by Bale, Sarah
Dave replied, “Always got to one-up us.”
I asked, “So, how does that work with all six of you?”
Noah and Dave laughed, but didn’t answer. I shrugged. It was worth a shot.
We drove for a few hours until the signs for Lawton came into sight. Everything looked the same as it did when we came through the first time.
I said, “Looks like things might finally be going our way.”
Should have known that wasn’t the case.
10
Elijah
We drove through Lawton, passing old sites from my past. Dave got quiet, so I knew he was thinking about our childhood, too.
I said to Noah, “We used to go camping up here with our dad.”
Noah replied, “Dave mentioned his camping trips were what made him want to be a soldier.”
I never knew that.
Dave said, “Plus, I knew it would piss off dad.”
But our dad hadn’t been mad at Dave. He was so proud. I was the one he was disappointed in. Apparently, a surgeon wasn’t an honorable profession.
I replied, “Joke was on you.”
Dave rolled his eyes. “Here we go. The poor Eli speech.”
Grey snorted, “You two certainly bicker like brothers.”
“That’s because he doesn’t know when to shut up,” I replied.
Ahead, the base came into view. It still looked as bad as I remembered. It was crazy seeing such a strong symbol, like an army base, in shambles. I drove over the gates on the ground.
Dave whistled. “Guessing some shit went down here.”
I nodded. “Looked that way to us.”
“The weapons will be near the center of the base. Might even be on their training site on the mountain.”
I drove down a road, passing the burned buildings. A biter wearing army fatigues roamed in the distance, but other than that it was still.
Dave pointed ahead. “There. Let’s try that one first.”
The building was untouched, which was surprising considering all the damage everywhere else. Dave hopped out before the truck even stopped and went to the door, kicking it open.
I said, “Some things never change. He’s always rushed blindly into situations.”
Noah replied, “Used to get him in trouble all the time in the army.”
I didn’t doubt that. I parked and we went after Dave, guns drawn. The building smelled musty, but there weren’t any tell-tell signs of biters. No scent of death. No groaning. Just silence. Our boots crunched on glass as we walked. Dave was ahead, shining his flashlight into each room.
“See anything?” I asked.
“Nothing yet.”
“That was pretty dumb rushing in here without backup.”
Even in the dim light I could see him shrug his shoulders. Typical Dave. This was the same person who got in trouble in high school for wearing sunglasses inside.
Noah said, “Look for locked doors. That’s where the good stuff will be.”
“On it,” Dave replied right before he kicked a door in.
A biter lurched forward and Dave let out a curse before taking it down.
“And that’s why you should knock before you burst into a room,” I said.
“Yes, dad.” Dave looked into the room. “Looks like this might be what we’re looking for.”
I stepped over the biter, going into the room. There were shelves and some ammo, but no weapons.
Noah looked around before saying, “Either someone took all the good stuff, or it’s somewhere else.”
I hated the jolt of disappointment I felt.
I asked, “Should we take the ammo?”
Dave nodded and filled his bag with what was left. We checked every room in the building, but didn’t find anything else.
When we got outside, Dave said, “Let’s try that building over there.”
Noah made a face. “I don’t think that’s it. Looks more like offices to me. Wonder where they keep the tanks?”
We made our way around the base, searching every inch of it.
Grey rubbed his beard. “I could have sworn there was more when we were here before.”
Maybe there was. Maybe we were too late. Dave met my gaze, clearly thinking the same thing. I shivered as a cold breeze blew past me, reminding me that it was getting late. I didn’t want to drive in the dark if I could avoid it.
“We need to head back home,” I said. “There’s no sense hanging around here.”
Dave cursed. “We can’t go back emptyhanded.”
“What in the fuck do you suggest we do? Flip over rocks until we find something?”
Grey held up his hands. “Both of you need to calm the fuck down. We’re all disappointed there weren’t any weapons here, but it’s not the end of the world.”
Dave ran his fingers through his hair. “But it kind of is. Air and his group have been one step ahead of us the entire time we’ve been in Oklahoma. Finding weapons here was our only hope.”
Noah asked, “Did you say there might be weapons at the training site on the mountain? Let’s try there.”
It was worth a fucking shot.
I said, “Let’s go.”
Grey said, “It’s going to be too dark. I know you don’t like it, but we need to camp here for the night. Use the building for warmth and the get up bright and early.”
I let out a curse. He was right. Staying here overnight was the only thing that made sense. Noah went to gather firewood while Dave set up four cots. Grey passed out food and we all ate in silence. I think we all had too much on our minds to make idle chatter.
When I was finished eating, I said, “Night.”
I didn’t fall asleep right away. Instead, my mind kept running through different scenarios involving Air and his men. Dave kept tossing and turning, so I knew he felt the same way.
“Think we’re going to find anything?” I asked.
Dave rolled over to face me. “We have to.”
