Apocalypse Aftermath (44 page)

“Unbelievable.”
she told herself as she finished putting bullets into the magazines.  Austin came back half a minute later with a big smile.  “What?” she asked him.

“Eighteen for twenty-three, nine in the black with two pretty close to center.”

Jessica’s mouth dropped.  “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.  You’re getting the hang of it.”

“Yeah, I’m ready for anything.”

He smiled, but his face took on a more serious edge after a moment.  “I know you don’t like this, but I also know you know you need it.  This is so you have a chance to keep your head on straight if you have to shoot for real.  If that ever happens, I want you just remember to relax.  You’re going to want to panic.  You’re going to want to hurry.  Your pulse and heart and
breathing are all going to be racing a thousand miles a minute, but it’s important to just take it easy and focus on your basics.  Draw, slide, safety, aim, squeeze.”

“Sounds easy when you say it like that.”

“It’s hard as hell.” he said with utter seriousness.  “Trust me, I know.  The first time it’ll be horrible.”

“The first time
was
horrible.”

“I know.”

“Now how did you know I’d already had a first time?”

He gave her a look.  “I checked that pistol and reloaded it before I gave it back to you at Dennis’ house.  Three rounds were missing from the magazine.  You fired it didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Jessica said, feeling foolish when she remembered how he’d taken the gun when she’d been at the end of her rope dealing with the pain in her knee.

“So, the next couple of times you have to use it will still be bad.” he continued calmly.  “But they’ll get easier and you’ll be better.  After about half a dozen you’ll start to take it in stride.”

“Let’s hope I don’t get
that
much practice.”

“You and me both.” he agreed.  “So, any questions?”

“Why did you have me put the Taurus away empty, but made me reload the Shield before I put it back.”

“Ah.  Because the Shield is your secondary.”

Jessica stared at him uncomprehendingly, and he shook his head after a moment.  “Sorry, I forgot.  I got ahead of myself.”

“So . . .” she asked.

“So, here’s the deal.  The secondary is your backup, right?”

“Right.”

“Your backup is for when you need a gun and your primary isn’t working.  Doesn’t matter why, but you need a gun and your primary can’t shoot.  When that happens, your reflex is to go for the secondary.  If at all possible, you never finish using your secondary and put it away unless it’s ready to fire.  You get it?”

Jessica considered for a moment.  “Because . . . I need it to work when I need it?”

“Exactly.”

“And I thought guns were easy.”

“Hah!” he laughed.  “Now, if something happens to your Taurus, if you think you’ve got the moment, go ahead and put it in the holster so you don’t lose it.  But don’t be afraid to just drop it right out of your hand if you need to get at the Shield fast.”

“You carry four guns?” Jessica asked him, even more amazed than she’d been before they came out to the range.

“Yup.”

“You like being prepared.”

“That’s my job.”

“One more question.”  Jessica said, then gestured at the Shield.  “How am I supposed to keep track of the different magazines so I don’t mix them up.”

“Normally you’d keep them in different pockets or pouches, but in this instance you’ve only got the one extra for the Shield.  And it just so happens there’s a little holder on the side of your holster that carries that extra mag.”

Jessica felt behind her on the holster.  After a moment she thought she felt something that felt like a loop of leather, but she shrugged and pulled the holster off her belt anyway.  When she had it where she could see it, she nodded.  “Ah.”

“I’d suggest you always dump your empty magazines into your front pockets, probably your left one, so you don’t mix up empties with ready mags.  Keep your Taurus mags in your back pocket, and the Shield mag on the holster, and you’re golden.”

“Famous last words.”

“I’m a professional.” he grinned.

“So you keep telling me.”

Before he could respond the radio hanging in front of his shoulder suddenly crackled with a breathless voice.  “Uh, problem at the front gate.  Hello?  We’ve got a problem out front.”

Austin spun toward the front of the grounds and shaded his eyes with one hand while he reached for the radio with his other.  “This is Carter, report.”
he said as he stood gazing in the direction of the gate.

“There’s a truck at the gate, and some guy is honking the horn and flashing his lights pretty urgently.”

“Reload everything and get back into the building.” Austin told Jessica.  “Lori, practice is over!” he shouted at her before breaking into a run.  Jessica blinked as she watched him stretch his legs out and really get going.

She looked around quickly, but other than the Eagle people, the grounds in what she thought of as the ‘back yard’ were clear.  She stuffed bullets into the magazines as rapidly as she could, then loaded both pistols and got them into their holsters before tucking the magazines away.

“Candice.”

“I’m here.”

Jessica turned and gestured to the girl.  “Come on.  We’re going inside.”  She stuffed the boxes of bullets that weren’t empty into her purse, then picked up her cane and started limping toward the building.  She saw Austin near the gate, then it opened and a vehicle drove in.  It was a civilian vehicle, and from what she could see it wasn’t being driven by someone in a black jumpsuit.  Austin ran after it, but he was just running; he didn’t have a weapon in his hands that she could see.

She quickened her pace as much as she could, both curious and afraid of what might be
happening.  By the time she made it to the front of the main building, she saw an older pickup truck was under the drive-through awning, its tailgate down to reveal a figure in the back; someone who was laying flat in the truck bed.  Austin was stepping up into the back of the truck.

A couple of people emerged from the building, talking with Austin loudly enough for her to hear their voices though she couldn’t quite make out the words.  One of them ran around to the driver’s side of the truck and opened the door.  Jessica blinked as she saw Austin fighting with whoever was in the back of the truck.

“No, he’s not fighting.”
she realized a moment later.

“What’s Austin doing?” Candice asked in a tense voice.

“CPR.” Jessica answered as she watched Austin lean down and blow air into the person’s mouth.

