Chapter 11

Marla woke again during the night. Eckert had been watching her sleep. He untied her hands and helped her sit up a little. She drank half a bottle of Gatorade, and lay back. "Did you tell me you love me?" He nodded. "Good, I'd hate to belong to someone who didn't."

"Belong?" She'd confused him. He didn't seem to understand, or he might not want to understand. A wolf would keep someone as a possession and he didn't want to be one.

Marla ignored the question. "I love you too, you're the best thing ever happened to me. Can you do it again?" she asked "I hurt and we need to save the Motrin for later. Only two at a time, every four hours."

He nodded and moved gently between her legs. She came just from his fingers, then while he was inside her a big one washed the pain away."

She dozed the rest of the night, waking occasionally to beg for sex and pills. Eckert gave her both, along with food and drink. She'd lost a lot of blood, more than two pints for sure, probably three. It was after noon before she managed to sit up again. Her hands shook as she took a canteen cup of hot chocolate from him. "I want you to check me, see if I'm symptomatic. I think I've seen the symptoms before, but I want you to look at it."

He waited until she was done, then unwound the bandage. It was stuck to the wound, and hurt terribly as he pulled on it to check. "I don't think you have it, but it's all red all around. The bandage is full of yellow pus and it smells bad. Should we change this? The socks should be pretty clean."

"No, not yet." She watched him as he wrapped it back up. He hadn't told her what they'd said, and there'd been two radio checks while she was out. "Weren't they going to pick us up today?"

He smiled confidently. "They had trouble with the repairs, but they'll be here between noon and one tomorrow." He handed her a sheet of paper with another decoded message on it. He'd marked each sentence to make it easier to read.

Expect evac next day 1 2 0 0 to 1 3 0 0 / vehicle repair delay from wheel / use S O P on wounded civilian / avoid avoid contact with enemy / recon medical supply I F possible / give detail recon report U location 0 6 0 0 next day

"What's SOP" Marla asked.

"Standard Operating Procedure." he replied "In this case you get a choice of a week in restraints to see if you have any symptoms, exile, or a bullet to the brain."

She shuddered. "I'll take the first one, but my leg's infected. It's not too bad now, but if I don't get some antibiotics I won't be able to walk tomorrow."

"You can walk now?"

"I'll have to, you promised not to leave me alone."

She saw the struggle on his face, but finally he nodded. "If you can walk, you can come. I have an idea, and an extra pair of eyes and ears makes it a lot safer."

It turned out she could walk, if he helped her. Her wounded leg would support her weight, but it was agony to bend it. He led her to the janitor's closet and leaned her against the wall. "There's a roof access here, but it's locked. Listen for anything trying the doors." He hit something three times with the sledgehammer, then opened the door. They listened quietly for a while. "Ok, stand here while I open the hatch. I don't think there will be any up there, but mistakes can get us killed." After a moment, he called down to her. "Clear, come on up."

Marla went up the ladder one rung at a time, he helped her up the last few feet. The roof was flat and empty except for some vents and HVAC units. The roof was gravel over tar, hot in the afternoon sun. There were solid green pyramids over the drugstore part of the building. He led the way around the perimeter using the mirror occasionally to check over the edge. "over there," He pointed "There are second story windows in the corner and along the back wall, might be some offices."

There were a skylights there, and he examined them for a long time before he hit one with with the sledgehammer, cracking it and knocking it loose from the frame. There was no reaction from inside. He lifted it off and they looked down into the semi darkness. There was a staircase twelve feet below, and slightly to one side, but straight down was a two story drop to an aisle. "I could make a ladder, I think I have just enough 550 cord, but I don't like the looks of this, not one little bit.

Marla spotted movement and pointed it out. One of them staggered in circles, one foot tangled in a plastic bag. Another stumbled into view, this one had its eyes fixed on the opening. Eckert gently pulled her back from the opening. "They broke in." she whispered.

Eckert pursed his lips. I'm not so sure. There was still power for a while, Most places like this have automatic doors and they could have gotten in that way." He lay down and poked the mirror over the edge. He wiggled it this way and that, then backed away again. "I count four of them, and the doors seem to be closed." He broke open another skylight. The doors were closed, and intact. "Six of them at least."

He watched them for a while, then went over to another skylight. Marla limped after him and helped him open it. Beneath was an employee break room. All the doors were closed, and the room was clear. Eckert lowered himself though the skylight, hung from his hands, and dropped into a crouch on the floor. He scanned the room, then hurriedly moved a table under the skylight and put a chair on top of that. She watched as he cleared the bathroom and the office. He opened the door that led to the rest of the store. Marla winced as she heard the hunting moan from at least two of them. He waved to them, then shut the door and hurried to the table. Moments later he was at the first skylight they'd opened, rifle ready.

He steadied it on the sill, taking his time. The rifle barked once, twice, three times, in less than two seconds. Zombies in the street and parking lot moaned and shuffled towards the building. She could hear them all around. Ekcert grabbed her chin and turned her face to his. "Hey, just wait. They'll settle down." Some of them pounded on the brick wall, but one found a glass door and beat on it. He wrapped his arms around her and held her while she shook. It took them a long time to stop banging, especially the one at the glass door. "I think once more should do it," he said "Lets just see where they are."

He checked the store again then dribbled some gravel though the skylight. First one then another came to investigate the sound. They watched the gravel bounce on the floor fascinated. They just stood there until a fourth arrived. That one, a little girl clutching a stuffed dog, looked up when the gravel bounced off her head. She saw them through the opening and snarled. One by one the others looked up and Marla shuddered as they moaned.

Eckert snapped the rifle to his shoulder and squeezed off four measured shots. Then he took her hand and squeezed it as the pounding started back up. "Ignore them, they'll go away." He sounded so confident. "We only need to wait." His lips bushed hers gently, then again with more force. She forgot all about them in his arms.

This time it took over an hour for them to settle down, were they learning? Did they remember where the noise had come from before? Had they made too much noise on the roof?

Clearing the store was heart pounding, The shelves kept the aisles dark with shadows. Marla expected to see one around every corner. The terror was worse because her vision was ringed with black. She must have lost more blood than she'd thought. They found only one more, a crawler by the front doors. Eckert dispatched it with one well placed blow from his hammer. Shaking with fatigue, she sat on the floor while he barricaded the entrance with shopping carts and tied them together with clothesline. She kept watch for more of them, just in case they'd missed some, and wondered how he could work so quietly. The carts barely rattled as he lifted them into place.

When the door was barricaded two carts high and three deep, he helped her into a wheelchair and whisked her off down the isle. Not having to walk or stand took away a lot of pain and her vision gradually returned to almost normal. Instead of breaking into the pharmacy right way, he checked the shelves carefully, grabbing items off the shelves and stuffing them into his backpack.