The Rabid (4 page)

"Where are we going?"
Sylvia asked as I took an exit into Bakersfield. I'd already had more of her
than I wanted to deal with, so my answer was short.

"I need ammo."

"Oh-kay." There
was an upward lilt to her statement as if she were talking to her scolding
father. I imaged her rolling her eyes along with it.

"Perhaps we
should search for food, while we're at it." Lisa leaned forward in her seat
like she was looking at something. I saw it too. A car was coming toward us on
the opposite side of the street. It was a minivan packed with household items
and luggage. We slowed at the same time. The man inside prompted me to roll the
window down.

"Rabies in town.
Everyone got the hell outta dodge this mornin'," he said.

"Mr. Avery?" Lisa
leaned over me. I could smell her sweet scent.

"Dr. James! I
thought you'd left. what're you doin' back out here?"

"We're headed to
Colorado. Is your family safe? Anyone hurt?"

Avery tilted his
head. "We're okay. But I'd turn tail if I was you."

"I need ammo." I
cut in, wanting to get out of the town myself.

Avery scratched
his partially bald head. "Wal-Mart's been cleared out since a month. You won't
find nothin' there."

"Damn." Lisa sat
back in her seat.

"But Andy's
probably got somethin'. He was hanging around until this morning. Didn't bring
nothin' with him other than a duffel."

"Oh, that's
right!" Lisa moved closer, putting her palms against the driver side window
frame. She was so close. "Mr. Avery, thank you. Please be safe. Take care of
your family."

He nodded. "I
will, Dr. James. You do the same."

She returned with
a bob of her head as I rolled the window back up. "Let's head over to Andy's
bait shop. it's just a few blocks away."

I began to drive
again. "How do you know that?"

"Bakersfield is
relatively close to my home. I come here often when I need to get away."

"Does everyone
have a southern accent here?"

"Something like
that," she said. "Turn here."

I did as I was
told and took a right down a street with a few small shops and a McDonald's.
When I parked, I paused to make sure there were no Biters around.

"Okay, guys.
let's be careful." I helped everyone out of the car before taking another look
around.

But just as we were about to head
into the ammo shop, a scream erupted from behind the closed doors of the dark
McDonald's. We all stopped and looked at each other. While I knew ammo was
important, I also knew saving a life could possibly be done without it. So, I
turned the other direction while everyone else followed.

A warped handprint in
blood streaked across the outside of the glass. There was no movement inside. I
looked back to my partners and gave them a tilt of my head before moving
forward. We pressed ourselves against the side of the building in case any Biters
inside saw us. And that was the moment I realized what we were doing was a
pretty fucking bad idea.

"Holy... What the shit?"

"What is it?" Lisa's
harsh whisper almost scared me.

"When the balls did they
start serving breakfast all day? What did I miss?"

There was a silence as I
stared at the faded poster in the window.

"Are you fucking serious
right now?" Sylvia's whisper was angry.

"You're damn right I'm
serious. Who knew about this? I've been—" Another scream cut off my sentence.
Slightly frustrated, I decided then was the time to burst through the door and
try to save whoever might have still been alive. Even though all I was armed
with was an empty shotgun.

"All right, you
overgrown teether, drop the dentures and step away from the warm blood."

The scene in front of me
froze. A pimply-faced teenager stood, soaked in blood, above a dead Biter. How
do I know the thing was dead? Well, there was half a sharpened broom stick
embedded in its skull.

"Are you serious right
now?" It was Sylvia who broke the silence.

"Answer the lady"s
question, pizza-face."

"I was talking to you."

I turned my head. "Huh?"

"Don't shoot!"

"What?" I turned back to
the kid who had his hands high in the air. Then I looked at my gun. "Oh."
Shoving it back in the waist band of my jeans, I stepped forward. "Sorry. it's
not loaded. You all right, kid?"

The teen dropped the
other half of his broomstick.

Ha. Broomstick. Like
Boomstick. that's funny.

"I...think so?"

"Did you get bitten?"
Lisa walked around me and approached him.

"Yeah...he got my
shoulder."

"My lovely companion
introduced herself and told the kid " whose name was Kevin " they were going to
go wash the wound with hot soapy water. Once they disappeared, I drug the other
body into the maintenance closet where no one had to sit and look at it.

