Omega Pathogen: Despair (16 page)

Arzu knew that Berk and Kayra, and the rest of the children, had been exposed to things that even adults should never have had to see. But she and the others in the group tried to protect the children from as much as they could. “Thank you, Janice. That would be very helpful,” Arzu said. She hugged and kissed Berk and Kayra and sent them on their way with Janice and the other children.

Chelsea was on her shift on gate watch and greeted Arzu as she approached. Like her, Chelsea’s mind had been on the absence of Jim, Chris, and Jeremy. Mostly Chris, since the two were now in a relationship.

“I hate those things,” Chelsea said, and pointed to the three infected gathered near the gate. Arzu and Chelsea stared at the two men and one woman for a few seconds.

“It’s not their fault. I don’t think we should hate them, but we do have to defend ourselves,” Arzu said. As she finished speaking she un-holstered her revolver and walked to the fence. Arzu took steady aim and shot each of the infected once in the head. “Will you come and help me take some measurements outside, please?” Arzu asked as she replaced the three spent cartridges and holstered her revolver.   

Chelsea and Arzu quickly took the measurements Arzu needed while they constantly kept looking around for approaching infected. The bodies of the infected she had killed and the numerous others around the perimeter would be collected in a few hours. Prior to dusk, a couple of residents of the farm would come and collect the corpses from the day. The bodies were taken to a pit about a mile away. The corpses of the infected were dumped in the pit with the dump truck and, depending on wind direction, were burned. If the wind blew toward the farm, burning waited.

Arzu and Chelsea could see the group in the distance working at setting posts for fencing. “They’re making good progress, right?” Chelsea asked Arzu.

“Yes. They’re moving quicker than we had thought,” Arzu answered. “Okay, Chelsea. I think that’s all I need right now,” she said as she finished some notes.

On her walk back Arzu checked on Berk and Kayra and then went into Jen’s home to work on plans for shoring up the gate. Marlene was at her post at the radio desk when Arzu entered the home.

Marlene spent most of her time in front of the Ham and CB radios. She had arthritis and the tasks requiring manual labor caused her considerable pain. The others relieved Marlene for meals, showers and naps. The radios needed to be monitored and she took on most of that burden. Someone almost always sat in front of the radios. That someone was almost always Marlene.

“Any news from Jim or Kathy?” Arzu asked Marlene.

“No. Nothing yet,” Marlene answered, and attempted a reassuring smile.

Jen and Linda arrived a few moments later. The two had been marking out the area for the greenhouse. After brief greetings, the three women discussed both the plans for the greenhouse and the gate. Their discussion was interrupted by a gasp from Marlene.

Arzu, Linda, and Jen looked over to the small desk and saw Marlene holding the headphones tightly to her ears. “I don’t know if we can help you, but we will if we can,” Marlene said, and signed off. She quickly scribbled some notes and turned to the other three women and told them of her brief radio conversation.

One of Marlene’s routine calls on the radio had been answered by of a group of survivors near Spring Hill, Florida. Spring Hill was south of the Yates’ compound by about eighty miles. Marlene told the other women that the group she spoke with was holding out in a hotel and close to being overrun by infected. They reported that they were almost out of supplies of food and water. “I hope it’s okay. What I said, I mean. I didn’t want to promise help that we can’t give,” Marlene said.

“We can’t do anything until Jim and the boys get back,” Arzu said.

“Yeah, I don’t see how we can help them for a day or two. We’ll have to see what Jim thinks,” Jen added.

No one spoke for a while; their thoughts were on the other group of survivors they all wanted to help, but they knew nothing could be done for at least a day or more. And that would probably be too late. They turned their attention back to what they could do something about, plans for the security of their location. 

Encouraged by reaching other survivors over the Ham radio, Marlene continued her calls on other frequencies. She did make contact with a woman and her family that was headed north. They had just crossed into Georgia from Florida after leaving Crystal River, Florida. The woman spoke to Marlene as her husband drove. She, her husband, and three children were attempting to locate relatives that lived in western Georgia.

