Surviving The Aftermath (Book 1): The Dead Linger (22 page)

Jill was geared up and ready and waiting, Zulu team got the signal to go in. The apartment complex was a couple of bi-level buildings that were situated in 2 parallel lines that ran concurrent with the mall strip. They discovered as they got closer each section while connected by the roof, the apartments were split into a 4-family style, having two ground floor apartments and two upper floor apartments, one of each faced the stores, and then an identical set on the across from it. And each “pod”, the group started calling them, of 8, had their own separate front and back entrance and were connected with a main hallway. There were a total of eight pods in each building, eight apartments in each pod, oh great math, so roughly one hundred and twenty eight  apartments total that they had to check, it was going to be a long day. Jill and crew figured it would work to their advantage with the separate entrances and pods. They were made aware early on in this endeavor that they couldn’t go shooting off and breaking every door knob in the place. While yes they had a Menards under their control, they also had a key maker. A series of “magic” keys were made, there real keys carved out and they filed down with the possibility of fitting into any lock. There was a retired burglar amongst the survivors, he was 68 yrs. old and most helpful with this idea. Jill entered the first building with her group, they split off to different apartments in groups of 3’s, having no idea what to expect they needed to be cautious. Everyone was trying to figure out which key that would work, and it was almost simultaneous that groups found their key. A couple looked at each other down the hallway and the doors slowly opened. Jill walked in with Oscar, she wanted him on her team, he was good in a fight. With their guns raised Oscar and Jill stepped slowly inside the living room of a 2 bedroom apartment, they heard a couple shouts of clear from out in the hall but remained focus on their task.

“Hello?” Oscar said loudly. Nothing replied, no sound could be heard, there was only a musty smell, like the place needed to be aired out. Oscar worked his way down the hall, the kitchen was clearly visible and they continued forward. Oscar and Jill were covering each other from room to room, until they deemed it clear, while there third person watched the entrance. They opened a window before they left, and propped the door open so others would know this room had been checked. Other teams were working on the ground floor apartments already, place to place people seemed to be zipping through the areas quickly, 2 gun shots rang out and a voice claiming they got one. A few more shots from below, so far things were good. They cleared 3 more pods by noon when an ear piercing scream came from the apartment directly below Jill and Oscar. All three of them hightailed it down the stairs to the apartment below. There were others slowly coming up the hall from the other apartments. Oscar took the lead and was all hand signals, pointing to where he wanted Jill set up and the others also. With his own M4 raised he slowly crept in while Jill covered his back and left side of area. Another followed behind them. Jill could hear the crunch of bone and slosh of tissue and flesh tearing. She didn’t want to look, Oscar shot both zombie and victim. Jill kept her focus and gun trained on the surroundings, she firmly believed where there was one zombie, there were others. As there back up slumped with relief, he headed back out in the hall. That’s when Jill caught sight of the second zombie behind the door and he stumbled forward.

“Look out!” Jill shoved Oscar out of the way, he tripped over coffee table and landed on the couch. Jill raised her gun to fire and took a step back tripping over the bodies on the floor and crashed down on the coffee table splintering the wood. That gave the zombie the advantage and he was on top of her. They struggled, Jill trying to keep his mouth away from her face and the Thing, just wanting to taste the warm human flesh. Its jaws were chomping at the air, Jill fought it, trying to keep her grip on her gun and push it up and away. She finally had to drop the gun, she was starting to sweat, and strain, using muscles she hadn’t used in a while and was regretting it now. The sucker was heavy and hungry, she just needed some separation from this thing.

“Push his head up, I’ve got a shot!” Oscar was frantic trying to help. Jill managed to get her hands under the things chin and shoved for all she was worth, her muscles now shaking under the pressure. These fuckers were strong she kept thinking. With some breathing room and target, Oscar punched a hole through its head knocking its body off of Jill.

“Damn that was scary close.”

“Yeah let’s not do that again.” Jill said. They drug the bodies outside and everyone went back to searching through. They were heading back upstairs when the radio chatter began.

