Station Hope (Book 1): Humanities Last Stand (7 page)

8

The second morning at the hospital brought with it a clear blue sky. The sun was just about to break when I made my way down the main corridor just off the ER. The third examining room on the left had Rob, a WDT member for two years now, stationed in front of it. He was a tall gangly kid only 17 years old. He wore an old olive green army jacket and desert camo pants. An AK-47 laid across his legs as he sat on an old metal folding chair. He sprang to his feet when he saw me coming almost dropping his AK.

“Good morning Rob, how's our new stranger been?”

“Sleeping like a baby all night.”

“Good, good.” I peered through the small window into an examining room. She was lying on a gurney with her back to me.

“Well it's time to get her up. We have a lot to do today and she needs to answer a few questions.”

This strange new female stood up as we entered the room, it was as if she had been awake for some time.

“How are you feeling Nancy?”

“I'm fine, she looked around a bit bewildered. “what is this place, where are we.”

“You don't know?”

“I have no idea.”

“What's the last thing you remember?”

“I remember last night, meeting you. Before that I was in Minneapolis.”

“So between Minneapolis and showing up at our doorstep you don't remember anything?”

I looked at Rob, he had the same confused look I'm sure was on my face. Just then Ivy and James entered the room.

“Thought we would see if you needed any help Billy,” Ivy said.

“Ya, Billy everyone is wondering what's going on with her and what our next move is,” James said.

“Well, I just started asking her a few questions. She doesn't seem to remember much before last night. Ivy, do you have the items we took off of her?”

“Ya, right here in my pocket.”

“Show her that picture, the one with the man and boy in it. Maybe that will jar her memory.”

Ivy grabbed my arm and pushed me into the corner of the room. We were turned now with our backs to Nancy.

Whispering into my ear, close enough to feel her breath she said, “you sure that's a good idea? It's obvious she has been thought a shit storm. Maybe we should hold off on showing her the picture, it might send her over the edge.”

“Normally I would agree with you but from what she said and what David said I don't think we have much time. I have to know what's coming this way and I think she knows.”

“Alright Billy, I hope your right. Here's the picture.”

I walked over to Nancy, stretched out my arm with the picture facing her. “Do you know these people?”

She started to tremble as she studied the faces of the man and boy. Tears began to flow as she grabbed the picture and clinched it to her chest.

“Who are they Nancy?” Ivy said in a soft comforting tone.

Through the tears she managed to say, “that's my husband and son.”

“Where are they now,” I asked, hoping her memory had returned completely.

She stopped trembling and looked at each one of us. A mixture of pain and hatred was etched on her face. I wondered if the hatred was directed at us or the creatures.

“They were taken and fed upon by those hideous vampires! Those bastards killed my family!”

“How long ago was that,” I asked.

“I don't know; I just don't know. My husband was killed back in Minneapolis on the first night of the attack. My son, my beautiful little boy was taken a few nights ago.”

Ivy stepped forward and wrapped her arms around this tragic woman. Nancy sank her head into Ivy's chest and wept uncontrollably. I knew no more questions would be answered for a while so I turned to James and instructed him to take Rob and get the trucks ready to go back to Station Hope.

“Pack everything you can from yesterday along with everything we got from this hospital into the trucks. Leave the Dodge and load it up with the best guns, plenty of ammo, food and water for three days. You, me, Ivy, Spencer and David will head south to do some recon. The rest of the group will high tail it back home. You got that James?”

“Ya, no problem. I'll have everything ready to go in 20 minutes. I'm sure Eddie will be happy to get out of here.”

“No doubt, I hope all that shit we got for him will keep him busy for a while. Rob, I want you to look after Nancy on the trip back. She has been though a lot but she's still a stranger to us. We don't really know her so I want you to keep an eye on her.”

“No problem Sir, you can count on me.”

“Get going then, I'm going to try and get more info out of her”.

James and Rob left the examining room as Ivy helped Nancy sit on an old plastic chair. Ivy reached to her side and removed a canteen from its carrier. She unscrewed the top, glanced up at me with a half-smile, and handed it to Nancy. Nancy took a long drink and handed the canteen back to Ivy with a forced smile. She whipped her mouth with her sleeve and sat back. As I looked down on this little woman with the knit hat I couldn't help but wonder what she had been though. I also couldn't help but wonder if she was telling us the truth. There were a few red flags going off that raised my suspicion. For one, how could she have made it all this way without a weapon. For another, her clothes in the light of day seemed to new, to clean to have traveled all this way. And for another, the little voice in my head was telling me to watch out for her, and that little voice is seldom wrong. I had to know more, more about her and more about her story.

“Nancy, how long ago did the vampires attack you in Minneapolis?” If felt so strange, almost surreal to say the word vampire. I grew up calling them simply the “creatures” but I now think vampire is a better descriptive term.

“I don't know; I just don't know.” She had stopped crying now. The back of her head resting on the wall, her eyes shut.

“Can you give me some idea, a week a month, anything?”

“If I have to guess I'd say three weeks ago.”

“And how did you get here, how did you make it this far without a weapon.” I was short on time so the direct approach would have to work for now. Nancy shifted forward and placed her head in her hands. I could tell her annoyance level was rising.

“We ran, we ran for days and days.”

“Who ran, how many of you were there?”

