“Go on,” said Anderson.

  “A couple of the pilots are commercial and can handle much heavier craft, if we want to go get bigger planes from somewhere else. Or you can get a couple of those C-130’s from the 911th in Pittsburgh.”

  “This is a lot to chew on,” Sulla said. “What do you think Captain?”

  “I need time,” Anderson replied. “Let me try and bump this up the chain, I doubt they will send us the planes, but I can at least try. As an officer, I can’t condone theft, especially if Martial Law is declared; however, Sulla, you still have jurisdiction here and we are still operating separately.”

  The cat that had been sleeping on Jack Cotta’s lap woke up and sniffed at the air. Anderson watched the owner pet the cat, but it jumped up on the table continuing to sniff. Its nose slowed down and zeroed in on one direction. The cat took a tentative step and halted as its tail grew to three times the size in width.

  “What’s wrong Naomi?” Jack said.

  The cat’s ears bent back and she stepped away from Carson and then she hissed at him.

  Jack grabbed the cat and pulled her away from the table.

  “She’s had a rough day; I’ll take her out of here,” Jack said.

  Anderson looked at Carson’s pale face. “Are you all right Doc?” Anderson asked.

  Carson coughed into his hand, “Excuse me, no I’m not. I was on call for 24 hours before all this started. I’m afraid I am quite fatigued. I’ll pull through though.”

  “You should rack out while you have the chance, Doc,” Anderson said. “You never know when you’re going to get another chance.”

  “If you don’t mind I think I’ll take your advice and go lay down for a bit. I’ll be in the office in hanger two if anyone needs me.”

  Chapter Ten

  Rex walked across the tarmac of the airport to his parked truck where Ginger and Alison waited. Carl’s red SUV sat beside the black Dodge but the family was nowhere in site. Ginger and Alison were sharing a bottle of water in the back seat of the truck with the doors open.

  “How did it go cowboy?” Alison said.

  “Slightly better than totally fucked,” Rex said, “Got any more water?”

  “Sure do,” Alison said. “Grabbed one for you just in case.”

  Ginger opened the cap to the bottle and handed it to Rex. The water was warm, but he gulped it down till it was empty.

  “You finished that pretty quick,” Ginger said.

  “Yeah lot of hot air in that room, I never did like meetings,” Rex said. “The short version is Sulla deputized me. I’m not sure he has the power, but I don’t think anyone cares. The plan is that we’re going to fly out, hopefully before we all die. We may have to go steal some planes if the military decides to leave us hanging. By the way, I have news for you Alison; how do you want it?”

  Alison wiped her palms on her jeans. “Just give it to me.”

  “I saw your husband, and he’s headed over to hanger two to take a nap in one of the offices. I didn’t come across his friend, but I’ve heard he brought an assistant.”

  “Alison,” Ginger said, “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to let him know what a piece of shit he is for leaving me out there to die, while he saved his slut.

  “Do you think he might react violently?” Ginger said.

  “Our marriage is messed up, but it’s never been like that,” Alison said.

  “I’m still going to send Rex with you,” Ginger said. “He can at least be in earshot. I'll stay here and watch the stuff.”

  “Thanks Ginger, but I don’t want to leave you here by yourself,” Alison said.

  Ginger waved at a group of people walking toward their trucks. “Nonsense, here comes Brandi and her parents right now.”

  “I guess that settles it,” Alison said. "Rex, if you don’t mind, I’m ready to get this over with." Rex and Alison walked down the tarmac past rows of parked cars approaching hanger 2 in the distance. Refugees milled about their vehicles trying cell phones or exchanging stories with one another.

  "There is a suite of offices in the back of the hanger," Rex said. "He's supposed to be set up in office seven. I’ll wait outside a short distance away and give you some privacy, but I will be fairly close just in case."

