Day One (Book 2): Choices (6 page)

“You look down your nose at me, you won’t shake my hand, so let me guess. You are here to express your concerns about Andrews bringing us onto a military base, which you probably hate, but since he outranks you there’s nothing you can do about it, although if you were to threaten us and scare us we may choose to leave on our own… am I close?”

He said nothing as he watched me closely.

“Look, if you got something to say, then just say it,” I told him.

He pointed to my hand. “That wound, how did you get it?”

“Does it matter?” I asked him. “It happened over a week ago, so that rules out me suddenly feeling the need to chew your face off.”

“You were bitten?” He said.

“By my six year old step-daughter,” I told him. The hardened look that formed his face suddenly began to loosen and he appeared to be mesmerized.

“So, no symptoms of any kind?” He asked curiously.

“I got a high fever, felt like my head had been blown apart and I’d lived through it, but some antibiotics and I was right as the rain again,” I explained.

“Antibiotics?” He sounded even more amazed at my answer.

“Yes, sir. Simple antibiotics that you would take for an infection,” I added. “The woman that happened upon me is the one that gave them to me. Without her, well… I’d rather not think of where I would be at this moment.”

“And since then you’ve had no relapses, funny feelings or weird desires to hurt anyone?” He asked.

“No, not at all,” I replied. “As I said earlier, if you have something to say, just say it. I don’t have time to beat around the bush.”

“Come with me,” he stated and began to walk away. He stopped shortly and looked back at me. “Trust me, you want to see this.”

We made minimal small talk about our lives before the world had taken the express elevator straight to hell, although he didn’t give much on his background and weather he was married, had kids or anything of that nature. But he was extremely concerned about my past and what I had done.

On the far side of the base, in an area I had never ventured to, we ducked under a small awning of a tent, crossed the narrow gap and entered another mobile unit that was dimly lit. Only ten feet through the door, he stopped and pointed to my right into the darkness. “Take a look for yourself,” he said.

“At what, there’s nothing there,” I exclaimed. A few seconds later and with no reply, my eyes adjusted to the dark for me to see a small open room. A single bunk was bolted to the rear wall and the place looked as though a rock band had spent the night there. It was in complete disarray.

I grew closer to the opening and found that there was glass halting my advance. I brought both hands up to feel the cool glass when all of the sudden something slammed into it. I shot backward as quickly as I could, whipping the Beretta as I went, taking aim at the dimly lit figure. “Jesus Christ, Man! That kind of shit isn’t funny,” I shouted to him. He wasn’t laughing as I thought he’d be. He simply stood there looking at me, shifting his eyes to the dimly lit figure, and then back to me. It looked as if he were looking for something between us, maybe something in common.

He turned the lights up and there before me was a turned soldier. His body was badly mangled, yet that didn’t stop him from trying to get through the glass and rip my face off before devouring my spleen while I lay there in pain watching helplessly.

“You’re keeping this damn thing as a pet?” I screeched.

“Not a pet, but more of a test subject,” he said in a calm voice.

“What kind of tests could you possibly run on that thing, better yet, who did you find stupid enough to go in there to perform said tests?” I asked, still pissed and scared all at the same time.

“Get closer to the glass,” the Man said.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s bullet-proof glass, there’s no way it can get you,” he told me.

“Then what’s the point?” I asked.

The Man was becoming more and more irritated at my lack of action to his commands, to which I didn’t give a shit about. After all, I wasn’t one of his men that he could order around, using the fear of his insignia upon me. I was a civilian, and if anything, I paid his salary and would not adhere to what he wanted of me.

“Just step up close to the glass for a moment,” he added.

“Why don’t you?” And with those words the Man did. The turned soldier broke his glare from me and turned his head from side to side, as if it were a dog listening for his master’s voice amongst a sea of unfamiliar voices.

“See, it can’t get you,” he said.

I knew asking why would just continue to carry us down this same road, a road that was nothing more than a vicious cycle of why and do. “Fine.” I stepped up to the glass and it focused its full attention on me and swiftly began to attack the shatter-proof glass. I stood there for only a few seconds until judgment told me better and I shot backward. “There, are you happy now?”

“So it doesn’t favor you at all?” He said aloud.

“Why the hell would it?” I asked. The answer followed seconds later and I swung my eyes from the turned soldier to the tall man beside me. “You thought that by bringing me in here since I was bit, that it would befriend me in some way and you’d have the proof you needed to kick me and my Daughter out of here, right?” I asked infuriated.

Without denying any of it, trying to lessen the situation in anyway, or apologize, he simply nodded and answered yes.

“You son of a bitch!” I shouted, feeling the heft of the Beretta in my right hand and wondering how funny it would be if I pointed it at his face and cocked the hammer. Would it wipe the smirk from his face? Would it change his altered opinion of me and my Daughter? Better yet, what if I just shot him in both legs and cracked the glass, if that was possible, leaving him there to watch as it dug its way through and attacked him?

His eyes moved to my gun. My heart, which should have been pumping like a pipeline, was beating normally. Apparently the anger that coursed through my veins kept me cool, calm and collective. He was slowly inching his way toward the holster on his right hip.

“Even untrained, at this distance, I can easily get you before you ever get that sidearm out of the holster,” I explained.

The Man slowly put both hands in the air. “Are you sure about that?”

“Turn around and march right out that door,” I told him. “Or we’ll put that theory of yours to the test and see how it really works out!”

