"I don't know if I'd want to live there," Lisa commented, still keeping her eyes on the road. "Sounds too stratified."
"It was," Cy replied, "Most of us blacks were poor, all the whites had almost all of the good jobs and made sure they kept them, and there just weren't that many local opportunities for a young black man like me to get ahead in life. If I'd stayed, I'd have been stuck with a menial job, like being a laborer or worse, and I wanted more. I also didn't have the grades for a college scholarship, and I couldn't play basketball, and I wasn't big or fast enough for football, so I went into the Army. That was my ticket out of town, and I've been with them ever since. My last posting was at Fort Carnacki north of here, so I was in the area and available when the Outbreak went down. That's how I got here."
"Speaking of fast, you seemed pretty fast to me earlier today," Lisa said, "when I first saw you running ahead of that pack of zombies."
Cy laughed softly. "That's Army basic training for you. They stripped me down to the essentials and then remade me as a good fighting man. That meant they made sure I was in good shape too. Lots of PT and all that. Honestly, though, I've never run so fast in my life as I was doing when you first saw me. Hope I never have to again."
"I hope neither of us do," Lisa said.
Cy nodded, and then fell silent. After a while, he spoke softy. "You know what, Lisa?"
"What?"
"I wasn't running just to run away."
"I never thought you were, Cy."
"I know. It's just ...." Cy paused, trying to find the right words. Lisa said nothing, letting him do so. After a while he spoke again. "I can still see Lt. Stevens turning to the rest of us and yelling Get out of here! right before a half-a-dozen zombies took him out. Our unit was at the rear of the convoy, and the zombies attacked mostly from both sides and the front. That's how we were able to fight our way out, but there were plenty of them back there too. Only three of us managed to break into the clear. Only three. The zombies caught up with the other two right before you found me. That's how I'm the only survivor." Cy paused, and then added quietly, "That's my story, Lisa." With that Cy looked down and fell silent again.
Lisa waited until she was sure Cy was finished, and then she spoke. She spoke softly but gently, with no hint of reproof. "Cy, I don't think anybody would blame you for running like that. As you said, both you and everybody else knew the convoy was lost, and you were following the last order you were given: to run and save yourself. It's not like you cut and ran because you were a coward, because you're not. You've already proven that to me back at the Armory." Cy looked up at Lisa at that last statement, and saw compassion and understanding in her eyes even as she kept them to the road and continued to speak. "Also, let's be honest. Having to deal with a zombie apocalypse is something nobody expects, and I'm willing to bet that wasn't included in your Army basic training."
Cy cracked a smile. "No it wasn't, Lisa," he said.
"Well, there you go," Lisa replied. "Think nothing of it, because I don't. You're a survivor and I'm a survivor, and we're very lucky to have found each other in all this mess. That's all that matters to me, so hang the rest. Let's just worry about surviving, okay?"
"Okay," Cy said, nodding his head.
Lisa was about to say something else when she suddenly swore. "Damn. This next exit's almost as bad as the last one. Hold on."
Lisa cut the 'Cuda hard to the left. They were right beside an emergency crossover, and Lisa just barely made it. She was now driving in the opposite lanes. She slowed a bit but never stopped, so that this time they drove past the off-ramp pileup instead of running up against it. The batch of zombies ambling or shuffling about at this one stopped in their tracks and turned almost as one to look at them, but that was all. They watched as the 'Cuda quickly made its way past them in the opposite lanes, their hungry eyes never leaving it from the moment it came into sight until the second it disappeared around the far turn. After that, they went back to ambling and shuffling again.
"Well, I'm glad I saw that in time," Lisa said with forced cheerfulness. "Here comes another crossover. Hang on."
Lisa whipped the 'Cuda back into the proper lanes as ably as she had whipped out of them at the previous crossover. Cy quit gripping the dashboard and shook his head, laughing as he did. "Are we going to have to do this every time?" he asked.
