PRIME (10 page)

“Scrab.” Matt stepped away from Lara and punched the guy hard in the chest.

“Ow.” The guy jerked back from Matt.

Before Matt could turn back around, Dodge jumped from the stage and grabbed his shoulder. He spun Matt to face him, took him by the collar, and pulled him away from his friends. Dodge slammed Matt against the stage. Matt struggled, pulling at Dodge’s fingers in a feeble attempt to make him let go.

“You’re done bullying people around here,” Dodge hissed into Matt’s face loud enough for the room to hear. “I will throw you over the wall myself if I hear you’re still at it. Do you understand?” Matt glared for a moment, and then gave a quick nod. Dodge turned to the room, not letting go of Matt. “That goes for all of you. We are a team now, and we work as a team.”

Dodge let go of Matt without turning back to him. Matt sprang to attack, but Dodge anticipated it. He rounded on Matt, punching him in the jaw and sending him flat on his back. Matt sat up, rubbing his jaw and obviously biting back tears. Lara ran to kneel beside him.

“That was your last warning,” Dodge told him and turned his back again. Dodge strode towards the back door. He gave Simon a small wink as he passed.

“Scrab,” Matt muttered, pushing himself to his feet and rubbing his jaw. Simon and Tessa smirked at one another.

“Jacob, Grant, we need you on guard detail,” Dodge called back as he reached the door. Two of Matt’s friends hurried to follow him out.

9

John Khane Medical Center

The cafeteria was bright, though the lights weren’t on. At a little after six PM, the sun was high in the sky. Soon the days would get shorter and they would need the lights earlier. It would mean more work for the generator and more gas used. For now, no one was talking about that.

Alice dropped a group of three aces on the table, smiling at the moan Cale let out when he saw them. She discarded and gave him an innocent look. “Your turn.”

“Yeah right, like I can do anything,” Cale muttered. He fought back a smile. Why did he find himself liking her? She was obviously too young for him. “Were you a card shark in your past life?”

“My brother and I played all the time.” Alice shrugged. “Our dad wasn’t around much so it was just me and him. I taught Simon to play when he was little. He was an even better player than me. He learned card tricks too. I think he hoped it might get our dad to pay attention to him.”

“Your dad a workaholic or something?”

“Workaholic, alcoholic, same difference,” Alice answered bitterly. “Our mom died giving birth to Simon. It was like Dad blamed him. He never wanted anything to do with him. Simon tried to be perfect; once he cried because he got a B on his report card. I couldn’t convince him it made no difference to our dad. He really thought if he could be perfect, Dad would finally be happy with him. It never happened. I’ve heard my dad say some pretty terrible things to Simon over the years.”

“Geez, poor kid. How old is he now?” Cale frowned as he discarded.

“He would be thirteen.” Alice’s face clouded momentarily as she thought of him. “He was still at Haven with our dad.”

“Oh.” Cale felt stupid, of course the kid wasn’t around anymore. “Sorry.”

“I planned to go back for him.” Alice stared at her hand, biting her lip. “I thought I’d find a good job and could take him away from Dad forever.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility.” Cale studied her as she nodded, still staring at her cards. Her skin was tan and he was tempted to reach out and cup her cheek just to see if it was as smooth as it looked.

Alice looked at him, her eyes intense. “I know, but he was worth it.”

“How were things between your dad and you?” Cale hoped he wasn’t pushing too far.

“He wasn’t mean to me like he was Simon,” Alice said. For a moment, her eyes got a far away look, like she was drifting into the past. “He closed off from me when Mom died. I think a big piece of him died with her, everything that was good and could love. After that, we shared a house, but we weren’t a family.”

Cale reached out a tentative hand to squeeze Alice’s. She looked up at him with surprise, and then smiled, pulling her hand away.

“It’s fine.” She tugged a card from her hand. “Winning at rummy is always a great way to take your mind off things.” She set down the fourth ace.

“Woman.” Cale pulled his hand back across the table, shaking his head. “No wonder no one else will play with you.”

Alice smiled. “Did you have any brothers or sisters?” She tilted her head as she considered what to discard. Dark hair fell over her eyes and she pushed it back.

“One sister and a half brother. He died in a car accident back in high school. Bunch of kids driving home drunk from a party, you know.” Cale answered with a shrug, studying her face as she frowned. The way her eyebrows drew together bordered on adorable. He tried to focus on his cards.

“That was the best thing about living on the base. We never had to drive anywhere. You could walk everywhere.” Alice set down her cards on the table. Something behind Cale caught her attention. “Zero?”

Cale turned to see Zero ambling into the room, Quigley at his side, ready to steady him. When Zero saw Alice and Cale he did his best to give them a convincing smile. It came off as more of a wince. Alice started to stand.

“I’ll go get him.” Cale stood and strode toward Zero, cursing himself the whole time. Why the hell was he helping this guy? Cale reached out to support Zero.

“I got him.”

Quigley nodded and stepped back. “He wanted to find you two, said he couldn’t stand sitting up in that room anymore.”

“Not another damn minute of it,” Zero agreed with another forced smile. “Thanks for gettin’ me here.”

“No problem. Take care.” Quigley patted him on the back and headed for the food.

With Cale’s help, Zero lowered himself into the chair next to Alice. “Hey intern, that Doc always such an ass?”

“Mostly.” Alice smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“Felt better before he prodded me with a dozen or so needles, that’s for sure,” Zero grumbled. “Took a lot of blood too, said they are still working on perfecting the vaccine.”

