Aberrant: Dead Rising - Origins: Relationships are History (James)[Mature] [Finished]

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

8:45 AM: James DeBeer, Wal-Mart at 3851 Airport Freeway, Forth Worth, Texas

James had walked North the last quarter mile to 121. That was a waste of time. Could have leaped without worrying about landing in the freeway. North Beach is backed up because 121 is bumper to bumper.

James walked under the 121 bridge, then hid his shotgun under the bushes lining the Wal-Mart parking lot. Don't recall if Texas law lets you carry a shotgun openly but I don't have a license and this was stolen from the police. No potential for trouble there. Odd. Parking lot is seriously full.

James walked into the Walmart and blinked. Good grief. It's the day after Thanksgiving. Wall to wall people. Checkout line looks like it's more than a half hour long.

To James right someone coughed and rubbed their nose. James took a closer look. Some of them have it. Which means they're spreading it. That checkout gal looks ill... I wonder if the food she's bagging can infect people? Jesus, this is like watching the Titanic's band play on after the iceberg hit.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

8:45 AM: James DeBeer, Wal-Mart at 3851 Airport Freeway, Forth Worth, Texas

James walked to the pharmacist and noticed everyone behind the counter was wearing a mask and gloves. At the counter he said, "Hey, Dr. Adam..." What was Adam's last name? Hitcher? Hitler? Something like that.

James tried again, "I'm here for a pick up. Dr..."

In a no-nonsense tone of voice the lady behind the counter interrupted him, "You're James DeBeer. Harris Methodist sent you."

James blinked and asked, "How did you..."

She interrupted again in a tone of voice indicating he'd asked a silly question, "Know who you are? We don't get professional wrestlers wearing blazing red shirts with the word SECURITY written on it in here very often. I still need to see your identification and you'll have to sign for it, but your order is ready."

Strangely intimidated by the woman, James handed over his driver's license and took a clip board from her. Why do I get the feeling she'd be at home wearing a nun's outfit wrapping someone's fingers with a ruler?

James asked, "So what all am I picking up?"

The woman said the same 'stupid-question' tone of voice, "It's all right there on the sheet."

James re-read the sheet. 5 medicines. Don't recognize two of them. 100 sets of doses. Whoa, serious money. A bunch of little pills costs that much? Should have sold drugs for a living.

James pointed to the expensive drugs on the list and asked, "What do these do?"

The woman answered, "They're both antibiotics. One is very new, we just started stocking it a few months ago." She waited a moment then said, "Everything there? Any other questions? If not come around to the door."

James said, "No, this looks good. And the Doctors will be administering it anyway."

At the door the woman presented James with a massive cooler. James looked at it and said, "Some of this needs to be kept refrigerated?" Looks like Adam bought this stuff by the pound.

She replied, "Yes. There's dry ice on the sides. Can you carry it out by yourself?" From the woman's tone James had been chosen for this duty purely because of the cooler's weight.

James effortlessly picked it up and said, "I'm good. Thanks a bunch, this will save some lives." Under the mask maybe the woman smiled, or maybe not.

On the way out James paused by the ATM and took out as much cash as he could. This chest has more money in it than my life savings. There's very little justice in the world.

James left Wal-Mart, recovered his shotgun and then leaped away.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

9:00 AM: James DeBeer, Above Forth Worth, Texas

On the way back James noticed something disheartening. The number of zombies wandering around is increasing.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

9:00 AM: Doctor Samuel Jackson, Head Administrator at 'The Springs' Rest Home

'Bing'. Doctor Jackson's watch went off indicating another hour had passed. He kept writing.

Samuel Owens Jackson: Will and Testament.

It's 8:30 AM on Tuesday, November 14th 2006. Being of sound mind and gravely endangered body, I declare this to be my last (and first) Will and Testament.

With the exception of the following I leave all my worldly possessions to my loving wife Debra Jackson. I'm sorry we followed my life plan and not yours. If there's an insurance settlement I suggest you go back to school. You're also in charge of carrying out this will.

To my brother Edwin Jackson I leave his favorite painting by our dead grandmother, the big one with the evergreens which is currently in my office at home. I know that you'd wanted it after she died.

To my sister Martha I leave grand-dad's collection of medical tools from his practice and your choice of three of those artistic mugs you like.

To my various cousins and any other relatives I leave nothing.

My current situation:

I'm trapped in the records room at The Springs. I don't know what to call the creatures waiting outside the door other than 'zombies'. One of them was shot four times in the chest by the police more than a day ago. Another had her arm axed off this morning hours ago but hasn't bled to death yet. I say 'axed' because I can see the axe head in her chest. These are either the living dead or something else just as bad. I watched them kill several people yesterday. I don't have any weapons or salt or even fire with which to fight them.

I skipped breakfast to respond to the fire alarm yesterday. That means my last full meal was Sunday night, that was about 39 hours ago. There's no water available in this room, I'll be dead pretty soon anyway if I don't try to make a break for it. After I'm done writing this I'm going to open that door and try to force my way past them. If I can make it past them then I know I can outrun them.

Debra, I love you.

Doctor Jackson put his pen down, arranged his will so that it would be noticed by whoever next entered the room, and walked over to the door. He took several deep breaths and then opened the door.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

9:25 AM: Dr. Adam Hatcher, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

Adam surveyed the horizon, again, and then sat at a table, also again. He's not overdue. He's not even late. An hour of travel time was a gross estimate by someone who doesn't know what he's doing, and even that doesn't include waiting in line or any other hangups... like running into zombies.

Larry nodded to him and said, "Relax doc. I thought you surgeons were supposed to have nerves of steel or something?" Larry was a handsome man who looked to be very early 30's and there was a polished charisma to him, like he was used to dealing with people.

Adam smiled ruefully and replied, "Only during surgery. It's different then, I'm doing things and not waiting to do things." There's other differences too, but let's not go into that.

Adam asked, "So do you have a name yet?"

Larry said, "Of course. David Parker Charles. David after my uncle, he raised me after my parents passed away, Parker after Sarra's Dad. He's two days old now, are there people who haven't made up their minds by this point?"

Adam replied, "You'd be surprised. I think hospital policy is that you can't take the baby home if he's unnamed. Is this your first?"

Larry shook his head and said, "No, young David is our third. We also have two little boys. How about you?"

It was Adam's turn to shake his head, "No. No kids, no wife. So what do you do? Somehow I have you pegged as sales."

Larry said, "Good call. I sell cars. Sarra works at the high school."

Larry's eyes focused on something in the distance and he said, "There he is. I'll let you go first."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

9:25 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

Heavily, almost laughably burdened, James landed in the parking lot and then leaped to the patio. On the ground James let go of the three huge duffle bags he was carrying in addition to the cooler. Adam immediately moved to investigate the cooler.

Larry looked at the duffel bags and asked, "What's all those about?"

James replied, "On the last hop I noticed an abandoned car and this stuff next to it. I went back to check it out. There was no one around, it looked like someone was part of a convoy and this is what they couldn't move after the car died."

Larry frowned and said, "Chances are that's someone's underwear."

James said, "Na. They're heavy bags. I opened one and..." James unzipped one of the bags, inside were an assortment of camping type tools and his previously acquired shotgun."

Adam finished examining the cooler, smiled deeply, and said, "This is exactly what we need. I'll get started." Adam picked up the cooler and started to walk away. James looked like he wanted to say something to Adam but with Larry there James decided to pursue that another time.

James looked at Larry and said, "Larry isn't it? What's on your mind?"

