Outbreak: Boston (35 page)

Amy narrowed her eyes a little at her friend. “I won’t say we’re back to normal, but we’re getting there.” Frays frowned thoughtfully for a second. “Disregard last. We’re talking again but arguing a lot. That seems normal for us.” A distressed look came to the woman’s face. “Listen…I gotta pee.”

Rodriguez laughed and helped Frays get out of the blankets and to her feet. Amy blinked and shook her head before taking a couple uneasy steps. “You okay?” Frannie asked. She followed a little behind the other woman, tensed to catch her if she stumbled.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Amy said after a couple seconds. She half smiled over her shoulder at Frannie and steadied herself on the doorjamb. “Just doesn’t seem like I’m firing on all cylinders yet.” Rodriguez moved to help but Frays held out a hand to stop her. “Don’t. Thanks. I’m okay but just let me do it, alright?”

After she had relieved herself, Rodriguez and Frays started making their way towards the dorms. Amy looked around and asked “How’s Powers doing? Is he okay?” She looked at the floor for a second and focused on getting down the hallway. Something told her that Eamon would be ticked if he caught her out walking around.

“Eamon said he’s sleeping.” Rodriguez said quietly. She looked at her friend uneasily as they continued on their way. “I can’t believe what happened…I mean, he was kind of an asshole but I didn’t think he’d just…I dunno…snap like that.” A shudder ran down her spine as they came back to the room where Amy had been staying. Francesca pulled the curtain hanging across the doorway behind them
and looked guiltily at the floor. “I can’t stop thinking that it coulda been me, ya know? I mean…Christ…he had all kinds of chances to.”

Frays eased back down onto the cot with a groan. “I know.” she muttered quietly as she settled into the blankets. Amy chuckled awkwardly and folded her hands behind her head. “It’s weird…there’s a zombie apocalypse going on and we’re both way more freaked out by the possibility that we might’ve been raped.”

Rodriguez let a nervous laugh out as well. “Yeah. Thanks for putting it in perspective.” she said as she sat down in the chair again. Frannie stretched and rested her forearms on her thighs. She glanced at her watch with a frown. “Where is Eamon? He should be here by now.”

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” Amy said quietly. A look of unease passed over Frays’ face for a half second. “Could…you stay?”

“I have to get back on duty soon. Why?” Rodriguez asked. She regarded the other woman with a slight frown. Lacey had suggested that she go with Eamon while he examined her the other day. “Is there something going on?”

Amy exhaled slowly through her nose and picked at the bandage around her head. “
I-I got into a pretty bad car wreck on 13 May. When we got to Hanscomb…my flight and I spent two days working the gate. I worked at the guardhouse.” Frannie’s eyes went wide for a second and she put a sympathetic hand on Frays’ shoulder. She had heard rumors about the murderous insanity that had gone on over by the main gate. “When we finally got a break, we all went to eat at the chow hall. After we ate I asked Eamon to make sure I wasn’t hurt. He…touched me. You know…down there.”

“You’re shitting me.” Rodriguez said in a low hiss. “You’ve gotta be shitting me.” She stood up and paced around the room and ran her hand over her hair as she looked at the woman on the cot across the room.

“Look, I think he thought I was hitting on him or something.” Amy said as she tried to catch Frannie’s arm, but the woman was just out of reach. It took her a second, but Frays realized how she sounded: like she was blaming herself or, worse yet, trying to make excuses for Eamon’s bad behavior. She shut her mouth and rolled onto her back, where she stared at the ceiling feeling very, very stupid all of a sudden.

They were quiet for a moment. Rodriguez sat down in the chair again, resting her face in her hands and silently stewing. Amy’s stomach churned as she continued staring at the ceiling.
Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut?
Frays asked herself. If there was one good thing that seemed to be coming out of all this madness, it seemed to be Eamon and Frannie’s relationship and now that looked like that was all screwed up too. “I’m sorry.” she whispered quietly.  

Rodriguez’s face toughened. “Don’t you fucking
dare
apologize for him.” she said harshly. Frannie took a deep breath and her expression softened a little. “It’s not
your
fault.
You
didn’t do anything wrong.”

