Empty Bodies (Book 2): Adaptation (17 page)

“Melissa?” Brandon asked, cutting him off.

“Yes,” Will said, breathing heavy now.

“She’s at the hospital,” Trevor said.

A big smile came across Will’s face. “You have to take me there, now! Let’s go!”

Will turned around and headed for the passenger side door to the fire truck.

“We only picked up her and a girl,” Brandon said.

Will stopped, standing still at the front of the fire truck. He could feel everyone’s eyes focused on him, though he couldn’t see them.

“Your father wasn’t with them.”

Will looked up to the sky. Clouds were creeping across the sky, beginning to block out the sun. They started to look like they were speeding up, and Will was becoming dizzy.

“Will?” Holly said from behind him.

Will fell to his knees, continuing to look to the sky. He grabbed onto his hair and screamed as loud as he could as dark clouds came to a halt in front of the sun.

***

Gabriel

The loud cry from Will had attracted a couple of Empties, which Brandon and Trevor volunteered to take care of. After leading Dylan back into the fire truck where he would be safe, Gabriel returned and joined Marcus at the opposite shoulder of the highway. The two men looked on as Holly tried to calm and comfort Will.

After swiftly taking out the two Empties with knives, the two men approached Gabriel and Marcus. Gabriel watched Trevor pull a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, take one out, and light it.

“Mind if I bum one?” Gabriel asked.

“Sure thing.” Trevor handed Gabriel a cigarette, and cupped the lighter as he lit it for him.

“Thanks.”

Marcus looked over to Gabriel and chuckled. “You smoke?”

Gabriel inhaled deeply, then pushed the smoke out of his lungs and into the gray sky. “I do now.”

Marcus shook his head.

“You guys give us a second?” Gabriel asked, looking toward Trevor and Brandon.

“No problem,” Trevor said as he took a drag off the smoke. The two men walked to the ambulance and got inside.

Marcus turned to face Gabriel. “What’s up?”

Gabriel took a drag off his cigarette and made a whistling sound as he exhaled.

“I’m leaving.”

“What do you mean ‘you’re leaving’?”

“I mean I’m leaving. I’ll go to the hospital with you guys because I want to see that you all get there safe. Then, I’m gonna take Dylan and we’re going to drive home to D.C.”

Marcus put his hands on his hips and took in a deep breath, catching some of the cigarette smoke as he did, and waving his hand in front of his face to shoo it away.

“Sorry,” Gabriel said, and he threw the half-burned cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out.

“Look, man, I know that you want to get to your family. But, you guys will never make it alone. Besides, it sounds like they’ve got a real sweet set-up at this hospital. You’ve got to think about that boy and keeping him safe.”

Gabriel moved closer to Marcus and narrowed his eyes. “Aside from my own daughter and my wife, keeping that boy safe is
all
I think about. Don’t you question that.”

“Then you’d take him to that hospital, away from all this shit.”

“And what about his parents? You don’t think they’re wondering where their child is?”

“It’s not going to matter if you can’t get him there alive. And for all you know, his God damn parents might be dead!”

Gabriel heard sniffling, and he looked over to see Dylan now standing outside of the fire truck, looking over at them. While Gabriel wasn’t sure how long he’d been standing there, he assumed from the boy’s reaction that he knew Gabriel was thinking about leaving the group. Tears ran down the child’s face, and he turned and ran back up into the fire truck.

Holly was looking back over to them, shaking her head. She looked down and said something to Will, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then went inside the fire truck with Dylan.

Marcus and Gabriel sighed simultaneously as they kept their eyes toward the fire truck.

“Look,” Marcus said to Gabriel, not looking over to him. “Just think about it, okay? Consider all the options.”

Gabriel looked over to him. “I have.” He kept his eyes on Marcus for another moment as he walked back toward the fire truck.

***

Will

The anticipation crawled around inside of Will. He was finally going to see his mother, but was dreading asking her why his father wasn’t with her. He didn’t want to ask the question, but knew it would be the first thing out of his mouth once he saw her.

“We’re almost there,” Trevor told them through the ambulance’s CB radio. “That truck isn’t going to get inside the garage, and we’ve got to get to the top level. You’ll need to park it and have everyone hop in the back of this. There will probably be creatures walking around, but we’ll help cover you, over.”

“Sounds good, over,” Marcus replied.

A few minutes later, the large hospital came into view. Will’s heart raced again.
My mother is inside that building.

The ambulance pulled up to the entrance of the parking garage, and Will watched four Empties begin to walk from the side of the building to the two vehicles.

“You’ll need to hand your weapons over to us once we get inside,” Trevor said.

“What?” Holly said from the back seat.

“No way,” Gabriel added.

Will and Marcus looked at each other.

“Are you there?” Trevor asked.

 
“Why do we have to give you our weapons?” Marcus asked.

 
“Sorry, man. Just the way we do things. We’ll cover you.”

The Empties were approaching, and Brandon got out and knelt down behind the ambulance, propping the rifle up on the hood of the vehicle. The group sat in the fire truck, staring at each other.

“You coming, or not?” Trevor asked.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Holly said.

“I agree,” Marcus added, holding his thumb just over the button on the radio.

“Hello?” Trevor said through he radio.

“Come on, guys,” Dylan said.