Larry said, "Well Mr. DeBeer, James, I'd like to thank you again for saving us. I don't know what Sarra, David, and I would have done if you hadn't taken us out of that tower. But... some us have been talking..."

James thought, That doesn't sound good.

Larry continued, "...and a lot of us have family out there we need to try to help. Sarra and I have two other small children at home and we really need to get back to them."

James said slowly, "Ah... it's looking increasingly grim out there Larry. With everything else I'm doing, I don't think I have time to go get everyone's family."

Larry nodded and replied, "Yes, we know. That's exactly why we need to act now. I want you to leap us to the other side of the parking lot. The zombies mostly hang around the building and I have a big SUV. I'm going to drive onto the lawn and across to the street."

James nodded in reluctant agreement. Can't really disagree with a man wanting to go save the rest of his family. James added, "And who is 'us' here?"

Larry replied, "10 people want to leave. The Breuers also have a baby. Their car looks stuck in the lot so Sarra and I have offered to drive them. That's 6, but four other people said they want to leave as well. They're all employees so they parked away from the worst of the mess."

James nodded and said, "I think you are safer here than out there, but I won't stop anyone from leaving. I might need to rest and/or eat during all this though."

Larry smiled, perhaps grimly and said, "Thanks. If you ever need to buy a car I'll sell you one at cost."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

9:55 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

James slumped tiredly on a couch in the lounge directly off the patio and munched on the box of crackers he'd found in one of the duffel bags. Moving everyone, even three at a time, had taken most of his remaining energy.

Dave came in and sat down across from him. Dave looked somewhat haggard. The last few days had aged him. Eventually he said, "Welcome back."

That's not what he wanted to say. James continued eating for a moment then asked, "Is this about Wendy?"

Dave sighed and looked away, "Eric wants to string you up but I don't. Killing them is a sucky option but it's what we've got. I gave the shotgun to Fred in the sick room. Eric's sick by the way. We think Wendy gave it to him. That makes 12 now."

James chewed and swallowed, considered a moment, then guessed, "Wendy. Eric. Donald. Thomas. Smith's zombie baby, and it's parents. Norma and her kid? Who am I missing?"

Dave replied, "I'm not counting the dead or undead. We've got 12 infected and 34 healthy. No, make that 24 healthy. Eric, Donald, Thomas, the parents, all five of the people we saved downstairs, and two others. One's a nurse and we thought she'd gotten it by treating people but she didn't. The other is some guy with a broken leg who was waiting for a doc to take his cast off. Those two are scary, everyone else we know came in contact with infected fluids."

James digested and asked, "How are the Docs doing? Hudson and Smith I mean?"

Dave answered, "They say they'll have a grand lecture soon."

James said, "And the TV? Any word?"

Dave replied, "TV says the army and national guard are mobilizing and we should stay away from hospitals."

James replied, "Ouch. I can't see Fred and Eric leaving for their unit."

Dave said, "Yeah, that's pretty much what Fred said."

James waved to the patio and said, "It's what they wanted, but those people I helped go out, it doesn't feel like I was helping them. There's this sign at the dog pound talking about releasing pet rabbits into the wild. Something about how it doesn't make them free, it just makes them food."

Dave said, "Yeah. I tried talking some of them out of it. Larry at least had a plan and knows his kids are waiting. He spoke to his in-laws this morning. But some left to look for missing people or care for sick ones."

That was a painfully sore subject and James didn't have a response. Neither of them wanted to talk or even think about Mary. Finally Dave said, "Get some rest. Next trip is for more food. We're serious short on that."

James replied, "Sit someone down with the yellow pages and start calling places at 11. I'll go pick it up."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

The first half hour Robin shot all the zombies which showed up. None of them even reached a door. For a while it looked like there wouldn't be any problems. Robin and Neal locked the doors and everyone picked spots to stay.

The number of zombies doubled, and continued to double, every half hour. Robin ran out of arrows at 9:00.

The first breakthrough was at 9:10. Mall doors and windows are plain glass and break easy. Carl ordered all the entrances defended. Split too many ways, that didn't leave many knights per entrance. For an hour and a half, Jill had defended JCPenny.

Jill stabbed a zombie between the eyes, twisted her blade, then stepped back and let it fall. To her left Roger cut a zombie's hamstrings, let it fall, then stepped on it's back and cut into it's brain from the back of it's neck.

Roger said tiredly, "That better be the last of them for a while. I'm getting tired."

Jo ran through Penny's and yelled at them, "This way! Sears and Macy's have fallen, Carl ordered everyone to reinforce them."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Jill and the others rushed into the mall to find a group gathering, arguing, around the King and further down the mall a group of zombies. Everyone holding a weapon was covered with blood. Jill didn't bother to identify who was saying what.

"There's so many of them! How did they all get into the mall?"

"They must have gotten into one of the lesser stores. They filled the store without us noticing and now the dam has burst."

"We have to attack! We can take them! We can save the people on the other side!"

"They're probably dead!"

A raised voice half yelled at everyone. "There's a dozen fucking entrances! We've lost people already, we're tired, and there's an endless stream of them. Even if we win it's only going to get worse. It's time to leave. The zombies are mostly on that side, we could still run out the other side of the mall!"

Jo saw several people nod their heads, this was a popular view.

Carl looked at his followers, then at the crowd of zombies approaching, and said, "He's right. Grab what you can, we're leaving."

Outraged, Neal asked, "What about Robin? He was near Sears!"

Carl answered, "After we car up we'll drive around and see if he made it out of the mall."

Neal asked, "So if he can't help himself out you'll leave him here?"

Carl answered simply, "I'm sorry, but yes."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Jill and Jack Sr ran to the hall where Chris and the kids had holed up. Jo and Jack's girlfriend Gloria followed close behind.

Jill glared at Jack and asked harshly, "What do you think you're doing?" Untrustworthy Asshole

Breathing heavily, Jack glared back and responded, "Same thing you are. I'm not leaving my kids to be eaten." You and Chris would be a different matter.

Jo said worriedly, "I checked on Chris and the kids an hour ago. She said she was going to try to get some sleep, she got almost none last night."

The four went down the hall and reached the stairs. They had time but not much. Jill and Jack looked at each other and Jill said, "I'll stay here with Jack and kill the zombies that show up before they mass together. Jo, go get Chris and the kids. You go with her." Jill hadn't learned Gloria's name yet, they'd been at different parts of the Mall and Jill had been assuming she'd dislike Gloria on general principals anyway. Still breathing heavily, Jack nodded in agreement.

Jo ran up the stairs saying, "Gloria, we may have to carry the kids."

Jo tried the door and found it locked, she pounded on it and yelled, "Chris! Wake Up!"

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Jo yelled even louder, "Chris! Wake up! Open This Door! We Have To Leave Right Now!"

The sounds of combat filled the air and Jo heard Jill grunt and someone fell to the ground with a metallic sound.

Jack yelled, "Got you! Ha! Saved your life Bitch! You owe me!"

Jill yelled back, "Like Hell I do!"

Jo screamed, "CHRIS! OPEN THE DOOR OR WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

There was no answer. Gloria and Jo exchanged a horrified look and Gloria started fumbling on her person saying, "I have a set of keys, what's his name gave it to me. One of them should open this."

Down the stairs Jack cursed with feeling, "Damn! God Damn you Bitch, Chris, and especially you dead things!"

Jo saw with horror that Jack and Jill had been forced into the stairway. Worse, there were two zombies attacking them and behind them two more, and behind them others. The hoard had arrived.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Jack swore again, "Damn it! There's not enough room here to do this! I can't swing!"

Jill said back, "Live with it! No, better yet, use a knife."

