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

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:05 AM: Jillian, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - Computer Lab

Jill's voice had contained a combination of hope and ridicule. If this was the worst of it, then maybe it wasn't too bad.

Fred turned a little red and said defensively, "No, that's not all, but it does indicate that this is world wide. On that note, take a look at these." Fred pointed to his graphs.

Jill looked at the title and asked, "Pamala Anderson? Cars? What is this?"

Fred said, "It's a graph showing the number of google searches. Blue line is Pamala Anderson, red line is cars, orange is zombies, green is porn. Bottom of the screen shows what countries are searching for what."

Jill frowned at the screen and tried to figure out what Fred was seeing.

Fred said with a mix of confidence, humor, and horror, "In all countries, almost no one is using the internet to look for porn. All twenty of the top hot searches have the word 'zombie' in it. I'd show you the top zombie sites but I can't. They're all down because of traffic overload."

Jill thought a moment then said, "What happened to all these searches on 911?"

Fred shook his head and said, "Edge of the world starts in 2004 with this stuff so I can't show you. But I'm pretty sure traffic didn't look like this. Over all traffic is way, way, way down. And Jill? If you want to be scared..."

Fred brought up a dark map with a few light sections.

Jill asked, "OK, now what am I looking at?"

Fred said with soft finality, "This is Europe. It's like, 15 minutes old. Nasa's shuttle is over there. Sun went down in France an hour ago. Kind of dark isn't it? Paris is right... here. Where are all the lights? The only maps I've seen like this before now are of North Korea."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:05 AM: Jillian, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - Computer Lab

Jill looked at the picture and quietly asked the dark world, "How did we come to this?"

The question wasn't addressed at Fred but he answered anyway, "Russia is blaming Chechen terrorists. The Arabs are blaming Israel and the West. India and Pakistan are blaming each other. China and Africa are silent. Some fundie claims it's god's punishment for us not being a church state or something. Basically the usual people are blaming the usual suspects. Some are more serious than others. I've seen reports that North Korea is shelling the South."

Jill asked, "What are you going to do?"

Fred snorted and said grimly, "I'm going to sit right here and watch the world burn. I'll record it too." Fred tapped a thumb drive with a sausage like finger and continued, "Maybe I'll learn something. If nothing else it's going to be a great show."

Jill shook her head and stated, "I can't do that. But... I'm confused. I've been seriously messed up in the last few days and I don't recognize myself."

Fred said, "There's a lot of that going around."

Fred thought for a moment then said, "A show I liked had two very wise creatures. Both had a favorite question they asked again and again. The first asked 'Who are you?' The second asked 'What do you want?'"

Fred said, "Well, Who are you? What do you want? Ask and answer those about twenty times."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:05 AM: Jillian, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - Computer Lab

Jill considered Fred's words. Star Trek fortune cookie wisdom... but it wasn't bad.

Who Am I? I'm someone who had her life saved three times in two days. So I'm not as strong as I thought? Adam is a doctor, doing that sort of thing is his job. James... is a force of nature, he didn't earn it. Jack...

Jack is a problem. Maybe he was my equal, maybe if we'd met on the field he would have won in a coin flip. If I'd tried to do what he did, I would died there instead. Grim thought.

But no way would I have died for him. Maybe he didn't die for me? If he died for his kids... then he died uselessly. The kids died anyway. Human strength wasn't enough.

James might have been able to pull off the last stand without dying. Heck, he did pull it off... and that still wouldn't have been enough. The kids were dead before we made our last stand. There's no cure, they were dead the moment they were infected. No amount of strength would have been enough.

What do I want? For starters I NEVER want to go through that again. I never want to watch a child grow and then watch him die. I never want to watch someone I love eat their relatives.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:05 AM: Jillian, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - Computer Lab

Jill continued. I never want to watch someone I love eat someone else I love. That's what I want. So... stay away from all children? Never love anyone? Never trust anyone? Never get close to anyone?

Might as well dig a grave and crawl into it. No thanks, I want to live, but it's going to be hard trusting people or getting close to them. I'll always wonder if they'll be dead tomorrow. Or if I'll have to kill them.

Jill shuddered. What a world we're headed for. Jo is an exception. She's my sister, we're already close. I'm not sure I could kill her, let's try to make sure I don't have to.

The other exception is... James.

Armored skin and immune to the Z. No fear there. Not of converting and a lot less of dying. His children might be immune too.

And I just said good bye and gave him to JoAnna.

Not that I told anyone. No note. What did I say? Something to Jo about doubling-down on him.

...I could live with that.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - "James'" Room

JoAnna let out another throaty moan below him and James shuddered and exploded inside her. The two lay intimately locked together for several more moments as they caught their breath and James poured himself into her, then James pulled out and rolled to one side.

James said softly, "Wow. Just wow." Still basking in the afterglow, JoAnna smiled and saying nothing, closed her eyes.

James thought, Well that was intense. James eyed JoAnna lying naked next to him and thought, Wow she's gorgeous. I still want her... but while the spirit is willing the flesh is tired.

...wait a moment.

