Blood Soaked and Invaded - 02 (35 page)

Chunhua turned a pleasant shade of gray, stood up, and patted Bajali on his shoulder.

“I’m going to get this man some food and something to drink. Feel free to continue this discussion while I’m gone–then stop when I get back.”

We watched Chu run to the kitchen, and wished we’d had that idea.

Bajali, it seemed, needed to talk to people about the interesting things he’d seen over the preceding 24 hours. He’d seen some very, very unsettling things.

The corpse of the zombie who’d gracefully decapitated himself in a fit of existential angst showed significant differences from baseline human beings. Thicker bones, super dense muscle mass, and an entirely different strain of the zombie virus in his bloodstream. This new strain appeared to be self-replicating, unlike the variety my father unleashed on the world.

Unsurprisingly, “Sumira,” little Miss Alien, had the same strain in the pouches inside her jaw line. We’d already seen how contagious it could be, and what it could do to the recently deceased–turn them into zombies almost straight away.

“Jayashri and I believe the nanomachines will prevent us from being infected by any strain of the virus. The tests we have run in the past month indicate they are much more aggressive than our natural white blood cells, and have successfully removed the virus from infected tissue. Mind you, it does zombies no good at all, but gives us a distinct advantage.”

Chunhua returned with water, as well as a plate of assorted pastries, cheese, and an apple for Bajali. He thanked her from the bottom of his heart, and tucked into the chow. Matt, Charlie and I were silently grateful, and shared a sigh of relief. Bajali would never talk with his mouth full, so we were saved more gory details.

More people started to wander into the cafeteria. The kids appeared like a hormonal Mongolian horde from over the horizon, herded by an insistent Barbara Banks. Nate dropped in on their tail, muttering about making time to get the children some rudimentary martial arts training.

He looked up and saw me across the room, and smiled.

“Frank! You took which martial arts?”

“Aikido, Kenjitsu, and a side order of Ninpo-mishmash.”

“Charlie, how about you?”

“Judo, Jujitsu and Kendo club in college.”

“Man! This rocks. Chunhua, have you got anything martial in your background?”

“I have some really rusty Wing Chun, and daily Taiji Chuan.”

“This is really cool.” Nate was really excited. “Omura is trained in mean stuff. Buttons does Krav Maga. I think we could put together a pretty serious program for the kids and the adults who don’t have any combat training. Would you all be interested in helping me out with that?”

We agreed instantly. It sounded like an excellent way to stay prepared and engaged without daily zombie attacks.

“There’s an open storeroom here in B2 we could use. Let’s get together tonight and spar a little. Cool?”

“You bet,” I said, genuinely pleased to have something to do that didn’t involve worrying myself sick, killing things, or listening to gory stories about autopsy results.

Barbara piped up with an excellent question.

“Does anyone know who is making dinner tonight? Yolanda and her husband have the night off.”

There were blank looks everywhere.

Chunhua grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and put her free hand on the top of Charlie’s head before informing the room that tonight would be Chinese Night. My darling and I got Shanghai-ed into food prep duty mere moments after her announcement.

“All the two of you need to do,” she said, “is what I tell you to do. We’ll do simple stuff.”

“Do we have enough time to get much done?” Charlie asked.

“If they want to eat my cooking, they can wait an hour or two,” Chu replied, smiling like a shark. “It will be worth the wait–if we have the supplies. Let’s go see.”

We went. Chu whistled in appreciation when we started opening cabinets and doors. She marched into the walk-in freezer, and marched back out with four packages of frozen chicken. It looked like Project Chinese Dinner would be Go!

I count myself lucky to have been a part of that meal, even if I didn’t do much more than dice and julienne whatever Chunhua told me to. Charlie felt the same way. It was a memorable night.

Sure, some people ate at home. Even when it was just “us” in the neighborhood, not everyone would show for a communal dinner, not even a world-class mooch like yours truly. Every occasion where we shared our food and companionship is etched into my heart. I think, looking back on those nights, it was the act of breaking bread together that knit us into a family.

The night of November 15
^th
was the night that our family extended to include a bunch of doctors, nurses and soldiers who we felt were interlopers only a week or so before. It was grand.

We ate quietly as activity buzzed around us. Shawn joined us and rubbed Chu’s shoulders after she finished her plate. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she even drooled a little bit. It was so cute.

Dr. Jenny “So Perky” Lucas led the brigade of diners who cleaned up our mess. The compliments on our culinary group efforts came fast and furious. Chunhua basked in the accolades.

Nate and Barbara came over to our table–to kiss the cook–and chide me for hiding my culinary skills all the time they’d known me. I had to apologize, because I didn’t even know I had them.

“Frank,” Chunhua drawled bonelessly, “follows directions really well. Oh God! Shawn, please do that again. Oh! Perfect! Charlie’s really amazing in the kitchen. Oh. Wow. My boyfriend has great hands. I love you, pookie!”

The look on our manly mechanic’s face left me rolling, literally, on the floor with laughter. Charlie stuffed most of her hand in her mouth to stifle her guffaws, but Nate and Barbara joined me in letting it all out.

“I don’t know what’s so funny. I do have great hands!” He looked perfectly smug. It was, dare I say, adorable.

When Nate was able to get a full breath, he asked me about moving our martial arts session to the next night, complaining of an over-full stomach. I was too weak from laughing to do anything more than agree with him.

“You’re a sick puppy, Frank Stewart,” Barbara said, and messed up my hair. “We’ll see you all tomorrow.”

We exchanged waves, hugs and farewells, and they went off together, arm in arm. I liked seeing that.

Not terribly long after the Banks family left for home, Charlie and I decided to retire. We walked home, holding hands, and being cute where no one could see.