“If anyone can hear us this is Bravo team. Were trapped, I repeat, we are trapped in St. Luke’s hospital.”

Both Jill and Oscar look up at each other.

“What the fuck are they doing in a hospital?”

“Jack’s on that team.” Jill said. The radio chirped again.

“This is Alpha on the way.” And silence.

“Base, this is Zulu lead, did I hear right, that Bravo is in a hospital?” Andy was on the radio.

“That’s what it sounded like.”

“Are you sending anyone to help?”

“Yeah were looking for volunteers, you wanna go?” Looking at Jill, Oscar radioed, “Yeah were in.”

This place was a cesspool. It’s like everything evil that didn’t turn into a zombie, all congregated here. Ending up a slave was not how Tom pictured his retirement years ending up, he was 37, and he didn’t need this shit.

“Let’s go bitch.” Every morning it had been the same thing. Getting woken at the ass crack of dawn, by the same phrase, by the same guy, well at least now the jerk only flipped his cot over instead smacking him in the face. So his manners were improving some. Tom rose with the rest, about 20 other men and women, a few children thrown into the mix. Every single one of them had healing bruises, cuts and sores. A few even had some pretty bad infections, but they were hiding them, apparently the norm around here was once you were too sick to work, you were put outside, and nobody wanted that. Except Tom. He’d done anything and everything, broken all the rules, was insubordinate to his supposed superiors, all they did was beat him. They all shuffled to the big red barn, it had been turned into a drug lab pretty much. Marijuana was still easy to grow since it was just a plant, the men in charge had raided every pharmacy within 50 miles it seemed because there were still boxes full of prescription narcotics, and cold medicines, anything for mixing and making a drug to get high on. Rip was the new drug of choice around here. A mixture of oxycodone’s, paint thinner and few others mish mashed in there, and this shit Ripped you up, hence the name. And apparently it was as addictive as heroine. Because it seemed one snort, smoke or shot, (it was a versatile drug) and you had to have more. So Tom and his fellow slaves made this day in and day out, with a break around noon, they were able to see the sun for maybe 30mins and then it was back to the salt mines. Tom looked around the place, every day he was searching for an escape route. He’d made several attempts already, which is why he had his current limp at the moment. 3 weeks had maybe passed or a month, since he ventured out on his own. He missed his wife and daughter so much it hurt, but no tears, because they found weakness and exploited it here. Several times he was tempted to turn around and go back, but he had principles, and pride, and Jill was there. Yeah so much for that BS now. He wondered often if Casey missed him, did his wife think about him, and was Jill moving into the leadership role that he vacated. Ding Ding. Ding Ding. Tom’s head shot up, here was his chance. Panic was already rampant in the barn, you could hear the screams outside. The bells meant a breech, somewhere a zombie or more had gotten in. It seemed to happen often around here, the aluminum walls were flimsy, and often when the people went out on an excursion, they would be infected and come back and turn at some point. Outside in the sunlight Tom tried to adjust and access the situation. He saw the walls were crippled towards the back, and like lemmings everyone was running in the opposite direction. He knew his only chance was to get out where these Zeds were coming in. Finding an iron rod maybe 4ft long Tom sprinted towards the opening. He knew there was only so much time before the people with guns would be here and capture him, so he had to act face. Running barefoot, that’s right they even took your shoes here, he managed over the uneven muddy dirt crop ground and running with a limp he was at the hole before anyone. There were maybe 7 zombies and most were already busy eating so they were distracted. He was hiding behind a tent and heard the wranglers coming through the crowd shouting and shooting. Tom went for it. He rushed towards the first zombie catching him off guard and smacked his skull with a crack, another stood and tried to reach out, and Tom managed a quick spin move and cracked another skull. The opening was within his reach, only one more zombie. Wam! Tom flew into the fence and sunk to the ground. Dazed and utterly confused he gazed up into the sun and several shadows cast themselves over him.

“I know this fuck.” Were the last words Tom heard before blackness consumed him.

