Outbreak: Brave New World (10 page)

“Lucky.” Frays said quietly as she turned the light off and put it back. “Doesn’t look like you wacked your bean…
um…so to speak.” Amy was secretly a little relieved when Lacey snickered and wiped at his cheeks again. “Not that Marines generally seem to have much of a brain to injure.”

“Bite me, Zoomie.”
Lacey said with a hint of a smile. He leaned back a little bit and started to relax a tiny bit as Frays ran her hands down his neck, shoulders and arms. Adam giggled in spite of himself when she touched his torso under his arms. “Fuck, watch it!”

“Never thought you were ticklish.” Amy said quietly as she pulled her hands away and glanced at her palms. When no blood presented itself she continued on with her examination. “Keep still for a minute. Almost done, alright?”
Frays moved her hands down Lacey’s torso and hips. “Any pain?”

“No, I told you I’m fine.” Lacey
said quietly. He glanced at her as she moved her hands down his legs. “C’mon, Frays. Lay off, alright? I’m fine.”

Frays sighed and looked up at him. “I said I was alright too.” she muttered as she ran her hands along his left leg, glanced at her hands then moved over to his right. Amy frowned
slightly as she examined her subordinate. “Just humor me, alright?” She could sense a tremor running through the man’s leg as her hands reached Lacey’s boot. Frays sighed and looked up at him. “Sorry.”

Lacey’s lip trembled, a queasiness running through his stomach. “Me too.”
he whispered in her ear as Amy helped Adam to his feet. The two of them looked at each other helplessly for a few minutes until Frays clapped him on the shoulder and turned towards the door.

“You ready to go back in, man?” Frays asked. She glanced up at the sky and frowned at the gathering clouds overhead. The cloud overhead looked like big poofy grey cotton balls and the wind felt sort of clammy on her face. “C’mon. I think it’s gonna start raining again.”

Adam shook his head and sat back down in the chair. “If…if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll stay out here for a little while longer.” Lacey muttered under his breath as he ran his hands over his face. He turned the chair around and stared out at the lake, watching the trees across the water wave back and forth. “Go back in if you want.” Frays smiled weakly at the man then pulled a chair over next to his and sat down.

Frannie brushed the little boy’s hair away from his face. Her bottom lip trembled at the sight of the redness around Paulie’s eyes. As her Drill Sergeant in boot
camp would have said, the Sleep Monster was smacking the boy in the back of the head: the poor little kid was struggling to keep his eyes open. “Frannie?” Paulie asked his voice barely above a whisper as he leaned in close to her ear.

“What’s up, little man?” Frannie shifted around a little bit
because her arm was starting to go to sleep. She gently rubbed the little boy’s stomach, trying to get him to finally drop off. It was quiet now that his sister was asleep. The Frays were in the foyer debating what was to be done with the dead (if that was the right term) thing Amy had shot. Thankfully they were being quiet about it. It looked like Lacey and Frays were talking out on the deck.

“Is Mommy really going to be okay?” the boy asked. He settled his head under Frannie’s chin and snuggled up against her, letting the woman hold him tightly to her chest. She leaned back in the recliner and slowly started running her hand up and down his back. His breathing was starting to slow down and Rodriguez found herself hoping that Paulie would fall asleep before she had to answer his question.
“Did ya hear me, Frannie?”

Shit
.
Rodriguez thought as she glanced down at the top of the boy’s head. She pursed her lips, debating on wither or not she should pretend to be asleep or not. “I hope so, buddy.” Frannie said at last. Frannie ran a hand over the boy’s unruly hair and tried to smile at him when he looked up at her before snuggling back against her chest.

The boy squirmed around for a moment. “Why is Mister Frays so mad at Daddy and Amy?” Paulie squirmed again and yawned, covering his mouth with the palm of his hand.
“Why was Mommy yelling at Daddy too? Did Mister Frays think Daddy loved Amy so God made her have a baby in her belly?”

