Family Reunion "J" (36 page)

He needed to close the door on the emergency stairway on level two. He had plenty of time; the turned wouldn’t be able to climb to the second level for at least ten minutes. He got off the elevator on the second level and went to where he’d left Eric. There were some bloody clothes, a few bones, and a boot holding the door open. He pushed the door closed and shook the handle. He was surprised when it came open. He picked up the phone on the wall and called Lana in the command center. “Lana, scroll to the stairwell and highlight the entire thing, then hit the lockdown button to the right.” He waited while he heard her scrambling around, typing furiously.

“Ummm, Doctor, I did what you said, but it turns green again as soon as I release the button.”

“No, you stupid bitch, push the lockdown button!”

She began to cry. “I am sir, it’s not working.”

“Oh, for chrissake, I have to do every fucking thing around here.” He slammed the phone down and walked back to the elevator. He pushed the button and waited. He was starting to become concerned after a minute when the elevator had not arrived. He did what everyone does. He pushed the button several more times. He even put his ear up to the door to listen for the sound of the car moving. He heard nothing.

He suddenly realized that the elevator was not coming. He turned and ran for the stairwell. He flung the door open and bound up the stairs, frantic to make it to the first level. He looked over the edge of the rail as he cleared the last step. The turned were only three levels down and they were shrieking their rage.

He ran the length of the hall and skidded to a stop at the command center. He crossed the room to find Lana sitting at the desk. She continued to push the lockdown button. The stairwell would blink red three times, then turn green. She pushed it again; red three times, then green. He pushed her aside, went to a command-line prompt, and entered the master code for a complex-wide lockdown. It would override all other commands and shut the facility down completely. It would be a pain in the ass to undo, but he felt it was necessary.

Alarms began blaring and he could see the outside window barriers coming down. They were three-quarter-inch hardened steel and strong enough to thwart a low-yield nuclear blast. The screen showed all systems blinking in red. The alarms went silent. The blast doors began to rise. The system showed the facility all in green.
“What in the hell is going on here?”

Lana began to scream, and he was about to backhand her and tell her to shut up when he saw what she saw. The turned were boiling out of the stairwell on their level.

“Help me Lana.” He pushed the desk against the door, but Lana just stood there screaming. He shoved with all his strength. It wasn’t enough. At first, the turned only got an arm in the door. Then a second one pushed its arm through the gap. Soon it was apparent that he wouldn’t be able to keep them out.

“Oh my God, what have I done? What have I done?” he wailed, backpedaling away from the desk and across the room. The desk followed him, sliding across the floor as the turned pushed through the door. He heard a gun go off and turned to see that Lana had shot herself in the head. He scrambled toward her, intent on following suit.

He felt the hand close around his ankle and drag him backward. Then he felt something land heavily on his back. Then he felt the burning pain as the first of the turned bit into his leg, then the second latched onto his shoulder. He screamed, but that only increased their feeding frenzy. He felt every bite, so many bites. He prayed for unconsciousness to take him, but God must have taken the day off. Somehow he’d been rolled over and he saw them tearing at his abdomen. They gorged on his intestines as he watched. Then others ripped out his organs. As a doctor of medicine, he recognized each one. There was his stomach. There was his liver. A turned held a kidney in his hand and ripped into it like it was jerky. The last thing Doctor Brian Pearson ever saw was a large male holding his heart over his chest, then taking the whole thing in his gaping mouth.

It was late afternoon when the trio made it out of the discharge tunnel. They sat on the bank of the Chattahoochee River taking a break. Susan was worried that Julian would leave her now that he didn’t need her as a guide. Simon worried that Susan would leave them now that they were out of the tunnels. And Julian was worried that he’d never figure out a way to fix the mess that had started when he created the vaccine.

They sat quietly while Simon threw a stone into the river every now and then. “So what now?” Susan finally asked.

Julian looked at her, his forehead wrinkled in thought. “I need to get back to my lab in Morgantown. Now that I know the CDC changed the vaccine, there may be a way for me to combat it.”

“I wasn’t asking about that. What now, with us?” She fixed him with a gaze that demanded he look at her.

“Ahhhh, ummm, I thought that was obvious?” Julian blushed under her stare.

“Simon, when you grow up, make sure you always ask a woman if she’d like to accompany you. That way she doesn’t feel like an idiot for asking.” Simon looked from Susan to Julian, then back again.

“Susan, would you please go with us to Morgantown?” Julian asked.

“I would love to go with you to Morgantown, Dr. Ruegg, of course.”

“You guys are nutty,” Simon said, shaking his head.

That drew a laugh from both adults. “You are right son,” Julian said.

They discussed the best plan of action. They’d used up a good portion of the day and needed to find shelter for the night. They gathered up their meager belongings and followed the river north.

