Outbreak: Brave New World (39 page)

Amy’s heart involuntarily jumped up into her throat when Paulie
and Tom came in with a familiar black dog in tow. “Amy! Look, Tommy broughted Freddie to see us!” the boy said joyfully as he hugged the dog and rubbed behind his ear then came to her bedside. She smiled at the man as he tousled the boy’s hair.

“How’s mom today?” he asked as he grinned at her and took her hands in his.
Frays noted that the man’s voice had the slightest hint of Midwestern twang. “Squeeze.” Tom nodded to himself as Amy tightened her grip on his hands. She noticed that he had done his share of manual labor in his lifetime, probably farm work or something like that judging from his tan. Tom’s hands were rough with calluses. “Okay… Doc Haskins’ at a meeting right now. I think you’ll be out of here tomorrow, but she’s gotta sign off on it.”

“Good.” Amy said as she glanced up at Tom. She felt a little grin spreading across her face when she saw the way that the medic was looking at her. “I hate just sitting around. There’s gotta be something I can do.”

“Well…a little exercise would probably do you some good.” Tom said as he turned his attention to the little boy playing with the dog. Freddie was licking Paulie’s face making the little boy giggle. “Hey Paulie, what do you say we show Amy and Freddie around the place?”

Tom left Frays and Paulie alone for a moment then came back with
a bag under his arm. “Got you a uniform here, Airman.” he said as he handed the bag over to her and a hand receipt on a clipboard. He pointed to a line on the form. “Sign there and initial.”

“Please, call me Amy.” Frays said so quickly she could have kicked herself. She inspe
cted the contents of the bag and compared it to the description of the items listed on the paperwork. “Great. First I have to dress like a grunt now they make me look like a dang jarhead.” the Airman mumbled to herself as she signed the hand receipt and handed it back.

There were a complete set of Marine Corps cammies, tee shirt and regulation brown female underwear in plastic bags piled on the bed.
The young woman swung her feet over the edge of the bed and hopped down, a little unsteady for a moment. Tom caught her arm and helped her get her balance. “Thanks. Lemme just grab a quick shower and change first, okay?”

There was a small shower stall in the room’s latrine
. Frays took a very fast shower as the others were waiting for her. The water was kind of lukewarm, probably coming from a cistern on the roof or something and warmed by the sun. It kind of reminded her of Basic Training where they were only allowed a few minutes to wash. Their barracks at the Academy had been built before the Vietnam War and the hot water had been spotty at best so it was not like anybody really wanted to spend a lot of time in there anyways.

Amy got dressed and put her hair up then went out into the room.
She was a little surprised by how big her belly was starting to get. It felt like the little guy had soaked up all the vitamins and minerals that Lieutenant Haskins had pumped into her over the past couple of days and practically doubled in size.

Frays frowned as she struggled
to get her MCCUU jacket zipped up. Finally she grumbled and hung it on the IV rack and headed out, feeling somewhat self conscious because of the bulge in her belly. She scowled glumly when she caught a glimpse of herself in profile in a mirror in the hall outside her room. Frays grimaced and studied herself for a moment turning this way and that then tried to suck in her stomach a little. The tee shirt was a little too tight across the stomach and chest showing off a little more than she felt comfortable with. She could only imagine how much attention she was going to be attracting being pretty obviously pregnant
and
almost a C cup now.

Amy made a face then went out into the hall with her shoulders hunched forward a little bit.
Tom and Paulie were nowhere to be seen however she thought she could hear someone a little ways down the hall probably where she guessed the lobby was.

Paulie and Tom were throwing a blue racquetball around what Frays guessed was
now the Aid Station’s waiting area. The rubber ball made hollow popping sounds as it ricocheted wildly off the walls and ceiling, making Freddie go nuts as the dog scrambled around the room trying to catch it. The dog’s toenails could not get any purchase on the tile floor so the animal scratched and scrabbled and slid all over the place as he pursued the ball. Several of the plastic chairs lined up in neat rows went flying as the dog plowed into them. The boy was laughing so hard that his face was bright red.

