Chapter 19: David

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Rick gripped the wheel of the car nervously. He had taken one of the spare station wagons from James’ group and was now driving in the area located around six blocks from the police station. Sitting behind him were Pete and Harry. Harry wasn’t happy having to put himself on the line for, what he believed, was a suicide mission.

“I think we’re far enough.” Rick said, stopping in front of a sizeable group of infected.

“Ready?” He asked the two in the back.

“Yeah, just say when.” Pete said. Harry just nodded. Rick rolled down all the windows and he counted to three.

“Now!” He shouted. The three started yelling at the top of their lungs and clanking metal pipes and crowbars against the side of the car’s metal frame.

“We’re over here!”

“Come get us!”

They shouted at the top of their lungs and in the stillness of night, the ruckus crashed through the air like a foghorn. Hundreds of infected in the area turned to them and started walking their way. Rick put his foot on the gas and they moved forward slowly, allowing the infected to follow them while maintaining a safe distance.

As they drove forward, more and more infected were drawn by the noise and they soon had a veritable horde of infected nipping at their heels.

One by one, the infected that were wandering about were attracted by their noise. As they got closer to the police station, the guards could be seen looking in their direction.

“Stop!” One of them yelled. He lifted his gun and started firing on the car. their windows shattered and the car was filled with bullet holes. With a pop, one of the tires blew, almost making Rick lose control. Right before hitting the blockade, Rick swerved to the left, driving down the next road. Just as he was making the turn, Pete threw out a flashbang from the car at the guards.

The guard was taken aback and didn’t react fast enough before the flashbang went off, sending out a searing light and a piercing noise through the night. The trio in the car drove away, not daring to make any more noise.

At the blockade, the gunfire and the flashbang had attracted the attention of the infected and had confused the guard. As the car swerved away, it moved out of the line of sight of the infected and the majority of the horde descended upon the pitiful guards.

Rick and the hit-and-run team high fived each other as they drove away.

Laughing, Harry exclaimed, “I didn’t think that would actually work!”

“Holy shit. I can’t believe we actually just did that.” Pete said as well, clutching his rapidly beating heart.

Their car, however, soon sputtered to a stop as the bullets had left it far too destroyed to drive any longer.

“Damn. Looks like this car is fried. We have to look for another car.” Rick said as he got out and ran to the nearby cars, hoping the keys were still there and the car still ran.

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“Hurry up. I hear them starting to fight.” Sophia whispered. Their team were in charge of infiltrating the station while the police were distracted by the infected in the front. The back was an alleyway separated from the roads on the front so there was no problem of having to deal with the infected.

“I’m working as fast as I can. Now be quiet while I focus.” James said as he put the drill tip into the keyhole. He turned it on and a whirring noise sounded as the drill penetrated the hole, spraying out scraps of metal.

After a minute, he finished and opened the door slowly. Two of the guys waiting with guns went in first, weapons ready. Sophia followed afterwards with a pistol. James packed up his tools, throwing them into the back seat of the Escalade.

He quickly followed the group as they went inside.

As they carefully traversed the abandoned hallway, they could hear the gunfire coming from the front.

“Looks like they’re busy out there.” James commented.

“We’ve got to get in and out quickly. If their line of defense falls, we’re next.” Sophia warned. They slightly picked up the pace but remained vigilant.

They had to check each of the rooms on the first floor as there was no way they could tell where John and David were being held, or if they were still alive at all. They had promised Jessica Rider that they’d bring her back her boy, dead or alive.

As they checked the rooms, what they saw startled and disgusted them. Some rooms looked as if they had come straight out of a horror film. Blood and guts were spread about and covered the floors and walls.

In other rooms, to their dismay, were bodies of young girls and women, lying dead and naked on the floor. Others had been propped up in obscene and unnatural positions.

“These sick fucks.” James cursed. “Some of these girls don’t even look like they’re thirteen.” Indeed, there were not a shortage of underaged females among the deceased.

The rooms stank of piss, feces, and semen.

Unable to even give the girls a proper burial, they left with heavy hearts filled with anger.

As they entered the main hall, several men ran passed them towards the entrance. The group was almost discovered if not for the quick thinking of Sophia, who led them to hide behind a few office desks. Waiting to make sure no one else came, the group proceeded to the other side of the office atrium and opened the door into the holding cells.

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John could barely recognize his friend. Nearly David’s entire face and body was covered in a layer of blood. His left eye was gouged out, the gaping cavity filled only by the viscous flowing blood. His legs seemed to be bent at a weird angle and his fingernails were missing. Laceration, bruises, and a variety of other wounds adorned his naked upper body. His hair was matted with blood seeping out of a wound at the back of his head.

