Dead, but Not for Long (30 page)

It wasn’t even daylight yet when Lindsey woke the
next morning. Her eyes opened and she quickly scanned the room, wondering what
had disturbed her sleep. When she saw that Autumn’s bed was empty, she sat up,
turning to look at the clock on her nightstand.

“Autumn?” she called, seeing a light under the bathroom door.

“Yep, I’m up,” the girl said, coming back into the room and flipping on the lights.

“I see that, but why?” Lindsey asked, closing her
eyes against the bright light. “Do you have any idea how early it is?”

“Sure, 4:00,” Autumn said, putting on her socks. “Theresa
will be starting breakfast soon and I guarantee you that Dr. Doune will be
starting his experiments today without us if we don’t get down there.”

Lindsey groaned, lying back on the bed for a
moment. She hadn’t been able to drag Autumn away from the lab until almost
midnight, and four hours was not enough sleep for her. She briefly considered
going back to sleep but she knew that Autumn would be bouncing off the walls if
she had to wait any longer. Or she’d just go down to the lab alone and Lindsey
didn’t feel comfortable with that.

“Okay, you win,” she said with a yawn. She grabbed
her clothes and went into the bathroom to change.

After a quick breakfast, they went to the lab and
found Dr. Doune there. His unkempt appearance suggested that he might have
worked through the night. When Lindsey asked him, he verified it.

“I’m almost done with Harold then I’ll get some
sleep,” he said. “I didn’t like the idea of leaving him here for several hours
while he’s still active.”

Autumn seemed disappointed that she had missed a
lot of the testing, but Lindsey had to agree with Doune that it would have been
dangerous to leave a zombie alone and active. Regardless, she didn’t want to be
around when he finished off his patient. She had never liked Winston but he was
still someone that she had known. It wasn’t quite like killing the nameless
zombies that the snipers were picking off in the parking lot.

“I think I’m going to go get some air,” she said.

She wasn’t sure about leaving Autumn there without
her, but the girl seemed spellbound by the dissection. After making them both
promise that Autumn would not get close enough to put herself in any danger,
Lindsey paused to have a quick chat with the guard outside the door.

“The doctor hasn’t slept all night, so I’m just a
little worried that he might not be as careful as he should be. I just don’t
want Autumn getting hurt.”

The guard promised to keep a close watch and Lindsey thanked him before taking the stairs up to the roof for some semi-fresh air.

She was surprised to find Snake there and when she realized that he was praying, she turned to leave, not wanting to interrupt his quiet time.

“You’re up early,” his voice said, stopping her.

“Yes, thanks to my overly eager roommate,” she
laughed. “She’s already down there helping Doune.”

“Ah, to be young again and have that kind of
enthusiasm,” Snake said.

They both heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter.

“Speaking of early,” Lindsey said, when she
recognized it as the one Lee piloted.

Within a few minutes the helicopter had landed on the roof.

Lindsey smiled when Reynolds got out but the smile dropped off her face as she saw the grim look he wore.

“I’ve got good news and bad news,” he told them. “The
bad news is that I don’t have any supplies or survivors to drop off today. They’re
shutting us down.”

“What do you mean, shutting you down?” Lindsey asked, alarmed for a myriad of reasons.

“They need us elsewhere. I don’t know if you’ve
been following the news, but we’ve got big outbreaks in Corpus Christi,
Galveston and Long Beach. They’re particularly worried about Long Beach. If
this spreads to Los Angeles, it’s all over.”

“So they’re diverting you to the west coast?”
Lindsey asked, fear gripping her at the thought of Lee being sent into a battle
worse than the one they had in Lansing. “Don’t they already have people there?”

“I’m not sure where they’re sending me yet. I just
know that Lansing is not one of their greatest concerns anymore.”

He looked at Lindsey with sadness in his eyes and she had to look away.

“You said there was good news?” Snake asked.

“The good news is that we can evacuate the hospital tomorrow, with the help of the Coast Guard. We’ll be using a couple of their Blackhawks.”

“Those are helicopters?” Lindsey asked.

“Yes. They use them on the Great Lakes for water rescues and are willing to help us out.”