Gabriel sighed. “Dylan, we can’t just—“

“Yes, we can. Something feels right with them.”

While it was hard to trust the instinct of the child, Will agreed with him. His vibe about the two men had changed.

“Let’s just do it,” Will said.

“Shit,” Marcus said. “Alright.”

Will had succumbed to the men’s demands, and only hoped that his newfound trust for them was warranted.

“Ready?” Will asked. Everyone nodded almost simultaneously, and Will looked over to Marcus.

Marcus pressed the button on the CB. “Here we go.”

And with Gabriel going first, the group raced to the ambulance as gunshots sounded all around them.

***

Jessica

No one was in the laundry room, and it made a perfect place for Jessica to go to gather her thoughts. She sat on the floor in the corner of the room, with her knees up to her chest.
 

The only thing she could think about was the creature in the back of the building. She didn’t understand it. For one, why was it even here? Yes, it was restrained and left inside a seemingly secure room, but she didn’t expect she would sleep easy knowing the thing was back there. And what did they know about it, if anything? The fact that no one had told her the creature was back there left her uneasy.

After a few minutes of thinking about the creature and questions she’d have for Lawrence whenever he made it back to the hospital, her thoughts returned to her parents. While Jessica knew that she would think about her mom and dad every day for the rest of her life, she hoped that the day would eventually come when she’d be able to remember her parents in more positive and loving thoughts. For the last few days, her mind had only flashed images of the two of them lying on the bed with blood all around them. And now, in a moment of quiet solitude, she was able to let it all out again, shedding tears down onto the tile floor beneath her. The thing that bothered her the most was why her parents had given up so quickly. Though the streets of her old neighborhood had been occupied with dozens of the creatures, the house had been clear of them. It’s almost like they’d seen what was going on outside and just decided not to even try. Like they maybe had other things hurting them in their lives that Jessica didn’t know about. And it hurt her all the same that she’d now never know.

Jessica looked up when she suddenly heard voices out in the main hallway of the hospital. She got to her feet and pushed through the double doors, into the small administrative area that the laundry room was a part of. As she reached the exit, the sound of footsteps on the tile floor became louder. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, and saw unfamiliar figures walking toward her room. Trevor was at the back of the group and looked over at her as she made her way toward him.

She saw Brandon leading the group into Melissa’s room and started to run over, but Trevor grabbed her. She looked at him with a confused glare.

“It’s okay,” he said.

“Who the hell are those people?”

“Oh, my God!” The voice was Melissa’s from inside the room.

Jessica pushed Trevor off of her and ran to the room.

She pushed through the group, including Brandon, who was standing just inside the doorway.

Jessica stood still as she entered the room and saw a man leaning over the bed and hugging Melissa. The widow was sobbing uncontrollably, holding onto him as tightly as she could. Melissa’s cheek pressed against the man’s chest, and her eyes met Jessica’s. Jessica could now see that she was smiling. Melissa pulled away from the man and wiped her runny nose, clearing the tears from her eyes.

For the first time, Jessica saw the man’s face. He looked around her age, was handsome with dark blondish hair and a scruffy beard, and he was also crying.

“Jessica,” Melissa said, grabbing the girl’s attention. “This is Will… my son.”

***

Will

Everyone was out of the room except the woman who’d barged in just after Will had entered. She had almost exited when Melissa stopped her.

“Jessica, please stay,” Will’s mother said.

Will watched the girl turn around and then just stand there. He hadn’t been expecting the girl who was with his mother to be so attractive, and he smiled at her.

“Please, close the door and sit down with us,” Melissa said.

Jessica closed the door and then sat in a chair at the foot of the bed, while he was sitting at the head of the bed, holding his mother’s hand.

Melissa looked down at Jessica and smiled. “Will, this is Jessica. Jessica, this is my son, Will.”

Though it was obvious at this point who Will was, the girl still smiled at him, a gesture which he returned.

“I asked Jessica to stay because her story is very important to telling you about your father.”

“What about Dad?” Will asked.

Melissa sighed. “Just listen, son.”

Will listened as his mother told him everything. She started from the time they checked into the hotel and met Jessica, told him about how his father had saved the girl when she was stuck in the hallway, and how he was bitten trying to get to the elevator. Every now and then, Jessica chimed in, and she ended up having to tell Will the majority of the story that came after his father had been bitten. While it wasn’t easy for Jessica, Melissa couldn’t make it through telling Will about the final moments at the gas station.

When the women were done, Will just sat there. He still had a hold of his mother’s hand, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes filled until he finally broke down, put his head to his mother’s hand, and sobbed.

His father was gone. Not only was he gone, but his mother had had to see him turned into an Empty. That was the most difficult part for him to grasp.

After a couple of minutes, he looked up and wiped his eyes. He looked over to Jessica, who had also been crying.

“Thank you, Jessica, so much,” Will said.

“Your father saved my life. I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

Will nodded. “Yeah, but, you’ve been here for my mom. Doesn’t sound like she would have made it here if it weren’t for you.”

“Yeah, well, your mother was a big help to me, too.”

“Would you mind if we had a few minutes alone now, Jessica?” Melissa asked.

Jessica wiped her eyes. “No, of course not.” She got up and left the room.

Will leaned in and hugged his mother, and they both continued to cry as Jessica shut the door behind her.