((Hey all. Finally responding to my reviewers! And…uhm…More of you need to review. After this there is only one unwritten chapter, and if it doesn't feel like many people are reading I'm probably just gonna stop after it is up…
Anyway.
JoJo10: Thank you. You've reviewed every chapter and you just rock! Keep reading! Tell your friends!
Rain1657: Thanks for reading! Glad you like it.
Rhys D: I am working on having canon characters in the story, and there will be lots of them. But, I had to add my own, because there aren't enough canon characters to really grasp the scope of something like this. I hope you keep reading.
Toya: I'm gonna post everything I have written, have no fear.
Sketch: hah! ))
Kingdom Come – The Ashes of Paradise.
Chapter 4
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
July 21, 4:30 AM
Leon S. Kennedy pulled the bus to a halt on Interstate Seven, next to a sign that said "Philadelphia: Ninety-three miles" and turned to stretch his legs, looking back over the crowd of people on the bus.
Everyone was asleep except for Claire, who was perched behind him, staring out the window absently. Her blue eyes were half-closed, and she was tapping her booted foot against the floor absently. Leon turned around completely straddling his chair, and smiled at her.
"How you holding up?"
She shrugged faintly. "I'm worried about Liz. We needed to get her to a hospital. Even if she isn't infected, the bleeding wont stop." She turned to look at him. "Speaking of which…why did we stop?"
"Because my feet hurt. Come on, it's your turn. You can drive the last stretch." He pushed to his feet, patting her thigh as he flopped over her into the seat.
"Fine, fine." She laughed softly, giving him a poke as he went over her, and then crawling into the drivers seat. "I'll be glad to get this over with." She kicked the bus back into drive and pulled out onto the highway again. There wasn't a single car in sight, in either direction.
July 21, 6:30 AM
"Shouldn't there be more cars on the road?" Liz's voice piped up from her chair behind Leon, where the injured young woman was leaning her forehead against the glass, watching the other cars not go by.
"Well, maybe it's too early." Leon offered quietly, frowning.
"It's almost rush hour, Leon." Claire said, tapping her fingers against the wheel as she slid the bus to a stop just before the entrance to the Philladelphia Expressway. "We've passed, what, six cars so far? And they were all doing at least eighty. Even that police car." She tugged on her ponytail irritably. They'd chosen Philadelphia as their destination because it was far enough away from St. Louis that no carrier could reach there, but close enough that they could make it in one day. But even without passing near any major cities, they should have seen many more cars then they had.
"Maybe there was an accident and it cut off access to these roads. We won't know unless we try and head into the city." Leon sighed, leaning back in his chair as Claire nodded and started the bus moving again, up onto the expressway.
"How far are we anyway?" Liz was now fiddling with one of her handguns nervously, loading and unloading the clip.
"About forty miles. We'll be able to see it soon."
"Okay."
And see it they did. As the city came into focus, the high rises and apartment complex's glistening in the morning light, Claire slammed on the breaks and the bus lurched to a stop, tossing everyone forward in their seats and forcing them all awake.
"…Jesus!" Leon said softly, peering over the brunette's shoulder, his gloved hands dropping onto her shoulders.
As far as the eye could see, the expressway was covered in cars. Not fifteen feet away was an overturned tractor trailer, its carriage scorched with now-spent fire, and a blood splattered window, shattered, had the top of a body sticking out, a shard of glass impaled through the chest.
"Okay, so there was an accident. Now we know." Claire said softly, preparing to get the bus moving again.
"No. Look!" Liz had climbed forward into Leon's chair and was pointing into the pile of cars that stretched out along the road, behind the trailer. Scattered amongst the vehicles were people stumbling around, acting rather dazed and disoriented, as though they weren't sure where to go. One of them kept walking into the side of a car, hands scrambling at the roof aimlessly.
"No…" Claire shook her head. "It can't. No…you don't think…?"
"Zombies." Doctor Williams spoke up, walking towards the front of the bus. The rest of the passengers were just sitting in their chairs, looking shocked and frightened. "There must have been an outbreak here as well."
