Chapter 13

Marla dreamed of Death again, but he only watched her from his boat as she picked roses naked on the riverbank. The thorns tore at her arms, body, and especially her legs. Her left leg was worst, the thorns sliced deep and blood flowed freely. Around her wrists she wore matching red-black rose bracelets, They were plaited together, and the thorns dug into her wrists as she worked. She reveled in the pain. it meant she was still alive.

Danger lurked in the deep shadows cast across the meadow by the skull-like hills, but she wasn't afraid anymore. Life was pain, it couldn't be avoided. Heartbreak and sorrow only made love and joy all the sweeter. She treasured all of it, tasting every breath, enjoying every slice of the thorns. He wanted roses, and she would bring them to him. He was a kind master. He loved her and trusted her with his life. In turn, she did what he said. He'd promised that if she helped him, he would keep her alive. She would never have to be alone again.

Little by little the dream faded, gradually enough that she couldn't define the precise moment she woke up. If everything went right, this would be the last time she would wake up in this room. She was a little scared to leave. It might be nice to have more people around, but she'd been safe here, learned to live here. If she was somewhere else, would she forget how to live again?

Eckert had fallen asleep in the chair. The sky lightened as she watched him sleep and tried to sort out her feelings. She would walk through fire if he told her to. A small part of her mind told her she should be appalled, but she wasn't, not even a little bit. It was probably nearly time. She called out to him, softly, hesitantly. At first he only stirred, so she called a little louder.

He started, nearly jumping out of the chair. "What?"

"I think it's almost time." She lifted her eyes to the brightening sky.

He checked his watch, nodded and untied her. "How did you sleep?"

"Better than I have since this started, thanks to you." She took a dose of antibiotics and helped him pack what little they had out. She checked her pistol, making sure she had a round in the chamber and a full magazine. Besides that, she had two more full magazines, and another with three rounds. If she didn't miss, and had time to reload, she could take care of twenty-eight zombies. Eckert had forty rounds left. They wouldn't be able to fight their way out.

The morning report was brief, they gave only a quick count of the dead, and receiving only confirmation that they should be ready to move at noon. They made love before they left, just to 'get the kinks out'. The inflammation on her leg was way down, and there was almost no pus. There was still no trace of gray-green skin around the wound and no black lines tracing her veins.

Climbing the ladder was easier than the day before, but it still hurt. She'd 'forgotten' to take more prescription painkillers, taking ibuprofen instead. She got a few more scrapes from the skylight, but ignored them and went to work. The very first thing she did was find the 'bible' a book that had a listing of every drug, detailing what it was for, along with adverse side effects and reactions if taken with other medicine. Marla stacked bottles on the counter, and had Eckert strip the boxes off most of the unopened ones to save weight and space. When the counters were full, they grabbed duffel bags from the main store.

Things probably would have been faster if they split up, but she didn't want to be alone so she didn't say anything. Eckert didn't even mention it as a possibility. They wound up packing nearly everything in the pharmacy, then moved to the aisles outside. Bandages, surgical tape, sterile dressings, cold medicine, all the over the counter painkillers there were. Absolutely anything that might be useful, they stripped the outer wrappers and bagged it away. When they ran out of duffel bags, they double bagged the items in plastic bags.

When they had everything medical related packed away, they moved on to the food.

Dry cereal, without the pretty boxes, pop tarts the same way, spam, the list went on and on. The dairy products were mostly spoiled, except for some cheese. The bread was moldy, but there were shelves full of fruit juice and soda. They left most of the soda where it was, but assembled everything that claimed to have real fruit juice. If there was room and time, they could get take the pop, but it was only empty calories, not even as nutritious as the boxes of candy they stacked for transport.

They took all the ziplock bags, toilet paper, paper towels, tampons and pads. Stacks of plastic cups and bowls, boxes of plastic silverware. Clothesline and pins, soap and laundry detergent...

Eckert caught her as she fell. The black rings around her vision had been back for a while, but she'd ignored them, together with the shaking in her legs. "Why didn't you say something?"

His concern was obvious, it was in his voice and eyes, in the tender way he held her. "There's so much to do, hundreds of kids need this stuff. Most of them won't have a change of clothes, no blankets to sleep in. Those sweatshirts will help, there got to be fifty of them and it doesn't matter if they're too big." She went on about what would be needed until he quieted her with a kiss.

"What you're going to do is rest. We don't even know if there will be enough room for what we have packed." He checked his watch. "Besides, It's eleven-thirty, almost time to check in."

They made a light meal from granola bars and dried fruit, washing it down with bottled water. That wouldn't be going, too much space for so little return. He helped her back onto the roof, and made her sit and wait with the radio while he counted the dead around the building.

When he called in, the new voice from the night before answered. "Two-Three this is Six-Actual. Estimate twenty, two-zero mikes from your location. Give recon report in the clear. Over."

"Roger Six-Actual. In the back parking lot there are five Zulus. Another twenty on the street out front..." It took five minutes or more for him to finish reporting, between questions and inventory of what they already had packed.

By the time he finished, Lt. Groze had found their frequency again. "You bring all that stuff here to the community collage, we have over a thousand survivors here who need it."

As soon as he cut off, Six-Actual came back on. "Two-Three, switch to cell if you can, if not, switch to freq Alpha-Two. Break. Last calling station, stay off my net until the appointed time. I know who you are, and will communicate with you then."

