Mabel didn’t like the idea of going back to the hospital, but she didn’t argue with us either. She obviously was use to allowing the adults to make decisions and following through with them. It was also nice to have another person carrying some of the items. She was small for her age, which turned out to be ten and not nine, so she couldn’t carry much. Alec refused to allow her to carry anything of his and had her take some of my load. We hadn’t asked her to carry the tents, but she insisted on being of some use.
I had worried that she would chat our ears off and we would have to constantly tell her to be silent, but she held her tongue. There were times when I forgot that she was even there. Except there were times when she needed reassurance and would touch me. Most of the time it was my hand, but when I had both hands on my gun, she would grab a hold of my belt. As the day went by, she began to do the same with Alec. Though where I glared down at her, he would smile and offer her the reassurance that she needed.
That evening, we were sitting around a campfire and eating our small canned meal of lima beans and tuna. I could tell by the way Mabel crunched her face up every time she ate one, that she didn’t like the lima beans. Still, she ate them as if knowing that this was what we had and there was nothing that complaining could do. When she was finished, I gave her my last Jolly Rancher, which she sucked down happily.
“Do you know how many people are in your group? And are they all family members?” Alec asked her when she started drawing in the dust on the floor of the abandoned building. He probably thought that now that she was safe, she might be able to remember more about her group.
“I don’t know, but there is a lot. We took people from the hospital too and found some while we walked around.” She told him.
“Can you guess how many?”
“Don’t push her, Alec.”
She ignored me, “Twenty?” It came out more like she was asking us if that was a good number.
Alec seemed to discard his line of questioning and finished off the can of tuna. With a growing child with us now, Alec and I didn’t eat as much as usual. Not that we ate very much at all. I use to be slightly overweight by about fifteen pounds, but now I am pretty sure that I am ten pounds under. However, that doesn’t include the extra muscle I have gained from our excursions and the training Alec gave me.
“I got to piss… err pee.” Alec corrected himself.
“Elliot?” Mabel said. Even though I had told her to call me Elly, she had heard Alec continue to use my full name.
“Yeah?” I looked over to her.
She had written all of our names into the dust. “I didn’t tell him, but I know there were only five girls in the group. My mother, me, my big sister, and two others. My Uncle Cole said that most of the women didn’t survive the virus.”
“Oh that’s… not very good news.”
“With you it’ll be six, though!” She said hopefully, “Then we can save humans like my mother said.”
“Save humans?”
“Yeah by having babies.”
I arched my eyebrow, “Uh…” I honestly had nothing to say to that, so I just gave a nod. “Did your father not make it?”
She frowned, “No.”
“Mine didn’t either.” I told her, “Neither did my mother. You are lucky at least there.” I really don’t like kids all that much, but Mabel was starting to become an exception.
“My brother died too.” She sighed and looked into the fire.
“Yes, our sister was killed by zombies not long ago.” I don’t know why I was talking about these things to her. It had to be that Alec refused to talk about it, and I needed to just say something. Actually saying my sister had been killed out loud, I don’t know how, but it just made it real.
“Ex-excuse me?” A voice that I didn’t recognize said from behind Mabel.
Immediately, I yanked out my gun and held it up towards where I had heard the voice. Three men stood not ten feet away from us, and placed their hands in the air when I pointed the gun at them.
“We aren’t infected.” The eldest man who was around thirty seven said. “We just saw your fire and came to see if you guys were...”
I noticed that they all had their own guns on their belts. They must have overheard Mabel and I talking and decided that it was safe so they holstered their guns. With a little reluctance, I lowered my gun and stood up. “Alec!” I yelled as I positioned myself between the three men and Mabel.
Alec appeared within a few seconds and looked at the three men. He raised his gun to them, which in turn made me raise my own back up.
“We really aren’t infected.” The man said again, “I’m Hal Fulbright, and these two are my brothers, Will and Tim.” He pointed to the two younger men beside him.
“What do you want?” Alec barked his question.
“Just safety in numbers. We have food and guns, but those infected creatures are less likely to attack us in groups.”
My brother lowered his gun and so did I. “Bring it here.”
They all nodded and scurried off. It was like some kind of initiation process and they had to prove they were who they said they were. They returned with some meager supplies, but it showed us that they weren’t the zombies. I’ve never seen a zombie carry supplies with them, because they store everything in one place. They never hunted far from their lairs and did not wander out of their territory.
Alec gave a nod and before long we were all settled around the campfire. Hal seemed to be the only one who talked among his brothers. Though Tim’s eyes were glued to me throughout the evening. My brother must of noticed this, because when it was time to sleep, he had both me and Mabel lay near him.
He didn’t trust them and neither did I, so we both decided to continue our two hour watches. The last thing we needed was for these guys to take our food or hurt one of us. During my watches, I sat next to Alec and Mabel’s sleeping forms. My gun was in hand, practically daring these men to make a move.
