The Hospital

[Black Philip]

Alex turned off the keys to the  96' Jeep Cherokee. It was a good car, far better than anything else she'd driven in her life. It wasn't pretty but it put out as her fiance used to say. She took the briefest moment to check her reflection in the rearview mirror. Big, green, unmade eyes and young but slightly blotchy skin stared back at her, a sign that makeup had not been applied. Appearances were the least thing she worried about these days, what with the whole zombie apocalypse thing going on. Despite her unmade eyes, and blotchy skin, Alex still took time each day or so to comb her hair. It was getting long since not having it cut in several months, however, she could not bring herself to cut it. She could have easily taken a razor to it and made a very practical cut, but her hair had always been precious to her, and having a poor hair cut was a step too far towards the end of civilization, in her mind anyway.

She turned to the passenger seat and saw the reason for their next visit, sitting quietly with his eyes closed. Alex took a hand and ran it through the mop of red hair on the kid's head. She discovered by doing this that he was asleep, and she felt mighty guilty about waking him up. She unlocked the door and stepped out landing on the cracked pavement with a thud from her leather boots.

She pulled a knife from under the seat and slid it into a holder latched to her belt. Alex shut the door and went around to the back where she opened up the far door and pulled out a .28 gauge Remington 870 pump action shotgun with an additional two magazines. She placed the magazines on her belt clips that had been designated for such a thing and slung the shotgun across her back with the strap running between her breasts. She was wearing a tank top for comfort and practicality. She grabbed two nine millimeter handguns and placed one in each hip holster, also attached to her belt. To finish accessorizing her outfit, she grabbed a fireman axe and held it as her chosen hand weapon. After going over her gear one more time, she went and nudged a sleeping Christian.

While he woke, Alex looked at the dark and ominous hospital before her. It was a brown building, made almost entirely out of brick. It was about fifteen stories high, and each room had rusted iron bar windows with partially broken glass. The thin outline of a white roof could be seen if you squinted really hard, and a flagpole with no flag rested at the tip top like a broken down beacon. The parking lot was big, but empty other than the jeep. A few abandoned ambulances lay near the cracked and open emergency room doors but other than that the place was deserted. The wind was dead. The sun was hot, and Alex's face began to sweat from the heat. She was nervous. It was too quiet. There were no zombies shuffling about. They were on the outskirts of L.A. and Alex hadn't seen a walking dead for ten to fifteen miles. Something was not right, and that made Alex wary. She went to the back again and grabbed a nature valley bar and bit into it while the boy readied himself. It was his fault they were here anyway. Alex ate the bar fast. She wanted to get this over with.

"Ready kid?" she asked. She began walking without waiting for an answer. It was the nerves...             

[CowboyBlonde]

Christian’s eyes popped open and he found himself staring into a bathroom mirror.  He was clean and his normally tussled red hair was neatly pushed to the side.  He was wearing a white polo and a pair of khaki pants.  Then it came to him, his parents were taking him and his sister to The Olive Garden, one of his many favorite restaurants.  Even though they were on vacation, his family still stuck to going to the chain places, just to be safe.  Christian smiled as he stared at himself.  With one blink, everything changed.  Suddenly his white shirt was streaked with blood.  His eyes widened and he look down at his hands discovering that they were covered in blood as well.  He quickly turned on the faucet and scrubbed as hard as he could, but nothing was happening.  Then he heard a scream.  He quickly ran to the bathroom door and opened it, only to be hit with an unbearable smell of rotting flesh.  All he could hear was a heavy rain hitting the glass of the windows.  The room was dark, he couldn’t see a thing until lighting flashed and lit up the hotel room.  His sister lay dead to his left with the flesh of both arms chewed to the bones.   To the right side of the room his Father was separated in two halves against the wall.  Christian’s breathing became heavy.  The lightning flashed again and he saw his mother standing in front of him at the head of one of the two beds.  She was bloody, like Christian.  She held out one of her arms toward her son.  “Help me.” She whispered.  Christian clenched his jaw, he wanted to run to her so badly but he was too afraid.  In the next moment a hand reached out from under the bed and grabbed his mother by the ankle and pulled her into the darkness.  Her screams were so loud that Christian had to cover his ears.  His smashed his eyes shut, wishing everything would go away.  Then the screaming stopped and he slowly opened his eyes to a clean, empty hotel room.  The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.  He dropped his hands from his ears and took a step forward. “Mom?”  He jumped as the front door slammed open and a sea of the undead poured into the room running straight towards him.  All he could do was scream.

