Outbreak: Brave New World (37 page)

“I dunno about the monkey.” Amy grumbled and shifted around in her sleep. Frannie and Daryl looked at each other and quickly clapped a hand over their mouths to muffle the sounds of the laughter.

“Good morning, everyone.” Daryl said as he entered the room bright and early at six o’clock. He was pushing a plastic cart with a cover on it. His patients groaned and stretched, he figured due to being woken up only a few hours after their arrival. “Please, don’t get up.”

Amy looked at him through one half opened eye. It
took her a minute to remember where she was and her mouth tasted like something had peed in it during the night. “There is one good thing to say about having to stay here.” Daryl said as he pulled the cover off of his cart with a flourish, revealing three trays of scrambled eggs and potatoes...and a sausage link. There…there were even cans of orange juice lined up on the edge of the cart too… Frannie felt her mouth water at the sight of the food and juice. “Breakfast in bed.”

Amy and Frannie looked confusedly at each other their brains refusing
to believe what their eyes and noses were telling them. It certainly smelled like real eggs and actual potatoes and…and for really real sausage. “You can have my sausage, Paulie.” Amy said, a little disappointed by the realization. “I can’t eat pork for some reason since I got pregnant. Tried eating some ham a little while ago and it made me sick as a dog.” she explained for Daryl’s benefit.

The man nodded and took the link off of one
tray and put it one of the others then distributed them. Amy crossed herself and prayed while the others did not stand on ceremony and quickly devoured their food. The eggs proved to not be the genuine article but instead the fake kind that came in big plastic bags. They certainly looked and smelled like the real thing but there was something off about the consistency that gave them away. Frays noticed that Daryl did not leave but instead leaned against the doorway watching them eat. “Want my potatoes?” she asked with a small smile.

“Nah, it’s just been awhile since new people came in.” Daryl said
, waving the woman’s offer away with a smile. Paulie finished his breakfast and guzzled his juice. The nurse collected his tray and plastic silverware then put them on the cart. “Besides you’re eating for two, young lady. How far along are you? Two months?”

“Three, almost four I guess.” Amy said and pushed the spuds around on the
tray. She looked uncertain then shrugged and slowly started in on the potatoes. “I kinda lost track of time since…you know.”

Daryl grinned and took Frannie’s dishes for her. “Yeah, the days do tend to blur together.” he
agreed as he checked his watch. Most of the medical staff had been working twelve on twelve off since the shit hit the fan, except Doc Haskins who was on call twenty four seven. In less than an hour his relief would be here so he could go get some sleep. “Doc should be here any time to let you know what’s going on today. The inprocessing people are gonna send the rest of your squad over. They should be here in about fifteen twenty minutes or so.”

Paulie seemed much cheered by this news. “Am I gonna see my daddy?” he asked hopefully. He did not think that anything bad was happening or anything but he missed his dad and his sister. The doctor
lady was nice and so was Daryl and he knew Amy and Frannie would not let anything happen to him but he was still a little scared.

“Shouldn’t be a problem, Paul.” Lieutenant Haskins said as she came in the room.
She had abandoned the lab coat in favor of a set of Multi-Cams. There was an M9 in a shoulder rig under her left armpit balanced out by a couple magazines under her right. “The medics already gave everybody else a preliminary clean bill of health last night, so I just have to give them a quick look and sign off.” She smiled and checked the chart on the foot of the boy’s bed. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring them by as quick as I can.”

Amy sighed. She did not want to say anything but she was worried about the others too.
“My brother’s alright, ma’am?” Frays asked and took a sip of her orange juice. She marveled that the can was cold and glanced up.
Saint Joan and Saint Bessus must be looking after us after all.

“
That would be Carl, right? Don’t worry. He’s fine.” the doctor said as she checked Frays’ chart. She flipped through the paperwork for a moment then replaced it. “I’ve got you scheduled for an ultrasound at ten. Ready to meet your kid?”

