Journal of the Undead (Book 1): Littleville Uprising (31 page)

“So,
you
must be Emma,” said a tall, gruff-looking older man as he pushed his way through the crowd.

Startled, Emma wondered how a complete stranger knew her name. The man knelt down across from Emma and moved her hand back so he could see the damage. Remarking that he had seen fiercer wounds inflicted from kittens, the man ruffled R.J.’s hair and told him to quit squawking like a chicken. Though the man’s tone was gruff, his eyes were kind and his smiles were genuine.

“Frank said you’d be a big help. Not that I doubted him.” The man nodded and introduced himself. “I’m Dr. George Mitchell, but everyone here calls me Doc. This is my better half, Louise, and hopefully my godson will remember his manners soon and introduce you to everyone else.”

Evan flushed with embarrassment and began introducing Matt and Emma to the rest of his family. Emma humbly apologized when Evan introduced her to R.J.’s parents. Ray Junior, better known as R.J., remained seated on the ground, gingerly holding his injured arm. Mesmerized, he watched Emma’s every move.

Emma tried to keep everyone’s names and relations straight in her head. Ray and Bev McKenna were R.J.’s parents. Ray had served with Major Stone before losing his leg in the Gulf War, and Bev was the major’s sister. Had it not been for his cane, Emma would never have been able to tell that Ray had been disabled. He moved around on his titanium leg as deftly as the other. Their oldest daughter, Tara, was in her second year at Georgetown University. Tara’s roommate, Laura Samuels, had joined them as well.

Next, Evan introduced Kate’s brother, Jimmy, and his wife, Rose. Jimmy was a brilliant contractor who had designed and built the cabin. Rose had been a schoolteacher before the ‘flu’ outbreak closed her school. Jimmy and Rose had two sons: David, their oldest, was in his junior year at Drexel University majoring in architecture, and Michael was a senior in high school. Emma remembered hearing about Mike before. The day she babysat Lucy, Evan was supposed to go camping with Mike. Emma smiled wistfully; that day seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Rachael!” Lucy squealed and leapt into the arms of a pretty blonde.

Emma’s stomach lurched and her lungs constricted. She recognized her as the girl Evan had been with at the football game. The pretty girl lifted Lucy into the air and spun around. Laughing, Rachael hugged Evan and Matt as Emma watched, horrified.

“Oh Emma,” Kate said, jolting Emma from her trance. “I forgot. You weren’t at Lucy’s birthday party so you never met my niece, Rachael. Let me introduce you.”

“Niece?” Emma breathed a sigh of relief and managed to produce a weak smile.

“Yeah, if you weren’t being such a big, stupid, jerk you would have met Rachael at Lucy’s party,” Matt interjected.

“Hang on now,” Rachael said, wagging her finger at Matt. “If
Evan
hadn’t been a big, stupid jerk and told Emma she wasn’t welcome, she
might
have come to Lucy’s party!”

“I saw you two together at the football game. I thought you were, well, that you two were …” Emma’s voice trailed off.

“Were you jealous?” Evan asked, his eyes alight with amusement.

“No, of course not. I mean, it’s not like we were still together. You were free to go out with anyone you wanted.”

“Nope, not buying it,” Matt said, laughing at Emma’s feeble lies.

“Okay, fine!” Emma blurted out. “I wanted to charge up into the bleachers and gouge those pretty blue eyes right out of her skull. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Evan hugged Emma tightly and kissed the top of her head as he laughed. Matt chuckled; he always found it easy to make Emma confess. Looking at Rachael, Matt agreed; her blue eyes were in fact very pretty and her smile was captivating. Rachael was bright, cheerful, and genuinely pleased to finally meet Emma. They chatted briefly before Doc broke it up.

“Hey, Emma. Bev here can’t remember when Ray Junior had his tetanus shot so he’ll need to have a booster. C’mon, let’s teach you how it’s done. Looks like you’ll get to shoot R.J. twice today!” Doc said, laughing.

“So, one quick question first,” Matt blurted out before Doc and Emma had gotten too far. “Are you Dr. G.E. Mitchell?”

“Ah, you must’ve read the book,” Doc guessed, smiling. “Indeed I am.”

