Dead, but Not for Long (47 page)

“What’s going on?” she asked, running over.

Keith pulled his arms free and turned on his heel, moving for the door.

Once he was gone, one of the bikers said, “He went off on Reynolds. I don’t know if he would have
hurt him or not but he took a swing at Moose yesterday, so we didn’t want to take the chance.”

Lee sighed. “He was angry and I can’t say that I blame him but I had nothing to do with the
bombing. And,” Lee said, nodding toward the other pilot, “Jerry is with the
Coast Guard. He’s just here to help, so there was no reason to start something with him, either.”

“He was upset about the bombing?” Lindsey asked, not sure what was going on.

“His wife was in one of the buildings that was targeted yesterday.”

“Oh, no,” she said, glancing back to the door where Keith had gone. “How could something like that happen?
He said there were a dozen others waiting with her. How did that many people go unnoticed?”

“I don’t know,” Lee said. “Accidents happen, but that was a pretty serious mistake.”

Lindsey glanced out across the city and wondered just how many other mistakes there had been.

“Have they been going into the buildings to determine whether or not they’re overrun?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” Lee said. “All I do is pick up any survivors we find.”

“Poor Keith. That’s just horrible,” she said. After a moment, she looked back at Lee. “I’m
sorry he took it out on you, though. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I don’t think he cares,” Lee said. “He thought we were going to rescue his wife and instead we
blew up her building. That’s how he sees it.”

“Is he sure that her building was destroyed?”

“He asked me and I was able to confirm it with a call to the base. It was totally demolished. When
I verified it, he just kind of blew up.”

“Wow,” Lindsey said. “I heard that he got drunk last night and went on some kind of a
zombie-killing rampage, but I had no idea why he did it. This explains a lot.”

The bikers walked away, leaving Lindsey and Lee to speak privately while the Coast Guard pilot
helped get a group of people into the helicopter.

Lee searched Lindsey’s eyes for a moment and then said, “You’re not going to the
shelter, are you?”

“No,” she said, looking down at her feet. “I’m sorry, Lee.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, reaching down to take her hand. “Why stay here?”

“There are people that need me here,” she said. “Autumn doesn’t want to go. I think I’d have to
pry her away from the lab, kicking and screaming. I’m not as valuable as one of
the doctors, but I keep busy here and I like that. I have the feeling that if I
go to one of those shelters, I’ll just be another body to feed. Here, I have a purpose.”

She told him about going along on the supply run and the rescue that morning.

“It felt so good to be doing something to help,” she said.

Reynolds frowned. “Lindsey, you’re taking an enormous risk going out into the city. It’s going to be hard
enough to know I won’t see you again, but to know you’re out there fighting the
infected is going to make it even worse.”

“Well, isn’t that what you do?” she asked quietly. “I worry about you all the time, Lee.”

“True, but I’m in a helicopter,” he said.

“Which is supposed to be very dangerous, as I understand it,” she pointed out.

He started to protest then had to laugh.

“You got me on that one. I guess I’m not being fair, but I’m just not ready to let you go. I had
hoped you’d go with me. The last few days have been incredible, and I was hoping you felt the same way.”

“I do,” she admitted, a lump in her throat. “I have enjoyed every moment we’ve been
together, but I feel that it would be selfish for me to go right now when I can
help here. I just hope if you ever come back this way, you’ll stop and see me. Maybe by that time, I’ll be ready to go.”

“I promise I’ll do my best,” he said, but the look in his eyes told her that he knew that it wasn’t likely that they’d see each other again.

“Gotta run,” he said, when the pilot called over to let him know they were ready. “I’ll be back
soon. We’ll have to make a lot of trips to get everybody moved.”

After the helicopter lifted up into the sky, the other one took its place.

~*~

Dr. Chan was updating the other doctors on Smiley’s condition.

“His friend said that he gave him one of his Nitro tablets sublingually,” he said. “The bottle
was supposed to be in his pocket but I couldn’t find it.”

“We’ll look for it,” Dr. Sharma said. “You’d better run or they’ll leave you here.”

An announcement had just been made over the intercom that everybody else that planned to leave
needed to get to the roof at once.

