The Apocalyse Outcasts

by Peter Meredith

  Slowly he took his eyes from her and gazed out at the street, taking in every detail.

  “What do you have to be sorry about?” he asked. When he talked his voice was so rough, Jillybean had to wonder if this was how rocks would sound like if they could speak.

  She decided to cough again, before saying, “For making Mister Neil, go get my medicine. Is that against the law? Is he going to get in trouble?”

  Neil had been shaking his head at her in a tiny way, but what he meant by it she didn’t know. When she mentioned his name he stopped and creaked his head back to look at the soldier.

  “I thought his name was Norman,” the soldier said, quitting his crouch and coming to stand over Neil.

  Jillybean hesitated only a second. “He told a fib. That’s what means he didn’t tell the truth, because he wanted to protect me. There are bad people out there and he keeps me safe.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Yes,” she said, adding a cough.

  “He ever touch you?”

  “Yes,” Jillybean replied, misunderstanding the question. The second she did, Neil’s blue eyes went wide in alarm. Quickly she added, “Not in a bad way. He patted my head before he left, that’s all.”

  “Not even a hug?”

  “No,” Jillybean said with obvious disappointment. She hadn’t had a hug since Ram died. For the longest time, Neil and Sadie had been sick and Sarah…Sarah thought she was a weirdo. These thoughts stung and she forgot herself. When she looked up at the soldier, he was staring at her and, in spite of their age difference they held each other’s gaze almost as equals. She looked away first. It seemed to her that his eyes held some sort of unraveling power, that to look at them for too long would allow him to see through her veil of lies and understand her true self.

  “So what do you need medicine for?” the soldier asked. Neil began to offer an answer, but was poked in the back by the rifle. “I was asking the little girl.”

  Now, she tried not to cough because she felt it would be too obvious, so of course her body decided it suddenly needed to clear its throat. After she did and after his hazel eyes narrowed, she answered, “Pneumonia. I need some sort of sillan. A-pennysillan I think it’s called.” She could tell that he wasn’t buying her cute act.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Jillybean. It’s like jelly bean, but it’s Jillybean and this is Ipes.” He didn’t seem to care about the zebra, which meant the feeling was mutual. Ipes wanted out of there as fast as possible.

  “My name is Captain Grey and I have some good news and some bad news for you, Jillybean. Unfortunately, the CDC is cleaned out. There isn’t a needle, test tube, or even a single aspirin left in the entire place. Even the germs are gone.” He took stock of Neil’s expression at this point: Neil looked confused and concerned and Jillybean was right there with him. She had to wonder, who would want germs and what would they do with them?

  The only answer the seven-year-old could come up with was: bad guys would want them to do bad stuff with. “And the good news?” she asked.

  “The good news is that you’re cured,” Grey said, eyeing Jillybean closely. “Your pneumonia has magically disappeared. What do you have to say about that?”

  Jillybean had nothing to say to that, nothing that would be believed at least. Neil tried his own attempt at lying, “It’s not what you think. We were going to sell the medicine…”

  “Shut up. I was talking to her,” Grey said, jabbing Neil in the back with the rifle a second time. Again he leveled his gaze at Jillybean. “I want you to tell me the truth and if you do, I’ll go easy on your friend, Mister Neil. Meaning he won’t get hurt. I’m sure you don’t want him to get hurt so…why are you here?”

  The truthful answer to that question would most likely end up getting Nico and Sadie killed. Jillybean hung her head, letting her brown hair fall in front of her face. Even Ipes was silent.

  The captain breathed out, long and tiredly. “Alright, where have you been? New York? New Eden?”

  Though the question seemed innocent enough, Jillybean kept her mouth shut. She didn’t know what answers were “safe” answers and what ones weren’t.

  “You must be hiding something big if you can’t even tell me where you’ve been,” Grey said. “What is it, Jillybean? I promise you’re not in trouble. Look at me. Look at me before I lose my temper. You don’t want to see me lose my temper, do you?” The man’s voice kept getting lower, sounding more and more dangerous. It began to work on her nerves, making her shake in fear.