"But…no. Why would there be two at once? The odds of even one happening are slim. Two?"
"Well…" Leon tapped his fingers on the chair quietly. "Maybe we were wrong. Maybe someone got here..."
"What, a thousand miles? No one could get the virus and last that long. Our estimates place infection at…" The young brunette frowned, trying to remember the exact number.
"Rebecca said two to four hours at the most."
"Yeah. So, there's no way it could've been carried here. So…"
"So we don't know anything yet." Liz said quietly. "We might as well go to the city and see if the people there are infected too."
"No!" Doctor Williams shook his head quickly. "Not a chance. There was a community hospital an hour or so back, I don't remember the name…we backtrack to there and get everyone off the bus." He looked at Claire and Leon, "If you want to go to Philly then, fine, but I won't let you take these people back into an infected area."
Claire just nodded and started to turn the bus around.
July 20, 9:30 AM
Anna was awakened that morning by the sound of glass shattering.
She and Tandy had hidden in the kitchen, pulling all the blankets and pillows off the couch and beds and making a little makeshift room back there after the power had gone off in the middle of the night.
She pushed to her feet, glancing over at her friend, who was curled up in a little ball, still asleep. A few soft footsteps carried her to the door of the kitchen, where she peered out at the large window.
Or rather, she stared at the air where the large window had been. The glass had shattered inwards and was now scattered all over the floor, and one of the zombie-people was collapsed on the floor, twitching. Anna stared, tugging at her hair nervously, waiting to see if it got up. There was a puddle of blood forming on the rug, leaking out from the person's head, so he probably would…
BANG.
A sound, from outside, and she saw another of the zombies go stumbling past the window to collapse in a heap nearby. There was a shout and she saw flashes of green clothing as two men went running by, guns in hand.
A few moments later there was another shot, and then another. Anne just started out the window, occasionally catching a glimpse of one of the carriers falling over.
"…Anne?" Tandy's soft voice from behind, as the smaller girl slipped up next to her. "What's going on?" Anne started to respond, when a young woman with short brown hair suddenly stepped up to the window, peering inside critically at the zombie on the floor. Anne was too frightened to say anything, and Tandy just whimpered…which drew the young woman's attention, and she looked up and spotted them.
And grinned.
"Carlos! I found two more!" She shouted out behind her, and then carefully kicked in the glass at the bottom of the window, climbing inside and nudging the body with her foot, then moving towards the girls quietly.
Anne grabbed Tandy's hand and darted back into the kitchen quickly, a call of "Hey…wait!" echoing after them. They ran over to the back door, but it was locked! And not just the handle, but the chain was thrown! And neither of them could reach it. Booted footsteps on the floor behind them, and they both spun around, leaning against the door as the young woman set her gun on the table.
"…I'm not going to hurt you." She smiled. "My name is Rebecca." She paused, a foot or two from them, and held out her green-gloved hand. "Are you two okay? How long have you been hiding here? Where are your parents?"
"I…" Anne looked up at the locked door, then at Tandy, then back to the woman. She was pretty, and she wasn't acting like the zombie-people…but she had the gun and…"I'm Anne." She felt Tandy shaking against her and reached out to grip the smaller girl's hand. "She's Tandy. We don't know where are parents are…"
Rebecca frowned for a moment, shifting to glance around the kitchen, then quickly crouched down and smiled again. "Well, you can't stay here, alright? The zomb…the sick people," she pursed her lips as she spoke. "The sick people are dangerous, and they might get in here. We don't want you two to get hurt, right?"
Anne stared at her for a long moment before she nodded. "But, we don't have anywhere else to go and if we leave our parents won't know where to find us." It suddenly occurred to Anne that the note she had left told her parents she'd be in town, and she wasn't. What if they'd gone to look for her? "And…and I…my note said I'd be in town but I'm not! What if they are looking for me?"
Rebecca stood up straight, "You told them you'd be in Insbruk? Well, my friends and I are going that way…you can come with us, alright?" She reached back and picked up her gun, and Tandy took a nervous step backwards, but Anne held her hand tightly. Rebecca didn't seem to notice. "It's not safe here. Come on, alright?"
