Don't Dare Call Them Zombies : Books 1-4 (41 page)

When we arrived at the relocation center it was clear to see the site had been abandoned. However, as I approached the fence, I saw Ms. Suzy and a few others standing in the cold night air.

“Ms. Suzy! It's great to see you,” I said.

“We decided to stay, and they let us,” she said.

“Can you let us in?” I said. “Jennifer's hurt bad, and we need to use your medical facility.”

“Sure,” she said. “Drive over to the main entrance.”

Meredith pulled the bus up to the door of the processing building and I got out; Ms. Suzy opened the door.

“Come on in,” she said. “I have sent someone to alert the doctor that you’re coming.”

“There’s a doctor here?” I asked, surprised that any professional staff was left here.

“Yes, she was the only member of the staff that decided to stay. She had a few very ill patients she
couldn’t leave,” she said.

I went back inside the bus where Meredith and I helped get Jennifer in her wheelchair. We lifted her down onto t
he sidewalk and in a few moments, I was pushing her inside the relocation center.

Ms. Suzy led the way through the hallways to the clinic. When we entered we found a silver-haired woman in her sixties sorting through bottles of medicine in a cabinet.

“Dr. Lopez, this young lady needs immediate attention!” said Ms. Suzy.

The doctor came right over and knelt beside Jennifer. “What has happened?”

“She’s been shot and has internal bleeding,” I said.

Candy explained she was a trained medic and gave Dr. Lopez a c
omplete report of Jennifer's condition.

“We’ll have to go in,” said Dr. Lopez “But she needs blood. Do you know her blood type?”

“I know I'm type O. My mother told me years ago,” said Jennifer, weakly.

“That means I can give blood to her,” I said. “I’m a u
niversal donor. Go ahead and take my blood.”

“But you lost some blood just a day ago,” Candy said.

“Well, I feel absolute fine now,” I said. “Jennifer needs the blood, so take it.”

Candy proceeded to quickly sit me down in a chair, swab my arm with a cotto
n ball soaked in alcohol, and start the donation process.

I could see the clear bag filling.

“How are you feeling?” Candy said. “I feel just fine.”

“Then take my hand and squeeze it,” she said.

I complied, and squeezed her hand. It made the bag fill even faster.

As I sat, Dr. Lopez, Meredith, and Ms. Suzy helped Jennifer onto a table. Jennifer looked like she was about to pass out.

Ms. Suzy then pulled a curtain around me.

The first bag of blood was full. Candy took it and ran behind the curtain. A moment l
ater she returned.

“We’re going to need more,” Candy said. “I only feel safe taking one more unit from you. We’ll need to find another donor.”

“Take whatever she needs,” I said.

Candy started the process over again.

“Let’s take this one a bit more slowly,” she said. “I don't want you passing out.”

As the blood filled the second bag I started to feel a little weak, but I didn’t want to let Candy know.

“I'm so glad that I met you, my vampire friend,” I said.

“Not vampire frien
d, vampire sister in law,” she said.

We both laughed.

“You’re my hero,” she said, as the bag finished filling with blood. She took it, leaving me again.

I then saw Nurse Beth enter the room. I saw her go behind the curtain and talk to the doctor.

Candy then came from behind the curtain and walked towards me.

“I've been told to stay with you, for now,” she said.

“What's the prognosis for Jennifer?” I asked.

“The transfusion is still going on,” she said. “Soon they’ll perform an exploratory surgery to try and
detect if there is any additional bleeding from the artery. Basically, they’re going to see how bad of a job I did stitching it up.”

“You didn't do a bad job, Candy,” I said. “You did a great job. You saved her life.
If they have to do some more work on it, then it just means you bought Jennifer enough time for her to get here.”

“Why are you so nice to me?” Candy asked. “Don't you ever get mad or angry?”

“Yes, sometimes,” I said. “But there’s nothing to be angry at you about.”

“Thanks,” she said.

“Now, let’s go see if they have something for you to eat and drink,” she said. “You need to keep your strength up.”

I stood up and I felt a bit dizzy, but Candy put her arm around me and helped me out of the room.

We waited in the lobby. I talked with Candy and Ms. Suzy as the doctor and nurse worked on Jennifer. As I drank some apple juice from a plastic container and ate some cookies, I felt my strength start to return. But I couldn’t get my mind off what was happening in the other room.

What seemed like an eternity passed, and the doctor finally came into the room.

“She’d lost a lot of blood, but the transfusion seems to have helped. I performed an exploratory surgery and took a look at the artery that was damaged; it seems to be stable. You did very well patching it up, Ms. Beetle. For someone without a surgical background, you did a marvelous job,” she said.

Tears started to roll down Candy's face.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Well, she’s not out of the woods yet. She appears to
have a kidney infection and was close to going septic,” she said. “I've put her on an IV antibiotic.”

“Another transfusion would probably do her a lot of good,” the doctor added, before walking out of the room.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that most likely, Jennifer would recover. She was not bleeding internally, and they had found the infection that was probably the cause of her fever.

“Thank you God,” I prayed out loud.

“Thank goodness,” Ms. Suzy said.

I stood up and looked at Candy.

“It looks like my vampire sister in law needs to get busy,” I said.

Chapter Five

“There is no way I'm taking any more blood from you, Hank.”

“I'll be alright. Just take a half unit,” I urged.