Christian’s eyes flew open and he gasped as if coming up for air the second he was about to drown.  Alex’s nudge had taken him out of his nightmare. And he was completely grateful for it.  He squinted, helping his eyes adjust to the bright sun.  He had fallen asleep while it was still dark.  He sat up and looked around, noticing a large building and an empty parking lot.  They had finally found a hospital.  He observed Alex equipping herself with items they had found along the way.  Christian stepped out of the car and was hit with a rise in temperature.  He was still in the same clothes Alex found him in, only dirtier.  The duo had yet to find any running water to clean up with and they had run out of wet naps about a week ago, Though Christian didn’t mind being dirty.  He always used to complain about taking showers back home when his mom would force him to every night.  Sometimes he’d lie and tell her that he already took one, just to get out of it. 

“Yeah I’m ready.” Christian yawned as he stretched his arms in the air.  Christian followed her a few steps behind, rubbing the crust from his eyes.  With all of the empty spaces in the parking lot, he wondered why she didn’t park closer.  “I hope there’s a doctor in there that can fix this.”   He was still naïve as to what was happening around the world.  Christian looked down at his infected hand.  About two weeks ago he and Alex were searching through some abandoned cars on the highway.  Christian had found a basketball in one of the backseats and started dribbling it toward Alex.  He was so focused on the ball that he hadn’t noticed the cluster of scrap metal in front of him that he eventually tripped over and slashed his right palm on a sharp rusty edge.  He didn’t cry, although he wanted too, but he didn’t want Alex to find out.  He cleaned up the blood with a dirty rag from the backseat of their jeep and wrapped it around his hand.  When Alex had asked him about it, he simply said he was wearing it because he thought it looked cool.  Three days ago he noticed black lines coming from under the cloth.  He unwrapped his hand in the passenger seat while Alex was driving.  What looked like black veins were coming out of the yellow-green gash on his palm.  Alex deemed it infected and insisted they find a hospital.  Christian didn’t want to tell her because he thought she’d get mad, now he felt guilty.

Christian picked up the pace and caught up to alex who seemed to be in a hurry.  “Did you know that medical malpractice is one of the leading causes of death in the US?”  Christian said looking up at Alex, “It’s true, I read it.”  It was one of the reasons Christian hated going to the doctors, and the fact that he was afraid of needles.

The doors to the emergency room were opened slightly.  Christian squeezed through after Alex.  The room had a slight chill to it.  The room looked as if a tornado had just passed through.  File cabinets were toppled over and papers were spread across the floor.  Beds and chairs were flipped.  Broken glass was everywhere.  Then Christian saw it.  Blood was splashed across the left wall, behind the reception desk.  Christian inched toward Alex, trying not to let fear take over.  “So…what ah we looking for?”

[Black Philip]

The erie quiet made Alex on edge. She stepped through the ajar doors and took an initial look. Blinking lights, and knocked over gurneys littered the hallway. There were several doors and passageways that led to all different parts of the hospital. She stepped in holding her axe at striking level, just in case of any surprises. The room was so silent that when Christian spoke it actually startled Alex. She let out a slight gasp and shook a little in her boots before turning to the boy.

"Sorry," she said embarrassed.  If it wasn't for your stupidity we wouldn't be here in the first place, she thought with a little disdain. She wasn't truly angry, but being mad was easier than being scared, which in Alex's mind was the only alternative.

