face.
With the child shielded by his own body, Ryan pushed out at Cahz.
The distraught father was mouthing the words, “Fuck you!” through Cahz’s deafness.
Cahz grabbed Ryan’s wrist with his free hand and twisted the arm into a lock. Ryan screamed as he fought against the pain, but he couldn’t stop from buckling. On his knees on the ground the crying baby was an easy target.
Cahz placed his finger over the trigger.
“Ahhggghh!” Cahz bellowed in pain as his arm was snapped into a lock.
Cannon pushed his commander to the ground, ripping the gun from his grip.
“Look at her!” Cannon shouted. “Look at her!”
The room was full of shouts and cries becoming more audible, less distorted all the time as Cahz’s hearing cleared.
“Look at her!” Cannon offered a hand to help Cahz to his feet.
Cahz was hauled to his feet and took a step closer to the baby.
“Look at her skin,” Cannon demanded.
He looked back at the office where Elspeth’s corpse lay, then back at the child. The baby girl was still gulping in lungs full of air and belching them out as great shrieks. Her soft skin was flushed red from the distress.
“She’s not infected?” Cahz said in amazement.
“She should have died hours ago, a kid that young.” Cannon put a hand on Cahz’s shoulder. “I realised it when I saw you with Elspeth.”
Cahz reached out his hands in a silent request to see the child.
“Is she immune?” Ryan asked as he passed her over.
“No one’s immune,” Cannon countered, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Cahz took the child in his arms and rocked her gently to soothe her. As the girl started to calm down he walked over to the window to get the best light.
The scratch down the child’s face wasn’t as puffy or red as he remembered it. He peered closer at the wound. It had obviously started at her temple and been dragged down to the cheek just above the jaw line. All the way down were flakes of dead skin and small wells of congealed blood. The deepest part of the wound was where it stopped. There was a deep gouge that ended in an ugly lump of scabbed black blood.
Cahz continued looking at the injury-looking long and hard.
“Cannon,” he finally said, “pass me the tweezers from one of the first aid kits.”
“Here,” Cannon said, passing them over.
Cahz took the tweezers and gripped the terminal scab. With a quick pluck he pulled the lump of scab away. The baby started howling again.
Looking out of the window, Cahz examined the tip of the tweezers. He gently turned his wrist to get the best angle of light.
“Well, fuck me!” Cahz exclaimed. “Look at this.”
“That’s what caused the mark?” Cannon asked, peering at the bloodied lump on the end of the tweezers.
“Let me see,” Ryan said, barging past. “What is it? For fuck’s sake lemme see.”
“It’s a shard of glass,” Cahz declared, a tone of triumph in his voice.
“She’s not infected,” Cannon whispered.
Ryan gasped. “When Elspeth fell… It wasn’t a claw mark-it was some broken glass on the ground.” A huge smile erupted on Ryan’s face. “She’s not infected!”
He stretched his arms out and Cahz passed the child over.
Ryan hugged the baby close. “Oh my gorgeous baby girl.” He planted a wet kiss on the obviously bemused child’s forehead. The girl started whimpering at the unexpected attention. Ryan rocked her in his arms, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks.
“Stick your pinkie in her mouth,” Cannon suggested.
“What?” Ryan asked.
“Stick your pinkie in her mouth. It’ll help to calm her down.”
Ryan gave a huff. “Why didn’t you suggest that earlier when she was bawling?”
“
Ryan turned to the manager’s office. “It would have meant a lot to her if she’d known. She wouldn’t have died thinking she failed Sam and the baby.” He placed a hand over his mouth and shuddered. He stood staring at the execution. “Poor Elspeth.” His voice quivered. “She doesn’t even look peaceful.”
Cahz looked back at the dead woman. Her mouth was agape and the trickle of blood from the bullet wound in her forehead had run down into an eye before pooling and dripping off onto the floor.
Ryan wiped away a string of mucus from his nose and snorted back the grief.
“Cannon,” Cahz said, “pull a sheet over her or something.”
Cannon gave a nod. He picked up a discarded sleeping bag and proceeded into the office.
Cahz stepped in to snap Ryan out of his distress. “Okay, let’s gather what stuff we need, then we’ll plan how to get out of here.”
He looked around for something to busy Ryan with. His eyes settled on the large plastic water containers.
Standing in front of him, Cahz placed his hands on Ryan’s shoulders. “We’re going to need water. I lost my canteen, so if we can find some more-”
Ryan broke in, “I spotted camel packs.”
“Good. Fill a couple for each of us.”
From behind, Cannon closed the office door and rejoined his commander. Elspeth’s corpse was now hidden under a puffy green sleeping bag.
“We’ll need melee weapons in case we run short on ammo,” Cahz said as he watched Ryan rummage one- handed through a crate.
Cannon nodded. “I’m on it.”
“Oh, and guys,” Cahz added loud enough to get Ryan’s attention, “see what else you can find and we’ll pool it all together. Ten minutes.”
The three men stood around a fan of assorted objects on the floor in front of them. There was nothing extraordinary among the kit; some water packs, rucksack, crowbar, wind up torch and a few other bits and pieces of civilian camping equipment.
“No point getting a rucksack. There’s not enough stuff here to merit sticking in a bag,” Cahz said, disappointed at the haul.
“The rucksack ain’t for the kit,” Cannon said. “It’s for the little one.”
“You’re not stuffing my daughter in a bag!” Ryan said defensively.
“Think about it,” Cannon said.
“What? No!” Ryan protested, looking at Cahz for support.
“She’ll be comfortable and warm and safe,” Cannon countered. “What’s more, you can keep both hands free.”
“It’s a good call,” Cahz said.
Cannon grinned. “Think of it like one of those expensive designer papooses.”
“Yeah that fuckin’ helps,” Ryan said stubbornly.
“I made up a few diapers from the first aid bandages and stuffed them in the side pouches,” Cannon said, smiling, obviously pleased at his foresight.
“Okay, now the hard part.” Cahz stepped up to the window overlooking the rear parking lot. “How do we get out of here?”
“You thinking the car park?” Cannon asked.
“Could we hotwire one of the cars down there?” Cahz thought out loud.
“I doubt it,” Ryan said. “We sucked the tanks dry to run our genny years ago. Anyway, they’ll have rusted solid sitting out there.”
