The Dead Don't Bleed: Part 2, The Aftermath (25 page)

A stunned silence descended over the room as everyone considered Doug's theory. From what Doug was saying it sounded as though Kimberly would end up being alright once they were able to get her the proper medications. On the other hand, her presence brought with it a danger to all of them. Garrett had another thought altogether about Doug's findings.

"Doug. If she hit the final stage of the virus like you think and came back from it. Is it possible that her blood could also hold a cure for this thing?"

Doug thought about that for a minute, clearly it was not something he had considered. "Nothing can be said for sure until we can run extensive blood and DNA testing. This is really just a theory based on my observations. But that is certainly a possibility.
There is the potential for her blood to be carrying the antigens necessary for a cure."

Garrett stood up and faced all of them "If there is even a remote possibility that Kimberly could hold the cure to this thing we have to put her safety and survival at the top of our priority list." He explained to everyone about the pair of jets that Miranda and
he had spotted flying past. He outlined a plan to transport Kyle into the nearby town of Mclean, Virginia the following morning to a medical center with a surgery wing where Doug would perform the necessary surgery to save his life. That same hospital had a communications center and he planned to explore the possibility of using that equipment to contact whatever military forces were operating in the area. He was reasonably certain that once they learned of the possibility of a survivor’s blood holding the cure to this thing that they would dispatch a rescue team to extract her and hopefully the rest of them as well. Before everyone could start jumping for joy at the thought of a potential rescue, Garrett stressed that it was a long shot at best. They had no idea if they would be able to get through to the military or even if they would be willing to risk sending a mission to attempt a rescue. There were still too many unknowns. Their biggest challenge would be in just reaching the hospital to begin with. He reminded them of how bad it had been simply taking a trip into the less populated area on the outskirts of Great Falls for supplies. Where they were planning to go that following morning was sure to offer even greater challenges than they had faced in Doug and Cameron's neighborhood.

He proposed one of two options to the group. With the understanding that traveling to the medical center would be extremely dangerous and their chances of success were very low at best. He would lead Doug, Kyle and Kimberly to the hospital while everyone else stayed put
with the Ranger Station locked up tight behind them after they left. With the supplies they had secured and Kimberly out of the station, there was a good chance the rest of them would be safe and sound for as long as necessary. He went on to add that if they had not returned within three days then it should be assumed they weren't coming back and those who stayed behind should make their own plans to either stay put or strike out for somewhere else. The second option was for all of them to leave as a single group, taking whatever supplies they could carry. It was possible that once they all left they would not be returning to the park again. Garrett didn't like that second option. He had already experienced the burden of trying to move through hostile territory with Emily and didn't relish the idea of repeating that again so soon. He also knew that realistically if he was to be the defacto leader of this little group that he was responsible for each of their lives and his personal feelings about Emily had to be put off to the side. No one could be considered as expendable.

There was muted discussion between everyone as they considered
the options Garrett had laid out for them. The thought of possible rescue was a temptation that none of them had realistically considered for some time now. They all understood the risks involved if they decided to move out as a group and were hesitant to reach a hasty decision even in the face of a potential rescue. Emily seemed to be having the biggest trouble reaching a decision. She may have been a pain in the ass and their biggest liability but she was not stupid. She knew her limitations and that out of all of them she was the one most likely to fall victim in the event of an attack. Garrett heard her mumble something about having been much safer back in their basement, but he chose to ignore her and not engage in the obvious failings of that assumption.

Miranda was the first to offer the opinion that there was safety in numbers and that all of them would be better off moving out as a single group. Garrett was certain that her decision was also somewhat tempered by the feelings that had been developing between the two of them and their brief moment together on the path in the woods. She wasn't willing to allow Garrett to head off into danger without her. His motivation for electing to leave her behind if they did split into two groups was partially based on the fact that she was one of the few of them left capable of mounting a reliable defense while the rest of them were gone. There was also a more selfish reason for such a decision and that was that he was hesitant to put her into any more danger than necessary. Part of him was happy that she wanted to come along, both for the extra security her presence added and also for the opportunity for them to continue to be together even if they were heading to their doom.

Cameron and Shellie agreed with Miranda and offered their preference to continue on as a group. All eyes fell on Emily at that point. Garrett was about to say something to her when Doug held up a hand and then walked over and knelt down beside her while whispering quietly in her ear. For a couple of minutes they went back and forth in what Garrett considered an intimate conversation that he elected to turn his head away from and allow them some privacy. Tears were rolling down Emily's cheeks as she reached up and hugged Doug tightly.

