The
Zombie
Chronicles

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Finished works:
   Billions
    ---
   Outbreak
    ---
   Undead
     Advantage
    ---
   Found
    ---
   About a Woman
    ---
   Short Stories

Works in Progress:
   TZC2: Discovery

Works on hold:
   Zombie Nation
    ---
   Zombieboy

Found

Chapter 04

The next time Kaylee woke was not nearly as unpleasant as the first. She slowly came awake with a slow, fuzzy, warmth to someone calling her name. “Kay-lee? Kay-lee?”, persisted the masculine voice.

Opening her eyes she saw that it was light outside, she was till in the hospital, there were people in her room, it looked like a doctor, who was holding her right hand, which was no longer tied to the bed, a nurse, not the same woman as Kaylee had remembered seeing before and a thirty-ish looking man in a rumpled brown suit. The doctor was the same older gentleman who Kaylee had seen before, he was calling her name, the nurse had blond hair, almost like Staceys' and bright blue eyes, she had the look of a mother matron, as if Kaylee were her child and she was looking out for her. The man had short brown hair, a faded tan and chestnut colored eyes that seemed to be in a perpetual squint, as if he needed glasses, he shoulders were not sunken, nor broad, he looked like he had suffered the standard weight loss as everyone else. Neither of the men had beards. As Kaylee woke up the brown suited guy took a couple of steps back, over to a nearby chair, although the distance was short Kaylee noted a pronounced limp in his stride. Turning back to the doctor Kaylee looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Its alright Kaylee. You are safe, you are in the hospital. I am Doctor Brown. Are you okay?”, he asked.

Her voice came out raspy and without emotion as she answered, “I don't hurt. Water?”

The nurse quickly filled a heavy duty plastic cup from a nearby pitcher and handed it to Kaylee, who let go of the doctor's hand to reach it. Her left arm still had an IV running into it and was still tied to the bed. The doctor nodded to Kaylee and then pointedly to the nurse and towards Kaylee's bound hand, the nurse quickly untied it.

Kaylee raised the cup to her lips and the doctor said, “Slowly! Go slow, you haven't had much pass through you in a little while, so take it easy please!”

Drinking was pure joy, the very cold water cleared her throat, though a lingering itch remained. “What happened?”

“You and, uh, Stacey Olson were attacked on New Year's eve. Do you remember that?”

Kaylee nodded, “Am I okay? Is Stacey okay?”

The doctor looked over to the man in the brown suit and then back to Kaylee, “You suffered quite a few injuries, two broken ribs, a fractured skull and a collapsed lung, plus you were suffering from exposure when they brought you in here, you had frost bite on your toes and a core body temperature of 33 degrees, er, ah, that is about 91.8 Fahrenheit, you were almost frozen to death, along with your other injuries it was touch and go there for a few days. You were found in the alley with Stacey by another person who had been partying downtown.”

Taking a moment to digest what Doctor Brown had said, Kaylee realized he had not answered her question about Stacey, she started to cry.

“What? What Kaylee? Are you alright?”

“Sh-she didn't make it did she? Stacey is dead.”

The doctor's face grew sad and he shook his head slightly, “Kaylee, I am sorry, no your friend didn't make it. The detective here, he can give you more information on what happened, I know he has a few questions for you. Do you think you could talk to him about what you remember?”

The nurse came forward with a handkerchief to let the softly crying Kaylee blow her nose and wipe her eyes. Toilet paper and facial tissue were long forgotten luxuries since 'Z-day'. The detective stood and shuffled over to Kaylee's side.

His voice was deeper than Kayle would have thought for his size, he put his hand out to Kaylee's and shook it slightly while he introduced himself, “I am Brian Nelson, I work with the national police department, I know you are shook up right now and still recovering, but any information you can give me will help tremendously.”

Kaylee shook her head from side to side as the nurse brushed away her tears. “I-I don't remember too much. Nothing that can help, it was one guy, he was big. He just appeared, I mean first thing I knew I was hitting the ground. Then he kicked me, I think or threw me into the wall and I don't remember much after that.”

Brian nodded, pulled out a small personal digital assistant and was making notes. “What were you doing in the alley? Did anyone follow you? Which bar were you at that night?”

“We had been at Buzzard Bees all night. We were heading for the bus stop and Stacey she, um, she had to go to the bathroom, I didn't want to walk back to the bar and she, oh God, if we had walked back to the bar she would still be alive!” Kaylee started crying harder and the nurse put her arm around her and tried to comfort her. Doctor Brown and Brian looked on awkwardly for a moment, before the Doctor bowed out of the room, mumbling about seeing other patients.

After a few moments had passed Detective Brian pulled a chair over to Kaylee's bed, sat down and said, “Look Kaylee, that is not true, you could not have known what would happen, okay? The best thing you can do now is tell me what you remember so we can find this guy and put him away.”

'Put him away', a colorful euphemism for 'take him out back and shoot him', justice had become swifter and more harsh in the last 18 months. That there still was a court system both civil and criminal said wonders for the human race.

Getting to the point where she could talk again took Kaylee some time, when she did her voice was still wracked with emotion, “No one followed us, I mean I was watching the ways into the alley while Stacey peed. No one came in. Is there a door in the alley?”

Brian took this information down and said, “Yes there are a couple of doors that lead into the alley, we checked those out and haven't found anything useful yet. Can you describe the man who attacked you? Any information would help.”

Screwing up her forehead in thought Kaylee went over the details in her mind, everything had happened so fast, she just didn't get a good look at the guy, until, something about Stacey.... clearing her throat she reached for her cup and took a sip of water, she felt very tired again, “I never saw him from the front, I kind of remember when I was laying up against the wall that I saw his back, he was fighting with Stacey, she had her knife out. He was taller than she was, his shoulders were above her head. So that makes him tall right?”

Brian nodded and said, “Yeah that is good, we can get an approximate height off of that, Stacey was what? Five six, five-seven? Do you remember his hair color?”

“It was dark. I...I could see Stacey's hair sort of, so his hair had to be brown or black, a dark color, he didn't look old either, from the back.” Kaylee closed her eyes and slumped back into her pillow, thinking for anything else she might have seen that could help.

“Okay Kaylee, this is good, you have helped a lot and I do not want to tire you any more today. Just rest and try and recover, if you remember anything else, let me or the other officer at the door know okay? Thank you for your help.”

Kaylee opened her eyes as the Detective was leaving the room, she called out, “Wait! One more thing, I think I saw Stacey stab him. Stab him in the arm with her knife, I think that is the last thing I saw that night.”

The detective nodded and made another note on his pda. “That is really important, really good, we can find someone with a knife wound, I will ask around. Thank you Kaylee. You did very good.”

Sinking back into sleep once again Kaylee was oddly pleased by the praise, it had been a long time since anyone had told her she was useful for anything, let alone very good at having done something. She slept before she even thought to ask the nurse how long she had been in the hospital or even which hospital she was in.

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