John couldn’t bare to look at the horrendous state of his friend. He remembered how Sam had died, gutted by a pole and half eaten at the neck by an infected. He had lost one friend and he swore he wouldn’t lose another.

“David. David, wake up.” John tried to coax the boy awake. He received no answer.

“Come on bud, don’t do this.” John said. He put his blade underneath David’s nose but there was no airflow. David’s nose had been broken and blood must have clotted his nasal cavities. He checked David’s pulse but it might have been too faint, as he did not feel a pulse.

Putting his ear against David’s mouth, he tried to hear breathing. Faintly, he could hear a faint wheezing accompanied by a gurgle of blood. John breathed a sigh of relief. His friend was just barely alive.

Turning David on his side, John gentle patted David’s back until he coughed up the blood. John checked his breathing. It still seemed as if it was strained, but he was breathing

“Shit. David, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” John was cursing at himself. It was he who suggested getting closer to the police station. He wanted to check the situation out despite David insisting they return home, and he had paid the price in John’s stead after they were caught.

With angry tears, he gingerly picked David up and dragged him out of the holding cell while enduring his own pain. His ribs screamed as he pulled David up. Just as he was about to open the door to leave, the handle turned and the door swung open.

Shocked, John fumbled to take out his knife to protect himself and David.

But against his expectations, what stood in front of him was salvation. Sophia and James saw the two and they broke into smiles before they froze, seeing their condition and the incapacitated David.

“You came for us.” John smiled in relief. He had been running on adrenaline until now so seeing the rescue, almost all his strength left him. He stumbled under the weight of David and his own body, and Sophia and James ran up to help him.

“I’m going to kill these fucking bastards.” James cursed as he held up David. Sophia, after overcoming her shock, also held John’s arm to support him.

“Are you alright?” Sophia asked.

“I’ve been better.” John said with a ragged voice. He was a minute from passing out.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get out of this.” Sophia reassured him. He simply winced as he re-positioned himself to better use the girl’s support.

They made their way back out of the door and walked towards the other side of the building. The men outside were too occupied with the infected that they didn’t notice the passing group.

Just as they were about to reach the other side, a scream could be heard. They turned to see that one of the infected had suddenly sped up, lunging forward to grab at one of the men. Despite his attempts at shaking him off, the infected would not let go, crawling up towards his neck, and then biting down. The man’s screams died out in a fountain of blood.

In quick succession afterwards, the defensive line fell.

“We have to go. Now!” James yelled as they pulled the two along. The heard an almost animalistic howl escape from the mouth of one of the infected. It seemed to agitate the infected as they become more active and aggressive.

The group finally made their way into the hallway. As they were walking, the infected had made their way passed the police and were making their way towards them. A few of the infected actually walked slightly faster than the others in jerking motions, which made it hard for the two others in the group to shoot at them. They broke into a run for the door and managed to get outside and shut the door just as the infected almost made it to them. As James was holding the door, he yelled out.

“Start the car!”

Sophia jumped into the driver’s seat and started the car while the other two put David and John into the back seat. Right as the car was about to leave, James ran to the car and dived into the back seat as it drove away.

Panting, they didn’t speak for a while.

“What was that?” Sophia asked. “I’ve never seen them act like that before.”

“Who knows. All I know is they’re a lot more aggressive than before.” James muttered. His was deep in thought.

“Are they changing?” Sophia asked. This made everyone’s heart skip a beat. If they were, that would be extremely bad for them. They weren’t equipped or ready to handle that kind of heat.

“Let’s just get home as fast as we can.” John managed to say. His everything and everywhere were hurting so after saying so, he passed out.

David had not woken the entire time, remaining motionless.

“I hope those sons of bitches were torn limb from limb.” James said as he looked at the condition of the boys.

“How are they looking?” Sophia asked.

“Not good. It looks like they’ve got broken bones in their legs, ribs, arms. And David’s eye…” His voice trailed off for a moment. “We need medicine. And a professional. We can’t treat this on our own.”

“Where are we going to get one?” Sophia asked. “The hospitals are probably the most dangerous places in the city and I doubt that we’ll be able to find a doctor.”

“I can do first aid, but that won’t help much in the long run if they get an infection.” James responded.

“Bill, you have alcohol on you?” James asked one of the men. He sheepishly handed over a flask.