Rising to his feet Doug turned back towards the rest of them, "We are all going, together."

Garrett walked over besides Doug and clasped him warmly on the shoulder, "Ok then, its settled. Get some rest and we will move out in the morning." He looked from Doug to Emily and then back to the rest of the group, "together."

#

It was a little after three in the morning when the computer spit out the results of the air filter measurements transmitted from the Abraham Lincoln following their first flight over the mainland. Dr. Woods had been hopeful with the preliminary findings from the initial analysis conducted aboard the aircraft carrier. The first imagery beamed live from the aircrafts nose cameras depicted Washington as a city on the verge of ruins. Several rows of buildings had succumbed to unchecked fires and had been reduced to ashes. The Smithsonian museums, an architectural marvel, had all been turned into gutted shells of their once magnificent selves. They were all relieved to see that at least the national archives buildings appeared to be in one piece. There was some damage along the sprawling entryway and at least two of the tall marble columns that greeted visitors into the main entrance were laying in piles of rubble down the stairs leading up to the building. Other than that it appeared the building had avoided any significant damage. The Declaration of Independence and other priceless and irreplaceable works of American history were carefully stored in that building and their loss or damage would have struck a stunning blow to those who would eventually be charged with picking up the pieces of their society and trying to rebuild.

Bodies were visible everywhere, in the streets, on sidewalks, throughout parks and around national monuments. The streets were all tangled messes of abandoned vehicles and piles of debris, completely impassable in all directions. Washington, DC looked more like a war torn Beirut than the magnificent city any of them remembered just a few weeks earlier. When the camera panned over the Capital building they really got a taste of just how bad things had been in the final days of the fall of modern society. An airliner had crashed into the reflecting pond directly in front of the capital and fire balled
its way up the steps and through the center of the buildings. Judging by the width of the scorched marks from midway along the reflecting pool up to the Capital building it looked as though it was a fairly large airliner that had gone down. The plane had smacked into the building and punched through the front entrance spreading fire and destruction along its path. The aerial view of the Capital showed the center rotunda of the building had collapsed and allowed them a view directly inside the ruined interior. Charred bodies were visible along the burnt path the fuselage of the plane had carved up and into the front of the capital. Some of those bodies were likely passengers who tumbled from the disintegrating body of the plane as it slid along the ground while others were terrified citizens on the ground trying to flee the carnage happening all around them. As the camera panned past that scene, the White House came into view. With the high resolution picture they were able to pick out small details on the ground and could see that a large section of the reinforced fence surrounding the White House had been mowed over by a city bus that now lay on its side several feet into the front yard of the Presidential home. Clearly visible all over the lawn in front of one of the most recognizable buildings in the world were hundreds of figures meandering about around the building and into the street nearby. The camera angle made it difficult to see any faces clearly since they were all facing either towards the ground or away from the camera but some details were apparent. All of them appeared filthy as if they had been outdoors and exposed to the elements for extended periods of time. Some of them show evidence of severe injuries, with a few that had obvious missing limbs or even objects impaled into their bodies. Even without being able to make out specific details there was little doubt to those viewing the screen as to what they were seeing. It was a massive collection of zombies from within the city drawn to one single location for reasons unknown. Throughout the rest of the video footage of the capital they were able to make out close to a dozen locations similar to the capital where dozens and sometimes hundreds of the remaining undead inhabitants of the city had collectively gathered. The jets had followed a path that allowed for a good view of the major roads leading into and out of DC and all of them were congested junk yards packed from shoulder to shoulder with cars, trucks, busses and any other form of transportation the masses were able to take to the road with when panic descended on the population as the outbreak reached its peak. It was something to keep in mind when considering how to move about on the ground near major cities. Helicopters were going to be their primary form of transportation for the foreseeable future.

The video feeds from the parts of
Virginia and Maryland that the planes overflew showed a little more promise than the overrun congestion inside and directly around Washington, DC but not by much. Every major population center they were able to see appeared similar with the presence of large numbers of undead as well as massive destruction and clogged streets. Smaller towns appeared completely deserted, although they did note one or two signs that survivors may still be holding out in some of those areas. In one case a boat appeared to be in motion at a point along the Potomac River and another view showed a collection of mobile homes that had been moved into a tight ring forming a perimeter around a small area. A controlled fire and several people were easily visible inside that ring. Dr. Woods could tell right away that he was not looking at zombies at that point. All of the people on the screen were looking up directly towards the camera and tracking it with their heads as it passed by, two of them were even waving frantically towards the passing planes. The presence of survivors was another factor they were going to have to consider. Any upcoming mission on the ground would not be a rescue mission. Any survivors who spotted their arrival were likely to feel differently and approach the ground crews. It was possible that such situations could turn violent when those survivors were turned away, it was one more thing he would have to pass along and make sure the teams on the ground were prepared to deal with.