Julian concluded that traveling by boat would not be an option. The river, while beautiful, had a strong current. Everywhere he looked, big granite rocks jutted from the water. Even traveling south with the current by kayak would take skill. Going north you would need a motorboat and knowledge of the river.

They hiked along the river for another two hours before coming to a bridge that spanned it. The trail that led from the river up to the bridge was steep, but they made it with some effort. Once on the road they found themselves standing in front of the entrance to a school of some kind. “It’s the Lovett School. I’ve read about this place,” Susan said. “It’s a private college prep school. There’ll be lots of large buildings. Not a good choice for us.” She headed off up the road toward the bridge. Not knowing what else to do, Julian hurried after her.

“How do you know all of this?” he asked, again hurrying to catch up with her.

“We’ve had security patrols going out to look around. They’d report back to Brian, and well, he would brief us on what they found.” The mention of Dr. Pearson dampened the mood immediately.

“Were you and he…” Julian couldn’t finish the question.

“Lovers?” she said for him. “No, he wanted to be, but I preferred to keep it professional. Besides, I always found him a bit creepy. Lana, on the other hand, thought he could do no wrong.”

“I am sure that he was somehow involved in changing my vaccine into a version that did this to people,” Julian said. “I do not know why, but my vaccine was tampered with intentionally. That is what caused the reaction, the violent behavior. I should have stayed at the complex and played dumb. Maybe I could have figured it out.” He was talking to Susan, but it was more as if he were thinking aloud.

Susan stopped and put a hand on his arm. “Julian, you didn’t cause this, and Brian and whoever he was working with would not have let you find the answer. If they did, they would have gotten rid of you. He was becoming a tyrant there toward the end.”

North of the bridge was a little strip mall. They turned down the entrance to it and saw a doctor’s office. “Looks like it may work for a place to spend the night,” Susan said.

They opened the door, which was unlocked, and called out. There was no response. The office had the stink of death to it. “Wait a minute, there could be turned in here,” Julian said, holding Susan back.

She looked around the room. “No, if there were turned in here the place would be trashed. Every place they stay they destroy. Again, I’ve seen pictures.” They closed the front door and found the source of the smell. There were two bodies in an examination room, covered with sheets. A third and fourth were sitting in the receptionist area. One appeared to be the doctor. Or was it the nurse? It was hard to tell. The only reason they figured it out was the stethoscope in its pocket.

Julian had Simon sit in the waiting area and he and Susan removed the bodies. They opened all the windows and sprayed Lysol around, but it now smelled like a disinfected corpse. They also found the break room. There was some unspoiled food left and the water cooler was full. The water was no longer cold, but it was clean. They ate and drank their fill, then found rooms that had clean, uncomfortable examination beds in them. They rolled three into one of the larger rooms and set up camp. They decided one person should stay awake while the others rested. Susan volunteered for the first watch.

They heard the turned outside during the night, but none tried to get into the doctor’s office. When dawn broke, they began the search for a vehicle. Susan was the one who scored when she found keys on what must have been the doctor’s desk.

Julian was peeking in the windows of various cars in the parking lot when the one behind him began sounding its alarm. He about jumped onto the hood of the car he was looking at, then turned and gave Susan a look. She laughed and shut off the Mercedes’s alarm.

She unlocked the car. Julian regained his composure and walked around it. It was an s550 four-door, probably sold for around a hundred thousand dollars, and showroom clean. However, when Susan got in she found no ignition switch. She looked around and found the start button. She pushed it; nothing happened.

“Julian, it won’t start.”

He came and leaned in the driver’s door. “You just have to push the button,” he said smugly. She rolled her eyes. “I did, nothing happened.” He motioned for her to get out of the car. “Come on, let me try.” She got out, he got in, he pushed the button, nothing happened. “Shit.” The word escaped his mouth before he could stop himself and Simon’s eyes grew wide. “Daddy, that is a bad word.”

“Yes it is son, I am sorry. I guess your dad needs a time out.”

“A time out? Daddy, I would have gotten more than a time out for saying that word,” Simon said, furrowing his brow.

Julian stifled a laugh and tried again. “You are right son, but under the circumstances I believe a little leniency would be appropriate.”

“Okay daddy, but just don’t say it again,” Simon admonished.

Julian opened the glove box and got out the owner’s manual. After studying it for a few minutes, he said, “Ah ha!”

He removed the button from the dash, which exposed a slot behind it. He stuck the key fob into the slot and turned it like a traditional key. The car came to life. “Simple,” he said, raising his hands like a magician.

They packed up the few things they could scavenge from the doctor’s office and even ventured into a quick mart next door. They had enough food and water to last a few days. The message on the dash said they had two hundred miles until empty.

“Keep your eye out for a garden hose,” Susan said as she put the car into gear. “We’re going to need to syphon some gas before we get to West Virginia.”