PRIME (6 page)

Pressed to the wall like he was, Simon could see nothing but zombies below. Three more had appeared from God knew where. The original one wrapped his ashen, bloated fingers around Noah’s ankle. Noah kicked and the thing lost its grip, stumbling back a step. Dodge got a hold of Noah’s arms just as two more zombies got his legs.

Before Dodge could pull Noah up, the zombies were hauling him down.

Noah’s arms slid through Dodge’s hands as his fingers slipped free of the wall. He screamed; a sound so full of terror and pain that Simon knew he would never get it out of his head. Dodge grabbed hold of one of Noah’s hands, his arms straining to pull him up even as the first zombie bit into the younger boy’s leg. The sight and smell of the blood frenzied the other zombies. The ones holding Noah gave him a mighty tug, forcing Dodge to let go or be pulled over with him.

Noah’s chin connected with the edge of the wall with such a loud crack that Simon thought for a moment that maybe he had been knocked out. He hoped Noah had been knocked out, hoped he wouldn’t feel any of what was coming. As soon as the zombie’s teeth dug into Noah’s flesh, that hope was gone. Noah’s screams filled the afternoon. Simon knew they would join the dead nurse’s eyes in his dreams.

Simon watched. His muscles felt frozen and he was unable to turn himself away as the beasts tore long strips and thick chunks of Noah’s flesh away from the bone. Within moments Noah’s skin had taken on a slick, mud-colored sheen as blood dripped and spread across him. He continued to scream. It seemed to Simon that Noah should be unconscious as the zombies tore him apart, but it was several long moments before Noah’s voice was taken from him when one of the zombies tore out his throat.

The wet tearing sound and the abrupt stop of his screams freed Simon’s muscles. He was too shaky to do anything but turn his head towards the yard and away from the carnage below. He pressed his face into the stone, hoping to block out some of the sound of the things below him. He could still hear the guttural groans of the zombies as they feasted.

“Get up,” Dodge ordered. He pulled Simon’s leg up by his pants when it fell over the edge. Simon forced himself back into action and helped pull his leg to safety. He slowly pushed himself up. With extra care, he turned to face Dodge and the ladder again. “Come on,” Dodge was already on the ladder and held out his hands to guide Simon on.

As Simon turned and slid onto the ladder he had one last glimpse of the things below. Noah’s small body was on the ground, and the zombies crouched over him like vultures at the last supper. Simon hurried down the ladder. Dodge tried to grab him at the bottom, but Simon pushed away from him. Simon took two big steps before bracing himself against the wall and retching. Bile and half digested food barely missed his shoes. He stood still, pressing his head to the cool stone of the wall. He tried to block out the faint tearing he could still hear from the other side.

When he turned to face Dodge again, the older boy was gone. Simon moved a few paces down the wall and put his back to it. He slid heavily to the dust and pulled his knees up to his chest. He let his head rest on them, begging himself not to be sick again as the world spun around him. The sensation passed, and he lifted his head when he heard approaching footsteps. Dodge was running back. It wasn’t until he was almost to Simon that Simon noticed the shot gun, sawed off and lethal looking.

Without a word, Dodge climbed the ladder and took careful aim. There were four shots, and then silence filled the afternoon. Simon pushed himself shakily to his feet as Dodge climbed down the ladder. Dodge turned and rested his back on the ladder, breathing heavily. He peered at Simon, who was focusing very hard on staying upright.

“You did good, kid,” Dodge said. “That up there was my fault.”

That was a lie. Simon knew Noah was falling before Dodge did, but he didn’t reach out to help him fast enough. What if the others thought Dodge was to blame? They might lose respect for Dodge and then they wouldn’t agree to stay with him. Simon put a cap on those thoughts, sickened to realize that he was more concerned about the others still believing in Dodge than he was about Noah’s death. For another moment, Simon and Dodge stared at each other until Tessa’s voice broke the spell.

“What’s going on? I heard gunshots.” Simon groaned inwardly; she was the last person he wanted to see. “Simon? Are you okay?” Tessa reached for Simon, but he pulled back from her hand.

“I’m fine.” Simon watched as Tessa slowly lowered her hand.

“Your face.” Tessa brought her hand up to touch her own cheek.

Gingerly Simon felt his face, finding it lacerated and bloody. The cuts were grimy with small rocks and dirt. He winced at the pain the small touch caused.

“Go get him cleaned up, Tessa,” Dodge ordered. “Send some guys out here. We got a casualty.” Tessa nodded. She put a hand out to help Simon away from the wall but he ignored it, putting on a brave face and standing on his own shaky legs. Tessa frowned as Simon stumbled over his own feet. She wrapped her arm under his to support him. It was awkward as she was taller than him.

“I said I’m okay.” Simon tried to free himself.

“Calm down.” Tessa scowled at him, refusing to step away. “I know you’re trying to be a big jerk like all the other guys around here, but I’m not going to let you fall on your face just to prove a point.”

Simon gave in and nodded, letting Tessa lead him away. He glanced back over his shoulder to see Dodge squatted against the wall, head in his hands.

6

John Khane Medical Center

Alice stepped inside and quietly closed the door to Zero’s room behind her. The poor man was finally getting some peaceful sleep. She checked the machine beside his bed, which ran constant checks on his vitals, and saw that they were about where they should be. She stood for a moment watching him sleep. Zero was the name they gave him when he woke from his coma; he had no idea what he had been called before that.

