Chapter 3: Dead Road to the Hospital
Chapter 3: Dead Road to the Hospital
(Previously...)
"Not them, I'm sure they have nothin'. But look over there, think they got anythin'? Let's go find out, what do ya say little brother?" As Merle pointed to a Mexican family that was near the small lake. They looked at the pitiful man who was struggling with the tent poles to their tent, while the mother was distracted chasing down her little ones.
Merle looked from one group to the other and nodded at his next move. "Good call, little brother. Let's do 'er." They left the truck that the woman and child were in, alone. Daryl didn't give it too much thought afterwards and followed his brother. Thinking that the woman too scared to defend herself, too scared for her child that they'd be dead in a few days, poor things...
--October 1, 2010, Macon County, GA--
As I made my way through the empty streets of Macon, (yes I could have drove there, but didn't want to make too much noise...) the felt like I was in a scene from a horror show, blood, guts, body parts everywhere. The once busy streets of the city were no more, now it's just a ghost town, I saw abandoned cars, abandoned buildings with broken windows, and heard the occasional gunfire at a distance.
I could smell the smoke of the burning buildings and the rotting flesh that lay in the streets, the smell was everywhere in the air. I even saw a person running away from a group or horde of undead. Then he tripped his companion just to get away from the zombies that were chasing them. Just seeing this person get ripped apart, made me think about that same type of group I was in before, it had brought bad memories.
--1 month ago-- --
As I was resting in an empty delivery truck cargo area, no it wasn't working, I was asleep and dreaming of things I've never witnessed before. As I was following the dream as it played out, I noticed quickly that I wasn't dreaming, but I wasn't in control either, it was a memory I was reliving but live as well. It was the old me and he was holding something in his right hand, then it suddenly disappeared in thin air.
I was surprised too what he did, then he did it again and made that item that disappeared, reappear. It looked like he had one of those item storage things from those games, I used to play, an inventory or something like that. I wondered if I still had that ability and if I did, man that would be a game changer for me. I snapped out of my thoughts as soon as I saw him do something else.
He made a strange suit appear around him, as if the suit was black ink, and it was bonding with his body. I was speechless, I've never seen a suit like that, I mean I have but it was in the Guyver Syfy movie, I had seen in the early 90's. This suit looked like a Power Ranger suit, but more metally liquid like. I saw him lift a f**ken car with that suit, 'damn, what a f**ken suit' was all I could think.
I started to think as I saw him perform different moves with the suit, and let me tell you, it was f**ken amazing. You know what? It looked like that suit in that one anime show, aaa, I can't remember. People that were killed reappeared in a room and they had to fight aliens for their freedom, and after accumulating a certain amount of points, they were free to leave.
Anyways, I feel in love with the suit, then suddenly everything went black. I was in an empty space again when I suddenly heard footsteps coming toward me. Now, what the f**j was going on? Soon after, I saw the old me in front of me, "do you like the body? I kept it well proportioned." He said to me, and I was confused as to why am I talking to myself like this? Why would he ask if I like the body.
"Who are you?" I asked him as he just kept staring at me. "Well, I am you, Jack Willson, and that body used to by mine. Well... before I died that is." He said as my eyes were about to come out from my head. "What do you mean, this body was yours? But you're me?" I was still confused. "Yes, that correct, that body used to be occupied by me. I am what you would call a small god of sorts."
That was when a small like film showed what he was, what looked like Ancient China to me, the past China, where you could see people practically jumping high up and flying. Then he continued talking, "I was temporarily trapped in that body by a larger god that was upset with me for personal reasons, I will not be telling you about. Anyway, I was released right when I died, and you took it over."
Still lost at what he was saying, "then how did a god die. Aren't you all, I don't know immortal?" Then I saw him laugh at what I said. "In certain points we are, yes. We would be immortal. But what you did was freed me from that mortal coil, and I returned as a god once more. With your interference in intercepting that body, I was released from that prison I was in. And for that I thank You!!"
Surprised at what he said, I wanted to ask more but he didn't give me that chance. "Let me explain something to you. I was immortal in that body, but I could still die. But then I would be reinserted right back into that body and be a prisoner again. But you intercepted the body as I died and I for a better word ascended back to my godhood. I was surprised that happened as well."
