Arrival (Planet of Last Resort #1)

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

A s the APCs made good time along the central feeder road for the subdivision, Melly bit her lip and debated the wisdom of what she was going to demand. Finally she squared her shoulders, drew a deep breath and said, “We need to make one more stop before we hit the open highway and head for your ranch.”

Jeff did his move with the chair so he could stare at her. “You have more family you forgot to tell us about, doc?”

“Nothing like that. And no old boyfriends to check on either.” She guessed the latter was his unspoken question.

The captain didn’t acknowledge her gratuitous reassurance. “What are you proposing then? Where do you want us to divert to?”

“Eastern Community Hospital.” She waited for his reaction.

“There’s nothing there, doc, you know that. The hospitals got overwhelmed early in the outbreak and I doubt anyone managed to survive. The medical professionals were on the front line and got slaughtered unfortunately.”

“You yourself said I was possibly the only doctor left on the planet and after what we’ve been through I’m inclined to think you’re right. I didn’t bring much in the way of medical supplies with me and I bet your medic’s kit might contain a little more but if I’m going to help people we may find out there, I need as much equipment and as many medicines as I can my hands on. The people may be gone from the hospital—" She swallowed hard. “But the things I need will be there. I’m sure.”

Jeff’s gaze was intense and Melly forced herself to maintain her focus on his eyes. She wasn’t going to give an inch on this.

“Probably a lot of infected there,” Cody said. “Risky to go in. Shall I task a couple of drones to check it out, sir?”

Glancing at him, Jeff nodded. “If and it’s a big if, I decide we can do a sortie at the hospital, we’ll go. But it’s going to be fast and the instant I deem conditions to be unsafe, we’re out, no matter what we did or didn’t manage to collect.”

“Fair enough. I’ll make a list. I volunteered for hundreds of hours at this hospital and my primary mentor was on staff there so I know the layout.” She grinned. “As lax as they were about their systems, my old ID number might even work to get me into the controlled meds lockers.”

“We can open those, no worries,” Zach said behind her, in his seat beside the gun turret.

Mike tugged at her hand. “Dad said he wouldn’t go the hospital for any reason. He said it would be a snake pit. You shouldn’t go either, Melly.”

“The soldiers will protect me,” she said with genuine confidence. After the events of the past few days she knew what Jeff and his men were capable of and felt secure about her safety. “I have to do this, Mike, so I can help people we meet along our route. Doctors take an oath and I need to live up to mine.”

“Like a D’nvannae Brother?” he asked.

Laughing, because being a doctor was as far from being an assassin serving the alien Goddess of Flames as a person could get, she asked, “How do you know about them?”

“It’s one of my favorite trideo series,” he said with enthusiasm that dimmed a moment later. “Well, it was. I know some people think D’nvannae are only bad guys but they do good deeds too.”

“You’ve got the concept of taking an oath right,” Jeff said, ruffling his hair a bit. “And your sister is pretty stubborn besides.” Turning to Cody, he said, “Take the offramp to this upcoming rest area. We’ll take a look at what your drones find and plan our approach.”

Satisfied, Melly sat back and began assembling a quick list of items to search for on her handheld. Jeff might have agreed to this trip but he wouldn’t give her much time. She kept reprioritizing as new needs came to mind.

“Stars and comets, doc, we can’t load the entire hospital into the cargo compartment,” Zach said, reading over her shoulder.

“I know we won’t get all of it,” she admitted. “But it’s a start.”

The APC made a sweeping turn and came to a halt, although Cody kept the engine idling. A holo sprang up in the well of the vehicle, eliciting an exclamation of awe from Mike.

“This is a composite of what my drones are seeing,” Cody explained. “No telling what the situation is inside.”

Surveying his results, Melly had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Abandoned vehicles surrounded the hospital, including a phalanx of military groundcars and trucks. As she’d come to expect, bodies were everywhere and she supposed inside the hospital the scenes would be even more horrific. Too late she realized she should have kept her impressionable brother from seeing all this. “Mike stays in here with the dog.”

