Outbreak: Long Road Back (15 page)

Ten or fifteen minutes later Rodriguez sat on a chair in front of Lieutenant Haskins’ desk. The fat medic, Mike, had taken her weapons and gear then locked them up in the storage closet behind the nurse’s station. Haskins eyed the cabinet where she had locked up the grass confiscated from the Blue Diamond guys the other day. “I’m sorry we don’t have any more meds to give you.” the doctor said at last then stood and fished her keys out of her pocket. “I think I’ve got something that might help a little bit, though.”

Rodriguez burst out laughing when the lieutenant took what looked to be at least a pound of marijuana out of a cabinet on the wall and dropped it onto her desk with a thud. “I’m sorry, ma’am.” she said once she had caught hold of herself. Rodriguez regarded the dope with a wry grin. “It’s just that I almost got kicked out about a year ago because I kept failing piss tests. Now you’re
ordering
me to get high?”

The doctor smiled and shrugged innocently. “It’s the best I can really do under the circumstances.” Haskins said and tried to find something for her patient to smoke with. She nodded to herself when she discovered a couple packages of rolling papers that someone had thoughtfully stashed inside the bag with the weed. To Rodriguez’s surprise the doctor took a pinch or two of weed out of the bag and expertly rolled a fat doobie. “Don’t look at me like that, Specialist. I wasn’t always in the Navy. Take it to the smoking area out back.” Lieutenant Haskins mumbled as she sealed the joint and handed it over.

Rodriguez looked skeptically from the joint in the palm of her hand to the naval officer then shrugged. “Yes, ma’am.” she said quietly. The woman stood up slowly and started slowly backing out of the room as if she expected the doctor to try and stop her. “Um…would you mind if I asked Frays if she wanted some?”

The doctor stood up and started putting away the bag of marijuana. “Ask at the nurse’s station for a wheelchair.” Haskins said as he secured the drugs in the metal cabinet and stuck her keys back in her pocket. “If she wants some I don’t think it’d do much harm.”

Rodriguez ambled down the hall towards where she guessed Frays was recovering. As she walked she tried to think of something to say to her friend. Sorry just did not seem to cut it. She could not say ‘I know how you feel’ because…well…she could not really come close to that. Sure she had lost friends and lovers but that was different from a life carried inside her. She could not even imagine how lonely and…sorta empty that must feel.

She was surprised to hear what sounded like Lacey and the kids in the room down the hall as she approached. The sight that greeted her in the room as she eased up to the door and peeked inside the room made her breath sort of catch in her chest. Lacey sat there next to the bedside reading from a children’s book to Frays and the little ones as they ate. Well…Frays did not seem to be so much eating as sort of pushing the food around her tray. The little looks the woman was giving Lacey made it seem like she would like nothing better than for him to hold her tight until the hurting stopped.

The kids were on either side of Frays leaning against her listening intently to their father as they wolfed down their dinners. Occasionally one of them would snuggle up against Frays’ side and she would lean over and kiss the top of their head. Rodriguez’s heart ached and the sight awaked a deep longing as she took in the scene before her.

She realized that she wanted children and a family of her own. The idea came to her like a bolt out of the blue. What would Carl think of it? Never mind what he had just gone through with his big sister…was he mature enough to be a daddy? Rodriguez sighed heavily as she considered bringing it up with him later.

Frays smiled slightly when she finally noticed Rodriguez leaning against the doorway. “Hey, Frannie.” she said in a quiet, slightly drugged sounding voice. A puzzled look came slowly to her face. “Where’s your stuff? Is everything okay?”

“Don’t worry about that right now.” Rodriguez mumbled awkwardly as she came in and took a chair next to the woman’s bedside. She tried to smile a little bit as she reached out and tousled Paulie’s hair. “How’s it going, buddy?”

“Daddy’s reading us a story.” Paulie said drowsily. The little boy snuggled against Amy’s side for a second then climbed off of the bed and reached out for Frannie to pick him up. He grinned up at the woman as she swept him up into her arms and then sat down resting him on her uninjured thigh. “Did you get another owwie too?”

Rodriguez smiled at the concern in the little boy’s voice and kissed the top of his head. “No…I just came in for a checkup, little man.” she explained and squeezed the boy to her chest. All of a sudden Rodriguez felt like she just wanted to slink off in a hole some place and hide. She was about to come in here to try and get Frays to come out back with her and get high for Christ’s sake. Meanwhile Lacey was doing what good people did and was being all supportive and shit. She took a couple deep breaths, the beginnings of tears coming to her eyes. Paulie sensed that something was wrong so he leaned against Frannie and let her hold him tight.

After a few moments Rodriguez picked up the boy and set him down on the edge of the bed. “I gotta go out for a few minutes, guys.” She smiled at the children then stood and made her way towards the smoking area at the back of the building. Rodriguez took the joint out of her pocket and looked around shamefully. However the anxiety did not stop her from jamming the marijuana cigarette into the corner of her mouth and sparking it up.

She closed her eyes and inhaled the smoke deep into her lungs. The smoke escaped after a few heartbeats in a cloud of quiet laughter. “Medical marijuana.” Rodriguez muttered with a small tittering laugh. She took another long drag and savored the feeling of the marijuana slowly starting to kick in making her giggly and relaxed.

Rodriguez spotted a frayed lawn chair a few feet away so she plopped down into it, nearly falling right through the worn fabric. This only made her laugh harder. “Are…Are you fuckin’ high?” a familiar voice called from the door a few feet away. She looked up and grinned at Carl, the cherry on the end of the joint springing up.