"We're looking for a doctor or nurse preferably," she said in a matter of fact tone. She tried to mask her earlier fright by being her usual commanding self now. "But if we find a good shot of penicillin thats cold and stuff I can probably figure out how to stick you with it."

The truth was Alex had no idea how to do such a thing. Did it go in the arm or the butt? How much was enough? How did it work? All of these were mysterious to this shooting happy Texas girl. They needed a professional. She only hoped there was one around.

"Just stay close," she ordered. "Oh, and don't touch anything," she added with a little needed force. She ran her free hand through the boy's hair and smiled at him. It was the closest thing she could do to saying that she cared about him. Right now she didn't want to get to close. The infection looked bad.     

[CowboyBlonde]

Alex’s use of words were a little too violent for Christian’s liking, surly he didn’t enjoy being stuck with needles.  If they did find a doctor or even penicillin, he wasn’t looking forward to the needle part.  “Aw man!” Christian was just about to touch the leaf of a plant before Alex commanded not to touch anything.  Sometimes his curiosity would get the best of him.  “How am I suppose to look for the penici…pencila….peni…whatever it is, if I can’t touch anythin!” Christian whined.  He shoved his hands in his pockets in order to stop them from wondering.  This was only his second time ever being in a hospital.  When he was 10 his older sister broke her wrist from falling off her bike that summer.  Christian had a blast playing with the latex gloves that he found in a box by the sink in her room.  The way this hospital looked was much different than the way he remembered the hospital looked back in Boston.

Christian started to walk around the mess, looking for anything that he thought might help.  He never let Alex leave his sight.  He wanted to stay close, only because he wasn’t allowed to carry a weapon yet.  If one of those things popped out anywhere he would be close enough to Alex to stay safe.

Christian walked towards the reception desk, figuring there was a phone that might work.  The closer he got the more he could smell the blood that was thrown against the wall behind the desk.  He turned around to make sure Alex was close by, she was.  Christian came around to the back of the desk and almost slipped in a puddle of blood.  He looked down to find a woman wearing white nurse scrubs face down in a sea of her own blood. The top of her head was ripped off, causing her brains to spill out onto the floor.  Christian gasped and quickly tightened his eyes shut, trying to erase the image from his head.

The boy took a slow breath and inched his eyes open, looking around the desk.  He spotted a phone but needed to walk through the woman’s blood to reach it.  The stench was incredible.  Christian held his breath and stepped through the red puddle until he reached the phone.  He quickly picked up the receiver and placed it to his ear, readying his fingers to dial, but there was no dial tone, just silence.  He sadly placed the receiver back down on the desktop.  Who would he have called anyway?  “Nothing.” He spoke out, not knowing if Alex would hear him, or even realize what he was referring to.  Suddenly there was a crash at the end of the north hallway.  It sounded like something metal falling to the floor.  Christian jumped in his skin and started to run for Alex, forgetting about the puddle of blood.  His sneaker slid through the puddle and he fell backwards onto the floor with a thud.  The woman’s blood coated his arms and back.  “Ugh, gross!”  Christian quickly tried to push himself up but only slipped again.  Finally he was able to latch onto the desk and use it for leverage.  His shoes found traction again on the dry tile and he ran to Alex.  “Did you hear that?” He asked in huff breaths, covered in blood.

[Black Philip]

Alex heard the crash, and readied her axe in response."Get over here quickly," she commanded. She held her voice just above a traveling whisper and indicated her side with the axe. After she was sure Christian was behind her, she slowly began walking towards the north hallway. She looked at the nurses station with little emotion. She'd seen much worse at the hands of zombies, and her threshold for shock was high. However, even she felt a twinge of fear at what the north hallway could hold. Another loud bang was heard, but this time Alex didn't jump. She grew quiet, like a mouse. She held out her hand and made eye contact with Christian. She whispered "Stay put," and with that she crept towards the doors that led into the next room in the hallway.

