DEAD: Confrontation (19 page)

“There is talk…some of the people here are say
ing some of the same stuff that those others were saying.”

“What!” Kevin exploded.

“Not the name calling. Nobody is saying anything mean. It’s just that she keeps having these outbursts. She starts screaming and throwing a fit for reasons that nobody can figure out. Some of the people are saying that she should be…”

Heather went quiet. Kevin waited, but after a few minutes of agonizing and tense silence, he finally had to prompt her to speak. “Should be what?”

“They think she should be put down…out of her misery.”

“She’s not a dog!”

“Nobody is saying that, but she has problems that none of us can deal with. Even the doctor says that she has a lot more going on than just the Down’s thing. She says that there is some delusional stuff. She used much bigger words, but the bottom line is that she says Valarie is hearing voices and seeing things that just are not there,” Heather explained.

“
So it is okay to just put her down? Killing her is the answer?” Kevin struggled to keep his voice quiet, but his anger was running hot.

“She has brought zombies
sniffing around our location twice in the short time that she has been here. She starts screaming for no reason and the only way they have been able to shut her up is to…make her unconscious.” There was a long pause before Heather finished that sentence. Kevin had the feeling that medication was not the method being used.

Flinging his covers off, he gasped at the blast of cold air on his skin. He wanted desperately to dress and go check on the girl, but in the darkness, he had no idea where his clothing might be. He was not about to go out in the flimsy pajamas they had him in now. And then the realization of his missing foot piled on.

He could not simply “get up” and do anything. For one, there were no crutches or so much as a cane. Mobility was a thing of the past. That was when a new aspect of his reality bloomed in his mind. He was a cripple. If trouble came, he would be a liability. His life expectancy had just taken a serious nosedive.

Kevin let Heather tuck him back into his bed. He tried his best to hold back the
tears, but the seriousness of his injury and the magnitude of that loss became instantly clear. Kevin was no longer capable of taking care of himself; much less being able to take care of others. He had fought and scratched and struggled to bring Valarie back; and for what?

“You should get some rest,” Heather whispered and kissed his forehead.

He sank down on the bed, but sleep was no longer an option. His mind whirled and spun with the terrible possibilities. As the dawn came, and the first tendrils of light began to creep through the miniscule creases in the blinds, Kevin had played through every possible scenario in his mind that he could dredge up. Each time, it ended the same way: his inability lead to his death and those around him.

***

“This is not really open to a vote or for any sort of discussion,” Aleah snapped.

Even though they were arguing over a very serious matter, Kevin could not take his
eyes away from the bandage on Aleah’s left and right hand. And then there was her face. Both cheeks were still a nasty purplish-black. The skin was cracked, creased, and raw looking. The tip of her nose was solid black and looked as if it would fall off the moment you touched it. In fact, if she sneezed, he would have a difficult time not ducking.

“You can’t go out there like this for something that is, for one thing, probably a death trap, and for two, you don’t even know for sure that you will find anything,” Kevin argued.

“I already talked to the doctor,” Aleah countered. “She says that Newark’s Licking Memorial Hospital had a top-notch prosthesis unit.”

“You can’t just find a piece and slap it
on, Aleah.”

“I know that, Mister Smarty Pants,” Aleah shot back. “But Doctor Thompson said that she would make a list of what I needed. And since you are still a couple of weeks away from b
eing able to even be fitted, this will be the perfect time to do it. That way, you can get up and start learning how to move around as soon as possible.”

He had to admit, the thought of having his mobility back was very appealing. However, he did not see how she could even consider going outside with her face looking the way it did.

“It doesn’t even hurt,” Aleah said in a soft voice as if she could read his mind. “In fact, the doctor says that I may never feel anything in parts of my face, hands, and feet ever again.”

“
I am so sorry,” Kevin said with a sob threatening to squeeze his throat closed. He’d been near to crying for so long that he began to wonder if that would be his normal state now. He sure did not recall any hero crying in any of the zombie books and movies he’d read. They were all brave, strong, and capable.

“Sorry about what?” Aleah sat up with a quizzical look on her face. “Sorry that you have been the glue keeping us toget
her? Sorry that you came back and rescued us from a group of soldiers that are being led by a sociopath? Sorry that you went through hell and back to find medication for a girl that was suffering? Sorry that you fought your way back to us despite the odds being against you?”

“But look at you…look at all of us!” Kevin slapped his
leg for emphasis.

“I will take frostbitten over zombie bitten any day of the week.”

“But why would you go back out there into this?”

“Because you would do the very same thing if the roles were reversed. You aren’t the only person capable of helping or doing for others, Kevin.”

“I’m not saying that I am, but going in to a hospital? That is suicide.”

“And if I were doing this by myself, then you would have every right to protest. However, Doctor Thompson said that a run on a hospital could help save a lot of lives long term. This might be the best chance we get for a while. Small town hosp
itals are going to be tough enough. There is no realistic way that we can consider trying this in some of the larger cities. Besides, we are running low on just about everything.”

“But why do
you
need to go?”

“Because everybody here does
their part, Kevin. And I am good with my weapons. If there is trouble, they need people that can handle themselves.”

“And of all the soldiers, you are some sort of bad ass? These people have trained for this sort of thing. What real training do you have?”