Rodriguez
sighed, her guts churning around as she fought back tears for the little boy in her lap.
He’s just so little. So…so little.
Frannie thought and squeezed Paulie tight. “You’ll understand when you’re older.” she said quietly. The boy’s weight was resting uncomfortably on her gunshot wound again so she lifted him a little and moved her leg. “It’s gonna be alright. I gotcha, little man.” She was relieved when the little boy dropped off. “I gotcha.” Frannie could not help but feel like she was lying to him.
 

Chapter Three

13 June 2011, 0532 hours 4 Old Trout Lane 10 miles north of Holden, Massachusetts

Jessica wrung the cool water out of the washcloth, folded it and placed it on Laura’s forehead
in the dim light thrown off by the lamp next to the bed. The woman was sweating so much that she and Amy had changed the sheets once already since yesterday afternoon. Adam leaned against the inside of the doorframe, his face hidden in the palm of his hand. Jessie leaned back in her chair and looked pitiably at the man. “We have some antibiotics, right?” she asked.

Lacey sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Yeah, I think there’s some left.” he said quietly as he wandered over to his wife’s side. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness since around midnight. “I don’t know. Eamon had a bag full of pills and stuff.”

Jessica nodded and stood up, drying her hands on her shirt. “I’ll ask Amy where it is.” she said quietly, letting a hand rest sympathetically on the man’s shoulder as she passed. Lacey sort of half smiled sickly and took Jessica’s place at his wife’s bedside. He took his wife’s hand and squeezed it, pained by how pale and sickly she seemed to him.

He held her hand in both of his, pressing her raging hot
skin against his forehead almost as if he were praying. “C’mon, baby. Stay with me.” he said quietly as he kissed the back of her wrist. “I dunno if I can do this without you, hon. Please…please please, baby.”

Jessica frowned, hesitating a moment to
put a calmer expression on her face before poking her head out into the dining area. Amy was sitting at the kitchen table, seemingly half dozing with her chin propped up on the palm of her hand. “Amy. Amy!” Jessica hissed, hoping to get her daughter’s attention without waking anyone else. She could not help but feel a little bad when Amy woke with a snort and turned to face her. “Do you know where the medicine is? Mrs. Lacey needs some antibiotics or something.”

Amy blearily wiped at her face and nodded,
flashlight in hand as she shuffled sleepily off towards the bathroom in search of the small satchel stashed on the top shelf of the towel cabinet next to the shower, high off the ground so the children could not reach it. She knew there was a bottle of amoxicillin in there but Frays could not recall how full it was right off the top of her head. They had used a lot of the antibiotics trying to keep Frannie’s wound from getting infected. It proved a double edged sword as the antibiotics had given Frannie a pretty serious case of diarrhea. There had been a couple close calls trying to get Rodriguez to the latrine before she had an accident and they had kind of a hard time keeping Frannie hydrated. There was the A&D Ointment she had been using on her feet too but Amy doubted very much that it was what Laura needed.

Frays went to the medicine cabinet and took down a bottle of mouthwash, pouring some of the sickish green liquid into the cap and using it to get rid of the horrible taste in her mouth before taking the satchel down from the cabinet.
Amy unzipped the bag and started digging through it in the dark, looking at the labels on the various brown plastic bottles inside. Her heart sank when she found the amoxicillin, opened the vial and peered inside. There were maybe five or six lonely little pills in the bottom of the container.

Frays sighed and
returned to the door of the back bedroom where she handed the bottle to her mother. “I think that’s it.” she said quietly. Amy glanced over her shoulders, afraid of waking the children asleep in the living room or her brother a few feet away. Frannie was sleeping with the kids on the hide-a-bed. “Will it work?” Amy wondered aloud.

Jessie frowned at the bottle of pills in her hand. “I guess it’s better than no
thing, kiddo.” she said quietly. She gave her daughter a rueful smile then Jessica took a half step towards Amy and threw her arms around her. “I’m sorry about how your dad acted, baby. I’ll talk to him.”

“Dad slapped me and called me a slut, Mom.” Amy said sharply as she pulled herself out of her mother’s embrace. “After everything that happened…” Frays shook
her head and went over to the blue recliner across the room. “I think he’s said just about enough.”