I'm confused. What just happened?

James reviewed the last few minutes and thought to himself, Other than the obvious I mean. How likely is it that Jill...

...how likely is it that ANY lover is going to go out and find you another woman?

And... Oh... HELL...

BOZO!

MORON!

Act now and think later idiot!

James you absolute dunce. Remember the condoms? The condoms you were supposed to pick up and didn't? The condoms you didn't use just now OR last night with Jill?

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - "James'" Room

James frowned at Jo and opened his mouth, then he closed it. Open mouth, insert foot. Let's pass on that.

I'd really meant to pick up a pack of condoms while I was out.

But you didn't now did you?

...right.

You've had unprotected sex with TWO women in a 24 hour period. Moron. Jill was an anomaly. The situation was extreme. Sue was a long time ago. The occasional slip up with a girlfriend is forgivable. Marriage is an option.

JoAnna… that was amazingly stupid. What the HELL are you going to do if they’re both pregnant? This is the sort of situation… oh God no… not these memories.

[Courier]

Flashback: High School. 8 years ago.

James had been a 16 year old junior. Ellen was 17 and a senior. Ellen was... average. Not remarkable for being a brain or loser. Not excessively pretty but not ugly. Just a normal person trying to find her way.

Ellen's last name was 'Flowers', she had the unkind but somewhat accurate nick name of 'Wallflowers'. She and James had taken a class together, but while they were on speaking terms they were more acquaintances than friends.

Somewhere down the line she'd made the mistake of claiming Peter as a boyfriend. Peter was a worm. Obnoxious but with an 'off' edge. Columbine was still in the future then but if he'd pulled something like that no one would have been surprised.

James-the-13-year-old 90-pound-weakling was long dead. Puberty and three years of pumping iron had doubled his weight. He still had growing to do but by high school standards he was a rock. He was smarter than average and was headed for college, but not one of the popular crowd. On the other hand unlike Peter he wasn't a social outcast. James was also girl-friendless and a virgin, although he didn't share that fact with anyone. Standard high school politics.

Peter and James had the same gym class. Somehow James got roped into helping her break up. Probably one of Ellen's girlfriends had reviewed the list of available males and suggested him. James agreed to help Ellen if she'd go out with him... he'd said so he wouldn't be lying which at the time he'd thought was clever.

He could still remember his conversation with Peter.

James said, "Ellen asked me to tell you she's done with you and she's with me. if there's a problem here it's yours."

Peter might have known it was coming, the rumor mill worked at light speed. He was obviously pissed and said snarkily, "It's your problem if I punch you in the nose."

James said calmly and matter-of-factly, "Just off hand I'm MUCH bigger and stronger than you. I work out at a dojo as well as a gym, I'm not black belt yet but I'm not that far off. If you EVER lay a finger on me I WILL break your arm."

James looked at Peter with narrowed eyes and waited to see what Peter would do. He wasn't kidding. He'd already planned how far he'd go in 'defending' himself. If Peter wanted to drag violence into the situation then James would make that Peter's problem.

Peter turned around and walked away. He never spoke a word to James again. James thought that was an improvement.

[Courier]

James showdown with Peter made the school rumor mill and his standing went up somewhat.

James and Ellen started dating and she relieved him of his virginity.

A few weeks later he dumped her...

...for one of the more popular girls?

...because things were getting serious?

...because he didn't think they were a good match?

...because he thought he could do better?

Years after the fact he wasn't sure any more. Some of that felt true and some felt like a lie he'd told himself to feel better or worse.

A few months later Ellen dropped out of school. She didn't graduate.

In the summer James found out she was pregnant. The math said it was his. She was too far along to get an abortion. He was going to be a father.

[Courier]

The big question was, what would he do? After the shock and denial wore off, his impulse was to ask Ellen to marry him.

Then he thought twice about it, then three times. No job. No prospects for a job, getting married would probably mean not going to college. Just asking what he should do would mean his life as he knew it was over.

Ellen and her family hadn't actually told him anything, the law hadn't gotten involved. In Texas 17 was legal but 16 wasn't, there might have been issues.

James waited, thought, and let the question eat at him. He didn't tell his family. God had no answers. He didn't seem to have any good options.

Days of dithering turned into weeks, which turned into more than a month. Eventually his lack of a decision became an action in itself.

Ellen never contacted her and he didn't contact her. He wasn't there when his child was born. He never said hello. He never said goodbye. He never paid a dime of support. He did nothing.

[Courier]

Having sacrificed his child for his long term plans, James couldn't continue those plans. What he'd done was unforgivable. It was the worst decision he could have made, the pain and guilt of thinking about it was unbearable.

So he stopped thinking.

He stopped dating, dropped out of the dojo, and focused on mindlessly lifting weights. His Senior year was a fiasco. He graduated, barely, but he wasn't interested in College and none would be interested in him. His family knew something was wrong but he didn't open up. To get away from them and what he'd done he moved away. He got a job as a lifeguard in a different city and 'pursued a career in bodybuilding'.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - "James'" Room

James forced himself to think, Relax James. You're not in that self built mental hell. Sue helped. Several of her family had been insane and she had experience dealing with 'issues'.