The next morning, we got up and ate a few bites of beans. When we stepped outside, I shivered. I fucking hated winter. We got into the truck, ready to check out the training site. I was speeding off before the doors were even shut. We’d already lost so much time and there was no telling how long our search would take.
Dave said, “Gate is on the south side.”
“Are you sure?”
He gave me a look. “I only spent six months here in basic. Yes, I’m fucking sure.”
Grey grinned at me as I turned down the road, heading south. “Used to be some great bars along here. Army towns were always fun.”
I laughed. “I know. I visited Dave out here a few times.”
Grey leaned back and asked, “Sure there wasn’t a girl involved?”
“There’s always a girl involved,” I replied. “But, it was just a fling.”
Grey snorted. “Don’t let Daisy hear you talking about that. She’s barely forgiven you for the whole Marianne thing.”
Dave asked, “Marianne? Isn’t she one of the women at the hospital?”
My cheeks warmed. “We’ve all made mistakes.”
“Boss here used to be quite the ladies’ man before Daisy showed up. But, it’s pretty clear who wears the pants in their relationship.”
Dave laughed. “I don’t doubt that.”
“Can we talk about anything else?”
Noah asked, “What were you doing when the outbreak began?”
I glanced at him in the mirror. “I was working.”
The day that the world went to shit, I went into work as I did every day. I was one of the most requested orthopedic surgeons in Oklahoma, so I stayed busy. And, even though the morning news had gone on and on about the mysterious virus spreading across the country, I had still gone to work that day.
“When I got there, the receptionist looked like shit. I asked her if she was okay and she said she’d been sick all weekend. I told her she should go to the ER to get checked.”
She didn’t listen to me, though
, but that came later. I walked down the main hallway of the very same hospital I lived in now and went to the cafeteria. Usually the room was full of staff, family members, and patients eating, but on that day, there were maybe ten people. As I got my coffee, another surgeon came over to chat. His cases had already been canceled for the day and he was pissed.
“At six in the morning there were already several no-shows and cancellations. It was an unusual morning, to say the least, but my first patient had checked in, so I went into the doctor’s lounge to change.”
When I was dressed, I went to the OR to make sure everything was in place. I wouldn’t say that I had OCD, but I liked things to be in a certain order and my favorite nurse had been out sick for a few days, so I was basically fending for myself.
“I was doing a total knee, which took about three hours. About halfway through the case, my anesthesiologist checked his cell phone and said there was something happening in the downtown area and that they were closing another major hospital in the area, which meant trauma cases would be diverting to our hospital.”
I finished the case and went to the doctor’s lounge to watch the news. All they were saying was it had to do with the flu-like virus that had been spreading across the country, which didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
Noah asked, “Was it the zombie virus?”
“Never heard for sure, but I assume that’s what it was. The director of surgery came rushing up to me, saying we were getting several critical cases and asked if I was up to performing extra surgeries.” I shook my head. “Since my job was my life, I said I was.”
I wondered what would have happened if I had said no and went home? But, that would have gone against everything I stood for. Plus, I didn’t have any supplies at my house. I probably would be dead now, to tell the truth.
“My next case was a teenager with a broken leg. Said she was walking to school when someone drove right into her. The other person was ejected and died on scene. Looking back, I’m certain the person had died and was in the process of turning.”
I fixed her leg and was closing when my phone buzzed in my pocket.
“My phone went off and then everyone else’s did. One of the nurses said the Civil Authority had issued an alert, but when she read it, it sounded like something from a movie.”
Dave replied, “That’s the fucking truth. It was so hard to believe and we’d heard about the virus long before the public did.”
Noah added, “When I talked to my mom on the phone after the alert went out, she swore it was the end of times. Maybe it was, in some way.”
“Before we could process the message, there was a code silver called over the speakers.”
A code silver meant there was a violent situation and any available male employees were to respond.
“Some of the nurses and scrub techs went to see if they could assist. Normally, when a code is resolved there’s an all-clear called, but this time there wasn’t.”
Grey said, “Guessing you went to check things out?”
I nodded. “When I left the physician’s lounge, several people rushed past me, going toward the ER. And then I heard the screaming.”
It was unlike any scream I’d heard before in my life. I ran toward the sound and nearly slipped on the blood smeared on the tiles.
“A man had one of the nurses pinned down and was tearing the flesh from his body. A security guard tried to taze the man, but it didn’t do anything. I remember someone asking if the man was on bath salts.”
But it hadn’t been bath salts or any other drugs. This seemingly ordinary man had come to the ER with flu-like symptoms and then coded. When he came to, he was aggressive and attacked the nurse.
I said, “Two other nurses tried to pull the man off and he attacked them. That’s when I got a good look at him. His eyes were milky white, pale skin, and a distinct smell.”
“What did you do?”
“He lunged toward me, so I did the only thing I could think of. I shoved him back and he slipped on the blood and fell headfirst against a cart. I knew the slip had been deadly. Cracked his head like an egg.”
