Chapter 10: The Medical Tent

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Muffled voices could be heard but everything was dark.

It was a struggle to stay conscious, but a voice was heard.

“How’s it looking?” a rough voice asked. It sounded strangely familiar.

“Minor injuries. No broken bones. Just a concussion. Should be up and about in a couple hours.” A second voice could be heard, this one female.

“That’s good...that’s really good. Make sure to update me if anything changes.” The first man said.

“Yes, sir.” was the reply.

No longer to maintain awareness, the darkness closed in again and sleep took over.

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“Abby. Abby wake up.”

With a groan, she opened her eyes. A blinding light caused her to squint before her pupils adjusted. A female doctor could be at the corner of her vision, looking at her.

“Look here.” She said while snapping her fingers some distance from Abby. She instinctively focused her eyes where she was told. The female doctor brought a flashlight up to her eyes, moving it back and forth. Abby followed the moving light.

“Seems you’re fine. Minor concussion symptoms but you’ll live.” The doctor said.

“Here, let me get you up.” The doctor moved and propped Abby up on the bed. She looked around and she found herself in a hospital. Or rather, a medical tent. It was an elongated tent that had at least three dozen beds similar to the one she was on.

“Where am I?” She asked.

“You’ve had an accident, darling. A scouting convey rescued you and brought you to the compound.” she explained.

“The compound? Wha-” Before she could ask, a shout could be heard. “Abby!”

She turned her head to the entrance to see two familiar figures walking in. Joey leapt into her arms and wrapped his arms around her neck.

“I thought you were going to die.” He said in a wavering voice.

“Why would I die? See? I’m perfectly fine.” She said trying to reassure him.

“Alright, Joey that’s enough. She just woke up so give her some room.” Their mother’s voice could be heard behind Joey. She sounded tired, without any energy in her voice, but her eyes seemed to show some happiness at seeing her daughter alive and well.

“You feeling alright, honey?” She asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Abby waved the worry off. Looking around, she noticed someone missing. “Where’s aunt Jenna?” She asked.

Joey’s face became somber and her mother’s eyes became filled with sadness.

“Your aunt-Jenna she...The crash happened on her side of the car, and it was going so fast...Abby, aunt Jenna passed away.” Her mother said. Abby was speechless. She had just spoken to her aunt that morning.

“What do you mean? She was just with us, how could she be dead?” Abby couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Her mother didn’t say anything, which just made it worse for Abby. She started crying.

It took her nearly half an hour to recover.

“What about dad?” She asked hesitantly. She feared she would hear the same news.

Her mom smiled tightly, “He’s here. Outside. He was called here earlier to help evacuate patients and work with medical team here.”

“I want to see him” She said as she motioned to get up.

“Whoa, hold on. You’re not quite in shape to-” The female doctor tried to stop her.

“I’m fine.” She said, waving the doctor off.

Using the support of her mother and her brother, they made their way outside the building. There, two guards and a doctor were talking to a middle-aged man with greying hair on the sides and a sharp set of eyebrows.

“Dad.” Abby called out to the middle-aged man. He turned to see his daughter, a smile spreading on his face. He rushed to her side and helped her stand while hugging her.

“How are you, baby girl?” He asked.

“I’m fine, dad. What’s going on?”

He frowned and, deciding to tell her early on to get her emotionally ready for what was in store, sat her down on a supply crate.

“Have you heard of the virus spreading in the US?” He asked her. She nodded that she did.

“Well it seems to have mutated or was deadlier than what our initial reports suggested. The people turn extremely violent and are almost oblivious to the outside world. They lose themselves and become crazed things. Bullets can’t even stop them.” He explained. He went on to give in more detail the events that had unfolded during her time unconscious.

Apparently, hearing no contact from her after the initial text, her father had negotiated with the commander of the compound to send in a search party for his family and retrieved them right after the collision and brought them all to the compound.

She struggled to believe him at first, thinking it was all in bad humor, but when he did not renege on his story, she was forced to believe him.

“So these...things, are eating people?” She asked incredulously.

“More or less. They’re using their hands, feet and teeth to rip their prey to shreds.” He said bluntly which caused her to gag.

“So what happens now?”

“We wait. The commander hasn’t gotten word back from headquarters on what actions to take so we’re simply holding the fort for now.”

She nodded.

“Looks like you’re tired, go get some more rest.”

She obliged as the new information and meeting her father again had drained whatever energy she regained from her time unconscious. She sat back down in her bed a minute later and said farewell to her family.

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She was bored out of her mind a few minutes later. Her phone wasn’t working and there was nothing to do other than watch the sick people be sick in the medical tent that was quickly feeling smaller by the minute.

The flap of the entrance opening could be heard as she turned around, expecting to see another patient get carted in.

Instead, she saw a pretty girl with dark brown hair wearing a brown hooded shawl walk in. She look around, picking up gauze and different medicines and discretely pocketing them while eyeing the distracted doctors.

“You know, you’re not allowed to take those.” Abby called out. The girl started and looked over at the prostrate girl.

“What, are you going to tell on me?” The brown haired girl asked in a sarcastically condescending manner. Abby was annoyed by her attitude, frowning as she replied.