"Blood soaked into the
uniform the Biter was wearing. The only thing shittier about working at
McDonald's was dying while you worked at McDonald's. I wiped blood from the
former kid"s nametag. Red collected in the black lettering, giving his name a
morbid outline. ANDY.

"Too bad. Kid died a
virgin."

I knew that
voice. But I was too scared to face it. There was no way in hell Silas was
behind me. So I ignored him, hoping he'd go away.

"Ignoring me is
only going to make me louder."

He was bluffing.

"
You can't
have no fun with an unloaded gun!
"

Okay. He wasn't
bluffing. He was singing.

"
My dad says
that's for pus
"

"Shhhhut it!" I
hissed the words through my teeth while standing to face him. It was him all
right. Except he was white as a ghost. A smile stretched across his face.

"Atta boy."

I looked down at
the bloody hole still in his chest. With each breath, a bit of lung came into
view. I swallowed hard.

"You look like
Rob Zombie threw up on you."

Silas laughed.
"And you look just like Ryan Reynolds fucked a dragon."

"That...that is
amazing. I'm not even mad."

Silas shrugged. "Uh-oh.
Here comes mommy."

"Everything
okay?" Lisa emerged from the bathroom with Kevin in tow.

I swung around to look
at her. And when I turned back, Silas was gone. "Uh... Yeah. Just gonna grab a
weapon." I stooped down to the body again. "Sorry, Andy. Life sucks sometimes."
I grabbed the end of the stick jutting out of his head. Then, I pulled with all
the strength I had. With a sickening gush, the wood worked free and I had a new
weapon in hand. Just in case.

"What's the 4-1-1?" I asked, heading back out into the lobby.

"There's really no way to tell. We got here just in time. I
might have been able to wash the infected saliva out of the wound. Only time
will tell."

"Who's hungry?" The
statement was more of a joke, but nobody was in the mood for any jokes. I
couldn't win. Lisa's response surprised me.

"I could use something.
We should all eat, really."

"There are still some
patties and stuff in the kitchen," Kevin said, wincing as he sat.

"Yummy." Alex looked up
at her mother. Sylvia just rolled her eyes. No doubt wondering what kind of
chemicals were in each and every bun.

"Can't be that hard." I
went into the back and searched for any kind of food. Luckily, I found about
ten burger patties, a bunch of buns and even some French fries. It wasn't until
Alex, Rex and Sylvia had already eaten that Lisa approached me in the back.

"What's up, doc?" I sat
on the front counter in between two blank registers.

Lisa took a deep breath.
"It doesn't look good."

"No?" I turned to look
at the poor bitten kid. Sylvia and the kids were sitting around him completely
clueless to his pale sweating face. "No shit."

"It's really only a
matter of time."

I grimaced. "Yikes."
After jumping off the counter and side-stepping the blood, I got their
attention. "I think everybody but Kevin should head to the back office and lock
the door."

That's when they all
noticed his face and listened to me without a fight. But Lisa didn't
immediately follow. I gestured her inside, but she stayed put.

"I'd rather stay out here
with you. I'm a doctor."

"You don't say." It was
meant to be a light-hearted joke, but the look on her face made me think I'd
gone too far. I instructed Sylvia to lock the door behind her and joined Lisa
in the lobby, making sure I had my sharpened stick. We were silent for a few
moments while Kevin's breathing became heavier. He didn't even seem to be aware
of what was happening.

"Sorry if that was a bit
harsh. I didn't mean anything by it."

Lisa shrugged without taking
her eyes off the teen. "I'm used to snarky people. I can't tell you how many
patients think the Internet is a good place to get medical advice."

I looked at her,
widening my eyes in the most cartoonish way I could. "It's not?"

She arched an eyebrow at
me, but I could see the hint of a smile on her pretty lips. "It's not."

We remained in a staring
contest for a few seconds. I was able to see that she was, indeed, super cute.
While pretty petite and thin, I had no doubt she could kick a set of testicles
hard enough to rupture them. Why had that thought entered my head? What the
fuck?