He stepped forward as he stood right in front of me, "as a reward for freeing me from my prison, mortal. I am giving you the freedom of using that body and its gifts. The two things you saw will be available to you when you awaken, but you have to figure out a way to unlock the nano-suit gift. Once you do, you can split and share it with only one other person. Choose wisely!!"
I interrupted him and spoke out of turn, "Now say what now?" "HAHAHAHAA!!" He laughed harder than before. "You heard me correctly mortal. You will be able to use the item inventory in that body. It has enough space that you could put the moon in it, and still have enough room for more stuff. That's available once you leave here, and the suit you're on your own on that one."
He looked directly into my eyes, then said, "be warned mortal, people who see your power will want to imprison you, just because you could do what they can't. I should know, I spent many years prisoner in a few countries because they saw me do special things. Be safe and maybe I will see you out there in the cosmos, one never knows."
As he finished talking, he started to fade away, "WAIT!!' I called out, but to no avail, he disappeared. As soon as he was gone, I suddenly awoke with sweat on my brow, and I was breathing heavily. "Was that a dream? Or was it real? Am I going crazy?" After calming down a bit, 'Hey I might as well try. To see if I'm crazy or not.' I thought to myself as I grabbed the nearest thing to try.
I tried to make my bottled water go into my inventory, which a second later, it did. "This is a f**ken game changer!!" I said as I looked around, fearing that someone heard me. After waiting for a few minutes and heard nothing, I was relieved. "Good, no one heard me. I need to stop doing things like that." I was happy this happened, now I should be ready to face the undead world with open arms.
Soon after, I left the area and started collecting everything from clothes, food, guns, ammo, fuel, and even a few large vehicles. It was great... until two weeks later, I noticed something strange happening to me. I had wanted to get a certain vehicle, an RV to be exact, when I noticed something, I don't know how to say it. Well... I was looking under the hood and I noticed I knew right away how exactly everything worked.
From how the engine did its combustion, to how the transmission shifted gears, even brought up ideas on how to modify them and make them work better. Like for the engine, I could pull it out and modify the intakes to keep to engine cooler, how to modify the fuel injection to save better on gas, to the transmission, I could modify the shifting gears so they could slide smoother and not cause friction and waste the clutch plate, things like that.
It was weird at first but then, I wanted to know more, as I continued to see what I could do to that RV. Here's an example of what I saw, this 2010 Seneca RV as I was traveling, and I wanted it. So, I looked under the hood to see what was wrong with it and to my surprise. I knew right away what was wrong with it. It felt like this body did it automatically, it was concerning and exciting at the same time, so what did do, I put in my inventory. So, when I see an RV or parts store, I'll get the parts that I need to fix it.
This is what I saw: 2010 Jayco Seneca RVs:
Engine Duramax / V8, Cylinders 8, Horsepower: 330 hp @ 3,000 RPM, Torque 620 ft-lbs. @ 1,600 RPM, Displacement 6.6 liters, W/Turbocharged, Fuel Type: Diesel; Alternate Fuel: Flex fuel, Carburetion Type: Fuel Injected, Fuel Capacity: 80.0-gal, Chassis Brand Kodiak, Chassis Model C5500, Driveline Type 4X2., Transmission Brand: Allison Transmission: 6 Speed Automatic, w/Overdrive.
Dimensions of RV: Length; 37.4 ft. (449 in.), Height; 12 ft. (144 in.), Interior Height; 6.67 ft. (80 in.), total weight and towing Capacity; 8,000 lbs., GVWR; 22,000 lbs., Holding Tanks: 1 Fresh Water Holding Tank; 81.5-gal, 2 Gray Water Holding Tanks; 82.0-gal, 1 Black Water Holding Tank; 66.0-gal., Propane Tank(s), 2 Propane Tank, 1 Propane Tank; Capacity: 13.2-gal, second Propane Tank Capacity: 56 lbs.,
Body Material: Aluminum, Sidewall Construction; Fiberglass, 1 Power retractable Awning; Length: 17 ft. (204 in.), 2-bedroom: large king Bed2 fits 7 adults, 4 extendable bunk beds in hallway, carpet flooring in all but the kitchen area, 2 4-seater, bed extendable, leather sofa, 1 recliner., Kitchen / Living Area Flooring Type; Carpet / Vinyl, w/satellite TV,
Automatic Air Conditioned: 27,000 BTUs, Kitchen Table Configuration: 6-person Bench Seats, Oven w4/Burners, Refrigerator Size: Mid-Size, Electric / Propane, Toilet: Porcelain, full Shower, plastic glass door, Driver, and passenger seats: swivel, power adjustable, leather Bucket seats, all electrical with power conversion from watts to amps. The only thing that was missing were the solar panels.