Eamon rapped his knuckles on the doorframe and came inside the room. “Hey, Amy. It’s time to take your bandages off.” the chubby medic said as he approached. He stopped after a couple paces when both women fixed him with icy glares. “What’d I do?” he asked, glancing from Frannie to Amy and back again.

Rodriguez stood up and moved across the room, where she leaned against the wall so she could keep a close eye on Eamon as he worked. Eamon sat down in the chair and helped Amy sit up. “Okay, we’re going to take the bandages off.” he explained as he unwound the linen from around the woman’s head. “How’s the ears?”

“Okay I guess.” Frays said apprehensively. The bandage covered her left ear, the one
that had been closest to the muzzle of the gun when it went off. If there was going to be any permanent damage it would be in that ear. There were a few drops of blood on the pad of the pressure bandage. She concentrated and tried to see if there was a difference in what she could hear now that her other ear was uncovered.

Eamon cupped his hand over Frays’ right ear. “Can you hear me?” he asked, trying to keep his face impassive as he spoke. Truth be told, he was worried about the poor woman being rendered deaf. Amy blinked repeatedly, her eyes tearing up. She wiped at her cheek.

“A little.” Frays said, a look of joy and relief flooding onto her face. “There’s still a loud ringing, but I can hear.” The woman folded her hands and bowed her head in prayer. “Thank you, Saint Cornelius. Thank you thank you thank you.”

Eamon could not help but smile. “I think I deserve at least a little credit here.” he said quietly as he put his hand on the back of Frays’ neck and pressed her forehead against his. Amy laughed and wiped at her cheeks again. The salt made the tiny burns and scratches on her face sting.

Well, that’s settled
Rodriguez thought with a mixture of relief and anger. “We need to talk, Eamon.” Frannie said quietly as she crossed the room and put a hand on Eamon’s shoulder. “Outside. Right now.” She forced a smile at Frays, leaving the woman alone as she pushed Eamon ahead of her out the door.

“The fuck is wrong with you, you goddamn pervert?” Frannie demanded heatedly, backing Eamon up against the wall as soon as they were outside. She shook her head with disgust and shoved him hard.

Eamon looked shocked. “What the hell are you on about?” he asked as he looked around. There did not seem to be anyone around, but he could not be sure. “Look, can you just calm down and tell me what’s got you so upset?”

“You put your fucking hand down Frays’ pants, you fucking pervert!” Rodriguez hissed angrily. She glared at the man like she would have liked to
break his fucking jaw. “You were there with her. You saw what happened. How the fuck could you do that?”

Eamon frowned and took a deep breath. “I dunno. Look, maybe you guys are used to this shit but it’s all new to me.” he mumbled as he moved to step around the woman. “I’m just a goddamn civilian. I get stuc
k in the middle of this… I mean…fuck! Up until three weeks ago my biggest goddamn concern was…fuck, I dunno, trying to get a decent fucking cheese steak sandwich around here.

“I mean, I’ve seen people die. Car accidents, muggings, stabbings, bar fights over bullshit… Then all of a sudden I’m on my way to work and people are fucking eating each other. Maybe I should have stayed to help but I fucking ran. I ran the fuck home and my next door neighbor was packing up his family. I’m helping him out when this crazy lady with a big ass gun comes up asking for a ride. We end up at this loony bin that was supposed to be safe and they’re fuckin’ shooting people. Fuckin’
shooting people
right there in front of me.” The man paused, choking on the lump in his throat
“And I couldn’t stop it. I wasn’t supposed to stop it. I got to be alone with Amy, well sort of anyway, and…shit, I thought she might need to be close to somebody too.”

She looked at the man, feeling the righteous fury leeching out of her.
Goddamnit…
Frannie thought as she stood there shaking her head again. It was easy to be mad at him when he was a slimy little deviant, but his revelations took the wind right out of her sails. “Just don’t do that again, you fat jerk.” Francesca muttered as she hugged him tight. “Now go in there and tell her that.”

Chapter Ten

31 May 2011 0948 hours Bedford Street Concord, Massachusetts

The Humvee rolled down the street, its powerful Detroit diesel engine echoing off the h
ouses on either side. Rodriguez anxiously popped a stick of gum into her mouth as she looked warily out of the passenger side window as Evans drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Sergeant Barnes stood in the cupola behind the Mark 19. He and Sheriff Yates had worked out a patrol route with the lawman’s remaining deputies, giving Barnes and his people a circuitous path around the northeast side of town.