Gloria got out a huge set of keys and tried the door with several. After watching her for a moment Jo interrupted ordering, "Give me those! I'm great with keys!"

Gloria handed over the keys and watched Jack and Jill retreat up the stairs. A zombie fell to the ground with Jack's knife through it's eye. The zombie behind it climbed over it's body to get at live flesh. Jack swore again, "Damn it! That's my last knife!" Jack pulled out his sword again and, hampered by the walls and ceiling, cut a zombie. It didn't fall.

Gloria turned back to Jo and realized she was more than half way through the keys. Realizing Jo had been serious about her skill and she'd hit the end before the hoard reached them, Gloria asked, "What are you? A key smith?"

Without turning away from the keys Jo answered, "No, better. I'm a stage magician. Unlocking things under stress is a professional skill."

Jo reached the last key, fingered it for a moment, then yelled, "None of the keys fit!"

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Gloria asked somewhat panickedly, "Are you sure? Try again. These are the security keys Robin Hood and his dad were handing out." Oh God, if we can't get in...

Jo responded back forcefully, "Yes! I'm sure! These are security keys, but none of them match. Jill! Jack! One of you has to break down the door!"

Jack and Jill responded with one voice, "No!" Jack thought, Great. I'm agreeing with her.

Jill added, "Neither of us could hold alone." Great. I'm admitting I need Jack for something other than a punching bag.

Jack added, "Break that door down and they'll just follow. They're dumb. Unless they know someone's in there they won't try to go in. If we have somewhere else to go we can lead them away."

Jill ordered, "Jo, the door at the top leads to the roof. Open it. We'll go out there and lock the door behind us. There's a window in Chris' room on that side, we'll figure out a way for her to climb up."

Jo ran to the top of the stairs and opened the unlocked door. Gloria said, "I'm going to look for something to brace that door. It opens the wrong way."

Quickly going through the keys Jo found the right one. Moving back she said, "The door has a lock and it looks solid. It opens out though. It's going to be a challenge to get you out and then slam it shut." Goddess. They lost so many stairs in the time I took to do that.

Jack grunted and said, "Don't worry, we'll manage. Put the key in the lock and get ready to use it. It's distraction time."

Jack and Jill retreated till they were right next to the office door. Jill yelled, "Chris! Don't open the door! There are zombies on the other side, we need you to stay quiet and hidden in there. They won't break it down if they don't know you're there."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Jack and Jill retreated a few more steps. Jill said, "It's working. They're focused on us, it's not even occurring to them. They really are dumb."

Jack restrained himself from saying it took one to know one.

Jill asked, "You about ready to run? Hey Jo! Everything set back there?"

Jack smiled internally. Not the way I'd planned it, but this is good. Jack said, "I was up here earlier, there's a problem with that door. It's fixable but don't relax until after it's shut. You'll need my help."

Jill replied, "I'll be dead before I need your help Jack."

Jack replied, "Yeah, well, name a kid after me someday." Still stupid. She has no idea.

Jill thought, Asshole.

Jo yelled down, "Yes! We're ready! Now would be a good time!"

Jill said, "OK, On 3. 1... 2... 3!" Jill broke formation and ran for the exit with Jack close behind. Just past the door Jill turned to see Jack still inside the entrance.

Jack said, "The lock doesn't catch unless you pull it shut. Someone has to stay on this side." Jack pulled the door shut hard, then used his sword as a crow bar to break the handle.

Jill yelled, "What! No!"

Jo turned the key locking the door.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Jill stared at the closed door. She'd hated and had no respect for Jack. And in return he'd died for them, for her. Worse he'd had to do so and she hadn't even figured it out. She'd failed to see the problem which would have killed them. She'd been weak, he'd been strong and noble.

Jo and Gloria started bracing the door. Gloria had found some re-bar and wood scraps. After a moment Gloria yelled, "Damn it. Now that's just not fair!"

Jo said, "He must have loved you very much to sacrifice himself for you."

Gloria almost spit, "Love?! Love?! Forget love! Jack owes me money!"

Jo paused, then nodded, "You're an escort, right? He was paying you to be here?"

Gloria replied, "Well, yeah. Something about showing up his wife. Ex-wife. Whatever."

Jill looked at Gloria and then back at the door. No love lost there. He didn't do it for her. Jill said, "Let's move away from the door. If they don't hear us they might forget we're here and go away."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: The Jack Bull, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

Jack broke the door and almost laughed. He could just picture the look on Jill's face. Forgot to tell her to take care of the kids. Well... she will anyway. :Snort: She's going to think I died for her and tell the kids their old man was a hero. If you have to check out, check out with a head game. She'll never guess there was no problem with the door.

Jack turned around and looked at the zombies stumbling towards him. A head game, and lots of company.

Jack snarled, "You think you've killed me? Bullshit! I died yesterday. I killed the one that bit me. Now I'm taking ALL of you down with me."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

10:45 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

JoAnna and the other women moved away from the door and the muffled sounds coming from the other side. Jo observed, Jill is shook, not hard to see why. She hated Jack and considered him weak, and then he went and died for her. I wish I'd known him better, looks like he was worth knowing away from the whole ugly divorce thing.

Jo looked around. The roof was flat. The nearest building was distantly across the parking lot. The edge of the roof led to a two story dead drop onto concrete. The only exception to the roof ending at the edge was where led to unclimbable brick wall, presumably at the top of the wall was another flat roof.

Gloria noticed something in the parking lot and started jumping up and down and waving. She yell, "Over here! Is the SCB! They made it out!"

Jo started waving at the caravan of cars moving away from the mall too. SCB? Doesn't she mean SCA? Society for Creative

Anachronism. The caravan left without indicating that they'd seen them.

Gloria asked, "Do you think they saw us?"

Jo replied, "I'm not sure. Where's your cell phone? Mine is in my purse in the office with Chris."

Gloria replied, "Uhmm... it's downstairs. When we got overrun I stayed with Jack."

Jo looked down over the roof at 20 or so feet leading to pavement. The roof had been the choice of last resort, only giving comfort because it existed. None of them had thought they'd actually be forced up here and they hadn't put any supplies here. They were going to need help. Jo took a deep breath and then relaxed. They already had help.

Jo said, "We should be OK. Even if they didn't see us, Chris has the phones, both mine and Jill's. I think... I think she panicked and refused to open the door, but she'll calm down." Jo tried again, "I think she'll call the SCA or even..." OK, mentioning Jill's parents is another landmine we can skip till we need to "...someone else."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

James had dozed off, not quite asleep but not really awake either. The TV buzzed in the background but he didn't try to make out the words. Adam knocked on a table and said "Wake up. How do you feel?"

James got to his feet and stretched saying, "Much better, not fully charged but functional. What time is it? How are the drugs working? And please tell me I'm playing 'fetch' and not 'search'." Adam looks better. Less worried. A bit haunted, but not like Dave. Miracle of modern chemistry?

Adam nodded and said, "It's 11:15. We have all the infected on two drugs each. It's a little early to see results, but a few say they're feeling better. No one has converted, I think that's a good sign. We've called around and there's a pizza place that's open, cash only, all prices doubled, and you pick up. We've raised almost 500 dollars." Adam waved an envelope with an address on it.

James took the envelope and replied, "Scalpers. Good for them. I've got a lot of money on me so we'll see how much they can make." James thought about bringing up the whole extra drug thing but decided he was hungry and it could wait. James double checked the address to make sure he knew where he was going, then walked out to the patio and leaped away.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Above Fort Worth

James looked down at his city and was dismayed. Another fire or two. More traffic. Don't think it's moving. More and more people are figuring out what's going on. You'd think that was a good thing. It's like the city is dying. New Orleans without the hurricane. Oh very cool. I'm going to land only a block away from Franko's. I'll hoof it, firing up these leaps is as costly as using the blade, they just last longer.