Dr. Chan glanced at his watch and nodded. “All right,” he said, shaking hands with the other two
doctors. “The best of luck to both of you. Hopefully we’ll all meet up again
someday when this chaos is behind us.”

“It’s been great working with you,” Dr. Martinez said.

“Thanks for everything,” Dr. Sharma added. “I’ve learned a lot from you.”

Dr. Chan smiled and turned to hurry out the door. When he arrived on the roof, the last of the
evacuees were preparing to leave. He hurried over to Snake and
told him that there was nothing to report yet but that Dr. Sharma and Dr.
Martinez were both with the patient.

Snake thanked him and watched as the doctor got on the helicopter. Several other bikers had also
come up to say goodbye as well as many of the other residents that were staying.

~*~

Snake and Jack were seeing the others off when Major Wilson finally arrived on the roof. Wilson
looked annoyed and Jack took this to mean that they hadn’t found the weapons.
When the Major spotted them, he stormed over to where they were standing, but he had a gleam in his eye that Jack didn’t
like. Eric followed closely behind him.

“Uh oh, do you think your buddy told him about the weapons?” Snake asked quietly.

“I hope not,” Jack said, though it wouldn’t have shocked him.

Wilson came to a stop in front of them. “I know you’ve got the weapons hidden and you can plan
on us coming back to find them.”

“Where would we hide weapons?” Jack asked, throwing up his arms. “You said your men searched
the building.”

Wilson ignored the comment and continued with a smirk, “In the meantime, I need something to take
back with me to keep the brass happy. I hope this isn’t a problem for you but
we’re taking your pilot.” He nodded toward Eric and added, “You don’t have anything to fly anyway and we need him.”

“I’m good with that,” Snake said.

“No problem at all,” Jack added.

When Wilson’s eyes narrowed at the quick replies, Snake added, “Well, I guess you won after all.”

“But,” Eric started to interrupt.

“No, Eric, really, it’s fine,” Jack said. “It’s for the good of the community, I mean, the
new one; the shelter where you’re going.”

“What about Cheri?” he asked, torn between his obsession for her and his need to feel important.

“She’ll be fine here,” Jack said.

“Maybe she should come with me so I can keep an eye on her,” Eric suggested.

“No!” Snake and Jack said in unison.

“She needs medical treatment,” Snake added quickly. “And Dr. Sharma’s made a
lot of progress with her.”

“Can I at least say goodbye?” Eric asked.

“Son, we need to get going,” Wilson said. “I’m sorry about leaving your fiancé behind.”

He patted Eric on the arm and walked to the helicopter with him. Once Eric was onboard, Jack
and Snake high-fived each other then turned to watch as the helicopter got ready to take off.

Wilson, stuck his head out and said, “Reynolds! Let’s roll!”

“I’ve got to go now,” Lee told Lindsey, taking a moment to kiss her. She hugged him hard before
they parted, and she watched him run over to the helicopter that he was copiloting. Lindsey waved at him as he walked
away, sad to see him go, but knowing she had made the right decision.

As Reynolds passed Snake and Jack, he quietly said, “Don’t worry too much about Wilson’s threats.
I think it’s a bluff and I doubt he’ll be back, but you might want to be
prepared to hide the weapons again, just in case.”

“Thanks for everything,” Jack said.

~*~

“We’re losing him,” Dr. Sharma said, getting ready once again to use the paddles on Smiley. The
generator went out and Dr. Martinez quickly lit a lantern.

“We’ll have to do CPR,” he said, hurrying over to start compressions.

“Shall I try to get Dr. Chan?” Dr. Sharma asked. “Maybe the helicopter hasn’t left yet.”

“What’s he going to do?” Martinez asked. “He can’t control the generator.”

Dr. Sharma noticed something under the bed and reached down to pick it up. It was Smiley’s
Nitroglycerine bottle. The label was worn and hard to read but she could see by
the date that it was years old.

“Look at this,” she said, showing the bottle to the other doctor.

“Well, that sure doesn’t help,” Martinez said, continuing the compressions.