  “Why don’t you let her go?” Neil shouted. “She’s just a kid, alright? Let her go and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

  Grey considered this for a moment and then smirked. “You just want me to let her go? Out there with all the zombies?” He snorted at this and then demanded, “How many people are with you, Neil? Don’t pretend you haven’t got the foggiest idea what I’m talking about. You want me to believe you would let a little girl run away by herself? Hardly. There’s more of you around here, but only one or two, am I right? I saw your piece of crap Tercel come putting right down this street and I’m willing to bet it’s parked upstairs somewhere. I think we should go take a look at it.”

  Jillybean looked up to see Neil’s defiance wilt. His face fell and tears jumped into his eyes. “Look, I can pay you…something. Whatever it takes, ok? Whatever the bounty is, I’ll pay you more and that’s the truth. It just might take some time, but I’m good for it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Captain Grey demanded. “Are you trying to collect on that bounty? Is that what’s going on? Jillybean! You tell me right now, is Neil holding people against their will?”

  Again the soldier and the little girl locked eyes. This time it was Jillybean who held the upper hand. In his passion he had opened up too much. “No. Sadie is his daughter and there are bad men after her, but I get the feeling you’re not one of them.”

  “In that you’re very wrong, Jillybean,” the captain said. He reached down and with one arm lifted Neil up by the back of his rubber suit. “I can be very bad if I have reason to be. Let’s go.”

  He marched them upstairs to the highest level, always keeping Neil in front of him and not at all worried about Jillybean. She could’ve left if she had wanted to, but not only was her fate tied to Neil and Sadie’s, she stuck with her reading of the army officer as not as bad a man as he was letting on. When they reached the top, Grey brought the rifle up, sighting it on the Tercel.

  “You don’t need the gun, they’re unarmed,” Neil told him. “And Nico is wounded. He was shot three days ago by a bounty hunter.”

  “Three days?” Grey wore a strange look. “South of Hagerstown in a Ford Explorer? That was you?”

  “Yes,” Neil answered reluctantly. “But we didn’t want to hurt anyone. We were just trying to get away and then there was shooting all over the place.”

  “You were lucky it was just one of you that got hurt. I didn’t think any of you would live. We lost a good man in that fight, Jay McClellan. A good friend.” He was quiet for a few blinks of his eyes and then he raised his voice and called out, “Sadie Walcott. Step out of the vehicle, now.”

  Neil tried to touch his arm, but Grey shrugged him off. Neil came around in front of the soldier, though not quite in front of the gun. “I told you I’d pay you more than the bounty. Ten percent more. How is that? Huh? Just tell me what it’ll take. We’re not bad people, ok? We weren’t trying to get germs out of the CDC, only medical supplies.”

  Grey didn’t say anything to this, instead he was nearly entirely focused on the Tercel and the black-haired Goth girl climbing slowly out of it. Sadie wore a look of utter defeat. “Hands up,” Grey ordered. “And turn slowly.” Her black jeans were tight and her t-shirt, form fitting. There was nowhere she could hide a weapon.

  “I’m sorry, Sadie,” Neil called across the forty feet of concrete between them. Grey took Neil by the pink collar of his wetsuit and pushed him fo
rward, using him as a human shield until they were at the Tercel.

  “Son of a bitch,” Grey said when he saw Nico. “That arm does not look good.” He opened the rear door and grimaced at all the blood. “I’m going to need my bag. Neil, my hummer is parked downstairs in the alley that runs behind this parking garage. I need you to get my med bag. It’s in the back seat.”

  “What’s going on here?” Sadie asked. Her emotions seemed to be fighting themselves. Fear versus hope. The tussle was playing on her face, making her muscles dance. “Aren’t you one of the bounty hunters?”

  “I think he’s one of the Colonel William’s men,” Neil said.

  “I’m not a bounty hunter,” Grey said, with a look of disgust. “And I’m not with that jack-wad, Williams.”

  “But back in Maryland you mentioned saying something to the colonel about us,” Neil said.