'Franko's' turned out to be a tiny 'Mom & Pop' place on the edge of a suburb. It might have been someone's house at some point. A hand written sign on the front said "All Prices Doubled! CASH ONLY!!!"

James went in and found the place almost empty. There was a bubble of hot air near the ceiling and a huge oven looking thing a few feet behind the counter. James knocked on the counter and said, "Hello"?

A man in his late 40's man stepped from behind the stove. With a thick Italian accent he said, "Welcome. What can I do for you?" The man looked healthy, if a hair overweight.

James said, "Your prices are doubled?"

The man, James assumed he was 'Mr. Franko', said, "Yes Sir, they are. My normal suppliers aren't taking my calls so I'm going to have to pay a lot more to import ingredients from out of State, and most of my staff isn't going to show up. It's just me and Carl." The man pointed to a young woman, who bore a family resemblance. She was either late teens or early twenties.

James thought, That's a 'Carl'? Ingredients? More like am-greedy-ass. But no sniffing, no coughing, they both look healthy... He might be price gouging but I'm probably getting the better of the deal.

James said, "Fine. I'll take 25 of those super huge ones, double crust, one item, rotate the item. I'll also take everything in your bin."

Franko replied, "Sir, that's more than fifteen hundred dollars, and I'm only taking cash."

James pulled out his wallet and Adam's envelope. James also noticed Franko's hands disappeared behind the barrier when James had reached for his money but came up again when it became clear James was reaching for money. Bet he's got a gun back there. Hmm, wonder if I'm bullet proof now?

James said, "In advance. I know. And I want whatever you have in your bin now. I'm starving. Oh, and if you have a strap or rope or something to wrap this I'd like to buy that too." So much for bachelors night, and a good hunk of my money too. Whatever. We need food and it's only money.

Franko replied generously, "The rope is on the house."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:30 AM: James DeBeer, Franko's in Fort Worth, Texas

James wolfed down a medium pizza and relaxed. That was the most expensive pizza I've ever had but also the best, Franko does a good job. Took some of the hard edge off of things too. New metabolism burns like a furnace. I've been constantly hungry since yesterday. Time to get on the Michael Phelps diet.

It's surreal. Within these walls it feels normal, like nothing unusual or dangerous is happening out there. What's on TV? I wonder who won the game yesterday?

The TV was filled with confused reports of ‘walking’ dead. The national guard was organizing. The White House had released a statement saying to not panic, that things were under control. The newscasters alternated between disbelief and panic. Bubble burst, James walked back to the counter to get another pizza.

'Carl' nodded to the TV and said, "Do you believe that?" There was an undercurrent of suppressed panic to Carl's voice. Up close James could see she was pretty and worried.

Franko walked over and shot Carl a 'get back to work' look. He said, "It's like I've been saying. It's just a hoax. People are panicking and in a few hours we'll find out someone is selling a movie. It's like... war of the worlds. You hear about that? Radios put out a phony news broadcast about an invasion from Mars and there were people killing themselves. But where there is panic, there is opportunity. My brother drove 6 generators 300 miles right after a hurricane hit and made tens of thousands of dollars. He was in the news."

James just stared. He has no clue. He believes every word he's saying. He probably lives a block from here and walked over without seeing anything of what's going on. I should tell him.

If I convince him, he'll walk out without finishing the pizzas. He's probably already been told more than once, he won't change his mind.

OK, after the pizza is done I'll tell him.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:40 AM: James DeBeer, Franko's in Fort Worth, Texas

James worked on his second pizza and moved to where he could occasionally watch 'Carl'.

Hmm... That's got to be short for something. Carly? Carleen? Carla? She's really quite pretty.

Down boy. She looks a hair young for you. 18? 19? Might even be jail bait.

16 would put her in school this time of day. Old teen or young looking 20. How long has it been?

Sue was... shoot. Longer than I want to count. I wonder how she's doing? Where is she now? East Coast? Or was it West?

No matter where she is, she's not here. Carl(a?) on the other hand is.

If we were in a bar and she were drinking she'd be legal for sure and not potentially. Right now she's just eye candy. And she's busy and so am I.

Busy dying. If she stays here long enough there'll be a crowd of zombies waiting to get in.

That's a point. But Franko has a gun.

So did the cops at The Springs. They'll both die if Franko keeps his head in the sand.

...OK. Right after he finishes that pile of pizza out comes the big scary zombie speech.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:45 AM: James DeBeer, Franko's in Fort Worth, Texas

Inordinately pleased with himself, Franko presented James with a tower of pizza boxes while Carl brought out a packaging rope. Franko said, "All done. How many do you want in a set? All of them combined probably won't fit in your car."

James replied, "I don't have a car. I flew here." Franko looked puzzled and James said, "OK, look, the news is understating how bad it is out there. There are parts of the city that have been overrun with zombies. REAL zombies, and the plague is spreading."

Franko seemed amused and said, "You've seen this in person? Real live dead zombies? My friend, this isn't the 12th century, we don't get scared at media claims and eclipses and the like. Magic is... nonsense."

James sighed and said, "Here's ten dollars. Do you have a quarter roll? I want to show you some magic."

Carl took the ten and a roll from the cash register without comment. Franko asked, "What, are you going to make the roll disappear? That's going to convince me?"

James replied, "No that would be a magic trick. This is no trick." James held the roll of quarters out to Franko and Carl so they could plainly see it, then he closed his hand and slowly crushed the quarters.

Carl inhaled and Franko said sharply, "Jesus. What are you?" James opened his hand and opened the roll, deformed quarters spread over the counter. Franko eyed a spot behind the counter and started to edge away.

James said, "I'm just a guy. I don't know how it works, but when the zombies showed up, I changed too. And they're real. Real as in, I cut someone's arm off and put an axe through her lung and heart and she didn't even notice. Let me repeat, there are parts of the city that have been overrun with zombies, the plague is spreading. You're going to die if you stay here just pretending that it's a media thing."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:45 AM: James DeBeer, Franko's in Fort Worth, Texas

Carl(a?) seemed deeply worried but not surprised. James was confirming what she already feared. Franko was just nonplussed. After a moment he walked back to behind the counter and said, "I don't like being threatened, even in a round about way. I think you should take your pizza and leave."

James thought, 'He's only worried I'm going to try to take the money back. Invincible ignorance.'

James hesitated then shrugged and said, "Fine. Help me wrap these and I'll be on my way. Just one big tower will work great."

Wanting to stay behind the counter and stay within reach of whatever he had back there, Franko nodded for Carl to help James.

Carl wrapped the tower with practiced, professional ease. Then she gracefully stepped outside to hold the door open for him. After he stepped outside she let the door close without going inside. She looked around and asked quietly, "You're serious aren't you? Magic, zombies... everything falling apart?"

James replied, "I'm serious. 100%. The police are dead, that's why 911 isn't working."

Carl swallowed and said, "And you're just going to fly out of here? Up, up, and away? You don't have a car?"

James said, "That's the idea. No car."

Carl followed the logic to see what it meant for her personally and stated, "And you won't be coming back."

James replied, "No. I won't be back."

Carl said, "What you mean is..." You don't think we'll be alive when you need to go looking for food again. "I mean, could you take me with you?"

James asked, "What about your father?"

