it, Alice had no idea but after a series of internal beeps and clicks, world changing data was already being processed and sent to the computer terminal next to it to be cross checked, analysed and studied.
For the next hour, Alice silently drew the blade back and forth across the restraining strap while the three doctors busied themselves darting between their printouts and their computers. From the excited buzz, Alice could tell their hopeful cure for the Death-walker plague had taken hold within her unborn baby, turning him into a possible hope for humanity. A possible hope that Alice knew they would put to the test by killing him.
‘Right,’ Dr Morris said solemnly pulling on a pair of surgical gloves, ‘let’s get this started.’
With a tug Alice could feel the restraint holding her in place was moments away from breaking. She just needed a few more swipes of the blade and her hand would be free, but as Dr Morris walked over to a drawer near her and pulled out a tube of something, she knew her time was running out fast.
‘Now this is just a gel that contains a hormone that I apply to your cervix,’ he said to her, breaking the seal on the tube. ‘It prepares the muscles in the birth canal for stretching.’
‘Please don’t do this,’ she said quietly.
However, Dr Morris carried on as if she hadn’t spoken and with a click, he pulled the stirrups into place either side of her bed.
‘Please lift your legs up,’ he said, nodding towards the stirrups. ‘This won’t take a minute.’
Alice knew it was pointless to fight him just yet and as she reluctantly lifted each leg into place, she turned her face away from him, shame and anger fighting within her. As Dr Morris began to apply the gel inside her, Alice looked over at the solider who had called out earlier. Their eyes locked and something passed between them, something Alice couldn’t pin down, but she could tell from his expression that he knew what was happening here and it troubled him. Whether it troubled him enough to act was another matter. Alice knew she really only had herself to rely on and as Dr Morris’ attention was diverted, she gave the restraint another sharp tug.
‘So, we’ll give that a few minutes,’ said Dr Morris to himself rather than to Alice. ‘Sometimes the gel itself is enough.’
‘I don’t think we should wait,’ said Dr Chambers looking up from a stack of readouts. ‘To be sure, we should give her the Pitocin injection now.’
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right.’ Dr Morris agreed, swivelling in his chair to reach back into the drawer, pick up a vial of clear liquid and draw some into to a hypodermic needle.
Alice had been waiting for this chance. With a flick, the scalpel blade cut through the final thick strands of strapping and after a forceful yank, her hand was free. Immediately, she began to unbuckle her other hand, her fingers frantically pulling at the heavy buckle.
‘What the…’ Dr Morris began, the small bottle of Pitocin slipping from his grasp to smash to the floor.
With panic threatening to overwhelm her, Alice pulled at the buckle, desperate to be free but already Dr Morris had grabbed hold of her arm and was pulling it back while behind him Dr Chambers and Dr Avery were rising from their seats.
‘No!’ Alice screamed, swinging her free arm wildly to beat Dr Morris away from her.
Dr Morris gave a sudden gasp and instantly his hands flew from her arm up to his neck. Alice glanced up into the man’s wide eyes and saw only shock and terror there. For a split second, all was silent in the Med lab as Dr Morris held tightly to his throat. However, they all knew the damage had been done. In her attempt to keep Dr Morris away from her, Alice’s scalpel blade had sliced clean through the flesh of his throat, severing a major artery. Already his blood was pumping forcefully through his fingers spraying across Alice and much of the bed.
‘Jesus, no!’ cried Dr Chambers, running forward to help apply pressure to his neck.
As she lowered Dr Morris him to the floor, watching him silently open and close his mouth in shock, she knew her efforts would be in vain. Holding him in her arms, his own panic ridden heart wildly pumping his blood over her, Dr Chambers knew there was nothing she could do for her colleague and as Dr Morris’s hand fell slowly from his neck, he gave one last blood filled sigh and was gone.
Dr Chambers lowered the dead man’s head gently to the floor and turned to Alice, with a look of pure hatred and anger burning in her glare.
‘You stupid fucking bitch!’ she spat, rising from the dead body at her feet. ‘Do you think this is over? Do you think this ends with him?’
Reaching behind her, she pulled from the back of her blood soaked trousers a small handgun and pointed it at Alice.