"Anne…what should we do?" Anne felt Tandy's breath, hot on her ear as the other whispered.
"We…can't stay here, Tandy. We have to go with her, alright? She…seems nice."
"But she has a gun! Daddy said guns are bad."
"She doesn't look bad," Anne looked over at Rebecca, who had pulled the bottom of her gun off and was staring into it. It seemed she was content to give them a moment to decide. "We should go. Get your things, alright?"
Tandy sniffled, pulling her hand away from Anne to rub at her eyes before she nodded. "A-alright." She suddenly darted past Rebecca and into the other room.
"Wait!" Rebecca reached to grab her but she was gone, and the woman turned to stare at Anne.
"We'll go with you…she's getting her stuff." Anne forced herself to smile as she began to gather up the blankets on the floor. "You're…not going to hurt us, right?"
Rebecca smiled and kneeled down, shaking her head. "No, Anne. I'm not. I just want to get you away from the sick people." She picked up Anne's backpack and held it as the little girl stuffed her blanket into it.
"And you'll help us find our parents?"
Rebecca frowned, for a split second, then smiled and nodded. "I…of course I will, Anne."
Ten minutes later Tandy and Anne had all of their things together, and Rebecca had gathered up all the food in the refridgerator and was carrying it in two big plastic bags.
"What if Mommy and Daddy come home? They won't have anything to eat…" Tandy stared at the bags in apprehension and Rebecca shook her head.
"They will have to come from the town, right? We will have to pass them if they are coming home." She smiled, but Anne thought it looked fake, like a clown. "They can get the food from us then."
Tandy stared at the young woman, then nodded, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulders.
As they entered the living room, the saw a tan man with a rifle standing outside, framed in the shattered edges of the large window frame. "'Becca, you in here?" His voice had a strange twist to it that made the words seem to slur together wrong.
"I'm here! I found two more survivors," Rebecca moved past the two girls, towards the window, with Anne and Tandy trailing behind. "What's the situation?"
The tan man reached a hand in to take the two bags from Rebecca, then smiled at the two girls. His face was open and friendly and it made Anne relax. But then he was looking at Rebecca again.
"We didn't find anyone else, but a couple of the houses had those giant freezers and we found a lot of unspoiled food." Tandy and Anne came up next to Rebecca and the tan man reached in to take their bags as well.
"Hello girls, what are your names?" He asked as he set their bags down outside.
"I'm Anne, and she's Tandy." Anne started to answer, but suddenly found herself scooped up by Rebecca and handed out the window to the tan man, who held her under her arms as he set her on the ground.
"Well, it's nice to meet you both. I'm Carlo." He ruffled her hair then reached in to take Tandy and set her down as well.
"You talk funny." Tandy said as she was put down, staring up at the man. "And your skin is weird." Anne grabbed her hand, hoping to keep her quiet.
"That's cause I'm from a place where everyone talks funny." Carlo winked at her, then turned to grasp Rebecca's hand as she climbed out the window.
Anne turned to pick up her bags and stopped, staring out at the street. The grass and the road were littered with bodies, but past them, in the street, was a caravan of trucks and cars and busses, all clustered together. People were moving in groups around the vehicles, some loading bags into cars and others just talking. Anne saw that every single one of them had a gun.
"Come on girls," Rebecca had been talking to Carlo in a whisper, and she came up behind them now. "Get your things, I'll show you where you can put them."
July 21st, 10:30 AM
Claire sat with Liz in the lobby of the small community hospital as the others finished hauling the last of the dead from the building. Wherever the outbreak had started, it had definitely reached the small place, but there had not been enough people to truly count as an infestation. They'd found a small cadre of survivors on the top three floors, and they had moved their own people off the bus and up to those areas before they began cleaning out the bottom two floors.
And now, as far as they could tell, the hospital was zombie-free. A bonfire had been set up out front to get rid of the bodies, Dr. Williams was getting his patients treated, and for the moment, everything seemed okay.
