up, but no bodies to go with it.
A bullhorn called out when the got within thirty feet.
“Alright that is close enough. All of you get out of the vehicles where we can see you, come out with your hands up and no weapons or we will use lethal force.”
Stewart stopped, but left the cruiser running, her and Tom slowly got out of the car and then let Kenny and Seth out, they kept Riley in the vehicle, but the dog was barking furiously.
“Okay slowly step away from the vehicles, raise your shirts up so we can see your waist band and turn around all the way around once.”
They all did this, “Now move together on the driver's side of the vehicles, you two in the front step back to the others. Good, okay I am coming out there for a visual inspection, but my men are going to cover me, so don't try anything.”
A dark haired African American with the bullhorn came around one side of the barricade, along with two other men, both had rifles aimed at the group. The man sat his bullhorn down on the hood of the police cruiser and stepped forward, “Is one of you a cop?”
“I am.” said Stewart.
“Where from?”
Stewart gestured at the car, which caused the men with rifles to tense up. “From Denver, that is my squad car.”
“Who are the rest of you?”
Slowly Stewart pointed at each of her companions in turn and said their names.
“How bad is it to the west of here?”
“Denver is not good, not many people left there and they dropped a nuclear bomb on the airport or somewhere close to it. We came through North Platte this morning, no one was there, just zombies. Highway eighty was full of wrecks so we checked a map and headed north to twenty and drove here this morning.”
“Where are you headed?”
“East, towards Iowa, we have some friends there.”
“Okay, okay good. Now I have to check each of you out before I can let you through. We don't have a lot of privacy here, so we will bring you to the local high school where we have set up a staging station to handle refugee processing. My name is Theodore Valence, Sergeant Theodore Valence. The army posted me here to watch traffic through town and they made the rules about who could pass through or not, so keep that in mind during the inspection.”
“We are not zombies.”
“I know that, but we have to check for bites and cuts.”
“We've all been through a lot these past few days Sergeant, I think everyone of us is cut up or hurt somehow.”
“Then we will take your temperatures and check you out in other ways, the infections don't take long to manifest themselves, you might have to stay the night, but we won't hold you up longer than that.”
“How are things further east?” Tom asked.
“There is a lot of fighting, but not as bad as you make Denver sound. Iowa seems to be stable. Most of the national guard troops from all the states around it have consolidated into one command and we are organizing to fight off the zombies as they come at us. We are holding them.”
Max let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding.
“Don't look so relieved, part of our organizing is recruiting new troops where ever we find them. From fourteen on up. Only men right now. I will have to talk to my commander and see what he wants to do with you. But only if you check out okay. Let's go.”
The group was brought to the local high school which was being used as a holding center. They were forced to shower in the school facilities and given clean bathrobes to wear while they waited their turn for inspection by local physicians who had been pressed into service and told what to look for by the army. The gym was divided by canvas walls just over six feet high that spanned the entire width of the room, obscuring the far exits. The examiners would yell 'Next' and the soldiers around them gestured to those still waiting to move forward one at a time. Even Riley was to be examined, Seth had her on a leash and the dog was strangely subdued. Through the canvas barrier they could hear other men and women laughing and talking in low voices on the far side of the gym.
“Think we will pass this thing?” asked Stewart.
“Yeah, it is obvious none of us are sick or infected. Amelia, weren't you with a woman who got bit too?”
“Yeah Max. She looked like she had a bad cold or the flu before she died. Got hot, then cold, then died.”
“Like Sarah, then. So we should be okay.” Max said nervously.
“Next!” rang out an authoritative male voice. The soldier at the curtain opened it up and moved to usher Kenny into the examination area.
Kenny looked at Max with concern on his face, “What do I do?”
“You gotta go with him and do what he says, he is just going to look you over, like at a doctor's office.”
“Oh boy.” muttered Seth.
“I don't like doctors!” Kenny moaned.
“No, you will be fine, really, they are just going to look you over.”
“C'mon please.” said the young soldier, “It will be okay.”
“I don't want to go alone!” wailed Kenny.
A uniformed Doctor appeared in the doorway, “What is the hold up?”
“This young man is nervous.” said the soldier, emphasizing 'young man'.
“Oh?” said the doctor, then he looked closer at Kenny, “Oh. Well, yes, one of you can come in with him and keep him calm then.”
“I'll go!” said Seth.
“No!” yelled Max, Amelia and Stewart all together, causing Riley to let out a growl.
“I will go.” Max said, “If that is okay with you Kenny?”
“Yeah, that would be okay. They won't shot me will they? I don't like shots.”
Max looked at the doctor, who shook his head slightly, “No I don't think they will, we should be fine.
Once inside the examination area the doctor asked Kenny his name and age and took Kenny's temperature and checked his heart beat and pulse. He then started to examine the young mans body, carefully going through his hair and looking behind his ears and in his eyebrows. Kenny laughed at that and asked, “Why are you looking all over me like that?”
“For cuts and other wounds. Anywhere the skin is broken could be an infection. I have to make sure you are not sick.”
“Oh, it tickles.”
“I will be more careful. Kenny, I don't want to tickle you. I have to look at you all over. So I need you to take off your robe now.”
Kenny giggled, “No, that would show my bathing suit area, I can't show you that!”
“Kenny I am doctor and I need to make sure you are healthy, haven't you been to the doctor before?”
“Yeah, he saw my butt, he poked it with a shot. I didn't like that.”
“Well I won't be giving you a shot today, but I will need to see you all over to make sure you are okay. You can hold your robe over your, ah, bathing suit areas, until I need to look there.”
“That is pretty thorough doc.” said Max.
“We have no choice, the sickness seems to enter in from the saliva of the…ah, 'zombies' and a bite mark could be anywhere, so we check.”
“What happens if there is an open cut or wound?”
“Then the patient goes into quarantine.”