As instructed, the Man turned and marched out of the mobile unit, giving me a few seconds to myself to take another look at the turned soldier. “You poor bastard. I don’t know what happened to you, but keeping you this way, like some kind of caged animal, is no way to exist. Dead or not.”

I exited the mobile unit to find Andrews standing next to the tall Man. I still held the Beretta freely and smiled as I approached and stopped. “If any of your men try anything with me or my Daughter again, like this dickhead just tried, I’ll shoot them where they stand!” I walked away.

The Tall Man, unsatisfied at the lack of words between Andrews and I, yelled at me to stop. “Stop right there!”

I spun and pointed the gun directly at his face. “Raise your voice to me one more time and see what happens… I dare you!”

“Do you see what I mean, sir?” The Tall Man said.

“Why are you pointing a weapon at my XO?” Andrews asked.

“Ask your XO while I’m standing here and let’s see what he has to say.”

Andrews turned to his XO and after a few seconds of silence the XO shrugged his shoulders, as if he had no idea what had taken place. Looking back at me, Andrews asked nicely. “Can you please put that weapon away before someone accidentally gets shot?”

Given the situation I had just been exposed to, not to mention the fact that I was a guest of Captain Andrews, I was hesitant at first, but slowly lowered and holstered my handgun. He smiled, and then turned his full attention to the XO. “Now answer the man’s question.”

The XO looked as if he’d been betrayed. His eyes glared at me, although took on a more relaxed gaze toward Andrews. “He was bitten and given the information we have gathered over the last week, it’s a good possibility that he is infected and could turn at any moment. So I took him to the tank to see how spot would react to him,” he said without remorse.

“Spot?” I asked. “So you are keeping him as a pet? Even got him named after a dog as well. How fucking cute.”

Andrews looked at me trying his best to keep cool. “Private Dennison, found himself in a very dangerous situation. One that he was unable to escape from, therefore he was bitten and is now what you just saw,” he explained to me. “The unfortunate slang words given to him by his counterparts, I agree are very distasteful and extremely childish, but nonetheless, he is still one of them now and a danger to us all.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know, Captain,” I responded harshly. “There seems to be a great deal of distasteful and childish bullshit that goes on around here, as well as out there in the world. But still that is no excuse to keep a former soldier caged up, treated like, and named after a damn dog. Would you like that if it was you in there?”

“I understand your anger after viewing something that would be considered an outrage had none of this took place, however, I see to it that he is not used like an animal and only on display for everyone to see, so that they are fully aware of what can happen to them if they screw up the slightest bit out there.” He took a few deep breaths, trying his best to shake the obvious strands of anger loose. “All of these men have sacrificed more than you could ever imagine to keep this unit alive and going. We are the first and last line of defense any of those survivors out there have, which means in order to keep from cracking under the great pressure, they have to have a way to release steam every now and then.”

“Captain Andrews, these men are not the only ones that face death every single day. I face it, my daughter faces it, yet neither of us get our rocks off making fun of someone that we used to know, who we now have caged up like some god damned zoo pet to throw rocks at after having a shitty day,” I said fiercely. “Do I understand any of this, no I do not, nor is it my place to sit here and tell a full grown man how to run his unit. But when one of those men tries to label me as something I am not, then threatens bodily harm… that’s where I draw the line!”

Andrews was stunned at my last strain of words and looked to his XO. “This man threatened you?”

“Now wait just a minute here,” The XO began but Andrews swiftly cut him off.

“I will get to you in a moment!”

“Had I not pulled my weapon due to the fear of that thing coming through the glass at me, you would probably be having an altogether different conversation with him about how I was accidentally shot, or perhaps I suddenly turned after all this time and attacked him.”

“Is what he saying true? And let me remind you that I do not take kindly to those under my command who, lie, steal, and threaten others by using the rank upon that uniform you are currently wearing,” Andrews said in a harsh tone.

“He’s infected! We know it, he knows it and something
has
to be done to keep the rest of us safe,” the XO stated in a professional, yet loud voice, as if to call the attention of everyone nearby.

“So you take it upon yourself to be his judge, jury, and executioner based solely on information that has yet to be proven?” Andrews asked.

“That’s how spot…”

“Private Dennison,” I corrected him.

“That’s what happened to him and look where he is now, sir. We have proof that a bite from one of those things is powerful enough to turn you into one of them. Why am I the only one that gets that?”

“It took Dennison, after the attack, a whole day to turn,” Andrews added.

“We don’t know that for sure, sir. He was attacked that morning and the rest of his squad fell back as commanded. When they went out the next day, that’s when he was spotted and arrangements were made to capture him,” the XO explained. “He could easily have turned in a matter of hours.”

“Where you there to witness the turn and watch the exact amount of time?” Andrews asked the XO.

“No, sir. I was here on base the whole time.”

“Exactly. Which means you have no proof how long the process takes, however, we are certain that within a twenty-four hour period, Private Dennison went from a living, breathing human into what we see now, correct?”

The XO nodded in agreement.

Andrews looked at me. “How long ago were you bitten?

“Like I already told him. I was bitten by my six year old step-daughter over a week ago, which puts your myth to rest dickhead! I am very much alive, just like the rest of you.”

“Remove the XO’s weapon and confine him to his quarters until further notice,” Andrews said to the other men with him. They quickly disarmed him and led him away as we both watched. When he was gone, Andrews took another look at me and with a hand on my shoulder he apologized for what the man had done to me and reassured me that it would never happen again.

“Maybe this place isn’t right for us,” I said. Maybe my daughter and I should just move on and find somewhere we can fit in better without drawing any unwanted attention.”