“Well that’s good,” Cale said. “Maybe up the chances of not dying.

“‘Cept I don’t think it’s been that long since they took the last bunch,” Zero said. “You ever tried walking around with about half as much blood as you oughta have?”

“They can’t keep using you like that forever.” Alice frowned. “I’ll speak to Grace.”

“No one cares about a degenerate like me.” Zero waved her away. “It ain’t as if we all have some sorta constitutional right to life, liberty, and all that anymore.” He leaned forward. “What are you two playing?”

“We were playing rummy,” Cale said, clearing away the cards. “Thanks for giving us a reason to stop. This way I don’t have to look like a sore loser.”

“Not a problem.” Zero grinned, looking much more comfortable sitting. “Any chance of scoring me some grub?”

“Of course.” Alice pushed her chair back and stood.

“Let me get it,” Cale offered, motioning for her to sit back down and wondering again why he was being such a schmuck. “The choices are pretty slim. They have a lot of soup and canned stuff. They are pushing grilled cheese sandwiches and frozen burgers. Seems like there’s not much left, and Grace wants to shut down the freezers. They draw on the generators too much.”

“I could handle some soup and grilled cheese, I think.” Zero licked his lips in anticipation. “You gotta make it with love and kisses like mom used to though, I’m an ill man.”

“Of course.” Cale couldn’t help but laugh. “What can I make you, Alice?”

“A cheeseburger would be fine,” she answered. “With bacon if you think you can scrounge some up.” Cale nodded and headed off into the kitchen where others were already busy at the grill making their dinners.

“Livin’ it up, huh?” Zero grinned. He was pale, but the smile lit his face. “The bacon I mean.”

“Won’t be much of it left soon,” Alice said. “If I don’t eat what’s here someone else will, so I might as well eat what I feel like.”

“I agree,” Zero said. “I woulda had the same if my stomach wasn’t so busy twisting up on itself. I wouldn’t have even asked for the grilled cheese if I wasn’t so damn hungry.”

“Well, you haven’t eaten very well lately,” Alice said.

“Withdrawal will do that to a guy.” Zero laughed. “It’s weird though, all this going on and I kinda feel better than I have in years. I mean, sure I’m fiending for a hit of something, but you know the kicker of it?”

“What?” Alice lifted her feet to the chair, hugging her knees as he spoke. This was good, it reminded her he was a drug addict, not some cute boy sitting across from her in class.

“I can’t remember what the hell I was so strung out on.” Zero laughed again. “Sure, if there were drugs here I could go through and try them all, but I don’t even know what it is my body wants, and I am perfectly happy keeping it that way.”

“Good for you,” Alice said. Zero gave her a half smile. She was starting to love that smile.

“And you, any vices?” Zero shook his long hair back from his face.

“Oh you know the usual, booze and women.” Alice managed to keep a straight face until Zero looked like the floor had just dropped from under him. She broke into laughter, and he slowly shook his head as a smile formed.

“You had me there for a moment,” Zero admitted.

“I was a good kid.” Alice put her feet down and reached for the cards, absently shuffling them. “I’ve never done anything worse than drink. I always worried about it hurting my career. You know, you always hear about some politician who did this or that.”

“You’re a thinker. I like that.”

“Why thank you sir,” Alice said. They shared a smile.

“Alright, soup is ready,” Cale announced as he came back to the table. “What are you two smiling about?” A couple minutes alone and they were smiling at each other like teenagers.

“What? Oh nothing,” Zero answered. He took the soup and sandwich. “Thanks man.”

“I’ll be right back with ours.” Cale turned back to the kitchen. He paused halfway across the room, taking a few halting steps towards the windows. Cale pressed his face against the window looking in both directions. “Son of a bitch,” he said softly.

“What is it?” Alice asked, half standing.

“Uh, everyone? You guys might wanna come see this.” Cale didn’t take his eyes from the scene below.

Exchanging worried looks, the others hurried to stand by his side at the windows. They jostled for a good view of the street three stories below. Alice turned to look at Cale, her eyes wide. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, before they both turned to look down again. This time she didn’t let go of his hand. The setting sun spilled sunlight onto the usually empty city below.

The street was alive with movement. Where before there was only concrete, there was now a sea of bodies. The zombies were everywhere. They packed in against the building just as they did at night, waiting patiently, their gray, torn faces expressionless as they watched the building. Alice covered her mouth. To see them at night was one thing; darkness was kind and could make things look less horrible than they were. This was especially true of zombies.

In the harsh light of day, Alice could see them all in too much detail. She thanked God she wasn’t any closer. They wore the remnants of clothes they had died in. Some stood in ragged hospital gowns, others in dirty and torn street clothes or pajamas. Some were naked as the day they were born and lacked the sense to be ashamed for it. The women’s hair fell in tangled, greasy messes down their backs, while the men staggered along with dirt streaked faces. The dirt blended into whatever stubble had grown across their cheeks during their last days. All their eyes were wide and unblinking in the sunlight. With a start, Alice realized she had never seen them with their eyes closed; perhaps that was why they hadn’t been out in the sun before? Most of them had been deteriorating for at least a month. The children were the worst, though they were thankfully harder to pick out in the crowd. Some were so small that others walked right over them. The children made no sound as they were trampled and stood up afterwards with an arm loose, or a bloody face that would have stopped a normal human in their tracks.