The wild ones, p.13
The Wild Ones, page 13
My eyes drifted to a photo on the side table and that’s when I knew why he was in shape — he was a cop. The photo had him in his full uniform.
“Aren’t you meant to be out there, helping society?”
His eyes darted to the photo.
“Shut the hell up and head into the living room.”
We backed up, and Ryland stumbled over a statue. It hit the floor and cracked.
“Shit. Is there anything else you want to break?” He moved quickly towards the back of the house and peered out. “Jesus H.…” He sneered and headed back inside. He scooped up his jacket and slid the handgun into a holster on the side of his hip before reaching into a cupboard and bringing out a gun case. He tossed it on the table and unlocked it and produced a Remington 870 Express Pump-Action Shotgun.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Ryland said.
The rugged, weathered face glanced at us. He spoke as he loaded rounds into the gun. “So why here?”
“You have a vehicle.”
“No, why do you need it?”
“A friend of ours was shot,” I replied.
“Shot? By who?”
“An asshole,” Ryland muttered.
“And where is this friend?”
“In the woodland, behind your home.”
He eyed us with pursed lips.
“Either of you know how to fire a weapon?”
“I do,” Ryland said looking at the shotgun as if he was going to give it to him.
“That’s good to know,” he said emptying out more rounds and filling up his pockets with as many as he could. I turned my head at the sound of a Z groaning and entering the rear of the house. Without missing a beat, the guy put a round in the chamber and fired it at the Z’s noggin. Half of his face tore away and the decayed body slumped to the ground. “Time to get out. Let’s go. Get your weapons. You’ll need them.”
“About that gun?” Ryland asked.
The man chuckled but said nothing as we scooped up our weapons and headed towards the back of the house. He squeezed off two more rounds and told us to get our friend. Ryland hurried up the hill, scrambling and falling over his feet all the while calling out to Jamal and the others to come out. I turned my attention to eight Zs. Before I could get close the guy fired off more rounds dropping them.
“You might want to go easy on those rounds, that shit is like gold right now,” I said. The guy shook his head as he approached his vehicle and hit the key fob. It beeped twice, and he got in and started the engine. Coming down the hill were the rest of them, struggling to carry Tobias. I looked back at the stranger who was now out of the driver’s side and unloading more rounds at the slew of Zs heading our way.
“Hurry it up!” he yelled.
We loaded Tobias into the back seat and the rest of us jumped in. The guy fired a few more rounds and then hopped in, he shoved the gearstick into reverse and backed out slamming into five shufflers. The vehicle bounced over them and it screeched as it turned and headed back towards NY-28.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” he replied.
“No but…”
“Then there is nothing more to say. I’ll get your friend here to the hospital but that’s it. You’re on your own from here on out.”
“I know who he is,” Jamal said from the back seat.
The man glanced at him in the mirror and then chuckled. “Jamal Lawson. I kind of thought you would be among this group.”
My expression pinched trying to make sense.
“This is Officer Daniels. One of Hamilton County’s finest, ain’t that right? Or at least you used to be. You still on paid suspension?”
“How do you know each other?” Alexa asked.
“You want to tell them or should I?” Jamal said.
“Best you keep your mouth shut,” he replied.
Abandoned
Long Lake Medical Center wasn’t a general hospital. The nearest one to us was located near Lake Placid over an hour away and we didn’t have that kind of time on our hands. Daniels didn’t take his foot off the accelerator the whole way. He floored it swerving around the dead and almost collided with several burned-out vehicles.
Where we were heading was more of a clinic. We didn’t know if the doctor would be there or not and Daniels sure as hell didn’t look like he was in the mood for going on a road trip. We swerved off the road into a lot in front of a lodge-style building that looked more like a vet’s than a medical center. It was a practice that I’d been to many times over the years, mostly for colds, checkups and whatnot.