A groan interrupted our
unique moment. We turned to look at poor Kevin who had knocked over a cup of
water and was freaking the fuck out. As soon as the water touched his arm, he
stood and screeched like a toddler.

"Oh boy..."

Lisa and I were already
backed into the counter, so when Kevin saw us and began lumbering forward with
an odd hunger in his eyes, I decided to push the wooden stick out in front of
me and see if any of the kid"s brain hand't melted yet.

"Stay back!" I shoved my
weapon toward him. He stopped in his tracks, but didn't retreat. "I mean it,
kid!"

He took another step
forward.

"I'll fucking rip you
open and spill your guts on the floor."

"You do know that's not
possible, right?"

"Huh?" I lashed out with
the stick again, nearly hitting him.

"There's connective
tissue and muscle holding our organs together. Cutting someone open doesn't
automatically spill their guts."

"The more you know." I
thrust the stick at the monster formerly known as Kevin once more, but that
seemed to piss him off. He lunged forward and I did the only thing I could
think of doing — I swept the broom stick in an arch, catching the side of his
stomach and ripping a nasty hole in him.

Dark red blood and a
string of intestines spilled down his legs and across the floor, splashing onto
our shoes. Lisa didn't even hop back. Not even when Kevin let out his last
breath and crumpled to the floor.

"I stand corrected,"
Lisa said after a moment"s silence.

"No." We looked at each
other. "You stand in guts."

From the
Desk of Dr. Lisa James

October 17

I decided I needed to clean the blood and tissue off my clothes after we left
the bait shop, so we stopped by the first house we saw. Because there was
really no one left in the town the family who lived there wouldn't mind if we
let ourselves in to shower and change.

The house was a two-story on the corner of a quiet neighborhood. It was painted
yellow with white shutters. It was cute. And the door was unlocked. Jack put a
hand on my arm as I opened it.

"I'll go first."

I nodded, allowing him ahead of me. After a few moments, he motioned the rest
of us inside. He then stood just inside the door, humming a song to himself
that I didn't recognize. The house was quiet, but everything was in its place.
It was such a difference from everywhere else we'd been. It was a home stuck in
time.

I walked slowly through
the hallway, feeling like an intruder in someone else"s domain. My fingertips
brushed a stack of books. The covers were worn, scratching against my skin.

"Anybody breathing in
here?" Jack's voice made me look back for a moment. His eyebrows shot up as if
he were giving me a flirty look. Upon returning to my walkthrough, I noticed
the door to what seemed like a dining room ajar. I could see a corner of an oak
table peeking through. On top of that was someone's hand.

"In here." Without
waiting for everyone else, I pushed through. The table was set with an elegant
looking meal. A large turkey sat in the middle surrounded by several sides. The
candles were unlit. Plates were clean.

A family of four was
seated around the food. They looked as if they were in the middle of a prayer —
heads down and eyes closed. But none of them seemed to notice our presence.

"Well, hello."

I turned to find Jack,
Sylvia, Alex and Rex standing at the entrance to the dining room. I sighed
while placing two fingers against the father of the family's neck. There was no
pulse. I shook my head.

"You know, I always
found it funny," Jack said, picking up a half full wine glass. "In every movie
or TV show where a doctor looks for a pulse and there isn't one, they always
look up and shake their head." He sniffed the wine and made a face. "Whew! I
think this has gone bad."

I approached him and put
my hand on his forearm to lower it to my height. Then I took the glass from his
hand. Our fingers touched briefly. The glass made a subtle swoosh sound against
his skin. I took a whiff. There was a strong garlicky odor.

"Arsenic. They poisoned
themselves."

"Why would they do
that?" Sylvia took a step back.

"They probably didn't
think they'd survive. it's rather poetic."

"Can't say I blame
them." Jack tucked his shotgun back in the waist of his jeans and sighed. "You
know some guys just can't hold their arsenic."

I heard Sylvia make the noise she usually made when someone offended her.
"that's disgusting! Why would you say that?"

In my peripheral vision, I saw Jack shrug.

"Lisa! Tell him that's gross. It's in poor taste!"

I echoed his movement. "I didn't think it was disingenuous. It's actually very
true. Some people can't."

"Boo-yah! Up high, bro!"

