Hank and Juan's Story

The night passed quickly, but not uneventfully. The group at the hospital was busy for a couple hours after sunset going through all the rooms in the eastern wing of the hospital where they had taken up residence. There were no fast zombies on any of the floors, but they did run into maybe 18 slow ones that had to be put down, most of these were previously the elderly or people in for major operations, as zombies they made for a decrepit group, easily taken down, yet disconcerting too. No, it seemed, wanted to cap grandpa or grandma in the head. Juan watched the crews move into the rooms and took his own turn leading the others into the various rooms to ‘clear’ them too.

Their group formed a wall with the vehicles they had to block off the emergency room doors and throughout the night they kept this area well patrolled and clear of zombies too. Towards the morning this area had drawn the attention of a lot of zombies, in fact it was pretty much a raging battle. Juan had not slept all night, he felt mildly euphoric when the sun finally peeked above the horizon. They had limited their shooting as much as possible, so as not to draw even more zombies attention, but there was a crowd of probably fifty to sixty zombies milling about outside the wall of vehicles. Juan was not sure how they would be able to get out without opening a hole in their line of defenses. Probably they couldn’t do it, however no one had said anything about leaving, in fact most of the crew who had stayed here over night were quite content with staying where they were, the beds were far better than the floor of the Mike’s Club and the rooms all had heavy doors too. The doors could be busted through, but anything trying that would at least make a lot of noise.

Right now Juan was on solo duty behind the wall, they had found having too many living humans also drew the attention of the zombies, but one or two people under moderate cover created only a small ‘draw’. Juan smelled the coffee long before he heard the ER doors slide open in back of him. As Nanci walked up behind him he sniffed in appreciatively and said, “Ah mi amor, gracias. That smells wonderful!”

Unseen Nanci stiffened, then said, “How did you know it was me?”

Laughing Juan said, “Darling you have been bringing me coffee every day for the last 12 years, who else would it be?”

Still a little unsure, Nanci said tentatively, “Juan, you know, the others, well Charlie, he said something happened to you?”

Juan scowled, “Me? No I am alright, nothing bad happened.”

“Charlie didn’t say anything ‘bad’ happened to you, but that he saw you after, after you killed one of the zombies and you, well you looked different is all.”

“You think I look different?”, Juan asked, raising his eyebrows.

Nanci looked him over more closely and nodded, “Yeah, something is different, I can’t say what it is, but there is like an air about you now, something different.”

“That’s helpful.”

Punching him lightly on the shoulder Nanci said, “You hungry? They would not let me cook, they have it handled, so you get whatever they make, but Terry said you’d like it.”

“How is Mary doing? Anybody check on her?”

Nanci frowned, “I don’t think she is doing so good, they wouldn’t let me see her, that is not a good sign. I’ll ask Terry though, when I get breakfast, I saw her coming out of Mary’s room this morning when I got up. I thought you were going to come to bed last night?”

Shrugging his shoulders Juan replied, “Ah shit. Too bad about Mary, that sounds bad. I just never really got tired last night, I am still not so bad now. How was the bed?”

“Lonely.”, purred Nanci, “but better than the club, the door was great, it shut out all the noise, did you guys shoot last night?”

“No, well a couple times, maybe three, mostly we just batted them if they came over or under the cars. We gotta watch that truck”, Juan pointed at a four wheel drive truck with several bodies underneath, “it is too high off the ground, they keep trying to get under it. We shouldn’t have put it there as part of the wall. I think it is worse than the humvee would have been. It has gotten really quiet not though, I think they have learned not to try and get in here.”

“Well we can move the truck today once we figure out what the plan is. Let me go get breakfast, and I will send someone out here to relieve you so you can come in an eat and maybe sleep a couple hours too.”

Seeing Juan nod, Nance went back inside and made her way to the kitchen where Charlie, Jack and Terry were standing drinking coffee and several other yawning residents were eating at some of the tables.

“Well?”, asked Jack.

“Nothing, he is hungry, that’s all.” Nanci replied.

“He hasn’t noticed anything weird yet then?”, Charlie pressed her.

“No, if he did he didn’t say anything. We got more food ready? He’ll come in and eat and then you can see if anything changes.”

“It will, you’ll see.”, said Jack. What they were talking about was the fact that over the course of the night several people had noticed that if Juan was on guard the zombies tended to hang back and not attack, which is exactly why Juan was out there alone now. He had been ‘on watch’ for almost two hours and not a single zombie had tried to get past the line of cars. Some of the others that had stood watch with him, Charlie included, had noticed that the zombies never seemed to try and attack Juan, they just ignored him, treated him exactly like he was one of them.

“Alright, let me get a couple-three of these guys to go cover the exit and we’ll bring Juan in. Terry there is grub right?”, said Jack.

“Oh sure, for everyone and probably more. Anyone seen the army guys yet this morning?”, she counter questioned.