Finish the story, it has a happy ending. Ellen gave the kid up for adoption and moved on. She has a life now. She recovered quicker than you. You saved that guy's life. He'd been in the pool and had a heart attack and lost consciousness. You pulled off a miracle, acted before thinking and did everything right. Then James-the-hero moved back to Fort Worth and joined the fire department. Everyone welcomed back the Prodigal Son.

Sure... the dark days ended. But that was the worst moment in my life and it lasted years.

The last few days have been worse.

True... but the other was your fault. What you've done here is steps in repeating that. You can't call yourself hero any more, remember?

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - "James'" Room

James glanced at the gorgeous naked woman dozing next to him and thought, Enough of that. History is history. Focus James. What do you know about JoAnna?

She's got one heck of a rack and is great in bed.

Wonderful. That's a seriously bad idea right there. Stop thinking of her as a sex toy, that's a good way to make this blow up on you. Try to think of her as a real person with her own hopes and agenda. Which brings us back to, what's going on and what do you know?

She's... a model or something. Dancer. Actress. Stage maybe. That show she did back at the mall looked practiced. She's some kind of performer.

OK... good start. She's got the looks and body for it. What else?

She's probably a lot more sexually experienced than I am.

Which is not an issue unless you actively want to screw this up. Could she be some sort of groupie? Big problem, it doesn't explain Jill at all. What else?

Umm.... Gloria said Jill and JoAnna are gay.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - "James'" Room

James considered that, Gloria has known them longer than me. So... Jill and Jo are a couple?

This is why I think gay marriage is a great idea. It'd make life less confusing for the rest of us.

OK, lots of problems. 'Gay' should mean they won't do what we've been doing. Jill and I were at extremes, but that's not what happened here.

Ergo... Jo was faking it?

No One can fake that level of enthusiasm. No one is that good an actress.

Which just makes them both bi. Fine.

Other problem. Jill was with Chris. Jill sure acted like that before, during, after that whole thing with Chris and the kids.

True. So... the three of them were a couple?

That would explain a lot. Chris died. Jill reached out to me. JoAnna is part of that.

That feels so wrong. 'Couple' means 'two'.

Sure. Tell them they shouldn't sleep with each other. Trying to control other people's sex lives is always productive and effective. Besides, they were together long before you met either of them. You're the odd man in. Hockey rules apply. Third man in gets kicked out.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

11:15 AM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital - "James'" Room

James mentally repeated that last piece of wisdom. Hockey rules. Third man in gets kicked out of the game in a fight. Keep that in mind.

So... I've already been in her body. How do I get in her head? What if she's crazy? Why do I attract the crazy ones?

Been there. Done that. You and Sue fell apart because she wasn't drawn to a healthy James. But she dumped you, not the other way around. You didn't walk away from a woman who might be carrying your child. If you've learned anything you've learned that.

And thinking of Sue... she's on the East Coast now... shrink school... Zombie central. What are the odds she's dead now?

Not your business. You're not together, don't try to pretend you are or that you're supposed to be guarding her from 1000 miles away.

Oh. Hell. What are the odds that my son is dead?

...meaning if I'd done what I should have years back he'd be alive?

If he's dead which he's probably not. Most people are just fine and his adoptive parents weren't 16. They'd do a better job than I could have.

Until now. Most people are on the run from or holed up against zombies. That's not 'fine'.

That's just the Fort Worth Area. He's out of state somewhere.

...I think.

Shit.

...OK, that's something else you can't deal with right now or at all.

What's in front of you is a great rack and trying to get in it's owner's head.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital

James walked Jo towards the meeting with one arm around her waist. They were late. He didn't care. He was almost giddy with 'dodged a bullet' relief. Maybe he hadn't screwed up, maybe it would work out. It was like crossing the street and then finding out only after the fact that the light was green.

Instead of having sex again he'd gotten Jo to open up to him verbally. They'd talked mostly about her. Even though every question answered had raised two more, on the whole he was happy.

JoAnna was intensely interested in what James would do "after the crisis was over" which he took as a good sign. If a woman was thinking of 'us' and ‘continuing’ then it wasn't a one night stand. He could mentally list her as a girlfriend rather than him repeating history and breaking all of his moral laws. More importantly, he was finding he liked her. She was both interesting and interested.

Jo was a professionally charismatic magician and wiccan witch. A 'show girl', and in more ways than one. She clearly enjoyed lime light and controversy, as shown by the amount of cleavage she was currently showing. Their relationship would be public and he could live with that. A guy who was used to the idea of walking semi-nude on stage was already used to the camera and he suspected with the whole 'powers' thing he didn't have much choice.

Her job was in Vegas and she said several things implying she was picturing him there. Before this week he would have been adamantly against moving away from Fort Worth. Now it might be good for him.

There were issues and mysteries he didn't understand. JoAnna had said she "had birth control covered" and she didn't want him to wear a condom. This raised the yet unasked question of 'if she was with Jill & Chris, then why bother'? Had there been a man with them in the past? He knew himself too well to pretend he'd be able to live with ‘other men’. That would be a deal breaker.

