Z Children (Book 2): The Surge (15 page)

I
waited in the silence that followed my words. The seconds ticked by and I began
to think that Bud’s order to get out were his final words.

“Doctors,
huh? They got any idea what caused this?”

“They’ve
got some idea. So you are Bud?”

“No,
Bud was my dad. I’m Jesse.” He paused, maybe staring at me and Bonnie on
whatever screen displayed the camera view. “So, what do they think started all
this?”

Jesse,
likely a kid himself. “Maybe all the vaccines they’ve been dishing out. Don’t
know which ones and they could be wrong.”

“Damn,
I knew it.” His voice was full of angst, but also satisfied somehow. “I knew
this had something to do with the government and all that shit they’ve been
pumping into us! Y’all are probably infected and don’t even know it. I ought to
come out there right now and shoot the both of you. Shit, I knew it. I just
knew it.”

“Whoa,
slow down there, cowboy.” I got a firmer grip on the old rifle, preparing to
protect me and Bonnie. “We’re not the problem. We’re just civilians trying to
make our way to Atlanta. Besides, you shoot those doctors out there and you
could be killing any chance this world has of finding a cure.”

“That
so? How do I know you’re not just another lying company man who drank too much
of the fruit punch?”

I let
out a startled laugh, I couldn’t help myself. Jesse’s last statement was just
too spot-on for some of the politicians and retirees I’d come across since
getting back stateside. “My friend, if I was a company man, I would just blow
the hinges off your door and roll you up. I can’t tell you for sure that those
doctors can cure the world, but they want to try. That’s a damn sight more than
you’re doing holed up in a safe house in your daddy’s shop.”
So much for
making nice
… “So if you can’t or won’t help us, we’ll be on our way and
leave you to it.” I turned away from the camera, hoping this Jesse would be
more scared of being alone again than he would be of trusting strangers.

“Hey,
wait. You made your point. You’re not trying to blast your way in here. Hold
on.”

I
heard some shuffling and I wondered if he was coming out.

“JW,
you still in here?” It was Virginia’s voice echoing through the building.

“Who’s
that?” Jesse’s voice was anxious and angry, like I’d been pulling the wool over
his eyes and he’d almost fallen for it. All the noises behind the reinforced
door had come to a screeching halt.

“Relax,
that’s just Virginia, one of the doctors I was telling you about.” I tried to
sound soothing, but I was miffed that the women chose then to walk in just when
I’d had the boy on the move and ready to come out.

“Well
you better tell her to hush her pie hole before those monsters hear.”

“Maybe
you can convince her to quiet down. I’ve tried and failed.”

“Women
can drive you nuts.”

This
statement coming out of the young man’s mouth was almost as comical as his
fruit punch line. What did he know about dealing with women yet? Boy, was he in
for a rude awakening once he really settled down with a split tail. “Jesse,
they’ll be driving you nuts until you’re in the grave. Fact of life.”

“Or
until they’re in the grave.” All the humor was gone from Jesse’s voice. He
sounded less young.

“Yeah,
I suppose that’s true. Never met a woman who wasn’t determined to outlive her
man, though.” I tried to keep the conversation light, but Jesse didn’t respond
this time and I wondered if I’d unintentionally hit some nerve to make him clam
up.

“I’m
starting to take offense to this conversation, you big jerks.”

I
looked down at the speaker. Bonnie’s face was one big frown line.

“Sorry,
kid. You’re not a woman yet, so you’re an exception. But those two,” I cocked a
thumb back at the women who were noisily making their way back to where we
stood, “are definitely the rule.”

“Alright.
I’m coming out.” I heard noises in the safe room once again and then the sounds
of bolts sliding into the unlocked position. Five of them. Jesus, that kid was
locked up in there tight.

“What
are you two still doing back here, I thought we said fifteen minutes! You
scared the shit out of us.”

Had it
already been more than fifteen minutes? It wasn’t like me to lose track of
time…

“Sorry,
Virginia. You too, Chris. We had a little interruption in the mission here.” I
moved slightly so the women could see the door, which was just now slowly
opening. “Seems we have a survivor.”

“
No
way
. Someone’s actually alive in this hell hole?” Chris blurted out

“Watch
how you talk about my town.” Jesse was fully out of the safe room now, but he’d
left the door open as if he was ready to bail back in at any second. “Use to be
a nice town. Then the devil came.”

