Thomas had brought the others to the security office and together they listened to the police scanner. He explained how he'd heard the last words of the doomed Blackhawk on it, and even as he spoke, random transmissions still echoed from the devices. Contact between the Fort and the remaining search and rescue teams.

"Wait, why would you be picking up military radio transmissions on a police scanner?" Emily asked skeptically.

"I don't know, it didn't make much sense to me either," replied Thomas. "But once it started scanning the stations, this is what popped up."

"But that doesn't make any sense. They wouldn't be operating on the same frequencies like that," she insisted. "Are you sure it isn't a hoax?"

"How do you think I ended up on the roof when I did? I heard the radio transmissions," Thomas said defensively.

"I think I can shed some light on all of this," Aaron said. "You're right, normally the military would be on a separate and secure communications system, but since they started coordinating their efforts with the locals, they had to be able to communicate with the local law enforcement, fire and rescue groups after all. I would presume that someone at the Fort made the call to operate on local frequencies."

"So, for the time being anyway, we can hear them and what's going on in the world outside, but since we're stuck here with no radio, we're still screwed. That about sum it up?" asked Thomas.

"In a nutshell," Aaron replied.

"The electronics department," murmured Emily.

"What?" Matthew asked, the only one close enough to her to hear what she said.

Clearing her throat she spoke louder. "The electronics department in the store downstairs, maybe there's something down there we could use to send out a message and let someone know that we're here."

"It's worth a try," agreed Aaron. "If you find me something that transmits, I should be able to rig it to contact Fort Pastor."

"About that," Matthew interjected. "I'm not exactly sure that going there is our best option. They've been bringing wounded in ever since the Fort opened as a rescue station, that would include bite victims. It's only a matter of time before they're overrun from within."

"I'm sure they've got some sort of containment plan in place for those bite victims," Aaron replied.

"If we can at least reach them before it happens, maybe they can still get us picked up. Even if they do it when they start evacuating the post," Thomas said hopefully. "They've got to have somewhere else to evacuate to in the worst happens, right?"

"I don't know," Aaron said. "I got called back from leave, and got sent back out on search and rescue duty before I could be fully briefed on the situation."

"Is that why you're dressed in civvies instead of your uniform?" Emily asked.

"No, I uh, opted to wear civilian clothes so I would appear less intimidating to the people we were trying to help," Aaron said cautiously.

Emily didn't say anything at first, though the others could tell from the look on her face that there was something on her mind. Finally, she said, "Well, this may be just an exercise in futility, but I think we need to at least work on the assumption that there is another evacuation point if the Fort does get overrun. I don't want to just be sitting here like I've given up and I'm just waiting to die. If and when that time comes, I want to at least know, deep down inside, that I've done absolutely everything within my power to live. None of us should be willing to go down without some kind of fight. Consider this our very own Alamo."

Her speech was just the little pep talk her companions needed to get them in motion. Matthew accompanied her down to the department store in search of the CB radio, and Thomas went to work re-bandaging Aaron's arm.

Back in the office area, the others remained unaware of the new additions to their numbers, and hadn't even been fazed by the noise of the helicopter crash. Either that or they were too frightened to investigate the sound. Jonathan had yet to pry himself away from the television and its emergency broadcast signal. He was convinced that it would eventually return to normal programming as long as he kept his constant vigil. As long as someone was watching the news would be aired after all.

Tara had abandoned her search of the Internet, or, more to the point, she could no longer connect to it. She'd joined Barry in his perusal of client files, and he kept her entertained with his assessments of the dating service's clients.

"Okay, if a guy is really serious about trying to meet someone online, why the hell would you post a picture of yourself dressed like that?" Tara asked, laughing.

"Girl, you'd be surprised at the number of fashion victims who post on this sight," Barry replied. "I mean, would it kill them to watch an episode of Queer Guy before they try to post this stuff. There's a reason society needs that show."

"But I thought that show was all about helping straight guys get in touch with their inner metro-sexual," Tara said, reading the profile.

"Well duh! But this guy is so obviously straight, I mean, look at those clothes, no self-respecting gay man would be caught dead wearing a shirt like that..." Barry trailed off as Tara pointed out the little 'man seeking man' tagline on the profile. "Oh, ouch. Honey, you just need to put yourself right back in the closet until you can come out better dressed," Barry drawled to the screen, causing Tara to burst out laughing. Barry got a devilish glint in his eye, knowing he shouldn't do what he was about to. "Do you want to see something really messed up?"

"What? You mean like going to look out the window or something?" she responded sarcastically.

"Cute, but no. This is something almost as fucked up, but vastly more entertaining," he replied. "The reject file."

"Reject file?"

"Yup. My job here was to go through each and every photo submitted for content approval. These are the absolute best of the worst," he replied, reaching for the mouse and clicking one of the desktop icons. Within seconds, the first picture began to appear. "I'm sure you can see why I had to save them."

"Oh. My. God." Tara breathed out, watching the picture take shape before her eyes.

"Indeed," Barry said in agreement.

