Life Among The Dead (31 page)

The fascination wears thin. It’s interesting, but not when you are the carcass. Cynthia attempts to pull herself away, but has nothing to grab onto. Her fingernails try to dig into the asphalt to no avail.

She is surrounded now. They fall to their knees and bring their faces close to the rest of her body. She has one last thought,
this is going to hurt.
All other thinking ceases as she finds out how right she is.

63

Nurse Cindy guides the bus up the ramp that leads to the Washington Bridge. As they reach the top of the raised surface they meet stand still traffic. The abandoned cars are bumper to bumper and they can’t merge in among them. They are forced to ride on the shoulder, half on the sidewalk.

Dan starts to wonder how Lindsey and her team are doing.
They must be well on their way by now.

“
We’re going to need gas.” Nurse Cindy states. “We’re one notch above empty.”

“
Ok.” Dan says. “We’ll have to find something after we cross the bridge. I want to get through this first.”

Immediately after saying that he wishes he had phrased it as Bill might have.
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The old man would’ve laughed at that.

Up ahead the road clears. Two military jeeps are parked, blocking the lanes like a barricade. Dan figures they were trying to control who entered and exited the city.

The shuttle is crawling past the stalled cars. They can see the dead walking in the spaces between the lanes of traffic. Some deceased people are trapped inside the vehicles. They beat on the glass wanting to get to the blue smorgasbord that cruises by.

The bus reaches the end of the grid lock. The last vehicle is a silver tanker truck with a large yellow shell embossed on the side of it. Dan keeps his eyes on the semi as they leave it behind, debating something.

“
Stop.” He tells the driver before she can start to pick up speed again. They are several yards beyond the barricade. The bus halts. “Turn off the engine, Nurse Cindy.”

“
What are you doing?” Heather asks her husband.

“
We can grab our gas here.” He points at the semi. “Who knows when we’ll get another chance? I will need some volunteers.”

Dan doesn’t wait to see who will follow him on this mission. Two men sidle up to the soldier who peers back at the living dead heading towards them along the rows of cars. It is very cold out now as the sun sets. The chill is just enough to numb his hands.

“
I’ll get the gas started.” He tells them. “You fill the tank. I need you over here with me.” The man he brings to the tanker is the man who had lost his wife and child just moments ago by the loading dock.

Dan brings the widower over to the jeeps. On the back of each of the green vehicles stands a large belt fed .50 caliber machine gun. There are many rounds remaining on the belts and he can see a box that contains even more ammo strands. The floor of the jeep is covered with brass casings.

“
Only fire when they get close.” He tells him. Dan leaves him and grabs the hose off of the tanker. He pulls the thick rubber tube over to the bus. It unwinds on a spool that offers much resistance. Dan has to fight to get the hose where he wants it.

“
Somehow get the gas in the tank.” He tells the man. The hose has a wide nozzle that will make filling up a difficult and messy process. “Don’t smoke.” He warns.

Joking about smoking has made Dan crave a cigarette. He will have to wait. Dan turns random knobs on the tanker until the guy at the bus gives him the thumbs up sign. He only hopes the guns are far enough away as not to ignite the gasoline vapor.

The man at the bus is trying to route the precious fluid into the tank using his hand. Gas splashes against the side of the shuttle.

“
It’s gonna take a while.” The man yells to the soldier.

A short burst rings out from the .50 cal. Dan heads to the jeeps, wanting to fire off a few rounds. Dan blows hot breath into his hands as he takes his stance behind the unmanned weapon. Before he can fire his attention is brought to a sound above the moaning of the dead, and the sound of the splashing gasoline. Above the staccato of the machine gun next to him he hears a steady whooping.

Through the cityscape Dan can see a helicopter flying their way. It is traveling very low. Dan figures it is looking for survivors as he lines up his first shot.

Before he can fire two figures rush past the jeeps heading back towards the city. A woman is in the lead, a man follows swiftly behind her.

“
I can’t do it!” The woman screams. “I can’t leave them behind in all of this!”

The man is screaming her name as he gives chase. They are darting through the cars. Dan has to let them go. He can’t risk himself, or the lives of the other survivors to chase them as they head straight into the open arms of the dead.

64

Oz followed the flame of his lighter through the dark service halls, trying to find the person who had broken the window on the fourth floor. The janitor had never spent much time in these corridors so he decided he would just have to knock on every door along that side of the building.

Oz receives no response until he raps on a door labeled: Pediatrics. Finally, a door gets answered when a tall thin man opens it.

“
Can I help you?” Oz asks.

“
Shouldn’t I be the one to say that?” The man in a white medical shirt asks with a nervous smirk. “Thank you for coming. I am so happy to see you.”

“
Don’t mention it. Let’s go.” Oz turns to leave.

“
Kids,” The male nurse yells into the ward. “We’re getting out of here.”

Oz stops in his tracks when he hears what sounds like a million children cheering. He cracks his tensing neck as he watches them file into the dark hall. He tries to count them, but he can’t keep up. It’s like a Monty Python sketch only Oz isn’t laughing.

“
How many of you are there?” Oz asks one of the little people walking past him.

“
I dunno, lots.” The kid says, not taking his eyes from the hand held video game he plays.

“
I got most of our kids. I got some out of the PICU. The NICU is completely lost.” The nurse offers Oz his hand. “I’m David.”

“
Oz. How about L&D?”

“
I didn’t check. I was pretty busy with the ones I had. They took all the other staff away and left me alone to do it all.”

“
I’ll check it out. Keep them quiet.”

“
Easier said than done.”