Dr. Wood had spent the evening and early morning hours assisting the lab technicians in their computer modeling of the air samples recovered from the
reconnaissance flights. Their final results confirmed the initial findings from the first run of testing on the carrier. There was no sign or indication of any virus in the atmosphere. While it was cause for a certain degree of celebration that they had overcome their first hurdle, Dr. Woods knew they weren't home free yet. They still needed to collect more samples at different times of the day and hopefully during different weather conditions to determine if the virus was moving on the air stream and capable of resurfacing without notice. If they could get three or four more flights with samples that continued to yield negative results it would be enough for them to confidently move on to the next stage and move people onto the ground to collect their live samples. From that point he hoped that it was only a matter of time before they were able to come up with something resembling an antibody to at least prevent if not cure the virus.

Garrett and Miranda made an initial trip out to the Range Rover by themselves to check the area along the path and at the road for any signs of zombies. During the night they had spent several tense hours silently huddled just beyond the front door of the
Ranger Station when zombies had materialized out of the woods and explored the front porch and surrounding grounds for a while. They had disappeared back into the woods after close to an hour of searching for an entrance to the shack. They hadn't tried hammering down the door as all of them had seen in the past, they simply walked along the porch for a while, scrapping their bodies against the wall and locked door and then moved on when a simple way to enter the shack did not materialize.

Three quarters of the way down the trail Garrett's nose alerted him that zombies were near or had been nearby recently. He signaled a warning to Miranda and pointed off to the left side of the trail where he believed the smell was strongest. Carefully picking their way through the underbrush they moved close to fifty feet into the woods when Garrett froze in place causing Miranda to do the same. With a slow and deliberate palm down motion he
signaled for Miranda to drop to a knee into the surrounding brush. A line of tall trees was just in front of them and in between the thick tree trunks they both watched as a herd of zombies packed into the woods between the trees and tall grass. More movement at a point just out of their line of sight several dozen yards closer to the road told them that even more of the undead were stacking up in the woods all around them. Garrett noticed Miranda growing ghostly pale as she realized just how outnumbered they were. Giving her another hand signal he led her silently back the way they had come and out onto the path. Remaining silent and picking their way cautiously they continued following the path until they were within sight of the road and their two vehicles at the head of the trail. From a concealed position in the woods Garrett scanned the entire area and was relieved to see that no zombies had taken any interest in hanging out near their transportation. They appeared to be content with staying in the woods for the time being, but Garrett knew that it wasn't going to be long before they decided to venture out further and once again stumbled on the Ranger Station. He was even pretty sure that they knew exactly where it was, taking into consideration Doug's theory of them being overly attracted to Kimberly’s scent.

Garrett wasn't sure why they were holding back this far from the s
tation but their presence presented them with one hell of a dilemma. They had to bring the rest of the group down this path within a short distance of that crowd of zombies to reach the cars. The thought of trying to work their way around further into the woods on the opposite side of the trail occurred to him but then he quickly dismissed it. Emily and Doug had both already demonstrated their inability to be subtle on flat open ground. Trying to guide them quietly through several acres of dense woods would be about as subtle as blaring an air horn along the way. He was also considering the possibility that the zombies they had already discovered were not the only ones in the area. Stumbling across a large herd like that in the woods would be a recipe for disaster for all of them. Once they had retraced their steps close to a hundred yards up the trail towards the station, Garrett stopped at a slight bend in the trail and instructed Miranda to return to the station for everyone else while he remained in place to keep a watch on the zombies further down the trail. He told Miranda to leave Kimberly in place in her bunk and he would return personally to bring her out once the rest of them were safely at the vehicles.

"What?" She stammered at his instructions. "What happened to all of us staying together?"

"If Doug is right and Kimberly is the one that is attracting them, then the only way the rest of you are going to safely pass is without her mixed in with you." Garrett explained.

"And if he is right then you and Kimberly will be like lambs going to the slaughter. Its suicide Garrett." She argued.