I couldn’t believe our luck. We had been holed up in that McDonalds for four months now, and hadn’t seen a single soul. Other then the zombies, of course. On our first day out of our territory, we received four new members to our group. With any luck, we would be able to find Mabel’s family and the odds for our survival would increase.
My eyes jerked away from the fire to the three men who were sleeping across the room from us. All three of them had dark hair and some sort of facial hair, obviously not being able to shave. My brother had a razor and would probably offer it to them before long. Our new guests had tattered clothing with blood and dirt smears all over them.
Hal wore a red and black flannel shirt that was faded. Will, the thinnest and youngest, had a blue jacket that looked like it use to have some sort of patching on it. Perhaps it had been his employee jacket as it did look similar to the ones that the electric company handed out. Tim was the cleanest of the three. I noticed that he would spit in his hands and rub out the dirt into a cloth in his pocket. His clothing seemed to be in a better state then the other two. His jeans and black jacket were dirty, but not nearly as coated.
I had given up on being clean a long time ago. I use to be obsessed with my cleanliness, especially with my hands and nails. Now my nails had dirt caked under them and my hands looked like I had been playing with ashes.
“You thirsty?” A voice asked me from near the fire.
When I looked up from my hands, I found those dark eyes on me. “No, thank you.” I answered Tim, who took a swig from his canteen.
“You going to sit there all night?”
I shook my head, “Alec and I trade off every two hours.”
Tim looked over his shoulder at his two brothers, “You should have set us up as part of the watch. We would’ve helped.”
“We don’t trust you three enough with our lives.” I didn’t mean to say that the way that I did, but I wasn’t going to apologize for it either.
He was quiet for a moment and took another drink of water, “You are lucky. Your husband and kid surviving this.”
I don’t know how he could of mistaken me for Mabel’s mother. “Alec is my brother and Mabel is a girl that we found today. We rescued her from some zombies.”
“Zombies?”
I forget that the term isn’t what they are commonly called, “The infected ones.” I corrected.
Tim smiled, “Zombies, I like that.” He laid his canteen down and stretched out his arms. “So, why are we heading to the hospital?”
We had explained what we were doing and they had agreed to come along, though we hadn’t been forthright with our reasoning. “We just want to check it for medication. I doubt there will be any left, but it would be good to have something just in case.” I lied. I didn’t want these men to know about my back.
He nodded, “And then we look for that group ya’all were talking about?”
“Yes.” I answered and felt Mabel move beside me. I thought she would wake up, but instead she had just turned over.
“You look familiar to me. Did you ever visit McCoy’s?”
That was an Irish bar that my partner loved to patronize. Sometimes after we solved a case, he would take me there to celebrate. “A few times, my partner was a regular there.”
“Partner? Wait, don’t tell me. Detective Jason Ronson, right?”
I nodded, “Yes, he was my partner.”
He smiled, “I believe I asked to buy you a beer a couple times and you always turned me down. Said you had a boyfriend.”
“Ah.” Being one of the few women who ever entered the bar, I would receive at least eight offers every time I went in. I would hardly remember one man asking me.
“You know if Jason made it?”
“No, he died.” I remember it clearly because it was the same day my mother had past as well.
“He was a good man.” Tim looked into the fire and grinned, “You know, he use to tell me that he was lucky that you were taken. Because he didn’t know if he could’ve kept himself off of you if you were single.”
“Well, he certainly flirted enough for a man that was trying to keep himself at bay.”
Tim laughed. “Well, goodnight. I should probably get some shut eye.”
“Night.”
By the next morning, we were again walking the streets. Alec didn’t trust the three new men with any of our supplies, so it was up to Mabel, him, and me to carry it all. Tim, who walked uncomfortably close to me, kept asking if he could lighten my load, which I would always decline. Something in my stomach told me that these men were not to be trusted, and I was glad that my brother was feeling it too.
Around noon time, we made it to the hospital and Mabel began to tell us the easiest route to medication storage. I didn’t question her on how she knew as she had probably been living there for a while and had made many visits to it with her uncle.
It was obvious that the zombies were using the place as a base camp. We were hidden away in a building across the street from the large white building. Just standing there discussing what we were going to do, I had witnessed no less them six zombies exit the building. What they were up to was anyone’s guess.
“We have to check for medication. We could use it to trade for items.” Alec was arguing with Hal about why this had to be done. I was glad that he was being coy about my back injury, the last thing they needed to know was that I had a weakness.
“If it means that much to you, then go it alone!” Hal barked, “We aren’t looking to get killed. We’ll watch the kid and the supplies.”
Alec looked over at me with uncertainty. We were going to have to leave our supplies behind, but had hoped that Mabel would be hidden away with them. The three men could then enter in with us, which would cut down our time inside.