“alright, let me tell you the whole story. We were living in Minneapolis, what was left of it. Doing pretty good for our selves. There was a large group there, I'd day close to 5,000 people. We hadn't seen a vampire in months. We figured they all died off and we didn't have to worry about them anymore.” She paused and looked up at me. “We were wrong. They came at dusk and over ran us. People scattered in every direction. My husband, Son and me managed to get out of our settlement and head east. We were trying to get to the Mississippi.”

I interrupted her and asked, “Why the Mississippi, why try to get there.”

“We learned that they don't like moving water. Don't ask me how we know we just know. So our only hope was to get across the Mississippi and head east. We heard of a place somewhere around here that was fortified, a safe haven.”

“Who told you that?”

“It's not that someone told me, it was just sort of common knowledge. We only made it a few miles when the vampires caught up to us. My husband was killed fighting them off as we ran. At day break I met up with a group of about 30 others also heading east. My Son and I joined up with them. We used an old barge to cross the river. We walked for several days without any sign of the vampires. We figured the river had stopped them, again we figured wrong. One by one they picked us off. Mostly at night, but a few in the day. The most upsetting thing was when someone would disappear in the middle of the night as we slept. We would wake up and they were just gone, no sounds, no screams, no blood, just gone. The vampires were just toying with us; they would harvest us one or two at a time. We moved as fast as we could, held up in whatever shelter we could find. The fighters in our group killed dozens of them. But they just kept coming and then we began to run out of ammo. We must have been out there for longer than three weeks. Now that I think about it we were running for almost two months. A few nights ago there was only five of us left.”

“So just a few nights ago there were five of you? When did the vampires last attack you.”

“I think it was the night before I found you. That's the night they took my Son. He was next to me one minute and then disappeared into the night the next. Terror overcame me so I ran, I ran for what seemed hours. Come daybreak I was alone, utterly alone. I saw your truck late yesterday afternoon so I followed in the direction you went. I found you last night and here we are now.”

“Alright Nancy, I only have a few more questions. Can you tell me how many vampires attacked you in Minneapolis?”

“I really have no idea, there were so many and they came so fast.”

“How many followed you here then?”

“I can't be sure of that either, I only saw a few. I think it was more of a hunting party that followed us.”

“When we first saw you you said they would kill us all if we stayed here, why would you think that?” Is the main body of vampires coming this way?”

“I don't know; I don't even remember saying that. I don't know how many are out there. I don't know where they are. All I know is everyone I loved is gone.”

Nancy began to cry uncontrollably again; I was grateful Ivy was there to comfort her. That was enough questions for today. I left her with Ivy and went out to check on the trucks. I was happy to see they were almost full and ready to go. Spencer and James were standing next to the Dodge talking with David. I figured this would be a good time to inform him he was going with us on our recon mission.

“Good morning gentlemen, I see everything is running smoothly.”

“You say that like your surprised,” James said. “Me and little Spencer here can get the job done, don't you worry about that.”

James was in a mood and I could tell his insubordinate tone was going to last all morning. It didn't really bother me that much, he was my brother after all. There had always been some underlying resentment between us but that can be said about most brothers. James had proven himself time and again and I knew I could always count on him when things turned to shit.

“I wasn't worried James, I'm just happy everyone is almost ready to go.”

James said, “I'm going to check on the medical supplies and make sure Eddie isn't getting his ass kicked after insulting one of the WDT guys.”

“Good thinking, let’s be ready to roll in thirty minutes.”

“You got it Bro.”

James took off, upset about something but what I had no idea. I turned my attention to Spencer and David. Spencer was chewing on some type of bread with a stupid grin on his big ugly face.

“What the hell are you smiling at?”

“It warms my heart to see true brotherly love that's all.”

“Shut up you bid idiot.”

Spencer continued to chew and smile as he walked over to the Dodge, opening the passenger door he pulled out a long rectangle cardboard box.

“Look what James dug up for you.”

The box held a Barrett Model 98B sniper rifle with a night vision scope and 30 round mag. One of the finest rifles I had ever seen.

“He found the box in the back of that gun shop. he got it ready for you last night.”

“Wow, that's a beauty. Now I feel guilty for what I was just thinking.”

“I thought you might,” Spencer laughed.

It felt good in my hands, well made, durable and strong. A good weapon always carries a sense of security with it. I slung the rifle over my shoulder and turned to David.

“OK then, David I have something to tell you.”

He looked slightly better in the day light. I figured he must have gotten some sleep last night. I knew what I was about to tell him would not sit well but there was no other choice. I needed intel and he could be very valuable in gathering it.

“There is no easy way to tell you this so I'll just come out and say it. We are going south to recon while the main body brings the supplies back to Station Hope and you’re going with us.”

David looked at me, shocked at what I had just said. Anger quickly overtook him as he said, “the hell I am, there is no way I'm going. I'm going north, always north until
they
stop coming.”

All consuming panic was gripping David as he started to pace back and forth in front of me. I knew he would take the news badly but I didn't expect him to completely freak out.

“There's just no way I'm going back south. I already told you everything I know. Why would you need me anyway?”

“David, you know the area and where you saw them last. I need you to show me.”

“I'll show you on a map.”

“That's not good enough, I need you to lead us to the area.”

“I'm not even sure I can do that. I can't go back that way! Not after what they did to my family.”

“That's exactly why I need you to go with me, so I can prevent what happened to you from happening to Station Hope!”