Part Two continues... The group needs medicine, Michael's luck continues to hold

= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Chapter 4 - Midnight Run

= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Gayle started talking rapid-fire before the door was fully open.

"Michael it's Lorraine she's in trouble I think and I don't..." she stopped talking mid-sentence as the picture became clear to her.

I pulled out of what's-her-name's ass with an audible pop. As I stood up, cum strings hung from my cock. Gayle stared at me, then my cock, then at the girl's gaping asshole that had some cum oozing out of it.

"What's the matter with her?" I asked, trying to break the tension. My fuck buddy tried to dig a hole in the air mattress. She managed to hide a little bit in the blanket. Of course, by this time, a couple other girls had come out to see what the problem was. I started dressing.

"She's, she's..." Gayle couldn't get the words out.

"What Gayle, come on!" I snapped at her, probably a little too much.

With sudden steel in her voice and a cold hard stare, Gayle said, "She's running a fever of 103.6. She won't wake up. I looked at the wound and it seems infected. Her breathing is shallow and ragged. She needs antibiotics, or something."

Shit, I thought as I laced up my boots. I don't have any liquid antibiotics, just pills. But you can't make an unconscious person swallow pills and liquid. They'll likely gag or get their lungs filled with fluid.

"Somebody go get Blake."

"I'm right here!" he answered from just behind the door. Great, everyone seemed to be up at this point.

"Is there a clinic in town?"

"Uh... just Doc Brown."

"Does he give IVs to people?"

"Um... um... Yeah! When those hikers got lost last year? We brought them to him after we found them. He put those bags on them."

"Alright, Blake. Get dressed. RFN. You're coming with me."

"RFN?"

"Right Fuckin' Now!" I hollered. He moved like a bandit.

"Where's my shooter girl? Erin?"

"Uh," answered somebody who wasn't Erin. "She just ran to back her room also... yeah she's getting dressed, too."

I looked at Gayle. "We'll make a speed run to town. 5 minutes. Grab some shit from the Doc's place. Back immediately. 10 minutes, tops. We'll save her."

She crossed her arms and just looked at me like this was all my fault.

"I'll save her, I promise."

I handed her a small hand-held HAM/GMRS radio.

"Channel 16. Leave it on but don't call us unless we call you. Here's the button to talk."

I scooped up my regular AR and my fancy one from back home. It's got a red-dot sight that's very handy in the dark.

"Blake, can you shoot?" I asked as he ran up to me.

"Um, just air-soft guns, yeah." Jesus, what kind of country boy doesn't shoot?

"Alright, you get the Crovel. Erin, you're riding shotgun with my good AR. We're taking the Jeep."

We bounced in to town in record time. The Unimog is an awesome rig, but it's not real fast, and it's not real quiet. I had outfitted my Jeep with some good Teraflex parts underneath so we could handle the rough road at speed with ease.

"Go down there," said Blake, pointing the way. "Then turn right and right again. You'll be on Main Street."

I cut the lights and slowed. The Jeep has a quiet exhaust on it, but it still squeaks and the tires make noise on the pavement, too.

"You can drive, right Erin?"

"Yeah, no worries."

"Ok, it's an automatic. We're going to back up to the office. I'm going to turn on these rear lights to shine inside. Blake and I will smash and grab. I want you standing outside, but right by the Jeep. Keep it running. I need you to keep the area clear. But don't shoot until you have to. Got it?"

"Yes Daddy," she said.

What the fuck? Daddy? Whatever... I don't have time to worry about that.

I busted in a pane of glass on Doc's front door. The noise made me cringe, but I figured it was quieter than breaking the whole thing down.

"Eyes sharp," I whispered to Blake. "Keep sweeping the light." He had a flashlight, I had one mounted on my gun. I reached in and undid the lock. We entered the office.

Kind of messy for a Doctor's office, I thought. Papers and shit were on the floor, things knocked down. Maybe we weren't the first to loot the place?

Blake waved towards the back, indicating where to go.

His flashlight hit upon a stainless steel locked cabinet down in the back. I looked at Blake and he nodded. He had his sharpened crovel at the ready. I let him go first.

Stupid... Stupid Stupid STUPID!

He walked past the examining room. I followed, but as I did a zombie came out and grabbed me and knocked me down. Jesus Christ, I thought, as we fell in the hallway. I don't have any of my armor on, not even my helmet or goggles or anything.

Old Zed had me pinned. Actually he seemed like a teen-aged boy. But he was a big boy. He leaned in for a quick bite. I couldn't get my rifle to bear on something inches away from me. I was kind of sitting on my pistol, so that was no good. I punched him a couple times to keep him away. But Zed never gets tired, or hurt, or deterred. He just keeps coming. My Ka-bar knife is on my chest rig, if I can just reach it....

Blake screamed.

"Well fucking help me!" I hollered to him. I thought he was screaming about my predicament.

I hit my Zed particularly hard at that moment, his head seemed to be a little off kilter now. I risked a glance at Blake to see why he wasn't helping me.

