questioned.
'No, they needed the rest though, they hadn't had a good night's sleep for a couple days, I gotta say the sleep I got was great, this place just feels safe and well built.' said Charlie.
'Yeah, built for the rich with the money of the poor. Well it don't matter, right now it is ours.' said Jack, 'I'll go check on the army dudes as soon as I get Juan back in here.'
A few minutes later Jack was back with Juan and two men and a woman had taken over guarding the ER entrance. Charlie refilled his coffee and sat down on one side of Juan, Nanci sat on the other and started to make headway into her own plate, both watched him eat.
'This is good, eggs, potatoes, good stuff, I could eat a horse.' said Juan speaking in English for the benefit of Charlie.
Terry overheard and said, 'Thanks Juan, I bet it is not up to what you are used to, but I am cooking for a group here, so I am doing the best I can.'
Juan nodded and continued to eat, then asking for, and getting, seconds. A few minutes later Jack came back in and sat across from Juan. Looking up Juan said, 'Ah, you guys eat already?'
Jack and Charlie both nodded 'yes' and continued to sip their coffee. Jack spoke up, 'The army guys seem fine, they are just sleeping, woke one of them up and I got to see his lightning reflexes, he scared the crap out of me, even though he was only pointing one of his boots in my direction. I told him to go back to sleep, I was just checking up on them.' Jack's face turned troubled, 'Mary though, I don't think she is going to make it.'
Juan put his fork down, 'That ain't good breakfast news Jack.'
'Sorry Juan, Nanci. Sorry, wasn't thinking there. She hasn't turned or anything, just ain't looking too good.' Juan resumed eating, slowly.
'Hey I stopped by the ER entrance too and looked out before coming back here, the zombies are getting restless again.' said Jack.
Jack, Charlie and Nanci shared a look and Juan noticed it. 'What?' he asked, 'C'mon, what?'
'We-ell', started Charlie.
'No, let me', interrupted Jack, 'Juan, how many zombies tried to get through in the last couple hours you were out there by yourself?'
'Uh, none, they had all quieted down, which is why everyone went off to bed, they were just in the lobby if I need them though. Why?'
'You left and the zombies started in again.' said Jack.
'So? Could be the sun coming up or them noticing the movement, or maybe somebody made some noise. Could be anything really.'
'Yeah, I suppose it could. Let's explore that though, the anything could include you and that is what I want, no need, to talk to you about.'
Shrugging Juan said, 'So. Talk.'
'I, no, we, think it is you. The zombies don't seem to want to attack you and from what Charlie says something happened when you killed that super zombie yesterday, and, well, we don't know what else to say.'
'I don't think it is me.' replied Juan.
'Okay, so we have to convince you too, so we could try something, right? You wouldn't care?' asked Jack.
'Depends on what you wanted to try I guess.'
'How about you get close to a zombie and see what happens, see if it goes for you. Not unarmed or anything, I mean you keep your gun out and pointed at its head and we'll be there, but something happened and I think the zombies don't want you anymore, not for food anyway. Also we let Charlie check you out, you know, physically.'
Puzzled Juan, asked, 'Why? I didn't get bit or anything, they hardly touched me as it was.'
'Yeah, yeah, we know Charlie was there, Mary was there, they said the same things, but we should still check anyway.'
Sighing Juan said, 'If it will make you feel better, I guess. Look Jack, Nanci, Charlie, something did happened, I felt strange, sort of, not like superman or anything, just weird for a little while, the feeling went away, I got nothing now. Nothing unusual anyway.'
'Well, let us all check on that, okay?'
After he finished eating they headed back to the ER into one of the two rooms the group had elected to keep empty for emergencies, the rest of the rooms were occupied with men and women ready to spring to the defense if they were needed. Snores came out of several of the open doorways. Turning the lights on in the empty room Charlie gestured for Juan to hop up on the gurney. He checked Juan's pulse, listened to his heart and all but had him strip naked to look for scratches, bruises and injuries. He found nothing, all four of them were silent for a very long time, before Juan said, 'What? You didn't find anything, that is good right?'
Nanci said, 'Juan when you came back with Hank yesterday at the club, the car was a mess, you had bruises, you had some cuts from the glass. They are not there anymore.'
Juan thought about it, he didn't recall getting cut up or injured in the last couple of days, he had been living pretty rough and could remember the doc putting hydrogen peroxide on some cuts he hadn't noticed after they had arrived at the Mike's Club. Look himself over he didn't see any cuts, scraps or even half healed scabs where he thought there had been minor wounds. Nothing. He stared at them for a moment. Then said, 'Well maybe…' he shook his head, then said, 'Madre de Dios, what does this mean?'
No one answered him right away, then Jack spoke, 'Keep your mind open partner, lets go see how our zombie friends like you?'
Still shaking his head Juan followed the three to the ER exit and went towards the cars acting as a wall. The zombies were definitely more active now, they had started pressing around the cars trying to get in at the three humans defending the area.
Jack pointed to one side of the cars, 'You move over there Juan and the rest of us will get over on this side, don't do anything if you don't have to, okay, this is a test. Then again don't let them get too close either.'
Juan took up a position in front of a zombie that was clambering over one of the trucks, the zombie turned his head up and looked at him, or through him, and just slowed down, the effect was immediate and everyone noticed it. On the other side the group of five people was agitating the zombies even more, the monsters made haste in their efforts to get past the vehicles before any of their brethren. Of course fast is relative and the group was easily able to cut down any who led the pack. Meanwhile Juan's zombie just stopped in the bed of the truck. On his knees the middled aged man with bald head and green pants just waited, looking at Juan. Juan looked at him. A staring contest of sorts came about, the others put five zombies down while 'farmer green' just stood staring with Juan. Jack called out from where he was, 'Hey Juan, maybe get closer to him and see what he does?'
Juan stepped forward, the zombie did not move, but he did cock his head sideways, as if looking at Juan for the first time. His head remained at that odd angle when Juan took two steps back. The zombie stayed in the truck bed. Juan started talking to the zombie, 'Go away, leave us alone, get out of here.'
The zombie rolled over the other side of the truck's pickup bed wall and started shambling away. Charlie let out a whoop of delight, 'He is a zombie whisperer!' This brought a laugh from the others.
'Hey man, try it from there on the ones coming over the car on this side.' called Jack.
Juan turned towards the zombies and said 'Go away! Don't ever come back!'
Most of the zombies reversed course, one, just looked at Juan and hissed angrily in his direction. While it was distracted, Nanci took a step up and clubbed it with a round house swing that connected to the back of the thing's head. Juan took up a more central position along the wall and the zombies on the other side stopped actively coming towards the ER, they resumed their listless wandering and milling about.
The doors to the ER slide open and Ted came out followed by Sanchez and Thompson. Ted said, 'Good morning.' curtly and he and his men made their way out to the Humvee, killing a few zombies that were milling about as they went.
'Uh, good morning, ah Ted?' said Jack, 'What are you doing?'
'We are going to take the fifty caliber machine gun and set it up on the roof, we will get a good field of fire from there, practically unbeatable, plus we'll take the radio, I am not sure I want to turn it on, but if I do it will get