  “You ever think there may be more than one colonel in the world?” Grey said. He set his M4 on the roof of the Tercel and began to take off his camouflage outer BDU shirt. “My commanding officer is Colonel Albright and his C.O. is General Jackson. We’re out of Colorado.”

  “Colorado?” Neil asked in amazement.

  “Yeah, it’s one of the fifty states, you might have heard of it.” Grey ducked into the Tercel and tried to peel back the first layer of Nico’s black, blood-crusted bandages. This caused a fresh trickle of red to come seeping down from the lower edge.

  Eager to watch, Jillybean climbed into the front and leaned over the seat. The blood didn’t bother her at all, but the smell crinkled her nose. “So, are you a good guy?”

  The captain shrugged. “I never really thought about it. I’m not a bad guy.” He went back to exploring Nico’s wound, while Jillybean watched and the Russian grunted in pain.

  “Is sore like rotting tooth,” Nico said, in a voice like sandpaper.

  When Grey straightened he wore a look of concern. “Neil, I need that medbag ASAP. Go get it.” Grey’s ability to command lay in his voice. Its tone held such authority that Neil nodded and took off at a waddling run.

  The captain then glanced around him at the parking garage and then at Sadie. “If you have sheets or blankets, I need them,” he said. “Any bandages too and fresh water would be good as well.”

  As Sadie went to the trunk to get blankets, Grey pulled Nico out of the cramped interior of the car and laid him out on the concrete. Jillybean squatted down next to Captain Grey and declared: “Colorado is one of the square ones in the middle.”

  “Yep.”

  “So that doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “Colorado has mountains and eagles and bears, but no ocean. If you’re a captain, where do you keep your boat?”

  “I’m not that kind of captain,” he said absently. His mind was clearly focused on Nico, who was doing his best to remain conscious. “I’m a captain of men, not ships.”

  “Is very cold,” Nico said, the words coming out blurry and soft.

  “It’s going to be ok,” Sadie said. She covered him with a blanket and then propped his head with a pillow, kissing him once.

  “It’s not cold,” Jillybean said. “I think it’s kinda hot. Do you think when we’re done saving Nico, we can go swimming? Neil said maybe, but I don’t…”

  “Don’t interrupt him,” Sadie said, gently pulling Jillybean back. “Maybe you should go play with Ipes. We’ll talk about swimming later, I promise.”

  Jillybean was far too interested in what was going on to leave. She watched as Captain Grey undid Nico’s belt and untucked his shirt. He cut away the sleeve that was all bloody and ooky, and then propped the Russian’s feet up on the Tercel’s spare tire.

  Neil came back, huffing and puffing in a major sweat due to the insulating nature of the wet suit, and the weight of the medbag. Grey didn’t bother to thank him, instead he started an I.V. with, what to Jillybean, looked like a humongously scary needle.

  He watched as the fluid ran smoothly into the drip chamber and then nodded, satisfied. “We’ll let that one run wide open. Neil, get changed. You look like an idiot and that suit is only slowing you down. I’m going to need you to find lots of wood and water.”

  “But the germs,” Neil said, touching his wet suit. “There was some sort of major accident at the CDC a while back. It’s not too safe…”

  Grey interrupted, shaking his head. “You don’t have to worry about any damned germs. There wasn’t an accident. It was all a set up, probably orchestrated by Yuri Petrovich if I had to guess. He knows germs and he’s in the best position to gain by having the CDC shut down. Now, he’s the only game in town when it comes to any sort of vaccinations.”

  Neil looked stunned at this. “Jeeze, that’s awful.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Grey said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need the wood and the water. Also find me a barbeque grill. One of those round, backyard ones should do. And some pots to boil the water in.”

  In an effort not to “look like an idiot,” Neil threw a sweater vest over his wet suit. The captain snorted at this and then turned his attention to Nico. First he put on blue latex gloves, cut away the old bandage and inspected the wound, prodding here and there with the tips of his fingers. “That’s not good,” he said. “We have a little necrosis going, which, I suppose should be expected.”