Carl looked puzzled and asked, "Who? Oh, Franko? He's not my Dad, he's my cousin. And..." Carl swallowed again and said a little desperately, "Please. Take me with you."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:45 AM: James DeBeer, Franko's in Fort Worth, Texas

James opened his mouth then shut it before he said something stupid. Sure. Let's ask her if she's really sure if she wants to do this. Then when she goes back inside and dies with Franko we can blame ourselves for it later.

Pizza in one arm, James effortlessly picked her up with his other and said, "Up, up and away" and leaped. His companion squealed and gripped his arm tightly.

James said, "It feels awkward calling you 'Carl', that's got to be short for something?"

The girl answered, "It's 'Carlota'. Dad named me after the Empress of Mexico. Mom is Mexican, not Italian. 'Carl' is fine, but my other nickname is 'Carla'."

Carla relaxed marginally as she accepted that they were flying, not falling. She played with James' hand and said, "I'd like to hold your hand and stretch out, like Lois Lane did in Superman. If I let go I'll fall, but you'd just catch me, right?"

James replied, "I haven't tried that yet, I think you'd drop like a rock if you break contact. But I'm sure I couldn't catch you. This is a one way trip, I can't change directions until after we land."

Carla gulped and changed her mind about stretching out. She fished around in her pocket and got out a nickel, then let it go. It dropped like a rock. She looked at James nervously and put her hands on top of his.

James thought, She just realized how out on a limb she is. This would be a good time to ask her out.

...

Or maybe not. I've got absolute power here. I let go and she dies. I could force her to do pretty much anything.

...

And is that what you want? Seriously male thought or no, that's how it starts. Absolute power corrupting and all that. This path ends with slave collars and you being a monster.

...

No, this *is* just the start. Abuses of power occur when there are imbalances of power, and like it or not, I have a truck load.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:50 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

James landed on the patio and said loudly, "Pizza is served."

There was a group of people waiting just inside. Fred was the first to step forward. He smiled at Carla and said, "Good work James. You not only brought Pizza but the Pizza girl as well. I'm Fred."

Carla put a big smile on her face and tried to hide a mixed look of relief and worry. Like she'd just taken a big leap into the unknown and literally fallen from a mile in the air.

James said, "Carla this is everyone at Harris Methodist. Fred, everyone, this is Carla. Carla decided to come with me, the pizza place didn't look secure." As an afterthought James added, "Everyone dig in after you wash your hands, it's a big deal now. Carla, eat, it's your pizza too."

With his mouth full Fred said, "Brain Trust has a big meeting after lunch. They want to go over what they've found. They're going to ask you how the city is too."

Yay me. Public speaking, the number one fear of Americans. But after fighting zombies and paying far too much it will seem like light duty. James the generous. Seriously expensive pizza... and this is a distraction. A way to avoid what's really bugging you. Twelve. That's about two huge pizzas.

James picked up two of the pizzas and headed over to the sick room.

So... what do we think we're doing? Feeding the hungry? Or just facing our fears? Or are we punishing ourselves? Five hours ago we killed Eric's wife, no doubt a little pizza will get him to forgive us.

Probably not... but some things you do because it's the right thing to do, and I should see how those drugs are working.

That's an excuse. You want... I'm not sure.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:50 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

From the hall James saw a woman he vaguely recognized exit the sick room. She was either black or very dark Hispanic. She might have been in her mid-thirties and her role in this was obvious from her nurse's scrubs.

Holding up the Pizza boxes he said quietly, "How are they? Pizza for twelve good? Oh, and what's your name again?"

James thought she had worried eyes. She gave a half smile at the pizza and it's touch of normalcy and a half frown at James comment. She replied with a touch of irritation, "Thirteen! Those two men counted up everyone, got twelve, then put in Dana without adding her to the count. And I'm Celia. You're James, the one who brought in the babies and the drugs?"

Her tone made it was clear while she approved of James, she felt a female nurse could have counted up everyone much better than a male doctor.

James gave a half smile, made a half bow, and replied charmingly, "Babies, drugs, and now Pizza!" More seriously he added, "How are they doing?"

Nurse Celia said, "The ones who were bitten seem to be taking it harder. Four of the six have fevers. Everyone else just has a cold so far. A few seem to be responding to the meds. Everyone who was bitten is on two drugs, all the others are just on one. You should just go in, they need food. It should help."

James started to ask how Donald was doing then he realized he was procrastinating and the pizza was cooling.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

11:50 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

The sick room had gotten a lot more, and less, professional since this morning. Someone had moved in tables and cots making it look more dorm-ish. One corner of the room sported a TV tuned to the news. A table had a baker's dozen of medical clipboards. The riot gun James had liberated earlier leaned up against another corner.

James said, "Pizza" and pushed aside some cards to place his boxes on a table. Someone yelled, "Thank god!" and a dozen hungry people gathered around the table. Someone muttered something about 'washing hands' and someone else said they had a half hour ago.

James stepped back and surveyed the situation. The four worst off were obvious, and he'd met them all. Harold the security guard and everyone else who got bit during the riot. So the two bitten who are un-fevered are... thank god... Donald. Go Donald, hang in there buddy. You'll live to run another marathon and fight another fire with me. So it's him and... Darling. Father of the baby-zombie, like life isn't hard enough with a name like 'Chris Darling'.

James felt a shiver down his back, And there's Darling's wife. Laura? Laurena? I wonder if Chris has figured out he gave it to his wife and she gave it to the kid? Maybe Norma too? Can I blame him for that? Of course it's still possible that I was the one sharing it.

And this self pity crap has to stop. Maybe we could try observing and maybe learning something here? Don runs marathons, he's even more fit than me... ok, than I used to be. Face bite or not, he might even be immune. Of course if he'd done more martial arts and fewer track races he might not have gotten bitten in the first place. And then he'd have stayed with the Captain and the others so maybe 'what if' is useless.

So what's special about our 'Mr. Darling'? He looks as standard American as the other four. Not especially fit or unfit. James shivered again, Nothing. Nothing's special about him, but he got bitten at 2pm. That's 7 or 8 hours after the riot. Give him another 8 hours and we'll see how he's doing.

James felt some of the tension wash out of him, No, that's not right. He and Don have the miracle drugs. I saved them. Well, Adam helped. In 8 hours those fevers will be gone too I'll bet. It's a pity we didn't get our act together in time for... Across the pizza table, Eric met James' eyes. Eric made a gesture hidden from the rest of the room.

Eric flipping me the bird. Looks like he hasn't forgiven me for killing his wife yet.

Red Fred waddled in with a medical mask tight over his mouth. He said, "There you are. James, the Docs are going to give their review of what they've learned of the zombies right after lunch. You should get ready to speak after wards, you're going to talk about what the city is like."

James thought, Great. Public speaking. Guess who has a strong tendency to put his foot in his mouth? No, wait, this will be just a small meeting. Dave, Adam, and a few others.

Red Fred added, "And we're broadcasting it over the Hospital's lecture circuit. I'll set up this TV like the others so everyone can listen."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

12:20 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

James sat in a chair and waited for the medical brain trust to show up and start talking. Red Fred was already done setting up the equipment, he'd said something about putting the lecture out on the internet. Most of the healthy were here and presumably everyone else was watching over Red's link.

On the way to the lecture room James had asked Fred about his background and what he was studying. For a medical student Red seemed very unlike a budding doctor. It wasn't just him weighting twice what was healthy, he seemed uninterested in the various medical matters floating around and he was clearly competent and professional in the internet and all other things computer or electronic.

James hadn't truly understood the answer. Red really was a medical student and he was trying to get into... Imaging? Algorithmic DNA analysis? Medical learning systems? Integration of something-medical and computer-something else? Red had a technical undergrad degree and was looking to get into the computer side of medicine... or something like that.