“Getting that way.” Frannie said quietly. She took a drag on the joint and blew a cloud of smoke over her shoulder into the night. Carl stood there as if he was not quite sure what to make of what was going on in front of him. “Look…Carl…Lieutenant Haskins gave it to me. They’re out of my medication. I’m…I’m…I dunno…” Frannie sighed heavily and started rocking herself as she took another long drag on the joint “I started a fight at the FDP a little while ago. I-I hit this Navy guy with a spoon and I don’t even know
why
…”

Carl frowned and went to his girlfriend. He helped her out of the chair and sat down then pulled her into his lap. One of the vinyl straps let go with a ripping noise and for a moment they were both afraid that they were going to end up stuck in the chair. They exchanged nervous laughter once the chair decided that it felt like supporting their weight. Carl held her tight. “I…I love you, Frannie.” he said quietly and kissed her scarred cheek. She smiled and squirmed up against him as she continued puffing on her ‘medication’. “I just wanted you to know that. I love you no matter what.”

The younger man’s words echoed in Frannie’s ears as if he had shouted them down a deep dark well. She could hear him swallow hard. Rodriguez searched her muddled brain for the right words. “I know. Me too.” She turned a little and kissed Carl on the forehead then settled back against him.

Chapter Five

10 July 2011 0812 hours NorthCom Forward Operating Base Freedom Sanford, Maine

Frays tied her boots and tucked the laces in. She paused and looked in the mirror mounted to the back of the door to the room she had been staying in the past couple of days and blinked at what looked like a tired scarecrow wearing a hodgepodge of Marine and Army uniforms. They had found her a Marine top but she was wearing an Army undershirt and ACU trousers, both of which had travelled in her rucksack all the way from Massachusetts.

Days without much of an appetite had more or less made her stomach tighten back up though it still felt a little strange to the touch. She sighed heavily, her face wrinkling up around the edges as she ran her hand over where her little boy used to be… “Time to get back to work.” Frays reprimanded herself as she straightened the top and put on her LCS. It went on a lot easier than it did before.

Once she was satisfied that she was at least somewhat presentable Frays left the room and walked down the hall towards the nurses’ station. To her surprise Rodriguez sat behind the desk with Tommy. “Hey, Amy.” the man said with an awkward grin. “I was just about to come down and make sure you’re ready to go.”

Frays looked at him flatly and held her hand out. “Gonna let me sign for my stuff?” she asked and scribbled her signature on the sign out sheet when the medic handed it over. “Thanks.” Frays gave the man just about the most forced smile Rodriguez had ever seen as the man got up and unlocked the little room behind them where her friend’s gear and weapons were being secured. Rodriguez’s own M4 and pistol were in there too…

Frays leaned on the desk and regarded her friend with a raised eyebrow. “Frannie…have you been smoking dope?” she asked in a harsh whisper. Frays glanced over both shoulders and leaned in closer. “Are you out of your friggin’ mind?”

Rodriguez sighed heavily. “They ran out of my meds, Amy.” she said quietly as she slowly got up the nerve to look her friend in the eye. “Lieutenant Haskins gives me a joint once a day or so. They won’t let me carry a weapon anymore because I…started a fight a few days ago. So now I work here.”

Frays frowned at her friend and put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry, Frannie.” she said quietly and stared into her eyes for a second. “If you ever need to talk or whatever come and find me, alright?”

Rodriguez smiled at her. “The same goes for you, Amy.” she said as she held Frays’ hand for a few seconds. It was plain that she was not eating very much and she had become cold at best towards the medical staff, even becoming curt almost to the point of disrespectfulness with Lieutenant Haskins. Carl had told her about the mean things that his sister had said to him too…

Frays got her weapons and other gear back and walked outside without so much as another word to Tommy. She could not help but notice that the same people who had been so friendly towards her when she was pregnant now avoided even making eye contact as she made her way towards the Security Forces building. One brave soul came up and tried to give her a hug but Frays waved the older woman off.

A few of the Marines in the open area came up and welcomed her back to work or simply smiled sympathetically and clapped her on the shoulder on their way by. Sergeant Hanes was nowhere to be found. She sat down hard when she got to her desk and put her head in her hands as she tried to think of something to do with herself. The trainees were around someplace and she had to get back to them.

“Hey, Sergeant Frays.” a voice said just loud enough to be heard over the din of the office. Frays recognized the blonde female trainee…PFC Stark her name was. “Sergeant Hanes sent me over here to find you.” It took Frays a second to realize that the woman was standing at parade rest for her.

Frays nodded and sort of half smiled. “So…you found me. Good for you.” Frays said as she stood up and scratched at a mosquito bite on the side of her neck. “What’s going on?” She started out of the office with the private in tow.

“We’re ready for you over at the range, Sergeant.” Stark said as she followed. The blonde woman frowned a little bit as they walked towards the dirt pile at the far side of the compound. She wanted to say something to the other woman but she could not really think of anything. “Sergeant…I’m…I’m sorry about your son.” she said at last.

Frays did her best to not roll her eyes. “Yeah.” was all she could think of to say. She struggled to think of something else to talk about. Frays made an odd face as she considered something that she had been kind of curious about. “Hey Private…” she began awkwardly then glanced around to make sure they were not being observed. “What’s the deal with these FEMA meatheads anyways? When did they show up?”

Stark shrugged. “Maybe a couple weeks after everything really started getting bad.” The blonde glanced around as well. It did not pay to get on the bad side of the Blue Diamond goons or the pencil pushers. “My flight back home to California got rerouted here. We managed to lock down the place pretty good. Then this big C-130 landed and the FEMA guys got out with their gear. Declared the airport a FEMA shelter took everybody’s guns and herded us all into the Wal-Mart over there.” She spat frustrated into the dirt and looked around again. “They took the trailers that were supposed to be for us. I hope the bastards all get fuckin’ cancer from ‘em like those ones they had in Katrina.”