“Absolutely,” Jeff agreed. He made a slashing motion with his hand and the holo winked out. “Where will the supplies you want be located, doc?”

“A lot of what I could use would be in the emergency room area but the central pharmacy is on the fourth floor and my top priorities on my list would be there.”

The holo shifted as Cody redirected his drones to focus on the ER. Ambulances with open doors crowded the parking bay next to the bright red doors but nothing moved.

“I don’t like it,” Jeff said. “Not one bit. Cody stays in the APC with the kid and keeps overwatch with the drones. We’ll attempt to enter through the ER. Second priority will be to reach the fourth floor and the pharmacy What kinds of meds are you going for, doc?”

“Antibiotics primarily. Painkillers. Things I can use if I have to perform surgery. Bone menders. A portable all body scanner if we’re lucky. There may be one in the ER.”

“We can run that off the APC battery,” Cody said.

“A lot of what I’m hoping to find I’ll know it when I see it,” she said finally.

After a long pause Jeff gave the order to proceed to Cody and Trent in the second APC. The drive to the hospital in the heart of the small community took longer than it should have due to the congestion on the roads and fires burning in various places. The closer she got to her destination, the more her dread grew and she questioned herself sharply. There was still time to abandon the quest and Jeff would be pleased if she changed her mind. But what would she do if they came upon a pocket of survivors and people needed help and she had nothing but the bare essentials in her small medkit? Her resources would be quicky exhausted and probably help only a fraction of the patients.

The captain’s voice interrupted her disordered thoughts.

“Battle armor on. We’re approaching the hospital.” Jeff rose to put his on and Melly got hers out of the backpack. Mike was fascinated with the whole process as she triggered the impermeable substance to cover her legs and arms. She drew her blaster and checked it, which further awed her little brother.

“Can I have a weapon?” he asked Jeff. “And cool armor like she has?”

“If we get into a battle in the open where we need all hands shooting, then yes you’ll get my spare blaster. If you’re an observer here in the APC, then no. Weapons control, you know,” the captain said with a wink at Melly.

She shuddered to think of a situation where her ten-year-old sibling had to shoot infected predators to stay alive. “We’ll all work hard to prevent it from being the last resort,” she said firmly.

“Yes, ma’am.” Jeff smothered his amusement and moved past her to the portal. Zach joined him and Melly gave Mike a hug, patted Buddy on the head and took her place behind the men.

As soon as the portal opened, she smelled the stench of death, as well as acrid smoke. Blaster at the ready, she stepped out of the APC and waited while Trent and Samms joined them. She was surprised Jeff wasn’t leaving one of them inside the second APC but decided not to ask any questions. The men were putting themselves on the line to accomplish her goal and she was grateful.

Power was off at the hospital and the ER doors had been left gaping open, blocked by a pile of bodies, which seemed to be infected and uninfected mixed in a heap. A fierce battle had occurred here and she hoped at least a few humans might have escaped. Jeff led the group past the site of the last stand and slid inside the building. The ER waiting room was dark and many of the chairs were upended and strewn around, bearing mute witness to the panic. Jeff shot out the lock on the door leading to the ER treatment area and Melly followed him inside, two soldiers at her back.

Zach broke off from the stack to grab an empty laundry cart which lay overturned on the floor beside the first patient room. “We can toss whatever you find in here, doc and wheel it right on out to the APC.”

“Good idea.” She got her bearings and hastened down a righthand corridor. “Supply room is this way.”

Jeff cursed and came after her, the others right behind. “Stick with me, doc. No solo trips.”

There was a thump right next to her and Melly screamed and sidestepped as a massive infected hit the glass door imprisoning it in a patient cubicle. If the creature had known how to open doors, it would have had her.

“Leave it,” Jeff said with barely a glance. “It can’t get out.”

