The Dead Don't Bleed: Part 2, The Aftermath (35 page)

Garrett came to a rest at the base of a small tree and immediately snapped his head back towards the fence. The crowd of undead were spread along three sections of fence and had hit it hard enough to bend it out several feet. One of the posts holding the fence in the ground was bent so far that the ball of concrete holding it into the ground was half exposed. The zombies were in a frenzied state and continued to push their combined mass against the fence. For the moment it appeared the fence would hold them back, but as more zombies appeared in the door at the top of the loading dock and rushed across the parking lot to join the building crowd already pressed up against
it, it was only a matter of time before it was pushed over completely.

"Everyone ok? Can you both move?" Garrett asked as he jumped to his feet.

Both of women tentatively stood up on shaky legs and checked themselves for any obvious injuries. Satisfied they were able to walk without assistance, Garrett directed them to start running towards the back of the next office building. As they passed through the gap between the two buildings he glanced towards the road and saw that a large section of the crowd of zombies from further down the street was now swarming in front of the building they had just left. Their presence had evidently been made known. He considered themselves lucky that the mass of zombies were trying to work their way inside and come after them through the building. If even a small portion of that crowd had broken off and circled around the building they would have quickly cut them off and surrounded them with overwhelming numbers. As long as they could put a little more distance between themselves and that parking lot before the fence was finally knocked down, they would be able to slip away and make it back to the hospital.

It was now going on three hours since Garrett and Shellie had left the hospital in search of the downed pilot. Doug was busy tending to his wife along with Kimberly inside the surgical suite. Miranda had busied herself investigating the
ir secluded section of the hospital and had discovered a service stairwell tucked into a corner next to a storage room. The stairs were behind a set of heavy fire doors and after a quick check from top to bottom she found almost the entire stairwell to be secure and zombie free. The only exception was on the fourth floor landing where the door had been damaged and was leaning partially into the stairwell. While it was still an obstacle for anything trying to enter to the stairwell, it would only take a handful of zombies pressing against it to push it the rest of the way open. She stopped at each landing and tested the rest of the doors to ensure they were firmly closed and also took a peek through the thick glass windows at each floor. With only one exception she found that every floor above the surgical suite was infested with undead. From the hospital gowns, scrubs and uniforms she could see most of them wearing, it looked like the hospital had been packed full of patients and staff when the infection managed to get a firm foothold within the building. The only floor she didn't see obvious signs of zombies was the top floor just before the roof access doorway. She had taken a chance and made a quick search of that floor finding it to be an administrative wing with only offices and records rooms. It was a section that had not been open the general public and was free of any signs of infestation. She found one particular room to be of great interest and worth further investigation once Garrett returned. A small communications center was nestled in amongst the offices and records storage rooms. Seeing a multitude of glowing lights and readouts on several pieces of equipment it appeared that most of the equipment was hooked into the hospital’s emergency power supply.

Returning to the second floor surgical suite
, Miranda detected a slight commotion at the far end of the hall as soon as she opened the door. Cautiously approaching the recovery room where she knew Kyle and Cameron had been when she left, she eased the door open with her pistol held up and at the ready. The first thing she noticed was a strange woman standing just inside the door wearing a flight suit, dripping wet and shaking hands with Cameron. As she turned her head a little more to the side her eyes grew wide as she spotted a smiling and equally soaked Garrett starting back at her. At the sight of him standing there in the recovery room she lost control of herself and darted into his arms almost knocking him over backwards in the process. After a prolonged and passionate kiss she stepped back from him and finally acknowledged that they were not alone in the room.

Garrett recovered from Miranda's sudden emotional outburst and introduced Olivia to Miranda and a semi-conscious Kyle.

"Where is everyone else?" Garrett asked.

Cameron pointed to the door separating the recovery room from the surgical suite and shrugged, indicating that he was not sure what they were doing in the next room.

Pushing the door open Garrett, Miranda and Olivia stepped into the surgical suite and then stopped short and took in the unexpected activity inside.

