Friggin Zombies (16 page)

Once inside I opened a Dr. Pepper and settled in front of the television to watch the world implode or be over-run with zombies, whichever came first. From the look of things the zombies weren't going to get the chance to destroy the world because the other zombies were doing it first.

You know there should be some kind of law against stupid. I have no idea how you could enforce it but there should be something to protect the rest of us. Right?

I gobbled down my first burger with CNN, and then turned to Fox. The news was pretty much the same with only a few details missing. I didn't bother with anything else. I did hit the 'net and check for new stories though. There was a lot going on and I realized that Harold Falter had been right on the money.

Video from New York was on the internet now showing the same kind of behavior and attacks that the amateur video from Spain had shown us. There were official denials of course, and charges of a hoax, but you could tell the responses were canned. The story was probably right on.

More from two other places, Boston and a small town near Baltimore. I can't remember the name of the place. I suppose history recorded it somewhere. I mean assuming history didn't get eaten by zombies. I just can't remember the name or I'd record it here.

Anyway, the situation was getting out of hand and doing so in a hurry. I started on my second burger, leaning back to watch the web videos and read the comments. I hate to admit it but. . .I read the comments just to see what kind of stupid shit some people were posting. You know the ones, I know you do. You laugh at them too. Or did.

Anyway that's what I was doing when Connie came into the living room fresh from the shower and sat down with me, opening her chicken salad. . .chicken with salad. . .no, salad with chicken? Opening her food and a bottle of water.

“Those things will kill you,” she warned me, looking at my burger.

“Not going to get the chance, probably,” I shrugged. “And to be honest, I used to eat there maybe once, twice a month. Knowing I might be cut off any day though has forced me to take drastic action and stock up now for the dry times.” I said all this with a completely straight face. Mostly because I meant it.

Connie looked at me for maybe five full seconds and then burst into laughter. I shrugged and took another bite.

“So what's happening,” she asked, nodding her head toward the screen.

“New York, Boston, and a place outside Baltimore,” I told her, turning the screen where she could see better. “Those are the only places in the states with what they're calling 'confirmed cases'. As you can see from the video, a 'confirmed case' is one that involves running through the streets in disarray and attacking anyone that gets within reach.”

It was true, too. The brief video from New York was almost a carbon copy of the original video that had started me on this odyssey.

“So do we think it's going to spread, or will we by some miracle be spared?” Connie asked, forking at her salad.

“I honestly don't know,” I admitted. “What I'm worried about is that this,” I pointed at the screen, “is just what we know about. For every story that's making the news there could be another, or ten or whatever, that isn't in the public view yet. No way to know what's going on elsewhere unless we see it here.”

“True,” she nodded. “I think tomorrow is it, Drake,” she said after a minute. “I want to go into the office tomorrow and see whoever shows up. After that I'll take it day by day until this settles down some. Do you think we'll have trouble with those guys who were in the parking lot?”

“Probably,” I admitted. “I hope not, and maybe they were doing something that the cops could bust them for and put them away. But we can't count on that so we need to be cautious. Don't take it for granted that we'll be safe, from them or anyone else. You can bet they aren't the only ones who might think that a doctor's office is a good target.”

“I don't even keep anything like they'd want,” Connie sighed. “I don't keep painkillers or other narcotics in my office. Just things like flu vaccine, tetanus shots, insulin, vitamins and stuff like that. There's not a single thing in that drug safe that's worth a dime on the streets.”

“Stupid people do stupid things every day,” I shrugged. “They aren't smart enough maybe to know that. I don't really have an answer for you on that score, Connie.”

We ate in silence for several minutes after that, each thinking our own thoughts I guess. It was a comfortable silence, looking back. It still surprises me how easily we slipped into a comfortable role with each other. It makes me wish I had asked her out earlier. You know, before the world ended. How much did we miss because I was too scared to suck it up and approach her?

