“Tom you and Steve go help them out, they are just kids for christsake! Leave me the empty clips Steve I will reload them. I will stay and keep an eye on Max. Go!”
Tom and Steve moved forward towards the group of four people fighting in the parking lot, the people with the bows were not firing into the mob, probably to keep from hitting their friends. They were also not moving around to get a better angle either, but staying in place. Tom and Steve had no reservations; they moved around behind several of the zombies and finished several off before they even knew what hit them.
The rest of the zombies were either hacked or batted to death by the four medieval fighters or ran off around the corner of the building, leaving the parking lot empty of all undead in a few short seconds. Tom and Steve fired after the zombies and ran to the corner to make sure they were still fleeing, not regrouping. When they returned a few moments later the squad car was sitting in front of the clinic doors. The archers were helping a younger man along between them; his legs were coated in blood. Behind them came a younger boy and girl, carrying backpacks and baseball bats.
They all formed a little group at the front of the clinic where Stewart, naturally, took charge of the situation, ordering Steve and Tom to man handle Max into the clinic and directing the kids, teenagers really, to bring their wounded friend in as well. The rest would stay in the parking lot to keep the zombies away from the broken front door, except the smaller children, who Stewart directed to stand in the entry way to bring messages back and forth if shouting would not work.
Once Max and the wounded boy were inside Stewart turned to the youths and said, “Can any of you fire a gun?”
The oldest looking one said, “No.” then thought about it and added, “Not yet.” and smiled at her.
Stewart took the revolver that had been Max’s out of the back seat and showed him how it worked. She sent one of the kids in to snag the black belt off of Max for the extra ammo and showed him how to reload it once the bullets ran out.
“So who are you and what are you dressed up in those outfits for?” Stewart asked
“I am Michael, that’s John, Craig and Whitney, the little kids are my brother Matt and Whitney’s sister Lauren, the girl with the bow is Aggie, for Agnus. The guy is Ron and the wounded one is my friend and Ron’s older brother Jacob.”
Stewart passed along the names of the people traveling with her and prompted, “Where are you parents? And you still haven’t said where you got those swords and other weapons?”
“Oh, sorry, no, the weapons are from our houses, we are really into the SCAA, fantasy stuff, like Lord of the Rings and the medieval period, you know. Our parents never came home from work, the zombies, you know, they were breaking into the houses dragging people out into the street. I figured we had better band together and last night I got almost everyone to come over to my house. Today we went and got Whitney and Lauren. No parents, they were all at work, they called at first, then nobody called and nobody answered when we called them. We decided to get out of here. We were thinking of holing up in the mall or maybe a ‘club’ store somewhere.”
“So you didn’t even really know how to use the swords or anything? You just busted out with em and started hacking?” Shaking her head Stewart saw some measure of almost anger in the youth’s eyes before she continued, “That takes guts man, look at all of the ones you killed, that was amazing. How far have you come from home?”
“Well we live over on south Kilmore, about four miles east of here.”
“Four miles! That is freaking insane! Four miles with seven of you, plus two little kids? Good job Michael. We came from the Mac Co. building in the Denver Tech Center, not too much further than you have walked. What happened to your friend?”
“Jacob? He got caught and pulled under a car like you, only the zombie bit him all up. We tried to pull him out, but it was too late. Ron is sick with worry, I mean we all are, you know?”
“Yeah kid, I know, sorry!” Stewart saw Michael’s eyes flash with anger at the word, ‘kid’ and she hastily back tracked, “I mean I am old enough to be your…aunt at least, I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”
Michael’s face softened into a slight scowl, “Yeah I know, but lady if you had seen or been through half the stuff we have, well even Matt and Lauren have had to adapt and we tried to shield them. You know, we can’t though, if we do they won’t stay alive, they gotta see and hear and…smell, all this stuff! There are no little kids anymore, just alive people and dead people. And undead people.”
A woman in a a typical nurse’s uniform came to the front of the office and asked, “Is there anyone else who needs to be looked at? The doctor wants me to do the triage and get you in there in worst case order first.”
Stewart looked around and said, “No I think we are all okay, other than a few bruises and scraps.”
The nurse gave Stewart a look like she was humoring a little kid, Stewart thought, 'Now I know how Michael felt just a few seconds ago.' then the nurse said, “And I suppose you normally bleed from your leg? C’mon officer don’t play the tough dike routine with me, you know wounds can get infected and at the very least that will need to be cleaned up,” Pulling up Stewart’s pants leg she revealed an ugly mass of bruised and torn flesh where the zombie had Stewart pinned beneath the car. “Probably this is going to need a stitch or two as well, it looks ugly lady. You'll have a scar, but not like your friend in there.”
Stewart looked at her leg, amazed that it had not hurt before the nurse pointed it out. 'Adrenaline, it will keep you going until someone rubs your face in the fact that you should not keep going.'
“Fuck.” said Stewart, “I didn’t even realize I was wounded. Okay put me on the list and don’t let Tom in there off easy either he strained his shoulder and I know our little stunt in the parking lot probably hurt him more than he would like to admit, he feels bad because he thinks he got Max shot. Any word on our friends condition yet?”
“Darling” the nurse replied, “You ain’t been here but five minutes and you want a diagnoses? My best hip shot is that everyone is going to make it, usually if they get here breathing, they leave breathing too. Things have changed though, so don’t hold me to that.” While she said the last bit she was looking at Michael intently. He got the message and just nodded.
The nurse proceeded to examine everyone else, made sure the younger children were going to be inside the doors, not in the parking lot with the ‘adults’ and then started back inside the clinic. She took about two steps before turning and saying, “And thanks. Thank you for not letting them get us, it was just a matter of time, you know?”
Everyone mumbled embarrassed, “Sure, no problem” or “You are welcome” and the nurse turned and proceeded inside.
Chapter 36
A night had passed for Jimbo, Fred and Bobby and most of the next day as well, pickings were plentiful in this part of suburbia and Fred felt no need to rush or move on any faster than they were.
“Fred, how’re ya feeling?” Asked Jimbo, “You all full for today and ready for some mental lessons?”
Fred and the boy gathered around Jimbo in the garage, a nice empty three car garage, well empty now because they had pulled two cars out onto the driveway. Bobby pulled up a lawn chair and sat with the two men, who were likewise seated next to a small ‘dormitory’ style refrigerator. The fridge was full of beer and while Jimbo had not yet checked to see if he could still drink beer or become intoxicated, he was going to find out very soon.
“Well guys I think we need to explore the whole mind control thing a little more. It seems like magic of some sort, being able to control others with just a thought and I have to say I don’t much like the idea myself. I don’t want to be Nancy’s puppet or, begging your pardon, even yours Fred and you seem like a pretty decent guy. So I think we owe it to ourselves to see what we can do to each other and what we can block from each other.” That said Jimbo proceeded to give them a pretty frank assessment of what he had done to both of them when he first realized he had these newfound abilities. At some point in his life Jimbo had read a story dealing with mental powers, he recalled the word psionic and liked it, so he introduced the word to Bobby and Fred, calling their new powers psionic powers of the mind. It was as good a name as any. Jimbo had decided to come clean with Fred fully and to an extent with Bobby. After their second house break in, Fred had started to grow much more