She opened the door with the light touch of fingers and took in the room. It was a lobby that connected the Emergency Room to the main building of the hospital. It was sterile in appearance, like a white glove with a pulse. However, now it was dirty with dust. Potted plants lay dead and soil covered some of the floor. Lights flickered and broken glass crunched under Alex's feet as she walked into the room. She scanned, looking for the source of the noises. It didn't take long. A woman zombie, dressed in the clothes of an orderly kept walking into a pair of metal doors that obviously had something she wanted on the other side. Zombies were too stupid to realize that the door was there, but were perceptive enough to know something alive they wanted was on the other side.

This red flag told Alex at least one thing. There was at least one living person on the other side of those doors, and that one person could be the difference between Christian's life or death. She kept up her stealthy approach, unsure if the boy had followed against her orders. Just as she was within a few feet of the zombie, the woman turned and saw her. She leaped for Alex with a blood curtailing scream but Alex was ready, and the axe made short work of her. Alex made sure to hit at the brainstem and not the neck, as a hit to the neck would have left a bitting, thrashing zombie head. The body fell with a thud. Alex wiped the blood off the axe using the woman's clothes.

Now to open that door, Alex thought.       

[CowboyBlonde]

Christian watched as Ale approached the hallway, his breath was still heavy.  Christian spotted a bed that had been overturned in the hallway.  He crept behind Alex, keeping a few feet away, hoping she wouldn’t notice because he was asked to stay put.  He reached the bed and tugged the white blanket from underneath until it came free.  Quickly he tried wiping away from the blood from his arms and neck. Now he’d really need a shower.  The majority of the blood was gone by the time Alex reached the end f the hallway, though it had stained some parts of his skin. 

Alex was about fifty feet away now, creeping up on her latest victim.  Christian pulse began to rise as she inched closer to the beast trying to push itself through the doors.  Christian stepped forward a few feet, readying himself to run to her when she gave the all clear.  He stopped in front of an open door of a patient resting room.  At his feet, a large plant had been toppled over, the soil spread across the tile as well as shards from the glass pot that held it all. 

Christian jumped in shock as the woman threw herself at Alex with an intense shriek.  At the same moment a large crack came from behind Christian.  He spun on his heels to see that the doors they came in had been slammed shut by a gust of wind.  His heart calmed for a quick moment before he was taken to the ground.

A girl around the same age had sprung from the open door and tackled Christian to the floor.  Christian’s body slid against the dirt covered floor as he tried stop the girl from biting him.  Both hands were grasped against the girl’s throat, keeping her at bay.  Christian let out a scream at her terrifying face.  Her lips had been completely rotted away and her yellow-red teeth were exposed, chomping at the air.  She was wearing a stained hospital gown that was slipping off her shoulder.  Her hair was stringy and long, and matted into clumps in some spots.  Her eyes were filled with rage as she continued to bite Christian’s face. 
Christian leaned his head back to see an upside down view of Alex chop off the orderly’s head.  He gave one more scream.  He wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold of this thrashing girl.  He turned his head to the side to avoid her spit.  Then he spotted a thick jagged shard with a sharp edge from the plant’s pot.  With his left hand he quickly grabbed it.  Luckily his right arm was the stronger of the two, but he winced because his infected palm was being pressed into the girl’s neck, shooting a bolt of pain up his arm. 

It was Christian’s eyes that filled with anger now, with his loudest war cry and swung his left arm u and impaled the girl’s temple with the thick shard.  The blood practically spurt across the room like a squirt gun, as well as covering the side of his face as he tried to dodge it.  Finally his right arm gave out and the girl’s body fell lifeless on top of him.  He didn’t have any energy left.  “Alex help me!” He screamed.

[Black Philip]

Alex went and helped Christian. She was furious at the little varmint for following her when she told him to stay behind. She checked him for bites and scratches and found him unharmed. A wave of relief passed over her and she sat on the white tile floor, the dead girl now toppled over. She'd  forgotten about the door.  She decided that instead of yelling and screaming, which is what she wanted to do, she'd try a little humor.

"This is why we don't follow me when I say don't follow me," Alex said. "Otherwise zombie children will fall on you."

