Chapter 10

Matt hadn't had a shower, a real shower, since before the dead started walking. At the shelter there'd been lukewarm rinses from a bag, with a time limit of just one minute, after that he'd washed himself with a rag when he couldn't stand it anymore. The soldiers here gave them a bar of soap to share, along with a little bottle of shampoo, and there was a stack of big fluffy towels waiting for them. They'd been checked again for bites, then they'd all gotten haircuts, just like the soldiers had. The boy soldiers anyway, and they were boys, most of them. Some of them weren't any older than Bobby. One of the kids had a rifle nearly as tall as he was. There were some teenagers with the convoy, but most of the soldiers in the convoy were grownups. Most of the soldiers he'd seen here weren't any older than he was.

He rinsed off the soap, enjoying the feel of the hot water against his skin. He felt clean, really clean, for the first time since it all started. He left the other boys splashing water at each other, and went back to the room where they'd been checked again for bites. His clothes were gone. His pack had been emptied, and the spare socks and the blanket were missing. His rifle and the green cloth bag of .22 ammunition were still there, and so was his knife, lighter and all his other stuff. He grabbed one of the big towels and dried off.

One of the boy soldiers came in with a rifle slung over one shoulder and carrying a stack of clothes. He was about ten or eleven, and wore a Boy Scout uniform with US Army sewn on over the Boy Scout tab. On his left arm was a green armband with 'MP' stenciled in black. "We put all your stuff in the washers. It should be ready in an hour or two. If there is anything you want to keep, you can have it, but you can keep this stuff instead if you want." He sat the stack of clothes on the bench, and adjusted his rifle sling. "After you get dressed, I'm supposed to take you to see the doctor."

Matt pulled on the clean underwear and picked up a t-shirt that looked like it would fit him. It wasn't new, but it was soft and clean and smelled good. He held it to his face and sniffed, remembering. The smell reminded him of his clothes at home, the way they used to smell after his mom washed them. The clothes felt good, clean and warm. Everything looked a little odd in the steady glow of the light bulb, after months of nothing but firelight. Over the sound of the running water, he heard faint girlish giggles from the other side of the wall. He hurried the boys out of the shower. "Come on guys, they have a doctor who wants to see us."

The kid led them uphill, along a snow-walled path. In some places the snow on either side was higher than their heads. Several times they had to squeeze past groups of soldiers headed the other way. It was already dark, and getting cold, and he offered a prayer of thanks that they weren't on the run, huddled in some long deserted building with a horde of dead people pounding outside, trying to get in. The kid led them to a big house overlooking the valley, and around to a side door. Inside was a large room with cots lining both walls and a screened off area in one corner.

The doctor was a woman, with long black hair tucked through the back of her baseball cap. She wore a leather jacket, a pistol on her hip, and a leather collar around her neck. She checked their throats and ears, listened to their hearts beat, and then had them cough while she listened to their backs.

A young girl in a Boy Scout uniform carrying a pink .22 came in from outside followed by Valerie and Vanessa. At first he didn't recognize the older of the two. He still remembered her as a girl, and the loose clothes she'd worn in the shopping center had never shown him otherwise, but she'd changed since he'd first met her. It wasn't just that she was skinnier, the first time he'd seen her she'd been kind of fat, but she'd grown up and out. Her hair was long and clean and brushed out. She looked like she could be one of the cheerleaders at his school.

The doctor checked them too. "Nothing wrong with you that a few solid meals won't cure. You kids have any guns besides that rifle?" Valerie hesitated, but pulled her pistol out of her jacket pocket. The doctor held her hand out, and Valerie handed it over. The woman dropped the magazine, then racked the slide with a practiced hand, catching the bullet in the air as it flew out of the action. She looked at it for a moment, then wrote in a notebook, ripped the page out and handed it to the girl. "Becky, go to the armory and have them send over some .25 cal pistol ammo, then take this to the kitchen. After that you guys can go back to your platoon, Merry Christmas."

The girl picked up her rifle and motioned to the boy. "Goodnight doctor. Merry Christmas to you too."

The boy waved as they went out the door. "'Night, doctor Marla, see you tomorrow."

The doctor waved to them, then turned back to Matt and the others. She put the bullet in the magazine, slid the magazine into the pistol, and handed it back to Valerie. "You guys can stay here for tonight, we'll find you someplace more permanent tomorrow. The bathroom's down the hall on the right, but unless you are there, you stay in this room. We're going to trust you not to wander around. Couple of basic rules. Nobody goes anywhere alone, not even to the bathroom. If you get bit by a ghoul, you report it right away. Nobody's going to shoot you, but we do need to know so we can make sure you don't hurt anyone else when you turn." She looked at her watch, then checked the pistol on her hip. "Someone will come here after dinner to talk to you, you have any questions, you can ask them."

She left them alone in the clinic. A few minutes later a couple of boys came in with ziplock bag of bullets. "Hey, these are for you, we'd invite you guys to our party, but you're stuck here tonight. Don't worry about it though, everyone who comes in has to stay here for a night, sometimes two."

Ryan tugged at his sleeve. "I have'ta go to the bathroom"

Valerie had the bag open on the cot next to her and loaded bullets into the magazine of her pistol looking at each one carefully. "You better take him, she said not to go anywhere alone."

One of the boys interrupted. "Take your rifle too, no unarmed groups. It's okay inside, but you want to stay in practice."

The boys were gone when they got back from the bathroom, the others were alone in the clinic, using one of the cots for a table, eating with their hands. His mouth watered at the familiar smell and Ryan ran ahead. "Hangabers!"

"An' French fries too." Vanessa said around a mouthful of food. She took a big swallow from her cup, then put it down. "An' milk, the doctor told them to give us milk every day for a whole week." She took another big bite from her burger, chewed, swallowed, then wiped the juice from the meat off her chin with a finger and licked it off.