Zombie Games (18 page)

He shook his head. “Kris Wild? Sorry, it just doesn’t sound familiar but you’re welcome to take a look around,” he said. “We have over one hundred survivors. Most of them are staying close to each other in the children’s wing of the hospital. Come on, I’ll show you.”

The hospital had generators so luckily there was electricity. As we neared the children’s wing I noticed many of them eating warm meals and talking quietly to one another. Surprisingly there weren’t many children around.

“I wonder what happened to the children that were in this wing of the hospital,” I said softly

He shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure.”

The captain turned to me. “Most of the children that were already staying in the hospital received the vaccines. We had to place them in special holding cells so they wouldn’t harm anyone.”

“They’re still here?” asked Kristie.

He nodded. “Yes, they are. Unfortunately some of them are getting so violent that we can’t get near them without the risk of getting bitten.”

I shuddered. “You’re just keeping them locked up until they die?”

“On the contrary, we’re studying them to find out if we can halt the process or find an anecdote. We’ve had some communication from the CDC in Atlanta,” he replied.

“There are still researchers left from the CDC?” I asked in shock. “I would have thought they’d all gotten the vaccine.”

“Not all of them agreed with vaccinations either,” he replied, “lucky for us.”

“Do you mind if I take a look around?” I asked him. “I need to find out if my mother ever arrived. Maybe someone else saw her.”

“Go ahead, I’ll ask around for you too. Don’t forget to check some of the private patient rooms,” he replied.