"I hope not," Lisa said. "We've only got two more exits to go, but we'll be able to see ours from the one before it. If it looks as bad as the others, I'm going to take the next one and get to the hospital from the side streets. I know the way and I can do it once we're down there."
"I trust you, Lisa," Cy said.
"Thanks," Lisa replied. She shot him a quick smile before she put her eyes back on the road. "I trust you too."
"Thanks," Cy said, and this time he was the one who was smiling. "I appreciate it."
"Not a problem," Lisa replied.
The two said nothing more for a while as the 'Cuda continued to move down the beltway, Lisa still going as fast as road conditions and the occasional obstructions to dodge along the way would allow. Both continued to smile as the 'Cuda rolled on. Whatever thoughts each was thinking they kept to themselves.
Lisa's fears proved to be well founded. Even as they made the final turn before the next-to-last off-ramp and exit before the one they needed to take, all the signs of a major pileup quickly began to appear. This time Lisa didn't say anything. She looked for and spotted the crossover, whipped the 'Cuda over into the inside lane, and took it as soon as she came to it. She then used the mostly clear off-ramp in the opposite lane to get off the beltway, worming her way around stalled or wrecked vehicles on either road shoulder as needed. The 'Cuda made it down to street level without incident, Lisa took a hard right at the four-way at the off-ramp's end, and then took off down a mostly clear four-lane street at high speed. Cy tightly gripped the dashboard in front of him through the entire turn, wishing all the while that his seatbelt had enough reach to go around both him and the gear he was wearing. He came very close to losing the contents of his stomach given how hard and fast Lisa took that turn, but he gritted his teeth and somehow managed to swallow just in time. As his stomach settled back down and the 'Cuda went into straight ahead mode again. it sounded to him as if it was happy for the first time in the past half-hour or so. It seemed to enjoy Lisa loosening up its leash and allowing it to zip along at a pace far faster than the obstacle and pileup littered beltway had permitted.
"This is Bloch Parkway," Lisa explained as she drove. "We've got to take the next right two blocks up onto King Avenue, head down it for half-a-mile, then right again onto Munro Street. Metro City Medical Center is at the corner of Munro and Carpenter Avenue, which would have been our exit from the beltway had it not been blocked. We'll be coming in from its right side, if you at the front doors looking out. It's shaped like a big letter 'L,' with one wing sticking out towards Munro Street and the other towards Carpenter Avenue, with the main building and entrance in the middle and a double-lane drive thru right up to the front doors. They'll probably have them sealed and the drive blocked due to the Outbreak, but there's plenty of open spaces and parking around. Let's hope some of the ones close are still open."
"Agreed," Cy said. "I hope we don't have to park too far away. We may have to get back to your car in a hurry if we can't get in."
"You've got that right," Lisa said. "Hang on. Here's our first right turn."
Lisa didn't even bother to slow down. She almost put the 'Cuda on two wheels again, given how fast and how sharp she made that right turn at the intersection, but this time she got the sound of a lot of rubber squealing instead of going partially airborne. The 'Cuda skewed and slid through the turn, Lisa straightening it back up in a jiffy as only an experienced or professional driver can, and then they were off again at high speed down a mostly empty King Avenue. Cy again had to swallow and grip the dashboard tightly before him as they made the turn. He thought he saw Lisa grin at him from out of the co
rner of his left eye, but when he turned to look her face was a mask of innocence and her eyes were on the road again.
"How big is it?" Cy asked, once the 'Cuda had settled down in its new course and he judged Lisa free enough to talk again. "The hospital, I mean?"
"Fairly big," Lisa said, still keeping her eyes on the road. "Five stories, and that includes both the main building and both wings. Where we want to go is outpatient surgery, and that's on the third floor." When Cy raised an eyebrow, Lisa explained. "I had a friend of mine at the track who got messed up in a race collision a couple of years ago. We were close, so I spent a lot of time visiting him at the hospital. That's how I know my way around in there."