Parking the car, both Jack and John got out with caution. They parked right by the open ER ambulance bay. The parking lot was filled with cars, flipped over squads, police cars with windshields blown out, blood everywhere, bodies amassed in certain areas. Some were burnt, others just in piles. With the rain and snow, things were looking rusted and old.

“Don’t touch anything, the last thing we need is tetanus.” John said. They did rummage through each ambulance, finding some blankets, a defibrillator, gauze and bandages. In the cop cars, they liberated a couple working shotguns with the shells, they took the emergency road kits in the trunks. You just never knew. Each with a shotgun in hand they made their way into the building. There were absolutely no bodies inside, that was the first thing they both commented on. From the carnage outside, to almost pristine appearance inside.

“Where are they?”

“No idea. Maybe they are trapped in a room somewhere or we’ll be lucky and they all left.” John replied skeptically. They looked around, chaos had ensued here once. The place was a mess with papers, equipment, beds, and chairs. The front desk computer had been thrown across the room at some point.

“You go that way, I’ll check down here.” Jack indicated the dark hallway in front of him.

“There’s no way we should be splitting up. Be smart kid.”

“Look there’s only 2 of us, it’ll be faster this way, besides, we’ve been in here what 10mins and haven’t seen or heard anything. We’ll just walk to the end of the hall and meet back here. What maybe 20mins?” Jack looked at his watch.

“I still think this is a bad idea.

“Fine then wait here and I’ll check each hallway.” And Jack turned to head down. He heard John sigh and turned to see him walking down the other hallway. Jack tried to keep himself alert and aware, he knew there was danger here, and he should be scared, but at the moment he wasn’t. His adrenaline was racing with excitement. Taking a deep breath he tried to relax and stay calm. He passed several curtain triage areas, none seemed worth any investigating. He crept forward keeping his gun up and ready, still not a single noise. He peeked in when the curtains were drawn shut, he kept looking behind him. The place was just a mess, nothing looked reusable. Jack was starting to think John was right and this was a bad idea. He turned to go when a white cabinet caught his eye, it was completely unmarred and still secured. Jack lunged at the cabinet and whipped it open. Immaculate was the best way to describe everything in there. It was all neatly stocked and placed, as if a nurse had just filled it. He immediately began filling his back pack full of the supplies, there were medicines and ointments, syringes, bottles of pills, multiple gauze and bandages. There was even a hypothermia kit, scissors and what looked like a sewing kit, (sutures). He closed the doors and then saw the cart, more perfectly good items. He scooped up everything. With a heavy pack Jack headed back the way he came. Back at the entrance, he was alone. He waited about 5mins before he started trying to call John using a mock stage whisper.

“John.” He said with a hiss trying to be quiet. He took a couple of steps down the hall and again called for John. Nothing. Shit, John has the keys, what do I do, Jack says to himself. He heads down the hall, cautious again like before but really trying to listen now. He finally makes it to the end of the hallway, which splits down 2 separate more hallways. Still no sign of John. Not knowing which way to go, Jack goes left, but keeps turning to look behind him for any sign of his partner. Still whisper calling out to John, he’s now walking at a quicker pace and getting very nervous. He passes several more rooms and comes to a set of automatic double doors, Operating Rooms was stenciled above. Immediately he thinks we need supplies, but his bag is so full he rationalizes not to go in. He pushes on the doors, they don’t budge, well that makes his decision for him. His only thought is he’s gone down the wrong hallway. Now with impatience Jack hustles back to where he started and continues to jog down the other hallway, which seems to lead to a bunch of private doctor’s offices. He comes to another T-intersection hallway. Great! Jack is getting scared and pissed now. Where the hell was this guy? Choosing another hallway, he jogs down it again. He can feel the panic rising and knows something is wrong. John has the radio, he can’t even call for help from Alpha. He comes to another set of double doors but these ones are open and there is no sign above indicating what’s ahead. Still calling out for John, his voice gets louder and louder, when he see’s someone way down the hall. Finally he sighs. He steps forward and smack, his hands and face meet the linoleum floor in a hurry, something grabs his ankles and drags him back into a room. Before he can even a register a scream, he sees 2 men and a 1 women in what appears to be a small operating room.