Daniels was the first one out of the vehicle; he fired at a Z, dropping it, and sprinted towards the front door. He shook the handle, but it was locked. That was to be expected, you see it wasn’t just the dead who were a danger; it was the desperate, those who knew that law and order had crumbled and would take matters into their own hands. Food, water, medical supplies, those would have been at the top of the list. Daniels disappeared around the back and I got out to go and help.
“You want me to come?” Ryland asked.
“Stay there. Be right back.”
I surveyed the area. There were no immediate threats even though Daniels had taken out a couple. I heard gunshots from behind the center and hurried around.
“Daniels.”
“Bring your friend around.”
I gestured with a wave for them to move in. Eli and Jamal carried a pale Tobias to the back of the center. Daniels had smashed a small window and unlocked the door. He held it open as we piled in. Inside it smelled sterile, like any doctor’s office. There was no room for surgery as the doctor didn’t do that kind of treatment. He could check your temperature, listen to your chest and peel off a prescription but that was about it. So it came as no surprise to find no one in the building. It was completely empty. We carried Tobias into one of the rooms that was used for checkups. We laid him on the exam table, a steely bench with a black leather padded top. Daniels walked to the door and looked back at us.
“That’s it, you’re just going to leave us?” Alexa asked.
“Nothing else I can do.” He looked at Tobias. “He needs to get to a hospital, but that’s an hour away, and chances are he won’t last the journey. Going by the color of his face, the kid has lost a lot of blood.”
“Isn’t there something in here that we can use?” I asked.
“You can change the gauze, but that’s about it. Do you know if the bullet is still in him?”
“No, it came out the other side,” I said.
We stood there looking completely helpless. None of us knew what to do. We weren’t prepared for this. Tobias’s eyelids flickered.
“Then let’s get him to the hospital,” Alexa said.
Jamal stepped forward and shook his head. “Do you honestly think that place is going to be operational? That would have been one of the first places the outbreak would have spread. People coming in sick, and whatnot.”
“I’m just saying we can’t leave him here to die.”
Daniels walked away. I could hear his boots growing distant, then glass crunching as he exited the building. I looked back at the others, all our faces wore a mask of concern.
“Just wait here.”
I hurried to the back of the building and went around to the parking lot just in time to see him getting into his vehicle.
“Look, I don’t know or care about what happened to you as a cop, but you signed up to help people, right?”
He reached across for his cigarettes and fired up his engine. He tapped one out and put it between his lips. “I’ve just helped you, kid. I got you where you wanted to go.”
“But there’s nothing here.”
“Not my problem. I know what you want. I can’t — ”
“Then let us. Let us use your vehicle.”
“It’s not happening. I’m sorry, but what is happening right now is out of control.”
“At least leave us with a handgun.”
He shook his head, put the vehicle in reverse and pulled out. He flashed me one more glance before driving away. I wanted to flip him the bird. What an asshole. Cop or not, it didn’t matter. When the shit hit the fan, he made his choice on how he would survive. It was clear in his mind it was every man for himself. I could see him looking in his rearview mirror as I stood there wondering what to do next. My brother was still out there. I had to believe that. But that was going to have to wait, more pressing matters were at hand. I returned to where the others were, Alexa was in the middle of changing Tobias’s bandages when I entered.
“So?” she asked.
“He’s gone.”
Jamal let out a laugh. “It figures. A leopard don’t change his spots.”
“What are you on about?” Eli asked.
“Officer Daniels was suspended for an assault on a minor.”
“Oh yeah, how do you know?”
“Because I was the minor.”
Everyone’s eyes widened. Sure, we had questions, lots of them but now was not the time. Alexa kept pressure on the wound before wrapping it up again.
“What are we going to do?”
See, this was what I was on about. A survival camp couldn’t teach these kinds of things. Sure it could take us through first aid and the basics of wounds but…
“Alexa, you’ve been to the camp multiple times, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What about the rest of you?”
Jamal leaned back against the wall looking exhausted. “Four times.”