“Don’t be a pussy!” I growled at Hal. “This is being done for everyone in the group. We know where another party is and we may need leverage to get in. This medicine will be just what we need.”
Hal snorted, “Fuck you! We aren’t looking to get ourselves killed. The three of us managed to last just fine without you and we sure as hell can go on that way.”
“Hal, maybe we should help. They do have an awful lot of supplies.” Tim said and for a moment I thought Hal would backhand him.
“Shut the hell up!” He growled instead then turned his eyes to me, “We ain’t going in there.”
Alec crossed his arms and sighed. With a look towards me, I knew that he wanted me to follow him so we could discuss this away from their ears. When we were a fair distance away from them, he leaned against the wall. “What do you think?”
“I don’t trust them alone with our shit and Mabel. Maybe we should just forget this whole idea and go look for her family.”
“And what are the odds of us finding them? We have to go in there. You need some pain meds, Elliot.” He rubbed his upper arm and looked over my shoulder at the group. “We are just going to have to risk it. Make sure you put as many supplies on you that you can, but make sure you can still move quickly. Our bullets and guns are more important then food, there are plenty of animals running around to eat.”
I wanted to stick out my tongue because I knew he meant rats, dogs, and cats, but I kept my composure. “What about Mabel? We can’t leave her here with men that we can’t even trust with our food.”
Alec wiped his nose with his hand, which was a habit of his when he became stressed. “I feel terrible saying this, but she’s safer with them then with us in there. We’ll tell her to hide and to try to stay away from them while we are gone.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond, which told me that was exactly what we were going to do and I had no say in it. We made our way over to our supplies and began to strap onto our bodies all the ammunition and weaponry that we could. Something about the way that Hal and his brothers looked at us while we did it made me uncomfortable.
My brother walked across the mud filled room and waved Mabel over to him. I assumed that he was telling her to find a hiding place and to stay away from the men. He kneeled down in front of her, so that we couldn’t over hear him.
“What’s going on?” Tim asked me.
“Mabel is going to go hide and you guys can watch the rest of the supplies.” I informed him as I strapped that last handgun I could carry to my belt.
Hal’s eyes went to slits, “Why are you taking all that crap?”
“In case we need it, we need to make sure that we are prepared.” I looked over my shoulder to watch my brother and Mabel leave the room.
“You plan on declaring war? And why can’t the girl stay with us, you don’t trust us?” Hal growled.
“Damn straight we don’t trust you, we don’t even know you. She’s hiding to ensure her safety from the zombies.” And from them as well, but I didn’t want to add anymore fuel to the fire.
Hal snorted at my response as Alec returned to tell them that we were leaving. I gave Tim a quick glance. I don’t know why I did, but for some reason I knew that it would be the last time I would see the trio. Something about the guilt in his eyes told me that my intuition would prove true.
We slowly approached the hospital with our guns drawn and our backs to each other. I could tell that Alec was terrified of the situation from the way he breathed heavily through his nose. He had a habit of almost snoring when he became scared. I turned my head to him and pointed at my nose, which was a signal to him that he was making too much noise. He gave a firm nod before taking a couple deep breaths to stabilize himself then we continued onward.
Once the hospital had several bushes around the parking lot, but it seemed the zombies had ripped them out. They now laid in a pile of branches and dried leaves a few feet away from where they had once been planted. I decided that this was done so they could see incoming threats, though they hadn’t seemed to notice us yet.
My heart began to throb when I noticed movement in a second floor window. I gave a motion with my hand towards the window so Alec would know I had seen something. He looked towards the window briefly and didn’t see anything to be concerned about. He motioned me forward though he would look up towards the second floor occasionally.
We reached the entrance, but with no electricity they didn’t automatically open when we moved in front of the motion sensors. Alec threw his gun strap over his shoulder and gently pushed on the doors until they opened for us. A cool gust of air hit us as if the air conditioning in the building was still working. We hadn’t been able to find any buildings with electricity, but the hospital most likely had their own generator. How it was still working was a mystery to me. I was beginning to wonder if the zombies were smarter then I had given them credit for.
As we stepped into the hospital waiting room, I looked around at the littered floor and the benches that had been destroyed. The glass window the receiving nurse would normally sit behind was still intact, though it looked like someone had tried to throw one of the benches through it several times. The room smelt of feces and it wasn’t until I moved towards the hallway ahead of me did I see the decaying body underneath a pile of litter.
“Think it’s someone from Mabel’s group?” I whispered to Alec when he noticed it.
He stared at the half face and arm that was sticking out before he shrugged his shoulders, “Looks fresh.”
“Doesn’t smell fresh.”
Bringing his index fingers to his lips, he silenced me. Mabel had given us directions to the pharmacy though she mentioned that she wasn’t entirely certain they were correct. We wanted to get in there, grab what we needed, and get out before Hal and the others had a chance to get away with our supplies.