We all split up and began asking around. Bryce said he’s check some of the patient rooms in Urgent Care. Curiously enough, Eva volunteered to tag along with him and he reluctantly agreed. I trusted him but there was no way in hell I was going to allow her back home with us later. I crossed my fingers that Veronica would come back soon and take her daughter off our hands.

~~~

I started checking the rooms in the children’s units, hoping beyond hope that maybe my mom was there, resting. Unfortunately most of them were unoccupied and the few that had people in them, hadn’t heard anything about my mother, so I decided to venture farther away from the Children’s unit. As I approached the Birthing wing, I heard a man talking in one of the rooms. The tone of his voice sounded familiar and my heart skipped a beat. I rushed towards the sound of his voice.

“Ever hear of knocking first?” drawled the soldier, who was on his cell phone. He wore only a pair of army pants and a bandage around his shoulder.

“Austin!” I cried. “Thank God! I’m so glad to see you.”

A huge smile lit up his face. It was the soldier my mother had rescued! Words couldn’t express the joy I was suddenly feeling. If he wasn’t a zombie, she had to be still alive, somewhere.

“How in the world did you make it here?” he asked hanging up his phone.

“I got a ride,” I said looking around. “Where’s my mother?”

The smile on his face fell away and he sighed. “She’s not here.”

“I see that. Where is she? “

“Your mom went for help,” he said.

“Went for help? What do you mean?” I asked stepping closer to him.

“She went to find special help for your sister.”

My heart soared. “My sister? She’s here, somewhere? I don’t understand. Where are they?”

He shook his head. “Not anymore, they’re both gone. You’re mom picked up your sister from her girlfriend’s house yesterday, and they ran into some trouble coming back; zombie trouble. Here,” he said walking over to the counter where he lifted a piece of paper. “She wrote you this letter. I was going to try and get it to you.”

I snatched it from his hands. My own began to tremble as I read the letter.

Dearest Cassie,

I pray that you get this letter and you are okay. I’ve tried calling you but I realize the power is out everywhere and your cell phone is more than likely dead. I have Allie; I picked her up as soon as I found out about the zombies. When I finally found her she’d been attacked and wasn’t doing very well. She had a high fever and her body was racked with seizures, it was very frightening. I quickly brought her back to the hospital where they were able to finally lower her fever, but there was nothing more they could do for her. They suspect she is turning into one of those creatures now and suggested that I bring her to Atlanta, where scientists are working on an anecdote. They even let us catch a lift with their medevac helicopter unit. And that’s where we’re heading now.

I hope that you’re safe and that you get this letter. I love you so much and I wish I could be with you right now. But your sister is very sick, and I have to do everything I can to find help for her. I have to try and save her. I know you’ll understand, my Wild One.

              All my love,

Mom

P.S. I will try and contact you when I’m in Atlanta. Try and get your cell phone charged if you can. I have been given one to use by the army and will keep trying to call you.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I closed my eyes and released a heavy sigh. Although I was relieved that both my sister and mother were alive, I held no illusions of there being a happy ending in all of this, especially if we were still separated and my sister was turning into a zombie.

“Now what?” I mumbled to myself. I sat down on a stool and put my head in my hands.

“I reckon you could just stay here and wait for your mother to call,” he replied.

I lifted my head and faced him. “No, I have to get back home with my friends. Besides, there are so many zombies attracted to this place, seriously, I don’t feel all that safe here.”

Austin nodded his head. “Okay. Well then I’m coming with you.”

I stood up. ”What do you mean… you’re coming with me?”

He knelt down next to me and placed his hands upon my shoulders. His eyes reminded me of warm caramel. “Your mother saved my life. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what would have happened. I made a promise to her that I’d find you and help protect you. I’m not breaking that promise.”

I pulled away. “Thanks Austin, but I can take care of myself. I made it here, didn’t I?”

He shrugged. “Well, yeah you did. But you haven’t made it out of here alive, just yet. Come on Cassie, let me help you. If anything, I can help you get in touch with your mom. I know where they’ve taken her.”

My eyes narrowed. “What about your family? Don’t you have anyone at home that might need you?”

Austin smiled and folded his arms across his chest. “Well darlin’, my family lives in Texas and it doesn’t look like I’ll be traveling there anytime soon. In fact, I just radioed my brother and they’re together and holding up okay, so far. So the answer is no, there’s nobody that needs me at this moment as much as you do.”

I pointed. “What about your shoulder?”

“It’s doing better. They stitched it up and it’s tender, but I’ll survive.”

“I thought for sure you were bitten by a zombie.”

He shook his head. “I was shot; a woman. I don’t know, she may have thought I was a zombie.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, if you want to tag along, I guess that would be okay. We could always use an extra shooter.”

Austin smiled and I found myself returning it. With his southern drawl, blond hair, and rugged good looks, he actually reminded me of some cowboy I’d watched on television as a child. One I’d had a small crush on.

“Excellent. I’ll just find the rest of my clothing and we can shoot out of here.”