James promptly poured it onto a clean cloth and wiped their wounds. He poured a large bit on David’s eye and wiped away the blood. He kept David’s head elevated to reduce swelling and wrapped a piece of cloth around the eye.

There was no way to set the bones so they just left them as still as possible.

They arrived back at the warehouse a few minutes later.

Rick and the others were waiting by their car. When they saw the Escalade roll in, they hurriedly walked up to them. James stepped out of the car only to be assaulted by Ms. Rider’s questions.

“Did you find him? How is he?” She asked. James just nodded his head before looking at Rick.

“We need two stretchers.” He said. Rick nodded.

“We can use the pvc pipes and some of the blankets. He and the others went off and in a few minutes came back with makeshift stretchers.

As John and David were placed on the stretchers and brought out, John’s mother started to cry, running to her son’s side.

“Oh, John. Oh how could they do this to you.” she choked out in between her sobs.

Jacob was held back from seeing his brother by Abby. She didn’t want him to see John like that.

“Let me go! I want to see him!” He would yell.

“We’ve got to wait. They’re really hurt and they need their rest. If you bother them now, it’ll make things harder for them.” She said. It quieted him down and he stood there, trying to not cry.

James and the others led the boys to the back of the warehouse, where they tried to create a sterile environment in the office room. The boys were placed on tables with blankets.

They proceeded to do what they could. They wiped the blood clean from their bodies and dressed the exterior wounds.

Only one of them had a slight clue as to how to set the bones. As there were no exposed bones, she moved the bones inside until it felt like they were together and wrapped it with a towel and gauze before trying to make a makeshift cast with sticks and string. It was a slipshod job but they hoped it would get the job done. There didn’t seem to be internal bleeding so they were thankful for that.

As James and the “medical” team stepped out of the room, Ms. Rider stood up.

“How is he?” She asked. Sophia, Jacob, Lucas, Abby, and a few others were waiting outside.

“We cleaned most of his wounds and tried to set the bone but until it starts healing and they wake up, we can’t really tell for sure. We’re no doctors, Jessica. We need medicine, painkillers, and someone who knows what they’re doing to look at them.”

“I’ll make a hospital run.” Sophia said.

James just shook his head. “We talked about that. It’s too dangerous.”

“Then where else can we get medicine?” Abby asked.

“They said something about Rajan.” A weak voice came out of the room. The others turned around to see that John had woken up.

They ran inside, John’s mother being the first to arrive at his side.

“I’m so sorry. I should never have let you go.” She said as she once again broke into tears.

“It’s okay, mom. I’ll live.”

“We’re going to get medicine for you and David.” John’s mother said. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. Just leave it to me.” John smiled. His mom always used to say that when he had a problem whether it was a bully at school or college tuition, she would jump to help him carry whatever burden he had. Even now, despite everything that’s happened, she was still his mother.

“I heard the police talk about The Broods and some guy named Rajan.” John took in a shaky breath as his ribs were still hurting. Ironically, his ribs were just extremely bruised and his shoulder had been broken instead from smashing his body against the door. He explained everything he heard before and during his stay at the station.

“The Broods were destroyed by Rajan. He seems to be a big shot. If anyone has medicine. It’s him.” James exclaimed.

“If we can cut a deal with him, we might be able to get our hands on some medicine.”

“No.” John’s voice rang out firmly. “We don’t get anywhere near Rajan. He seems more vicious than the police or the Broods, which is saying something based on what we’ve seen.” John looked at David lying next to him.

“There’s no other choice!” Sophia said. “We could trade away some of our food. We’ve got more than enough.”

John tried to shake his head but his neck hurt too much to move. “No. If he finds out we have so much food, he could send his people to fight us. That’s putting a lot more people at risk for just the two of us.”

Harry, who had been standing to the side, felt a little awkward hearing the words he had once said repeated by the very person he had meant it towards.

“We’ll tough it out for now. If we get through this okay, there’s no problem. If there is, then we’ll rethink our strategy. But no Rajan.” John was adamant. He did not want to bring more harm on his friends for his own sake. Seeing they showed no reaction, John said, “Promise me.” He looked at each of the people in the room.

One by one, they all promised him, and after the last person gave their word, John’s eyes softened and he went back to sleep.

The others left him be as they discussed more matters privately.

“Are we really not going to do anything and just wait?” Sophia asked them.

“Of course not.” James said. “We’ll head out tomorrow at dawn. If Rajan seems okay, we try to make a deal. If not, we leave.”

Ms. Rider nodded approvingly and Abby also showed her support.

“Alright then, let’s see how great this Rajan is.”