Day 47 (Part 4)
I finally convinced Rose to get some rest. I rocked Johnnie for a bit until he went all the way to sleep and then locked the bathroom door. I moved back to the dining room at the front of the house and prayed that Scott and the guys really were OK and that it wasn’t just a fantasy I had been entertaining myself with all afternoon so I could stay positive. And that’s where I stayed for the remainder of the night, occasionally roaming the house to make sure everything was still secure.
While I did that Scott lay in a makeshift surgery having a bullet dug out of his calf.
When the fourth wave had broken over the Outpost everyone had quickly gotten into position. There was still plenty of ammo at that point but already the word had gone out to conserve and make every shot count.
While Scott rested from telling me the first part of the story James and David filled me in on the next part. James wasn’t allowed on the front line. He was sent to work with Waleski who had, along with a couple of other medics, set up a field hospital inside the former library. Most of the injuries were relatively minor. Waleski was wildly agitated and James didn’t understand why until he realized that one of the NRSC commanders had made the rounds of the injured and had tagged some of them to be euthanized. Waleski was all but spitting nails but it was out of his hands at that point. He in no way approved or supported some of the decisions that were being made but he didn’t have the authority to override them either. There was also nothing else he could do for those particular patients.
All afternoon James tended wounded men while Scott and David took turns on the front line keeping rioters and zombies as bay.
Scott was injured right before the sun finally set by a ricochet. The bullet had lost a lot of its speed and power which was likely why it failed to exit after it went in. David got Scott to Waleski as fast as he could but it was still some time before he could be seen. There were too few medics for too many injuries and the NRSC commander was underfoot making things slower than they should have been. There was also little pain medication left by that point and it was being rationed. The bullet came out readily enough, but Scott finally passed out while Waleski was cleaning the wound to prevent infection.
Since things had begun to quiet down with the dark, David volunteered to take James’ place helping tend the injured so that James could sit with his dad.
All the next day we both took part in beating back further attacks. From the vantage of the roof I watched as the world seemed to fall apart. I watched people throw all their worldly goods in their cars and pull out and head for someplace else … any place else but here. Some of them actually made it further than the end of the street.
David said he and James took turns with Scott who had begun to run a low-grade fever. They also had to keep an eye on the van and on their gear because some of the other CDs kept snooping around it. Sgt. Matt, McElroy, and Cease (just back from leave and still emotionally shook up after seeing his grandparents buried next to each other after they chose their own way out of this mess) discouraged this as much as possible, but they couldn’t play favorites.
Another night rolled around and I spent it on watch or trying to get Johnnie’s fever to come down. I even filled the tub with water and soaked him in it hoping that would help. I was so exhausted.
I was also scared. Rose was doing what she could but she had her hands full helping with her siblings. She was making sure they ate and drank, cleaning up after them, tryng to calm their fears when I wasn’t around, dealing with Johnnie as well. And all in the dark of a small, windowless room.
The ammo that I knew I could use with the .22 was going down too quickly. I hadn’t realized how quickly until I had gone to fill up my bullet bag one more time and realized how light the ammo can was becoming. I spent the remainder of the night trying to figure out some other way to push away the zombies that had begun getting so close to the front of the house.
Fire was out though I was tempted to throw one of those fiery cocktail things over into the lowland right of way. Besides it was too wet in there and there was also the problem that the fire could get out of control and do us more harm than help.
I don’t know what made me think of that old movie “What Waits Below.” Its one of those old “B” movies that is supposed to scare your socks off but instead usually ranges into the bizarre and funny. The little people in this movie killed by driving spikes through the heads of their enemies. I then remembered that Scott had to get all over Johnnie when they were cutting that rebar they buried around the fence edge. One of the long pieces had a really sharp angle and he was swinging it around and nearly bonked Bekah with it. I remember that it was too long to go into his shed so he had just laid it to the side. And I remembered exactly where too.
I tried out my “pike” on some of the zombies that had gathered at the carport gate. The meal they had made of the bodies that I had left there was long gone. The four of the remaining zombies that hadn’t wandered off were just standing there. When I entered the carport they got a little agitated but not much. They didn’t even seem to register me at all unless I made any noise. As quietly as I could I came up to the gate, sighted my pike through a hole in the fence and then punched through the first zombie’s skull with as much force as I could muster.
It didn’t work exactly as I had planned. The front of the skull is really thick, like a helmet. That’s what our skulls are really … helmets for our brains. The punch skittered across the zombie’s forehead, slashing skin away and slid into the eye socket. And when I say it slid in I mean it really went it. In fact it punched out the other side. Unfortunately my forward thrust sent the zombie backwards pulling me almost into the gate itself.
I was gagging really bad but managed to back up and pull my pike back through the bars. It was enough noise to confuse the three remaining zombies but not enough for them to figure out where I was. Instead they fell on the fallen zombie and ripped it apart. While that was happening I chanced another attack and caught a second zombie in the temple area and it dropped immediately. That left two zombies who were confused enough that they were turning on each other. That was a little too much noise and it had drawn the attention of some other wandering zombies.
I gave up attacking from that direction and quickly retreated to the backyard and up onto the roof. Using the pike wasn’t a tactic that I would choose as a first option, but at least I had a back up plan. It would probably work better for someone stronger.
I was getting discombobulated by that time. Too little sleep and too much sun will do that even under the best circumstances. Add worry and fear and I was a prime candidate for the loony bin.