On the other hand he didn't have a problem with her religion. He’d been raised Christian, but even in his darkest moments God had never been there for him. That church a few hours ago was a grim reminder that everyone would have to help themselves.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital

A voice James didn’t recognize said "…France and Ants!"

Interrupting the meeting, James and Jo walked into the meeting room together... and together. Their body English announced their relationship. Jill had been expecting them and walked over. There was a 'waiting for the train wreck' moment as the room collectively expected a cat fight. Jill hugged Jo and the moment passed.

James thought, And there it is. My girlfriends are girlfriends. Focus James. What were they saying about Ants?

Fred said in disbelief, "No Way!"

David face palmed himself. This wasn't a good time for James to start thinking with his dick.

Adam looked at Jill, JoAnna, James, and then he looked away. There were other fish in the ocean and he had other worries.

Dr. Hudson frowned and tried to get the meeting back on track by saying, "Ahem! Glad to see you could make it. We started without you."

Dr. Smith, apparently as main speaker, stood in front of everyone. He looked slightly unhappy to be interrupted, but more than willing to re-announce his discovery, repeated "We've found a relative of the zombies. There’s a fungus which has been zombitizing ants for the last 50 million years or so. We have fossils going back that far."

James started, he hadn’t been expecting this. He asked, “Is it curable?”

Dr. Smith looked embarrassed and Adam answered, “Humans are immune to Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis. One of the drugs you got earlier was an anti-fungal. This is a distant relative.”

Click to reveal.. (Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis Is Real)

Zombie Ants#1

Zombie Ants#2

Zombie Ants#3

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

James mentally translated that as, 'No, this doesn't help find a cure, or at least not in time for Donald. JoAnna seems to be enjoying the controversy we're causing. Let's just shift attention back to... what was it they said? France? James asked, "What were you saying about France?"

Dr. Hudson said grimly, "They're Dark. Most of Europe is without power. Global pictures of them at night look like North Korea. Their population density is a lot higher than ours, they've been hit much harder."

Alfred Waffenschmidt stated, "Dark is expected and a good thing. Germany gets a lot of it's power from France, France gets it's power mostly from nuclear plants. Basic nuclear safety says in the event of a natural disaster you shut down the reactor". Alfred pronounced the words like he was quoting God.

James asked, "How do you know about nuclear safety?" Al's a fighter jock turned pilot for a toilet paper company.

Alfred replied, "When you serve on a nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier, nuclear safety is a lunch room conversation."

Oh.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

James sat down with JoAnna and Jill. A few rows back Fred hissed at him, "James you bastard. Both of them?"

James replied mock(?) seriously, "We've been friends a long time Fred. That said, don't make me hurt you." James whistled a few bars from Nickelback’s 'Next Contestant'.

Fred said, "Was that a threat?"

Dave rolled his eyes and said, "Yes it was, and very mild compared to what he said when I started dating his sister. Let it be." Obviously trying to get things moving constructively, Dave said loudly, "Dr. Hudson, what news about the sick?"

All four of the Doctors put on a professional poker faced expression and Dr. Hudson replied neutrally, "We're working on it and researching a lot on line."

Dave shook his head at the non-answer and said, "Jesus. In English please. Keeping in mind that I won't hold you to anything and this is an extreme situation, what do you think will happen?"

Dr. Hudson paused for several seconds and Adam gave an exasperated hand wave and translated everything into English by saying, "They're fading. We don't know how to stop it. Nothing we do helps. Dana and Craig will go next, probably in 12 to 24 hours. Then Chris Darling 6 to 12 after that. Your friend Eric... we're not sure. He might still pull through on his own."

Disquieted, James thought, That's 'Progress'? The best we've come up with is a timeline for when they'll die? I've known Craig since... shoot. Six months before his wedding. He's a Bible thumping fundamentalist and fundamentally an ass, but a friend too. He doesn’t deserve… but deserves got nothing to do with it now does it? Maybe I should go pray with him, not because it will help, but because he’ll feel better.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

James thought, OK, grim as it is, it's news. And it means... shoot. I should see them. Oh! And we might have few enough people for Al's airplane. That's got to be on the meeting's list somewhere.

Motion caught James eye and he realized Carla was frowning at JoAnna. Hmm... I'm getting the 'scorned-lover' vibe from Carla. I hadn't realized she was interested in me but maybe I've got the whole 'my hero' thing going.

James glanced at JoAnna and he snuck a peak down her cleavage. Hmm... thinking of the airplane, I wonder what Jo would think about joining the mile high club? If we leave in the next few hours... my stamina is up, maybe super human. I think my 'recharge' rate is too.

And that's an amazingly shallow thought with two friends dying a few floors away, and the world dying outside these walls.

Joining the mile club is something I might be able to do. Worrying about Ted and Eric... I REALLY tried to heal Wendy back then. If I could heal this fungus or virus or whatever I would. I should focus on controlling what I can, doing what I can.