If Christian laughed, she'd laugh.

[CowboyBlonde]

The weight of the dead girl on Christian’s small chest was almost too much to bear.  Thankfully Alex came to his rescue and Christian sucked in a dramatic amount o air as if a boulder was just removed from his chest.  He sat up and Alex started to move his head and arms around checking for wounds, like something a mother would do.  “I’m fine.” Christian stated, pushing her hands away from him.  Whatever blood was caked to his skin wasn’t his. 

With Alex’s comment, Christian’s eyebrows pushed together, wishing she would stop talking to him as if he was a baby.  But her next remark lightened his face and he let out a small giggle as he looked down at the dead girl.  He stood up, for the fear of her coming back alive still lingered in the back of his mind.

“So…was anyone there, behind the door? Did you find a doctor?” Christian asked with hope replacing the fear in his eyes.

[Black Philip]

In all the excitement, Alex had forgotten about the door with it's slim chance at hope for young Christian. She moved towards it, finding it sealed and inoperable. The frame reminded her of a panic room of some sort. Ale had heard that many hospitals had such rooms in case of shootings or tragedies. It appeared that they had found one. She tapped on the door and heard the reverberation of steel. After a moment she heard a tapping noise from the other side.

Tap. Tap.

Alex let out a breath and turned to Christian. "It looks like somebody's in there," she said with a smile. "Maybe it's a doctor."

She wasn't hopeful. Knowing her luck it was just more zombies who'd been trapped on the other side. She decided to test that theory. She knocked on the door in the a rhythmic pattern.     

Tap. Tap.. Taptaptap..... Tap.

She waited until she heard her pattern repeated. Excitement filled her body and she began to call for help.

"Hey I got injured here," she yelled. After a pause she heard a faint voice mutter "Is it zombie based?" This person was smart. Alex responded almost instantly. 'That's a negative, it's a non zombie based wound."

She waited for what felt like forever. She turned and looked at Christian with hopeful eyes. 

[CowboyBlonde]

When Alex looked back at Christian, she had an expression on her face that he had never seen her with before.  It was an actual expression of joy and hope.  This fueled the fire inside of Christian and he quickly hurried to occupy the space next to her in front of the door.  There was a smile on his face too when he heard the voice coming from the other side, though he couldn't make out if it was a man or a woman.

"Please." Christian yelled into the steel with a chipper tone. "We could use some help out here, and some food if you have any."  Christian's stomach then began to growl as if on cue.  The bags of chips and snacks that they had acquired from the gas station had worn thin a couple miles back.  Christian heard a mechanical noise and looked up toward the corner of the hallway and noticed a camera turning to stare at them.  Christian simply smiled into it's lens, guessing that whoever was behind the door was watching them.  Suddenly the steel made a clicking sound and the door popped open.

[Black Philip]

The door swung open indeed and Alex held her weapon at the ready in case of attack. She was a wry sort of girl by nature, but with Zombies on the prowl she wondered how long until humans became the real monsters. Out of the open door came a man dressed in scrubs. He was tall, black, and bald. He had dark chestnut eyes and an agitated although very handsome face. He wore white work sneakers and a plastic cord tied around his waist to keep his scrub bottoms from falling. He had a scruffy, unkempt beard that needed attending.

"What is da issue," the man said with an accent that sounded Caribbean.

"The boy has an infection," Alex stated, while at the same time grabbing Christian and pushing him forward. "We're also tired and without food or water and our gas is running low."

It really did sound like a laundry list, but what was Alex to do? They needed help, and she preferred asking all at once as opposed to one request at a time.

[CowboyBlonde]

Before his small child brain could process what was happening, he felt himself being pushed forward.  Alex held onto Christian's shoulders, holding him in front of her.  Christian looked up at the tall black man with his best puppy dog eyes.  The man simply looked left, then right, then into the room behind him.  He sighed and finally looked down at Christian.  "Fine." he said quickly,  "Get inside."  The man stepped aside and let the boy pass, holding onto to Alex's hand, leading her in.