  "Holy cow, Rex, is that you?" a girl shouted from behind a parked car. "It is you, I’m so glad to see a familiar face," the girl said. He stopped and saw a girl with blonde hair and black lipstick running toward him with out-stretched arms. She threw her arms around him and squeezed. "This must be your wife. I'm Mazie. I met Rex at the Casino yesterday up in Erie."

  "Actually,” Rex said, “This is my friend Alison. My wife Ginger is back that way watching our gear."

  Go figure Alison thought, I am on the way to deal with ending my marriage and some gothic chick is holding me up.

  "How did you end up here?" Rex asked Mazie.

  "I was heading back to school in Kentucky. I drove south along Interstate 79 and the highway was blocked off near Cranberry. There was a big traffic jam, but I managed to squeeze my car through to get to a smaller back road. I heard on the radio this morning that the airport here was safe, and I found it with my GPS."

  "Rex," Alison said, "I’m going to head over to the hanger, you can catch up when you get a chance. It sounds like your friend here might like to join our group at the trucks."

  "Could I?" Mazie said. "Because that would be great, I've been freaked out all night. Let me grab my stuff from my car, and I can follow you to your truck."

  "That’ll work fine," Alison encouraged Rex.

  Might keep him out of trouble if I decide to shoot my bastard husband, Alison thought. She turned and walked in the direction of the hanger leaving Rex and Mazie behind.

  Maybe everything will be ok, she thought. I’ll enter the room and find him thrilled to see me, and it’ll have all been a misunderstanding. Fat chance, she conceded to herself. I’m that girl who the other wives whisper about when they gossip. They feel sorry for me, but that doesn’t stop them from giggling. My life was supposed to be different, but can I stop loving him, she wondered. No, I cant, he’s my husband, and I committed my life to him.

  I can’t be that girl; I should just walk in, pull the trigger and leave. Why’d you do this to me, Carson, she thought. I gave you everything in my life, but it wasn’t enough. If only I could run from this and drive away, but where could I hide from the pain? It hurts to breathe, she thought. Please heart, stop beating and spare me.

  Alison found that she was standing in front of office number seven inside hanger two. She wiped the sweat from her trembling hands and reached out to the door. Her fingertips found the metal of the doorknob cool to the touch. She closed her eyes and waited, feeling the metal gradually warm from her fingers.

  Carson’s heart raced as he finished off Kimberly’s young body underneath him on the desk. I love it, Carson thought. These young girls just need constant gardening.

  He hadn’t been feeling well when he headed back to the office, but Kimberly insisted she could make him feel better. Come to think of it, he thought, I do feel better. Carson massaged his arm near the area where the girl at the hospital had managed to bite him. The bite was small and he had cleaned the wound thoroughly the first chance he had.

  The light fever could just be a normal infection setting in, Carson thought. It’s possible I’m immune and a vaccination could be derived from my antibodies. That would be awesome, he thought. I could set myself up with a whole harem of girls in the new world if that happened. If it turns out I’m going to die from this, then I am at least going to go out nailing every piece of ass I can manage.

  “Carson,” Kim said, “do you think we can get married?”

  It’s what they all want, Carson thought; commitment. I sort of committed to Alison, and if the world was a better place she might be here with me. It’s a shame I didn’t get to give her the diamond necklace I bought for her birthday.

  “We don’t need to talk about that right now.”

  “You don’t think she could still be alive?” Kimberly said.

  “No, she was waiting for me at the mall when it got hit. Let’s not think about that. Here, I bought you a present. I was saving it for you as a surprise.” Carson pulled a small square box out of his pocket.

  “I managed to hang on to it all through the hospital,” he added. Carson removed the necklace from the box, “Let me put it on you.”

  The door creaked open behind Kimberly. Alison walked in and the door swung closed behind her. She pointed a silver revolver at Carson. “Let me help you two with that,” Alison said. Kimberly scrambled for her clothes and pulled them over her exposed body. “I want to hear you try and explain this to me. Go ahead and try.”