Here on the roof, she got a constant two bars. The phone was picked up immediately. "Marla?"

"Yes, we're supposed to call in?"

"Yes, we have another number for you to use."

"Hang on" Marla put it on speaker phone so Eckert could hear. "Ok, go ahead."

The girl read off a number, and Eckert copied it down. When they had it, she said. "Call right now, Captain Hansen needs to talk to you before he gets there."

Marla handed him the phone. Before he finished dialing the number, she heard them. "Sir," Eckert said into her phone. "this is Sgt. Eckert." He nodded and looked towards the growing noise of engines. "I can hear you now, but can't see you. There will be a car dealership on your left with a big blue sign, the back parking lot is immediately after it. Watch out for Zulus, there is a big apartment complex right before the dealership."

The engines stopped moving. Eckert nodded and spoke into into the phone. "Wilco." He snapped the phone shut. "They spotted survivors and are detouring to pick them up. "Estimate ten to twenty minutes before they get here. It's just a guess, but probably a good one." He crept to the edge of the roof, scanned over the edge, then hurried back. "All the ones out back are headed for the sound of the engines."

Eventually the vehicles roared into motion, their engines echoed down the empty streets. Her phone buzzed, and Eckert answered it. "Ready sir." He listened a moment more then walked to the edge of the roof and waved when he saw the approaching vehicles. Two military hummers, a school bus and a big pickup truck with a wooden fence around the cargo area. They were probably only doing twenty or twenty five miles an hour.

Marla stood and watched them come. They didn't avoid all but the largest groups, The big brush guard on the lead vehicle just bounced them off with no apparent damage to the vehicle, In fact, she distinctly saw the hummer in the rear swerve to hit one that bounced away spinning and broken.

Eckert grabbed her arm. "Lets move, we're going out the back." She almost asked why, but remembered in time not to question his orders. If it didn't become obvious, she could ask later. He helped her down into the store, and she followed him as fast as she could. In the back, he put her in cover behind a stack of soda bottles. "Make sure you're on safe, don't shoot unless I tell you." He put the phone to his ear. "Can you hear me sir? We are in position, ready to open the door on your command."

He undid the bolt set into the top of the door, and waited. The roar of engines reverberated though the wall and floor. Eckert put one hand on the release bar, swallowed hard and pushed. The back end of a school bus blocked the parking lot from view. There were sections of chain link fence over the windows, and a large piece of plywood reinforced with two by fours hung nearly to the ground. The back door was missing, replaced by a metal framed sliding chain link door, backed by wood slotted with firing slits.

The bus backed up flush with the wall, effectively sealing the opening. The door slid open. Two kids with rifles covered them, but their fingers weren't inside the trigger guards. They wore faded camouflage and hiking boots. In contrast to their uniforms, the U.S. Army and name tapes sewn on their chests were brand new.

The bigger one lowered his weapon when he saw Eckert."Sergeant Eckert, I really didn't think you'd make it. Is that Doctor Marla behind you?" He waived them forward while the younger climbed down. The bus engine shut down, and she heard the roar of another engine close by.

Eckert motioned for her to follow him. "I told you I'd be fine. How is Chuck?"

The boy's uniform had fresh new embroidered patches over his breast pockets, His name tag read McKay. "He's got a bad infection. The knife bounced off his ribs, but I think it was dirty." The other engines shut off as well, leaving a vast silence in which distant moans were barely audible.

Marla stepped out from behind the pallets, holstering her pistol inside her bag. She smiled at them as she stepped lightly to Eckert's side. They stared at her, openmouthed. She flushed a little, but didn't really mind like she would have two weeks before. A girl dressed the same way as the boys came to the door. She waved happily at Eckert, then frowned when she saw the boys staring at Marla. She backhanded the older one familiarly. "Don't stare, it's rude. The old man wants you two to pull security right here while we get things started." She looked at Marla and Eckert, her voice formal. "Have either of you been bitten? The penalty for lying about it is being left here."

The girl had her hair pulled up under her hat. The uniform would have made her look older, but it was too big for her. The sleeves were rolled back so she could use her hands. At a guess, she was probably fifteen. Her name tape read Johnson, the same as the younger boy. Eckert answered for both of them. "We understand, she might have been bitten, two days ago, no symptoms, but we followed standard precautions."

"Welcome back, and thanks for saving Alex." She stomped on the older boy's, McKay's foot. "Stop staring and move out of the way." He hopped down and the girl reached down to help Marla climb up. The two by fours were spaced so they could be used as footholds, and Marla's blood raced as Eckert's hands touched her. He probably hadn't meant to touch her in that exact spot, but the sharp spike of pain around her wrists and on her leg combined with his fingers pressing against her left her breathless. The girl looked at her, concerned. "Are you ok?"

Marla nodded, weak kneed. "I'll be fine." She heard a cough from near the front of the bus, then another.

Eckert clambered up behind them. "Hey Jenny, Why are you all in uniform?"

"Captain Hansen enlisted us." Jenny led them up front, past a ladder hastily welded in place near the middle of the bus. Some benches were missing, replaced by metal boxes. Others had been taken out and put back in sideways. There was chain link over all the windows, and some of the windows had taped over bullet holes or were missing entirely, replaced by plywood with a firing slit in the middle. Four kids in boy scout shirts and green pants aimed scoped bolt action rifles out the windows. As they passed, one of the weapons coughed, much quieter than any gun she'd ever heard.