Two
gurneys were pushed close together in the middle of the room. Kimberly was sitting up on one while Emily was on the other. In the space between the gurneys several pieces of equipment along with a string of tubing that was running into the equipment and through IV lines attached to both Kimberly and Emily. Doug was busying himself taking readings from one particular device that resembled a rubberized pump and was continually moving in a slow and rhythmic fashion up and down while giving off a whooshing sound following each iteration. Emily was stripped to the waist with her chest partially covered in a folded blanket leaving the side of her breast where she had been bitten exposed. The wound was covered in a carefully applied layer of gauze with a liberal coating of iodine visible on the surrounding skin. Both women were hooked up to monitors that displayed their vital signs on a side by side readout overhead and from what Garrett gathered by the readings on those monitors they both appeared healthy. Fluids were visible running from tubing attached to Kimberly's arm and into the pump between the two gurneys. Garrett studied this set up for several moments and then realized what Doug was doing. His initial reaction was one of rage closely followed by alarm.

"You are transfusing them?" He stammered.

Doug's head shot up from the equipment he had been monitoring and he finally noticed that the rest of them had entered the room. Detecting the anger in Garrett's voice and seeing his face growing red he quickly replied, "There is no danger. I assure you. It is set up as a simple one way transfusion."

Garrett moved over to stand besides Kimberly's bed and looked down into her face. "Kimberly. Are you ok with this?"

She looked up at him and offered a warm smile, "Of course. I wouldn't have volunteered if I thought there was even the slightest danger. Besides. Look at her." She said as she nodded towards Emily, "It’s working."

Studying Emily a little more closely, Garrett had to admit that her natural skin color seemed to have returned and according to the readings on the monitor over her head her vital signs showed her to be
healthy. Leaning over closer he studied her eyes searching for the familiar telltale cloudiness that marked the onset of the infection beginning to take hold. Instead of the anticipated milky discoloration, Garrett actually saw a pair of brilliant green orbs staring back at him with a vibrancy he had not witnessed in Emily even before she was attacked.

"She's right. There is no sign of any lingering infection remaining. Kimberly's blood is the key." Doug stated with obvious pride and excitement in his voice.

Miranda was the first to pick up on the implications of this, "Do you mean that her blood is the cure?"

"Yes and no." Doug replied. "Emily has anemia." Seeing the
confusion on several faces in front of him, Doug offered a quick explanation, "That is to say that her blood has a lower than normal number of red blood cells. This is one of the reasons that she suffers from fatigue and shortness of breath so easily. It has an adverse effect on her blood circulation that is controlled by medications, which she refuses to take because it also adds to her weight gain." He cast a knowing look at his wife as he said this, "not that I am condoning her refusal to take her medications, in this case it probably saved her life. Her own body was destroying the cells carrying the virus faster than the virus could spread and take over. By flooding a massive dose of Kimberly's blood through her veins and doing it within such a short time after she was bit I was able to get ahead of the virus. Kimberly's blood may hold the cure; it is certainly an antigen against the spread of the virus. But if it had been anyone other than Emily with her anemia and her stubbornness about taking her meds, it wouldn't have made a difference."

"Wait a minute Doug. Are you saying that Kimberly's blood will only help someone who has anemia?" asked Shellie.

"Through a direct transfusion like this? Maybe, I'm not really sure. But under the right conditions her blood could be synthesized into something that would stop the spread of the infection in anyone. It would have to be injected directly into the blood stream and right after a bite. Once the virus spreads beyond a certain point it would overwhelm to many healthy blood cells for it to be of any use. Unfortunately, that is just not something I am able to do. I don't have the expertise or equipment to turn samples of her blood into an effective cure."

"You don't, but I know someone who does have the expertise and equipment to do just that." Offered Olivia from the back
of the room where she had been following the entire exchange with great interest.

Garrett offered everyone a quick introduction to the newcomer and then encouraged the young pilot to continue with her explanation. She outlined in the most general terms the conditions with the remaining US forces and the quarantine zone that was established around Cuba. Doug expressed great interest in the information about
the scientists at the Guantanamo Bay naval base charged with finding a cure. Olivia was quickly overwhelmed with his questions and had to admit that she only knew in the most general terms about their work. She went on to explain the mission of their flights over the Capital and surrounding areas to collect air samples in preparation for a follow up ground mission. When asked about the possibility of inevitable rescue, Olivia produced the emergency beacon and small radio from her flight suit.