“Maybe I will.”

“Well that’s just great. My brother got a broken ankle but we don’t have the money to pay for the treatment so I’m trying to at least help him fight off infection. Or, if it makes you that happy, you can just tell the doctor. It’s fine either way.” The girl said while seeming sad. She tried to play it off as if she didn’t care but Abby could see a hint of worry in her eyes which made her believe her story.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know about your injured brother.” She said.

“Well that’s a coincidence, I didn’t know I had one either.” The girl replied with a straight face. After a moment, Abby realized she’d been toyed with and her face went red with anger, but it disappeared as she laughed lightly. The entire situation of an almost crippled girl chastising someone who was clearly making her run in mental circles was so ridiculous she simply had to laugh.

The brown haired girl also laughed with her.

“What’s your name?” Abby asked.

“Isn’t it polite to tell someone your name before asking for theirs?” The girl asked back.

“Oh...my name is Abby.”

“Well hello Abby. It’s nice to meet you. So what’s left you cooped up in this place?” The girl responded.

“Car crash. My dad’s a doctor here so he arranged for me to be moved here.” Abby explained. At the mention of her dad working here, the brown haired girl’s eyebrows slightly rose but they returned to their usual impassivity a moment later.

“Oh.. Your dad must be pretty important to be calling the shots like that.” The girl said. Abby just shook her head. “No. He’s just the head doctor and asked the commander of the place for a favor. Since apparently there weren’t any orders to be carried out from headquarters so far, they must have had extra manpower to throw around.” Abby unwittingly had given up a truckload of information, thinking this was common knowledge based on how easily her dad had told her.

In fact, not many people knew what was going on, let alone the military’s directives, or lack thereof. The girl quickly made note of all this and continued her conversation.

“Did you see the things outside?” Abby asked. She had been curious to find out if what her father said had been the truth. Most of the people in the medical tent were there since very early on before the mass spread of the virus.

“Yeah. It’s really rough out there. People are killing each other left and right and half of them don’t even realize they’re doing it.” The girl said. So it was true Abby thought.

“Did you meet one face to face?”

The girl just nodded, not saying more. Abby knew when a dialogue reached its end and so she stopped exploring that topic.

They talked more about trivial things before the girl stood up to leave. They said their goodbyes and Abby was happy to have met a new friend. Ah~ what a nice person. I hope I meet….wait! I never got her name! Abby screamed internally while slapping her forward for being tricked by the girl a second time.

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Abby got up and was about to chase after the girl when an ear shattering boom roared through the camp. The blast knocked Abby over and rolled her under a Humvee. She knocked her head on the way down and almost lost consciousness. The last things she heard were the sound of screaming and wind howling through the camp. The Humvee rocked back and forth but remained rooted to the ground. She could feel blood trickling down her right temple where she had hit it on her way down.

In horror, she saw the mushroom cloud in the distance and the destruction that was brought upon the compound. Meters away, she noticed three people huddled around a flagpole.

They were her family. Screaming their name, she tried to get their attention but her voice was drowned out by the wind. The blast had already popped her eardrums but she did not realize the possibility that it could be the same for the opposite party.

She watched in horror as a small car flipped over and over, crashing into tents and heading straight towards the flagpole her father, mother, and brother were hanging onto for dear life.

The car flipped one final time before crashing into the midsection of the flagpole, snapping it in half. The shards of the metal could be seen spraying out in every direction while several pierced the back and shoulders of her father, who had stood above the other two to protect them. The upper piece of the flagpole, still attached by a strand of metal, whipped around and hit the rib of her father, sending him and the rest of her family rolling away. They tried to crawl to each other, but the wretched flagpole finally broke off and impaled her father, going clean through his left shoulder and out his lower torso, killing him instantly.

Her mother and brother, still holding hands, were lifted from the ground and flung away, smashing into another set of Humvees, crushing their bodies in the moment of impact.

Abby screamed until her voice went hoarse. She wretched, gagged, and wailed but nobody could hear her. Nobody would care. It was a fight to stay alive themselves, let alone worry about the lives of others.

In the blink of an eye, the wind and howling passed, and in the blink of an eye, she had her family taken from her.

She stayed like that underneath the Humvee for ages before, finally, the sounds of screaming could be heard as her eardrums recovered. She crawled out of her hiding hole and stood up shakily using the side of the Humvee for support. She slowly walked, dazed, towards the still bodies of her family lying about on the quad of the compound before her.

As she was making her way there, a black Escalade stopped in front of her, and the girl from earlier got out of the passengers seat, shouting something at Abby, but she was too shocked to make it out.

The girl, seeing no response, took Abby by the arm and started dragging her towards the Escalade.

“No. No! I need to see my family! They’re right there! They’re right over there!” She screamed maniacally as she struggled against the girl, reaching out towards the bodies of her deceased family.

Another pair of hands could be seen grabbing her and pulling her. She was dragged into the back seat of the car where she started hitting her captors. Suddenly, a sharp pain in the back of her head caused her to finally enter the sweet embrace of unconsciousness and all went dark.