“No!” A woman screamed from down the hallway.
My eyes turned to my brother to see what he made of this new obstacle. It could be a trap set up by the zombies to lure us towards them, or a woman might actually need our help. I didn’t believe that the zombies would keep anyone alive and it wasn’t like them to bring someone back to their hive. I cursed myself inwardly when I knew that I couldn’t leave this unchecked. Alec seemed to be doing the same, before he began down the hallway to the door we suspected the scream had come from.
“Please, stop!” She cried out again.
I was the first to the door and I quickly swung my head around the edge of the door frame to look inside. It was an office room and there was a naked woman tied with her arms hugging the top of the desk. Behind her was one of the male zombies who didn’t take any notice of me, while he used the dark haired woman.
I realized that the zombies obviously didn’t know we were in the building. That would make it easier for us to get in and out of the building. It was a strange thought to have while I watched a woman being raped. It was only after I thought it did I shun myself for thinking selfishly. I yanked my eyes away from the attack and looked at my brother. I mouthed the word rape to him and he gave a nod.
Alec pulled out a handgun and attached a silencer to the barrel. I moved around him so he could have access to the door. Before I was even aware of the plan, Alec raced into the room and fired once. I entered in behind him in time to see the pale zombie stumble back with a gunshot wound to his forehead. He collapsed against the wall within seconds.
The woman gasped then seemed to realize that we were here to help her. She began to cry in relief but her big brown eyes could only see me. I walked over to the desk and kneeled down to untie her, while Alec removed his coat.
As I approached I looked at the dead zombie that was lying against the wall. His eyes were still open, but they seemed so void. Not empty of life, but instead of humanity. It wasn’t like looking into the eyes of a human being, but instead more like an alligator or a shark. An animal that was created for the sole purpose of survival and death.
Returning my attention to the woman’s rope, I was surprised to see that the knots were rather simplistic. If she had tried, she could have easy gotten out of her bounds. I looked up into her face as I pulled the knot free. She slinked to the floor and began to rub her wrists with tears in her eyes.
“Thank you.” She sniffled.
I gave a nod and felt a gentle breeze at my side. When I turned to look at what had landed there, I found Alec’s coat. “Here.” I offered the coat to her and she promptly put it on.
Her voice shook as she spoke, “Did the other’s send you?”
“Others? Are you part of Mabel’s group?”
“Mabel? Cole’s niece? Yes, I am. I am Doctor Gina Denholm.” She seemed to become aware of her appearance then and began to stroke her fingers through her dark brown locks.
There was dried blood under her nose and caked at the corner of her lips. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in sometime, and I had seen small wounds on her back and chest. She didn’t look much older then me, probably in her early to mid thirties. Though she may have aged dramatically in the last four months, I know that I did. I grabbed my canister and offered it to her.
“Thank you.” She said as she took it and began to drink down its contents. When she finished, she handed it back to me. “Did Cole send you?”
I shook my head, “No, we came here in search of medicine.”
“How do you know Mabel then?”
“She was separated from her group and we found her with some zombies.”
Gina choked up for a minute, but gained her composure. “Is the rest of the group alright?” She shook her head, “How would you know? I’m sorry.”
“What are you doing here?” Alec asked her in a low voice that silently told us to hush our voices.
She seemed to notice Alec for the first time, “I was here with the others when we tried to escape the hospital. The contaminated group had been trying to get into the morgue for a while and we knew that it would only be a matter of time. When we escaped they caught my daughter. I threw myself at the man that had her and he released her for me. Enrique tried to save me, but I told him to get my daughter out of here.”
“And the zombies… err, contaminated people, they kept you alive all this time?” I asked and took her hand. For some reason I thought she needed some sort of contact in those moments.
Gina nodded, “They tied me to the desk. Once in a while they would bring me food or water, mostly the ones that wanted to… to use me.” She swallowed. The flex of her muscles showed the outline of her cheeks and jaw, she hadn’t eaten in a while. “I don’t know how long I was here.”
“Is there any medicine left?” Alec asked and ignored her sad tale.
“Possibly, the…” She looked at me, “What did you call them? Zombies?”
I nodded.
Her eyes returned to Alec, “The zombies don’t seem to have any use for them or perhaps they just don’t know what it’s for. I can take you to the pharmacy if you let me stay with you.”
“Of course.” I held out a gun to her. “Can you use a gun?”
“I’ll learn if it means my life.” She snatched the handgun away from me. “Thank you, thank you both for saving me.”
Alec groaned, “Adding another person to the group is going to be a burden, and who is to say that those assholes haven’t stolen all our supplies yet.”
“We will worry about that later. We can’t just leave her here.” I stood up then offered my hand to Gina, who used it to stand up along side me.
“I promise to stay out of the way…”
“Its hard enough trying to feed me and Elliot, let alone you and the girl.”