"Oh." Cy thought a moment, and then looked at Lisa. "How close, may I ask?"
This time it was Lisa's turn to raise an eyebrow. Her lips formed into a mischievous grin. "Close enough." She then frowned. "He never raced again after that, of course, and we eventually broke up once my star began to rise. He was too messed up, and he began to resent the fact that I could still race and he couldn't, and I was getting famous and he wasn't. Every time I'd visit him it would turn into an all-out pity party. I eventually got tired of it and stopped seeing him. Last I heard, he had found himself a new girlfriend and was doing her the same way." She sighed, and then added sadly. "Price of fame, I guess, or not having gotten it. For all I know he's probably a zombie now."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Cy said.
"Yeah," Lisa said. "He was a good guy once, before the accident and his going into professional victim mode not long after. I would have liked to have stayed with him, but ... well ... you know how it goes. I had places to go and things to do, and he couldn't be part of that picture being like that. He was too jealous." She sighed. "I don't know. Anyway, if I'd stayed with him and given up racing, like I know he wanted me to, I'd probably be a zombie now too." Lisa let out a low laugh, and then furrowed her brow. "Next turn's coming up."
"I'm ready," Cy said, tightly gripping the dashboard in front of him.
Lisa took the turn onto Munro Street at high speed as before, the tires of the 'Cuda squealing as she swerved around and then straightened back out in a snap once they were heading in the right direction. Cy took it better this time, although he still felt his stomach heave at the way Lisa took the turn. He had to remind himself that she was a professional racer and he wasn't, and she knew how to do this kind of thing. He couldn't have done it, he admitted to himself. Well, not at that speed, anyway. Again he thought he saw Lisa grin at him, and again he saw nothing but eyes to the road once he turned his head for a better look.
"Last turn," Lisa announced. "Next stop, Metro City Medical Center. Please be prepared to unstow all gear once we're down and return all tray tables to their upright position."
Cy gave her a look, furrowing his brow as he did. "You're a funny girl, Lisa."
"Yes I am," she responded playfully, her eyes never leaving the road but letting the impish grin that had formed on her face speak for her.
Lisa slowed once they got within sight of the hospital. The approaching rumble of her 'Cuda's Hemi motor startled a flock of crows feeding on the bodies scattered in front of and around both the main entrance and the building's two wings. There must have been a couple of hundred of bodies, maybe more. The crows rose into the air in confusion and then quickly flew away in search of a more peaceful feeding ground. One bird remained behind, however, perched on the arm of one of the nearby telephone poles. It was not a crow, but a big black raven .It cocked its head sideways at them as it watched the approach of the new arrivals, but otherwise did nothing else.
The hospital's main drive was blocked as Lisa had predicted. Two parked police cars on each end sealed it so effectively that the only room left to get by was for pedestrians, had there been any left alive to do so. Fortunately, as she had hoped, there were still empty parking spaces close to the building. Lisa deliberately picked one in the staff parking lot, which was the closest, and slid her 'Cuda into it. She put the car into parking gear, turned off the motor, and then looked at Cy. "Let's take all of our gear with us, Cy. We don't know what it's going to be like in there."
"My thoughts exactly," Cy said, as he looked back at her. "You beat me to it."
Lisa looked at him for a moment, then offered him her hand. "For luck," she said.
Cy took it and gripped it firmly. "For luck," he said back.
That grip only lasted a few seconds. For Cy's part, he wished it would have lasted far longer. He could have sworn he felt a surge of energy rush into him from her as soon as their hands clasped. He felt as if he were tingling all over when they let go. Judging from her reaction, it appeared she had experienced something similar. Then the moment was gone and the two were getting out of the 'Cuda, getting the rest of their gear and weapons out of the back, and making sure everything was arranged on their persons. As Cy finished and brought up his assault rifle into a walking carry position, he heard a click from the lock on the Cuda's closed passenger door beside him. He looked across the top in time to see Lisa on the other side putting her car keys in one of her front pockets, and then putting her firing hand on her weapon. She noticed he was looking at her, gave him a curious look for a moment, then realized why and smiled. "Well?" she said. "I don't want any zombies getting in here before we get back."