“No, they needed the rest though, they hadn’t had a good nights sleep for a couple days, I gotta say the sleep I got was great, this place just feels safe and well built.”, said Charlie. “Yeah, built for the rich with the money of the poor. Well it don’t matter, right we have it now.”, commented Jack, “I’ll go check on the army dudes as soon as I get Juan back in here.”

A few minutes later Jack was back with Juan and two men and a woman had taken over guarding the ER entrance. Charlie refilled his coffee and sat down on one side of Juan, Nanci sat on the other and started to make headway into her own plate, both watched him eat.

“This is good, eggs, potatoes, good stuff, I could eat a horse.”, said Juan speaking in English for the benefit of Charlie.

Terry overheard and said, “Thanks Juan, I bet it is not up to what you are used to, but I am cooking for a group here, so I am doing the best I can.”

Juan nodded and continued to eat, asking and getting seconds. A few minutes later Jack came back in and sat across from Juan. Looking up Juan said, “Ah, you guys eat already?”

Jack and Charlie both nodded ‘yes’ and continued to sip their coffee. Jack spoke up, “The army guys seem fine, they are just sleeping, woke one of them up and got to see his lightning reflexes, he had me scared with his boot pointed right at me. I told him to go back to sleep, I was just checking up on them.” Jack’s face turned troubled, “Mary though, I don’t think she is going to make it.”

Juan put his fork down, “That ain’t good breakfast news Jack.”

“Sorry Juan, Nanci. Sorry, wasn’t thinking there. She hasn’t turned or anything, just ain’t looking too good.”, Juan resumed eating, slowly.

“Hey I stopped by the ER entrance too and looked out before coming back here, the zombies are getting restless again.”, said Jack.

Jack, Charlie and Nanci shared a look and Juan noticed it. “What?”, he asked, “C’mon, what?”

“We-ell”, started Charlie.

“No, let me”, interrupted Jack, “Juan, how many zombied tried to get through in the last couple hours you were out there by yourself?”

“Uh, none, they had all quieted down, which is why everyone went off to bed, they were just in the lobby if I need them though. Why?”

“You left and the zombies started in again.”, said Jack.

“So? Could be the sun coming up or them noticing the movement, or maybe somebody made some noise. Could be anything really.”

“Yeah, I suppose it could. Lets explore that though, the anything could include you and that is what I want, no need, to talk to you about.”

Shrugging Juan said, “So. Talk.”

“I, no, we, think it is you. The zombies don’t seem to want to attack you and from what Charlie says something happened when you killed that super zombie yesterday, and, well, we don’t know what else to say.”

“I don’t think so.”, replied Juan.

“Okay, so we have to convince you too, so we could try something, right? You wouldn’t care?”, asked Jack.

“Depends on what you wanted to try I guess.”

“How about you get close to a zombie and see what happens, see if it goes for you. Not unarmed or anything, I mean you keep your gun out and pointed at its head and we’ll be there, but something happened and I think the zombies don’t want you anymore, not for food anyway. Also we let Charlie check you out, you know, physically.”

Puzzled Juan, asked, “Why? I didn’t get bit or anything, they hardly touched me as it was.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know Charlie was there, Mary was there, they said the same things, but we should still check anyway.”

Sighing Juan said, “If it will make you feel better, I guess. Look Jack, Nanci, Charlie, something did happened, I felt strange, sort of, not like superman or anything, just weird for a little while, the feeling went away, I got nothing now. Nothing unusual anyway.”

“Well, let us all check on that, okay?”

After he finished eating they headed back to the ER into one of the two rooms the group had elected to keep empty for emergencies, the rest of the rooms were occupied with men and women ready to spring to the defense if that were needed. Snores came out of several open doorways. Turning the lights on in the empty room Charlie gestured for Juan to hop up on the gurney. He checked Juan’s pulse, listened to his heart and all but had him strip naked to look for scratches, bruises and injuries. He found nothing, all four of them were silent for a very long time, before Juan said, “What? You didn’t find anything, that is good right?”

Nanci said, “Juan when you came back with Hank yesterday at the club, the car was a mess, you had bruises, you had some cuts from the glass. They are not there anymore.”

Juan thought about it, he didn’t recall getting cut up or injured in the last couple of days, he had been living pretty rough though and could remember the doc putting hydrogen peroxide on some cuts he hadn’t noticed after they had arrived at the Mike’s Club. Look himself over he didn’t see any cuts, scraps or even half healed scabs where he thought there had been minor wounds. Nothing. He stared at them for a moment. Then said, “Well maybe…”, shaking his head, he thought some more then said, “Madre de Dios, what does this mean?”

No one answered him right away, then Jack spoke, “Keep your mind open partner, lets go see how our zombie friends like you?”

Still shaking his head Juan followed the three to the ER exit and went towards the cars acting as a wall. The zombies were definitely more active now, they had started pressing around the cars trying to get in at the three humans defending the area.

Jack pointed to one side of the cars, “You move over there Juan and the rest of us will get over on this side, don't do anything if you don't have to, okay, this is a test. Then again don't let them get too close either.”