Lacey looked uneasily at the older woman when she came back into the room and shut the door behind her. Jessica
leaned against the doorframe, doing her best to hide a troubled expression and then tossed the little bottle to Adam. “It looks like that’s about it as far as the antibiotics.” she said quietly as she sat down on the floor in the corner opposite the gun cabinet bolted to the wall across the room. She reflected that Amy and Frannie’s carbines looked more than a little out of place next to the older more traditional wood and steel rifles and shotguns inside it.

Adam frowned at the pills then shook one out into the palm of his hand. “Baby, wake up a minute.” he whispered as he gently shook his wife. “
Got some pills for you, alright sweetie?” Laura woke and looked around as if she did not quite know what was going on. She swallowed the pill with a little water and settled back into an uneasy sleep. He glanced over at Jessica and sighed. It was plain to see that the older woman was barely keeping it together.

“I’m sure she’ll come around soon.” Adam said with as much of a smile as he could muster. “Frays loves you guys more than just about anything. She’s just a little hardheaded is all.”

Jessica snorted, the hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Just like her dad.” she muttered and ran her fingers through her hair. Jessie stood up and went to the young Marine’s side, gingerly running her hand along his shoulders. “I’m sorry my husband got mad at you. Are you okay?”

“I’m alright.” he said quietly, catching the woman’s hand and holding it a second before pulling it off. “
I think he could have handled it better but I understand. I mean…
am
a daddy too, you know.” Adam smiled over his shoulder at Mrs. Frays before turning his attention back to his wife. God, she seemed to be shriveling up right in front of him.
Laura, baby, you’ve gotta get better.
Lacey thought furiously. If…the worst happened…how the hell was he going to tell the kids? What was going to happen to them?
Oh, God…
A few tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes.

A tentative finger
of light started probing the darkness, searching its way through the gloom. Amy knocked on the door to the bedroom and gently pushed it open. “Mom, Lacey…c’mon out and get something to eat.” she said quietly. Frays’ mouth curled into a tight frown as she got closer to the bed: Lacey had fallen asleep holding his wife’s hand with his head resting on her forearm. She tapped her mother on the shoulder and shook Lacey awake. Frays smiled a little when Lacey jumped at her touch. “Hey buddy. C’mon. Breakfast. Hurry up before Carl and the kids eat it all on us.”

The food was out on the table already when Adam and Jessica got there, blinking like moles in the early morning light. Paulie and Becca jumped up and ran to their father, wrapping their little arms around his legs. Lacey smiled and stooped to pick them up on his way to the table. There was some of the rice stuff left over from last night, along with other bits and pieces of reheated leftovers in dishes on the table as he sat down.
George seemed to have been the mastermind behind the whole thing: he knew Frays could find her way around a kitchen when she had to. He smiled a little bit when he recalled the expression on the woman’s face when he asked her if she could cook while they were holed up in the country club.

After George said the blessing Amy helped herself to some of the rice then passed the dish to Rodriguez. There was some powdered eggs and cornbread along with hot water to make
instant coffee with. Frays stirred a spoonful of the precious brown granules into the steaming liquid and sighed quietly to herself.

Rodriguez glanced at her friend sitting next to her and frowned around a mouthful of cold cornbread. “We going after that drugstore today?” she asked, glancing across the table at Lacey and his kids. Frannie felt mildly horrible when Paulie and Becca both gave their father a horrified look then
sent panicky glances around the table.

The food in Amy’s stomach turned a little sour. “
Your mom is really sick. We need to see if we can find something to make her all better.” she told the children, hoping that they would understand. Frays frowned slightly hiding the expression by forking some of the a little too yellow eggs into her mouth. “There’s got to be some pills or something in town. Understand?” She glanced at her parents, frowned again and upended the salt shaker over the bland egg-like substance.

Carl glanced at his sister. “I’m going with you.” he said quietly, a little surprised by himself. “Who else i
s?” He glanced around the table suddenly kind of wishing that he had kept his big mouth shut. Amy rolled her eyes and kind of shook her head a little but at least she did not yell at him or anything.