The lights flickered and came on for a moment, but then went out again. It happened two
more times and then the lights stayed out. After twenty minutes of CPR, Dr. Martinez called the time of death.

“Damn it,” Martinez said. “We should’ve been able to save him.”

“We didn’t have the equipment we needed and his meds were old,” Dr. Sharma said. “The world has
changed, and we’ll need to get used to that fact. So many years of progress gone now, just like that.”

She sighed and covered the man with a sheet. They’d have to tell Snake when he came back down.

“At least this one is at peace,” Dr. Sharma said. “He could be like all of those dead outside.”

~*~

“Wombat thought you were leaving,” Wolf said as he walked over to stand by Lindsey.

“I think that this is where I need to be,” she said, forcing a smile. They watched as the other helicopter made its final landing on the roof.

When Autumn came to stand next to her, Lindsey put an arm around the girl’s shoulder and they watched
while the last few people boarded the helicopter. The family who had lost the baby got onboard, the mother still looking lost and distraught.
All of the new mothers had decided to go. Even the premature baby had been deemed healthy
enough to leave, having flourished under the care that Lillian and Joan had
given her. The two women had agreed to continue to care for the child at the
shelter, and Lindsey hoped they’d all be
safe in their new home. The Coast Guard Blackhawk lifted slowly into the air as
those who had chosen to stay behind waved goodbye from the rooftop. When
the helicopter grew small in the distance, Lindsey wiped a tear from her eye.
She had known that it would be difficult to say goodbye to her friends, and she
was right. Telling Lee goodbye was the most difficult but there were others she
was going to miss as well. She turned to follow the others inside.

~*~

Lindsey walked Autumn down to their room so that they could clean up before lunch. On the way,
She paused when she reached a room with “Helga” carved into the wood. It
was only a few doors away from Lindsey’s room, which made her nervous.

Snake and the other bikers were stopped by Dr. Sharma on the fifth floor. They listened quietly as she
told them that she and Dr. Martinez had done everything they could do to save their
friend, but had not succeeded.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “His Nitroglycerine tablets were ten years old. If he’d gotten the prescription
refilled more recently, that might have saved him. But with the electricity
going off, it’s hard to say. We may have lost him anyway.”

Snake thanked her, his heart heavy as he and the others walked over to say their goodbyes to the man who had ridden with them.

“We’ll bury him tonight after the bombers stop flying,” Snake said. “There’s a nice old church down the street with a walled-in cemetery.”

Most of the survivors from the office building had gone with the helicopters, but Jackson had chosen
to stay, unwilling to give up an opportunity to get back online. Claire and Dustin had also stayed behind for different reasons.
Claire had told the others that she was a city girl and that she would not feel comfortable in a rural location, sleeping in a tent.
Dustin, on the other hand, was a farm boy, but his family had a farm outside town, and he wasn’t willing to be sent away, not knowing their fate.

When the three survivors heard about the death of the biker who had helped to save them, they asked if
they could go along to the service at the cemetery to pay their respects. Snake told them that he’d be honored to have them.

Though most of the bikers didn’t feel like eating, they made their way down to the cafeteria and
joined the others for lunch.

Jack came in late and took a seat as he looked over those that were gathered for the meal. There were
about fifty in all and, though it was still a decent sized group, it felt odd
having so many gone. He was glad to see Ernie talking to Keith, knowing that
the older man had been like a father to the RN at times.

Autumn was the only child left besides Cheri’s two children, who were both younger. Lindsey hoped that it
wouldn’t be a problem for the girl, not having others her own age with whom to
socialize. Then again, that sort of thing didn’t seem to bother Autumn. She
seemed perfectly happy spending her days assisting Doune.

Lindsey, on the other hand, planned to concentrate on bringing in more survivors before their time
ran out. Doune had told her that it took four to six weeks to starve to death,
and only a few days without water before a person would die. Those without access
to water were probably already dead. For the rest of the survivors trapped in
the city, time was running out. She would have to talk to Snake about it, but
she was sure he’d agree that this was a priority. She already had plans for
getting flyers out. If there were more survivors, she wanted to let them know
there was a safe place in the city for them.