"So, are we going to try to go into the city?" Liz spoke up suddenly. She'd been silent since they had reached the hospital, staring out at the morning sky. But now she had forced a smile onto her haggard face, staring at Claire through her bangs.
"I'm not sure. If the city is infected, it would probably be a bad idea, but if we can find survivors. Leon wants to go." Claire sighed. "I don't know. We'll see."
Liz just nodded and settled back into her seat. "If you go, I'm going with you." She said after a moment, not looking over.
Claire frowned and sat up straighter, pushing forward in her seat and resting her hands on her knees as she eyed the other woman. "But you're hurt."
"Dr. Williams got the bleeding to stop with the stuff they had here, and I feel pretty good. Besides, you and Leon will need all the help you can get." Liz shrugged as she talked. "And I don't want to just sit in this place hiding like some scared little girl."
Claire smirked and settled back into her seat. "Hell, I want to hide. I'm scared to death of going into the city." Her eyes drifted out the window to the bonfire. "Hell, not just the city. The hospital was infected, which means the virus is out here." She felt a shiver run along her arms and hugged them to her stomach. "What if it is everywhere?"
"It can't be everywhere. It must just be a coincidence." Liz shook her head quickly. Claire had explained the situation, the idea of the virus and probably an accidental release. "It could just be that the two labs were linked, somehow."
"Maybe…" Claire shoved herself from the chair suddenly and stretched. "I'm going to find something to do. I can't sit still anymore."
Liz glanced out at the bonfire, watching as Leon threw another corpse on the blaze. With a nod she stood as well. "I'll come with you."
July 20th, 10:30 AM
Rebecca had shown the two girls to a pair of bunk beds on the camper she and Carlo had been living in for the last several months. It was big, six beds in the back, then a small living area, then a rather fancy looking laboratory and finally the drivers seat.
Rebecca was seated there now, the two girls peering over her shoulder as she drove the vehicle into Insbruk. Carlo and a number of the others had gone on ahead to clear out as many of the 'sick people' as they could. And, supposedly, to look for Anne and Tandy's parents.
But Anne was suspicious. Something didn't seem right about all of this. Every time she or Tandy mentioned their parents, Rebecca frowned. Just for a second, but it was noticeable; and it was bothering Anne.
Tandy had gone into the back to find the bathroom, leaving Anne perched on the passenger seat as Rebecca pulled the large vehicle around an overturned car in the street.
"You think our parents are sick, like everyone else, don't you?" She asked suddenly, turning to stare at Rebecca.
The young woman frowned and tossed Anne a startled look before she let out a sigh. "I don't know, Anne. I really don't. They could be perfectly fine." Rebecca glanced over at the girl, then turned her gaze back to the road.
"But you don't think they are."
Rebecca didn't answer for a long moment, her gaze out the windshield as she finished turning around the accident. Then she brought the camper to a halt and set her hands in her lap.
"No. I don't think they are, Anne. If they were, they'd have tried to find you already." The young woman shook her head.
"But, they could be looking for me. I wasn't at home, and the note I left said I'd be in town and I wasn't and…" Anne trailed off and stared at her hands. "They could be fine."
"You're right. They could be perfectly fine, Anne." Rebecca smiled, and it was a genuine smile this time. "I hope you are right."
Anne just nodded and turned to look out the window again.
When Tandy came back, Rebecca and Anne exchanged a silent glance, then talked about something else.
July 21st, 2:30 PM
Claire was asleep in a lounge on the third floor of the hospital, stretched out on one of the red-and-grey couches that every hospital seems to thrive on, when Liz found her. They had separated hours earlier, Liz in search of painkillers and Claire to catch what sleep she could.
She awoke the moment Liz touched her shoulder, sitting up and peering around. "What? Are we leaving?"
"No, no. Not yet. Leon is helping to gather more supplies from that mall across the street," Liz took a step back, her hand moving to settle at her side. "I wanted you to see something."
