Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel (44 page)

He looked younger down here and Jessica re-estimated that he could actually be in his twenties.  The surgical lights were harsh and cast his skin into an almost transparent snow white.

Jessica leaned her shovel against the bed and started looking at the machines hooked up to him.  She had no idea what any of them did.

“What do you think?” Jessica found herself speaking in a quieter voice than she had intended, as if she were afraid of waking up the man; although that was her intention.

“I don’t know,” Abby shrugged, looking over the machines as well.  “Maybe we should just take out his IVs?”

“I guess.”  Jessica looked at the man’s arms.  He had one IV per arm, so Jessica stood by one while Abby did the other.  Abby had no fear and just took the IV out
as if it was nothing.  Jessica hesitated a moment.  She could picture it being in her own skin and felt squeamish.  Needles weren’t something she was afraid of, but they were something she greatly detested.  Finally, she sucked it up and pulled out the line.  A small spurt of blood came out, but other than that, nothing happened.  Abby had found a surgical tray and handed a cotton ball from it to Jessica.  They both stood there, holding a cotton ball to each arm.

“How long do you think it will take?” Jessica wondered aloud.

Abby just shrugged.

* * *

Jessica didn’t know how long they were standing there, several minutes at least.  She found herself staring at the man’s eyelids.  She willed them to open, to allow her to see their colour.  They could be the murky eyes like the killers, or perhaps a pale blue.  She imagined they would be pale and porcelain-like.  Of course, it could just be the way the lighting was making his skin look that was causing her to think this.  Having this man’s life essentially resting in her hands was such a change from the rest of the day.  She wasn’t running for her life.

Then she remembered the doctors’ lounge and its sudden intruder.  The spell of the sleeping man was over, and her paranoia returned.  She snapped her head up to look at the observation deck first, but it was clear.  She then looked toward the doors and saw that no one had intruded through there either.  The room beyond, with the sinks, also looked like it was clear.  Jessica turned her head back to the sleeping man finding a pair of unimpressive brown eyes looking sleepily back at her.  The man had woken while Jessica wasn’t looking.  He then rolled his head to the side and looked at Abby.

“You’re not nurses,” his voice was scratchy.  Ugly even, compared to what Jessica had been expecting.

Abby grinned, “Not even close.”

The man closed his eyes again with a sigh.  Jessica worried he was going back to sleep.  “Hey.”  She grabbed his shoulder with one hand and shook him.  “No sleeping.”

The man opened his eyes again.  “I wasn’t.  It’s just hard to keep them open because the anaesthetic is still wearing off.  Also, that light is killing me.”

Abby reached up and tilted the big, blaring light away from his face.  It was no longer transparent porcelain but actually somewhat tanned.

“Thank you.  Can you girls help me sit up?” the man asked.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Abby wondered.

“I’m a doctor, it’s fine.”  The man tried to sit up on his own, so
both the girls quickly reached out to help him.  He didn’t sit upright, but leaned forward onto his hands.  “Either of you have a drink?”

“There’s some sinks just out there if you know where a cup is.”  Abby pointed a thumb back at the door.

“There’s probably an emesis basin around here somewhere.  A plastic or metal dish-like thing.  Shaped like a kidney.”  The man waved a hand over at a cupboard.

Abby walked over to it and starting looking through it.  The man shook his head and looked at his leg.

“What happened?” Jessica decided to ask.

“I was clipped by an ambulance on my way in.  It broke my leg and an artery was nicked.  They had to cut my leg open to fix it,” he explained briefly.  “So where are the surgeons?”

“I guess they took off.”  Jessica didn’t know how to tell this guy what had happened to the world outside.

“Good, although I wish they’d put a cast on me first.  I’m Cender, by the way.”  The man held out a hand.

Jessica shook it.  “I’m Jessica.  That’s Abby.  And what do you mean ‘good’?”