“Where will we go?” Lindsey asked, finally finding a bright spot in Lee’s news.

“We’ve got some shelters set up in several rural
locations,” he told her. “The biggest one is in Iowa, but I’m not sure where
you’ll be going. You’ll be shuttled to our base first and then once you spend
your time in quarantine, you’ll be taken by bus to one of the rural shelters.”

“Are you talking about a tent city or a place with buildings?” she asked.

“Farm land that’s surrounded by strong fences with
razor wire. The refugees will be sleeping in tents, but some of the shelters
have a few buildings, too.”

“What about our bedridden patients? Do you have a
hospital?” she asked.

“No. I’m sorry but most of the shelters don’t even
have electricity at the moment. We have some medical personnel but they’re
doing all they can to patch up the wounded.”

“We can’t leave our patients to die,” Lindsey
said, her hopes crumbling again.

“I’ve been trying to think of a solution but haven’t
come up with anything,” Reynolds admitted, glancing back at the helicopter. His
copilot was watching but couldn’t hear them.

“Listen, you need to get as many people out of
here as you can. They have plans for this place and it’s not going to be pretty.”

“The hospital?” Lindsey asked.

“Lansing,” he said. “They’re planning on bombing
parts of the city. If you don’t leave now, you might not get out with the
quarantine and all.”

“They’re going to quarantine the whole city?” Snake asked.

“They already did it a while back. I guess nobody’s tried to get out?”

Lindsey just shook her head, a sick feeling
beginning to settle in her stomach over what she was hearing. “Are we in danger
of being bombed? We’ve got over a dozen bedridden patients that can’t leave. I’m
sure that some of us will be staying to help them.”

“The hospital will be all right. We’ve been
marking buildings with survivors in them. I told them that you would add a
highly visible “H” for hospital, as well. You’ve got some paint, I hope?”

Snake nodded. “I saw some in the tool shed.”

“Make it large and dark so it stands out. They’ll
leave this building alone and won’t touch the ones directly around it.”

“How are we supposed to get around the city after it’s been bombed?” Snake asked.

“It’s going to get messy,” Lee admitted. “I have
no idea how many roads will be navigable and how many stores will be left
intact. Scavenging supplies is going to become more difficult.”

“Bad enough that we have to fight the walking dead
every time we go out, now we have to worry about the roads not being passable and
buildings collapsing on us?” Snake said, his usual good mood gone.

“I know. Believe me, I talked until I was blue in
the face and they wouldn’t listen. The best I could do was to get them to
postpone hitting this area for a while. They won’t touch anything in this part
of town until dawn tomorrow, but then you’ll need to keep everybody inside.”

“So we’ll need to do a big supply run today,”
Snake said. “What areas will be safe? We need to find a medical supply store
and a gun shop and I’m not sure how close those will be.”

He named the streets, which were all familiar to Lindsey.

“That’s a pretty big area, at least,” she said. “Hopefully
we can find everything we need.”

Reynolds hesitated and took a deep breath. “Snake,
do you have enough firepower up here? How many guns do you have?”

Snake thought about it and was about to give out a number, when Reynolds interrupted him.

“Jack’s got a handgun and we’ve seen two high powered rifles. That’s going to
be your answer when you’re asked. That’s what’s in our report.”

Snake thought he detected a hint of trepidation in Lee’s words.

“Listen to me,” the pilot said, lowering his
voice. “They’re going to seize every weapon they find here. Bring up the guns
that I mentioned and hide the rest. Hide them well. But you never heard this from me.”

Lee gave another quick glance toward his partner, who was still sitting in the helicopter.

“What would possess them to do something that stupid?” Snake said.

“Ask them,” Lee replied. “It doesn’t make any
sense. They’ll expect some argument. Act surprised. Get pissed off, just don’t
get carried away. They’ll give you some bullshit story, but I don’t even know
what the real reason is behind this.”

Lindsey glanced over to see the copilot watching them with a frown.

“But I didn’t tell you anything. I just asked about the guns for my
report. They can be very persuasive so don’t trust anyone.”

“What time will the evacuation take place?” Snake asked.

“Tomorrow morning, early,” Reynolds said. “It’ll probably be shortly after sunrise.”