There was a palpable tension in the air as they rolled around town. A lot of homes had been broken into in the last couple days, bringing the situation to a head between Sergeant Barnes and the mayor. If the people at the school were not willing to make an effort at contributing, Mayor Nichols was going to order Sheriff Yates to evict them. Yates had thought the idea stupid at best and suicidal at worst, but managed to convince Sergeant Barnes to help out. It did not help things at all that the shelves in every supermarket, convenience store and specialty shop in town was bare. People were starting to get really hungry and desperate.

As the Humvee went down the street, Norman Tailor opened the window at the back of his house facing Bedford Street. Norman’s clothes hung off him like a scarecrow. He had not eaten anything in the better part of a week, not that he had all that much to begin with.

Since he had nothing better to do since everything went to shit, Norman had been spending the better part of the day drinking Jack Daniels and thinking about how fucking miserable he was since his wife, Josephine, had gotten her throat ripped out by a guy over at Holy Family Church down the street two weeks ago. When he saw the Humvee coming he stumbled across the room and took his deer rifle off the gun rack on the wall.

It took him a couple tries, but he managed to get a round in the chamber and get back over to the window before the truck went by. Norman rested the rifle on the windowsill and settled the crosshairs on the soldier behind the stubby black machine gun. Nobody was more surprised than him when the rifle went off in his hands. His hands started to tremble when he saw that the soldier was not sticking up out of the truck anymore.

Sergeant Barnes collapsed when the shot rang out. Rodriguez’s eyes went wide as she sc
rambled between the front seats. She did not bother to check the man’s vitals: his helmet was broken in half and his brains were all over the rear seat on the driver’s side. She climbed up behind the Mark 19 and spun it around as Evans got them away from the ambush. Rodriguez spied the rifle barrel sticking out of the window of the house at their four o’clock and brought the grenade launcher up. A half dozen grenades thumped out of its barrel and obliterated the side of the house facing the street.

They roared around the corner, plowing into a parked car. Another bullet whizzed by Rodriguez’s head and she brought the launcher around, seeing a couple men leaning across the hood of a car on the opposite side of the street. She fired twice, sending the car up in a fireball as Evans backed the Humvee away from the car and slammed its transmission back into drive. A couple errant shots skipped and whined off the road behind them.

A sledgehammer smashed Rodriguez in the chest and she dropped down inside the vehicle, suddenly unable to get air into her lungs. “You hit, Rodriguez?” Evans shouted as he spared a glance over his shoulder at the woman. He narrowly avoided another accident and swerved, sending a shower of sparks into the air. “You alright?”

All of a sudden the vehicle veered hard to the left and started to slow. Rodriguez sat up a little and gasped in horror. A bullet
had punched a hole through the windscreen and strait into Evans’ throat. She grabbed her M4 and bailed out of the vehicle as soon as it crunched into a streetlight, sprinting for the cover provided by a narrow alleyway a couple hundred meters away. About half way down the alley she came to the back door of what looked like some kind of shop and ducked inside, glad to see that someone had broken the lock off it at some point. Once she verified that the shop was empty Frannie pushed a desk in front of the door she had come in and sat down in a darkened corner where she could watch the front and rear doors.

Rodriguez let out a sigh of relief when she felt the front of her plate carrier. The bullet had
buried itself in her front SAPI plate but failed to penetrate the vest, at least temporarily saving her life. She keyed the mike on her radio. “Any station this net, any station this net.” she whispered into the throat mike “This is codename: Rodriguez. Our truck took sniper fire and is currently disabled. Barnes and Evans are KIA. I am dismounted in, break.” She kept low but hurriedly looked for something, anything with the store’s logo on it. Rodriguez could not help but roll her eyes when she saw where she was “The North Bridge Inn. I need an extraction, how copy?”

There was a brief pause. “Roger that, Rodriguez. We’re on our way.” said someone, it sounded like it might have been Lacey or maybe that civilian kid who helped out sometimes, Josh. “It’ll be about five or ten minutes before we leave. Just hold on, alright?”