She wasn’t so sure, given the way the man was banging his head into the glass over and over, trying to get at them but she sped up and reached her destination in a few more steps. There was an abandoned, portable medscanner on a wheeled platform right next to the storeroom door. “We need to take this.”

Zach shouldered his weapon and carefully put the scanner into the laundry cart. “Should I take this out, captain?”

“Wait and see what else doc finds in the storeroom.”

But when she opened the door, Melly was shocked to find mostly bare shelves and a jumble of items on the floor. The decontam seals on many were broken, meaning the contents would no longer be sterile. Disappointed, she managed to find six medpacks and a couple packages of bone mender to add to the scanner in the cart. “I guess I’d better get to the fourth floor and hope for better luck there.” She was scolding herself for not realizing the hospital would have used up most of its supplies trying to help incoming patients and of course there had been no resupply once the epidemic took hold.

Leaving the less than productive storeroom she headed for the door to the stairs at the end of the hall and Jeff caught her arm. “One of us goes first, always.”

Trent slipped past her as Zach retreated with the cart, which he couldn’t spend time maneuvering up the stairs anyway. Melly hoped she could find another one on the fourth floor.

Stay with the APC’s once you’ve stowed the gear, Jeff ordered Zach. Don’t come back inside. We’ll be on our way out soon.

Stairway is clear, sir,” Trent reported from his position at point . I hear banging on the door a couple floors up but not where we want to go.

We’re on your six now. Jeff checked with Melly. I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind, doc?

She shook her head decisively, adrenaline overcoming her fear of being cooped up in this infested building. We need these things I’m after .

Without another word he pushed through the door and began ascending the stairs cautiously, hugging the corners, blast rifle ready. Samms came so close behind Melly he nearly stepped on her heels but she was glad to have him there. She had her blaster ready, reminding herself to take head shots or else go for the knees. If they did get attacked, she could only hope the repetition drill would help her remember to be effective with her aim.

At the landing for the fourth floor, Trent and Jeff flanked the door and the latter opened it slowly. Utter silence greeted them. With a nod, Jeff went inside, Trent right behind and Samms gave Melly an encouraging tap on the shoulder. Her mouth was so dry her throat ached but she forced herself to hasten through the door.

This way , she said on the subaural com, reluctant to break the ominous quiet with her voice. Fortunately she had spent so much time here as a teenage volunteer she knew her way even in the gloom. As she passed a gurney with a cadaver under a sheet there was sudden movement as the infected sat up and lunged for her as if he’d been wearing a cheap Halloween costume. The predator’s claws scrabbled against the battle armor on her arms and she screamed as she tried to twist and get away. Jeff stepped up, placed the barrel of his blaster against the infected’s head, entangled in the sheet and fired a single quick pulse. The creature’s brains splattered against the wall and it collapsed, one hand dangling.

Jeff yanked her away from the gurney and the men concentrated their lights on her in a repeat of the scene a few days ago.

“It didn’t scratch me,” she said, voice shaking. “The armor saved me again.”

“I don’t like the way this is going,” Jeff said, taking her arm. “Get us to this pharmacy, doc, and let’s get out of here.”

Melly was more than happy to hasten through the corridors and do as he asked. The pharmacy door was broken as if someone had forced their way inside. She could see the shelves and containers of meds beyond which were a jumbled mess and pills and inject ampoules were scattered across the floor.

“Why would the infected do this?” she asked, advancing into the mess with a sinking heart.

“Human looters, doc,” Jeff said.

“But—”

“There’s not enough time to ponder the issue.” He interrupted her sternly. “Is this the only med vault?”

“Yes.” Trying not to step on too many containers, she made her way to the counter and climbed awkwardly over to get into the pharmacists’ area. About to put her feet on the floor, she gasped and recoiled. “There’s a body.”

Jeff and Trent climbed over through two other service counters and briefly examined the corpse to make sure the person was actually dead. “Shot,” Jeff said.