“Wow,” Matt gushed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’d doubt any of us would be here if it wasn’t for you and your book.”

Doc only laughed harder and said he was glad someone other than family had read it. He motioned for Emma to follow and she politely excused herself. She fell into step behind Doc as they passed through the gaping hole in the mountainside that led to the cabin.

Emma was amazed. As her eyes adjusted to the brightly lit room, she saw that the door was rigged like her garage door at home, only stronger and reinforced. Artificial terrain was attached to the outside so that when it was closed it blended in with the mountainside. Doc played tour guide as they made their way inside. First was the motor pool area: a huge garage where trucks, SUVs, and ATVs were parked in rows. Workbenches and shelves lined the walls and tools hung neatly from pegs.

Doc pushed through a heavy door and led Emma and R.J. into a long hallway. Pointing to his left, Doc told Emma that the common rooms were in that direction but they were headed to the hospital wing. They continued down another long corridor where Doc led them into a large examining room.

“Hop up on the table and remove your shirt, R.J.,” he instructed.

Leaving R.J. to get settled, Doc motioned for Emma to follow him as he strolled down the hall. He produced a key and unlocked another door to show her the pharmacy. It was a small storage room with bottles, vials, and tubes lined up neatly on shelves. Drawers were stocked with gauze, bandages, and other supplies. Doc selected a vial and fumbled in the drawer to find the right gauge syringe. Removing the syringe from the sterile packaging, Doc showed Emma how to draw the correct dosage. He then recapped the syringe and discreetly slipped it into his pocket before they went back to check on the patient. R.J. balked, whined, and pleaded to skip the shot. Finally, Doc gave him an ultimatum.

“You’ve got two choices, R.J. Pipe down, man up, and take the shot in your arm, or I’ll call your dad in here. Of course, you could drop your drawers and get the shot in your butt.”

Glancing sideways at Emma, R.J. opted for the injection in his arm. Under Doc’s direction, Emma swabbed R.J.’s upper arm with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball. Doc pinched a large fold of skin, quickly slipped in the sharp tip, and depressed the plunger. Emma covered the injection site with a band-aid before R.J. bolted from the room, wiping an errant tear from his cheek. With the patient gone, Doc proudly showed off the rest of the hospital wing. There were four examination rooms, an x-ray room with thick lead-lined walls, and one operating room. Another smaller sized storage room held the x-ray developing equipment and chemicals along with an autoclave to sterilize tools. Emma marveled at the size of the hospital wing and the cabin in general. Thinking that just the hospital area alone must have cost millions, Emma was wondering if maybe her Batman joke wasn’t too far off the mark. Only a billionaire like Bruce Wayne could build an underground compound like that.

Dr. George Mitchell was pleased with his new protégé. Smart, energetic, eager to learn, and not afraid to get her hands dirty; Doc saw untapped potential. He’d learned early on that a good assistant was priceless. Without the hindrance of preconceived notions and sloppy habits, Doc could mold Emma into a fine assistant and, in the future, an excellent doctor.

As they rounded the next corner, they came upon Evan and Matt patiently waiting for Emma. Suspecting that his godson would be spending more time than usual in the hospital wing, Doc welcomed the boys and commented on how much Evan had grown since his last visit. Evan had always enjoyed the company of his godfather. Doc told the most amazing stories and even though Evan suspected that there was a liberal dose of embellishment, the stories were mostly true.

“George! For heaven’s sake, these poor kids must be starving! Why are you holding them hostage down here when there’s a hot meal waiting for them?” Louise scolded. “Evan, you know better than to let him get started. You’ll get sucked into one of his crazy stories and the next thing you know, the sun will be rising. Come with me and we’ll get you some dinner.”

Three empty stomachs grumbled in agreement and they followed her cheerfully. Down another corridor, a heavy door opened into a dining hall that was roughly the size of a small school cafeteria. Unlike school cafeterias though, the décor was cheerful and homey. The adjoining kitchen was a chef’s dream with industrial-sized refrigerators, freezers, ovens, and plenty of counter space.

“At least you made it in time for the chili cook-off. Now you kids had better vote for my chili or I’ll have all three of you scrubbing bedpans,” Doc teased.

