stand beside the bed. 'These are pain killers, they will not knock you out or anything, we need you to be alert in case the zombies hit the bus, we will need every set of eyes we can get. Okay?'
Whitney took the pills, hoping she could trust the doctor. The group moved off and let her relax for a little while. After fifteen minutes she did feel pleasantly numb however when the time came to move it did, indeed, feel uncomfortable.
Chapter 29
When the helicopter landed there were a dozen people on the roof to meet them. It was a small helicopter, it only had three people inside and looked like it might carry six at the most. Hank and the group from the Mike's Club were not at the hospital yet, they were well on their way and reporting very little early morning activity, loading the bus had taken longer than everyone had thought, then there were a few unhappy people at the club who disagreed with who got to go on the bus and in the caravan that went along with it. Juan shrugged his shoulders, the quasi authority they had was just that, they didn't have a way to force people to do anything. His fantasies about building a better society with the survivors had taken a few hits recently, none were a worse blow than the near riot that Hank had to deal with just to get those people over to the hospital. In the end Hank calmed the crowd down by assuring them they should all be moved by the end of the day to the new facility except for a core group of volunteers who were going to be left in charge of defending the club and it's vast array of useful food and materials for the good of the group.
The helicopter wound down and as the blades slowly stopped the man in back opened his door and hopped out. He was Hispanic, which Juan had not suspected over the radio, plus what Hispanic parents name their kid 'Ed'? He approached Juan confidently and put out his hand.
'So are you the leader of this group then?'
'Ah, no, not really, I mean this group at the hospital, sure, but we got another guy really in charge, he is on his way, coming over from the club.' Juan answered.
'In a bus?' seeing Juan's nod, Ed continued, 'Okay good then, we saw a bus with some other vehicles coming this way from the air, the only vehicles moving, couldn't miss them. Shall we go inside?'
The pilot and co-pilot were getting out of the helicopter, Ed turned towards the dozen or so people and said in a raised voice, 'Okay people I am going to talk with Juan and we are going to wait for the guy you chose as a leader to get here to decide what we are going to do. We saw his bus from the air and he should be here soon. I gave my assistant' he pointed at the man whom Juan had assumed was the co-pilot, 'the information we have to share with you, so he should be able to answer all your questions. No holding back on anything either, ask and if we know, we will answer. Right now I am going to steal Juan away from you so we can talk before the other guy gets here.'
Lowering his voice he said to Juan, looking at Nanci, 'Your wife?' Juan nodded, 'She is not excluded, but I feel we need to show leadership here to get organized, we can't do that by committee. There has got to be a room we can use to meet right?'
'Oh yes the doctors had plenty of conference rooms, we have on set up, and there is a small auditorium we can use if we need to meet with everyone. We have coffee and food, if you or your men are hungry?' said Nanci.
'Sounds good, coffee is always welcome. Shall we?'
Juan led Ed and Nanci through the doors down to the conference room on the second floor. They spoke for about fifteen minutes before Hank showed up. Hank arrived with some hubbub, he was surrounded by people as he came up to the conference room door and he was having some difficulty getting into the room, not so much because the crowd was mobbing him, but because he was trying to get everyone's version of the last day's events at once. Finally Hank held up his hands and said, 'Okay, okay, this is not working, I have to go talk to the General or whoever he sent to speak with us. I will catch up with you people later. The bus is going back for a second run, we need to get some of you double checking the rest of the hospital to make sure it is safe. Most of the wounded are already here with this last load, I am sure we could use more help taking care of them too. I will try and speak to all of you if I can when you are working, if you don't know what you can do to help, just talk to Jack or Charlie, I am sure they can find something to keep you busy.'
After saying that Hank pushed the rest of the way into the conference room and closed the door behind him. Looking around in surprise he said, 'Oh. For some reason I thought there would be more people here, just the chiefs then, eh?'
Ed Stanson had stood up when the door opened, with Juan and Nanci mimicking his action. Approaching Hank Ed put out his hand and said, 'You must be Hank, I am Ed Stanson, of the 19th Special Forces Group.' shaking Hank's hand he continued, 'I am very pleased to meet you.'
'The pleasure is all my, er, General? Mr. Stanson.'
'Major, sir.' Ed replied.
Turning from Major Stanson Hank shook Juan's hand, then half embraced him before turning and hugging Nanci and saying, 'Keeping him out of trouble Nanci?'
'Si Hank, mostly, you hungry? The cooks made muffins, and we have coffee?'
Hank nodded to both and Nanci went and got him a plate, loading it up with two muffins and making him coffee from long practice the way he liked it. After all four of them had all the muffins and coffee laid out before them and were sitting down in the plush conference room there was an awkward silence. Finally they all started to ask questions at once, then broke into nervous laughter, the Major gestured for Hank to go first.
'Okay then, well what can you tell me about what is going on Ed? Or should I say Major?'
'Either is fine, I probably have more information about the overall situation in the region than you do, but so far as what is happening over all I am not sure you won't know as much as I do.'
Juan chimed in, 'Is there still a United State? Is help on the way out here?'
Ed looked at them and said, 'Of course there is a United States! As for help, we might be a bit lacking. The bomb this morning was supposed to get rid of the major problems in the area, we are, in a military sense, behind the front lines. Even given that most modern warfare philosophies would discount the term 'front line', that does best describe the situation. There were outbreaks of the enemy in Denver, LA, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, New York, and Miami. And that is just in the US, our data on the rest of the world is limited, it seems that every major land mass has had an outbreak, but not as many cities were hit as in the US, which points to us as the origins of the problem. The current thinking is the whole mess started somewhere in Florida, with hurricane Melony just easing up off the coast the area is a mess and communications are very bad.'
Hank said, 'Okay so you say we are behind the lines, are the zombies that organized?'
'Zombies? Right now we just refer to them as 'the infected', yes, they do have the characteristics of a horror film zombie. Are we behind the organized lines? I would have to say yes and no. There does seem to be some organization at some level, something or some one is directing attacks, like the one on the radio station, we have reports of what we have termed 'Super Infected', er 'Super Zombies' that seem to be the leaders and can control other less able members of the enemy, sometimes some of them even seem to have regained some of their memories and abilities to think. There are other reports as well, of almost, well, lets just say unexplained abilities.'
Juan nodded, so did Hank, the Major looked at them and went on, 'I see you might be able to confirm a few stories I have heard too. I have to tell you I have not been out yet, this is my first foray into the field to meet you guys. I have been sending out troops on reconnaissance patrols and to keep down any zombies that get close to the base. I have not seen any combat with these things, you guys have me beat there, I would bet, and any information you could give me would help. So far what I know is not good.'
'Yeah, okay, we can help with that, some of your boys had to get back from the radio station. I mean the guys that came in here said some made it back or were headed back?' asked Hank.
Shaking his head Ed said, 'Not as many as you might think, that was a clusterf..', Looking at Nanci, he
