Carrion (The Bren Watts Diaries #1)

Chapter 67

Day 27: May 5th, Wednesday

Too many thoughts went into my head, coupled with the adrenaline, the panic, the confusion as I woke up, and the quick realization that we might be seriously fucked. I had flashes of torn up bodies, the smell of a burning city, and the vectors...god, the vectors haunted me even when I'm awake. I could hear their shrieks, and I thought: No, they can't be here already. They can't be here outside my door.

I realized I only imagined their blood-curdling screams.

All that went over my head was that this can't be happening again, over and over. When you saw a large smoke like that from a distance, nothing good could come out of it, especially with waiting beyond the walls. Did it fall? Well, the gate was wide open, but did the army contained it? How far had the vectors reached within the city? How long had it been on fire? So many questions, so little answers.

I had seen how fast the sickness spread on the streets of New York. It took my teacher, Mr. Ramirez, two minutes to turn once bitten, and overwhelmed the entire city in a day. The air-raid sirens still wailed outside, and I could hear people running around in the hallway. I had to find the others and made sure that everyone was safe. But how far am I from downtown? Was this a bad dream?

I blinked at the window. No. I'm definitely not dreaming.

I wasted no time getting out of the bed, but when I put weight on my injured leg, the pain gripped me to a standstill, and I muffled a curse, almost forgetting I got shot. I grabbed Betty from under the pillow, realizing I had no holster or even some pants to carry it with. From the other side of the bed, Luke busily put his pants and shirt on. He reached my side of the bed and pushed me back down.

"No, no. You are in no condition to walk about," Luke said, hand firmly on my shoulder.

I shrugged his hand off. "Well, I'm not just going to lie here."

"What are you going to do? Go outside? The soldiers are going to take care of it. This is the Med district, Bren. The army's barracks are here. We're safer here than out there."

"This is a hospital, Luke, the nearest one! Where do you think all the injured will go?" I asked, raising my voice, and Luke froze. "One bite! That's all it takes to turn into one of them, and they're not always easy to find. Look at what happened to Carson and how fast he turned. If even just one gets here... I'm not going to be caught inside this building."

His mouth hung open, on the verge of saying something back, but he kept quiet. I wasn't proud that I had to raise my voice like that, especially to him. I reached out for his hand, and I was relieved he took it into his. I was glad to see him smile, at least. He made me smile, too.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Can you please find me some clothes?"

Luke nodded. "Hold still."

Luke walked toward the small closet at the corner of the room, opened it, and pulled out a duffel bag. I had no idea that was in there, courtesy of Clemons, I guessed. Luke proceeded to pull out some pairs of rubber shoes, a couple of shirts, sweatpants, and another couple of jackets. I sifted through them quickly and picked what I liked. Luke helped me put them on, especially on how difficult it was to put on the sweatpants. I didn't want to run out of the hospital with my ass hanging, in the open, with nothing but my flimsy hospital gown.

The shoes were half-a-size too big for me, but I couldn't call Clemons to complain, so I had to work with what I got. It's better than nothing.

"I'll go fetch a wheelchair," Luke said.

"No. The crutches are right there."

Luke shook his head. "You are not in a good place to walk on crutches. Can you run on crutches?"