And that's how I spent those 7 days, just collecting mechanical and electrical stuff, cars, trucks, motor bikes, stoves, washers, anything dealing with mechanics and electricity. It was good that I found about it when U traveled alone, didn't want some shmo to ruin my time if they freaked out. I even packed a few different types of RV's as I went along. Hey, never know when I'll need one for myself, right!!
--Present time, back to the convenient store--
It just pained me to see him that way, and lent a helping hand, I gave him mercy, as I put a knife through his skull ending his suffering. The others that ran away had turned back once they lost the horde of zombies to fetch their friend, but too late for that. So, I helped them get to wherever they were going, but before that I checked the three for ant signs of infection.
One of them I discovered had a bite on his hand, so I told the rest that sooner or later he would turn into one of them, but as young people always do, they don't believe a grown-up (I was their age, the little s**ts...). I still helped them get into a convenient store they were trying to get into, I killed the two zombies that was in it, but right after, I grabbed a few things to eat and drink, then I left them to whatever fate befell them.
After leaving the young adults behind, I pulled out a .45 from my inventory, just in case I got robbed in this small town, hey never know, it could happen. And it almost did, right after turning the corner of the street I was walking on, I'm confronted by 7 looters with steel pipes in their hands. I automatically went on the offensive and pointed my .45 at them as they tried to get close.
"Don't even think about it, chump!! Don't want to lose your life over nothing, do you?" As I pointed the gun at the seven, they looked scared with a gun in their faces. They had actually seen me help the other survivors and thought of looting my stuff. Since they didn't see me use a gun earlier, they thought I was an easy loot for them.
"I say move along, before I use this and make some breather holes in all of you." I said as I waved them to leave, while they still had the chance. They ran away quickly, once I let them, I saw them run into a building a few blocks away from the convenient store. So, they knew those kids from earlier and maybe this was all a trap. Well, lesson learned, never trust anyone, especially young adults, they're as sly as the older ones.
As time went on, minutes turn to hours as I kept walking toward the hospital, I finally made it to Rick's neighborhood. I could see his house and I could also see that Morgan and his son are already in the house. Before I turned the corner of the street that Rick's house was on, I saw a young black kid on the street. When he ran away suddenly into the house, meaning Morgan was already there.
No, I was not going to stop at all, I ignored the kid and kept walking away towards the hospital. That was my destination after all, loot the s**t out of the place. Well anyways, I kept walking and about 30 minutes later, I saw the hospital, surrounded by all types of military goodies. I'll be taking for myself and others that I might help out on the way out of Georgia.
As I neared the hospital, I had to stop in my tracks, about 15 to 20 walkers were roaming around the hospital parking lot. So, I pulled out my M-4 automatic rifle, attached the silencer to it, and went to town on the zom-bows. One shot to the head, and I hit them all as I walked closer to them, hey, I've been practicing as I traveled, and I'm a very good shot, thank you very much.
Well, after ending the outside threat, I started collecting everything that can be used around the hospital. I collected 2 1097A2 Humvee's, and 2 mid-sized M35 A2 duce and a half with tarp cargo liner and 2 small trailer fuel tanks full of fuel, well one was, the other was about ¾ full. The cargo trucks were filled to the brim with MRE's and ammo for all the weapons that lay on the ground.
I also collected 38 M16 A2 rifles with 84 magazines full of 5.56 ammunition, that was laying throughout the hospital grounds as I searched around for more goodies. That's not including what's inside, haven't checked yet. I saw and collected many types of weapons, 4-50 caliber machine guns, with a lot of ammunition in crates, 2-249's with scopes attached already, and 12 M17 Sig Sauer military 10mm pistols.