I finally convinced Rose to get some rest. I rocked Johnnie for a bit until he went all the way to sleep and then locked the bathroom door. I moved back to the dining room at the front of the house and prayed that Scott and the guys really were OK and that it wasn’t just a fantasy I had been entertaining myself with all afternoon so I could stay positive. And that’s where I stayed for the remainder of the night, occasionally roaming the house to make sure everything was still secure.
While I did that Scott lay in a makeshift surgery having a bullet dug out of his calf.
When the fourth wave had broken over the Outpost everyone had quickly gotten into position. There was still plenty of ammo at that point but already the word had gone out to conserve and make every shot count.
While Scott rested from telling me the first part of the story James and David filled me in on the next part. James wasn’t allowed on the front line. He was sent to work with Waleski who had, along with a couple of other medics, set up a field hospital inside the former library. Most of the injuries were relatively minor. Waleski was wildly agitated and James didn’t understand why until he realized that one of the NRSC commanders had made the rounds of the injured and had tagged some of them to be euthanized. Waleski was all but spitting nails but it was out of his hands at that point. He in no way approved or supported some of the decisions that were being made but he didn’t have the authority to override them either. There was also nothing else he could do for those particular patients.
All afternoon James tended wounded men while Scott and David took turns on the front line keeping rioters and zombies as bay.
Scott was injured right before the sun finally set by a ricochet. The bullet had lost a lot of its speed and power which was likely why it failed to exit after it went in. David got Scott to Waleski as fast as he could but it was still some time before he could be seen. There were too few medics for too many injuries and the NRSC commander was underfoot making things slower than they should have been. There was also little pain medication left by that point and it was being rationed. The bullet came out readily enough, but Scott finally passed out while Waleski was cleaning the wound to prevent infection.
Since things had begun to quiet down with the dark, David volunteered to take James’ place helping tend the injured so that James could sit with his dad.
All the next day we both took part in beating back further attacks. From the vantage of the roof I watched as the world seemed to fall apart. I watched people throw all their worldly goods in their cars and pull out and head for someplace else … any place else but here. Some of them actually made it further than the end of the street.
David said he and James took turns with Scott who had begun to run a low-grade fever. They also had to keep an eye on the van and on their gear because some of the other CDs kept snooping around it. Sgt. Matt, McElroy, and Cease (just back from leave and still emotionally shook up after seeing his grandparents buried next to each other after they chose their own way out of this mess) discouraged this as much as possible, but they couldn’t play favorites.
Another night rolled around and I spent it on watch or trying to get Johnnie’s fever to come down. I even filled the tub with water and soaked him in it hoping that would help. I was so exhausted.
I was also scared. Rose was doing what she could but she had her hands full helping with her siblings. She was making sure they ate and drank, cleaning up after them, tryng to calm their fears when I wasn’t around, dealing with Johnnie as well. And all in the dark of a small, windowless room.
The ammo that I knew I could use with the .22 was going down too quickly. I hadn’t realized how quickly until I had gone to fill up my bullet bag one more time and realized how light the ammo can was becoming. I spent the remainder of the night trying to figure out some other way to push away the zombies that had begun getting so close to the front of the house.
Fire was out though I was tempted to throw one of those fiery cocktail things over into the lowland right of way. Besides it was too wet in there and there was also the problem that the fire could get out of control and do us more harm than help.
I don’t know what made me think of that old movie “What Waits Below.” Its one of those old “B” movies that is supposed to scare your socks off but instead usually ranges into the bizarre and funny. The little people in this movie killed by driving spikes through the heads of their enemies. I then remembered that Scott had to get all over Johnnie when they were cutting that rebar they buried around the fence edge. One of the long pieces had a really sharp angle and he was swinging it around and nearly bonked Bekah with it. I remember that it was too long to go into his shed so he had just laid it to the side. And I remembered exactly where too.
I tried out my “pike” on some of the zombies that had gathered at the carport gate. The meal they had made of the bodies that I had left there was long gone. The four of the remaining zombies that hadn’t wandered off were just standing there. When I entered the carport they got a little agitated but not much. They didn’t even seem to register me at all unless I made any noise. As quietly as I could I came up to the gate, sighted my pike through a hole in the fence and then punched through the first zombie’s skull with as much force as I could muster.
It didn’t work exactly as I had planned. The front of the skull is really thick, like a helmet. That’s what our skulls are really … helmets for our brains. The punch skittered across the zombie’s forehead, slashing skin away and slid into the eye socket. And when I say it slid in I mean it really went it. In fact it punched out the other side. Unfortunately my forward thrust sent the zombie backwards pulling me almost into the gate itself.
I was gagging really bad but managed to back up and pull my pike back through the bars. It was enough noise to confuse the three remaining zombies but not enough for them to figure out where I was. Instead they fell on the fallen zombie and ripped it apart. While that was happening I chanced another attack and caught a second zombie in the temple area and it dropped immediately. That left two zombies who were confused enough that they were turning on each other. That was a little too much noise and it had drawn the attention of some other wandering zombies.
I gave up attacking from that direction and quickly retreated to the backyard and up onto the roof. Using the pike wasn’t a tactic that I would choose as a first option, but at least I had a back up plan. It would probably work better for someone stronger.
I was getting discombobulated by that time. Too little sleep and too much sun will do that even under the best circumstances. Add worry and fear and I was a prime candidate for the loony bin.