"I almost forgot about these." She said as she switched both devices on. When everyone in the room started gro
wing excited at the chance of being rescued she had to raise her hand and get their attention. Doing her best not to sound completely negative she explained that it could be a while before a rescue team was sent for her. "There is still a great deal of concern about the conditions on the ground and how active the virus may be. The air samples my wingman collected and brought back will have to be analyzed before a rescue is attempted."

This news quickly but a damper on the celebratory atmosphere in the room. Garrett felt that it was time to bring everyone back to reality and push the idea of rescue to the side for the time being.

Pointing to Emily and Kimberly he asked, "Doug. How much longer until we can safely move everyone?"

Doug referred back to the valve measuring the fluids running through the pumping instrument between the two beds. "Just a few more minutes and this will be done."

"We can’t go down to the lobby because of the herd still outside the rehab wing. Miranda found an empty administrative floor where we can hunker down until a better option comes along. Kyle won’t be able to travel for at least another day or two so we don't have many other options." Garrett said, explaining his plan to everyone.

Garrett was not crazy about the idea of purposefully trapping themselves on the top floor of a building they already knew to be infested with zombies. But they had come to the hospital with no real
option for their next move. Looking around the room he also realized that it would be impossible to ask everyone to try and push any harder. The faces looking back at him were tired, haggard and worn out. Kyle, Kimberly and Emily were all in desperate need of rest and recovery. Anywhere they went from the hospital they would need to be helped every step of the way, reducing their remaining fighting strength even further than it already was. Even Miranda looked as though she was running out of steam. As the realization sank in that everyone was tired of running and fighting every minute of every day with no real end in sight, he could feel his own exhaustion finally starting to catch up with him. They had experienced so many close calls lately that a momentary lapse in judgment or loss of focus on his part would be all it took to get someone killed. The sudden sounds of fists pounding against the doors in the hallway made up his mind for him.

Garrett glanced around the corner of the recovery room into the hallway and saw the security doors bouncing wildly from a brutal onslaught on the other side. Their presence had been detected and once again they were relying on the strength of a single door to hold back those demons from descending on them in force. The doors had been designed to section off the hospital into manageable sized compartments to help prevent the spread of fire. The engineers responsible for those doors had not taken into conside
ration a need to hold back enraged cannibalistic undead trying to break through and run down living humans on the opposite side.

"That makes the decision a little easier." Garrett exclaimed as he turned around back into the recovery room. "Everyone get to the stairs now. Doug, Cameron and Miranda. Help me carry Kyle's gurney. Emily and Kimberly, ladies I am afraid you are going to just have to make the best of it until we get behind a locked door upstairs."

"What can I do?" Olivia said as she stepped out to the center of the room, pistol in her hand poised and ready for action. Garrett noted that she seemed to automatically defer to his assumed leadership. He thought he liked that about her, instead of trying to assert her own military authority she was going with the flow in what she must have perceived was already a well-established and somewhat effective hierarchy. He also recognized just how terrified this young Lieutenant was. She had most likely expected that as a Navy fighter pilot she would have personal control of her own role in any fight based on her skills in the cockpit of her plane. On the ground, facing an enemy that was more brutal and terrifying than any soldier or terrorist, her natural tendency was to look for leadership in someone who already had some experience in those circumstances. Whatever her actual motivation was, Garrett didn't really care, he was just grateful for the extra set of hands and one more shooter to help cover their ass.

Pointing to a spot just inside a nearby doorway Garrett said, "Stand by right there until we get our injured into the stairwell. If they start coming through
, shoot and move. Don't try and hold your ground, it’s useless. Remember. Head shots are the only thing that count."

Even though her efforts would be useless if the zombies on the other side of those doors broke through in mass. His hope was that if they only broken open a portion of the doors and came through single file, she could possibly slow them down for a few extra seconds. Moving into the spot he had indicated, she glanced back at Garrett and tried to appear confident and prepared. Garrett had seen enough to see through the feigned bravery, all of them were scared to death and she was no different.