I reluctantly patted the palm of his hand with mine while checking the pulses
of the rest of the family. When I got to the young boy at the table, I felt the
faint thump of a heartbeat. Immediately, I instructed Jack to help me bring the
boy to the floor.

"We need to induce
vomiting. Push him on his side."

Jack did as I asked and
turned the child on his side. I reach my index finger inside his mouth, causing
his body to push bile into his throat. Once the airway was clear, I began chest
compressions. He needed CPR right away if we were going to save him.

After a few seconds, the
boy's color began to resurface and he coughed a few times. When his eyes
opened, I could see confusion in them.

"Woo!" Jack stood up,
throwing his hands in the air. "Shit yeah!"

"Where am I?" The child
asked.

"Shh. Just relax." I sat
him up and held his shoulders in place while he regained composure. However,
once he noticed his family sitting around the table motionless, he stood on
shaky legs and began to get upset.

"Daddy! Mommy! No! I
shouldn't be here!" He ran to his father to shake him awake, but the only thing
that accomplished was causing the body to slump over onto the table. Tears
streamed down the child's face. I tried to stand to comfort him, but he saw the
serrated knife before I could get to him. In a movement so quick no one could
react, he grabbed the knife, plunged it into his throat and drew a dark line across
his neck.

Sylvia put a hand over Alex's
eyes as blood began to pour down his clothes and onto the white tablecloth. I
ran to the child, placing both hands over the wound. But his heartbeat was
strong from my resuscitations, and blood bubbled through my closed fingers. He
gasped his last breaths while clinging to his father"s body.

"Jesus Christ on a cream
cheese and smoked salmon crudités." Jack's words were softly spoken, but full
of a sadness that was difficult to hear.

Once again, my clothes
were soaked in someone else"s blood. After a heavy sigh, I stood to collect my
thoughts.

"How in shit's sake are
you used to this?" Jack rounded the table, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I
motioned Rex to come to me. He did so, hugging my legs. "I once lanced a
palm-sized fistula in the anus of a three-hundred pound woman."

"Forget I asked."

***

We'd been on the road for an entire day in the SUV Jack had allowed us to borrow.
It was difficult to shake off the scene at the house we'd been to earlier, but
the car was comfortable and made everyone somewhat happy. It was a sixteen hour
drive, and a trip like that was nearly impossible to make in one go with Rex. Even
after spending the night somewhere, we still had to constantly make stops
because he was tired, carsick or hungry.

We were on highway 15, just an hour past the Nevada State Line. Las Vegas
loomed in front of us. I'd only been there once about five years prior. Sylvia
had taken me as a bachelorette present after I'd said yes to Chase"s proposal. Of
course, he and I didn't even make it to the florist.

Even so, I remembered the city being vibrant"full of color, lights, and life.
Now, as we drove past the main strip, it looked dirty and deserted. The
electronic Mandalay Bay sign was blank, the large "M" hanging at an awkward
angle, threatening to fall at any moment. Every once and a while, I'd see a
spark shoot out of the giant screen.

"Stop!" Sylvia suddenly shouted from the backseat.

The car screeched to a halt, almost fishtailing into the Mercedes parked in the
dirt. The vehicle"s two occupants dove out of the way in a flash. I stared at Jack
in the driver"s seat.

"What are you doing?"

"Those people aren't infected. We should help them." He looked at me with hope
in his eyes.

"Momma?"

"I
turned to give Rex my attention. "Everything"s fine, Rex. we're just going to
give the nice couple a ride."

He sniffed. "Kay, Momma."

"Stay here." Jack unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door to step out onto
the empty freeway. I did as I was told.

"Such a man." Sylvia huffed. "Always thinkin" he's in charge."

"He saved our lives and he doesn't seem to have a problem getting rid of those
things." I watched him walk in front of the car and toward the people. "don't
be upset just because he hasn't agreed to sleep with you."

Sylvia leaned back in the seat and scowled, absently stroking Alex's hair as
she watched out the window. "Whatever you say, Lisa."

I watched Jack talk with the couple. They spoke for a few moments, but his face
remained blank. I'd talked to him quite a bit over the last two days, so I knew
he felt like an education was what made a person smart. But he wasn't stupid.
He was brandishing a pretty good poker face.