Aleah’s face crumpled. Kevin immediately wished that he could take back what he said. He hadn’t meant what he said…at least not the way she had obviously taken it. The reality was that he simply did not want her to be away from him. When it came down to it, he felt helpless and weak.

So why don’t you just tell her that!
the voice in his head scolded.

What had happened in the past couple of days that made him dredge up all those
awful parts of his personality that had put people at arm’s distance in the past? He had worked so hard ever since the incident with Cary to try and change. In fact, he felt that finding Heather had been the catalyst to his greatest transformation as a person.

“I’m going.”

Aleah turned and left leaving Kevin with an empty feeling in his gut and a tightness in his chest. He felt the burning sensation begin around his eyes, but he would be damned if there would be any more tears. He bit down on the inside of his cheek.

“What the heck is wrong with me?” he asked the ceiling. It did not seem inclined to answer.

***

Aleah stepped out of the RV and scrubbed the tears away from her eyes. All of her life, she had prided herself on her ind
ependence. She had always made her own path in the world. She was no idiot, and she certainly wasn’t blind. She knew how pretty she was, but that just never became a part of who she presented to others.

More than once she had ignored the comments of others when she dated guys that did not meet some societal image of who she ‘should’ be with. When it came right down to it, she valued a sharp mind. That ‘did it for her’ more than six-pack abs
and pretty-boy good looks. It was not that she was opposed to an attractive man. However, a lot of her values came from her father.

When she was barely five years old, her dad had been in a terrible fire at the lab he worked at for a government agency
. He had been tall, muscular, and amazingly intelligent. After the fire, he still possessed his intellect. Unfortunately, the injuries confined him to a wheelchair and he had so much scar tissue that the first time she saw her dad in the hospital, she had run from the room screaming in terror.

As she grew older, she heard the comments, saw the mot
hers pull their children just a bit closer when they passed by. When she grew older still, she heard the giggles and the mean remarks made by the ignorant children who would smile to her face one moment and say horrible things the moment that they did not think she could hear them.

The catalyst came in her freshman year of high school. They had moved to a new district when the government came back and asked for her dad to oversee a new project that had som
ething to do with a top secret space platform. They needed him to iron out the issues they were having with the fuel.

She had earned a spot on the varsity cheerleading team. She was the only fres
hman to do so and could not wait for that first game when she could show off for her dad.

The boy across the street had agreed to drive her dad over and make sure that he was front and center. Aleah was having the time of her life. The team was winning and the squad was pulling off some of their best routines with practiced precision. Shortly after halftime, one of the girls made a comment about “the freak in the wheelchair” and how he was probably some kind of perv who couldn’t get a woman and
got off watching young girls.

Aleah was mortified. All of her happiness turned to hurt and shame. She dropped her pom-poms and ran all the way home in tears. She was sprinting up her street when the headlights of a car came up from behind.

“You okay?” a voice asked from the window as the vehicle came up alongside her. It was Stanley Eisen, the boy from across the street.

“What happened, sweetie?” her dad’s voice came from the back seat.

Aleah could not bear to repeat what had been said. She shook her head and tucked her chin to her chest, turning into her driveway.

That night, Stanley sat quietly while Aleah sobbed. Event
ually, after her dad had drifted off to sleep, she related what the girls had said. Stanley simply nodded and listened.

The next week, every single girl on the cheerleading squad
had their hair fall out in clumps. Aleah kissed her first boy that same week. She dated Stanley until her dad was re-assigned to a new facility in Michigan.

“You gonna be ready in an hour?” a voice called from across the open compound.

Aleah turned to see Angel Henderson and Jan Seiber heading her way. Each had the handle of a sword jutting over her shoulder and a small crossbow barely larger than a pistol but sporting a surprising 80-lb draw. An assortment of knives hung from their belts, and both were already decked out in full protective gear from head to toe.

“Heading over now,” Aleah answered with a wave.

She crossed the open ground of the compound and once again could not help but be impressed with the set up. All the way around was a “fence” consisting of trailers from semis turned on their sides. All of the tents were in the center of the clearing and RVs came off like spokes to a wheel.

At any given time, there were ten soldiers—although that term was being used loosely since she was now considered a part of the outfit—walking the tops of the trailers on watch. In add
ition, there were four towers at each compass point that were manned from first light to full dark.

The most impressive sight was the tank parked by the main entrance. Of course it had long since run out of fuel, and there was absolutely no ordinance for it, but it still made for an i
mpressive sight. She imagined that more than one group of would-be raiders had passed by after seeing it. There was something to be said for appearances in certain instances.

Aleah entered the tent where her cot had
been assigned. She opened the footlocker and pulled out her gear. She would have to go to the armory for a majority of her weapons. However, she had her favorite machete in with her standard gear which consisted of a full snowsuit that was amazingly lightweight, gloves, goggles, lined, steel-toed boots, and an insulated face shield.

Forty-five minutes later, she was dressed out like Angel and Jan. Four others were coming along, but Aleah didn’t know them personally.
The commander of the camp, the one everybody called “Cyclops” as long as she was not within hearing distance, had assigned the team.

Aleah had only met Colonel Dawn Shipley one time, and that was on the day she arrived. The colonel came to the tent where everybody was being treated and told them that they were free to go, but if they stayed, they would have to undergo a three day quarantine and then they would be expected to join the ranks.