you, sir, they are quite safe.”
I assure you, sir? Seriously? “If they’re safe, let me see them.”
The major stepped into the hall briefly, and stepped right back, “They are on the way. In the meantime, I would like to discuss your bite mark.”
I tried to sit up, but both my head and the doc were having none of that, and both of them said they would feel better if I remained mostly horizontal.
“I got bitten by one of those things when I was trying to fix a car for some people.” It just came out. I didn’t mean to say it. It just leapt from my lips. What an asshole.
The doc and the major looked at each other for a long second before the major piped up. “I’ve seen hundreds of people bitten. Good men and bad. Women. Children. All of them, absolutely every one died and turned inside of a day. How are you still alive?”
“No clue.” My head hurt.
“You’re telling me you have no idea how you survived a fluid transfer from one of the creatures?”
“Um…” dramatic pause while I inwardly snickered at his inadvertent comedic transgression, maybe a second or two too long, “no, do you?”
This earned sideways glances from the major to the doc and vice versa. Smith was flabbergasted. “Do you have any idea what this means?”
“Uh…”
“It means we could fabricate something from your blood! An antivirus! A vaccine! We could inoculate thousands so that if they were bitten, or even if they died of natural causes, they wouldn’t turn.”
“So you’ll need my blood? But I need that…don’t I?”
The doctor smiled. “We only need a few vials.” He lost himself in thought. “Of course, I don’t have the equipment here to process an antivirus. We will have to figure out how to appropriate the things we will need. Setting up a clean room should be easy, but…”
Ship and Kat arrived with a wiry guy as the doctor kept talking to himself. Kat smiled and came over to take my hand. Ship looked like the Hulk and just stared at me reproachfully. Kat looked at the major with venom. “Who’s the dickhead that shot him?”
“Whoa, Kat. That list is getting long. I’m not dead, and everybody is tired and scared. I don’t blame these folks, and you shouldn’t either.” Kat blushed and nodded, probably remembering that she had also put a bullet through me. The Major seemed taken aback, but only for an instant. I didn’t know then nor do I know now if it was because of what Kat said or what I said.
Ship passed me his notebook: Next time, duck.
“Love you too big guy, kisses.” I blew him one, and he actually smiled.
The wiry guy smiled too and introduced himself as Lynch.
The major, the doctor, and the wiry guy left us after some more interrogation, and Ship and Kat left me soon after so I could get some much needed rest. As if anybody could ever really sleep again.
The next couple of days went without incident, although there were constant gunshots from the wall. Ship told me that the military men at this walled eleven acre complex were a mix of Army, Marines, and National Guard that had banded together when things had gone to shit in the small city of Athens to the south. They fled north through the wooded areas, dangerously low on fuel and manpower, although they had a truckload of ammo. The dead were relentless and hounded them the whole way. Ship had asked the major what kind of loss the United States was looking at, and his simple reply had been: Total .
Also, another tidbit of info that you need to know is that I had grown a tail since I had shown up, bitten but not dead. No, dumbass, not a fuzzy new appendage on my ass; Lynch. Guy was shadowing me everywhere I went. I didn’t always see him, but I knew he was there.
I asked Ship for the skinny on him, and apparently the guy had worked for the government in some capacity, and was on the road with Major Regan’s combined military forces when they had found this compound and sealed themselves inside. They had been making
I assure you, sir? Seriously? “If they’re safe, let me see them.”
The major stepped into the hall briefly, and stepped right back, “They are on the way. In the meantime, I would like to discuss your bite mark.”
I tried to sit up, but both my head and the doc were having none of that, and both of them said they would feel better if I remained mostly horizontal.
“I got bitten by one of those things when I was trying to fix a car for some people.” It just came out. I didn’t mean to say it. It just leapt from my lips. What an asshole.
The doc and the major looked at each other for a long second before the major piped up. “I’ve seen hundreds of people bitten. Good men and bad. Women. Children. All of them, absolutely every one died and turned inside of a day. How are you still alive?”
“No clue.” My head hurt.
“You’re telling me you have no idea how you survived a fluid transfer from one of the creatures?”
“Um…” dramatic pause while I inwardly snickered at his inadvertent comedic transgression, maybe a second or two too long, “no, do you?”
This earned sideways glances from the major to the doc and vice versa. Smith was flabbergasted. “Do you have any idea what this means?”
“Uh…”
“It means we could fabricate something from your blood! An antivirus! A vaccine! We could inoculate thousands so that if they were bitten, or even if they died of natural causes, they wouldn’t turn.”
“So you’ll need my blood? But I need that…don’t I?”
The doctor smiled. “We only need a few vials.” He lost himself in thought. “Of course, I don’t have the equipment here to process an antivirus. We will have to figure out how to appropriate the things we will need. Setting up a clean room should be easy, but…”
Ship and Kat arrived with a wiry guy as the doctor kept talking to himself. Kat smiled and came over to take my hand. Ship looked like the Hulk and just stared at me reproachfully. Kat looked at the major with venom. “Who’s the dickhead that shot him?”
“Whoa, Kat. That list is getting long. I’m not dead, and everybody is tired and scared. I don’t blame these folks, and you shouldn’t either.” Kat blushed and nodded, probably remembering that she had also put a bullet through me. The Major seemed taken aback, but only for an instant. I didn’t know then nor do I know now if it was because of what Kat said or what I said.
Ship passed me his notebook: Next time, duck.
“Love you too big guy, kisses.” I blew him one, and he actually smiled.
The wiry guy smiled too and introduced himself as Lynch.
The major, the doctor, and the wiry guy left us after some more interrogation, and Ship and Kat left me soon after so I could get some much needed rest. As if anybody could ever really sleep again.
The next couple of days went without incident, although there were constant gunshots from the wall. Ship told me that the military men at this walled eleven acre complex were a mix of Army, Marines, and National Guard that had banded together when things had gone to shit in the small city of Athens to the south. They fled north through the wooded areas, dangerously low on fuel and manpower, although they had a truckload of ammo. The dead were relentless and hounded them the whole way. Ship had asked the major what kind of loss the United States was looking at, and his simple reply had been: Total .
Also, another tidbit of info that you need to know is that I had grown a tail since I had shown up, bitten but not dead. No, dumbass, not a fuzzy new appendage on my ass; Lynch. Guy was shadowing me everywhere I went. I didn’t always see him, but I knew he was there.
I asked Ship for the skinny on him, and apparently the guy had worked for the government in some capacity, and was on the road with Major Regan’s combined military forces when they had found this compound and sealed themselves inside. They had been making
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