My jaw dropped briefly, “What has gotten into you, Alec? We saved her and now she is our responsibility. Now we should hurry. Mabel is waiting for us.”
Next Chapter: http://rkphunt.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=63
I had worried that she would chat our ears off and we would have to constantly tell her to be silent, but she held her tongue. There were times when I forgot that she was even there. Except there were times when she needed reassurance and would touch me. Most of the time it was my hand, but when I had both hands on my gun, she would grab a hold of my belt. As the day went by, she began to do the same with Alec. Though where I glared down at her, he would smile and offer her the reassurance that she needed.
That evening, we were sitting around a campfire and eating our small canned meal of lima beans and tuna. I could tell by the way Mabel crunched her face up every time she ate one, that she didn’t like the lima beans. Still, she ate them as if knowing that this was what we had and there was nothing that complaining could do. When she was finished, I gave her my last Jolly Rancher, which she sucked down happily.
“Do you know how many people are in your group? And are they all family members?” Alec asked her when she started drawing in the dust on the floor of the abandoned building. He probably thought that now that she was safe, she might be able to remember more about her group.
“I don’t know, but there is a lot. We took people from the hospital too and found some while we walked around.” She told him.
“Can you guess how many?”
“Don’t push her, Alec.”
She ignored me, “Twenty?” It came out more like she was asking us if that was a good number.
Alec seemed to discard his line of questioning and finished off the can of tuna. With a growing child with us now, Alec and I didn’t eat as much as usual. Not that we ate very much at all. I use to be slightly overweight by about fifteen pounds, but now I am pretty sure that I am ten pounds under. However, that doesn’t include the extra muscle I have gained from our excursions and the training Alec gave me.
“I got to piss… err pee.” Alec corrected himself.
“Elliot?” Mabel said. Even though I had told her to call me Elly, she had heard Alec continue to use my full name.
“Yeah?” I looked over to her.
She had written all of our names into the dust. “I didn’t tell him, but I know there were only five girls in the group. My mother, me, my big sister, and two others. My Uncle Cole said that most of the women didn’t survive the virus.”
“Oh that’s… not very good news.”
“With you it’ll be six, though!” She said hopefully, “Then we can save humans like my mother said.”
“Save humans?”
“Yeah by having babies.”
I arched my eyebrow, “Uh…” I honestly had nothing to say to that, so I just gave a nod. “Did your father not make it?”
She frowned, “No.”
“Mine didn’t either.” I told her, “Neither did my mother. You are lucky at least there.” I really don’t like kids all that much, but Mabel was starting to become an exception.
“My brother died too.” She sighed and looked into the fire.
“Yes, our sister was killed by zombies not long ago.” I don’t know why I was talking about these things to her. It had to be that Alec refused to talk about it, and I needed to just say something. Actually saying my sister had been killed out loud, I don’t know how, but it just made it real.
“Ex-excuse me?” A voice that I didn’t recognize said from behind Mabel.
Immediately, I yanked out my gun and held it up towards where I had heard the voice. Three men stood not ten feet away from us, and placed their hands in the air when I pointed the gun at them.
“We aren’t infected.” The eldest man who was around thirty seven said. “We just saw your fire and came to see if you guys were...”
I noticed that they all had their own guns on their belts. They must have overheard Mabel and I talking and decided that it was safe so they holstered their guns. With a little reluctance, I lowered my gun and stood up. “Alec!” I yelled as I positioned myself between the three men and Mabel.
Alec appeared within a few seconds and looked at the three men. He raised his gun to them, which in turn made me raise my own back up.
“We really aren’t infected.” The man said again, “I’m Hal Fulbright, and these two are my brothers, Will and Tim.” He pointed to the two younger men beside him.
“What do you want?” Alec barked his question.
“Just safety in numbers. We have food and guns, but those infected creatures are less likely to attack us in groups.”
My brother lowered his gun and so did I. “Bring it here.”
They all nodded and scurried off. It was like some kind of initiation process and they had to prove they were who they said they were. They returned with some meager supplies, but it showed us that they weren’t the zombies. I’ve never seen a zombie carry supplies with them, because they store everything in one place. They never hunted far from their lairs and did not wander out of their territory.
Alec gave a nod and before long we were all settled around the campfire. Hal seemed to be the only one who talked among his brothers. Though Tim’s eyes were glued to me throughout the evening. My brother must of noticed this, because when it was time to sleep, he had both me and Mabel lay near him.
He didn’t trust them and neither did I, so we both decided to continue our two hour watches. The last thing we needed was for these guys to take our food or hurt one of us. During my watches, I sat next to Alec and Mabel’s sleeping forms. My gun was in hand, practically daring these men to make a move.