Melly was angry and appalled that in the last breakdown of civilization here someone had committed murder to steal drugs but there was certainly nothing she could do about it now other than send a quick prayer to the Lords of Space for the victim. Jeff helped her get down while avoiding the body and she moved to the aisles of drugs beyond. There was no longer any organization—the containers had been knocked to the floor or jumbled together and she stared at the clutter in frustration. “How am I going to find what I need in this mess?”

“Grab what you can. We’ll do the same and we’ll sort it out later, when we stop for the night,” Jeff said pragmatically.

Looking toward the rear of the room, she was relieved to see shelves which appeared undisturbed. “You guys scoop up unopened containers only, please. I’ll check out what’s back here.”

The pharmacists had used little carts when pulling orders and she took one of those. It had a bent wheel squeaking with every rotation but the others were tangled together in a jumble of metal so she made do and hoped there were no infected around to be drawn to the noise. The thieves hadn’t had time to clear out the entire pharmacy and she was pleased at what she was finding. She made two trips to the front to add her loot to the collection the soldiers were making and was perched on a stepladder trying to reach vital antibiotics on a top shelf when Zach’s voice came over the com with a terse warning.

Tangos approaching from the north, two pickup trucks, about ten guys, heavily armed. A couple of them appear drunk or high. Clearly a raiding party.

Reposition the APC’s for maximum range and field of fire. We’ll be right down. Jeff ran to where Melly stood on her ladder and lifted her to the floor in a quick motion. She barely managed to hang onto the box of injects and protested.

“But I only need another couple of minutes?—”

“Time’s up, doc. Remember my rules of engagement. We are out .”

Tangos approaching the front entrance to the hospital, on the other side, Cody reported. Looks like they’re unaware of our presence.

We’ll try to keep it that way. Jeff’s response was terse. We’re not here to fight raiders. Entering the stairs in two minutes.

He didn’t loosen his grip on her arm as they fled, taking the bulging cart the soldiers had been using to collect meds with them. Melly couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder ruefully at the entrance to the pharmacy, wishing she’d had even a little more time to gather what she needed. She wondered how Trent planned to get the cart with their cargo down the stairs but he attached a small antigrav pad to the underside and the overflowing container followed him.

“Pay attention to the stairs, doc,” Jeff chided her as they passed through the door and stood at the top of the long flight to the ground floor. “Stick to Samms like glue. Trent and I’ll be right behind.”

Even though the group was moving so fast she was afraid she’d fall and roll down the stairs, Melly thought the descent was taking forever. She wanted to be out of the deserted hospital and safely in the APC driving away more than she’d ever wanted anything. The idea of facing off against human raiders was more disgusting than battling the infected. At least the latter were too mindless to know what harm they were doing.

Tangos entering the building, Zach said. Tracking sensors indicate they’re heading for the stairs you’re using.

After the drugs too no doubt. Jeff acknowledged the update and stopped at the second floor. We’re going to cut through here and descend on the other side of the building, he said. Samms, check it out.

They waited while Samms cautiously entered the door, closing it behind him. Seconds later Melly heard the sound of his blast rifle and then Samms burst through the door, breathing hard. Jeff tried to slaw it behind him but the weight of a group of infected pressed against him. “Get on the goddamn door,” he yelled.

Melly retreated, taking charge of the antigrav cart, while Trent and Samms joined Jeff in the effort to get the door closed. Infected on the other side clawed at them and the growls and moans were deafening in the small space. Palms sweaty she got a better grip on her blaster. What would she and her friends do if the monsters got through? They could climb stairs—she didn’t know if she and the soldiers could get away fast enough.

Samms was hacking at the arms preventing the door from closing and she wanted to throw up as first one and then another fell to the floor, leaking viscous black fluids which carried a terrible odor. His efforts paid off as Jeff and Trent managed to slam the door and latch it.

“Won’t hold for long,” jeff said. “First floor is our only egress. Doubletime!”

Trent stood aside to allow her to pass with the cart, which he didn’t offer to take. At the bottom Melly stepped off the stair in front of the door to the ER wing and Jeff grabbed her. “Stay right behind me. The bad guys know we’re here now with all the noise. We may have to fight our way out.”