I should be in there holding Ted's hand, or better yet, out saving lives. It's my job.

It's too big a job.

Interrupting James' line of thought, Dave said, "Several items of good news. First, thanks to James, we have more guns and more ammo. Second, we have a way to use less ammo. After someone dies, we're not waiting for reanimation and we're not shooting them. Cracking their head with an ax while they're still dead prevents reanimation. This is much safer because there's less blood spatter."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

James thought with dismay, When did ammo-less ways to kill people become 'good' news? What's next? Gas chambers?

...only if we're lucky.

Dave continued, "And now..." Dave paused. He hadn't talked with James so he didn't know if things had gotten better or worse out there. Dave continued, "...and now I'd like James to give an update on what it's like out there."

James considered. It'd been too much to hope they'd have him go last, but he'd wished the airplane-update had gone before him. Dave might be putting him on the spot for this whole thing he had going with the girls. Or maybe Dave just wanted all the bad news out there in one big lump so they could have good news at the end. That implied the airplane would go last. OK, fine.

James stood and walked to the center. James closed his eyes and for a moment was back on the not-quite-empty streets, then he fled from them by opening his eyes. He said, “As awful as things were yesterday, they’re a lot worse today. When you walk around it’s quiet. Every now and then you hear a car, or someone screaming, or a baby crying, but mostly there’s no one alive and moving around out there. A lot of houses have a constant thumping.”

Someone asked, “Thumping?”

James replied, “Thumping. Pounding. Like someone is constantly pounding on a door to get to the tasty things on the other side. Lots of houses have no noise. Many of those have open doors, like the people inside just walked out. Others have broken windows, like someone broke in before they walked out.”

James continued, “If you walk around out there, you’ll attract a herd of zombies. There’s enough houses out there that I’d pick up followers and then lose their interest when they saw other groups.”

James continued grimly, “Every block or so has a house surrounded by a mob of zombies.”

James paused to let that sink in then in case anyone missed the implication he added, “They all have three or three dozen or whatever people inside. Someone smart enough to barricade the doors and windows and now they’re stuck. Sort of like us. Maybe exactly like us.”

Fred muttered darkly, “Texas is gun country. It can’t happen here.”

James nodded and replied, “Some of the… huts? Houses? Enclaves? Some of them are armed and think they’re waiting for things to get better before they break out. Others have already shot their way out. I think lots of them have sick in there with them and don't know what to do with them. Basically lots and lots of people are waiting for help.”

James added to himself, You mean, waiting for James DeBeer to come and save them.

That's taking way too much responsibility.

It's the literal truth.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

James paused and the room was silent, this was worse than anyone had feared. James continued, "I didn't see the army. Looting and looters are a problem."

James smiled grimly and didn't point out that he'd been looting. He explained, "There'd been a shoot out at the gun store. Someone won, someone lost, and the zombies ate the evidence then left to find other food. I think it was an stupid fiasco and people died pointlessly, but there's a lot of that going around."

Dave commented, "Anarchy."

Dr. Smith said quietly, "It's going to get worse. Not everyone who was infected has converted. The disease is still spreading."

James nodded and said, "Yeah, that. It wasn't just the zombies. I think lots of people screwed up by rushing to Walmart the first day. The plague spread big time in those crowds."

Dr. Hudson asked, "Did you see anyone like you? With powers I mean?"

James shook his head and said, "No. So far I'm unique."

Several people nodded their heads but Red Fred spoke up and said, "No. You're not."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

Fred's anouncement took everyone by surprise. The Doctors look at each other and Red added, "I know, this is news. You've been busy, I've been busy, and I'm not sure how much we should trust this. One of my sources is Fox News."

Fred gave a mock grimace, he was good with quoting Fox but one of his superiors apparently wasn't. Fred continued, "There's maybe a dozen stories floating around. Some better than others. Before they lost power France reported a guy who could control magnetism. Japan had some kind of ninja. Some babe in Florida can swim real fast."

Doctor Smith replied, "That's not much. 'Swim real fast'? What does that mean?"

Fred replied, "The number they were throwing around was over a hundred miles per hour."

Adam frowned and replied, "Unbelievable without James right there. Was that Fox? And they're all different?"

Fred replied, "Yes, and different or just several different types. There're three videos of flying people. No interviews or anything and they're amateur shots, but they're pretty clear."

Someone said brightly, "Then we're basically going to be OK. Right?"

David shook his head and replied, "A few people like James spread out over the world... no. I like James but I'd rather he were a division or two from the army. Fred, thank you, do you have anything else you'd like to mention?"

Dave tried to keep a harsh undercurrent out of his voice. This was the kind of news that he should have found out before the meeting. Everyone was basically doing their own thing, the group couldn't afford that.

Fred replied, "Only that the US government had a web site put up years ago on 'What to do in case of zombie attack'." They're at: http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

Dave frowned and said with disbelief, "They knew?"

Fred said, "I don't think so. The site is pretty clearly not serious. They talk about stocking food and water."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

Talk about stockpiling food and water threatened to bring up several unpleasant subjects, instead Dave asked the Doctors, "Speaking of the government, any new word from the CDC? They're the government body on point, right?"