Marlene spoke with her long enough that she learned their names and their children’s ages. The woman, Shari, was a paralegal. They joked that there seemed to be little use for lawyers or paralegals anymore. Shari’s husband had been a technician at the power plant in Crystal River. As Shari mentioned the power plant, Marlene felt a chill run down her spine. “What about the nuclear power plant? Is it safe?” Marlene asked.

Shari assured her that her husband insisted it wasn’t a threat. The power plant was both coal and nuclear. The nuclear reactor had been offline for two months for repairs before the outbreak had occurred. They had never brought it back online before the outbreak of infection. They spoke for twenty or so minutes longer before signal issues drew their conversation to an end. They wished each other good luck and signed off. 

Chapter 18

The sun illuminated most of the interior of the CCTV store, except for the back one-quarter. Kathy, Steve, and Brent were armed with their rifles, and Brent had also retrieved a sledgehammer to break the glass door to make their entry. With no signs outside or inside that the building was occupied by infected or non-infected, they decided to enter the store.

“Okay, you guys stand back,” Brent said as he hefted the sledge on his right shoulder.

Kathy held up one hand as a signal for Brent to halt and grabbed the handle of the door with the other and pulled it open.

Embarrassed, Brent let the hammer slide off his shoulder until it clinked as the steel head tapped the concrete sidewalk.

“Put your toy away,” Kathy said. She and Steve chuckled quietly as they walked inside and Brent followed.

Kathy, Steve, and Brent stopped just inside the entrance of the store. They took in the simple layout of the interior as they looked and listened for signs of infected or other occupants. The store was set up with the register in the front left corner with a few aisles running the depth of the interior. From just inside the entrance they could see down to the end of each aisle and almost to the back of the store. After the aisles ended, the inside was gray and then black from the lack of reach by the sunlight.

Kathy and the Cutler brothers turned on their flashlights and directed the beams toward the back of the store. With the aid of the artificial light, they could see the closed rear door that led outside and two closed interior doors, one on the left and one directly across on the right.

As they made their way toward the back of the store, the two interior doors came into better view. As they had thought from their view near the entrance, the doors were closed. The door on the left had no signage to tell what lay beyond it. The door on the right had a sign that read RESTROOM NOT FOR PUBLIC USE.

After they cautiously moved through to the rear of the store, Kathy and Brent stood by while Steve checked the doorknob to the unmarked door on their left.  It was unlocked. Kathy and Brent raised their rifles and aimed at the door. After getting a nod from Kathy and Brent, Steve turned the knob again and pushed the door open. The room was a small well-kept office and workshop; from the doorway they could see it was empty.

With audible sighs of relief, they turned their attention to the restroom door. Steve placed his hand on the doorknob but unlike before, he neglected to check to see if Kathy and Brent were ready.

Kathy noticed Steve was on the same side as the hinges and would have to reach further to open the door. She remembered their training from her brother. Steve would be more exposed in that position. Kathy opened her mouth to tell Steve to move to the other side. Before Kathy could speak, Steve turned the knob and pushed open the door.

The stink of human excrement and rotted flesh that emanated from the darkened restroom hit Kathy in the face and caused her to gag and her eyes to water. She heard both Steve and Brent gagging as well and then saw movement from inside the restroom.

Steve saw it as well and tried to raise his rifle, but what appeared to be walking bones and sinew with some flesh clinging to it grabbed Steve by the right shoulder and arm.

The infected thing’s body position prevented Steve from raising his rifle; the thing was too close. Neither Kathy nor Brent had a clear shot at the attacker.  Kathy reached out and grabbed Steve by his shirt collar and watched as the walking skeleton bit down on Steve’s right bicep before she could pull him away. As she and Brent pulled, Steve shook his arm to free himself.

The momentum of his brother and Kathy pulling caused him to fall to the floor and out of the way. Seeing her opportunity, Kathy opened fire, striking the walking corpse in the chest and then head as Brent pulled Steve further away.