"I didn't think zombies could open doors," Cy said with a grin, as he came around the front of the car to join her. Her side was closer to the hospital than his.
"In Night of the Living Dead they could throw stones and beat people with sticks, and that little girl who turned zombie stabbed her own mother to death with a gardener's spade," Lisa shot back. "Most folks don't remember those parts of the movie."
"True," Cy said, holding his assault rifle at the ready as he scanned the area around them. It was quiet and it was clear save for the raven on its perch over at Carpenter Street. Too quiet. "Is it me, or are we all alone here?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lisa said. She too had her own assault rifle up and ready and was doing her own visual sweeps. "This isn't right. This is too creepy."
"Well, let's get to those doors and get inside, before anything happens," Cy replied, nodding with his head towards the front of the building.
The pair quickly raced across the staff parking lot and front drive, sidestepping bodies and other obstacles along the way. Off to her left and almost immediately behind the two parked MCPD patrol cars there, Lisa saw and noted the presence of a set of deployed police road spikes. They had been hidden from view during their arrival by the parked patrol cars obstructing the hospital's main drive on that end. Lisa guessed they had probably been put there to keep vehicles with either desperate infected drivers or ones who had already turned far enough away from the hospital to do it damage. Inwardly Lisa breathed a sigh of relief at having avoided this potentially fatal obstacle to her 'Cuda without knowing it. She was still thinking about those road spikes as they ran under the roof of the hospital's main entrance and up to its front doors, where they were forced to stop. The doors were closed and locked, but plenty of spiderburst cracks in the two inch thick safety glass with accompanying blood splatters and smears, not to mention a fair number of apparently dead bodies both official and unofficial scattered about, testified as to what might have happened here earlier that day.
"Cover me," Cy said. Lisa nodded and put herself between Cy and the street side of the building, while he let go of his assault rifle and tried to force the doors by hand. They never budged.
"I could have told you that wouldn't have worked," Lisa quipped.
"Never hurts to try," Cy said, flexing his fingers for a bit before returning his hands to his weapon. "You never know."
"True," Lisa said. "Hey, you see that big black raven on the arm of that telephone pole way off there? It makes me think of the one that was leading that flock of crows that flew over and past us while we were getting here."
"Yeah," Cy said as he walked up and down both the front entr
ance and the area its damaged safety glass panels on each side enclosed. "I saw one of those things as I was escaping the convoy attack. Big ugly mother, and looked evil as all out. So did the crows that were flying with it, just like those ones that flew away when we got here."
"They're probably all infected from feeding on the dead," Lisa observed. "No telling what the virus is doing to them."
"Well I don't want to find out," Cy said. "I want to get inside, where it's safe."
Lisa chuckled. "Strange definition of safe, what with there probably being zombies inside too."
"Yeah," Cy said, continuing to search for any means of breaching the way inside.
Lisa now looked thoughtful. "You know, the Cherokee have legends about ravens, especially were death is concerned. They say if you're unlucky enough to hear the call of the Raven Mocker instead of a real raven, then you're going to die."
"What's that?"
"A vampire that feeds on the souls of the living. They take the form of giant fiery ravens whenever they visit our world in search of new victims, or so the legends say."
Cy shook his head. "Oh, God. What, are all Indian legends creepy?"
Lisa smiled. "No. Just some of them."
"Anyway, don't encourage that one over there to start cawing," Cy grumbled. "Just in case, okay?"
"Ravens don't caw," Lisa shot back. "Crows do. A raven cry is more like an awk, awk--"
Escape From Metro City Page 4