Garrett knew there was little he could say at that point to temper her growing emotions. He reached out and took her by both arms and pulled her in close to him. Without breaking eye contact with her, he leaned in and kissed her passionately on her trembling lips. "Trust me on this one Miranda. We are going to get through this but it has to be this way. Now go, we don't have much time."

She stepped away from him
, clearly struggling to find some measure of reassurance in his words. Their eyes remained locked together for several seconds until she finally broke the spell with a nod of her head. Turning back towards the Ranger station she quickly disappeared back up the trail while Garrett returned to his post on the far side of the bend and kept vigil for any signs of zombies starting to move forward through the woods.

Twenty minutes later Garrett heard a soft whistle from behind him and saw Miranda move cautiously back into view several yards up the trail. He gave her a thumbs up and she waved to someone out of his view. Moving slowly down the trail Doug and Cameron were half carrying Kyle along as he struggled with the wounds on his side with every step he took. Emily came along next, huffing and puffing under the weight of the smallest pack they were able to strap to her back with a few meager supplies and then Shellie stepped into the view taking up the rear with her shotgun held ready. Garrett conferred with Miranda for a moment and informed her that other than a few times when he could hear loud moans and movement deep in the woods along the trail everything seemed to have stayed the same since she had left him. He felt it was as clear as it was going to get for them to make their move for the road. Keeping his voice low he reiterated the warning that Miranda had already drilled into them before leaving the
Ranger Station to watch their footing, keep together and remain deathly silent while they passed through this last section of the trail. All of them understood and acknowledged the instructions. He considered focusing on Emily during the discussion but he knew that she was aware of her own shortcomings in this type of environment. Embarrassing her would not make her any less clumsy or inept in her movements.

Garrett allowed a couple minutes for everyone to catch their breath, readjust the loads they were carrying and mentally prepare themselves to make the final push along the trail and to their vehicles. Miranda was going to take the wheel behind the Range Rover while Shellie agreed to handle Kyle's cruiser even though Kyle insisted he could drive. Doug became a little flustered when he was not considered for the job of driving either vehicle but Garrett put him in his place explaining that it was not a
male vs. female issue. Doug had his own job to do making sure Kyle and Kimberly were stable and remained alive to reach the hospital. Reliving Miranda at the front of their small column, Garrett started making his way slowly down the trail with everyone else following closely on his heels.

Three times along the way Garrett had to call for a halt when they heard sounds in the woods nearby as zombies moved about or moaned loudly. On one occasion they were able to spot a group of zombies through a break in the trees and they all watched and waited while they passed by and moved deeper into the woods without paying any attention to them. Garrett was sure that the zombies could smell them, a group their size with all of them sweating heavily from tension
and exertion was surely filling the air with an attractive scent for the undead. The fact that they were moving along this close to such a large herd of zombies without being swarmed made Doug's theory about Kimberly seem even that much more credible. Whatever smell Kimberly was sending out was much more attractive to these zombies and they were content with letting the rest of them slip by unmolested.

Breaking through the woods at the end of the trail, Garrett once again called for a brief halt while he pushed on ahead and did another sweep of the area around both vehicles to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them. Satisfied the area was clear he waved everyone else forward and helped them while they situated their gear and themselves safely behind locked doors. As he was about to turn back and head up the trail again he felt someone grabbing his arm from behind and turned to face Miranda staring red eyed back at him.

"I should go with you. You can’t help Kimberly and fight at the same time." She pleaded.

He knew that he didn't have to tell her that if it came to a fight on his way back one extra gun was not going to make a difference. Grasping her by the shoulders he spoke softly but firmly.

"Give me one hour. If we aren't back by then, get the rest of them out of here and somewhere safe. Kyle doesn't have much time for us to be dicking around and you know that. As far as Kimberly goes. If Doug is right and she could possibly hold the cure for this thing, I have to do everything possible to try and get her out of there in one piece. I promised everyone that I wouldn't leave anyone behind and I intend to be held to that."

A clasp of thunder in the distance caused both of them to turn towards the sky. They hadn't even noticed the clouds rolling in
signifying an approaching storm and it now looked like they were on the verge of a heavy downpour in the next few minutes. It was a testament to just how accustomed all of them had become to modern conveniences that allowed them to receive weather warnings and reports at any time or location that the approaching storm was able to sneak up on them. Being deep in the woods made it difficult for them to see much of the skyline in any direction other than right above them and it was only that single clap of distant thunder followed by a shift in the breeze that finally alerted them to the change in weather. Garrett saw the coming storm as a potential stroke of incredible luck for what he was about to do.