Sluggishly her brain offered a partial solution. “Take a left instead of going right. There’s an auxiliary ambulance entrance for overflow situations and we can go out there.”

“Quick thinking which may save our bacon.” Jeff glanced at his two soldiers and then yanked the door open.

She expected a hail of bullets or blaster fire to greet them but there was nothing. Jeff ran in the direction she’d suggested and Melly rushed to keep up. Med packets were slipping off the cart but there was nothing she could do about it, resisting the temptation to stop and pick them up. As she reached the alternate exit right behind the captain, there was a yell from the right and then the barrage of weapons fire began as the other group of scavengers saw her party from across the ER receiving bay.

Keep moving, don’t stop no matter what, Jeff ordered as he and the two soldiers took cover behind the counter and returned fire.

I’m not leaving you , she said stubbornly.

He turned to her, the emotion in his eyes so fierce Melly recoiled. Yes, you are. Obey orders, doc. You have to survive. Get outside and run like hell to the APC’s. We’ll be right behind you, I promise .

Leaning forward he pressed a hard, desperate kiss against her lips and then gave her a shove in the direction she needed to go. Melly stumbled, caught her balance and fled, the tethered cart behind her. An impact on her left arm nearly knocked her over but she managed to keep moving through the shock and pain and made it outside a moment later. The APC’s were heading in her direction, repositioning for a better pickup and she ran as fast as she could toward safety. The unwieldy cart slowed her down but she wasn’t going to leave their hard-won treasure behind.

She took his heart with him. Jeff wanted to watch her run for safety but the intensity of the ongoing firefight forced him to direct his attention to the task at hand. The shooters on the other side were sloppy for the most part, with bad aim, but there were at least a few who knew what they were doing. His biggest concern was whether any of them would think to double back through the building and attack from the rear. Trent, got any surprises we can hand these guys?

Is there ever any doubt? I come to all parties prepared.

Jeff and Samms fired a withering stream of covering fire as Trent lifted up from cover just enough to throw a force grenade across the room. Fire in the hole!

Ducking for cover as the explosion pounded the room, Jeff wished he had a full suit of battle armor. The concussion shook him, shrapnel and bits of unidentifiable debris rained down on his head, which he was protecting as best he could with his arms, and his hearing blanked out. A force grenade at such close range wasn’t usually recommended but there’d been no other choice. Retreat , he said over the subaural com, glad it was wired directly into his brain and not his ears.

Samms, made the move first, with Trent rising smoothly to follow him as Jeff fired his blast rifle across the room in case anyone on the other side survived. Still firing, he retreated to the door and ducked outside. Trent and Samms were waiting and the three of them broke into a run toward the vehicles. There was no sign of Melly or the cart so Jeff assumed she was safe inside the lead APC.

Can’t we ever catch a break? Trent said as a wave of infected came around the corner behind their transport.

We are making a hell of a lot of noise. Jeff had to grin as he ran.

The turret on the second APC swiveled and a stream of incandescent blaster fire worked its way across the oncoming mob. Trent increased his speed and headed for that vehicle, which had stopped its forward progress as Zach switched his position from driver to gunner. Samms clambered into the first APC and Jeff waited to make sure Trent safely boarded the other one before he got into the vehicle and slammed the door control. “Get us out of here,” he said to Cody at the controls, even while taking grateful note of the fact Melly was indeed safely in her seat next to her brother.

His hearing was spotty but the dog’s excited barking penetrated the static. “Can someone please quiet the damn dog down?”

Mike left his seat to sit next to Buddy and whisper in his ear.

Jeff sank into the co-pilot’s chair with a sigh of relief and set his blast rifle in the sheath at the side. Melly rushed to him, placing her fingers carefully on the side of his face and turning him so she could examine the cuts and bruises. She touched his ear, which he realized was bleeding. “I’m okay,” he said. “Nothing serious. We were too close to the blast for comfort but it was the only way. Too much firepower on the other side and if they’d gotten behind us that would have been the end of our excursion.”