Claire stared at her, eyes half-focused, and Liz had the strangest urge to step back. "I was having a nice dream, you know. I don't get to dream much." With a groan, Claire hauled herself to her feet and stretched.
"Sorry. But…I don't know. I want you to come look at something," the injured girl was already moving as she said this, back towards the door out of the waiting area. Claire tucked her fingers into the pockets of her jeans and followed.
The hospital had its own generator, so the elevators were working, but neither of the two girls were willing to test them, instead taking the stairs. Liz lead her up to the top floor of the building now, into what the doctor had called the 'special care unit.''
"Why were you up here?" Claire asked as she paused to peer into one of the rooms. She hadn't bothered t come here herself. Exhaustion kept winning out over curiosity.
"I couldn't settle down, so I went exploring. Come on." Liz's good arm came up to tuck her bangs back into her hair as she turned a corner, and Claire had to jog to catch up.
"Do you have a gun? I know they said this place was clean, but…" Claire trailed off and sighed. "I'm paranoid."
"No, my guns are downstairs. But I was up here for a while and nothing happened, so it's safe." Liz stopped and tapped on a large window. "In here."
Claire came up next to her and leaned forward a bit to look, hands slipping into the pockets in the back of her jeans. Inside, the room was divided in two. Half the room was trapped behind a large piece of plastic, and inside had a bed, a chair, and a small table. The other half of the room was full of monitoring equipment and charts.
"It's a bubble-boy room!" Claire said after a moment, laughing. But then she peered at Liz. "Why are you showing me a bubble-boy room?"
"The panel says they just pumped carbon monoxide into the bubble, the day before yesterday." Liz frowned and shook her head, hair scattering about her face. "Nothing breaths that stuff, it's like poison. So why would they use it?"
"No idea. Did you ask one of the doctors?" Claire moved past Liz and into the room, going over to the monitoring panel and letting her hand drift over the dials.
"I tried to, but they were…odd. Suddenly everyone was busy." Liz followed after, but leaned against the wall near the door. "I don't know much about stuff like that, but the only reason I can think of to pump carbon monoxide into a room would be to kill something."
Claire paused, staring at one of the blinking lights. "…Or someone."
For a long time, neither of the girls spoke. Claire stared at the panels, tapping a few keys as her mind raced. Finally, she turned back to Liz and shifted to sit on the edge of one of the panels.
"Okay. A hypothetical situation. Let's say…the doctors have managed to rescue a handful of people…thirty or fourty. Now, they're stuck up here, on the top few floors, but they're safe. So, they start to try to figure out what is going on."
Liz nodded silently, so Claire continued. "While they are up here, someone is attacked by a zombie. But they know that all the zombies were trapped on the lower floors, which means one of the people they had 'rescued' must have changed. So, the doctors go about examining the body and discover that, even though the carrier had looked fine, they had been bitten. A small bite, nothing horrible, but they had changed."
Claire waved a hand around as she spoke. "They're smart people, these doctors. They put two and two together, so now they know that a bite from a carrier infects someone. So, they examine the people they rescued."
"Some of them, logically, will have been bitten. They may be starting to get sick as the doctors examine them, in fact. So what do they do? They can't leave them with the uninfected people, but they aren't so cruel as to throw them back to the zombies."
Liz didn't seem surprised by any of this, she just nodded in agreement and let her gaze settle on the bubble-half of the room.
Claire shifted on her perch to look in as well. "Before a person changes, they are as easy to kill as any other human being. So they probably told them…something. I don't know what. But they brought the infected people up here, and…they gassed them." She reached out and brushed her fingers over the plastic shielding. "How awful."
Liz shook her head after a moment. "They did what they had to, in order to survive." She reached up and scratched at the bandage on her arm. "The same thing you would have done to me, if I had been infected."
Claire's eyes went wide and she twisted back around, shaking her head. "No! We wouldn't have! We…we would have…" She trailed off and stared at the floor.
Liz just watched her silently.
((Next time…A remarkably long chapter about the Philadelphia group, trying to get them up to speed…and we just how horrible the outbreak really is.))