Pulse: Retaliation (Anisakis Nova Book 2) (14 page)

33 – Pvt. David Stewart

"A blonde walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm and a two-foot cucumber on the other," Barbie started.

Stewart cut him off. "She was naked."

"And it was a salami, not a cucumber," Norris added.

Barbie shrugged and sat back, not giving the guys the rest of the joke. Stewart knew there wasn't a punchline. He'd seen The Breakfast Club so many times he practically had it memorized.

They'd been joking since the ambush. If they weren't, they were silent. But when it was quiet, Stewart thought about the good men killed in that god forsaken building. He'd seen shit like that before, but not that bad. Not in his own country. Not in his own fucking home state.

Bloodbath.

They cleared two more hospitals since the ambush, even with their platoon of two squads.  If any man in his squad didn't have a personal vendetta against the infected, they did now.

Now they were waiting for Charlie Company to come hold the building. Gonzalez said there was a chance their platoon might join Charlie, but there was no way to know for sure. Stewart didn't mind the thought of it. There weren't many men in his squad. It would be nice knowing more people had his back.

"Okay, this one. A rabbi, a priest, and—"

"Shit, Barbie! You just told that one ten minutes ago."

Barbie looked to Stewart for validation. He shrugged. "Sorry, man. He's right."

Silence once again. Stewart looked around the room they were in. It was a break room for nurses. There was a vending machine they broke into and divvied up the loot. He had four Snickers and a dozen bags of Fritos. Didn't like either of them, but they'd do.

Stewart let his gaze fall over his squad. Outside, Norris and Gonzalez were watching the perimeter. Barbie was really the only one he ever talked to. Then there was Paulinsky, Newsom, O'Keefe, and Carew. They were all good men. Stewart wondered if he should talk to them more.

Somewhere in the hospital Lt. Otto was sending reports, trying to radio messages to higher up. Not doing any real work, that much was for sure. Carew or Newsom tried starting a rumor Otto didn’t have communication with higher, but Pratt shut it down the second he heard.

"I gotta take a piss," Stewart said as he stood. "Be right back."

The hospital was in good shape compared to others. The annies hadn't wrecked it too bad and didn't have an ambush ready for them. Mostly they cleared the rooms and took out a few in comas.

All in all, a good place to rest before they had to move out again. There were hospitals left in downtown and Capitol Hill they needed to address. If another squad joined them, they'd be able to execute those missions quicker.

Overhead lights on emergency power flickered on as Stewart walked down the hall, turning off as soon as he was out of range. It was eerie. Stewart didn't spook easy, but the farther he went the darker it got behind him.

He pushed the door open to the bathrooms. Stalls on the right, urinals left. Trail of blood from an old corpse in the last stall.

Stewart sighed as he relieved himself. His brain wasn't functioning quite right. He needed more sleep. A shower would be real nice. The moment of pure silence alone felt good.

He saw the door swing shut in the corner of his eye just before his face met the tile wall in front of him. Not wearing his mask, he felt the cold hard surface grind into his face.

Stewart flung his body backward, tossing his attacker off him. As he turned, he expected to see bloody eyes and the twisted expression of an infected. Instead it was a man, his age he guessed, wearing a blood stained white t-shirt and jeans.

While he wasn't an annie, he wasn't right. He lunged at Stewart again but, now in control, Stewart stepped to the side and used the man's momentum to shove him against the wall. Tiles cracked from the force.

In one swift motion, Stewart grabbed his left arm and twisted it up while kicking his right knee in. He went down, but wasn't going to stay that way long. He was strong and determined.

Stewart slapped one hand against his mic. "This is Stewart, we have hostiles in the fourth floor bathroom. Need backup!"

The man bucked and Stewart's grip loosened enough for him to break free. He threw a punch and his fist slammed against Stewart's forehead.

He staggered back as blotchy white bursts of light flooded his vision. With his fists up in a defensive posture, he was able to block another incoming blow.

Outside in the hall, footsteps echoed. The door burst open and Gonzalez bull-rushed the man to the ground. Otto, Norris, and Pratt came in next. By the time the rest arrived, the target was zip-tied to a urinal pipe. Otto ordered them to do another sweep on the fourth floor and secure it. They had eyes on the entrances. He must've been hiding the whole time.

Stewart was still blinking away the pain in his face and temple when Otto started questioning him.

"Why did you attack this soldier? Are you sick?"

No response. Pratt stepped forward. "Son, if you don't give me something we're leaving you here. Plain and simple."

This elicited a flicker of fear in his eyes. "You can't just
leave
me here."

