“It’s fucking hot outside. I’m sweating so much my balls are starting to stick together,” Carter mumbled as he began making his way out the door. “And I’m out of fucking baby powder.”
“Oh, shut up,” said Virginia, pushing Carter out the door.
Albert led them back through the door with the generators. They marched across the quad to another section of the school. It was there that Kyle saw more survivors. They stood on the roof looking out into the open space with rifles in their hands.
“Just through this door,” Albert said.
They entered the room and instantly were greeted by the memorizing scent of death and decay. The odor was so bad that it made Kyle’s face fold with disgust.
“I forgot to warn you about that,” Albert said. “Sorry.”
Kyle nodded.
The classroom itself was altered to look more like a laboratory. The carpets had been ripped out and replaced with tile. Four metal tables lined the far right wall, two of which had bodies laid out on top.
“There seems to be more to this than I could have possibly imagined,” a voice from one of the small offices said. “Every time I am given a new specimen, it surprises me.”
“Doctor Greenly?” Albert called out.
“It seems now that the heart of the parasite is pumping. The pink liquid that erupts from the boil is being pumped through the body making them …”
“Doctor Greenly?” Albert called out again, this time louder.
Doctor Greenly flipped the switch on his recording device and stepped out of the office. Kyle imagined Doctor Greenly would be a frail old man, but that wasn’t the case. He was an older gentleman; his many years were easily seen by the wrinkles on his face, but he moved quickly and with much vigor.
“Who do we have here?” Doctor Greenly asked, sticking his hand out to Kyle.
“I’m Kyle. Glad to finally meet you Doctor Greenly. I listened to your broadcasts.”
“Ah, yes, well, hopefully you found them informative, hmm?” Greenly spoke every word as though he pushed out a large gust of air. “And who is this young lad?”
“Morgan’s son,” Albert answered.
Victor seemed uninterested in what was going on around him. He hadn’t even so much as looked in Doctor Greenly’s direction.
“Ahh,” he said. “And where is Morgan?”
Every time someone mentioned the name Morgan, it felt as though a fresh needle pierced the young boy’s heart and filled it with cold water.
“Dead,” Ignacio said very boldly. “I see remains firsthand.”
“Oh,” Greenly said staring to the ground. His glasses began to slip to the end of his large nose. He pushed them back up and said, “Poor dear. I’m sorry for your loss, young man.”
“Thanks,” Victor said.
“Are you two thinking about staying here and joining our little community? We could sure use some extra hands around here.”
Kyle shook his head. “No. We’re heading into California. The sooner we can get back on the road the better.”
“California? What part?”
“Southern. Poway area.”
“Oh.”
“I know it’s crawling with them. Would you be able to give me some information?”
“Of course,” Greenly said. “But it will be dark within the next five to six hours, and it will take you that long to reach your destination. I recommend leaving first thing in the morning. You do not want to be caught outside at night. Albert, take them to the gymnasium so they can shower.”
“Sure,” Albert said.
“I have much work to do before nightfall comes. We can have a chat after dinner. Also, Albert, please set up a cot for them in one of the classrooms.”
“Very well.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Kyle said sincerely.
“Don’t mention it.” Doctor Greenly turned and headed back to his office. “Ignacio, please follow me.”
“Si, we have new tings to mention.”
“Come on,” Albert said, turning to the exit.
“Are you military?” Kyle asked Albert.
“Former, yes. Me, Ricardo, Virginia, Carter and Ignacio. We are what’s left of our squad. Everyone else is a civilian survivor.”
“How many people are currently here?”
“Eighteen. Twenty, counting you two.”
“I see all of you are fully armed.”
“Yes, what are you getting at?”
“My shotgun. I’d be out of my mind if I tried to fire it in its condition. With all of your fire power, I was hoping you might have a cleaning kit, maybe just a rag and some lube.”
“Sorry,” was all Albert said.
Kyle took that as a ‘Yes, we do have some, and no, you can’t have any’.
“Do you have any extra guns I can have?”
“Sorry,” Albert said again, stone faced. “You leave with what you came with.”
“We’ll that Ricardo guy took my Glock. It was the only gun I have that still works. Can I at least have that back?”
“Yes, when you leave, we will return it.”
Kyle and Victor were led into the boy’s locker room which was right next to the gym. Kyle put down the shotgun he had been carrying and searched the back for spare clothes. He didn’t have any more.
“We should have picked up more clothes for you,” Kyle said.
“What I have on is fine,” Victor replied.
“There’s hot water, but don’t use a lot of it. Take a cold shower if you can muscle it out, we need to save fuel. I’ll be waiting outside. There’s a pile of clothes around this corner, feel free to pick at it and take whatever fits.”
“Thanks,” Kyle said.
Albert stood outside the door while Kyle searched the mountain of clothes to find something that would fit. He found a plain black large t-shirt and a dark blue pair of jeans, size 38-34. There was also a pair of large boxers. He did feel a bit weird wearing used boxers, but in the apocalypse, beggars can’t be choosers. He grabbed the pair.
“These might fit you,” Kyle said, throwing clothes at Victor.
“I said I was fine with what I had on.”
“Come on, Victor. Your clothes reek.”
“I don’t care.”
“Is this about your mother?”
“She should have been here. I went through so much trying to find her, and not twelve hours later, she’s gone again. This time there’s nothing I can do to reach her.”
“You’re right, there is nothing you can do to bring her back. So the best thing to do is move forward.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You still have hope. I don’t know why, Jasmine’s probably long dead anyway.”
“Maybe, but even if she was, I wouldn’t be a dick to everyone.”
“You are a dick.”
Kyle laughed as he stood from the bench. “I am, but at least I can hide it.” He took off his shirt.
“Tell me what happened?”
“Huh?”
“Tell me what happened to my mother.”
“I already told you. You saw her roll her ankle. She couldn’t reach my hand so I could pull her to the roof.”
“How could she not reach it? I saw the distance. Even if she jumped a few inches, she would have been able to grab your hand.”
“Fine, you wanna know what happened? It was dark and she tried to jump toward my hand, she completely missed it and fell back down.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Victor stood and walked toward the exit. Kyle heard the sound of the door opening and slamming shut.
Kyle sighed and finished undressing. He’ll come around, he thought. He’ll come around and I’ll be his father again.
The water falling from the shower head was colder than an ice cap. He moved the knob to hot and the water turned lukewarm then hot. He stuck his head under the water and closed his eyes. There was a bottle of shampoo tied to the shower head. It smelled fruity, but Kyle didn’t care. He poured a handful of it and rubbed it against his head. The rinsing felt invigorating and refreshing, as if the shower were washing away all of his sins.