It was just one of those incredibly rare times that you treasure for years. A moment of normality, just like the sort of thing my lover told me to cherish in the abnormal world we live in.

All was right in my world, as long as I didn’t look beyond the moment. My beloved was mine. I was hers. We had food, friends and love to spare. It was like a little slice of utopia. Sadly, like every Eden before it, it was destined to come to an end.

November 16
^th
was the day Hell broke loose.

I imagine most days when Hell breaks loose begin normally. 9/11 began as a very normal day for me, but it changed before I had my second cup of coffee. The days when the Columbia and Challenger were lost also started without much fanfare. I was on the toilet, sick with food poisoning, when most recent war in the Middle East began. Again, being ill was within the range of typical daily life, even if world events weren’t.

Starting with the assumption that my day would roll out normally, or what passed for it, I woke, cleaned up and put on some clothes. I kissed my favorite woman and got an enthusiastic kiss back. We strapped on our weapons of the day and went forth to slay Coffee in his own lair.

It became apparent I wasn’t the only one who sought to trounce the giant and plunder his treasure. The cafeteria was packed with nearly all of my neighbors, plus the new additions, and a number of people in black body armor.

Shawn and his lovely companion were holding hands and laughing like teenagers. I could tell the sight made Charlie happy because she ran over and gave her brother a huge hug along with a loud kiss on the cheek. He blushed over something she said in his ear, and then laughed about it.

“Hey Frank! C’mon over.” He flapped one of his giant paws at me, and I took him up on the invitation.

“Good morning sunshine,” I said to him, slightly nervous he hadn’t broached the baby topic with us yet.

“I just wanted to say that I’m happy you and my sister found each other.” He looked up at me with slightly watery eyes, and I braced myself for a crushing hug that might occur at any moment. “You’re probably the one person in the world I don’t have to worry about runnin’ out on her and the baby. You might get yourself killed protecting them, but you won’t run out. So... I guess I just want to say I’d be pleased to have you as my brother-in-law, if you two go in that direction.”

Hello, Jaw? Yes, Mr. Face? Time for you to hit the floor, old chum!

“Honey, pick your head up off the floor. You’re starting to drool,” Charlie poked at me. “Just tell your friend how pleased you are to have his blessing, and go fetch yourself some coffee.”

“I’m very grateful to have your blessing,” I parroted, while nodding like a complete idiot. “I must fetch myself coffee now, because the woman told me to do that. I want to be a good boy. Please excuse me.”

I wandered vaguely towards the coffee machine, collected a cup, and let the little valve pee brown bean-juice into the white ceramic receptacle. Was I a little stunned that Shawn reacted so well? I think I must have been.

Everyone in the room stopped moving at exactly the same moment, except for Major Kenney’s non-nano-bearing subordinates.

Jayashri’s voice filled the heads of everyone who could hear the broadcast.

“Good morning. I am calling a meeting at 10am for all of our combat-trained persons and medical staff. Gina, I would like for you and your husband to attend if it is convenient. Major Kenney has already been informed, and will issue orders to his people momentarily. Thank you for your attention.”

Well, my next major life question for the morning had been answered before I could give voice to the issue. I knew what I’d be doing after breakfast!

I wondered, while standing there with a hot cup of coffee in my hands, if Jayashri had even slept the previous couple of nights. I already knew that if Baj were the MD, not the PhD, he wouldn’t rest until he’d unwound the DNA and cataloged every biological sample he could find in the wreckage. All I could do was hope she was more sensible than Baj.

After that pre-coffee pondering, I ambled back to the table and sat with the people who appeared to be the start of my new family. They were a distinct improvement over my deceased immediate family, by leaps and bounds.

I did spare a moment to wonder what had become of my sister. She wasn’t all that bad: a smidgeon on the self-centered side, but little rich kids tend to bend that way no matter what you do. Who knows what she might have said, if I could have told her about my impending parenthood.

I remained lost in those thoughts for a bit. Charlie, Chu and Shawn were gabbing and it all washed over me without sticking. During the time I was lost between my ears, Charlie got up and returned with two heaping plates of breakfast: including bacon.

Dear Miranda, my one and only sister. The woman I met, the one who is carrying my unborn loin-fruit, also takes very good care of me. She makes sure I eat and don’t piss on the undeserving in my periodic fits of primal disgust. You’d like her. Truly!

She, the darling, coaxed me out of my head and into the conversation going on at the table.

“It was really interesting, having an alien presence in my head,” Chunhua was saying. “I knew what was going on, and had the impression I was running my own life, but I get the feeling I wasn’t really.”

“Well... Does that mean you’d still choose me?” Shawn looked like he was on the verge of becoming upset. I didn’t blame him.

“Oh, Bear!” Chu leaned over and messed up his hair. “I love you. Biggie, the alien, had nothing to do with that at all! There is one thing that I haven’t told you. I probably should.”

“Shit. What is it?”

Shawn was about to get his back up. I couldn’t decide if the toast and bacon were more important than getting away from him if the shit hit the fan.

“You know Biggie was a whole species, right?”

“Yeah...” He did not sound confident about the conversation.

“Well, you had sex with an entire alien species every time we made love.” She dropped the bombshell with the precision of an octogenarian sex-fiend.

“D’oh?”

“Baby, don’t you see? You screwed a whole species! Biggie thought you were pretty hot in the sack!” Chu bounced up and down, clapping her hands with glee.

Our friendly, blonde, Wookiee d’amour, blushed from the roots of his hair down to his knuckles. It was quite a thing to see, and the three of us made the most of it.

“One small fondle for Man. One giant orgasm for Mankind.” It was the only thing I could think to say.

“To boldly bonk what no man has bonked before!” Charlie upstaged me.