“But, that wasn’t then end, was it?”
“Nope. The nurse the patient had been feasting on when I got to the ER was now dead. We tried bringing him back, but couldn’t. But then the damnedest thing happened – he sat up right there on that gurney and looked at us, but it was like he didn’t see us.” I paused, remembering. “He sniffed the air and snapped his teeth together. When he stood, his body moved in an unnatural way. And then his guts spilled out of his wound. That should have stopped him, but it didn’t.”
He stumbled toward us. Some of the people ran, but I stood in place, fascinated and horrified.
“One of the security guards came rushing into the room, saying the news was calling the infected people zombies. Said the only way to take them down was to injure the head and brain.” I went on, “So that’s what we did. Someone handed me a scalpel and I took down the nurse.”
Some of the people said I’d murdered the nurse, but he was already dead. An ambulance showed up a moment later and the driver jumped out saying his patient had attacked the other EMT and that they needed help. By then, we knew what we were going to find when we opened the door. Both the patient and the EMT had joined the Dead.
“All hell broke loose within hours. Patients died, turning into the Dead. People came into the hospital, looking for a safe place. By the end of the day most of the staff had left.”
Noah asked, “What happened to the patients?”
“Those who could leave did. We tried to make sure the ones left behind were taken care of.” I smiled. “The chef who worked in the kitchen ended up being my biggest asset. He stepped in and helped out when people fled.”
Juan had been my right-hand man in the weeks after the outbreak. We knew right away that things weren’t getting any better and that’s when we made the choice that changed the course of my life.
“The people who were left behind were looking for a leader, so I stepped into the role. But being in that spot meant making the choices that no one else wanted.”
Dave asked, “What did you do?”
“We closed the doors to the public. Anyone who was already there was more than welcome to stay, but we couldn’t afford to take in new members.” I frowned. “A family came to the doors, wanting to be let in. The man was a real prick and tried to throw his weight around. He had to be taken care of.”
“You killed him?” Noah asked, surprise on his face.
I nodded once. “Not something I’m proud of, but it had to be done.”
Grey said, “Don’t let him fool you. I was there when that happened. The man was ready to kill people. What Boss did saved a lot of people.”
I wasn’t sure the man or his family would agree with Grey’s statement. The man’s eyes were wild when he pounded on the doors, wanting to be let in. When the door opened, he shoved his way inside, saying his family wasn’t leaving. That hospitals were supposed to be safe places. He pulled a gun and waved it around, threatening anyone in sight. I could tell by the way his wife acted that this was normal behavior for the man. So, I did what needed to be done.
But, killing a man was different than taking down a biter. I think that’s the part that was the hardest for me to accept. When you stabbed a biter, they just stopped being.
A human was so very different. The man gasped for air as he died. His eyes were wild again, but this time it was out of fear for himself. He gripped my arm as he died and, when he was gone, I had to pry his hand away. That moment haunted me for a long damn time.
The man’s wife became hysterical and attacked me. She even managed to cut me deep enough that I needed stitches. One of Grey’s men grabbed her and her son while we decided what needed to be done. We were going to let them go, but then the son said he would come back one day and make sure we all paid. We didn’t want to live with that kind of threat hanging over our heads, so we took care of
the problem.
I said, “After I killed the man, people began to treat me differently.”
Dave grinned. “Is that when the whole Boss crap began?”
“I guess it was. I never asked them to call me that, though.”
Grey added, “People were looking for hope. More importantly they were looking for someone to guide them. Putting Boss on a pedestal seemed to work for most of them.”
Dave asked, “Why do you call him Boss? Y’all seem pretty close.”
Grey replied, “He’s told me not to call him Boss before, but it feels strange not doing it. He’s Boss. It’s as simple as that.”
I had a hard time letting people call me Boss at first. I wasn’t anyone’s boss or leader. I was just a man who wanted to make sure the people around me were taken care of.
Dave said, “Dad would have been proud of everything you managed to do at the hospital.”
I snorted. I wasn’t sure about that. He would have found something to fault.
Noah asked, “Did you ever think about leaving?”
“I didn’t have much of a life outside of work, so I knew I didn’t want to go back to my house. I did think about relocating everyone to the old airport for a while.”
Grey replied, “After the shit show that went on there, I’m glad you stayed where you are.”
Dave asked, “What happened at the airport?”
“A few months after the outbreak there were a lot of humans still around. People seemed to be breaking off into groups. Two groups that already had reputations for being hot headed butted heads and killed each other.”
“Damn. That’s intense.”
Intense didn’t even begin to cover what happened. Grey gave me a look. After the incident, I decided to tighten security even more. If someone wanted to live under my protection, they had to follow my rules without questions. Some didn’t like the new approach and were asked to leave.
I said, “I learned quickly who I could trust, or so I thought, but that’s a different story.”
One I didn’t like reliving. One that almost got me killed.