James reflected that what he'd really learned was that he didn't want to ask the question again. Then the Doctors walked in, they were clearly done eating lunch and about to start.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

12:20 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

James watched the doctors march in. Ah unity, so are we lending credit to ideas that don't have much weight, or are we trying to grab credit when we've done little work? James glanced at Adam and decided, The later I think.

The last person was a quiet, unassuming Hindi woman in her mid 40's James had met yesterday. James looked at her and thought, Wait, she's a doctor? When I pulled her from the other tower I figured her for a nurse or midwife. Probably peds... I wonder if she had the stomach to work with the dead baby?

The Doctors introduced themselves & wrote their names on the white board. James thought Doctor Abhilasha Narasimhan. That would be why I don't remember her name.

Dr. Hudson took the center stage and said, "Right, I'm sure all of you want to hear what we've found from the zombie autopsy, and the rest of our zombie research. First let me say that a lot of this speculative and all of it is premature. We're missing significant tools and we haven't had a lot of time. This is an educated best guess on what's going on, I'd be stunned if it fully accurate, but... it is what it is. And I'm also going to skip a lot of the scientific nomenclature and terminology."

Doctor Smith looked a little disgusted. Apparently if it was worth doing then it was worth putting the right name on it.

Dr. Hudson took a deep breath and said, "Let me say right off, they're not us. A zombie is not a human being. Despite appearances, they never were a human being and they never can be. There's nothing to 'cure' after someone hits the zombie stage, they're not sick any more."

A wave of disquiet and perhaps disagreement flowed over the room, Wally held up his hand and said, "Yes, I know. This is counter intuitive, but... here is what's going on. This zombie disease shows all the signs of being an advanced microscopic parasite. 'Advanced' here means that it's amazingly well adapted to infest us. Basically we're looking at a twisted combination of a spider wasp and a hermit crab."

"It infests a human host, kills them, converts them into a combination of a house and a food storage unit, then walks around trying to make more zombies and/or get more food."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

12:20 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

Dr. Hudson paused to let everyone take that in.

Dave muttered loud enough for everyone to hear, "So they're literal walking corpses, they're dead, but they're also not."

Dr. Hudson decided to treat that like a question and answered, "Yes, exactly. The human it used to be is literally dead. Just like a hermit crab, what you see on the outside is not what's going on the inside. Kill the crab and all you'd have is a dead shell."

Dr. Hudson continued, "This relationship is present all through the zombie. They don't breath. They don't use or need most of the internal organs. They might photosynthesize but we're not sure yet. We are sure that the... waxy, rotting appearance they have is because most of the host creature's flesh is effectively put into storage. Presumably the organism uses it for food as it needs it. And like truly advanced parasites, it's consumes the parts of the host that are most useless to it first."

Someone asked, "How do they walk?" Someone else interrupted and said, "Bugger that! How do we kill them?"

Dr. Hudson answered, "Most attacks will just damage the..." Wally swallowed and tried to pick a neutral word, "...shell without damaging the underlying organism. They apparently feel pain about as much as a tree. As near as we can tell the one part of the host that they use a lot is the nervous system. We think they build on top of, or maybe just convert, the existing nerves and such."

Dave said, "In English please."

Hudson tried again, "Destroying the brain kills them. Not because it's still a human brain, but because it's where they put theirs. Similarly a spine shot would paralyze them. But shooting them in the knee just means they'll have problems walking. And a heart shot is meaningless, they're not circulating blood."

James felt a little better on hearing all this. So in other words, Wendy was dead. Not dying. Not undead. Dead. I didn't kill her, the zombie already did that. Hey, that means I actually avenged her.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

12:20 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

Someone behind James said, "Wait, photosynthesize? You mean, like a plant? Where did this stuff come from?"

Dr. Smith snorted in disagreement.

Dr. Hudson replied, "Dr. Narasimhan and myself think that it's a type of fungal infection, Dr. Smith and Dr. Hatcher disagree. Without microscopes we can't easily tell."

Dave asked with concern, "Those drugs, would they work on a fungal infection?"

Three of the doctors got professional blank looks. James thought, Ah, someone has been too busy playing researcher to know 'which' drugs he's talking about.

Adam replied, "Two would. I tried to cover all bases." Adam looked at Wally and said, "And you're dodging that other question Dr. Hudson, do you want me to field it?"

Dr. Hudson shook his head and said, "No, I'm on point. The question was, where does it come from; The answer is, we're not sure. None of us think it's out of a lab, the technology needed to make something like this just doesn't exist. It'd be easy to take an ant and make it's offspring into butterflies."

Dr. Hudson continued, "So it had to evolve somewhere, and it's adapted to seek out new hosts... evolutionary what we should be looking at is a primate disease that's recently made the species jump. I'd think we would have noticed zombie monkeys, so it must look very different in whatever the original host was."

"Where we run into a brick wall is what happened three days ago. This thing appeared everywhere on the Earth, all at the same time. A disease that works this quickly should burn itself out or be spread via the airplanes and then burn itself out. Instead it's like half the people with damaged immune systems all got it at once. So we're missing the initial infection vector."

"The good news is it's probably too big and complex to be easily air born, and whatever the initial infection vector was, it's spread normally now. I just can't explain what got the ball rolling."

Dr. Smith grunted and looked smug. James thought, He looks happy... like a pet theory is about to be confirmed? He must have won an argument or something behind the scenes.

Dr. Hudson added reluctantly, "And... these creatures may also be breaking natural laws. Something that doesn't breath or circulate blood just can't be this active. There are reasons why plants can't run around. The metabolic energy they're using doesn't appear to match up with their energy intake."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

12:20 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

'...these creatures may also be breaking natural laws... The metabolic energy they're using doesn't appear to match up with their energy intake...'

There was an uncomfortable silence and James didn't need to look around to know everyone was either looking at him or pointedly not looking at him. The rumors of his ultimate origin came down to mutated zombie disease and/or magic.

James broke the silence by asking, "What can they do? If they're like me... it's not like I'm breaking all the laws all the time."

Dr. Hudson nodded with some sympathy and said, "We're assuming the zombies we've studied match the breed, if true then it's mostly what they don't do. They don't breath, they don't bleed, and they don't feel pain. They're immune to the drugs we've tried, without a circulatory system poison isn't an option. They don't seem to sleep or get tired. They're infectious. They're not any stronger than they originally were, but they don't hold back either. All that has been broadcast and we've confirmed it."

"What hasn't been broadcast is they have an extra sense. We're not sure exactly what they're sensing, but they're not blind in the darkness and they can sense... well... us at short ranges. Blindfolds, turning off the lights, no effect. We think their skin is sensitive enough that they can just see our body heat, this is one of the reasons behind the plant theory."

James said, "So it's a really good thing to not be hovering next to the locked doors downstairs? Us being up here is why they're not pounding on the doors all the time?"

Dr. Hudson replied, "We think so. IR vision works through some walls, without an IR camera we can't tell for sure what they might be sensing and what they can't."

Dr. Hudson paused and then said to Red Fred, "You can stop recording, this is all we have. It's time for James to give his report on what it's like out there."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

12:20 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

James walked slowly to the front of the room while gathering his thoughts. What's it like out there? Well... ask a depression question, get a depressing answer.

James said, "There's a lot of people fleeing the city and I don't blame them. The highways are locked solid and I didn't see a lot of movement. One accident halts bumper to bumper traffic. Parts of the city are almost normal. Other parts are on fire and in a few places I think I saw zombies walking around. Walmart was slam packed, and some of the people looked infected, I think the disease was spreading like wildfire."