Three of the four doctors put on their professional 'bad news faces' and David braced himself for more unexpectedly bad news. Clearly out of the loop, Adam glanced at the others. Dr. Hudson said quietly, "The CDC was overrun about an hour ago."

James inhaled sharply. This was bad news beyond bad news.

Dave stared and asked, "How?"

Wally shrugged and said, "We're not sure. Their last messages didn't make a lot of sense. They talked about the walls breaking but they didn't say how or why. It could be anything from an Earthquake to survivors breaking into a 'safe' building. Atlanta is huge, dense, and has been hit pretty hard. Before the messages stopped making sense they mentioned having zombies outside their walls."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

Someone choked, several others cried or shook their heads in disbelief.

James reflected, Losing the CDC seems more real than losing France. No hope of them coming up with a cure. We're from the government and we're here to... if they couldn't save themselves then they can't save us.

James looked at the walls and mentally pictured the city beyond. No one is going to step in... No. Think about France. REALLY. THINK. ABOUT. WHAT. IT. MEANS.

Every city there is like here.

That's still avoiding the truth. There's a reason why the government isn't here or even in Atlanta. My job has always been responding to trouble but... one heart attack. One car accident. One fire. One flood. Sometimes two or three at once but beyond the 911 scene is the rest of the normal world.

Except this time it isn't.

Not 'every city there'. Every city everywhere is like here. Whatever happened... it wasn't one nursing home, or even one city. It was everywhere. The news isn't overstating it, it's understating it. The reporters on the front line have been eaten just like the cops.

The entire world is a 911 scene. That's why... everything. This is universal.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

James mentally shook himself. Every city is a leap. It fits, but maybe only because of what you've seen?

James tried to keep his voice steady as he asked, "What... how many other places have the zombies? I mean... the whole 'fly away' plan, that's still in the works, right?"

There was a babble of voices as several people tried to answer at once. Most of them saying they'd heard of zombies in various cities.

After a moment Red Fred interjected, "The FAA has grounded everyone but the military, but... according to the internet... OK, this isn't me talking. Several people online are correlating reports, and we've got reports from basically everywhere. Lots of it is first hand. Europe is worse than us or without power. Or you know, both. China has shut down the internet and no one knows what is going on. Several African states claim they're not infected but act like they are. There's reports of terrorism, war, and infection in Korea, the Middle East, India, and Pakistan. South America... um... it sounds bad."

Red swallowed and said with a grim sadness, "I've seen lists and... and all major America cities are known to be infected. People are posting videos on YouTube, but we're losing big parts of the internet."

Speechless, James stared at him. Losing the CDC seemed like good news in comparison.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

James struggled to wrap his head around all this and looked around the room. Several people looked stunned. JoAnna was shaking her head in denial. Jill looked grim but unsurprised. Those three reactions seemed to sum up the room.

If he was going to live through this he needed to start assuming the worst so he could be surprised by it's absence.

He and Dave exchanged a 'now what' glance. Dave looked at a piece of paper and said, "Right. Thank you... for the news. Next... time for more bad news. We're running low on food..."

I see a job coming my way.

A middle aged woman James stood up and said, "Ahem."

Dave finished, "...and this might be a good time for the resource committee to report."

Resource committee???

The 40-ish woman self importantly walked up to the stand and James finally placed her. Right. Pulled her, her daughter, and her daughter's baby from the other tower. While we were getting maternity stuff together she cleaned the room and made the bed. Didn't get the feeling she was letting the zombie thing get in her way either. Obsessive–compulsive disorder? Maybe something else? What was her name? Dunbar? First name 'S' something.

She said in an ordered way, "I'm Marylyn Myers, the head of the resource committee..."

No 'S', that must have been someone else. And resource committee? Whose idea was that? Maybe she was making a pain of herself to Dave so he gave her something to do?

"...and we've put together a list of things which James should get."

Lovely. And 'we'? More than one person was being a pain?

Marylyn handed a packet of paper to James. James took a look, then tried to keep the frown off his face. The packet was six sheets of paper, single spaced, each with two columns. Alphabetized. It was one very long list. 'Cigarettes (marlboro lights) 12 packs' was there. 'Camping equipment:' was a section name.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:45 PM: James DeBeer, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital lecture room

The deluge of requests on top of the deluge of information was too much. Stalling for time, James said, "Um..." and continued to read the list.

Alphabetical? No, only inside categories. Oh, good. The sections are organized by priority. Maybe this is more doable than I thought. Ah... Top priority is baby needs? That makes sense I guess. Baby this. Baby that. Baby... huh?

Still trying to figure out what he was going to do, James said, "I don't recognize this one."

Marylyn replied, "Noah has Down Syndrome. That's special gear to help him suck. He's having problems with that and it's becoming urgent."

Noah would be her grand kid. So that's the resource committee's top priority? If six pages even shows any sort of willingness to have 'a top priority'.

...I need to think.