“Hey!” a voice shouted behind her, making Amy jump and turn around. Lieutenant Haskins stood there scowling with her hands on her hips. “Knock that off, Mister Richards!” The Navy officer walked into the foyer
, shaking her head. She gave the medic an exasperated look. “Take the dog outside before you break something.”

Amy cleared her throat. “Excuse me, ma’am.” she said quietly as she approached the other woman. “Do you know where I’m gonna be assigned?” Frays stopped a respectful distance from the lieutenant and stood at attention. “I haven’t heard anything yet and the rest of my squad’s already been put someplace.”
She glanced down at her tee shirt sleeves sticking out from under her LCS and gave Haskins a strange look. “And…um…that jacket doesn’t fit.”

“
I’ve put you on light duty too. I think they’ll have you over with Base Security answering phones or something.” Haskins said as she looked the woman up and down. She frowned at the airman and readjusted the brace around her neck. “It won’t be until at least tomorrow, so just take it easy for today. Were you trying to go somewhere?”

“I thought a little
fresh air and sunlight might do some good, ma’am.” Tom said as he caught the ball and stuffed it into the pocket of his scrubs. Freddie and Paulie watched the man expectantly for a moment before the boy gave Lieutenant Haskins a sour look. She was always spoiling their fun. “I was going to take Frays and the kid outside for an hour or so, seeing as how it’s a nice day out.”

Lieutenant Haskins nodded. “Alright, but see that Airman Frays doesn’t strain herself too much.” she said and smiled at Paulie. The woman knelt to look the boy in the eye. “You hear me,
Mister Lacey?” The boy smiled and saluted. Lieutenant Haskins chuckled and returned the gesture. Amy and Tom’s eyes met, the two of them exchanging a secret smile.

A few minutes later
Amy and Tom were traipsing along the road outside the Aid Station. Frays was somewhat amazed to see that the building used to be a cancer treatment center. Paulie and Freddie were busily chasing each other around as they raced after the racquetball. She was a little surprised and disconcerted by what she saw just outside the confines of the Aid Station’s walls. A brief shock of panic ran through her when she realized that she did not have her weapons, though it went away when she remembered that Lacey said that he had signed them into the armory for her. Still, the realization that she was unarmed and surrounded by strangers made her feel like she was walking around without any pants on or something.

There was enough around to remind her of the other Camp Freedom she had known while overseas, with the
eight foot tall sand colored walls on either side of the streets and armed people in uniforms walking around but it was a pleasant New England summer day outside. Frays could pick up the familiar stink of burning garbage on the wind too, something else that reminded her of Iraq.

There were parties of people in civilian clothes cutting down trees on either side of the street and loading the split
logs and wood chips into pickup trucks under what looked like the supervision of a half dozen soldiers. She did a double take. No…the armed men did not look like Soldiers or Marines. They did not seem to be wearing any sort of uniform… And what were the workers doing? Storing firewood for winter? Tom glanced at the woman at his side. She looked a little dazed to him. “Are you okay?” he asked after he tossed the ball.

Amy smiled at him. “I’m alright. It’s just…a little weird.” Frays shrugged as she watched the men and women hacking up the trees. “This place looks sort of like the FOB I was at in Iraq but the weather’s like home but it smells a lot like Iraq.
I’m sorry… Does…any of that not sound crazy?” She made an attempt at a self depreciating chuckle.

The man smiled and took her hand for a moment.
“We had to abandon Brunswick Naval Air Station because of a bunch of dead people decided to get up and start eating people.” Tom said under his breath, leaning in close so Paulie could not hear him. “I really don’t think there’s anything you could say that would sound crazy to me.”

She sighed and studied the blacktop under her boots as she searched
for some way to change the subject. “Where are my guys?” Frays asked. Paulie and the dog came running up with the racquetball. She squeaked when Freddie jumped at her then once the animal calmed down Amy took the ball out of his mouth and tossed it down the street, sending Freddie and Paulie running off after the blue rubber orb.

