Hank blanched a bit at that.
"What? Don't tell me there is already a problem? Rape?"
"No, no, last night some ya-hoo on guard duty shot another one of our guys. The shooter was a stupid braggart and that didn't help things. The kid didn't die, but he is mad and everyone was ready to tear this guys head off, I have him isolated for now."
Sighing heavily the Major responded, "We have a brig at the base, it is yours if you need to use it, it might be a good idea to get the guy away from everyone else before mob justice takes over."
"I'll have to get the board together and decide that, it is too big for me to just do on my own. I see what you are saying about the government, no chance we could break out north or south?" Hank asked.
Shaking his head Ed said, "I would recommend against it, right now the enemy, the zombies, have their backs pointed at us, why fight through them to put ourselves in front of them again?"
Chapter 30
Jeff was not happy. He was stuck in some cruddy office waiting for everyone to decide what to do with him, all over a stupid mistake. He had not meant to shoot Kevin, he was being careful, so he got a little excited? Who wasn't? Other people had been firing too, it could have been one of them that hit Kevin, hell they could have hit Jeff! He was lucky he was not dead, yet he had to take the fall for the friendly fire? This was not right and he was going to complain to…to who? Hank was the leader of this group, though Jeff hadn't elected him, no, he had not, in fact no one had, he was put up there by his friends because he had what? Fought some zombies? Sent back a doctor with gun ammunition? Big deal! Hank led the group, Hank thought Jeff screwed up and deserved to be punished for it, Jeff was going to be punished. Not fair at all.
If that prick Kevin had kept his yap shut and covered for him, he knew Jeff hadn't meant to shoot him, yet there he was pointing fingers right after it happened. Kevin was Hank's man through and through. Everyone liked Hank and everyone thought Jeff was stupid and deserved to go down. What would they do to him? Surely not toss him out with the zombies? Kill him? Fine him? Jeff laughed out loud at that, money had suddenly, drastically, become worthless, they would not fine him. What about community service? They could make him do forced labor, he bet Kevin would love that, seeing Jeff working his ass off while Kevin sat around laughing at him. Jeff was in the midst of this mental conversation when the door was opened and a guy he only had seen around a few times came into the doorway.
"Jeff, what are we supposed to do with you?" asked the man.
Spying other men, rough looking men, behind the guy, Jeff swallowed visibly and answered, "Nothing. You, uh, heard what Hank said, he would decide what to do later."
"That is just the thing Jeff, you may not have heard but Hank left, took the guy you shot over to the hospital. He is not here right now."
Letting that sink in, Jeff tried to answer in a confident voice that sounded all too whiny and pathetic to his own ears, "Well, he'll, he'll s-sort me out when he comes back. W-won't he?"
Shaking his head the man said, "No, no, see we all like Hank, but he is a nice guy, too nice maybe, Kevin told us some stories about Hank's life and while we trust him to do what needs to be done, we think" the man gestured over his shoulder at the other men behind him, "he might be a little soft on you. You see I don't have my two kids with me Jeff, I don't have a wife anymore, or parents or a sister or a niece and nephew. You follow me?"
Nodding in confusion, Jeff answered, "Y-yeah man I get you, you lost a lot of people in this mess, I did too, you know I had a girlfriend and…" this was a lie and came out like a lie, which seemed to make the man happy. Jeff's voice trailed off, then he asked quietly, "No, no I guess I don't get what you are driving at?"
"I said it already, I lost everyone, until I found these guys, they are my family now, I know that and they know that. But you, you, don't seem to know that. Anyone here would have laid his life down for yours last night, before you shot a guy this morning, but now? Now I don't think anyone can trust you, no one wants you in the family anymore. You're a fuckup, you shot your brother. You shot my brother. You want to know what is worse? You could have shot my kids, who are the ones we have found around the area. You could have killed my kid. You have shown that you could still kill my kids or my brothers and sisters or parents again. You are worse than they are Jeff."
Jeff didn't have to ask who 'they' were. He saw the look of resolve in the man's eyes and he knew, knew something really bad was going to happen. In a quiet voice he asked, "What are you going to do to me?"
The men moved forward and closed the door behind them.
Chapter 31
It was mid afternoon, several hours after visiting with the Major and ironing out plans, several more bus-loads of people had been driven over to the hospital and the mob of zombies that the group had led away from the facility were being led further away and shot to pieces one undead body at a time. Hank was sitting with Juan at a normal looking hospital bed, if it were not for the fact that Kevin, who was laying in the bed flipping the channels on the remote, could not get a single signal the scene could have been one set weeks before the zombie outbreak.
"So you sure you're gonna be okay, huh?" Hank asked Kevin for the third time.
Kevin rolled his eyes and said, "Man, you know I am feeling weaker now, I think you are wearing me out asking me that question. The docs here said I should be fine, they should know. They even x-rayed me to see if anything showed up, that pea shooter Jeff had would have had to hit something key man, like my head or heart or atorta or something."
"Atorta?" Nanci asked and giggled, it was a refreshing sound to hear.
Kevin pretended to go into a funk and slumped over, "Yeah, yeah, I told ya I was not an ace at school huh? Why do you have to dog me like this, I mean I am okay my atorta wasn't shot up and the docs said I need rest, like real rest, you guys only got in 'cause I told em you were like my family now. Don't make me take you off the list."
Laughing Hank said, "Aorta. Okay, okay, I'll lay off too, you are going to be fine, we'll lay off you and heck if you wanted you could probably be the one operating on aorta's, things are going to get worse before they get better, I think, and the doctors will need all the help they can get, even if it means training someone without a medical background how to operate."
Kevin perked up at that, "Hey you think so Hank? You really think so? My mama would be so happy if I were a doc, I mean really happy."
"The world is changed Kevin, who knows what opportunities are going to be there in the future? If you are interested I will talk to the nurses and docs, if this goes on awhile I can't see them not relying on their assistants more and more as time goes by. I wish I was wrong, I don't think I am. I think all of us had better be looking out for the future in this new world. Things are not ever going to be the same again."