“Ryland?”
“Three.”
“Eli?”
“Twice.”
“They were going to teach us first aid? What did that include?”
Jamal looked at Alexa and she began to shake her head. “No, I’m not doing it.”
“You’re better than me. You have a steady hand.”
“But that was a dummy. This is different…” She shook her head and walked out of the room.
“Anyone wish to clue me in on what’s going on?” I asked.
Ryland pulled out a cigarette and lit it. “Part of first aid was knowing how to deal with wounds if you were miles away from a hospital or no doctors were nearby. They gave us these… limbs,” he said. “Fake ones with lacerations. It was just meant to give us some sense that we were dealing with a real arm or leg. It was made out of, um, you know the soft material they use for dildos and so on?” He smirked. “Anyway, it was enough training for us to know how to stop bleeding and close a wound.”
I frowned. “Now you tell me?”
“What, you just thought we were going to jump into action?” Ryland asked. “It is one thing to be taught this crap and another to actually do it. Hell, my mother is a nurse, and she had to renew her CPR every year and she didn’t always remember it.”
“But you know how to do it?”
“Yes. No. I mean. Like Alexa said. It’s different.”
I swallowed hard. “Fine, I’ll do it. You show me what to do and I’ll do it.”
“Really?” Jamal said pushing away from the wall.
I couldn’t believe they knew how to stitch up and they hadn’t offered to do it sooner. Okay, it was grisly and liable to make me throw up or pass out but if there was a slim chance it could save his life, I would do it.
Ryland didn’t bother to argue. He began rooting around in the drawers looking for a needle and thread. “Has to be at least that here.”
All three of us began looking, and we were making such a commotion, tossing contents out of the drawers onto the floor, that Alexa returned. “What’s going on?”
“Scotty is going to do it.”
“But you’ve never done it before.”
“There’s a first time for anything,” I said. Her brow furrowed, and she began to assist us. Eventually we found a needle and a small sewing kit in one of the office drawers.
“Okay, take me through it,” I said heading over to a bench and sanitizing my hands in hot water and then using some sanitizing liquid. Jamal elevated Tobias’s leg above the heart to minimize the amount of blood loss. Alexa sterilized the needle and thread with rubbing alcohol and then the pyromaniac used the flame from his lighter on the needle for a few seconds. Once it was ready, I looked down at the wound and swallowed hard.
“Jamal, Ryland, you guys need to hold him down.”
Jamal went to the end and held his legs while Alexa and Ryland grabbed a wrist. Tobias groaned.
“Maybe we should put something in his mouth? Stop him biting down on his tongue.”
I unbuckled my belt and slipped it out.
“Hey Tobias.”
His eyes barely opened. “Listen up, bite down on this.”
“He’s not responding,” Alexa said. “Just get on with it.”
“Oh, I forgot, try to bend the sharp end of the needle so it resembles the shape of a J. It will make stitching easier and less painful as the stitches won’t be as deep.”
I looked around for something to use and found a pair of pliers in a toolbox out in the garage. I returned with a needle that wasn’t exactly in a J shape but at least it was better than what it was before.
“You’ll need to sanitize that again,” Alexa said.
I think we were more nervous than Tobias who had no clue what was about to take place. He was drifting in and out of consciousness from blood loss. No matter what we did here, he was still going to need to get to the hospital but perhaps this would help slow the bleeding down.
As I leaned over to begin, my hand was trembling.
“You can do this,” Ryland said. “Start at one end of the opening, stitch the skin together by pulling it tight as you go. But don’t pull too tight as you don’t want to break the thread.”
Jamal nodded. “Oh, I did that, countless times,”
“Ah it was synthetic rubber. A lot harder to get through,” Ryland replied.
“I hope you are holding him down.”
I pushed the needle in and Tobias bolted upright, letting out a bloodcurdling yell.
“Dude, it’s just a needle.”
His eyes widened, and I told them to hold him down.