“Austin?” I said, trying to swallow the lump forming in my throat. “How was my sister when you last saw her?”

His eyes clouded over and he took my hand. “She was struggling, I can tell you that.”

I looked down so he wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes. “I hope they can help her. I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose either of them.”

He lifted my chin up and stared into my eyes. “Your mom’s a fighter, you’re obviously one too. If Allie takes after either of you, then the odds are in her favor.”

I nodded but the tears still escaped, the enormity of my family’s situation was overwhelming.

Austin wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. “Shh… it’ll be okay. We’ll find a way to contact your mom. Shit, if I have to take you to her myself I will.”

“Cassie?” interrupted Bryce as he walked in the door with Eva trailing close behind.

I moved away from Austin and brushed away my tears. “Um, this is Austin. He’s the soldier my mother had rescued.”

Bryce frowned. “Okay? So, where is she?”

I explained everything that Austin had told me. When I told Bryce that he’d would be joining us, he shook his head.

“No, he should stay here. The zombies are getting pretty out of hand out there. They need soldiers to protect the crisis unit.”

“Sorry but I’m coming with you’ all. I made a promise to Kris that I’d find a way to keep Cassie safe and I’m not going back on my word.”

Bryce and Austin stared at each other and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

“Well, I think that’s a great idea,” said Eva as she stepped next to Bryce. She looped her arm through his. “We need all the help we can get fighting off those zombies.”

I scowled at Eva. “We? You’ll be staying here. You don’t have to worry about fighting zombies, not like you helped much anyway.”

Eva glared at me. “You don’t have to be such a bitch.”

My mouth dropped open and before I could show her how much of a bitch I could really be, Bryce interrupted. “Eva’s coming with us. Her mother’s been bitten and they’re flying her to Atlanta too. She has nowhere else to go Cassie.”

A wave of guilt rushed through me. “Oh, I’m sorry Eva. I didn’t know.”

Eva shrugged her shoulders and looked away.

“Well, why doesn’t she just go to Atlanta to be with her mom?” I asked Bryce.

“They said she couldn’t. They are quarantining all bite victims,” he replied. “They won’t even allow her near Veronica to say goodbye.”

“Oh, well she should stay here so they can keep her updated on her mom’s condition.”

Bryce shook his head. “The zombies are getting too out of hand for this small group. It’s not safe to stay here anymore. In fact, we’d better get moving now before we end up getting stuck here.”

Just then Kristie and Sara walked in. “Oh thank God, you guys are here. Look we have to get out of here…now,” said Kristie. “The zombies are either getting smarter or their just plain lucky. They’ve broken through the entrance now and the soldiers won’t be able to hold them off too much longer.”

Austin pulled on a t-shirt. “Let’s get going,” he said. “I’ve got some grenades, we might need them.”

Kristie smiled at Austin. “Well hey there soldier. I take it you’re the newest member of our team?”

He shrugged. “I’m just coming along to protect Cassie. I made a promise her mother.”

Bryce scowled. “That’s very noble but she doesn’t need your protection, she has me.”

Austin nodded towards Eva. “Looks like you already have your hands full with that one.”

Bryce took a step away from Eva and folded his arms across his chest. “We’ve done fine without you

“Hello? Guys, I can protect myself,” I said walking towards the door.

The two men stood glaring at each other, neither of them saying anything.

Kristie snorted. “Okay
everyone
, time to leave. The testosterone in this room is going to either make me go nuts or grow a pair; frankly I don’t want to do either.”

I walked out the door and started towards the location of our SUV. Sara and Kristie caught up with me quickly.

“Men, you can’t kill ‘em… unless they try and eat your brains,” said Kristie with a wry grin.

I stopped walking and turned to Sara and Kristie. “I just wanted to say thanks to both of you. I know each of you lost your husbands and yet you’ve still found the strength to help me try to find my mom. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

We were still hugging each other when Eva, Bryce, and Austin caught up.

“You boys work it out?” asked Kristie, pulling away.

Bryce shrugged and Austin smiled. “Nothing to work out darlin’. I’m coming with whether Billy likes it or not.”

“It’s Bryce,” muttered Bryce walking ahead of him.

“Southern boys,” said Kristie as we started walking. “I once had me a cowboy. Oh, the things he could do with that rope…”

Chapter Twenty-Four

There were several dead zombies lying around as we neared the parked SUV. Three of the soldiers were repairing the glass on the door where the zombies had broken through.

“You guys leaving?” asked one of them. “Through
this
mob?”

“Yes,” replied Bryce.

“Well, they are getting pretty damn restless out there,” said the soldier. “Be careful.”

We got into the SUV and the soldiers reluctantly opened the garage door. Kristie was in the driver’s seat again so that Bryce would have his hands free to shoot if needed. Bryce sat next to her with his gun ready.

“Damn those zombies stink,” muttered Austin sitting close to me.

“Vicks works wonders,” I said handing out my jar.

He nodded in approval and rubbed some under his nose.

“Look! Sweet Jesus, they’re getting in,” said Eva as two zombies barreled through the garage door before it was closed all the way. The soldiers shot them in the head and they dropped.

Bryce opened his window and shot two more that tried sneaking in.

“You have a gun cowboy?” Kristie asked Austin.

“Lost it a couple days ago. I found a couple of grenades though,” he said holding them up in the air.