Frannie muttered a curse under her breath. “Just hurry, guys. Not gonna lie, I’m in the shit out here.” she said quietly. There was somebody walking by on the street outside. Rodriguez brought her M4 up and put the dot of the weapon’s Aimpoint on the figure’s chest.

**********

Amy glared at the potato in her hand. “I’ve got you now, you filthy little tuber.” she told the wrinkly brown lump as she started to peel it. It had slipped from her grasp a couple times and fell with a thud to the counter. Eamon had okayed her return to light duty the day the bandages came off but Frays was getting a little frustrated with her progress recovering from the concussion. Her hand eye coordination and hearing were getting way better (probably because one of her ears was no longer covered up) and the memory problems, while embarrassing, were getting fewer and farther between. But they were still there, like the sand in her boots in Iraq and just as irritating.

She had gone twice
to Eamon’s office to see Powers and make sure he was alright only to remember just outside the door that she had been at his memorial service. She had stood there staring at the door for a couple minutes, feeling useless and like a big failure all over again because she could not save him. Or Jean. Or Sergeant Emery or Jacobson or anybody else that mattered.

She jumped a little when she heard the faint booms of what sounded like explosions. Frays swallowed hard and looked around nervously, hoping it was just another minor overreaction on her part. The other people on KP looked startled too.
Aw, crap
Amy thought with growing apprehension
they heard it too
. She felt her guts starting to twist up in knots again.

Josh came running into the kitchen shouting her name with his rucksack slung over his shoulder and carrying another. “C’mon! We gotta go!” he yelled as he tossed Frays her rucksack and the two of them ran out into the cafeteria. “The townies shot up Sergeant Barnes’ Humvee. Rodriguez is stuck out there. We gotta go get her!”

She sprinted after him through the school and out to the maintenance bay. The flood of adrenaline brought a tight smile to her face because she suddenly felt like her old self again. They met Eamon and Lacey in the hall outside the maintenance bay and the four of them hurried inside. “I’m up top. Lacey, you’re driving. Eamon ride shotgun. Josh get in the back seat. Where is Rodriguez? What happened to everybody else?” Frays demanded as they hustled over to the other Humvee.

“She’s at The North Bridge Inn.” Lacey said as he snapped his rifle into the rack and climbed into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life. “Barnes and Evans are KIA.” The truck pulled away as soon as the doors were shut. Amy checked the M2 to make sure it was loaded as the Humvee’s tires screeched around the front of the building.

Lacey gunned the engine and crashed through the trees in the park on the opposite side of the street. “Keep your eyes open!” Amy shouted down into the truck “Safeties off!” Tree branches whipped her face, pulled at her sleeves and slapped her on the head as they barreled through the stand of oaks. When they came out on the other side, Frays noticed a man pointing a rifle at them as they rounded a bend in the corner. She swiveled the fifty cal in his direction and pressed the trigger down, sending a short barrage of lead at the man. He disappeared as the truck roared off towards the inn.

The Humvee lurched as Lacey cranked the wheel and started eastward across the field. He there was a stand of trees ahead but there was a gap between them leading to the street. Adam put the hammer down and steered towards it, the big truck bumping and hopping over the grass. Someone fired at them again and Frays shot back with the
heavy machine gun, disintegrated links and hot brass raining into the vehicle.

“Rodriguez! Get ready to move!” Eamon shouted into the radio’s handset. He could not believe what he was seeing outside of his truck. “We’re only a couple minutes away, baby. We’ll be right there, just hold on!” The truck tore up Lexington Road towards the traffic circle at the south end of Monument Square.

The truck tires squealed as Lacey zigged right around one side of the circle and then zagged left around a large elm tree at the end of the grassy park in the middle of the square. Amy felt her boots leave the platform between the two rear seats when the truck bumped over the curb, the only thing keeping her in the vehicle was her death grip on the M2’s spade grips. A pickup truck tried to pull in front of them but she leveled the machine gun at the cab and triggered another burst, nearly cutting the vehicle in two as Adam steered around it.

A shotgun boomed near the steps of the Concord Town House at their four o’clock. Amy spun the turret around to return fire and pressed the trigger. Instead of the loud booming report of the machine gun she was greeted with a dead click. A look of panic spread over her face as she reached forward on the
gun and pulled the charging handle to the rear then released it. When the gun clicked again she realized that she had used up the last of the weapon’s ammunition.