James' voice shook slightly as he said, "I..."

James halted. No break downs, no explosions, no smart remarks. Shut up. Walk away.

Jo made some sort of hand motion catching James eye. He said, "I'll be back" and walked out with Jo and Jill following.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

12:55 PM: William Gafford, Land's End Court, Fort Worth Texas.

Evan said plaintively, "Daddy, I'm hungry." Evan was four. He'd had the reality of the situation explained to him several times, but he still kept hoping Mommy and Daddy would make things better. Besides him Theodore, age two, sucked on his thumb. He hadn't done that in months but he was hungry too and it helped.

Amelia said, "I know sweety, Daddy and I are working on it. Can you show Teddy how to turn on Dora?"

Evan said again, "Yes, but I'm hungry."

Bill said, "Listen to your mother."

The children moved to the other side of the room and turned on their parent's TV again. Bill watched them and decided getting a TV for the master bedroom had been one of his better moves.

A dead hand pounded on the bedroom door as if to remind him of one of his worse ones.

They'd locked the door and shoved the dresser and bed against it. The door was thick, it'd hold. The bathroom gave them water, the closets gave them clothes and a place to sleep away from the pounding undead, his attached office gave them computer access.

He probably would have been better off without that. James' phone had stopped working after Bill had the station play the video file showcasing him and his phone number. Retrospectively he should have played it after James had saved them. On the whole... he couldn't regret it. The people had a right to know and this kind of news could make a career.

Amelia motioned him back into the closet away from the children and said quietly, "Updates?"

Bill shook his head and said, "Tom sent an email, his wife has been bitten. She's sick, he's pinned down taking care of her. His cell phone is out of battery and he lost the charger. Arthur says the roads are impassible. There are abandoned cars, he's on foot. Everyone else has their own families or isn't reachable. Several say they'll come... but it's more like, 'will try to come in a few days'. We don't have the time."

Amelia nodded. This wasn't good news but it was more or less what she'd expected. She said, "You look more hopeful, did James...?"

Bill said, "That asshole kept saying he'd come and help us, and he didn't. He's either dead or sulking. We don't have time, I have a new plan."

Amelia said, "One that involves wearing lots of clothing?"

Bill said, "Yes. I put on two pairs of pants, several shirts, that coat, and the gloves I found in it... and I slide out the window on every blanket we have. It's a two story drop but that's grass out there. All the extra clothing will soften things and prevent any scratches. I'll get up before the zombies realize I'm there and I'll run to the garage. There's tools in there, I can use some of them as weapons, or the keys are by the inside garage door. With the car I can drive through the zombies and park by the house, you'll have to lower the children to me but I can stand on the roof."

Her husband liked coming up with big, grand ideas. It was part of his charm, part of his personality. For a television personality this was a good thing, but he needed someone to anchor him. Amelia counted to twenty, then said carefully, worriedly, "Sounds dangerous."

Bill opened his mouth to say something grand but instead closed his eyes and said softly, "I know. Honey... I have to do this. No one is coming, we're going to starve here. Either we leave out the window or we try opening the bedroom door, and most of the zombies are outside that door. With most of them there... I think I have a pretty good chance. Amelia... another day like this and we won't be in any shape to try anything."

Amelia wanted very much to argue, but couldn't. Watching the children go hungry was agony, she didn't want to die here. Amelia swallowed her fears, tried to think that her husband could do this, and nodded.

Bill added, "And I'm going to have you film this. It will be great. Get the children ready too, they should already be dressed when I make my move."

Bill dressed up like a mismatched Eskimo. The children and she got ready to follow him the moment he brought the car around. Bill kissed Amelia, told the children, "Now watch your daddy be a hero." Then lowered himself out of the window and dropped down.

All the extra clothes made him clumsy enough that he banged his knee on impact. He managed to avoid the zombies for almost a full minute. They ate him in full view of his wife and children.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

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

Girls in tow, James walked out the room with his head a jumble of contradictions. Was he angry? Afraid? He decided 'overwhelmed' was a good word. He'd watched a lot of people die in the last few days, he was going to watch a lot more...

The lights went out. Glad for the distraction, James stopped and said, "Shoot. Not..." The lights went back on. James finished, "...good."

JoAnna asked, "What?"

James walked to a window and looked outside, with the sun still out it was bright enough that he couldn't tell if other buildings had lost power. He said, "I think we just lost power."

He realized he'd said something obvious and almost stupid, and added, "I mean, I think this section of the city did. Hospital has automatic backups or something, but that won't last long."

JoAnna looked nervous and Jill looked grim. Losing power was losing the last veneer of civilization.

James picked a room and the three walked in and shut the door.

James said, "Back there..." and couldn't figure out what he wanted to say next. Instead he handed over the list.

JoAnna felt it's weight, looked through it and rolled her eyes. She commented, "Double sided too. I'm not sure whether to be impressed or appalled. Several hundred top priorities, they went to a lot of work to kill a tree and didn't get too much."

Jill said, "Appalled."

James said, "Thank you. I was wondering if it was just me."