Anyway, it was suddenly almost ten. I had put my third and possibly last cheeseburger in the refrigerator to save for another time. Like, tomorrow. I walked into the bedroom, undressed and climbed into the shower. By the time I was finished I was feeling the stress of the day I admit it. The work hadn't been all that hard but the strain of how things were was starting to tell. I was tired and knew that we had to do it all again tomorrow. I was under no illusion that Connie's staff would show up tomorrow either. Maybe, but not likely.

I walked into the bedroom to find myself in a candlelit scene of beautiful woman and soft scents. Connie was lying on her side across the foot of my, uh our, king size bed, head propped on her hand, waiting for me.

“Evening, stranger,” she purred seductively. “What'cha doin'?”

“Whatever you want,” I admitted, suddenly no longer tired.

Nope. Not tired at all.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The next day sucked. That's putting it mildly. We made the trip into town hoping to find that things had calmed down but it was not to be. If anything conditions were worse than before. None of the accidents had yet been cleared and there were several more to add to it now. Traffic could still move, but it was limited to say the least.

We still managed to make it into the office where I was relieved to see that the boards were still up and in place. I noticed that the car from the day before was still where it had been and hoped that meant that the three guys who had been inside were now resting peacefully in jail. That would simplify things greatly.

By eight fifteen Nettie was still not in the office and no patients were waiting. I looked over the appointment calender and noted that several people had called in to cancel or postpone their appointments. Gotta say I was surprised that anyone would think to do that under the circumstances. Gave me a better appreciation of why Connie wanted to make sure her patients were cared for. At least some of them were good enough to call and let her know they weren't going to be in to see her right here at the end of the world.

By nine we were still alone and Connie started going through her office selecting things she wanted to carry home with us.

“I'm not coming back until this is over unless I have to,” she told me as we packed one of the storage tubs I had gotten the day before with her things. “It's not. . .it's too dangerous and it's not worth it anymore.” She sounded tired and dejected. On impulse I took her in my arms and hugged her tight, rubbing her back.

“Don't think like that,” I told her gently. “You came to make sure your patients were taken care of and that's worth it. You've done all you can and that's always going to be all you can do.” I held her for another minute and then she pushed away far enough to look up at me.

“Why didn't you ask me out sooner?” she asked.

“Scared,” I shrugged. It has always amazed me how much her thoughts seem to roll right with mine.

“Of what?”

“Rejection of course,” I told her easily. “You're smart, beautiful, funny, successful. I mean what man isn't intimidated by that.”

“It's not like I'm the best looking woman in town,” she snorted.

“I beg to differ,” I shrugged again. “You are all that and more and I was just wondering the same thing last night. How much had we missed together because I'm basically a coward at heart.”

“Drake, you may be a lot of things but you're certainly not a coward,” Connie snorted. “No coward would have done what you did Saturday night for two teenagers he never met before.”

“That was easy,” I scoffed. “All that took was some training and a complete lack of good judgment. We're talking about something way more serious than that.” She laughed at that and wiped a tear away.

“Enough of this,” I told her firmly. “You've done all you can do. It's time to look after yourself. What else do I need to load up?” She nodded and started again packing things she wanted to save.

As I made each trip to the vehicle I made sure to case the parking lot and the area around us. I didn't have any kind of bad feeling, I was just being cautious. The last few days had shown that we needed caution.

It took maybe another hour for Connie to go through everything and get what she wanted or needed. By the time she was finished I had packed the Blazer pretty tight but she had everything she wanted. She locked the now wooden door with a sigh. I had placed a sign on the door and the window with a brief message that the office was closed due to the break-in and the current crisis and would re-open as soon as the situation allowed. That was probably a bit optimistic, I knew even then, but. . .you know.

“I worked so hard to get this far,” she told me sadly. “All that for nothing, now, it looks like.”

“Not for nothing,” I insisted. “You've helped a great many people in your work. And this may not be so bad as you think,” I reminded her. “We might be back here in a week putting all this stuff back. Let's not borrow trouble, okay?” She smiled and nodded, hugging be briefly.