‘Drop it!’ she said. ‘Believe me bitch. I can just as easily get that brat out of you if you’re dead’
Alice looked at the blood covered woman and knew what she was saying was true. She would happily kill her to get to her unborn son, so with an overwhelming sense of defeat Alice let the scalpel blade drop from her fingers to land in a puddle of the late Dr Morris’s blood. Stepping round Dr Morris’s body, Dr Chambers moved over to retrieve the full syringe of Pitocin that Dr Morris had left on a cabinet.
‘Now, I’m going to give you this injection,’ she said, placing the gun back in her waistband. ‘It will induce labour and if you struggle, I’ll shoot you… you piss me off and I’ll shoot you… Do we understand each other?’
Alice just looked at the woman with barely concealed hatred.
‘Give me your arm,’ said Dr Chambers coldly.
Reluctantly, Alice thrust her arm forward. She had her chance and blown it, and now her baby would die. Dr Chambers stepped forward, roughly grabbing hold of Alice’s arm with one hand.
‘Wait!’ Dr Avery’s voice came from the other side of the lab. ‘We don’t have to do this, Helen. The results from the blood work alone are conclusive… this is just madness.’
With a sneer on her face, Dr Chambers snapped her head round to look at Dr Avery.
‘You always were weak!’ She spat and turned back to lower the needle to Alice’s arm.
‘I’d listen to him if I were you,’ said Matt, placing the cold muzzle of his gun against the back of her skull. ‘Now, drop it!’
Slowly, Dr Chambers held up her hands in surrender and then made a show of placing the hypodermic down on the counter.
‘You’re making a big mistake, soldier,’ she said calmly.
‘Yeah, well that seems to be happening a lot lately,’ he replied, nudging Dr Chambers over to a seat.
Suddenly, there was a small popping sound, as the timer on the late Dr Morris’s pulse detector ran out, sending its bolt up into his brain. Dr Chambers looked down at the forever still form of her colleague and shook her head.
‘Such a waste,’ she said to herself.
‘Yeah, well forgive me if I don’t send flowers,’ Alice said, finally unbuckling her final restraint so she could ease herself down from the bed.
‘So what now?’ asked Dr Avery, looking from Alice to the soldier.
‘Now we wait until the convoy stops for c
amp tonight and then think of a way out of here that doesn’t involve getting shot or eaten,’ replied Matt. ‘You two just sit tight and no one will get hurt, okay?’
Dr Avery slumped back in his chair and then with his head in his hands, he looked up at Matt.
‘Take me with you,’ he asked, his voice full of sadness. ‘Please, I don’t want to go back to the base….it’s… it’s like being in hell… all the rumours are true, you know. Cardin gives Farrell the troublemakers for research, he…’
‘Avery!’ snapped Dr Chambers, glaring at the man who had broken their unholy pact of secrecy.
‘It’s over, Helen,’ Dr Avery said, trying to rub the tiredness from his face. ‘What’s going on at that base is wrong and we all know it. Just how long did you think we could keep treating people like lab rats. It was bad enough when we used the Dead ones, but what Farrell has made us do is… is horrific.’
‘Sacrifices had to be made, Avery,’ she replied, with conviction adding strength to her words. ‘For the greater good of the human race, some had to be sacrificed.’
Dr Avery looked up and stared back at Dr Chambers, trying to read something in her face.
‘You really believe that, don’t you?’ he said, his voice full of pity and regret. ‘Don’t you see… we’ve sacrificed the very humanity we were trying to save.’
However, Dr Chambers simply shook her head and looked back at Dr Avery as if he was a small child unable to understand the conversation of adults. Like any zealot, her truth was the only truth and because of that, she was simply unable to comprehend anything outside the world she had created for herself. In fact, Dr Avery might as well have been speaking Mandarin to her, for all the impact his words made on her. Seeing there was no reaching the woman who had been his colleague and friend for the last eight years, Dr Avery let out a weary sigh and turned back to Alice and the solider.
‘So will you take me with you?’ he asked. ‘Please, I need to make amends for what I’ve done.’
‘If you’re planning some sort of double-cross, you’ll be sorry,’ Matt said coldly.
Five More Days With The Dead (Lanherne Chronicles Book 2) Page 24