It seemed a few officers gave their lives defending this place, WOW, I was surprised, usually officers are the first to run away from a losing fight. Well, in my experience, they always... 90% of them run away, but I guess there are a few exceptions. Well anyways, back to the looting, after what seemed hours, (1hour... stop exaggerating Jack!!), "Who the f**k said that?"
I waited for a few minutes, and when I got no answer... yup, I'm going crazy. Anyways, let's continue the looting. After cleaning out the outside of all its goods, I headed to the main entrance. Now before I stepped in, I pulled out my 2 .45's, my favorite weapons to hold by the way, (There were custom made for someone, but I found them and loved them ever since, their mine now...) with silencers just in case I needed to kill something in here.
As I entered, I saw a mess, and by that, I mean so much blood on the floor. It looked like someone poured bright red paint on the floor, there was a few blotches of the white floor that you could still see, but not much that wasn't red. I walked in slowly, so that I would not get anything's attention as I made my way floor by floor. I cleaned out everything that could possibly be used in a community or by oneself.
I took the beds, the IV stands, the all the health monitors, all the linen that wasn't stained with blood, even took the silver platers that doctors use for laying the shots or cutting utensils on. I was tempted into taking the bathroom toilet and sink, hey I wanted too, but thought it would be useless down the road. Unless I decided to throw it at something or on someone.
Well anyways, continuing, I had made it to the third floor, when I saw my first walker that was still here. Killed it pretty easily, as it hit the floor, it landed on some of those silver plates I talked about earlier. It made a big racket as it bounced around the floor, which brought the attention of the dead that were still roaming in the joint.
I wasn't too scared, I had my guns and all of them were loaded, but if I would be attacked by many walkers at a time, then that would be a problem. To my worry was unfounded, I met 7 more walkers on that floor and cleared out the rest of the floor and then headed to the fourth. There is where I encountered another problem, the entrance stairwell was blocked by what looked like a few vending machines.
That meant that this floor was still occupied by someone or a few of someone's. So, I walked slower to the top, watching every corner that I could see from, making sure not to get surprised by anything. As I neared the heavy vending machines, I heard some scrambling noises in one of the opened rooms that I was facing. So, I pointed my .45 at the room where the noise came from and waited to see if anything came out.
After waiting for a minute or two, I called out, "anyone there? I come in peace. I swear to God, I won't hurt you." And I waited again, which after a minute I finally got a response, "you promise, not... to hurt me?" A small voice came out from the room I was facing earlier. "Yup, I swear to you. Now please come out so I could see you." I responded back to the small voice to see who would come out.
And loo and behold, it was a little girl, did not look older than 8 years old, maybe 10, hey you never know with this time and age. As I put my gun down, I asked the little girl, "where are your parents, sweety? Are you here alone? Why are you here alone?" I kept asking questions as I could see nervousness in the girl as she kept looking at the floor.
"Don't worry sweety, I won't be mad. I just want to know where your parents are at. So, I can take you to them. They must be worried about you." She shook her head at what I said last then said, "no, Mr. They died protecting me and getting me in here. Last I saw them, they were fighting some of those things from out there. I haven't seen them since. That was a week ago." She looked sad after telling me about her parents.
"I', so, sorry to hear that, sweety. You know what? Would you like something to eat? I have chocolate somewhere here." As I dropped my backpack and started searching for the chocolate, which I pulled out from my inventory. I have... I would say... 3 years' worth of food in my inventory as of right now. That's because I raided several large grocery stores of their wears and goods a few days back when I passed Atlanta.
The girl looked happy that she was going to get some chocolate, she hasn't eaten any for a while. As I pulled the bar from my pack, she neared me and I gave it to her, as she tore the rapper apart and devoured the snickers chocolate bar. "Mmmh, than' yu' mister. I missed the taste of chocolate; it's been a while." She said with sincerity in her voice as she continued devouring the bar.