The man dressed in scrubs quickly closed the door as soon as they were inside, locking it with four different latches.  Christian looked around the room in awe.  This was some sort of panic room.  The whole space was bright and white.  One wall was filled with TV monitors, looking over most of the Hospital.  Cool.

There were a couple different doorways that led off the main white room.  In another corner was an older man lying on a gurney.  He was hooked up to all kinds of machines, one was beeping along with his heart beat.  Another was pumping air into his lungs.  For the first time in weeks, Christian felt safe again, in a naive way of course, not knowing who these people were.

Before Christian could turn to Alex for her reaction, an older woman with lines on her face and grey hair knelt down and hugged Christian tight.  "Oh my! One of God's precious children! How wonderful!" The woman wore  a long purple dress that covered her completely.  A beaded rosary hung around her neck, as well as another necklace with a gold and silver cross.  Christian was very confused, the woman smelled of bad floral perfume and rubber gloves.  He also noticed a bible on the floor next to her that she must have plopped down before embracing him.

Then another man came into the main room from one of the door openings, He was white, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, in his early 40's.  His beard also needed to be trimmed.  He had a pistol in his hand but for now it was pointed at the ground.  "Alice!" he yelled. "Get off of him, he could be infected!"

"Oh nonsense!" She sputtered back, turning her head towards the white man, "The Lord would never take a child like that."  She smiled now, touching Christian's face.  The boy's eye's pointed at Alex, unsure of what to do.

[Black Philip]

"Hands off lady, you'll smother him, " Alex snapped, placing her body in between Christian's and lady bible thumper's. Alex had nothing for contempt for this woman. How, after all that happened, could this woman believe in God? Alex had seen children younger than Christian tear open people and devour their insides. This woman was naive to the tenth degree.

"Well I was just-" began the woman before the man holding the gun said, "Leave him be woman, Goddammit!"

"All of you move out of ma way," came the man in scrubs.

"You a doctor," Alex asked, while at the same time giving him access to Christian's infected arm. 

"I'm a Nurse Practitioner."

Alex scoffed. "A male nurse?"

"You want to argue wit me or you want me to help da boy?"

"Alright, alright," Alex said, removing herself so the nurse could get to work.

"You're a very rude young woman," Alice said, shooting Alex a hateful stare.

"And you have wrinkles," Alex retorted. "See I can say obvious things too."

Alice's scoff wasn't heard over the man with the pistols laughter. 

[CowboyBlonde]

The male nurse led Christian to a cart on wheels, filled with a miscellaneous supply of medical tools and bottles.  The laughter of the burly man with pistols had died down.  Alice picked up her bible and was now standing by the old man lying on the gurney.

"Are you going to help me?' Christian said with innocent eyes.  For a moment he pictured his Mother, bandaging his knee after he fell off his bike.  She had always been his nurse, until now.

"I'ma try ma best." The nurse said with a calm smile.  You could tell he had worked with children before.  He got down on his knees to better assess Christian.  Even on his knees he was still taller than the boy.  "Now, let us see what we dealin wit." The bald man lifted Christian's hand.  The man in flannel stood a few feet away, looking on suspiciously.

The nurse slipped on a pair of rubber gloves before touching the makeshift bandage wrapped around Christian's hand.  The thing was covered in dry blood.  After a few twirls, the bandaged was released.  Christian winced, due to the fact that the cloth had stuck to his flesh like glue.  The nurse stared at the deep slash through Christian's palm, it clearly needed stitches.  The infection was worse as well.  The outer edge of the gash had turned a corm yellow color.  And the inside was coated with black crust.  And the black lines moving up his forearm from the wound seemed to stretch longer than they were the night before.  Christian could barely stand to look at it.  He knew it hurt but he had forgotten about it, and seeing it now made him want to cry. 

The nurse's focused was interrupted by the sound of a click.  He turned to see the man in flannel pointing the barrel of his pistol right at Christian.  He had it cocked and ready to shoot.  Christian tensed up, he had never stared a gun in the face. 