James sat down, took a deep breath, and said, "Priorities. That kid."

Jill summed up, "He's going to die unless you make him a priority."

James said, "Yeah."

Jill concluded, "And you're not going to."

James said again, "Yeah."

JoAnna looked horrified and said, "You're going to kill him?"

James shook his head and said, "No. Not kill. But I've watched lots and lots of people, children, die in the last two days and it's going to continue. I'll be doing very well in this mess if I keep the two of you alive."

That was a interesting way of phrasing that.

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

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

Not knowing how to reply JoAnna said, "But..."

James said again, "Not kill. But caring for him is the responsibility of his mother and grandmother. I really hope they're up to it, I'll do what I have time for, but time management is going to be a real problem. What's going on outside these walls..."

James added, "Wait..." and looked speculatively at JoAnna, Jill, and then at the list. If he was going to get close to the girls, then...

James said, "And... OK. I have an idea. Time management is going to be a real problem. I'm going to be out and about a lot, someone needs to run things here. Set priorities. Understand what we need and what we don't. The committee was a total failure and I just can't let myself take these kinds of requests. So... what do you think?"

Jill looked thoughtful, JoAnna said, "You mean... you need a manager?"

James said, "...something like that. It'd be a way to..." To keep him from being overwhelmed. He'd use the girls as shields, or maybe anchors. That sounded amazingly selfish. Still, they'd get... some status in the world which was rapidly taking shape? He'd gone from selfish to condescending. They'd also get... to live, and he'd still be having sex with them. If he wasn't real careful he'd equate them to prostitutes and/or slaves. There had to be a better way to think about all this. They'd be getting a say in this mess, so deciding which babies lived and died could be on their conscious too.

The whole line of thought needed some work.

James concluded, "Something like that. I need help, I'm having problems wrapping my head around all this."

JoAnna clearly liked the idea, Jill said for both of them, "Managers it is. First priority is food. We're out of pizza. Second is more guns. Third is we need to flee the city."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

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

A voice of sanity, telling him what he already knew. James said simply, "Yes" and focused on doing things.

Guns would be easy, he already had a stash. Food wouldn't be a problem today or tomorrow, three quarters of the city was empty houses. He'd break into a few and raid the refrigerator, they'd only just lost power. Leaving the city... would take more planning than he could do right now. Use the daylight, build up stores, maybe leave tomorrow morning.

James added, "Thank you. That helps a lot."

There was an awkward pause. They were lovers but they didn't know each other very well. James looked from one attractive woman to the other and wondered if they'd be sleeping together while he was gone. Then he wondered if he was thinking about that to avoid thinking about Noah. Helping Noah wasn't in the top three priorities, if he never made it that high he'd have real problems. No, who was he kidding? Noah was going to have real problems no matter what happened.

James deliberately stopped thinking about that and wondered again about the three of them.

James said awkwardly, "Ah... about the two of you... I don't mind... I mean... it's ok if... ah... how did you two hook up?"

James, you master of tact you.

JoAnna smiled and said, "We were born together."

James said, "Huh?"

JoAnna clearly enjoyed telling this story and had a look of barely suppressed amusement, she said again, "We were born together." JoAnna put one arm around Jill's waist, accenting how different they were in everything, and said, "We're sisters."

Jill added, "Twins."

James said again, "Huh?" and looked at both of them, then he gave a close, measured look at both of them. For the life of him he couldn't see any family resemblance at all. But... them being sisters would explain a lot. Gloria had been wrong, and no wonder.

James said in half disbelief, "I had no idea. You two, you don't look anything alike."

JoAnna said, "Well, that's not really a shock. We had different parents."

James said again, "Huh?"

Jill said to Jo, "You're confusing him."

Jo replied, "I think we both are."

Jill said, "Yes, but you're enjoying it."

JoAnna finally had mercy and said, "True. We were born next door to each other in the hospital just a few minutes apart. We introduced our parents to each other..."

Jill added, "Neither of us remember that part."

JoAnna continued, "...and it turned out we lived like two blocks away from each other. Small world. Same schools, using each other's parents as babysitters, her parents involved mine in the RenFest, and when we were in grade school we decided we weren't best friends any longer, we were sisters. So we are."

[Courier]

Wednesday November 15th. Z-Day +2

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

Sisters, family, by choice. It was a new concept. He'd never thought of family as a choice before, but he guessed it was an option. Adoption was common, like his son... , don't go there.

James felt around the hole in his soul and faced it squarely. He didn't have a family any more. Mom. Dad. Mary. Gail. Janet. Alex. All dead.

No Family.

Family would have brought sanity to an insane world. A lot of his unsolvable questions would have been obvious if his sisters were around. Family came first, it provided a focus.

If the girls could choose to be family, then he could too. He was having unprotected sex with Jill and Jo, mentally tagging them as his sisters was out of the question.

Although... if one or both were pregnant, they'd be carrying his child and there was no ambiguity or new age thought there. None. Zero. His kids were his kids, and the greatest gift a man could give to his children was to love their mother.

Which made these sisters-by-choice his family. By choice or whatever.