"You're welcome sweety." As I moved the vending machines out of the way, I walked around the area to see how she was living here and maybe guess how long she'd been here alone. Taking a quick gander, I would say she's been here for a week at least. Let's find out, "hey sweety, how long have you been here alone?" I asked as she put on a thinking kid pose with her finger on her bottom lip.
It was so cute, I wanted to hug her, but no... I resisted. "I think 4 or 5 days. My mom left me a bag of food and then left to help my daddy that was outside fighting those things. I miss them. Could you find them, mister?" I shook at her request making her look a little sad. "I'm sorry, but if they haven't returned by now, I think for sure they won't. Again, I'm sorry sweety."
I sounded like an a**hole, but I had to tell her the truth, so that she wouldn't be dumb enough to run out to them if she ever saw them in walker form. Don't want her to get hurt. "Well, my name is Jack, what's yours?" I asked trying to get her mind off her dead parents. "My name is Olivia, Olivia Watson, I am 8 years old, and I love riding ponies." I laughed because she only had 7 fingers up, but she was so cut that I let it pass.
"WOW, that's great. You had a pony? I love large horses, they are nice, I used to ride one when I worked at a farm long ago." I said trying to cheer her up. "Really!! You used to work on a farm? So did my daddy, he used to work with this guy named Hershel Greene. He was nice to us, but we had to leave because my mommy's mommy was hurt. So, we came looking for her here."
She was starting to get sad again when she mentioned her mommy. "How about this, you can come with me, and I will take care of you from now on. Or we could go to the farmers house, and you could stay with them? What do you say?" She looked pensive at my request, she is a smart little girl for her age, it didn't matter to me. If she wanted to go to the Greene's house, I'd take her and keep her safe till then.
"Okay, mister Jack, I'll go with you. Will you be my new daddy? I don't want to be alone." She looked hopeful at what I'd answer next. "Anything you want sweety. If you want me to be your daddy, it's okay with me. I would love a little smart girl like you to be my daughter." Her face lit up like a Christmas tree and ran to where I was and hugged me.
Well, I got a daughter, yay me. Now let's continue looting the rest of the floors. So, I pulled out of my pack a small backpack and a new set of clothes for her. I wanted her to be ready to move without her wearing a dress, where it could get caught on something if we needed to make a quick escape. "Olly, I want you to wear this and stay in that room as I check the rest of this place, okay?"
As I hand her the new clothes, socks, and small boots to wear. "I'll only be gone for an hour the most, I promise. Can you do that for me, Olly?" As she grabbed the thing I offered she said, "Okay daddy, but you promised to come back." I nodded to her, "I will, I promise. Now stay in there and don't come out for anything. Not even if someone else comes, can you do that for me?" She nodded as she walked into the room, and I closed it behind her.
I pulled in the vending machines into my inventory then placed them right in front of the room door Olivia was in, to protect the entrance with a heavy object that's hard to move. After that, I continued looting each floor. 4th, 5th, and the last the 6th floor where Rick was supposed to be in and all the walkers that are locked up here as well.
I walked around the floor and noticed a gurney that was blocking the entrance to a room, I skipped it for now and went where all the walkers were in. As I looked at the chained entrance to the mess hall and looked through the crack on the doors, I saw over 40 walkers in there. So, I did what I had to and gave them all mercy. I used my M4 again and unloaded a good 2 magazines, bringing them all down.
As I was finishing them off, I heard a moan and a cough coming from the closed room. That means that Rick is about to awaken, and I was not going to be here for that. He needed to confront the dead as he needed to realize the world has changed and make his way home. So, I hurried and looted the rest of the floors goodies and left to pick up Olivia from the fourth floor.
After removing the vending machine out of the way, I knocked on the door to let Olivia know that I was back, and I complete my promise to her. "Olivia!! I'm back." When she opened the floor, she looked like she was crying, I hugged her and said, "what's the matter sweety? Are you okay?" She was sniffling while a small nick up came out of her.
"I thought I would never see you again. Like my mommy and daddy, they said they wouldn't leave me alone. And they never came back." I rubbed her back in small circles, then said, "I'm here, I'm never gonna do that again. I promise, where I go, you go as well, from now on, okay?" She nodded and I hugged her again. Then a few minutes later, we packed her small things in her backpack, and we left the hospital.
(To be Continued...)
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