Huh, she has green eyes... Jack realized.
“What you did in there... You were so brave! I mean, you saved her!” She contemplated her words for a few seconds. “Jack, you’re a hero.”
The next thing Jack knew she had kissed him. Her lips were incredibly soft. It wasn’t one of those totally romantic kisses, but Jack felt his stomach flutter, nevertheless. Especially when she smiled at him afterward.
The moment passed quickly though, as Joe poked his head out of the clinic door.
“Ok Jack, we’re ready to–” A suspicious look crept into his eyes as Christine and Jack quickly put some space between each other.
“Ready to what, Dad?” Christine was the first to recover.
Joe looked at the young couple for a second. He then shook his head. “Er... We’re ready to take a look at that head wound of yours. Come on in.”
And with that the moment was gone. Jack stole a quick glance over his shoulder at Christine as he followed Joe into the clinic. Her face betrayed no emotion.
THE GROUP ATE BRUNCH together. Everybody was there, except for Rosa and Shelley who were in the small office adjacent to the clinic, and John, who was laid up in bed with strict orders to stay off his feet. Melissa had taken some food to him and returned to say that he was in good spirits.
The remaining people sat squeezed at three cafeteria tables. There was plenty of room to spread out, but most people felt the need to be close together.
Jack listened as people discussed what had happened. ‘I can’t believe it!’ And ‘How did this happen?’ Came up a lot. Everybody was concerned about Rosa, who was surely hurting both physically and emotionally.
“Do we need to keep an eye on people that got bit?” He overheard Rachel whisper to Joe.
“I don’t think so.” He replied. Joe noticed that several people were paying attention, so he raised his voice. “From everything I have seen and heard, its not spread by bodily fluids. What I don’t get though, is that Patrick never had a stomach problem!”
People contemplated this for a few moments. It was Ethan that spoke next.
“Actually, I think that I can explain that.” He was met with many raised eyebrows.
“You see, I saw this thing on tv when we were still at home.” He thought for a second, trying to remember. “It was some top-secret footage that got leaked out. I remember that these guys were dissecting a corpse and explaining what the syndrome had done to the victim.”
“Hey – Yeah!” Ern said. “We saw that piece, too!” Nancy nodded vigorously beside her husband. “Sorry young man. Continue.” The old man prompted.
“Well, and then we saw the president explain... you know, about the nanobots! So, he told us that the nanobots start off in the stomach – or was it the intestines – anyway they start off there. But then these things make their way through the body and into the head. Into the brain.”
“Patrick was having headaches...” Nat supplied.
“Exactly!” Ethan agreed. “So, he must have had a few of those nanobots in his system. It wasn’t enough to give him the same symptoms, like stomach troubles, but then they got into his brain, and killed him!”
Joe did not look pleased. “If that’s true, son... Then any of us could still be infected!”
The group exchanged concerned looks at this revelation.
“Ok, wait.” Joe continued. “Does anybody here have a headache, or has anybody here been suffering from a headache for any length of time?” He looked around him. Nobody said anything for long moments.
“Um, Mister Collins? I had a headache.” Jack stated. “But I always get a headache when I’m exposed to gluten...”
“Do you still have a headache?”
“No. It’s gone.”
Joe pursed his lips. “Seems to me like something like this would get worse, not better. I think you’re ok, son.”
Jack nodded. “Yeah I think so too.”
“I have a headache...” Everybody turned to look at Claire, who had raised her hand. “I don’t think it’s the syndrome though... I think its stress and ... stuff.”
Joe nodded. “Why don’t we head to the clinic in a bit and get you something for your headache? Then we’ll see how it goes after that. Anybody else?”
Was that an act of kindness? Jack was surprised.
“I learned something this morning.” Everybody turned to look at the speaker. Craig ran his good hand over his mouth and chin as he considered his next words.
“A couple of things, really. First, zombies are hard to stop. It took six of us to take one of them down! We need weapons, like Keith’s hammers.” He said, with a small nod at the Asian man.
“Yeah, I agree. We need to learn how to use guns too!” Joe added, then frowned. “But John is out of action for a while...”
“I can take over from him... I mean, I can teach you...” Bill said softly. The shy man started looking down under the scrutiny of the rest of the group, when Emily spoke up beside him. “Yeah, and I can help. We should all know how to shoot a gun. It’s too bloody dangerous not to!” Jack smiled at the way Emily pronounced ‘gun’. It sounded more like ‘Goon’.
Craig nodded, and continued. “Secondly; we need to work together. Melissa was right when she said that we are now a tribe or a family. There are nineteen of us left. We can’t afford to lose anybody else!” He looked around him intensely. “We have to be able to rely on each other.”
That was met with a chorus of “That’s right!” and even a “Hell yes!”
Craig’s face turned serious. “We also need to figure out what to do with Patrick’s body.” People fidgeted nervously, obviously uncomfortable with the topic.
“That’s easy. We bury him. It’s the right thing to do.” Ern stated with a self-assured expression. Nancy crossed herself beside him. Not everybody agreed with his statement though.
Jack was amazed that everybody stayed civil in the discussion. A couple of days ago