“We’ll have everybody ready that wants to go,”
Snake said, thanking the pilot before leaving to find Jack and update him.

Lee turned to speak to Lindsey alone after Snake left to talk to Jack.

“Lindsey, I did everything I could to change their
minds,” he assured her. “I hope you’ll come with us tomorrow. I might even be
able to work it out so that you can come to the base with me. I’ll tell them
that we’re together.”

She hesitated. She would never leave the patients
to die, but she wasn’t a nurse or doctor, either. It was possible that there
would be enough medical staff willing to stay that Lindsey would be free to leave.

“I’ll need to think about it,” she told him. “I’d
love to go somewhere outside the city. I’ve been worrying about how long we’ll
be safe here and that was before I knew about the bombing.”

“I agree,” he said.

“Hey, let’s go,” the copilot said, stepping out
onto the roof. “We’ve got a lot to do.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Reynolds told Lindsey,
giving her a quick kiss. “Please consider my offer.”

“I will,” she assured him, thoughts churning as
she watched him leave.

~*^*~

Snake found Jack and Dr. Sharma talking and he
updated them on the information he’d received from Lt. Reynolds.

“It might be good if some of us leave,” Dr. Sharma
said. “The hospital is starting to get crowded.”

“I don’t like the part about the guns, though,” Jack said.

“I thought that it was a constitutional right to
bear arms in this country,” Dr. Sharma replied. “How can they leave us in a
crisis with no way to defend ourselves?”

“I don’t know, but it happened during Katrina,” Jack
pointed out. “I guess they didn’t want armed vigilantes running amok, or so they claimed.”

“How are we supposed to protect ourselves if we stay?” Dr. Sharma asked.

“Good question. I wonder if they just want the weapons for themselves,” said Snake.

“That’s kind of a scary thought,” Jack said. “If
the military is worried about not having enough weapons, the rest of us are in
deep trouble. We need to have a meeting. Snake, can you have your guys spread the word?”

Once everybody had gathered in the cafeteria, Jack
got things rolling then turned the floor over to Snake, who reiterated most of
what Reynolds had told them. He omitted the part about the guns, which would
have to be brought up carefully. When Snake was done speaking, Jack asked for opinions.

“I’m not leaving,” Keith said after hearing the
news. “Not only am I not about to abandon my patients, but I need to get my
wife out of her building before I leave the city. Why leave to go sit in a corn
field in Iowa and hope that the military can protect us? How safe would we be
in tents? If the fence gives, we’d be screwed. And if someone in the shelter
manages to get infected, we’d be trapped inside the fence with no easy way out.
We have a well-fortified building here with lots of supplies.”

“I agree,” Dr. Sharma said. “I don’t feel safe in
this city right now, but I don’t want to leave anybody behind to die. And if
this virus is spreading, where will it hit next? Maybe the whole world will be
like this in another month.”

“Bite your tongue,” Jack said. “I don’t even want
to think like that right now. I’m still hoping they can get it under control,
but I’m with you two. I’m staying.”

Snake nodded. “We’ll be on our own for supplies
now, so I guess I’ll be sticking around to take care of that. I’ll give my guys
the option of going, but I have a feeling I know what they’ll say.”

“I’m staying,” Ernie said. “My kids are up north
but they know where to find me if things calm down. If I leave, they won’t have
any idea where to look.”

“I’m concerned about the bombing,” Lindsey
admitted. “Lee said that they wouldn’t hit the buildings right around us, but
we may end up trapped in here.”

“Lee?” Keith asked, fighting a grin.

“Lt. Reynolds,” Lindsey said, blushing furiously.

“I’m staying. We’re safe here,” Amelia said,
adding her opinion. “Why would we leave?”

“Look outside,” a CNA named Rick said. “There are
more of the infected out there every day. They know where the food is and it’s
right here. Won’t be long before they force their way in and then we’re all goners.”

A loud murmur went through the crowd as some agreed and others did not.

“Cheri and the kids and I will be leaving,” Eric
said. “I think I might take them back to their place. Seems pretty secure and I
only brought her here for treatment but now that she’s better I may as well take her back home.”