---***---
I couldn’t believe our luck. We had been holed up in that McDonalds for four months now, and hadn’t seen a single soul. Other then the zombies, of course. On our first day out of our territory, we received four new members to our group. With any luck, we would be able to find Mabel’s family and the odds for our survival would increase.
My eyes jerked away from the fire to the three men who were sleeping across the room from us. All three of them had dark hair and some sort of facial hair, obviously not being able to shave. My brother had a razor and would probably offer it to them before long. Our new guests had tattered clothing with blood and dirt smears all over them.
Hal wore a red and black flannel shirt that was faded. Will, the thinnest and youngest, had a blue jacket that looked like it use to have some sort of patching on it. Perhaps it had been his employee jacket as it did look similar to the ones that the electric company handed out. Tim was the cleanest of the three. I noticed that he would spit in his hands and rub out the dirt into a cloth in his pocket. His clothing seemed to be in a better state then the other two. His jeans and black jacket were dirty, but not nearly as coated.
I had given up on being clean a long time ago. I use to be obsessed with my cleanliness, especially with my hands and nails. Now my nails had dirt caked under them and my hands looked like I had been playing with ashes.
“You thirsty?” A voice asked me from near the fire.
When I looked up from my hands, I found those dark eyes on me. “No, thank you.” I answered Tim, who took a swig from his canteen.
“You going to sit there all night?”
I shook my head, “Alec and I trade off every two hours.”
Tim looked over his shoulder at his two brothers, “You should have set us up as part of the watch. We would’ve helped.”
“We don’t trust you three enough with our lives.” I didn’t mean to say that the way that I did, but I wasn’t going to apologize for it either.
He was quiet for a moment and took another drink of water, “You are lucky. Your husband and kid surviving this.”
I don’t know how he could of mistaken me for Mabel’s mother. “Alec is my brother and Mabel is a girl that we found today. We rescued her from some zombies.”
“Zombies?”
I forget that the term isn’t what they are commonly called, “The infected ones.” I corrected.
Tim smiled, “Zombies, I like that.” He laid his canteen down and stretched out his arms. “So, why are we heading to the hospital?”
We had explained what we were doing and they had agreed to come along, though we hadn’t been forthright with our reasoning. “We just want to check it for medication. I doubt there will be any left, but it would be good to have something just in case.” I lied. I didn’t want these men to know about my back.
He nodded, “And then we look for that group ya’all were talking about?”
“Yes.” I answered and felt Mabel move beside me. I thought she would wake up, but instead she had just turned over.
“You look familiar to me. Did you ever visit McCoy’s?”
That was an Irish bar that my partner loved to patronize. Sometimes after we solved a case, he would take me there to celebrate. “A few times, my partner was a regular there.”
“Partner? Wait, don’t tell me. Detective Jason Ronson, right?”
I nodded, “Yes, he was my partner.”
He smiled, “I believe I asked to buy you a beer a couple times and you always turned me down. Said you had a boyfriend.”
“Ah.” Being one of the few women who ever entered the bar, I would receive at least eight offers every time I went in. I would hardly remember one man asking me.
“You know if Jason made it?”
“No, he died.” I remember it clearly because it was the same day my mother had past as well.
“He was a good man.” Tim looked into the fire and grinned, “You know, he use to tell me that he was lucky that you were taken. Because he didn’t know if he could’ve kept himself off of you if you were single.”
“Well, he certainly flirted enough for a man that was trying to keep himself at bay.”
Tim laughed. “Well, goodnight. I should probably get some shut eye.”
“Night.”
---***---
By the next morning, we were again walking the streets. Alec didn’t trust the three new men with any of our supplies, so it was up to Mabel, him, and me to carry it all. Tim, who walked uncomfortably close to me, kept asking if he could lighten my load, which I would always decline. Something in my stomach told me that these men were not to be trusted, and I was glad that my brother was feeling it too.
Around noon time, we made it to the hospital and Mabel began to tell us the easiest route to medication storage. I didn’t question her on how she knew as she had probably been living there for a while and had made many visits to it with her uncle.
It was obvious that the zombies were using the place as a base camp. We were hidden away in a building across the street from the large white building. Just standing there discussing what we were going to do, I had witnessed no less them six zombies exit the building. What they were up to was anyone’s guess.
“We have to check for medication. We could use it to trade for items.” Alec was arguing with Hal about why this had to be done. I was glad that he was being coy about my back injury, the last thing they needed to know was that I had a weakness.
“If it means that much to you, then go it alone!” Hal barked, “We aren’t looking to get killed. We’ll watch the kid and the supplies.”
Alec looked over at me with uncertainty. We were going to have to leave our supplies behind, but had hoped that Mabel would be hidden away with them. The three men could then enter in with us, which would cut down our time inside.
“Don’t be a pussy!” I growled at Hal. “This is being done for everyone in the group. We know where another party is and we may need leverage to get in. This medicine will be just what we need.”