“Lacey and Rodriguez got put on perimeter guard while you’re recuperating.” Tom said
, barely holding in laughter. He held up his hands and Paulie tossed the ball to him. The medic took a couple steps then threw the ball again sending the boy and his dog scampering after it. “Your brother’s learning how to tend crops on the field.” He glanced at the woman walking next to him and smiled at the confused look on her face. “We planted some vegetables in between the runways at the airport. C’mon I’ll show you.”

Amy could not help but find herself impres
sed with the sight of what used to be the grass between the three runways. There were neat orderly rows of corn and other vegetables sprouting up between the tarmac and the fences around the perimeter of the airport. She could see people hunched over between the rows, obviously weeding the plots or something. “Wow. Look at that...” Frays whispered.

For the first time in what seemed like forever she actually felt a little hopeful about the
future. It had not even occurred to her until right then and there just how…well…maybe not necessarily depressed but just sort of low she had felt ever since she had buried her parents. A pang of guilt twisted in her guts like a rusty dull knife when she remembered that she had not even thought about them much at all over the last couple of days. She had been preoccupied with her little boy but...still… Amy made a mental note to ask if there was a chaplain and to see if she could get him to say a Funeral Mass for her mom and dad…

They stood there watching people tending the crops for a little while. “Well…I guess we should get back.” Tom said and smiled at the woman standing next to him. She smiled back and it suddenly occurred to him that, despite the brace around her neck and the scar on her cheek, Amy was pretty cute.

He had to wonder what she looked like before she got pregnant because she seemed to have a really nice little body.
Tom studied her out of the corner of his eye as they walked taking in the way the tee shirt showed off her breasts and snuck the occasional peek at her butt. Amy sensed the man’s eyes on her and turned her head a bit to try and catch him at it. She gave the man a knowing little grin when he quickly glanced away.

“I was thinking.” Amy said as they wandered back towards the Aid Station.
They ambled along slowly, enjoying the warm sun on their faces and smell of the growing things on the air. Tom smiled at the woman walking next to him. Paulie was sitting on his shoulders, the little boy resting his hands on the top of the man’s head. Freddie wandered along with them thoroughly exhausted from all the playing.

“Uh oh.” Tom said quietly as he
glanced up at the little boy on his shoulders. “This sounds like trouble.” Amy snickered and playfully swatted at the man’s shoulder. The two of them snickered, Frays shaking her head a little bit.

“Jerk.” she muttered, still grinning at the man. “Do you guys have an engineering department or something? I think I’d be more useful there.”
Frays glanced at the man, trying to think of a way to make her case without sounding like she was bragging or anything. “I was going to get my Masters in Electrical Engineering pretty soon. Plus, I can do the job right up until I’m ready to pop.”

The image of Amy popp
ing like a balloon sprung to Paulie’s mind. He seemed somewhat startled by the prospect. “You’re gonna pop, Amy?” he asked suddenly looking a little scared. “Don’t do that! Don’t you go asplode!” Amy and Tom laughed at the little boy.

“Amy’s not gonna asplode, Paulie.” the medic explained as he looked up at the boy sitting on his shoulders. “She’s j
ust going to
look
like she will is all.” This earned him another swat on the arm from Frays. “Ah! Hey!” he shouted and took a couple quick steps away from her. The boy giggled and Tom took off running, leaving a trail of Paulie’s laughter behind him.

Lacey jumped to his feet when Amy, Paulie and
some guy in hospital scrubs walked into the lobby. “Hey, kiddo!” he called as the boy hurried over into his father’s waiting arms. “I can’t stay long but how are you, Paulie?”

The little boy hugged his father. “I’m okay.”
Paulie gestured towards the medic and grinned. “Tommy took us for a walk. It was boring in the hospital. He showed us the garden.” he informed his father. “Tommy and Amy played catch with me and Freddie. It was fun.” Adam noticed the way the dog’s tail wagged slowly as it stood near Amy.