Otto fidgeted and glanced at his watch. "Martial law."

Stewart knew he was bluffing. Although he wouldn't feel bad for leaving him since he tried to kill Stewart for no apparent reason.

"You're all trying to stop the inevitable. We are meant to be extinct," he said, spittle flying from his mouth as he spoke. "Every second we spend fighting is causing suffering for us!"

"Shi-it," Barbie howled. "This guy is fucking bonkers. One of those annie sympathizing lunatics."

Stewart heard of them before, but had never seen one. People who believed the annies should control the world or some other bull. He went to church and believed in Jesus and God and all that, but some of his cousins were crazy for it. They wouldn't talk to his family because they weren't devoted enough. On the off chance they did see them, they got into fights about how righteous they were. Stewart saw the same ferocious sense of righteousness in this man.

"I say we kill him right now, Sarge." This was from Norris, who began to lift his rifle for emphasis.

"
Newsom here. Fourth floor secured. Three hostiles found in supply room. We have them restrained. One might be a goner, sir.
"

"Bring them back here, Newsom," Pratt ordered. "Over and out."

"How many friends you have crawling around in this place?" Gonzalez crouched down beside the prisoner, speaking quietly. "Better if you tell us now."

No response.

"Fine by me. We've got three of them. We'll see what they have to say."

Newsom and O'keefe brought the new prisoners into the bathroom. Two were walking, but the third was dragged by Carew. There was a deep wound on the side of his head and it was seeping blood. The man appeared to be dead.

"Came at me with a knife, Sarge. I pistol whipped him and he went down." Carew dropped the body and stepped back. "Didn't hit him that hard."

The other two prisoners were a teenage girl and a middle aged man. The man hovered over the girl protectively. Daddy-figure boyfriend? Stewart didn't think so. Seemed paternal.

"They were crushing pills and trying to destroy medical supplies," Newsom explained while he tied one of the newcomers to another urinal.

Otto went to leave the bathroom. He shook his head. "Just a bunch of vandals. You four are part of the problem. Whoever is relieving us can deal with them. We might be moving south after this to pick up on clearing neighborhoods."

With that he was gone, uninterested in dealing with the issue. Otto'd been acting weird since the ambush, too. He just didn't seem to care anymore. Even less than usual. But Pratt was still there and never stopped doing his duty.

"O'keefe, Carew, I want you to do another sweep on the third floor,” Pratt ordered. “Newsom, go find Paulinsky and check the second. I'll take the first with Nor—"

"Please don't leave me!"

All eyes turned to the girl. The older man was staring at her in complete shock while the conscious man who attacked Stewart glared.

"Shut your damn mouth Becky, or I swear to god I'll cut out your tongue."

She whimpered, but held firm. "Dad, I'm sorry. I can't do this. I never believed any of it and I want out."

Yeah, crazies all right. Stewart was looking at a mirror of his cousin's family. The girl was genuinely desperate. He saw it in her eyes, in the panic when they were going to leave. It didn't help she looked like his sister when she was that age. He felt an impulse to help. Leaving her there wasn’t right.

Fuck.
What could he do about it? He wasn't going to march up to Otto and tell him what to do. He wouldn't even think about doing it to Gonzalez or Pratt.

The young guy started acting up again when Pratt pointed his rifle right at his face. "Let her talk."

"We've been doing this for weeks now, trying to make it hard for healthy people to survive. His church steals food and breaks things and all sorts of stuff to cause problems." Everything came out in a rush. Stewart could tell she was relieved to say it. How long had she been holding it in? "I never believed in it. He took me and my brother from mom because she didn't believe. I want to go back. Even if you just let me go now, and keep them here, I could find my way back. Please."

The girl, Becky, looked at each of the remaining soldiers one by one, but her gaze stayed on Pratt. She knew he was the one calling the shots now. Her companions were seething.

"Stewart, cut her ties."

He didn't question him. He lowered his rifle and retrieved his pocketknife, cutting her restraints. She stood on wobbling legs and looked anywhere but at her dad and the other men.

"You can stay here and wait for help if someone relieves us, but we can't take you anywhere. You're also welcome to leave. Understood?"

Becky nodded. "I'll leave. I can make it on my own."

"Come on then. Hallock, keep watch here. We'll have someone relieve you at 1700."

The squad dispersed to their respective tasks. Stewart had orders to take eyes on the roof with Gonzalez to watch for more of the crazies. As they walked down the hall, Becky stopped them.