Blake stood a few feet from his own zombie. Doc Brown, from the looks of him. His white coat spattered with blood, he was coming towards Blake.

I punched my Zed again as hard as I fucking could, further tweaking his head and neck.

"Blake!! Swing! Hit Him!!!"

But Blake just stood there. 'The Fear' had gripped him. He froze.

I hit my Zed so hard that his neck broke. He stopped grabbing me and I was able to push him off me just in time to see the Doc bearing down on Blake. I grabbed my rifle and fired off a perfect headshot on the dead Doc.

But I was too late.

Blake dropped the Crovel and grabbed his neck. Blood flowed out around his fingers.

"Erin! Get in here!"

But she answered with a Boom!... Boom! Boom!

"Come on Daddy-oh! We got trouble out here!"

Shit shit shit SHIT!

Blake handed me the keys to the cabinet.

"I... got these from Doc. I'm sorry..."

"No buddy. It's okay. You did fine." What the fuck else was I going to say?

"I... Doc... he...."

I rummaged through the cabinet as Blake tried to explain.

"He's been my Doc since forever. I couldn't kill him."

"I know, Blake. I know."

Erin's rifle blasted a few times.

I found the IV bags. I dumped out a trash can and threw them all in there. Then I grabbed several tube-looking things and as many syringes as I could. I also threw in some bottles of pills, and little bottles of liquids that had drug names on them. I don't know what they were, I took them all. I looked at Blake as he struggled to speak.

"Michael... you have to go. Save Lorraine." He was a coward two minutes ago. Now he's grown granite balls.

"Come on Blake, you're coming with us." I have to try and do something for this kid.

We got outside, Blake nearly falling off the sidewalk.

"What happened?" Erin asked in horror. She could see his blood from the rear Jeep lights.

"I got bit. You guys go. I'm... done... I can feel it..." I didn't know what to do, or say. He was right, of course. He was done.

Erin came around on his non-bitten side, and leaned up and kissed him on the cheek and held him for a moment.

I put my arm on his shoulder.

"You're a brave son of a bitch," I said, my voice cracking.

"Yeah... just go. This really hurts. Fucking hell..."

And Blake turned and walked slowly up the street. In the dim light, some zombies saw him and started shuffling towards him. We had a clean getaway now.

Erin raised her rifle, I pushed it back down.

"No. It's my job."

I raised my rifle. Sighted in on the target. I paused for a moment. Exhaled.

Then I pulled the trigger.

- - -

I grabbed a road flare from the back of the Jeep and lit it. I tossed it a couple feet away. I made her drive away, slowly down Main Street without any lights and as soundlessly as possible. I was hoping the flare would draw the zombies towards its light, so they wouldn't follow us home. We turned the corner, and she punched the accelerator for home.

- - -

"We're two minutes out," I said into the radio.

"You're late," replied Gayle, tersely. "You guys just fooling around out there?" Ouch.

I didn't respond.

Erin drove like a Baja 1000 champion. I sat there and bounced around. Somehow, I had gotten my seat belt on, I don't remember doing that.

I should have cleared the rooms before we passed them. I've watched enough cop shows and war movies to know that you don't walk past a fucking room without checking it. Jesus.

Blake's dead because of me. I got him killed. Then I had to murder him and leave him in the street, like a rabid dog.

We pulled into our complex and quickly got inside. Gayle anxiously took the trash basket full of drugs and began sorting them out on the table. All the other girls were there, waiting anxiously to see what was going to happen. It only took about three more seconds until someone asked the inevitable question.

"Where's Blake?"

My throat clamped up as I tried to choke back the tears and the screams. They all looked at me. I couldn't talk.

Erin rescued me. "He didn't make it."

A collective gasp rose from the group, then a bunch of them starting all talking at once.

"Shut up!" hollered Erin. And they did. "Let's focus on getting Lorraine fixed up."

Gayle and the others looked at me. I tried to help but my hands were too shaky. I almost spilled the amoxicillan bottle. But I could still help. Sort of.

"Tina," I finally said, my voice sounding weird to me. "Get the tablet over here. Yeah. Click on the server icon, right. Click Medical, ok click the IV folder, click that file, yeah mixtures."

Fortunately, I had my downloaded files pretty well organized. We skimmed and found the directions for the proper dosage of antibiotic fluid for the IV bag. Erin put in the right amount.

Then we searched the videos and found how to insert a line for the IV. Gayle watched it twice.

She looked at me, my hands were still shaking.

She gave it a go.

She got it on the first try. We set the drip rate, and hoped for the best.

"Get some towels under her," I said quietly. "We don't have a catheter for her." Gayle understood, and we piled up a few for Lorraine to lay on. We still had her on her stomach, so it was a bit awkward.

I went to the main dining table and slumped down in a chair. The girls tried to soothe me, but I didn't want any of that. Erin understood that. She moved them away from me and started to get everyone back to bed. It was right about midnight.

"Six A.M. girls," I called out. "We're getting up at 6." They didn't like it, but they didn't say anything, either.

Gayle came to the kitchen. She got out the Bailey's that we partied with earlier and poured a generous glass. She put it in front of me.