“Am I, ma’am?” Frays asked and grinned happily.
Her eyes felt moist all of a sudden and she blinked back tears. This whole thing did not seem real… “Can I have other people there? I’d like to have at least my brother and Lacey there if I could.” Lieutenant Haskins took Amy’s hands in hers and had her patient squeeze them.

Haskins grinned and nodded. It felt like ages since she had gotten to give someone good news for a change. “I don’t think that will be a problem.
I think you’re going to be hanging around here a little longer so we can keep an eye on your neck.” She moved on to Frannie and checked her chart. “How are you, Specialist?”

“I’m alright,
ma’am.” Frannie said as she shifted around on the bed. “No offense meant but I’d like to get out of here.” She tried to not be offended when she caught the doctor staring at her scars. She got the feeling that the woman was also trying to see if her patients were trying to conceal any illnesses or something.

Haskins laughed. “Well, I’ll see what I can do about that.”
the lieutenant said as she put her chart back then came around the side of Rodriguez’s bed. “How’s the leg? Any pain?” She pulled back her patient’s blankets and gently started to lift Frannie’s wounded leg, putting one hand under the woman’s ankle and the other on top of her knee to keep it strait. Haskins watched the woman’s face for any sign of pain as she manipulated the limb, bending the knee and flexing the leg. “Alright. Looks pretty good. Healed up alright, but if we had one I’d get you in for an appointment with a reconstructive surgeon. I’m going to put you on a light duty profile for the time being and set you up with some physical therapy.”

Lieutenant Haskins covered Frannie back up then moved towards the middle of the room.
Carl, Adam and Becca came in and rushed to their respective patients sides. Lieutenant Haskins hopped out of the way as the little girl sprinted and climbed up onto her brother’s bed. Adam bent and kissed his boy’s forehead. Carl hovered between Frannie and his sister, a little freaked out by the brace around Amy’s neck. “Don’t worry, Carl.” she assured him and grinned. “I’m alright.”

“Okay, here’s what’s on the agenda today.”
Haskins announced as she clapped her hands together in front of her and let them swing to her sides as she moved into the middle of the room “The post commander, Major Zachariah Tennyson will be here to give you a welcome brief at zero eight thirty. Don’t be nervous, he’s not that bad of a guy for a Marine officer.” The enlisted personnel laughed politely at the lieutenant’s joke “He just wants to get to meet you guys. Everyone has a job here and it might take a day or two, but you’ll end up assigned somewhere. He tries not to break up any existing units, but no promises.

After that
Private Lacey, Mister Frays and Becca have to finish their inprocess. I’ll take them down the hall to the exam room and sign off if everything’s alright. Not expecting any problems, so that should only take about half an hour. At ten Airman Frays has her ultrasound. Mister Jones will take her down to Corporal Waterman to get that done. We’ll try to accommodate your squad, but I don’t know if there’s enough room for everyone in the exam room. After lunch, one of the intel guys will be over to debrief you guys individually. Depending on what Major Tennyson’s going to decide, you might end up with your new jobs after that.”

Lacey spotted a stocky Hispanic man that kind of reminded him of a bulldog in MCCUUs walked in the room behind Lieutenant Haskins. His throat tightened when he saw the oak leaf on the man’s uniform. “OFFICER ON DECK!” Lacey shouted and stood at attention. He suppressed a small smile. Frays and
Rodriguez sat as close as they could manage to the position of attention. Even Lieutenant Haskins was locked up.

“At ease, folks.” the major said and smiled. He and Lieutenant Haskins maneuvered past each other in the area between the hospital beds. “I’m a little early, but we’ll get this welcome brief knocked out. I’m Major Tennyson and
I’m in charge of the military personnel on this FOB.
“Thanks, Lieutenant. I’ll talk to you offline later.” Tennyson said as he looked around the room as Lieutenant Haskins nodded and walked out. The man walked up and put a hand on the foot of Paulie’s bed. He glanced at Carl and then smiled at the boy in the bed. “Say, son could you take the kids down the hall for a minute? I’d like to talk to my people.”