Hal snorted, “Fuck you! We aren’t looking to get ourselves killed. The three of us managed to last just fine without you and we sure as hell can go on that way.”
“Hal, maybe we should help. They do have an awful lot of supplies.” Tim said and for a moment I thought Hal would backhand him.
“Shut the hell up!” He growled instead then turned his eyes to me, “We ain’t going in there.”
Alec crossed his arms and sighed. With a look towards me, I knew that he wanted me to follow him so we could discuss this away from their ears. When we were a fair distance away from them, he leaned against the wall. “What do you think?”
“I don’t trust them alone with our shit and Mabel. Maybe we should just forget this whole idea and go look for her family.”
“And what are the odds of us finding them? We have to go in there. You need some pain meds, Elliot.” He rubbed his upper arm and looked over my shoulder at the group. “We are just going to have to risk it. Make sure you put as many supplies on you that you can, but make sure you can still move quickly. Our bullets and guns are more important then food, there are plenty of animals running around to eat.”
I wanted to stick out my tongue because I knew he meant rats, dogs, and cats, but I kept my composure. “What about Mabel? We can’t leave her here with men that we can’t even trust with our food.”
Alec wiped his nose with his hand, which was a habit of his when he became stressed. “I feel terrible saying this, but she’s safer with them then with us in there. We’ll tell her to hide and to try to stay away from them while we are gone.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond, which told me that was exactly what we were going to do and I had no say in it. We made our way over to our supplies and began to strap onto our bodies all the ammunition and weaponry that we could. Something about the way that Hal and his brothers looked at us while we did it made me uncomfortable.
My brother walked across the mud filled room and waved Mabel over to him. I assumed that he was telling her to find a hiding place and to stay away from the men. He kneeled down in front of her, so that we couldn’t over hear him.
“What’s going on?” Tim asked me.
“Mabel is going to go hide and you guys can watch the rest of the supplies.” I informed him as I strapped that last handgun I could carry to my belt.
Hal’s eyes went to slits, “Why are you taking all that crap?”
“In case we need it, we need to make sure that we are prepared.” I looked over my shoulder to watch my brother and Mabel leave the room.
“You plan on declaring war? And why can’t the girl stay with us, you don’t trust us?” Hal growled.
“Damn straight we don’t trust you, we don’t even know you. She’s hiding to ensure her safety from the zombies.” And from them as well, but I didn’t want to add anymore fuel to the fire.
Hal snorted at my response as Alec returned to tell them that we were leaving. I gave Tim a quick glance. I don’t know why I did, but for some reason I knew that it would be the last time I would see the trio. Something about the guilt in his eyes told me that my intuition would prove true.
---***---
We slowly approached the hospital with our guns drawn and our backs to each other. I could tell that Alec was terrified of the situation from the way he breathed heavily through his nose. He had a habit of almost snoring when he became scared. I turned my head to him and pointed at my nose, which was a signal to him that he was making too much noise. He gave a firm nod before taking a couple deep breaths to stabilize himself then we continued onward.
Once the hospital had several bushes around the parking lot, but it seemed the zombies had ripped them out. They now laid in a pile of branches and dried leaves a few feet away from where they had once been planted. I decided that this was done so they could see incoming threats, though they hadn’t seemed to notice us yet.
My heart began to throb when I noticed movement in a second floor window. I gave a motion with my hand towards the window so Alec would know I had seen something. He looked towards the window briefly and didn’t see anything to be concerned about. He motioned me forward though he would look up towards the second floor occasionally.
We reached the entrance, but with no electricity they didn’t automatically open when we moved in front of the motion sensors. Alec threw his gun strap over his shoulder and gently pushed on the doors until they opened for us. A cool gust of air hit us as if the air conditioning in the building was still working. We hadn’t been able to find any buildings with electricity, but the hospital most likely had their own generator. How it was still working was a mystery to me. I was beginning to wonder if the zombies were smarter then I had given them credit for.
As we stepped into the hospital waiting room, I looked around at the littered floor and the benches that had been destroyed. The glass window the receiving nurse would normally sit behind was still intact, though it looked like someone had tried to throw one of the benches through it several times. The room smelt of feces and it wasn’t until I moved towards the hallway ahead of me did I see the decaying body underneath a pile of litter.
“Think it’s someone from Mabel’s group?” I whispered to Alec when he noticed it.
He stared at the half face and arm that was sticking out before he shrugged his shoulders, “Looks fresh.”
“Doesn’t smell fresh.”
Bringing his index fingers to his lips, he silenced me. Mabel had given us directions to the pharmacy though she mentioned that she wasn’t entirely certain they were correct. We wanted to get in there, grab what we needed, and get out before Hal and the others had a chance to get away with our supplies.
“No!” A woman screamed from down the hallway.