"Um...isn't this kind of, I don't know, pornographic or something?" she asked with a grin.

"Art studies. These are more like art studies. Just remember, I'm you're good buddy Barry, not some kind of creepy old guy sharing borderline pornographic pictures with you, you know, if anybody asks what we've been doing."

"Right, you're not a creepy old guy. Just a semi-creepy, kinda youngish guy sharing porn with me. But at least you're gay, so I can probably rule out the idea of your trying to take advantage of me, right?" she said impishly.

He gave her a dirty look, moving his hand as if to close out the file. She grabbed his hand, pausing him. "Wait! I was only joking! You know that. Besides, I seriously doubt if the morality police are going to come breaking through the door to arrest you," she said dryly.

"Speaking of the morality police, I wonder where Emily wandered off too," he said. Tara just shrugged, intent on the monitor in front of them. "I think I may have created a monster," he said, noticing where her attention lay.

"No, I'm not a monster, that's a monster," she grinned, pointing at the screen. They laughed, and Barry forgot about Emily once again.

"You know, I didn't even think they made CB radios anymore," Emily said as she and Matthew walked through the store towards the electronics department.

"Hell yeah, they still make them. You just don't hear that much about them anymore on account of cell phones kind of taking over the market," Matthew replied. "I still have one hooked up in my truck though."

"So tell me honestly, do you really think we'll be able to contact anyone with it? At Pastor or somewhere else even?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know, but I think we'll stand a better chance of getting out of here if we can radio someone. If Aaron's radio plan works, we'll be able to get somebody's attention, then the signs on the roof will show them the way."

"It's really not much to go on," she said doubtfully. "I keep trying to tell myself that we're not totally screwed yet, but it's hard."

"We'll find some way out of here," he tried to reassure her. "I can't believe the entire might of the US military, the US government for that matter, is going to be taken down by a virus. It's a dumb bug, that's all, it can't win."

"You're one of those 'glass half full' types aren't you?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"You see a positive in any situation. The glass isn't half empty, it's half full. We live in a super-power country, a world leader, and we're collapsing from within because of a little disease. But that's inconceivable to you isn't it? We've got the best of everything, yada yada yada. Here's what I see. We've grown arrogant and vain as a country, on the outside we look great, but within... Think about the number of homeless on the streets here, the jobs being out-sourced so businesses can get away with paying next to nothing for labor costs."

"Let me guess, you're a glass half empty type," Matthew said, cutting her off being for she really got going on a tirade.

"Am I that obvious?" she asked, chagrined.

"Nah, not at all."

"So what's your story anyway?" she asked, changing the subject. The two of them came to a halt. "Did the military just take charge of all the EMT's in the city? Or did you run there for shelter and get drafted into being one of their bitches?"

"Little bit of both actually. My partners and I were taking a patient up to City General. Nothing too serious, kid from a car wreck with a broken collarbone. We pulled up to the ER entrance, I was driving the rig, my buddy AJ was in the passenger seat and Jeff was in the back of the rig with the kid. Anyways, it was like any other time, AJ jumped out to open up the rear doors as soon as I parked, and this nurse came walking up. I figured she must have stepped outside for a cigarette or something, so I didn't think anything of it. The she just leaped onto AJ's back and bit his neck, tore his jugular open," Matthew paused, a far away look entering into his eyes as if he no longer saw Emily but was watching his friend be killed all over again.

"When I...When I saw the blood come pouring out from his neck, almost like a geyser, I knew he was gone. There's just so little time to be able to stop a wound like that from bleeding out...you have to clamp it off..." he visibly shook himself, focusing on Emily's eyes once more. "Anyways, I must have panicked, because the next thing I knew I was slamming that rig into gear and flooring it. When I looked in the side mirrors, they just started pouring out of the ER, doctors, patients, nurses...all of them covered in blood, trying to tear pieces off of AJ like he was some kind of fucking buffet platter. I just drove, and it seemed like everywhere I looked, people were running for their lives. I don't know how, but I managed to end up at the front gates of Fort Pastor. They directed me to the filed hospital they were setting up on the old parade grounds, and the rest is history."

"Not quite. How'd you end up out there on the street with your buddy?"

"Luck. All of it bad too. When I got to the field hospital and opened up the back, I found out that Jeff had gotten a broken arm and a concussion during our hasty exit from City General. The kid from the car wreck wasn't in much better shape, and they both got unloaded and checked into the triage area. I was directed to another area where they were putting up tents to house more of the refugees. One minute I was sipping a cup of hot coffee and trying to figure out what the hell had just happened to me, the next, a soldier with a clipboard was signing me up to go out on patrol with one of the search and rescue teams."

"Why would they seek you out like that?"

He tugged on the front of his tattered uniform. "I don't know, something about me just gave them the impression that I had medical training, I guess. Plus, it wasn't just me that they were recruiting. There were other EMTs, police, even firefighters that had ended up stranded at the Fort when they brought in refugees. Most of them were standing in line volunteering to help, some misplaced sense of civic pride I guess. The rest of them were like me, just sitting around, trying to get their bearings."