“The
devil is an antiquated notion, Jesse. Humans took over that role a long time
ago.”

Jesse
looked at me, tilting his head to one side in consideration. “My momma would
have agreed with you, sir.” Then he turned away from me, focusing back on Chris
and Virginia. “You two really doctors?”

I
glared at the women, Chris especially, trying to mentally tell them both to
pick honey over vinegar. We needed this boy to feel generous, not adversarial.
I nearly groaned when Chris shrugged noncommittally, choosing this moment to finally
close her mouth and act docile.

“Yes.
We’re really doctors,” Virginia’s voice was steady and held a note of truth
that was undeniable. Jesse nodded at her. “And Chris didn’t mean that your town
wasn’t a good place…or…well, that it didn’t used to be a good place. It’s just
so bad out there. We were surprised anyone survived.”

“I’ve
been in the safe room since it happened. Dad shoved me in there and slammed the
door. He told me not to come out, no matter what,” the young boy’s voice
deepened and gained a sad quality. The change made me certain that his dad had
not survived the last stand.

“Where
is your father?” Chris asked in a soothing voice; one JW hadn’t heard from her
before. It must be her bedside manner voice, the one she used to lull patients
into actually trusting her.

Jesse
stood as tall as his lanky frame would allow and he pointed towards a busted
glass display case. A pair of boots were the only thing visible at floor level;
the rest of the body was obscured. “I’m old enough to fight, but he wouldn’t
let me. Twenty years old and he still acted like I was his little boy.”

I was
surprised when Jessed revealed his age. He looked younger, a great deal
younger, and sounded like it too. A rattling sound from inside the safe room
made me snap to the ready, gun in hand. “You aren’t alone either, are you
Jesse?”

Jesse
lowered his head and scratched the back of his neck for a moment, looking
uncomfortable. “Well, no. I’m not. But you don’t need the gun…she ain’t gonna
harm anyone.” When he looked back up, he didn’t focus on me, he looked at Chris
and Virginia. “Doctors.”

They
both nodded as if it were a question. I knew it wasn’t.

“If
that’s so, then I got a proposition. You fix up my daughter and I’ll let you
take whatever you need to get to Atlanta. That includes the fuel at my uncle’s
garage if you need it. Already lost my fiancé to this. I can’t lose Trish, too.
I promised Jenny I wouldn’t let anything happen to her before I…before I stopped
what was happening to her.” JW could hear the pain and sadness in the man’s
voice.

“How
old is she?” Virginia was getting into full doctor mode; I could tell by the
way she held herself, the confidence that seemed to seep into her demeanor.

“She’s
four months now.”

The
color drained from both Chris and Virginia’s faces. “Has she had any vaccines
yet? What are her symptoms?”

I
could see the thoughts firing off within their heads. They were the same things
I was thinking—a baby, turning into one of those things. It was too cruel. It
would be too much to handle.

“No.
We’re behind on all that. The insurance company is dragging their heels, saying
she isn’t covered under my plan even though I enrolled her the week she was
born. I guess that doesn’t matter now, though, does it? Insurance and
healthcare. At least not in the normal sense.”

Color
was bleeding back into the doctors’ faces. “What are her symptoms then?”

“She’s
real hot, has been for a day now. And she won’t eat. Jenny had the baby bag all
packed for me, plenty of formula. I was taking care of her when it all started.
Jenny had a job interview across town. We were going to be a family even though
we hadn’t planned on Trish. It was going to be good, you know?” The pain seeped
out again, so raw and heart-wrenching. I glanced at Bonnie, realizing that she
was quickly becoming my own Trish. Thank God she was older and not a baby. She
could hold I gun; I could teach her to take care of herself, so if something happened
to me…

“We’ll
look at her, but we won’t do it for any sort of bartered pay. She’s a baby.
It’s our job to take care of them, no matter what.” Virginia was already moving
towards Jesse, ready to enter the safe room.

A
cooing was drifting out into the main shop area now. The sound was gentle and
such a stark counterpoint to the carnage in the world outside that it almost
made me tear-up. Almost.