“I told them to leave when they were done.  You must have seen what was happening out there.”  Abby finally returned with the kidney-shaped bowl filled with water, which Cender took and downed in one go.  “I’m going to need you girl
s to help cast me up.  The supplies for it should be on that tray over there.”  Cender pointed to a corner.

Jessica went over and got it.

“Do you know what happened here?  In the hospital?” Jessica heard Abby ask.

“It was overrun.”  Cender seemed overly calm about all of this.  “A friend of mine jumped ship early and took me along.  I got her to stop and let me out so I could come back here and tell people what she thought was happening.”

“What did she think was happening?”  Jessica wheeled the tray of stuff over to the operating table.

“Zombies,” Cender said this like it was no big deal.

Jessica laughed.  “Zombies?  You’re kidding me, right?  Zombies don’t exist.”

“What would you call them then?” Cender challenged.

Jessica opened her mouth, but found she didn’t have an appropriate name for them.  She hadn’t spent too much time thinking about what actually could be happening, only that it
was
happening.

“Do you have a guess?”  Cender turned to Abby.  She shook her head, no.  “Zombies it is then.  Either way, I got here, got clipped by the ambo, and was rushed through the ER since they all know me.  I tried telling people.  Most of them thought I was delirious with pain, but some listened.  I guess the surgical team did.”

“Are you sure you’re
not
delirious with pain?” Jessica raised an eyebrow.

“If I’m anything, I’m high,” Cender laughed.  It was a somewhat grating sound to Jessica.  “Now come on, help me cast up this leg before it wears off.”

Under Cender’s directions, Jessica and Abby learned how to apply a cast.

“So what are you ladies doing here?” Cender asked while they worked.

“We’re looking for a little girl,” Abby told him.  “She was brought here earlier with a head wound.”

“If she’s not infected, she’s not here,” Cender told them.  “A bunch of cops swarmed the place and took out everyone who could walk.  She’s probably with them if it was a simple head wound.  You related to her?”

“No, I just told her I’d meet her here,” Abby sighed.  “I hope she’s all right.”

“She’s probably better off than you.  What about you, blondy?  You related to the girl?”  Cender turned to Jessica.

“No.  I convinced Abby to let me come with her.”  She looked past Cender at Abby.  “I guess we missed the police Mark figured would be here.”

“Yeah,” Abby nodded, looking almost as disappointed as Jessica felt.  Of
course, she figured they weren’t there, due to the mess, but having confirmation was worse.

“What are you going to do now?” Cender asked them both.

They both shrugged.  Jessica thought curling up in a hole somewhere sounded like a good idea.

“Why don’t you come with me then?  I could certainly use the help,” Cender offered.

“What?  You have a plan?”  Jessica couldn’t believe a man who just woke up from sedation could have a plan.

“Yeah, my friend apparently knows a lot and has supplies and things.  She gave me a map to her place.  I’m supposed to meet her there,” Cender shrugged a shoulder.  “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it on my own, though, with this leg.”

Jessica and Abby locked eyes above Cender.

“It couldn’t hurt,” Abby shrugged a shoulder herself.

“I guess it’s better than having no plan at all,” Jessica sighed.

“Great!” Cender grinned.  “We’re all buddies then!”

The Firefighter

Cillian sat with his back against a wall, looking at the
makeshift barricade and wishing like hell that he had a cigarette.  He wondered how long he and Tobias had before the zombies managed to break through.  Tobias sat next to him, lost in his own thoughts.  At least the AC was still working.  Outside, Cillian had been sweating bullets in his firefighter gear, but he had refused to remove the protective clothing until they had secure walls around them.

“So what do you think it’ll be like as a zombie, Toby?” Cillian asked.

“Please, never call me Toby,” Tobias sighed.  “I do not want to die being called Toby.  It’s Tobias.”

“All right, my bad, Tobias.  Still doesn’t change my question.”

“I guess it’ll be simpler,” he shrugged.  “Eat brains, stand in place, eat brains, stand in place.”

Cillian laughed.  “I wish I had known you sooner, man.  You’re all right.”