"This is perfect." He exclaimed, Miranda looked confused so he laid it out for her, "the storm will help hide us. The wind and rain should conceal any scents that are attracting the zombies. There's a good chance that me and Kimberly can walk right past them without them having a clue we are nearby."

Miranda's eyes lit up with the thought that she might not have to see Garrett heading off on a suicide mission after all. Even though they were operating on hunches and guess work it was still a glimmer of hope that she had not had only moments earlier.

Garrett pulled her into him and embraced her tightly. With a kiss to the top of her head he stepped away and darted off into the woods towards the trail. Miranda stood her ground and watched as he disappeared into the woods. After saying a silent prayer for his safe return she returned to the
driver’s seat of the Range Rover where she was determined to wait as long as possible for Garrett to reappear with Kimberly at his side. With Garrett now gone and even with the glimmer of hope that the approaching storm brought with it, she still had a nagging sense of impending doom that she was unable to quell. She knew that she was stupid for allowing herself to start having feelings for Garrett in the midst of so much death and destruction but she also recognized the need for her to have something worth fighting for. She was now starting to wonder if it was an internal conflict between her need for something positive to prop her up and the understanding that that same prop could be her own undoing that was giving her a premonition that the worst may be yet to come for all of them. Glancing around inside the Range Rover she examined the worried faces of the others and understood that each of them was probably in the midst of addressing their own private fears about what lay ahead for them. One thing that she knew for sure was that despite Garrett's insistence on her leading them out of the park if he wasn't back in the specified time frame was that she would not leave that spot until he was either safely back by her side or she lay dead next to his corpse. Without him, she would be lost in a world turned upside down and she was just not willing to continue on down that path. She started making her own contingencies for what they would do if he wasn't back within an hour and was confident she had just the right plan if it came to that.

#

He was only three-quarters of the way back to the Ranger Station when the rain started. There was no gentle easing into it either, in an instant the sky seemed to open up and release the rain in thick sheets. Visibility instantly dropped to only a few feet and his movements were further hampered by the sudden increase in the wind. Low lying branches began fluttering out in front of him concealing the path and throwing confusing shadows on the ground. He was smacked on both sides by branches and leaves turned into tiny missiles gale force winds as the full force of the storm descended on the park all around him. He was reminded of jungle survival training in the thick woods of Panama.

His squad had found themselves up against a murderous tropical storm
during night maneuvers several klicks from the nearest road or familiar landmark after a helicopter insertion during a land navigation exercise. When the training had first been presented to him and they had conducted a map recon of the area they would be operating in he had thought that it was laughable at how easy it would be. The trainers had anticipated a three day hike following their insertion but judging by the distance and terrain he could see on the maps, Garrett had laughingly told them to make sure there was plenty of steak and beer for dinner that same night. What he didn't know was that the training had been timed specifically to occur during the rainiest season of the year. The navigation maneuver was added to the schedule in conjunction with the approach of a monster storm. Since everyone undergoing the training had no access to television, radio or Internet, they had no warning of adverse weather approaching until they were on the ground and found the day turning to night as a thick blanket of storm clouds descended on them. What Garrett had jokingly thought would be a half day walk in the park ended up being a grueling three day struggle for survival. They had learned valuable lessons on that exercise, some of which he had put to use in actual combat situations since that training. The storm he was faced with in the park was not quite as torrential as what he had experienced in the jungles of Panama, but he was finding himself dealing with a similar level of disorientation and difficulty in movement. With tree branches slapping out wildly all around him and the rain kicking back up from the muddy ground at his feet it was becoming impossible to tell where the trail was anymore. He concentrated on keeping his body oriented in the direction he had been heading before the worst of the storm descended on him. He knew that even though the trail wound its way in a serpentine fashion through the woods, it was ultimately a straight path from the road to the Ranger Station. His best bet at that point was to forget trying to follow the trail any longer and push on into the woods while maintaining as straight a path as possible. He thought he was within only a hundred or so yards from his destination, any further than that and the chances of him stumbling out into the open ground that marked the surrounding yard of the station would had diminished drastically. Garrett knew that despite his best efforts of following a straight a line, every time that he jogged to one side or the other to avoid a tree or other obstacle and returned to his original path was putting him a little of course. He could miss his target by only a few feet and never realize it until he was a good distance beyond it and forced to turn around and try from a different angle. The longer he spent tromping around in the woods, the greater the chance that he would miss his window for snatching up Kimberly and stealing past the horde of zombies waiting in the woods not far behind him.