"I didn't want to say it in there because my dad doesn't know I know." She lowered her voice. "There's a man who radios us instructions on what to do. I heard them talking last night. He's infected. I can tell by the way he speaks. He wanted us to come to Tacoma to join them. I don't know what he means by that exactly. Dad's church was on a suicide mission. They wanted everyone to cause chaos until their time came and they died or were infected, too."

Pratt shot Gonzalez a look. Stewart recognized it could be useful intel. It could be where they were taking healthies to.

"Thank you, ma'am," Pratt said. "Stewart, Gonzalez, this is you."

They were at the stairs to the roof. Stewart nodded at the girl. He was glad she had a chance and hoped she'd make it.

Twenty minutes later while he was on the roof, Pratt’s voice came to life in his ear piece.

"
Lock and load. We're going to Tacoma."

34 – Mandy Sillvers

Bodies pressed against each other as frantic cries and whispers spread through the group like bolts of lightning, pinging from one person to the next until dying out. Mandy was wedged between a wall and the crowd, doing her best not to faint.

The infected unloaded her and ten other people outside a decrepit hospital where they merged with about twenty others. They were corralled into the building quickly, their captors wielding guns or knives. The lobby of the hospital was big, but not nearly big enough to accommodate them all.

Going from eight months straight without seeing anyone directly to this was overwhelming. The prospect of death worsened it. A clammy sweat broke out across her body. In that moment, she would've taken the dark bunker over her current situation any day. At least then the threat of death was only in her mind.

The healthy people outnumbered the infected 2 to 1, but no one fought back. Some of the infected were impregnated with worms, their stomachs ready to pop. They were the guard dogs, held on leashes by others and paraded about to scare the uninfected. It was on everyone's mind as they watched them stalk the outer edge of the group; if even one of them popped it was over. Whether you were trampled or the parasite got you, or one of the infected, you were dead.

Mandy's hand pressed against the wall for stability. She stared at the floor. There was blood. Old and sticky, but blood. Were they going to kill them? That seemed a kind fate compared to what she knew they were capable of. They were in store for something worse; she felt it.

One of the infected was flipping through a TV mounted to the wall. Most of it was static, but he laughed as though it were the funniest thing he'd ever seen. He passed a news channel with the face of an infected, then flicked back to it. The man was doing some kind of broadcast, every word nonsense. A bleakness came over Mandy; it seemed like the infected were more in control than she'd anticipated. This was their world now.

"Has anyone seen my daughter?" a woman pressed by her, nearly knocking her to the ground. Mandy heard her voice fade as she asked the same question over and over.

"Someone shut her up!" a voice called out.

"Fuck lady, you're going to get us killed!"

There was a scuffle and the woman stopped shouting, then everyone was silent. The silence was almost worse than the panic.

Mandy shifted around until she got a vantage point to look through the crowd. Coming from two double doors with a faded sign marked Emergency Room was a man in a white suit and mask. Behind him was another wearing a lab coat splattered in blood.

An infected ran to the lab coat man, with his head down. She recognized him as the old man with the pointed teeth. "Dr. Baker, these are our latest finds. Good. Goody good finds!"

The man, Baker, snarled. His hand was a blur as he reached out and slapped him hard, sending the infected's body to the ground. He didn't stop there, but kicked him in the side over and over. The meaty thud of his foot connecting with flesh made Mandy feel sick.

"This is all? What am I supposed to do with this!" he shouted, gesturing to the group. "Look at this. Pathetic, fucking pathetic!"

The masked figure leaned over and whispered something to him. The crowd was pressing back from the scene and Amanda felt her back bump flush against someone behind her.

"No, Henderson, you stupid fuck. I can tell these are weak, these are useless." Baker's arm began twitching, then fully swinging about as though he had no control. He used his hand to steady it, but it only frustrated him more. "We will never get a strong mutation without strong stock."

"Dr. Baker, please calm down," Henderson said, his voice loud enough for the crowd to hear. "I know you're upset, but it's harder to find uninfected these days. The military is taking the upper hand."

"DON'T TELL ME THAT!" Adam's voice made the other infected cower almost as much as the healthies surrounding Mandy. He turned around and grabbed an assault rifle from a nearby infected guard. "Useless. Useless!"

Gunfire roared. She heard bullets thudding as each round hit a body. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. They had nowhere to run, nothing they could do.

A round grazed her arm. The crowd pressed against her, suffocating her. Bodies dropped around her. The infected were laughing despite one of their own being slaughtered by the man. Someone sang the words to
Like a Virgin
.

Then she was being jostled as people tried to escape, her frame too small against the violent crowd. Mandy felt someone shove her, then another and she was down, trampled by the horde.