She leaned over and kissed him carefully on the lips. “I’m so sorry—it’s all my fault for insisting we stop here for medical supplies.”

He closed his eyes for a moment in relief they’d managed to roll away from the scene with no casualties. “Now we know there are definitely survivors and some of them have organized into gangs, we’ll have to be a lot more careful. No more shopping expeditions, doc. Or at least none with a lot more preplanning and preparation.”

“No argument from me.” Melly stepped away to fetch her small medkit. “Let me take care of these cuts. I think you might have a piece of shrapnel embedded in this one on your cheek.”

“It’ll make a nice scar for you, captain,” Cody said from beside them. “You’ll attract the ladies, all dangerous and scarred up.”

“Hey,” Melly said, giving the soldier a small shove. “His days of attracting the ladies are over. I don’t share.”

Cody laughed good naturedly and Jeff pulled her into his lap, mindful of the child behind them. He kept the embrace fairly mild but he did collect a deeper kiss than her first one. “I like being claimed by you, doc.”

“Let me do my work,” she said with a chuckle, rising and opening her kit.

Attention caught by a deep groove on her battle armor, He grabbed her arm to examine the ding more closely. “You okay, doc? Looks like you got shot. Any other wounds?”

“I didn’t move fast enough, I guess. It’ll probably bruise spectacularly but nothing’s broken.” Melly grimaced and flexed her arm slightly. “Hurts like a bitch but I’m not complaining. This armor you gave me has saved my behind so many times already on this trip of ours. I’m grateful.”

Jeff let her work on the cuts and bruises and sat stoic as she removed a long metal splinter from his cheek. The body armor had protected him somewhat but he had the feeling he might have a few more superficial wounds on his back.

“I’m going to want to check all of you once we get to a place where we can stop,” she said when she finished, threw the trash into the APC’s recycler and did a decontam on her hands.

“We’ll find a place,” Jeff said. “Not too many houses or farms along the route we’ll be taking so we’ll probably camp out under the stars. The APC’s aren’t too comfortable for sleeping.”

“Not too comfortable for riding either,” she said with disdain as she took her seat. “But vastly better than walking.” Melly cast a longing gaze at the overflowing cart which took up much of the available floor space. “I can’t wait to sort all of this and see what I have. Where did the scanner end up?”

“Zach stowed it in the second APC’s cargo compartment before all the excitement started up,” Cody said. “It’s safe, doc.”

“I like the APC,” Mike said. “It’s so cool. Like in the Stellar Sam Squadron trideos.”

“You’re younger than me,” Melly replied with a grin. “You’re more resilient. I’ve got older bones and muscles and my body doesn’t appreciate the poor shock absorbers on this behemoth.”

“Drones out on the perimeter,” Cody said. “No pursuit, sir, nothing but open road ahead of us.”

Jeff acknowledged the information and sat back to watch the vids as they drove out of the suburban area. There weren’t too many stalled groundcars or wrecked trucks in this quadrant and he figured they’d make good time. He glanced over his shoulder at Melly and couldn’t help smiling. Never expected to find a good woman to love on this mission but she was everything he’d ever wanted in a partner and more. The assignment to Randal Four may have morphed into a real clusterfuck with this epidemic, the infected hordes and possible alien intrusion but he felt like a winner nonetheless. He’d keep her and her brother safe and figure out a way he and his men could accomplish the spirit of their orders given all the new factors at play. Just let him travel safely to their ranch site, fortify the spot and get the time to take a breather and regroup. That was all he was asking of the Lords of Space today. He’d figure out his next steps later.

With Melly by his side and his team watching his six, there was nothing he couldn’t overcome. This planet of last resorts wouldn’t defeat him—he and his companions would find a way to bring the situation under control and lessen the threat to the Sectors.

But for now all he wanted was a clear road and a safe place to camp for the night. Was that too much to ask?