"I told you!" The burly man screamed. "That kid is infected."

"NO!" The black man jumped to his feet and pushed Christian behind him. "Denny, This is not a bite."

Even with that bit of information Denny didn't lower his weapon.

[Black Philip]

Alex threw down her axe and pulled out her two handguns, pointing both at Denny. Alice screamed a little and ran from the room, calling for someone unknown group members to provide assistance. Denny heard both of Alex's guns rack and tilted his head towards her. He strangely smiled at her, which made the girl uneasy. Was this guy insane?

"Lower them missy," he warned. "You don't know how use those things."

Alex frowned deeper than before. She was so tired of men thinking she was a bad shot just because she was a woman.

"Trust me buddy, at this range I'm fucking Annie Oakley with these handguns and even at a distance I'm still a God damn surgeon with a firearm. Unless you want to find out I suggest you lower your gun."

"Well it looks like we got ourselves a Mexican stand off sweetie, because I'll be dammed if I let that shit die and become a biter. I've kept this group together for months and I'll kill him and ten just like him if it means keeping us alive."

Alex had never killed a living human in her life. However, now it was something she was seriously considering. She was unsure why she cared so much for Christian as to kill another man to save him, but there she was, guns at the ready. She knew that if this guy even looked like he would pull the trigger she'd fire.

"He isn't a biter man," the male nurse said again," his arms up in a flanking position to try and get Denny's attention. He turned his head to Alex.

"And you, you're a bit new here to be pointing guns and making threats. Don't make it so I can't treat your brother, miss."

My brother.

A pain filled Alex's heart. Bryant was likely dead, and although she cared deeply for Christian, he would never fill the void left by her little baby brother. Maybe that was why she cared so much for him. Maybe she was saving Bryant. A long beat passed where nobody moved and nobody said a thing. Guns remained pointed, stances remained defensive.

Alice ran back into the room with a young, blonde man of around twenty-three. He was about as L.A. as any person Alex had ever seen. He wore a sleeveless T-shirt and cargo shorts. For practicality he wore sneakers, but his tan skin and muscular frame suggested that he was barefoot on the beach more than he ever wore shoes. He had a bandana in his long hair to keep it out of his eyes, and had the lightest blonde beard she'd ever seen. His eyes were a deep brown and his face was stunning. He carried a long bow with a cocked arrow, and a quiver laid across his back, fully stocked with hunting arrows.

"Denny you stupid fuck," growled the blonde man. "If DeShawn says he's not bit, can we, I don't know, trust the only living medical opinion we had instead of pointing a hand cannon at him."

His voice was slow and relaxed and Alex smelt weed all over him. His eyes were bloodshot. He'd clearly just smoked. Denny turned to Alex and gave her a menacing look. It was a look that clearly said, "we'll finish this later." Alex returned one of her own, her eyes narrowing and her mouth forming a horrible grimace. Denny lowered the handgun and clicked on the safety. He placed it in his jeans behind his back and moved himself towards the back wall, hands crossed over his chest.

"Looks like it's your lucky day sweetheart," Denny growled.

"Suck a dick, asshole," Alex said in a whisper before clearing and holstering her own weapons. The blonde stoner approached DeShawn who was still standing with what Alex assumed was a very scared Christian behind his back.

"What do you need," he asked in a casual tone.

"This is pretty bad. It may have gone to the bone. I need IV antibiotics. We have some in the freezer. After dat, he'll need two weeks worth of azithromycin. He'll need to stay here so I can monitor his progress."

Alex decided she liked this male nurse, DeShawn. He knew his shit and he really seemed to care about Christian. She felt like he was one she could trust. The blonde man turned to Alex.

"Well something tells me if you're brother is staying you won't be leaving him will you?"

"No I won't," was all Alex could say.

"Well how about we try being friends then instead of pointing guns at each other? I'm Lucas."

He restocked the arrow and held out his right hand. Alex shook it.

"I'm Alex."