  “You were happy enough to pretend it wasn’t happening as long as you could have your upscale lifestyle. Now put down the gun before you shoot somebody,” he said.

  “I’m not talking just about that Carson. Did you even try to find me while I was out struggling for my life?”

  “He couldn’t,” Kimberly spoke up. “He’s a doctor. He had responsibilities at the hospital and here.”

  “Bitch, don’t tell me about my husband. In fact, you’d do well to just keep your fucking mouth shut. He may be a doctor, but that doesn’t excuse him from his responsibilities to me.”

  “Alison, put down the gun. Someone could get hurt,” Carson ordered.

  “So you were planning on flying out of here without another thought of me, cute. Problem is there seem to be a lot of people here and not many planes or pilots. I bet there’s going to be a space problem, but I bet you weren’t worried about that as a doctor. Well I’m going to make sure they know what a piece of shit you are, and how you left your wife out there while you were here fucking this bitch. I bet the crowd will be real happy about that. Especially the ones being left behind knowing someone could have your seat.”

  Alison smiled at him, “I hope you enjoyed fucking her as much as I’m going to enjoy screwing the two of you over."

  Mike moved around the desk placing himself in front of Kimberly. “Listen baby, I’ve hurt you. You didn’t deserve this. Leave Kimberly out of it, it’s my fault.”

  Carson let his body go limp in a sign of submission then lashed out at Alison. His left palm connected with the side of the gun and sent it sailing harmlessly to the floor. It clanked and skidded to a stop along the office wall.

  He swung his right hand at Alison’s head, his fist tightening to a hard knot. The blow caught her full in the side of the face. Her head twisted to the right, and she fell over on the floor stunned. A spatter of dark red dotted the floor near her mouth.

  Carson leaned down and grabbed Alison by the back of the hair, and yanked her face around.

  “Don’t you ever threaten a man, you worthless bitch.”

  He slammed her head against the floor and Alison’s body went limp.

  “What did you do?” Kimberly said.

  I’m a monster he thought. Get a hold of yourself, Carson. I’m a doctor; I have people’s lives in my hands every day. This is no different than a day at work.

  “Kimberly, honey,” he said, “You saw the gun. She was threatening you. She could have killed us, but I stopped her to save you.”

  “Is she dead?” Kimberly said.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We have to get rid of her. If people find out, they’re going to come after both of us. We have to be cool, or this could blow up in our face."

  "This isn’t right, Carson,” Kim said. “I don’t know if I can do this."

  "I know,” Carson said. “I can't believe she would put us in this position, but I won’t let her screw up our lives together."

  He put his hand on Kim's bare shoulder. "I’d do anything for you." She leaned her head forward on his chest and hugged him.

  I should snap her neck and be done with it, he thought. "What do you think we should do with her, Kimberly?"

  "I don’t know, she replied."

  He caressed her hair, "We can’t leave her here. Someone could find her."

  "We could drive her out of here and leave her somewhere," Kimberly suggested.

  Carson held Kimberly close to his chest and smiled. She's my accomplice now, he thought. Hell, I might even be able to blame it all on her if need be. "That’s a good idea, I think it’ll work," he said. "I can use the SUV parked in the hanger and pull it up to the door. We can throw a tarp over her and drive out of here. If someone asks, we can tell them someone died and we’ve been told to dump the bodies outside the facility to keep disease from spreading. We’ll need to do that anyway."

  Carson had used the truck a couple of times during the day and still had the keys. The hanger was empty, and he had no trouble moving it right up to the office door. He opened the rear cargo hatch and grabbed a military blanket that had been handed out to him and headed back into the office.

  His wife lay motionless on the ground. He knelt down beside her and checked her pulse.

  "She's still alive, Kim, find something to tie her hands and feet with." He laid the blanket down beside her and rolled her body over on it.

  Kimberly dug through the office utility closet until she found a roll of duct tape.

  "Carson, will this work?" Kimberly said.

  He nodded his head, and she handed the roll over to him.