His shaggy hair hung almost to his shoulders. He was good looking, despite all the drugs in his system, with a strong jaw and straight nose. If the definition of his arms was any clue, he must have worked out even when he was high. Most of all, he looked kind to her, not at all the sort of guy she had imagined when she heard his story. Alice sighed and moved to the windows. They were wide and gave a sweeping view of the abandoned city below. In the past, they were probably a welcome distraction from the drab white of the hospital walls and bad news the doctors brought.

It wasn’t the same now. Looking through the windows showed a world knee deep in hell. Below Alice, the streets were no longer alive with activity. Now they were a mass graveyard for those who were dead, but not quite gone. Bare concrete streets spread out in all directions between the empty skeletons of buildings. The world humans worked so hard to build was gone. Alice stood with her forehead pressed to the warm glass far above the empty city, watching as she always did for some sign that all hope wasn’t lost.

In the beginning, Alice clung to the idea that there would be other survivors in the city. Aside from the generators that kept electricity running through the hospital, it wasn’t different from other buildings. At first the teams that went out during the day brought back a couple of survivors each time, but the last one had been found weeks ago. The truth was they were just lucky, lucky to be in a building equipped with generators, and lucky the zombies couldn’t open doors. It seemed like that luck was running out.

When things were quiet, Alice passed her days like this in one room or another. It was only in those moments that she was able to let her brain process everything she normally pushed aside. Today she had chosen Zero’s room on a whim. She felt like she should check on him, and the doctors wouldn’t be in for another hour or so. She was as alone as she could get. She let her mind wander toward Simon. The mention of Haven had brought him screaming up from the far corners of her mind.

Simon was really the only family she had. Their dad had been useless after their mom died. He hired a nanny for the first three years of Simon’s life, but after that he was Alice’s responsibility when he wasn’t in day care. She made dinner, she made sure he had a bath, and she tucked him into bed. Their dad wanted nothing to do with him. Back then, Alice didn’t understand why. As she grew older, she realized their dad blamed Simon for their mom’s death. They moved to Haven base when Simon was three, and for the next ten years their dad buried himself in work, and booze. It never got too bad. He never hit Simon or anything, most of the time he only ignored him.

Sometimes though, after a night of heavy drinking, their dad would say the nastiest things to Simon. ‘You’re worthless’ that was his favorite, always said in a slur. Alice did her best to keep Simon out of their dad’s way when she knew he’d been drinking, but sometimes it was impossible. The worst part was Simon worshiped their dad. It seemed like the more mean their dad was, the harder Simon worked to please him. Alice knew it was a bad situation, but for a long time there had been no way out of it.

As Simon grew older, he and Alice became closer. She was like a mom to him, and Simon adored her. She happily let him follow her and her friends around. Year after year, Simon grew into a fun, intelligent boy. Alice liked to think he got a lot of his personality from her.

Her clearest memory of Simon was the heartbroken look on his face when she told him she was leaving for an internship. He’d been happy for her of course and knew it was best for her career, but he was not happy she was leaving. If he’d been younger, she wouldn’t have left. It was only supposed to be for three months though. If it turned into a full time position, she planned to move Simon to live with her. Their dad probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

Then Prime hit. The world went crazy overnight and the bases were shut down, no one in or out without prior approval. When her dad told her Simon was sick, she’d broken down, crying for over an hour. Right then, she’d known that she’d lost Simon.

Alice became aware of the tears on her face only as she heard the door open. She wiped quickly at the tears; she didn’t want Grace or the others to see her cry. She turned to face whoever it was, ready to smile widely, but faltered when she saw Cale step into the room. He gave her a half smile. She was sure he had used the same smile to get more than one girl into bed with him. He had a good ten years on her, but wore it well. Cale nodded toward Zero.

“Friend of yours?”

“That’s Zero,” Alice answered, turning back to the window. “Keep your voice down. He needs to sleep.”

“You been crying?” Cale stood beside her, leaning on the window. He cocked his head and peered at her.

“No.” She waved him away, but could feel the tears coming again because of the concern in his eyes. It seemed so honest. She wiped again at her eyes, willing herself not to cry.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He put a gentle hand to her back. “We all got plenty to cry about.”

That did it; the tears began to flow silently. Alice wiped at them almost as fast as they fell. “I’m sorry for acting like this,” she choked out. “I usually have more self-control.”

“Oh, hell.” Cale shook his head. “Come here.” She tried to hold back, but couldn’t resist being pulled into his arms. They were warm around her, and as he began to stroke her hair she wrapped her arms around him in return. She hadn’t realized how much she missed the touch of another person. “See, it’s not so bad.” He soothed. Alice began to laugh through her tears.

“Not so bad?” she asked, still laughing, but trying to be quiet about it. “Really?”

“Sorry.” Cale smiled again as she wiped away the remaining tears. “You know us men; we only got so many comforting phrases stored up.” She laughed again at that.

“Guess you didn’t think ‘the world’s gone to hell, but hey we’re all still here to party’ seemed like the right thing to say?” Zero rasped as he tried to sit up.

“Whoa there,” Alice warned as she hurried to his side. She wrapped an arm across his shoulders to help him sit. “Dizzy?”

“And feelin’ like hell.” Zero’s smile was wide and inviting. It made him even better looking. “You government types offer a harsh rehab program.”

“Sorry about that.” Alice returned his smile. She felt immediately at ease around him now that he was sober. There was something about his smile that made her want to stay at his side. She shook those thoughts from her head, realizing she was staring at him with a dopey smile on her face. “You slept through the night, I think.”