“No, and that's final,” Candy said. “If I take any more blood I could put your life at risk.”

“If Jennifer is going to get anyone's blood, it is going to be mine,” I said. “Once I'm unable to stand, then you can find another donor.”

“I'm not sure if you’re in love, or if you're just nuts,” she said.

Candy turned and
walked away towards the room where Jennifer was resting.

“She has a point,” Ms. Suzy said. “There is no reason for you to be drained dry if there are other donors.”

“Oh, yes there is,” I said. “Don't you realize that normally every donor is screened and the blood is tested for diseases?”

“That's true,” Ms. Suzy said.

“But right now I doubt they have the facilities to run lab tests. And even if they did, they may not have the time. There are other patients in there,” I said. “I don't want Jennifer to risk getting some kind of disease.”

“I see where you’re coming from,” Ms. Suzy responded.

Ms. Suzy and I continued to talk in the chilly room. Every so often, I would look at a circular clock on a far wall watching time tick slowly by.

“I hate to leave you,” Ms.
Suzy eventually said. “But I have to check my daughter and grandchildren.”

“That's okay,” I said. “They need to see you – I’m fine here.”

“I'll be back later on,” she said.

I sat alone in the lobby of the clinic and thought about the events of the past day
s. I had barely made it out of a nuclear power plant before it melted down, survived a fire fight with redneck bandits, possibly had an out of body experience, and was engaged to be married. For a moment, I felt overwhelmed. My heart started to beat rapidly, and I felt a bit nauseated.

“Are you alright?” I heard a voice call from the door to the building.

It was Meredith.

“I'm okay,” I said.

“You don't look so hot,” she responded.

“Seriously, I'm okay. What's up?” I asked.

“I have some good news. When everyone evacuated they left behind a lot of supplies. I'm guessing they couldn't take everything with them,” she said.

“That's good news,” I said.

“It gets better,” she said. “We even found a staff dormitory that looks like it has barely been used. We managed to get inside; there are lots of rooms we can use. They even have actual beds!”

“That is great,” I said. “Keep me updated if you find anything else useful.”

“I will,” she said, before heading out the door.

I looked at the clock and saw
another ten minutes had passed. There was no way I was going to wait any longer before getting an update on Jennifer.

Before I could walk halfway there Candy emerged from the door ahead of me.

“You should be sitting down,” she said.

“I want to see Jennifer
,” I responded.

“Alright, but take it easy,” she said. “I don't want you passing out while talking to her.”

I walked with Candy toward Jennifer's bed. As I walked around the curtain I could see Jennifer was awake and alert.

“Hi honey,” Jennifer said.

I rushed to her bed side and put my hand on her shoulder.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“I'm feeling better,” she said.

Looking at her face I could see that she
didn’t look as pale as before.

“It's great to hear that!” I said.

For the next ten minutes I talked with her. Candy brought me a chair so I could sit down next to the woman who I had agreed to marry.

“So are you going to keep your last name, or do you want to be called Mrs. Harper?” I asked.

“I'll have to think on that,” she said with a laugh.

“Visiti
ng hours are over,” Candy informed us after a while.

“Let him stay a little longer,” Jennifer pleaded.

“No, you need your rest,” Candy said. “And he does too.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Jennifer asked me.

“He donated the blood for your transfusion,” Candy said.

“Hank! I didn’t realize . . .” Jennifer seemed astonished. “How can I thank you . . . you do need get some rest. When you feel up to it, come back and check on me, alright?

“Okay,” I said.

I reached down and kissed her on
the forehead and walked out of the room. I noticed that Candy was following me when I heard Jennifer call out, “you take good care of him!”

Candy and I stepped outside. It was dark and getting cold; winter was approaching. A crisp breeze brought a chill to
my spine as I glanced at my surroundings.

“Is there anyone in there to watch over Jennifer?” I asked.

“Yes, Nurse Beth is inside. She was in a private exam room with the pregnant woman you saw earlier,” she said.

“Where is Dr. Lopez?” I asked.

“Beth has relieved her for a few hours so she can get some sleep. Dr. Lopez will examine Jennifer again in the morning,” she said.

I noticed Jennifer was shivering. She
didn’t need to be outside in the cold, or the low levels of radiation.

“Let’s go inside. Meredith
told me they had opened up a building and found a staff dormitory. They even have real beds in there. Let’s go find one for you,” I said.

“I'm freezing,” she said. “You won't get any argument from me.”

Candy and I roamed around the compound searching for the dormitory. Finally, we saw a building in the distance; a few people were walking in and out of it. I noticed Roy was one of them.

“Roy!” I called out.

He heard me and approached.

“How is Jennifer doing?” he asked.

“She’s alright,” I said. “They gave her a blood transfusion and she’s doing better.”

“That’s great news,” said Roy.

“Enough talk,” Candy said. “Let’s get inside.”

The three of us entered the building. It felt good to get out of the wind.

“This place is great,” Roy said. “They have rooms with real beds. Not just uncomfortable cots like at the church.”

“Where are Kay and the children?” I asked.

“They’re already in rooms,” he said.

“Would you do me a favor?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said.

“Would you make sure Candy here gets into a room?” I asked. “
I need to check on a few things.”

“Hey, I'm supposed to be looking out for you. Jennifer's orders!” Candy said.