Lacey glanced at Rodriguez and squeezed his children tightly. “You kids be good for Frannie and M
r. and Mrs. Frays, alright?” he said quietly, kissing the tops of their heads. The little ones buried their faces in their father’s chest and started to cry again.

Rodriguez set down her coffee cup and gave Lacey a hard look. “No,
you’re staying here.” she said the woman’s dark eyes darting towards the children before meeting the Marine’s gaze. “Your kids need you, Lacey. I’ll be alright. I can at least keep an eye on the Humvee while everybody’s inside or whatever.”

Amy frowned, obviously nonplussed. “I think Carl and me can handle it, Rodriguez.” she said quietly after she swallowed a mouthful of rice.
Frays made a thoughtful face and looked at her friend. “You still can’t get around that well, can you?”

“I can walk just fine, Frays.” Rodriguez said as she helped herself to a couple more scoops of rice. “I
’m coming with you guys.” She glanced towards Carl and gave him a quick little smile. “Besides, somebody’s gonna have to help keep an eye on junior here.” Carl stuck his tongue out at her. Frannie grinned and stuffed some food into her mouth to keep from making a lewd remark in front of the kids.

After they finished eating and had the dishes done
Amy, Carl and Frannie sat at the kitchen table with a faded road atlas open between them. Lacey, George and the kids were outside checking the Humvee over to make sure the vehicle was alright before they left. Jessica was in the bedroom with Laura. “Okay, it’s about a ten or eleven mile trip one way from here to Holden.” Frays said as she ran pointed at a spot on the map and ran her finger along the page to another spot. “There’s an abandoned railroad that goes into town that crosses Old Mill Road maybe a quarter mile south of here. It’ll be bumpy, but we should be able to drive down it until we’re about a quarter mile away from the Big Y.

“
If I remember right, the tracks will take us right behind the fire hall. There might be stuff there we can use, if the place isn’t too…occupied. We should be gone only about two hours or so max, but as we all know things have a way of going sideways on us.” Frays glanced across the table at her little brother. “I was thinking that we hide the truck at the edge of town and hoof it the rest of the way. We’re mainly lookin’ for penicillin but if we find any food, water and other medical supplies don’t leave them laying there. I dunno how many Bravo Charlies might be in the area. Carl, what was it like there when you guys left?”

Carl cleared his throat and scratched the side of his throat as he studied the map. “It was…I dunno…getting kinda crazy.” the boy mumbled, suddenly aware of Frannie looking at him with her beautiful, deep brown eyes. “There was a lot of traffic on the road. People from out of town or whatever. Somebody set fire to a car in the middle of the street down the block from the house the night we left. There were police sirens going off all hours of the day and night.” Carl frowned, sighed and shook his head. “I’d hate to say it, Aim but I think it’s a long shot that we’ll find anything.”

Amy frowned and gave her brother a rueful smile. “Seems like all we’ve got is long shots, kiddo.” Frays said quietly as she studied the map for another few seconds. She reached across the top of her head and pulled her right ear to her shoulder, making her neck pop. Carl cringed at the noise. “Okay. I don’t think I really have to tell you guys, but risk assessment: the…the…things. Keep quiet and no shooting unless you really have to. We’re gonna hoof it the last quarter mile or so along the tracks, but we’re gonna have to cross a couple major roads and stuff like that to get there and back. Stay clear of the cars if you can. There might be Bravo Charlies in or under them or you might trip an alarm. If we’re quiet and lucky, nobody will know we were ever there. Questions?”

Rodriguez glanced at Frays out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah.” she asked. Frannie scratched the scars on her cheek, a hint of a smirk curling the corner of her mouth. “What’s a Bravo Charlie?”

“Um…Biologically Challenged.” Frays said, glancing at the map then scowling when Rodriguez and Carl both sniggered. She grabbed up the road atlas and jammed it under her arm, giving the two of them a sour look. “Hey, I didn’t hear you guys coming up with anything. C’mon let’s get ready to roll out, guys. Hands on check in ten.”