“I will” she skipped to me and hugged me hard. “See you in a bit, I did bring you coffee but it’s probably cold now. I’ll get you more later, if there’s any left.”
“See you in a bit” I kissed her cheek
Nurse Amy lingered a little longer. “Is everything ok?” I asked, getting the feeling that she had bad news.
“That soldier we had in yesterday, he turned.” She looked nervous and I noticed that her hands were shaking badly.
“Oh no, was anyone else infected?” I was shocked, and scared. This guy was in this part of the camp with us.
“No, he was already in quarantine and was taken care of quickly. But now the men that he came in with and your men have to be put straight into quarantine. From now on the Captain has deemed it protocol that anyone who has been outside of the gates will be placed into a 24-hour quarantine when they return here.”
“Makes sense. Do you know if my friends are ok?” I was anxious to find out.
“So far so good, no obvious scratches or bites.” She smiled.
“Can I go and see them?”
“I’ll have to ask the doctor, I’ll let you know soon.” She smiled and left the room.
I got up and used the bathroom, washing my face and body the best that I could.
When I returned, the doctor was sat in the chair by my bed, looking tired. Her hair was a mess and she had dark black circles under her eyes.
“How’s things doc?” I asked
“Not good George. Did Amy tell you about Corporal lance?”
“Yes, I’m sorry” I didn’t know the man personally but any human death was a huge loss to all of us.
She shook her head “I should have seen it, but there was so much damage to his arm and his colleagues swore that he hadn’t been bitten or scratched that I patched him up.”
“Hey, you couldn’t have known, and he didn’t hurt anyone, right?” I reasoned.
“No, he was in quarantine at the time. But I wasted medicine on him. Medicine that we could have used for someone who really needs it” there was a little anger in her voice.
“Oh ok.” I was a little shocked at her reply.
“I sound bad, don’t I?” she asked curling her lip in disgust at herself.
“To be honest, it does sound harsh but I understand what you are saying. I see the need to keep the meds for the more serious of cases. Hopefully Will and the boys have brought you a lot of goods to re stock your shelves.”
“Yes, indeed. Let’s look at that ankle” I hopped up onto the bed and lifted the leg of my trousers. The doctor started to ease back the white elastic support that my ankle was encased in. It hurt a little but not as much as it had before. Now it was more discomfort than pain.
“Ah its looking good, we should try to get some movement in it. I’m heading over to see the captain. I’m sure you know that his office isn’t far from the quarantine area. Would you like to come with me?” she re wrapped my ankle and held her hand out to me.
“Yeah I would love to see them. I’m so jealous that they got to go without me” I took her hand and she hoisted me up with a strength that she didn’t look like she had in her.
We started to walk out of the infirmary and towards the main building. It was late afternoon but there were still many people milling about.
She shook her head disbelievingly. “Most people want to stay well behind the gates, safe behind the men with guns. But you are unique George, you want to be out there fighting the good fight.”
I held the door open for her to enter the military main building. We were going to access quarantine out the back from the inside this time instead of my normal route around the exterior.
“Yep, well I’m not most people. I love fighting the good fight. I have this need to get out there and help this camp as much as I can. I need something to take my mind off…” I didn’t want to finish my sentence.
The doctor nodded in understanding, we didn’t say anything else as we had arrived in front of the rooms where my friends were staying. There was only one problem; Will Billy and Nia were missing.
“Adam. Where are Will, Billy and Nia? You’re not sick are you?” I was worried; my mind went to the worst-case scenario. That Will was injured in some way. That some bloody, decaying undead had gotten hold of him and had sunk their black rotten teeth into his soft warm flesh. That right at this moment Will had been ‘Taken care of’ and that Nia was now sat beside his twice dead body. Or that Adam was the sick one.
“Hey George, we are all ok.” Adam confirmed.
“You’re sure?” I had a giant ball of lead in my stomach.
“Yeah don’t worry, Billy and Will are in a meeting with the Captain, Nia too.”
“Come on George, let’s go crash a meeting” the doctor smiled and tugged on my arm.
“Oh, ok that’s good thank you. I’m glad that you are all ok. Can’t wait to catch up with you both. Tomorrow?”
“Yeah I’ll be fine here!” Adam called out jokingly.
The captain’s office was at the other end of this large warehouse and through some double doors. As soon as we entered what they were using as the reception area, his Rochelle stood up and ushered us into