  “Is that bad?” Sadie asked. Her eyes were dark and her hair black, which only made the extreme paleness of her skin seem even whiter. To Jillybean it looked as if she was about to faint. “Is it? Are you a doctor or something? Can you fix him?”

  “Nope, not a doctor, but I’ve seen enough blood and guts in my time to qualify me for some sort of medical degree.” He gave her a quick look and his eyes widened just a bit. “Maybe you should go help Neil. I can’t have you falling out of formation when I start cutting away the dead flesh.”

  Her eyes began to float a little in their sockets. “Dead flesh?”

  He took her by the elbow and led her a few feet away. “Yeah, definitely go help Neil, and take Jillybean with you.”

  “No, I’m good right here,” Jillybean said. “Blood is ok with me so you don’t have to worry about me fainting. I can even help. I just have to put Ipes in the car with the Velveeta Rabbit.”

  Grey watched Sadie walk toward the stairs, holding onto the parked cars as she went. He then eyed Jillybean, taking her measure. “In what way can you possibly help?”

  “Ummm,” she said as she considered things. “I can get things for you and I can tell you when the water bag is empty, which it is. See?” The I.V. had drained down to nothing and looked as flat and wrinkled as an old balloon. “And I can tell you if any monsters are coming and I was good in school.”

  “We’ll test you first,” Grey said. “Hang me another bag of .09% normal saline.”

  For other children this might have been a daunting and nerve-wracking request. For Jillybean it was only a matter of processing what she had seen already and using her native intelligence to replicate the captain’s actions. Grey’s medbag was very large and filled to over-flowing, but it was also extremely organized. The IV fluids were obvious, as was the writing on them. She simply picked out the normal saline, bit her way through the outer sleeve—Grey had simply torn open the packaging, but she wasn’t strong enough.

  Then she pulled off the old deflated bag in the exact opposite manner she had seen him put it on. At the end of the clear tubing was a sharp plastic “spike” this was poked up into the bottom of the bag in a special port. When the first was off and the second seated properly, the fluid started running immediately.

  “Good,” Grey said. “Let that one go full bore. With the next one we’ll dial it back.” She nodded, eager to help. He leaned over Nico. “How are you doing? Still with me?”

  “Da, but I is still cold.”

  “Jillybean, another blanket,” Grey ordered. “Wrap him tight, but make sure you don’t cover the arm. Now, Nico I’m going to clean this wound out and it ain’t going to be pretty and since it’s going to hu
rt I’m going to give you some morphine for the pain and a little touch of Ketamine to knock you out.” This he did by way of injecting the drugs into a secondary port on the IV tubing. Almost immediately, Nico’s eyes rolled back and his face went slack.

  Grey ripped off his gloves and then undid a heavy metal watch, which he handed over to Jilly. “Your next job is to monitor his breathing. See the second hand? The longer, fast one? I want you to count his breathing—in and out counts as one. Every few minutes I want you to let that second hand go all the way around and count his breaths. Tell me if they drop below eight per minute. Morphine can stop a person from breathing if they take too much, got it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, sir is the proper response.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He then got down to business. First he scrubbed out the wound with sterile water and an orange solution he called Betadine. Then he re-gloved a third time and opened up different sets of sterilized instruments. One was a tiny knife called a scalpel which he used to cut away tissue that was necrotic; he explained this to mean it was dead. He then took forever to dig at the wound with forceps before coming up with a jagged, bent, sliver of metal.

  “There’s the problem,” he said, tossing it aside. “That little sucker was cutting two different directions in there.”

  After that he began to sew up a major vein that had bled the entire time. He cursed and squinted in at the “slippery little bugger” until finally he got it joined together. Lastly, he stitched up the wound itself.

  During all of this, Jillybean kept an eye on the IV, counted breaths, and replaced blood soaked sheets beneath the wound and, once, when Nico started to stir, she held down his arm down until Grey pumped in more of the Ketamine/morphine mix.

  “Done and done,” he said after wrapping Nico’s arm in a fresh, white bandage. The whole procedure had taken over an hour.