“What’s that?”

“He’s trying to keep that person from dying.” Jessica answered, not seeing any way around answering the question.  And, for that matter, not seeing much of a point.  It wasn’t like Candice wasn’t already dealing with death.  With zombies wandering around eating people, prevaricating over someone who was in the process of dying seemed stupid.

As she drew closer, the voices began to resolve into actual words rather than just sound.  And she could recognize people.  Austin was large and easily identified, but she soon marked the others as Tyler Morris – standing near the lobby doors – and Dennis, who was leaning into the truck’s cab over the driver.

“—chance I can hold him together.” Dennis was saying.  “I need the bag I packed from the infirmary.”

“Dennis . . .”

“I don’t want to hear it Tyler.” the doctor snapped back.  “Go get the damn bag.”

“I’m not comfortable leaving you alone out here.”

“Carter is here.”

“Carter is busy.”

Austin looked up as he finished a breath for the person in the back of the truck.  “Billy, the black bag in the infirmary.  Go get it and get back out here.  Run.” he shouted past Jessica.  She managed to glance behind her without overbalancing as she limped and saw the rest of the firing range group catching up with her.  One of the men broke into a run, sprinting for the lobby.

“You other men, help cover the area.” Tyler called.  He indicated the drive-through with a sweep of his hand.  “Stand ready in case there are problems.”

Lori jogged past Jessica and heaved herself up into the truck with Austin.  Edging past him, she bent over the unconscious man and did the next breath when Austin paused chest compressions, then put her fingers on the victim’s neck.  “Austin, I don’t feel a pulse.” she said calmly.

“Let the doc decide that.” Austin said as he kept going.  “Breathe for him.”

Lori shook her head, but she fell into the sequence with him, bending to breathe into the man’s lungs on cue.  Jessica guided Candice past the others who were fanning out around the truck uncertainly.  She positioned herself inside the open lobby doors, behind and to the side of where Tyler stood, and watched to see what was happening.  She didn’t understand Tyler’s concern; the truck only had two people in it.  One was unconscious and possibly already dead, and the other looked to be badly hurt.  Both were covered in blood.

Billy ran back by, carrying a duffel bag.  He joined Dennis at the driver’s door with it.

“Good.  Help me get him out on the ground.” Dennis told the Eagle man.  They laid him down out of sight, but Jessica could still hear Dennis talking.  “Here, hold this.  Pressure.  Yes, like that.  Okay, okay.  Just keep holding that.  Sir, stay still.”

Dennis reappeared as he stood up.  “Carter, Lori, you getting any response?”

“No.” Lori said, feeling for another pulse.

Dennis climbed into the back of the truck and bent over the man.  “Hold compressions.” he told Austin, and the big man leaned back on his heels, breathing steadily.  A few seconds later Dennis shook his head.  “No, he’s gone.  He bled out.  No heart activity at all.”

“Is he dangerous?” Tyler asked.

“What?” Dennis asked, turning to look at his brother.

“I’m serious Dennis, he could be dangerous.”

“Only if he’s infected.”

“How can you know he isn’t?”

“Tyler!” Dennis snapped again.  “He would’ve turned already.”

“We don’t know that.”

“I do.” Dennis said, sliding out of the truck and heading back around to check on the driver.

“We can’t afford to lose you.”

Dennis ignored that as he knelt down to the other man.  Austin and Lori got down from the truck bed, the woman standing watching while Austin joined the doctor.  Jessica could hear Austin talking to the driver.

“What happened?  Who did this?” he asked.  The man answered in a voice too low to carry over to where she stood, but Austin spoke again.  “Can you describe them?  Anything about them at all?”  Another answer, then Austin’s voice took on a more urgent tone.  “How many did you see?  Were they all dressed like that?”

“Shit.” Dennis cursed.  “I don’t . . . I need . . . no, no, no, stay with me.  Come on, stay . . . damnit!”

Jessica glanced at Tyler as he reached into his suit jacket and produced a slim pistol.  She blinked in surprise – she hadn’t been aware he was going armed even inside the facility – as he racked the slide back and ran around the front of the truck.

“Dennis!”

“Mr. Morris.” Austin said quickly.

“Tyler, back off.” Dennis said angrily.

“What’s happening?” Tyler demanded, standing with the gun partially raised.

“He’s unconscious from blood loss.”

“Is he dead?”

“He’s going to be soon unless a miracle happens.”

“Then I don’t see what else you can do for him.” Tyler said.

“He needs a transfusion.  I think I’ve got the bleeding stopped, but he’s lost a lot.”

“We don’t have any blood.  You can’t save him.”

“Christ on a crutch, I fucking told you we needed to prioritize medical supplies
better than this!”

Jessica saw a frustrated look cross Tyler’s face.  He opened his mouth, then clearly stopped himself from saying whatever he’d been about to.  Instead he hesitated a moment, then shook his head.  “You’ve done what you can.  Whether or not he survives is up to him and how well he heals now.”

“You’re all heart, you know that Ty?  All heart.”

“Dennis, this is not my fault.”

“It’s not his either.”

“Mr. Carter.” Tyler said, switching his attention to Austin.  “What did he say?”

“That can wait until we get him into the infirmary.” Dennis interrupted.

“No.” Tyler shook his head.

“What?”

“I said no.”

Dennis appeared as he stood up, stepping closer to square off with his brother.  “Are you kidding me?”

“You yourself said his odds are low.”

“There’s a chance he might pull through.”

“At what cost though?  How much more of our limited supplies are you proposing to invest in him?”

Dennis’ face was mottling as he reddened.  “It’s not like I’ve got all that much to
invest
anyway.”