With the infected down and apparently dead, Kathy pulled the restroom door shut again after shoving the corpse’s torso the rest of the way inside with a nearby mop. Kathy aimed her AR-15 at Steve as he sat on the floor with his rifle beside him and his arms wrapped around his upward drawn knees. “Show me your arm,” Kathy said. Her voice trembled but her seriousness was unmistakable.

“Kathy, what are you doing?” Brent asked.

She didn’t take her eyes off of Steve. “Brent, check his right arm for a bite. If he’s bitten, he’s infected and we know there’s no hope for him,” Kathy said.

Brent moved cautiously toward his brother and aimed his flashlight at Steve’s right arm. “I’m sorry, Steve. She’s right. Let me see it,” Brent said.

Steve unclasped his shins and rolled up his sleeve with his trembling left hand.

“Cut it open,” Kathy said and both brothers to quickly turned their heads to her. “Cut the sleeve off the shirt. We need to see his whole arm,” Kathy clarified.

Brent opened his pocketknife and cut the long-sleeved shirt up past the shoulder. He shined his light and stared intently at his brother’s arm.

Steve stared too.

“There’s nothing here,” Brent said.

Kathy moved closer and examined the arm; the only thing she could see was some redness. “Come in the office, Steve,” Kathy said.

In the office was a large table-mounted magnifying glass used for working on small electrical components. Kathy used her light and the magnifying glass to examine the area again. Like Brent had said, there was nothing. No visible punctures or breaks to the skin.

Kathy grabbed a screwdriver and walked out of the office to the restroom door. She placed her ear up against the door and listened for several long seconds. With Steve and Brent at the ready, Kathy opened the door.

The corpse still lay on the floor on its back as she had left it moments earlier. With the screwdriver she carefully lifted the upper lip and then pulled down the lower lip. Kathy stood, dropped the screwdriver on the floor and gagged as she closed the door.

“He doesn’t have any damn teeth, Steve. Your skin is intact. You're a lucky shit,” Kathy said, and playfully slapped Steve on his left shoulder.

“You were gonna shoot me, Kathy?” Steve asked.

Kathy’s smile fell away and she placed her hand on Steve’s left shoulder. “I’m sorry, Steve, you should be prepared to do the same to me or anyone else. There is no cure,” Kathy said as she removed her hand from his shoulder and walked away.

Steve understood. He had to be prepared to do the same thing. He wouldn’t want to live as one of those rabid creatures. He ripped off his shirt, and then washed his shoulder and arm with bleach and water. He donned another shirt he had retrieved another shirt from his backpack.

Ed’s CCTV World had a treasure trove of the hardware and equipment that Brent had needed to complete the video monitoring system at the farm. They collected everything that Brent pointed out and loaded it in the pickups. They were soon on their way back to the Yates’ farm.

Chapter 19

Jim collected his thoughts as he knelt with his sons and George at the far end of the hallway off of the lobby. The sunlight from outside silhouetted the infected that now filed through from the emergency room on the right and milled about in the lobby. Jim, Chris, Jeremy, and George were hidden from view in the cover of shadow at the end of the hall. He looked at his sons. “Okay, guys get ready,” Jim said and crept away toward the lobby.

With his M4 up at the ready, he held a flash-bang grenade in his left hand and rested the rifle’s foregrip on his left wrist. Careful to avoid the reach of the rotted outstretched appendage that protruded from the elevator as he crept by, Jim stopped when he felt he’d gone far enough. He could be noticed from where he stood, but any more and he’d have been seen for certain.

Jim wasn’t sure he could get the flash-bang grenade all the way through the lobby and outside, but he thought he could get it close enough to draw the infected away. Without taking his eyes from the infected in front of him, Jim lowered his M4, positioned it behind his right side and let it hang on the single-point harness. He tried to keep from shaking as he gripped the grenade in his right hand and placed his left middle finger in the pin ring.