"What's wrong with my mother?" was Sam's first question. They were safe for a few minutes, and if they had any supplies other than medical ones, Sam would have been tempted to hang a sheet out a window and wait for help. She had looked out that window, though, and the zombies were no longer just inside the hospital. There was no telling how long it was going to take authorities to get to finding survivors.
Sam did take a minute, though, to assess everyone in the room, and the only one that didn't seem alright was her mother. Alexis was sitting on the bed, whispering to herself. She looked at Jason and asked again, "What's wrong with my mother?"
"Our best guess is shock," Jason told her, his voice soft. It was his comforting voice, the one that said he'd have had a great bedside manner if he had actually gone on to become a doctor. "She was fine, at first. She called Jax, and she was oddly calm when she talked to him. It was like she was in court, laying down the facts. She hung up the phone, and she started doing that."
"I heard her a little in the beginning," Elizabeth said. "I think she's trying to talk herself out of there being, um…" Her voice trailed off. Sam could understand. It was pretty hard to accept that there were zombies out there. Sam hadn't even believed it until she had to kill a few. "She's trying to figure out how this could logically be happening."
"And, if it's not logical, then it's not happening." Sam groaned. "Great. My mother's turning into a Vulcan." Disbelieving eyes turned on her. "What? I dated a Trekkie once." She shrugged, and turned back to her mother.
"We don't have time for this, Sam," Lucky told her. "We have to get everyone out of here."
"I know, I know." She ran her free hand through her hair. Her other hand still held a tight, but somewhat sweaty grip on her gun. "I'm supposed to be taking everyone to Spoon Island. When the explosion first happened, I figured Nikolas was just appeasing his wife. Now…" She sighed. "It's the safest place we can be."
Sam looked at each of the others. Lucky was at the door, his hand on the knob. He held his hand out and Elizabeth took it. They were ready to get out of there. Jason looked at her and he looked… relieved. Probably because of Spoon Island being safe. His sister was there, the aforementioned appeased wife. He had a lot more people to be worried about than Sam did. She figured that Emily had called AJ, and he was with Jax all the time, so Jax was alright. Stefan didn't need anyone worrying about him and when Sam did, she felt like she should be ashamed, that she was underestimating him. Nikolas and family were already on Spoon Island. That only left Kristina and Alexis.
Sam took in a deep breath and approached her mother. She knelt down in front of Alexis and put her hands on her knees. Sometimes, Sam didn't know how to treat the relationship she had with her mother. Sometimes, it was hard for her to even think of Alexis as her mother. Now, though, it wasn't nearly as hard as it had been.
"Mom?" Alexis's lips were moving, but she was whispering so softly, barely even speaking, Sam couldn't hear her. "Mom." Her eyes lifted. Her lips kept moving, but she was at least looking at her. "Where's Krissy?"
Alexis blinked. "Kristina… She's at Wyndemere. She's playing with Spencer."
Sam exhaled her relief. Now, she only had one person to worry about. "We have to get out of here, Mom. It's not safe."
"It's perfectly safe."
"Okay," Sam said slowly, "it may be safe, but it's not practical. We don't have food and the only water is from the bathroom. Besides, Nikolas wants us all on Spoon Island where it's safe. There aren't any zombies there."
"There are no zombies here, either," Alexis told her. Her voice was steady. "There are some very sick people, and when this is all over, I am prosecuting Sonny Corinthos as a menace to society. He has made all of these people—"
"They're zombies, Mom," Sam said, cutting her off. Emily would have been better at this. She was a calm person, and more than that, she was a patient person. Sam looked behind her. Elizabeth was patient. She was a nurse. They didn't have time for patient people, though. They needed to get the hell out of there before the zombies were so thick in the streets that they didn't have a way out.
"There's no such thing as zombies, Sam."
Sam took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she turned her attention back to her mother. "I just shot Ephiphany in the head while she was eating on a patient, Mom. Then, Lucky and I shot our way to you. You wanna tell me now that there's no thing as zombies?"
Alexis's mouth opened, closed. Her eyes were wide, and the tears threatened to fall out of them. She wasn't equipped for this sort of thing. Give her a court room and a hostile witness, and Alexis Davis-Jacks would show who was in control. Give her a psychotic Cassadine and she would stand up and face it. Those things she was prepared for. Those things she understood. Zombies… Sam felt bad for her. Sam had pretty much prepared herself for anything. She didn't count anything out. She would have probably lost her shit, too, if she actually put labels on things, the possible and the impossible.
Sam took her mother's hands and stood up, pulling Alexis with her. Alexis looked down at her when they were both standing. "Zombies aren't supposed to be real, Sam."