“Wait
a minute, Virginia. We need that stuff. You want to survive, don’t you?”

“We
can get it another way, JW.” Virginia dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

 My
jaw dropped. “If you want to get to the East Coast, then we need supplies.
That’s not debatable. That’s fact.”

Chris
was moving now and her mouth opened—no doubt to argue with me also. “Virginia,
I agree. We need to be smart about this, moral duty or not.”

If my
jaw could have dropped any further, it would have. Chris was agreeing with me,
not arguing. I’d known the woman for about a day now, and that was long enough
to know that her agreeing with me was a bloody freaking miracle.

“There’s
no need to get in a fight over it,” Jesse broke in. “You help my kid, I help
you. I don’t ask for freebies. Not in my nature. Take the terms or take a hike.
I’m not owing nobody nothing.”

The
cooing was slowly changing into a crying. “Fine. We’ll take what we need. Now
let me see the baby.” There was urgency in Virginia’s voice. She didn’t like
hearing a child in distress. I didn’t either. No one did. Or if they did, then
they were damn psychotic animals.

I
watched as Chris nodded…thank God she didn’t get hardheaded.

I made
to follow Virginia who was being followed by Chris.

“Only
the women.” Jesse stopped me, hand held out and not quite touching me. I
squinted down at it, wondering if he’d have the balls to move it that fraction
closer to graze the material of my shirt.

“Can I
go too then?” Bonnie asked, pulling her attention away from a hot pink hunting
knife that was lying on the floor amidst broken glass. “I love babies.”

“As
long as you stay out of the way, Bonnie,” Virginia warned.

I
didn’t like it. I wasn’t letting everyone but me go into an unknown situation.

“Promise,
Gin.” Bonnie’s smile was wide, but my next words made her face return to a
disappointed frown again.

“That
isn’t going to happen. I don’t know you from squat, and I’m their protection.”
Ranger gave a sharp bark beside me and I glanced down.

“And
I’m not letting people I don’t trust near my baby,” Jesse shot back. “The only
reason I’m trying to trust them is because they’re doctors.”

“JW,
this is about his daughter.
A baby
. Not your ego.” Virginia had her hand
on the safe room door, one foot was already hidden behind the expanse of steel.

I
could feel my brow furrowing, my eyebrows knitting together in consternation. I
did not like being out of control. Bonnie and Ranger were bonded now, that made
her pretty much family. Chris I could take or leave, but I didn’t want anything
happening to Virginia either. I’d grown fond of the woman in a short time.
Funny how relationships are forged so quickly out of nothing when the shit hits
the fan.

“You
trust him, Virginia?”

“It’s
not about trusting him, JW. It’s about doing the right thing. A baby, JW. Just
a baby,” Virginia’s voice was pleading.

Looking
down at Ranger, I slowly nodded. “I won’t go back, but Ranger is.”

“Ranger?”
Jesse looked confused.

“The
dog.”

When
the twenty-year-old father looked down, incredulity twisted his expression.
“The dog?”

“The
dog,” I repeated.

“Fine.”

Leaning
down, I low-spoke to Ranger. “Watch the girls. Protect, Buddy.” Like always, I
could see in his eyes that he understood every word. But it still took all my
willpower not to follow as my entire group disappeared into the safe room.

* * *

THE GROUP

The
women were behind the door forever. At least that’s what it felt like to JW.

He
tried not to worry. Ranger was in there with the women. He’d handle anything
that went down. Still, not being in the safe room drove him nuts; so he
barricaded the store’s double front doors as best he could and started going
through Bud’s gun store. Rather than being a straight-up gun supply, it turned
out to be more of an Army surplus—a veritable prepper’s dream with an endless
array of useful equipment in complete disarray from the owner’s stand against
the Z’s.

Making
good use of his alone time, JW set about tearing down rifles to rebuild the
M-16 he had with him into a more suitable fighting system. Once that was
sorted, he began collecting new weapons, ammo, and supplies.

Standing
among organized stacks of food with extensive shelf life, water purification
straws, and camping gear, JW felt more confident in their chances and their
ability to get to Atlanta. The haul from the delivery truck had been lucky but
meager in terms of the distance they’d need to cover over the next weeks. The
food they’d salvaged from the diner wouldn’t last more than a day or two with
this group.