“I'm lucky to have you,” she said suddenly, and I managed to nod.

“You certainly are,” I smiled and winked. “Now, get in the car, Doctor Hottie.” She giggled at that and I helped her climb aboard. She had taken most everything that meant anything to her and emptied her drug safe into a cooler.

I drove to Co-op again to fuel up. There was a slight line this time but not much and I soon had Big Baby topped off and ready for action. Two stations I had passed already had signs out that said they were out of gas, and I wondered how much longer there would be fuel anywhere in town. Things were growing worse by the hour and from the look of it the non-infected people were doing far more damage so far than the infected. It was time to head home.

“Why don't we drive through town one last time,” I said on a whim. No idea why I said it. There was no reason to. We had everything we could think of. It was just a notion that hit me.

“Okay,” Connie shrugged. “Might as well.” I could tell she was really down in the dumps. I tried to think of something to cheer her up as I drove.

Town was a real mess to say the least. We stayed on the main drags, so to speak, just looking at the various stores and businesses. There were signs of vandalism and destruction on nearly every block. We saw a few places still open, including one little independent type grocery that was being guarded by a man on the roof. He stood over the entrance way holding a pump shotgun, a grim look on his face. The small store had two semi-trailers backed up to the rear, surrounded by a chain link fence. It struck me suddenly that if they had access to a dependable water supply, that was a good place to hole up. I said as much to Connie and she studied the place.

“Might be,” she agreed with a nod after her inspection. “I wonder if that fence was already up before all this started or if he managed to get it in place afterward,” she mused. “I can't remember one way or another,” she admitted.

“I'm pretty sure it was already there,” I told her, trying to keep the conversation going to take her mind off her practice. “It think that used to be something else and the fence basically came with the building. Coming in handy now.”

“Sure is,” she nodded. “How about that convenience store?” she pointed to a quick stop style C-Store. “Looks like they've got shutters similar to yours. Wonder if they can access the roof from inside?”

And so it went as we rolled through town for what might be the last time. We didn't know at the time, one way of the other, you know? We had spent a madcap week in preparation for something we hoped wouldn't happen and in the process had missed a lot of what was happening day to day in town. We could see several places that looked as if their owners were going to make that were they stood or fell if the worst came to pass. Other places looked as if they'd been completely abandoned.

We saw no looting or violence or other trouble during out drive, but the signs were everywhere. We passed at least three places that I can remember where a building had been damaged or destroyed by fire. That made me wonder if the fire department was still active. It also gave me an inspiration that I wished I had gotten earlier. I wheeled around in the middle of the street and headed for the Tractor Supply.

“Drake, what's wrong?” Connie demanded.

“I got an idea, I just hope I'm not too late,” I told her. “I just thought of something that will help with our water problem!”

“What is it?”

“Stock tanks!” I almost crowed. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before and I don't know why thinking about the fire department made me think of it then, but a stock tank, or two, placed in the back yard and filled with water could give us another four, maybe five hundred gallons of potable water.

“You mean like for a farm?” she asked and I nodded.

“Is that safe to drink?”

“I don't see why not, and anyway we'll filter it if we have to drink it,” I replied as I turned into the parking lot. I immediately saw two of the desired products sitting behind the fence. The store was still open, though it looked as if they were closing soon as the employees were moving stuff inside. I jumped out of the Blazer and headed inside, Connie right behind me.

Ten minutes later I had purchased three two-hundred gallon tanks at the half-off, end-of-the-world sale price. The manager gave me a key to the lock on the gate which surprised me.

“You could have just waited and stole them,” he shrugged. “Since you didn't, I'd say you're pretty honest. Just leave the key inside the fence, under that trough, there will be fine,” he pointed out a watering trough. I thanked him and grabbed Connie by the hand, heading back to the Blazer.

