Hank and Juan's Story

Whitney was laying on a bed with her arms around her sister Lauren. Next to her on one side was a black man, who she thought was named Kevin, he had been shot. Lauren, was softly crying to herself trying not to wake up the other patients, Whitney's tear stained face was a testament to her own grief at losing her boyfriend Michael in the early morning battle with Dave. Graig was lying on the bed on the other side of her, he was arguably the most wounded of the survivors, the doctor they had suspected he had a broken arm, a concussion and was very sure he had a broken nose. The doctor has set the nose before Craig regained consciousness. Michael's brother, Matt, was no where to be found and Whitney had been trying to find out what happened to him. She had loved Michael, losing a boyfriend hurt her unlike anything she had ever felt before. Whitney was pretty sure at this point that her parents were dead, however she did not know that for sure and she had not seen them gunned down in front of her, like she had with Michael.

An Hispanic woman came by and brought her another box of tissues, taking away a plastic bag full of used ones. Her name was Evaine, maybe Whitney could get some information out of her.

“Miss? Miss?”, Whitney called quietly. The young woman, who had been walking away, turned back questioningly, “What happed to the others who came in with us?”

“Oh, your friends?”, the woman came over Whitney's beside and put her hand on Lauren's head, “The doc gave the boy a tranquilizer, he was not doing really good and we , well, we had to do something. One of your friends, Angie?”

“Aggie”, interjected Whitney quickly.

“Aggie? Okay Aggie is with him, the boy Ron he is feeling better, doc gave him pain medicine, but doesn't think his, well his testicles, suffered more than bruising. The other guy, Juan...John, he is doing okay, but doc is pretty sure his jaw is busted. Doc set it up and wrapped him, his is with the other three over with the older kids. You guys are here, doc doesn't now about your ribs and doesn't want you moving around much. He”, Evaine pointed at Craig, “is probably the worst off, and rates a bed. Your sister, she can probably go with the others or stay here, she is okay, just has some scrapes and bruises.”

“Can I leave? I mean, if I feel up to it?”

“Ah, you mean will I stop you? No. We want to bring you down to the real hospital though, at least you three, you and him” again Evaine pointed at Craig, “need x-rays. Hanks says there is a guy from the military that is going to meet them at the hospital, so he is going down there and you guys are supposed to go with them. I brought you fresh Kleenexes for the trip, you are supposed to be leaving in like five minutes. All your stuff is already loaded up.”

“I won't leave my other friends, if they are not going I am not going. Neither is Craig.”

Evaine's smile faltered a bit, “You'll have to fight the doc about that, I don't know who is going on this trip, they want to move all the wounded and children down to the hospital today, you should go though, it is a real hosptial and they can take care of you better. Look here they come now. Please, please just go?”

A balding older man approached the beds beside a taller middle aged guy. The taller guy came up and thrust his hand out at Whitney, he spoke with a mild southern accent, and Whitney recognized him, “Whitney right? I remember you from the clinic, Juan and I ran into you there.”

“Yeah, I remember, Hank, huh? I don't want to leave the others here. I think we should stay together.”, said Whitney.

“Yeah, I thought you'd say that. We got a bus, the wounded will take up half of it, I think we can fit everyone in. I just hope no one else complains about you kids getting to go before the other kids, still you killed Dave, and most of you need medical treatment.”

“Hank...”, the older man began. Whitney recognized him as the doctor from the clinic where they had met Hank. Hank shushed the doctor with a wave of his hand.

“They are all they have, like family, we are not splitting the other families up, right? They can go together.”, Hank's words carried authority and 'Doc' just nodded. Whitney appreciated the gesture.

Doc spoke up, “We don't have any gurneys or easy ways to get you onto the bus, I wrapped your ribs, but it is still going to be uncomfortable.” He held out two tablets in his hands and Evaine got a water bottle from the stand beside the bed. “These are pain killers, they will not knock you out or anything, we need you to be alert in case the zombies hit the bus, we will need every set of eyes we can get. Okay?”

Whitney took the pills, hoping she could trust the doctor. The group moved off and in a few minutes she felt pleasantly numb, when the time came to move it did, indeed, feel uncomfortable, despite the medication.

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This section was last updated on 30 Jul 2008

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