My eyes turned to my brother to see what he made of this new obstacle. It could be a trap set up by the zombies to lure us towards them, or a woman might actually need our help. I didn’t believe that the zombies would keep anyone alive and it wasn’t like them to bring someone back to their hive. I cursed myself inwardly when I knew that I couldn’t leave this unchecked. Alec seemed to be doing the same, before he began down the hallway to the door we suspected the scream had come from.
“Please, stop!” She cried out again.
I was the first to the door and I quickly swung my head around the edge of the door frame to look inside. It was an office room and there was a naked woman tied with her arms hugging the top of the desk. Behind her was one of the male zombies who didn’t take any notice of me, while he used the dark haired woman.
I realized that the zombies obviously didn’t know we were in the building. That would make it easier for us to get in and out of the building. It was a strange thought to have while I watched a woman being raped. It was only after I thought it did I shun myself for thinking selfishly. I yanked my eyes away from the attack and looked at my brother. I mouthed the word rape to him and he gave a nod.
Alec pulled out a handgun and attached a silencer to the barrel. I moved around him so he could have access to the door. Before I was even aware of the plan, Alec raced into the room and fired once. I entered in behind him in time to see the pale zombie stumble back with a gunshot wound to his forehead. He collapsed against the wall within seconds.
The woman gasped then seemed to realize that we were here to help her. She began to cry in relief but her big brown eyes could only see me. I walked over to the desk and kneeled down to untie her, while Alec removed his coat.
As I approached I looked at the dead zombie that was lying against the wall. His eyes were still open, but they seemed so void. Not empty of life, but instead of humanity. It wasn’t like looking into the eyes of a human being, but instead more like an alligator or a shark. An animal that was created for the sole purpose of survival and death.
Returning my attention to the woman’s rope, I was surprised to see that the knots were rather simplistic. If she had tried, she could have easy gotten out of her bounds. I looked up into her face as I pulled the knot free. She slinked to the floor and began to rub her wrists with tears in her eyes.
“Thank you.” She sniffled.
I gave a nod and felt a gentle breeze at my side. When I turned to look at what had landed there, I found Alec’s coat. “Here.” I offered the coat to her and she promptly put it on.
Her voice shook as she spoke, “Did the other’s send you?”
“Others? Are you part of Mabel’s group?”
“Mabel? Cole’s niece? Yes, I am. I am Doctor Gina Denholm.” She seemed to become aware of her appearance then and began to stroke her fingers through her dark brown locks.
There was dried blood under her nose and caked at the corner of her lips. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in sometime, and I had seen small wounds on her back and chest. She didn’t look much older then me, probably in her early to mid thirties. Though she may have aged dramatically in the last four months, I know that I did. I grabbed my canister and offered it to her.
“Thank you.” She said as she took it and began to drink down its contents. When she finished, she handed it back to me. “Did Cole send you?”
I shook my head, “No, we came here in search of medicine.”
“How do you know Mabel then?”
“She was separated from her group and we found her with some zombies.”
Gina choked up for a minute, but gained her composure. “Is the rest of the group alright?” She shook her head, “How would you know? I’m sorry.”
“What are you doing here?” Alec asked her in a low voice that silently told us to hush our voices.
She seemed to notice Alec for the first time, “I was here with the others when we tried to escape the hospital. The contaminated group had been trying to get into the morgue for a while and we knew that it would only be a matter of time. When we escaped they caught my daughter. I threw myself at the man that had her and he released her for me. Enrique tried to save me, but I told him to get my daughter out of here.”
“And the zombies… err, contaminated people, they kept you alive all this time?” I asked and took her hand. For some reason I thought she needed some sort of contact in those moments.
Gina nodded, “They tied me to the desk. Once in a while they would bring me food or water, mostly the ones that wanted to… to use me.” She swallowed. The flex of her muscles showed the outline of her cheeks and jaw, she hadn’t eaten in a while. “I don’t know how long I was here.”
“Is there any medicine left?” Alec asked and ignored her sad tale.
“Possibly, the…” She looked at me, “What did you call them? Zombies?”
I nodded.
Her eyes returned to Alec, “The zombies don’t seem to have any use for them or perhaps they just don’t know what it’s for. I can take you to the pharmacy if you let me stay with you.”
“Of course.” I held out a gun to her. “Can you use a gun?”
“I’ll learn if it means my life.” She snatched the handgun away from me. “Thank you, thank you both for saving me.”
Alec groaned, “Adding another person to the group is going to be a burden, and who is to say that those assholes haven’t stolen all our supplies yet.”
“We will worry about that later. We can’t just leave her here.” I stood up then offered my hand to Gina, who used it to stand up along side me.
“I promise to stay out of the way…”
“Its hard enough trying to feed me and Elliot, let alone you and the girl.”
My jaw dropped briefly, “What has gotten into you, Alec? We saved her and now she is our responsibility. Now we should hurry. Mabel is waiting for us.”
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