James waited a moment then added, "I went back to the Springs, Captain Ron and the others never left. I think... I think most of emergency services are dead or stuck like us. The city is kind of coasting right now, people haven't realized there are no police around."

Dave and Fred both nodded slowly and grimly like they'd expected to hear something like this. Captain Ron had been their leader and the others had been brothers.

James ended with, "I'm... I'm just not sure what we should do now. Wait for the army? Get out of town? Something else? I don't even know where we should go, or how we should leave."

A man stood up and said with a Southern accent, "How is easy. I have a plane, it could take us pretty near anywhere."

James thought, That's... Al something. I've no clue what he does. His wife had a kid yesterday. White. Late 30's, fit, I thought he seemed to have his act together yesterday, he was focused and non-panicky... military?

Dave frowned and replied, "A small prop plane is going to fit 38 people?"

Al replied, "It depends on how friendly we're all willing to be. It's a Gulfstream G250, so it's a toy for the super rich or in my case, a Fortune 500 CEO."

Certain there was a punchline in there somewhere, Fred looked at the man and said, "You are a Fortune 500 CEO?"

Al replied, "No sir, I'm his pilot. Alfred Waffenschmidt, former USA Air Force, at your service." Al gave a very professional looking salute.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

12:20 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

The room paused as everyone toyed with the idea of flying to safety.

James thought, Now which of the 500 would have... stupid question. Probably all of them. Odds are he's Exxon or AT&T. And... whoa. Florida. He could take me to Florida, I could look for Dad, Mom, Mary, and the others.

Dave asked, "That makes you a fighter jock turned corporate? Glad to hear it, who do you work for, what exactly is a Gulfstream G250, and where exactly is it? Dallas/Fort Worth International?"

Al replied, "I work for Kimberly-Clark..." Several people got puzzled looks on their faces and he added, "We're big time paper products. Kleenex, diapers, that sort of thing. We're also very global. The G250 seats 10 First Class and two pilots, but we could break all kinds of safety regulations and go two to a seat and put people on without seat belts. It'd be uncomfortable but it could be done. Unloaded it has a range of about four thousand miles, with this much of a load we'd better call it three thousand. As for where, it's supposed to be at Dallas but right now it's over at Jrb/Carswell."

James asked, "Where is Jrb?" Kleenex... and toilet paper. Fred is going to be amused when he figures it out.

Al replied, "It's next to 183, it's the strip the Carswell Air Force Base uses. You can see it from the Ridgmar Mall if you know where that is."

Adam said practically, "We can't put 13 infected people in close with everyone else without expecting it to spread. And right now we don't know where we'd be going."

Dave replied, "True... but we're giving the cures to everyone, so a day or two and they should be a lot less contagious. And that'd give us time to figure out where we should be going. James, work with Al. After you've rested up I want you to check up on it and take an overview of the city with an eye towards leaving."

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

1:15 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, On the roof of the Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

JoAnna crossed her arms over her bra and said encouragingly, "That's it Jill! You can do it! That one almost hit!"

Gloria rubbed her bare arms and said, "Keep doing it, I want my shirt back."

Keeping a two handed grip on the makeshift 'rope' Jill carefully swung again, and this time managing to hit the window slightly.

The office they'd left Chris and the kids in was indeed one level below the roof, making it's window perhaps three feet below them. Unfortunately it wasn't directly below their section of the roof. It was a dozen horizontal feet past the brick wall that jutted up to the higher roof.

All three of them were worried. They'd been there for two and a half hours. That was a long nap. A dozen feet was easy talking distance and they'd taken turns yelling at Chris, so far with no answer. The window didn't have a balcony, the angle was flat, and the ground was pavement. Trying to jump to the window would be suicide.

None of the women had a rope and Jill was the only one who'd worn a belt. They'd tied Gloria's and Jo's shirts as well as Jill's weapon belt to a rock and knife and were trying to knock on the window to wake Chris up.

Jill swung the 'rope' out again and banged on the window even harder. She said, "I'm getting the range for this."

Jill hit the window three more times and then they all heard a snap as the window cracked. Two more tries broke the glass window entirely and left the sleeve with the rock attached hanging from the window. Jill smiled. Victory.

Jo and Gloria yelled, "Chris!!! Chris! Wake up! Don't open the door, you need to phone someone for help! Chris!

There was no reply.

Gloria said, "Reel back the line and I'll get my shirt back."

Jill said, "I've got a better idea. That knife we put in there? If it's caught solid, I can use this as a line and swing over."

Jo said, "I thought we agreed it wouldn't hold our weight?"

Jill pulled on the 'rope' and said, "Yes, but that was before we had a solid..." Jill fell backwards as the 'rope' came apart, leaving her holding just her belt with the two shirts hanging from the window.

Gloria said sarcastically, "Oh Great!"

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

1:15 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - North Tower

*Beep.* The lounge microwave beeped forlornly once again saying it had finished warming a slice of pizza. James ignored it and continued eating. The Michael Phelps diet was harder to follow than it seemed. After the lecture James had resumed his nap while Al got his act together. The two of them were in the lounge going over 'the plan'. Fortunately Al was proving to be methodical, precise, & well organized. James assumed this was either a cause or a result of his military pilot training.

James said, "Seriously Al, this is all I need. I've shopped in the Ridgmar, I've driven past JRB, finding it won't be a problem. I'm really impressed you have pictures of the plane with you, and your map looks great too. Real professional work for a hand drawing."

Al replied, "The pictures were Red Fred's doing, he got them off the internet. He's got a color printer around here somewhere. Jesus and I did the map. It's a combination of Google Earth, the city map, and my recollections. I don't normally operate out of JRB and enlisted their help."

James said, "Well... so you knew when to delegate and rode herd on them. This is still good stuff. Map. Pictures. Even an ID number for the plane and what to look for as far as gas goes. As soon as Adam shows up with my freshly charged cell phone I'm good to go."

James rescued the pizza slice from the microwave and had just started eating when Adam appeared. James said, "Al, could I have a word with Adam alone please?"

Al nodded and got up, Adam sat down with a questioning look on his face. James asked, "How are they doing?"

Adam hesitated a long moment before saying, "About the same."

James asked, "That's good, isn't it? No new fevers?"

Adam replied, "Yes but... No one's fever has broken either. Drugs started at 9:30, it's been almost four hours. Of course I haven't checked on them personally in a bit. I'm assuming if anyone got dramatically better or worse I'd hear it."

James thought, I might have checked on them more recently than he has... one guess what he's been up to.

James said, "You know... I didn't recognize two of the drugs so I asked the pharmacist about them."

Adam gulped.

James continued talking evenly, "The two I didn't recognize were the fourth and fifth on the list. They were both new antibiotics. That makes four sets of a dozen doses of cure everything drugs. But there were five drugs in there. There were 52 of the 3rd one, but the cooler was massive. That wasn't 52 doses, that was 52 weeks of doses, right? One year's worth? That's why the cooler was huge, and it's why it was packed with ice?"

Adam nodded and said with a shrug, "I know how strong you are. If you're going to pick up the four, and we needed that, then you might as well get the fifth too. It's not like it slowed you down."

James said with some sympathy, "It could have been for one or more of the pregnant women, but there's way too much for that. It's for you isn't it?"

Adam nodded without comment.

James asked, "How bad? What type?"

Adam said crossly, "One. And bad enough. It's why I went into medicine, and it's why I lift. Focus. Discipline. Routine."

James said, "But plastic has nothing to do with... no. Right. You get to manage your own schedule."