"Thanks."

"I'm not doing this to be nice to you," she said, bluntly. "I need you to calm the hell down and start functioning again. Now, tell me what happened."

I sat up and swallowed the drink down.

"I made a mistake. It's all my fault." Gayle just looked at me. "I let Blake go ahead of me at the doctor's office. We went by a room that we didn't clear. I got jumped, then Blake got confronted but he froze up. The Doc bit him... I shot the Doc, but it was too late... Then I had to shoot Blake..."

I put my head in my hands and sobbed. That poor fucking kid, he was only 18 or 19.

Gayle got my glass and poured another double shot.

"Look, Michael. Blake was a sweet kid. But he wasn't a fighter. When we all crashed into his house, he didn't help fend off the zombies, he just stood there. It's not your fault."

"Well, I shouldn't have put anyone who's that unprepared in that situation. That's why we're getting up early tomorrow. We're starting basic training."

I stood up to go to bed.

Gayle came and gave me a quick hug. I didn't really hug her back as I didn't deserve any hugs right then.

"Thanks for getting the IVs for Lorraine. Kaitlyn was really worried about you."

Kaitlyn! That was her name. Kaitlyn.

"I'm uh... I'm not sure what your plan is, but you better watch what you're doing here. These girls are very... tender right now. And you're like some hero father figure to them. Watch your step. Good night, Michael."

I trudged to my room and had a terrible sleep.

= = = = = = = = = =

Chapter 5 - Basic

= = = = = = = = = =

Gayle changed out Lorraine's IV bag in the middle of the night. The next morning, her fever was gone, and she was sleeping comfortably.

'Basic Training' began with a speech about this new world, we have to toughen up, yadda yadda yadda, we can't have any more Blake incidents, etc. We did an hour of calisthenics and cardio.

Then we trained on the weapons. With YouTube videos and hands-on training, they became adept at handling, loading, and clearing the AR-15, the 10/22, and Remington 870 shotgun.

It was rather chilling during training, we could hear Zed moaning outside. We hadn't locked the gate last night and they were in the perimeter. The girls were paying very good attention.

Finally, it was time for live fire training. Gayle stayed down below with Lorraine while the rest of us went up to the roof with one AR and the 10/22 and a bunch of magazines for each. Zed had us surrounded. They saw us and moaned the death moan at us. It was fucking surreal. We were perfectly safe, though. Zed can't climb 12 foot vertical walls.

I had Erin display the proper stance and pointed out how to aim etc. She busted a couple caps, two Zeds fell.

"Tina, you try it." The nice thing about the AR, it shoots a small but powerful bullet. Still, the kick on that is minimal. Women can easily shoot it without losing control of the weapon. Tina took aim.

"Fatty in the red shirt," I called out.

BAM!

"Okay you're a little low, you got his chest."

BAM!

"Still low, make sure you're using the front sights, line up both sights."

BAM!

"And he's down! Nice one! Couple more now."

And so it went. They all did fairly well, everyone but Patsy had several kills. This was what I wanted, they had to get their hands dirty. But Patsy bothered me. She almost seemed to be missing on purpose.

Kaitlyn rubbed up on me a few times. Erin grabbed my ass at one point, but nobody saw. Erin was right there at my door last night when I pulled my cock out of Kaitlyn's gaping ass, but it didn't seem to faze her at all. Unlike Ms. Gayle, who seemed to have developed a confused but still strong dislike towards me. Sorry dear, one kiss doesn't mean we are exclusive. Although, she is so damn attractive. And sweet, and strong. Christ...

We broke for lunch and got the best news ever, Lorraine was awake! Gayle introduced us formally for the first time. Lorraine just smiled up at me as we didn't want her moving just yet. My god she was pretty... I mean her mom was fantastic but Lorraine, wow. She whispered it was nice to meet me, and held my hand for a few moments. Gayle ushered me out of there.

The rest of the day was more training, and then cleaning up. What do you do with 38 dead Zeds on your property? We ended up fashioning these big hooks out of some rebar we had in a shed. Rebar, that super strong steel they use in concrete structures. We tied two ropes to that so two or four people could haul them across the ground. There was a small indentation in the ground outside the fence line, we dragged them over there as best we could. This ended up being the best strength training exercise. You used your legs, arms, chest, core, everything.

I need these girls to be strong. I need to count on them. We need to take back our world.

Patsy stayed behind with Lorraine so Gayle could make dinner ready for everyone, which was nice.

I really liked the busy activity all day. It sort of helped keep Blake out of my head. But in the evening, he came back to bother me. A lot. The girls put on Legally Blonde. No, not a porno, the one with Reese Witherspoon. I just wasn't up for it, though, and retired to my room with a six-pack of Budweisers.

I worked on the computer, checked the boards for new info, put out some info. We, the scattered few still connected to the Web, were trying to discern if death was caused by the bite only, or if it could be caused by transference of fluids. Like, say, a Zed drools on you and it gets in your mouth or eye or a cut. Nobody had anything conclusive yet. I said we should assume it's...