“Thanks, I guess.”  They sat silently for a moment.  “You know, that’s a really good barricade.  I think we’re more likely to die of thirst or hunger in here.”

“Well
, I have the crowbar so I’ll last longer than you.”  Cillian patted the pile next to him, which contained the crowbar and his firefighter’s jacket, helmet, and gloves.

Tobias gave Cillian a confused look, his mind not getting what Cillian meant.  When he figured it out, a smile replaced the confused expression.  “Ah, so you’ll do some zombie training first.”

“I think you’re all right, but if it comes down to you or me, I’ll pick me every time.”

“Oh?  I can’t appeal to your better nature?” Tobias asked with heavy sarcasm.  “Maybe I’ll start begging you, telling you about my children and my sick mother.”

“Do you actually have kids and a sick mother?” Cillian wondered.  He knew virtually nothing about the man he was going to die with.  If he died with anyone, he always figured it would be with one of the guys from the firehouse, who he knew almost as well as he knew himself.

“Nah, I can’t hold onto a girlfriend for more than a month or two.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t have kids,” Cillian pointed out.

“True,” Tobias nodded.  “But no, I have none.  And when I checked in last week, my mom was still extremely healthy.  What about you?”

“No kids, although I wanted some.  Me and my girl were going to get married but we broke up a bunch of weeks ago.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.  As for my mother, she died in a car crash when I was only four.  Hit by a drunk driver.”

“Doesn’t seem like a bad way to go if it was instant.”

“I was told it was.”  That wasn’t the kind of response Cillian expected, but considering the circumstances, he thought it was actually appropriate.  He sighed and leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling.  He saw something of interest up there.  “Hey, Toby?”

“I told you I don’t want to die with that name,” Tobias grumbled.

“What if I said you may not be dying soon?”

Tobias looked at him, then looked up at the ceiling.  “What?  The air ducts?”

“They’re probably big enough to fit into.”  Cillian stood up for a slightly closer look at the ducts.  They were a fairly large industrial size, and Cillian thought he might be able to fit inside them.

“Even if you can get through there, there’s no guarantee they can hold your weight.”  Tobias got onto his own feet.  His added height allowed a slightly better look.

“Either way, they lead to other parts of the mall.”  Cillian looked around for the best thing to help him reach the ducts.  “Either we crawl through them, or we tear them down and make a hole into another part of the mall.”

“That’s going to be loud as hell,” Tobias said more to himself than to Cillian.  He walked around under the ducts, following where they led.

“Not like that’s going to matter.”  Cillian found an A-frame ladder.  “They’re all gathered outside anyway.  Some of the smarter ones might be able to run around to whatever store we get to next, but I seriously doubt there’ll be many.”

“What do you think makes some of them smarter than others?  By the way, here would be the place to try.”  Tobias pointed above himself.

Cillian set the ladder up underneath a vent that was near to where the duct passed through the wall.  “I don’t know.  Maybe they were just smarter to begin with.  I’m sure some of those guys out there had their IQ
raise
a notch from what happened.”

Tobias laughed.  “I don’t doubt that.”  He then shuddered as if he thought of someone in particular.  Maybe that newscaster guy he had told Cillian he’d been following.

Cillian climbed up the ladder while Tobias held it steady.  Cillian brought the crowbar up with him and used it to pry at the grate.  The screws held though, and it took a lot of prying to get them out.  When they pulled out a little way, he tried turning them with his fingers, but they still wouldn’t twist out the way they were supposed to.  Cillian made a mental note to start carrying a screwdriver around with him.  When the grate popped off, it nearly knocked Cillian off the ladder.  There was no time to warn Tobias, but Tobias managed to get out of the way anyhow.  When the ladder was steady again, Cillian climbed higher up and poked his head through the opening.  It was large enough for his shoulders to fit through.  Not with a great amount of space, but enough to allow him some arm movement.  He put his arms into the ducts and started shaking them and putting his weight on them.  They held.