  He spun the roll on his finger looking for the seam. He peeled several inches of the tape out and stuck it over Alison's mouth. He picked her head up off the ground and wrapped it around her head twice. Carson repeated the process with her hands and feet immobilizing his wife. He then wrapped her body up in the wool blanket completely covering her body. "Help me sit her up so we can wrap her body," Carson said.

  Kimberly obeyed his command, but her hands were trembling. Carson watched her face for a moment and gave her his best smile. "It'll be ok, I promise," he said.

  "Do you love me?" she asked.

  "You know I do," he replied.

  He opened the door to make sure the hanger was empty.

  "It’s clear," he said. "Grab her feet, and I'll get the head. They carried her to the back of the truck and placed Alison inside.

  "See honey," he said, "The tough part is over. Let’s get going." They got in the vehicle and drove off.

  ###

  Rex dumped Mazie off with his wife at the truck. He spent several minutes making introductions and explaining to Ginger how he knew the girl. He cut the conversation off as soon as he could and headed off in the direction he last saw Alison.

  A white SUV drove out of the open hanger door and passed in front of Rex a dozen yards away. Inside the vehicle, Rex caught a glimpse of a girl in the passenger seat with Doc Carson driving. The girl was clearly not Alison. Rex scanned the people in the immediate area. He didn’t see her anywhere.

  "Alison," he shouted to the crowd, no one responded.

  He hurried in the direction of the hanger and passed through the partially open bay door. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. "Alison, are you in here?" Rex said. He felt the hand of warning place its uneasy touch to his back. He ran to the office marked number seven and threw the door open. The office was dark. He reached out along the wall and flipped the light switch, but the office remained black.

  Rex grabbed a small key-chain flashlight in his pocket. It clicked on and stabbed light into the darkness of the room. A silver glint by the wall caught the light and he recognized his grandfather's revolver the instant he zeroed the light on it. "Oh, shit."

  He bent down and picked up his grandfather's gun. Turning toward the door, his flashlight revealed red spatter on the floor.

  "That bastard," he said. Rex took off at a sprint bolting through the door. Outside of the hanger, he ran to the first vehicle he saw. It happened to be a red Polaris 550 with a teenager sitting on top of it. “Hey kid, did you happen to see which way that white SUV went?”

  “Didn’t watch,” the kid responded. “But I know where he went. He saw my Polaris and asked me if I was from the area. Told him my father’s farm was just down the road. He told me he was a doctor and said that we needed a place close by outside the fence to dispose of any of the ghoul’s bodies. I told him just where to go.”

  Rex grinned at the youth, “Show me.” The ATV's engine roared to life and its tires peeled out as it accelerated in the direction of the gate.

  In the truck, Kimberly squeezed her hands forcing the blood out of her fingers. The growing numbness in her hands did little to keep Alison out of her mind. What am I doing she thought. Oh Daddy, I should have listened to you. Who am I kidding, I made my bed and now I have to sleep in it. It'll be ok, she thought, Carson will fix everything.

  The two soldiers guarding the gate had waved the couple through easily enough. Carson had told them they were going to grab medicine from his house down the road and would be back shortly. The guards had warned them to be careful and that they would have to be inspected when they came back.

  Carson drove them north down a back road that paralleled Route 8 a mile to the east. The scenery consisted of old farmhouses and wooded lots.

  He slowed the vehicle down at the edge of a wooden lot and a cornfield. He turned down a small dirt road used by tractors and pulled the vehicle to a stop near three old bales of hay left over from last season. He reached up and pushed the transmission into park then dropped his head to the steering wheel.

  "Carson, are you alright?" Kim said.

  "My head hurts,” Carson said, “and I feel like I might be getting a fever."

  In the back of the truck, Alison's mind woke from the edge of the abyss. Her head swam with nausea and pain. Her eyes cracked open revealing nothing, blackness encased her. Something was holding her, suffocating her as she tried to move.