Evan explained that every year Doc and his Uncle Ray had a chili cook-off and each year the rivalry grew stronger. Two huge vats of chili were simmering away, filling the air with the scent of fiery spices. Everyone got two bowls, one red and one green, each with a piping-hot ladleful of rich, meaty chili. Each table held baskets of cornbread and pitchers of sweet tea. In the end, they would all get to vote—red or green. After the votes were tallied, the winner would be crowned with full bragging rights for the next year.

While the two chefs playfully bantered about whose chili was the best, Evan’s cousins recalled stories of the most legendary chili battles. Each story was sillier than the one before it and they laughed until their sides ached.

“So, how do you like your chili, Emma?” David, the oldest cousin asked and the rest anxiously awaited her response.

Not liking to be put on the spot, Emma tactfully evaded the question. She replied that she liked both chilis very much and couldn’t imagine picking one over the other.

“You know it’s made with deer meat, right?” David asked slyly.

Emma set her spoon down slowly and watched as David cautiously backed away from the table. The rest of the cousins were waiting silently for Emma’s response. To their surprise, she scooped up a large chunk of meat, popped it in her mouth, and chewed thoughtfully for a moment.

“I’d never had venison before,” Emma stated matter-of-factly. “It’s supposed to be much healthier than beef and I honestly wouldn’t have known the difference.”

The table erupted in a mixture of groaning and cheers. Emma suspected she had just passed some sort of initiation.

“Aw man!” Mike groaned. “Now we’re stuck on dish detail for a week!”

Rachael gleefully explained that the boys had bet a week of dishwashing that Emma would puke if they told her she was eating deer meat. The girls slapped high-fives and gloated as the boys cleared the tables, glumly carrying the dishes back to the kitchen.

Poor Laura had not fared so well when she had been told. Being a city girl, Laura was content to think of meat strictly by what she’d seen in the grocery store—neatly wrapped in cellophane on Styrofoam trays, not with faces and little animal families. Upon hearing she had just eaten Bambi, her stomach had gone in reverse and she had spewed all over the table. Laura learned her lesson and now she only ate food she could easily identify. Peanut butter sandwiches were quickly becoming Laura’s favorite food and she often ate alone.

Mike playfully punched Evan in the shoulder and told him that he had to help with the dishes too. Emma stood and started to gather up the dishes near her.

“Emma, c’mon!” Rachael called. “That’s their job. You’re one of us!”

Delighted, Emma left the dishes and re-joined Rachael. She’d never felt like she belonged with the other girls her age. Most of them didn’t bother to include her unless they were trying to impress Matt.

One of us
, Emma thought happily; maybe she’d finally found a place where she fit in. Matt smiled as he watched his sister scurry off with the other girls. He hoped she and Rachael would become fast friends.

While the boys were up to their elbows in soapy water, Rachael continued Emma’s tour. In the common area, there was a spacious entertainment room complete with a ping-pong table, air hockey, and piles of board games. They had shelves lined with books—everything from Shakespeare to Marvel Comics—and comfy, overstuffed sofas and chairs. There was even a small selection of musical instruments including guitars, a drum kit, string instruments like violins, woodwinds, and to Emma’s delight, a full-sized keyboard. The video library was as diverse as the book selection and with the video projector they had an entire wall for their screen. Emma knew her brother would be pleased when he saw the gaming systems and plenty of games.

“This,” Rachael said, pointing around the room, “is the rec room. My parents always call it the wreck room, instead.” Rolling her eyes, she spelled the difference and remarked that her parents seemed to think it was really funny. Next, she showed Emma the laundry room and promised they’d come back to start a load of Emma’s clothes.

Finally, Emma was shown to her room. The sleeping quarters were divided into sections separating the private rooms and family-sized suites. Emma’s room was done in soothing blues and greens. The soft mattress, fluffy pillows, and thick, warm blankets looked heavenly. Emma longed to curl up and sleep until this whole mess was over. Oblivious to Emma’s exhaustion, Rachael prattled on about how happy she was that they had made it safely and of course that Emma and Evan were back together. Rachael held back nothing as she recalled how miserable Evan had been during Lucy’s birthday party.