The woman gestured behind her, then off down the highway, then brought her
hands to her face. Her shoulders started to shake with sobs. The man put his
arm around her and said something to Jack who nodded.

I rolled down my window as he approached, his face too serious for my comfort.
"what's going on?"

"They said they hit some spikes on the road a ways back." He looked down the
highway from the direction we'd come.

"I didn't see anything."

"I didn't either. But their tires are shot and they're not going anywhere. Lady
says while her husband was trying to put a spare on"wouldn't have done any
good, anyway." He lowered his voice. "Lady says some...people came out of nowhere
and held 'em up at gunpoint. Says they took their daughter."

"Their daughter?" I sat up.

"Mm..."

"What do you make of it?" Sylvia poked her head between the seats.

"Dunno... Way I see it, we can do one of two things. We can help these nice folks
find their daughter, or leave 'em stranded here. I doubt another car's gonna
come down this road for a while."

"We can't leave them here."

"We can't just go off on a wild goose chase, either, Lisa!" Sylvia said. "we've
got our kids to think about!"

I spun around to face her. She was holding Alex close for the first time since
she'd been born. "What if Alex had been kidnapped? If something were to happen
to Rex, I'd do anything to get him back."

"Nothing happened, Momma. I right here." My son looked at me.

"I know, Rex." I leaned forward and patted his fine dark hair.

Jack cleared his throat. "I don't think they're lying."

"How can you be so sure?" Sylvia's question sounded more like a demand.

He glanced back at the couple who were now locked in an embrace. "Because their
car is full of food and clothes. The guy"s packing, too. He doesn't look like
the type to use it, though. They drive a Mercedes, nice clothes, and his wife's
got enough ice to stop global warming."

"Cute..." Sylvia snorted.

"What I'm saying is...they have no reason to lie. All they want is for us to help
them find their little girl."

"What do you think we should do, Jack?" I leaned both hands on the windowsill.

He paused, lost in a moment of thought. Whatever he said next, I would do
without hesitation. It felt very strange giving my unconditional trust to
someone I barely knew. But there was something about him that made me feel
safe.

"We should help them," he said.

"Then that's what we're going to do." I pulled my door handle to exit the car.
He stepped back so I could get out as Sylvia voiced her disapproval.

"you're gonna put us all in danger, Lisa."

"Then stay in the car." I slammed the passenger door.

Luckily, I didn't hear another protest out of my best friend. I followed Jack
toward the couple. The woman was now wiping her eyes with a neatly folded
handkerchief. My companion was right; she did have a lot of jewelry. It
sparkled in the harsh sunlight.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Lisa James." I extended my hand out to the man. He looked at it
for a moment, the beginnings of a sneer pulling on one corner of his mouth. But
then, he ripped his arm away from his wife and shook my hand.

"Rupert Meyers. This is my wife Cynthia."

"We'd like to help." I nodded at the woman.

"You...you'd help us?" She sniffed.

"You should come with us," Jack broke in. "You won't get anywhere in that car
of yours."

Rupert Meyers eyed the Jeep we'd been driving as if it were less precious than
his opulent Mercedes. I had to remind myself to let the rich have their money.
I'd grown up comfortably with the trust fund left to me by my late parents, but
it wasn't enough to buy a mansion and a Mercedes. I would have opted for
something more reliable and fuel-efficient, but I was far too busy with work
and Rex to even shop for shoes.

"Very well." Rupert Meyers eyed us. "But we should go on foot to cover more
ground. Just let us collect a few things before we leave it."

"Right." Jack nodded his approval. I followed him back to the car, biting my
tongue at the acidic remarks I would have loved to toss the couples" way. "didn't
have the heart to tell the man he may never see his precious $80,000 car
again." Jack had muttered so far under his breath that I almost hand't heard
him.

"Eighty-thousand?"
I kept my voice at a harsh whisper.

"Yup, all the bells and whistles. I'm sure he doesn't even know how to use the
climate control to its full potential, either. And he has the nerve to look
down at Silas's car." He shook his head. "That Jeep has a state of the art
sound system
and
a GPS I built myself. he's gonna have a real hard time
when someone sticks it to him. he's not rich anymore."