Juan took up a position in front of a zombie that was clambering over one of the trucks, the zombie turned his head up and looked at him, or through him, and just slowed down, the effect was immediate and everyone noticed it. On the other side the group of five people was agitating the zombies even more, the monsters made haste in their efforts to get past the vehicles before any of their brethren. Of course fast is relative and the group was easily able to cut down any who led the pack. Meanwhile Juan's zombie just stopped in the bed of the truck. On his knees the middled aged man with bald head and green pants just waited, looking at Juan. Juan looked at him. A staring contest of sorts came about, the others put five zombies down while 'farmer green' just stood staring with Juan. Jack called out from where he was, “Hey Juan, maybe get closer to him and see what he does?”

Juan stepped forward, the zombie did not move, but he did cock his head sideways, as if looking at Juan for the first time. His head remained at that odd angle when Juan took two steps back. The zombie stayed in the truck bed. Juan started talking to the zombie, telling him to go away, not to bother people anymore, just go away. The zombie rolled over the other side of the truck's pickup bed wall and started shambling away. Charlie let out a whoop of delight, “He is a zombie whisperer!” This brought a laugh from the others.

“Hey man, try it from there on the ones coming over the car on this side.”, called Jack.

Juan turned towards the zombie and told them to go away, to leave and never come back. Most of the zombies reversed course, one, just looked at Juan and hissed angrily in his direction. While it was distracted, Nanci took a step up and clubbed it with a round house swing that connected to the back of the thing's head. Juan took up a more central position along the wall and the zombies on the other side stopped actively coming towards the ER, they resumed their listless wandering and milling about.

The doors to the ER slide open and Ted came out followed by Sanchez and Thompson. Ted, said, “Good morning.” curtly and he and his men made their way out to the Humvee, killing a few zombies that were milling about as they went.

“Uh, good morning, ah, Ted?”, said Jack, “What are you doing?”

“We are going to take the .50 and set it up on the roof, we will get a good field of fire from there, practically unbeatable, plus we'll take the radio, I am not sure I want to turn it on, but if I do it will get better reception up there than down here surround by the hospital’s walls.”

Jack moved forward to grab a box of ammo from one of the men, “So are you staying then? Need a hand to lug this stuff up to the roof?”

“Staying?”, Ted paused, then nodded, “We ain't going anywhere, we decided that last night. We were just too dog tired to move the gun and stuff then. If you want to help us, I would appreciate it, plus I want someone else to learn how to fire the .50 and to take a look at our rifles, just in case we get more delivered down here. So if you and a couple other guys want to help us, sure. Choose who you want to learn the guns.”

“I can stay here, and watch the ER, take the other guys, right?”, said Juan. Nanci immediately chipped in that she would be staying down with Juan too, in case he got tired.

Agreeing Charlie organized Jack and the other three relief guards into pairs with the military men and they set off, each pair carrying a part of the gun, a box or two of ammo, or some other boxes and crates that Ted pointed out. During the process of unloading Juan just thought 'Stay Away' as hard as he could out at the zombies, it seemed to work and Ted noticed.

“Why're they acting like this? Normally they attack when we get this close, they are just milling about.”

Charlie answered, “We don't know, Juan was out here this morning and he said they have been acting weird all night. Part of me is paranoid about it, like something is holding them back, trying to get a force up here before it attacks. So, like, we better move this gun up to the roof quick, huh?”

Nodding agreement, Ted hustled them along faster. Soon Juan and Nanci were left alone in front of the ER, every once in awhile people would come through, bring them coffee or ask if they needed a break. Juan politely refused. Jack and Charlie came back through with Sanchez and Thompson, to get another few boxes of equipment and to warn Juan and Nanci that they were going to fire off a few rounds of the MG and probably take a few shots with the AR-3 rifles as well. As they left Juan and Nanci watched the sky turn from light blue to pink in the pre-dawn light.

The crash of the machine gun shattered the quiet morning and made Nanci jump about six inches, though Juan barely stirred at the noise. The gun stopped for a few minutes than another series of shot ripped off. Juan didn't know what they were aiming at, apparently the gun was not facing towards the ER, it would make more sense to put it around on the other side of the building to over look the highway and the gentle downward slope, which were far more likely to bring zombies to the hospital than the scrub covered hills which the ER faced.

The rifle fire sounded far less intimidating than the machine gun and went on for a shorter period of time. Just after sun rise Charlie and the three other original day guards were back to grab more ammunition for the machine guns, they were loaded up and heading back into the building when Juan heard Jack's voice yelling from the roof, five stores above, he was screaming and at first they could not understand what he was saying, then they understood him to be yelling for Juan and Charlie to come up to the roof right away. He yelled harder when they did not move right away. As he was yelling a flash of light brighter than anything any of them had ever seen before back lit Jack's body from behind, it was like someone had set off the largest photo flash ever invented. A few seconds later they all heard a distant rumbling, like a stampede of cattle, the sound was from the other side of the hospital and washed by the ER leaving behind a weird echoing that bounced off the scrub hills back at them.

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This section was last updated on 30 Jul 2008

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