"I know," she said softly. "But, they are, so we have to deal. Right now, we deal by getting out of here, and getting to safety. Everyone is waiting for us."
Alexis closed her eyes, took in a deep breath. "Stefan would know what to do," she said. Her eyes opened. "But, Stefan isn't here."
"No, he's not here. Neither is Nikolas. I'm here, though, and we have to get out of here."
Alexis put a hand to Sam's cheek. A smile spread slowly across her face. Sam thought, Shit, she's losing the last of her shit. Sam put her hand up, covered Alexis's hand. She was ready to pull her hand away when Alexis said, "You're here. I'm glad you're here."
Sam opened her mouth to speak, but didn't know what she was supposed to say. She was pretty sure that Alexis wasn 't just talking about that moment. They had been growing closer, Sam and Alexis, but neither had really said anything definitive, whether it was a good thing or not, Sam being in town. Maybe Alexis was just talking about the moment and Sam was letting it mean more, but she was okay with it meaning more if that were the case. Her mother was glad that she was there.
"I am, too," Sam said. "And I'll be even more glad when none of us are here, as in here in this room." Sam lowered Alexis's hand, then took her by the wrist. She turned and was glad when, as she walked to the door, Alexis came with her.
Sam stopped and looked at Jason. "I'm putting my mother in your hands, Jason." Sam swallowed hard. "I'm trusting that you're going to get her where we're going safely."
"Sam, I…"
She put up her hand and he went quiet. "We can talk about feelings and what this means later. Right now, I just need you to make sure she stays in her right mind while we get to the launch." Before Jason could say something mushy, Sam looked at Lucky. "Spencer, we've got a problem."
She expected Lucky to ask what the problem was, but instead, he nodded. "We're going to run out of ammo before we get to the launch." Having an armed cop around was kind of useful. He was used to prioritizing, and while he had to be worried about his wife and about his son, he knew what was more important at the moment. "We're going to have to stop at the station. That's the closest thing between here and the docks."
Sam nodded. She started to speak when Alexis said, "What about Cameron?" That was good. She was thinking. She was in the moment and her mind was still there. "Kristina is already at Wyndemere, but we have to get Cameron."
"He's okay," Lucky told her. Elizabeth didn't react, which told Sam that, while she was busy with her mother, Lucky had been talking to his wife. "The babysitter already knows that's where she's to take Cameron if something happens. She called the babysitter after calling me to check up on him. We just have to worry about the five of us."
The five of us, Sam thought. They were plenty to worry about. She couldn't imagine trying to deal with more people, especially if those more were children. She didn't have time for an adult to freak out. She had less time for a child, who might scream and cry when they needed to be quiet.
"We're good, then." Sam looked at Lucky. "We're arming everybody," she said. She looked at Elizabeth and Alexis, the two she was pretty sure weren't used to gun handling. "You just point and shoot. It's simple." She looked at Jason. "You just need to remember everything I showed you. And aim for the head," she added. "I don't know if it's like in the movies or not, but when we shot them in the head, they went down and they stayed down."
"It's quiet out there," Lucky said.
"It should be. We killed enough of them," Sam said. "Besides, I think they're finally figuring out how to get out of here. They're all in the streets, now."
"That, too…" Lucky sighed. "Those can't all be from the hospital. It's not just here. It couldn't have started here, not the whole thing."
"Doesn't really matter, though," Sam told him. "We have to get out there before we're stuck in here. So, we hit the station, and then we keep going until we get to the docks." Sam popped the clip in her gun and checked. It wasn't good. She only had a few more shots left in that clip, and she was down to one more clip in her pocket. "We have to get there fast."
Lucky checked his own clip and shook his head. "I've got two more in my pocket, then I'm out." He slapped the clip back into the butt of his gun. He put his hand back on the doorknob . "Stay close," he said. "I'll take the front."
"I'll bring up the rear." Sam and Lucky shared a look, and then she steeled herself as he opened the door. Lucky jerked open the door and jerked his gun up. There was nothing in front of them to shoot. It was clear.
Lucky started out the door slowly, Elizabeth behind him. She couldn't hold his hand now, but she held on to his jacket. Jason held Alexis's hand and moved forward, edging out the door. Sam wanted to remind him one last time, she was putting her mother in his hands. That wouldn't do any good, though. He'd either feel like Sam thought she didn't really trust him as much as it would seem, or he'd be pissed that she felt the need to keep reminding him.
Sam didn't say anything. She just followed the procession out the door, reminding herself to call Nikolas from the station, to give him an update and make sure the launch was waiting. She would be damned if she did all this just to end up at the docks without a boat waiting for her. That would just be the cap on a really shitty day, and really, could this day get any worse?