Adam nodded again and asked, "You pissed?"

James thought for a moment then said, "No. We needed the four dozen. The 52 was just a bonus. So... did your recharger work?"

Glad at the change in subject, Adam nodded and handed over James' cell phone.

James wolfed down his last slice of pizza, wiped his hands on his pants, gathered his stuff, walked out onto the patio and leaped away.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

1:25 AM: JoAnna & Jillian, On the roof of the Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas.

With a flourish, JoAnna tipped her non-existent top hat to the non-existent crowd in the parking lot, spun around with her piece-of-wood/cane and strutted stage left.

Jillian and Gloria watched her while listening for sounds of moment from the window. Jill sat back against the brick wall. Gloria stood next to her and rubbed her bare arms again. After a moment Gloria asked Jill, "What is she doing? She said she was a magician, not a dancer. And that's a big stage."

Jill replied tiredly, "She's got an act in Vegas. Showgirls probably play a part. I think she's trying to stay warm by practicing." She can't do anything about what's worrying her so she's trying to worry about something else.

Overhearing their conversation Jo answered, "Old Magician's trick. Movement attracts the eye. So do women wearing very little. We need help."

Gloria whispered to Jill, "So she thinks some man will fall out of the sky and come to our rescue?" Is she going nuts?

Jill shrugged and backed up her sister saying, "Her logic is, When in doubt, attract attention. Passing car maybe. KC can't be the only one thinking of malls. Jo's idea isn't a great plan, but all the great plans involve rope and tackle or firearms." Or cell phones. Please tell me Chris didn't take a sleeping pill.

Jill yelled over her shoulder, "Hey Chris! You're missing a good show!"

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

1:25 PM: James DeBeer, Over Fort Worth

James looked around and with increasing dismay took stock of his city as he passed overhead. New fire. New fire. Car crash blocking the intersection. Grid locked highway.

Seriously odd looking crash. Let's just zoom in on that with the binoculars. Oh I see. Your side of the highway was gridlocked so you decided to drive the wrong way on the other side? Didn't work out real well did it? Bozo.

And there's a different accident and a dozen people around it. Good to see Samaritans. Wait, no, they're pulling out the people and surrounding them. The good Samaritans are zombies. And now they're going into the car. Someone has broken out and is running, good for you, run for it. Looks like a kid from the size of him. Her. Whichever.

Jesus they're everywhere. Everywhere I zoom in it's not that hard to find them. Those dots on the roof are people. And so are those. Good move, I did that myself. Zombies can't climb. Standard roof angle might be enough to stop them from following. Shit. No. Those people are stuck, the zombies will just wait them out.

Maybe I'm overestimating this. I'm a half mile up. With daylight and binoculars I can see, I don't know, lots. Enough of the city to spot lots problems. How many zombie attacks can I see? 50? That's not too many in a city this size.

... no. I'm underestimating this. Some of these people are zombies and I just can't tell from this distance. Most of the attacks are behind walls where I can't see them. Lots of these buildings have people locked in bathrooms with zombies outside. Lots of the people fleeing are infected. That kid running away was holding her arm, smart money says she was bitten. If someone takes her in then she'll infect them too.

We really need to get out of the city, as awful as it is, it's going to get much worse.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

1:25 PM: James DeBeer, Over Fort Worth: Map

James' finally started to land. Not terrible. A little north and short of where I wanted. In a perfect world I'd exactly followed 30 and landed at the 183 junction. Heck, in a perfect world I'd just leap to airport. Of course in an imperfect world I need to worry about overshooting and landing in Lake Worth. Or landing in the middle of a military airport during a crisis. I wonder if I'm bullet proof?

Looks like I'm going to land in Ridgmar. Hmm... Ridgmar Community and housing. Ridgmar Mall. I'll bet there's a developer somewhere named 'Mark Ridge'.

James touched down on Lands End and immediately noticed several zombies. They also noticed him. I'm seriously close, let's spare the juice and not leap till I get closer.

James ran West, dodging the zombies like they were playing touch tag. There's more and more of them. What is this, a convention?

James barged through someone's backyard and finally saw a high point. And that would be the Ridgmar Mall. One more victory for James coming up.

Someone yelled, "Help! Please Help Us!"

James replied, "Who said that?" A dozen zombies moved away from a house and started towards him. Crap.

James looked at the Mall again and making a snap decision, leaped for it. Crap! Crap! Crap! I need to go back!

Lots of zombies... that's dealable. Maybe. Hop from roof to roof. I don't even know where the voice came from. Fighting off dozens of zombies while standing around trying to get organized would be bad, you made the right move. OK, this was a strategic withdrawal to get organized.

Next stop... JC Penny? No, that's on the other side. There's so many of them on this side, they must be coming from the neighborhood. Was this a retirement community? And there's a pair of large brown 'jello' stains. Someone got caught next to the mall.

James landed on a lower roof cull-de-sack. And there's a service door. Right, leading down towards our friends downstairs.

James looked over the edge and more than a dozen zombies looked back up at him hungrily. More stepped up to help them. Down is seriously bad. We're not going to be walking across that parking lot or that lawn. Let's look out from here and see what we can see. I think it was that house. Yeah. Second story. There's a guy waving at me. I'll wave back. OK, he sees me and I see him, and he sees that I see and so forth. Someone else is waving from another window. His wife maybe. Oh, and they're holding up a young kid, maybe four year old.

[Courier]

Tuesday November 14th. Z-Day +1

1:25 PM: James DeBeer, On the roof of the Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth, Texas. Map

James thought for a moment. I leap over onto their roof, then I leap them... to the hospital? Without checking on the airport? So after that I come back here?

No. I leap there, then I leap them here, then I check out the airport, then I leap everyone back to the hospital.

No. It's safer there than it is here. Wait. I check out the airport and then I leap to their roof, then I leap everyone to the hospital.

James tried to pantomime his intentions and got no where then realized he was being stupid. This is why God invented cell phones. I don't have a pen. I really need to prepare a lot better for these little trips. What can I... oh. That will do. James reached over the edge and gouged his cell phone number into the brick wall in big numbers. A moment later his cell phone rang.

"James speaking. Who is this?"

"I'm, ah, William. Bill Gafford."

"You're in the house waving at me?" Bill Gafford... I think know that name but I'm not sure where from. Whatever. No point in hanging around, let's climb up and take a look see. James pressed the speaker button and then clipped the cell phone to the front of his shirt and started climbing up the wall.

"Yes. I'm in the house. I yelled at you before you... um... leaped to the Mall." There was a pause then Bill continued, "Good. God. How is that possible? You're going up the wall like Spiderman!?!"

James replied, "No, Spiderman sticks to things. If you're strong enough to leap for miles then you're strong enough to grab the corner of the wall and lift yourself up. And as for how... beats me. I went all superhero right after the plague hit."

Mention of the zombie plague focused Bill's mind on his own plight, "Right. Hey, can you help us? My family and I are trapped in here. We're all in the Master bedroom. There's four of us. My wife, our two kids. Theodore is just two."

James replied, "Are you safe right there? I could probably bring you here but there's a hoard of zombies at the mall and there's no accessible food or water."

Bill said, "We're safe for the moment. We locked the master bedroom door and pushed furniture against it. I don't think they can get in, and we have water from the bathroom but no food. No one is sick yet but we're stuck here."

James replied, "Getting you out is no problem. I can carry two adults and two kids easy. I'll leap onto your roof and climb down. But I've got some things to check out first. The airport to be specific. I'll call back when I'm ready to get you, my cell will store your number."

Bill replied, "Thank you. Thank you, thank you. You're a life saver."