Oz knocks on the door marked Labor and Delivery. There is no answer. He turns the knob and enters the dark ward. A few candles are burning low, giving off little light; their flames are mere sparks ready to drown in pools of melted wax. The janitor follows an odd sound that leads him to a room. Its door is open slightly.

Candle glow inside gives the room a golden aura. A large woman in a nurse’s uniform sits on a folding chair. Her face is resting in her hands. Before he speaks Oz scans the rest of the room. Two transparent tanks are situated on the far side, away from the woman. Oz remembers when his son was in an incubator. He was born premature and so little.

“
Hey, I’m here to get you out.” He tells her.

“
You’re too late.” The woman says lifting her head slowly to see her would-be rescuer. “Perhaps if you had gotten here a half an hour ago.” Her glazed eyes can’t focus on him.

“
Well, I was pretty busy.” Oz doesn’t know how he is late.
Has she been bitten?
She’s acting sluggish. He watches as she lets her head fall back into her hands like she didn’t have the strength to hold it up any longer.

“
Those two couldn’t be moved.” She refers to the incubators without pointing. “I stayed behind to take care of them.”

The large man looks into the artificial wombs, beneath the clear plastic domes he sees the two tiny babies. Their frail hands are clenched into tight fists as they squirm their skinny bodies. Oz melts a little inside as he remembers his son. He was so worried about his boy those first three weeks.

“
They’re dead.” The old nurse says.

“
No, they…” Oz realizes what she is getting at. They have died, and are moving again. He won’t let the tragedy stop him. “I can still get you out.”

“
I’m not going anywhere.” She stands on wobbly legs. “I poisoned them. It was painless. They just fell asleep.” She removes an object from her pocket that reflects the candlelight with a golden gleam. “Then, I injected myself.”

The woman is taking small steps towards the enclosed cradles. She is swaying on her feet like an inebriate. Oz can see the thing in her hand is a scalpel.

“
Only one thing left to do. I couldn’t do it before.” She falls forward half way to her target. She doesn’t react when her face smashes into the hard tiled floor. Oz knows she is dead, and soon she too will be active again. He picks up the scalpel.

Each incubator has a little door by the infants’ heads. He opens the first one. The small zombies are unable to move well due to their undeveloped musculature. Their heads roll in random directions. Oz feels the top of the newborn’s cranium to palpate the soft spot. The child’s head is so small compared to his massive hand. The scalpel shakes in his other.

65

The children in the dark corridor have grown restless. David, the male nurse, is getting antsy as well, but he is overjoyed by the fact he now has another adult to talk to. Oz appears in the hall. His lighter creates an orb of orange around him. His face is stoic as he passes through the crowd of little survivors, and re-enters the pediatric ward without so much as a word.

David follows the big man who strides through the darkness and into the nurse’s station.

“
Did you grab all the kids’ meds?” Oz asks.

“
No, I didn’t even think to do that.” David finds a bag and proceeds to dump bottles of pills into it. He notices Oz is looking through the medication cart. The large man appears to be reading the individual names on the small drawers issued to each patient.

“
What’s up?” The nurse asks.

“
I just need to check something.” The janitor’s eyes fall onto the name he was searching for: Lovette, Tobias. He can’t bring himself to look into the drawer after he opens it. His gaze trails to his right, focusing on a mural of various animated characters having a picnic. He holds his breath and finally looks into the compartment. Three blues a green and a yellow.

“
Fuck!” The large man screams as he throws the entire cart against the wall next to him, chipping the paint off of a fat, yellow bear’s face. He knew the pills would be in there, but it infuriates him that he didn’t try harder to get Toby here.

David is holding a large maroon book to his chest. He squeezes it tighter as he watches the bigger man swear to himself and fume in front of the cheerful artwork. He wants to ask him if he is all right, but is too scared. His rescuer terrifies him.

“
I should have brought him here.” Oz is leaning over a swivel chair with his head slumped forward.

“
W…Who?” The nurse stutters.

“
Doesn’t matter. Not anymore.” Oz stands and looks at his new companion who is holding a book. “What’s that?”

“
It’s called the MAR. It tells us every medication the kids require.” David is feeling a little easier now.

“
Do you have all the pills we need?”

“
Yes, and we can get more at any pharmacy once on the road.”

Oz lets out a sigh before returning to the service hallway. He leads the group through after telling the kids not to touch any of the doors they pass. He is trying to formulate a plan on the fly. All he can come up with at the moment is getting these people to the loading dock.

“
Wait here.” Oz tells them at the top of the final set of stairs. He remembers the bodies that are down there. The mother and her child are especially vivid in his mind.
Kids shouldn’t see that,
he thinks.

The dead had devoured most of their bodies. The infant is awake, but completely immobile and harmless. The mother is active. She has caught sight of Oz with her one remaining eye. The woman is trying to crawl towards him with one arm. Her other arm is just bones, and still cradles the baby zombie.

The janitor wants to get the kids through here fast. He wants to finally be done with this hospital. He walks up to the mother and grabs her by the back of the neck. The powerful man hefts her like a cat holds its young and hurls her down the empty, blood stained hall that leads to the ER, baby and all. He figures it will take her awhile to make it back. By the time she does, they should be long gone.

“
Let’s go.” Oz bellows up the stairs. Multiple pairs of feet come scampering down. The man in the coveralls and duct-taped forearms halts them. He has no idea how to explain the carnage he had caused out on the loading dock, or how he can censor what the kids see out there.

“
Ok, you are all about to see some scary shit.” The kids giggle at his use of the ‘S’ word. “Who knows what zombies are?”

Some among the tribe raise their hands. David looks puzzled, but raises his as well. Oz looks over their faces as he holds their interest. Moaning is coming from the ER and he wants them focused on him rather than the masticated mother and child.