“We got to stitch you up, brother,” Jamal said trying to calm him, but it wasn’t helping.
I dropped the needle twice and Alexa stepped in. “Okay, I’ve had enough. Let me do it.” I swapped positions with her and held Tobias down and she went back to sanitizing it. Then over the course of the next five or ten minutes she weaved her magic like an expert. In fact it was quite something to see. All three of us marveled at how clean the stitches looked at the end.
“I told you she had a steady hand.”
I’m not sure at what point Tobias passed out but he did, with my leather belt in his mouth. When I took it out, it had deep teeth marks in it. I slipped it back on and squeezed Alexa’s shoulder.
“Good job.”
She smiled. “I guess it wasn’t that bad after all.”
I glanced at the clock, it was a little after midmorning and with a number of daylight hours remaining I thought it best that we find a vehicle and at least attempt to get him to the hospital. Who knew how many pints of blood he’d need? There had to be nurses and doctors there. Not everyone would abandon their posts, would they?
I glanced at Jamal on the way out. He looked like your typical rich kid. Someone whose father paid for everything. Top-of-the-line shoes, brand-name clothing, the best phone and well, how could someone with so much wind up on the wrong side of the law? There was still so much I didn’t know about the others. Each of us carried our own secrets, baggage and stories that I assumed would eventually unfold.
“I’m heading out. I’ll see if I can find us a vehicle.”
The others would remain there while I scouted out a few of the homes in the area. I thought it best to go alone but Alexa wouldn’t have it.
“No, we stick together, at least in twos.”
I nodded, and we ventured out moving into the forest behind the center. Alexa watched my back while I kept an eye on the way ahead. We figured if we stayed in the woodland, running into those freaky ass Zs would be less likely. The bulk of them we’d seen so far were on Main Street. They were going where people were, searching for food. That’s what we were now, nothing but a snack. A fine summer rain began to fall and for the most part silence stretched between us as we passed by one home after another searching for some sign of life or an abandoned vehicle.
This was our life now, searching, hunting and avoiding that which wanted to kill.
Heads Or Tails
The Jeep still had the keys in the ignition. On the driver’s side there was a huge dry patch of blood, and smears of it along the side of the white 4 x 4. It was pretty clear what had gone down. I didn’t consider this luck, fate or fortune, whatever you want to call it. I believe it was the beginnings of what was to come. Homes abandoned, cars out of commission, mutilated bodies sprawled across highways and the dead roaming for their next meal.
We’d been crouched down behind a cluster of fir and pines for the past ten minutes, watching the house for any activity. Previously our concerns had been for walkers, crawlers, biters, skin eaters, the dead, monsters, whatever you want to call them. Each of us was calling them by different names though I don’t think it really mattered. Now we had the living to contend with, those who would shoot first and ask questions later. Good folks who would have waved at you on an ordinary day but would steal what you had if it meant surviving.
“What do you think?” I asked Alexa. I wanted to barrel in there but after what had taken place at Terry’s Gun Store and Daniels’s home, I had to be cautious.
“Looks fine to me.”
“You want to check out the house? For weapons I mean?” I asked.
“If the residents were in a hurry to escape and they had a gun on them, it’s either in the vehicle or still on them, or wherever their bodies are.”
I nodded. For a few brief seconds she fixed her eyes on me and a smile flickered on her lips. She had this whole Taylor Swift thing going for her. Petite face, blue eyes and… well instead of blond hair she was rocking a brunette hairdo that was slightly wavy. Under other circumstances I might have asked her out but now… that shit wasn’t even on my radar. I tapped her arm and tossed her one of those hand signals they’d taught us at the camp. We pitched sideways down the steep incline and made a break for the Jeep, my eyes scanned the area and I brought the machete up, ready for one of those creepy things to pounce. I grimaced at the sight of the blood and guts on the floor as I stepped over and got inside. Alexa was about to get in when she looked distracted.