Carl opened his mouth to say something but caught a warning glance from his sister out of the corner of his eye. “Yes, sir.” he muttered under his breath. Carl walked past the officer “Excuse me, sir.
I wanna get that wheelchair in the corner.” He bundled Paulie into the chair and took the kids out of the room.

Amy, Frannie and Lacey looked awkwardly at one another. The major nodded then went out into the hall and looked both ways. “Okay, I just didn’t want the kids to hear this.” Tennyson admitted as he glanced at the floor. “As far as we’ve been able to establish, this FOB is the only operating military base in a four state area.
We’ve got thirty nine troops, mainly Marines and Sailors, forty nine civilian contractors here and thirty nine civilian personnel here.

“We’ve got commo with what’s left of the government
at…some secret undisclosed locations around the country. For right now they seem to have held the outbreak at the Mississippi River. Everything between that and the Atlantic is under quarantine. We’re working with the Mexican and Canadian governments to coordinate our efforts. The government’s still trying to sort everything out, so it’s likely going to be awhile until that quarantine is officially lifted.” Major Tennyson said quietly as he moved around the room. The man paused to look each of them in the eye. “There are Navy assets in the Atlantic being used to airlift in materiel we can’t scrounge or make ourselves, but there’s a long wait list. That’s about it for outside assistance. Luckily, we’re getting on our way to self sufficiency here. There were a dozen crates of heirloom seeds waiting to be loaded onto a truck. We’ve got machine shops and, obviously, an aid station.”

“There’s been limited infection here, probably due to the low population density.” Tennyson continued as he walked in a slow circle around the room. He scratched at an itch on the side of his nose. “The town of
South Sanford to the northwest of us is the largest population center and it’s been largely abandoned or overrun. Our mission is to pacify the area, reestablish government control and provide aid to the civilian population.”

He caught a troubled look on the Air Force female’s face. “Pacify the area, sir?” she asked. Tennyson had read the information that the medics had gathered from the boy, Private Lacey and the little girl over breakfast an hour
ago. As highest ranking person on hand she had taken charge in Boston and led them out of the city to Hanscomb AFB. “Beg pardon…but what do you mean by that?”

“There’s gang bangers and thieves
operating in South Sanford, Airman.” Zachariah said gravely as he maneuvered to get a surreptitious look at the woman’s name on her chart. He looked each and every one of them in the eye, speaking slowly and clearly to make sure that there were no misunderstandings. “Making life miserable for decent people. Just like those animals that ambushed you and your people south of here, Frays. Standing ROE until you hear different from somebody with more rank than me is shoot on sight.”

Amy,
Frannie and Adam looked at each other. Shooting somebody who was trying to shoot you was one thing…but did he expect them to kill somebody because he was stealing a couple cans of beans from the Wal-Mart? What if Major Tennyson had caught them in the Walgreen’s trying to get food to feed the people at the school? Would he have ordered his men to open fire on them?

“Well, I’ve heard you’ve got a busy day
lined up.” Major Tennyson said as he gave them a wide grin. “So do I, so somebody from FEMA will be around to talk to you guys this afternoon and then we’ll see where you’ll fit in. Welcome to Forward Operating Base Freedom, folks. It’s not much but its home.”

Amy blinked
and shook herself as she watched the man leave. She had to wonder if she was still stoned from whatever the doctor had given her last night. “Oh Lord.” Frays muttered as she made the sign of the cross.

“What?” Lacey asked as Carl burst into the room pushing Paulie and Becca in the wheelchair. He had apparently
been sprinting full tilt down the hall and barely made the turn into the room but the children were laughing and clinging to the chair’s armrests.

“The FOB I was at in Iraq was called Freedom too.” Frays muttered under her breath. She could only sort of half smile and try
to shake her head. The brace around her neck was going to take a lot of getting used to. “I gotta wonder who comes up with these names.”

They got left alone for a little while, giving them a chance to catch up. Carl, Lacey and Becca had spent the night in a little building
about half a block south of the hospital. The medics gave them a basic checkup after Carl and Lacey checked their weapons and grenades in to an armory. There were four armed men that he could see so it did not seem like it would make much sense to put up a fuss.