"What, you mean the mighty EMT I see before me didn't feel some sort of civic duty to go back out and rescue people trapped in this hellhole?"

"Haha. No, no sense of civic duty. I'm probably going to sound like a real ass for saying this, but at that point I was all about looking out for number one...me."

"So why'd you do it then?"

"My ego got the best of me. I didn't want to be the only non-pencil-pushing city employee to back out of returning.

"It was just your ego talking?"

"For the most part. Does that make me some kind of asshole for admitting that?"

"Little bit. But I guess your ego has at least a little bit to do with your continued existence, being that it got you this far. If that's any consolation."

"Little bit," he said, echoing her own words. "And for the record, I've never been anyone's bitch."

"Duly noted."

"What about you? What's your story," he asked as they began walking, albeit very slowly, once more.

"A series of really bad life decisions and I ended up in eternal damnation, otherwise known as the clerical hell that is the dating service. After that, all I had to do was show up to work one morning and I got to end up stranded here. The end."

"There's got to be more to it than that," he said, smiling.

"Oh, you mean the part where I kind of ignored the news reports and thought every one had lost their collective minds? Maybe it was the way I kind of passed it off to myself as some kind of crazy hoax, a promo kind of deal for a new Resident Evil game or something. Or better yet. How about the part where I got to watch Thomas shoot one of our company's accountants between the eyes. I think it was his eyes anyway, there really wasn't much left after those thingies on the street tore into him like it was Thanksgiving dinner. Best of all, not only do I get to be stuck here, I get to be stuck here with one of the evil management minions who stuck a pink slip notice on my time card yesterday morning. Is that what you meant?"

"Actually, I was referring to the way you handled that pistol earlier, I just thought it looked like you must have had some kind of training. But the rest was all very interesting too."

"Oh," she said sheepishly. "That. A girl just needs to know how to take care of herself, that's all."

"You two gonna stand around gossiping all day or are we going to get to work?" Aaron said, startling the two of them from their conversation.

"Just what in the hell are you two doing!" Jonathan demanded. He stood behind Barry and Tara, seeing the picture on the computer screen. Barry hastily closed out his 'rejects' file before turning to face the other man.

"Just killing time," he replied casually.

"By showing a sixteen year old girl pornography! What kind of sicko pervert are you?" demanded Jonathan, his face flushing bright red in anger.

"Actually, these could really be considered more art studies than porn," Tara said helpfully. Barry somehow managed to choke back the laugh her words inspired.

"It's disgusting, that is what it is. And just what do you think your parents would say about your looking at trash like that?" the red-faced man demanded.

"Let's see, my real Dad bailed on my Mom when he found out she was knocked up with me, my step-Dad is in prison for another twelve months on armed robbery charges, and my Mom is probably trying to figure out how many tricks she'll have to pull in order to get enough cash to score some heroin, that's if any of them are still alive mind you, so I would have to guess they wouldn't say a damn thing," she responded matter-of-factly.

Shaken from his self-righteous indignation, Jonathan could only stammer out, "Well just don't do it anymore or I'll have to turn this sicko into the authorities when we all get out of here."

"See, I'm not the only 'glass half full' type around here," a strange voice said.

"Maybe, but seeing as how it's Jonathan, I wouldn't go bragging too loudly about it," Emily replied. She smiled over the mixed looks of surprise on the faces of those in the office. "Gang, let me introduce you to are new arrivals, Aaron and Matthew. They were cut off from their search and rescue squad but they managed to make it here and come up the fire escape. Guys, this is our fucked up family, Tara, our resident teen queen, Barry, her new playmate, and Jonathan. He's sort of our evil dictator type wanna be."

"You're such a juvenile little bitch, I'm glad I recommended terminating your employment here," Jonathan uttered venomously. "And just how did they manage to make it up the fire escape? The ladder would have to be lowered for them to reach it and if they somehow managed to do that then those things will be busting in here any minute."

"See what I meant about that whole 'glass half full'thing? You might want to join our less positive camp," Emily said quietly to Matthew. He didn't answer however, choosing instead to listen as Aaron explained how they came to be there after reassuring them that the dead wouldn't be coming up the fire escape any time soon. Leastwise, not unless they suddenly learned how to think and communicate with each other. Then they might be able to figure out how to lower the ladder so that they could all climb up.

"And is there a reason that makes you think something like that won't happen?" Barry asked.

"No. No reason. To be honest, I'm only saying to you what I've observed out in the streets. There is nothing that would lead us to believe that those things down there are capable of communicating with each other. I'm sure they don't possess any kind of problem solving skills or memories of their former lives. We should all be fine here temporarily. In the meantime, we're working on a plan to get us evacuated somewhere safe."

"What kind of plan?" Tara asked.

"We're going to try and rig up a CB radio to contact someone, hopefully someone at the Fort. Then it'll just be a matter of time before we're airlifted out of here," Aaron said with such ease that it was easy for the others to believe what he was saying. Emily didn't trust him at all.