“What are you doing?” she demanded as we got in.

“I need to go get my trailer to haul these things,” I told her. “If I hurry I might get back in time to get some help loading them.” We literally raced home, running several stop signs along the way. I pulled into the yard as soon as the gate opened and drove straight around back to where my flat-bottomed trailer set. I hadn't used it in a while, but thankfully the tires were still up. I hurriedly hooked up, Connie not even getting out of the Blazer. In five minutes we were on our way back to town.

I ran the same stop signs in reverse getting back and believe it or not made it with five minutes to spare. The manager just shook his head as he and another employee motioned for me to pull up alongside the gate. Together we loaded all three tanks on my sixteen-foot trailer and lashed them down. I handed the key back to the man, thanking them.

They were heading to their own cars as we pulled out of the parking lot headed home once more. It was a slower trip this time as I didn't want to risk losing one of the tanks.

“I think I'll leave them on the trailer, maybe,” I said as we neared the house. “If we need to move the tanks, it would be impossible to do without emptying the water first. Once we lose the utility, we can't refill them.”

“You won't need the trailer for something else?” Connie asked.

“I don't think so,” I shrugged. “I mean, this is our bug-out location. We're set up here and don't really have a fall back. Do we?” I asked, looking at her.

“No,” she sighed. “Not that I can think of, anyway. I'd always thought I'd have one some day, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.”

“Hey, you got one here!” I pointed out and she smiled at me.

Once we were home I pulled around back again and parked the trailer near the house. I grabbed the water hose and lashed the nozzle to the mouth of the first tank and turned the water on. It would take a while to fill all three so I didn't waste time.

Connie went inside and soon Ram was running all over the yard like he'd lost his mind, yapping at everything he could see and stopping every five feet to pee. He saw the chickens still in their coop and caught another gear, running so fast that he tripped over his own feet once getting to the enclosure where he spent at least two full minutes chasing the chickens up and down the little fence. I finally managed to corral him and get him back inside.

I released the chickens to roam the yard and get some exercise while I took my rifle and walked the fence. Seems a little extreme I guess, but things were getting ugly and I didn't want to be caught by surprise. It took me about twenty minutes to make that round and by the time I got back Connie had changed out of her Doctor Hottie uniform and had fixed us some lunch. I cleaned up and we took our sandwiches into the living room so that we could catch up on what was happening while we ate.

The wheels were coming off of society and we had tried to be ready for it. It was time to take advantage of all that preparation and try and survive whatever was coming down the pike.

Including friggin' zombies, man.

*****

In hindsight I should have expected it, but all I can say is that I wasn't really thinking about it. That changed with a phone call. Connie's cell started ringing, her ring tone from Phantom of the Opera.

“Hey, Music of the Night!” I enthused. Connie looked at me a bit funny as she accepted the call.

“Kane.” So authoritative. I liked that.

“No, my office was burglarized two nights ago, approximately. I've closed it until further notice.” All I could get was her side of the conversation, but I noted a frown on her beautiful features.

“Well, I'm not going to do that,” I heard her say rather firmly. “No way. And I've already served my time working with DWB. Yes, it does, I made sure of that.” I was frowning now. What the hell was all this?

“That I'm willing to do so long as I can guarantee my own safety,” she said after a minute. “Don't throw that crap at me, I'm not listening to it, from you or anyone else. Of course I'm willing to help and how dare you remind me of my oath!”

Uh-oh.

“Well you should remember that calling with threats and blackmail aren't the best way to get cooperation from anyone. As I said I'm willing to work in the local hospital, but that's all you get from me. There's absolutely no way I'm going into the city and that's final.”

What? Oh
hell
no.

“I don't work for the hospital, Madeline. I have patients there sometimes and when I do I make rounds. I also work the ER about once every blue moon to fill in for others who are on vacation.” Pause. “Well at this point I don't think that losing my hospital privileges is going to have that great an impact on my practice.”