John O'Brien - Taken

“I’m thinking we should try someplace else. Like a small clinic or small-town hospital. They would have fewer night runners around and a place we could most likely clear,” I add still mesmerized by the size of this place.

“We could do that but if the stuff we need is near the entrance, then it’d be the same as going in any other place,” she says.

“True. Let’s drive around and see what we see. Let’s find the ER entrance and take a look. I’m still not going in without diagrams and a plan,” I say.

“Jack? Are you sure you’re okay?” Lynn asks chuckling. “That doesn’t sound like you at all. I mean, do you realize you actually used the word ‘plan?’ Did it really only take a fever to drive some sense into you? If I’d have known that was all it took, well….”

“You missed your calling doing stand-up,” I reply.

We head into the Humvees and drive around to the ER entrance. Several ambulances are parked in the large overhang of the entrance. We exit and I walk to the windows. The glass is broken here as well but either the rain or time has erased any sign of night runners. It used to be that the broken glass on the ground would be mixed with bloody footprints. I suppose the hospital could have been raided while the world was coming apart or after. That actually makes some sense. I step warily to the edge of the door.

The teams fan out around the entrance and the Humvee guns are manned. Lying on the tiled floor are the decayed remains of people. There really isn’t much left of them to decay other than some hair on the top of their heads. The rest has been stripped clean leaving just a few pieces of dried flesh and tendon clinging tenaciously to the bone. The clothes they once wore have been shredded and several of their bones lie a distance away from the rest of the bodies. Although the scene is similar to the one when I went into the hospital at McChord, the smell isn’t as bad as it was there. Time has seen to that.

The thought surfaces that this is a hospital and there could be so many other bodies lying inside. Diseases must be rampant. Of course I’m sure they must be in the same condition as the ones just inside the door if there are night runners present. A faint scent of body odor drifts out of the broken door. I nod; there are night runners inside. The smell replaces any lingering thought that the broken doors have been caused by raiders.

As with any building before, the light from the day fans a short distance across the linoleum floor. I step inside the door. The rest of the large room opens up. There are various pieces of artwork lining the walls with padded chairs and tables against the walls under them. Plants, wilted and brown, are set into corners and scattered about the room. They, at one time, must have given a more serene sight to this place of pain. I mean, that’s what an ER is. You don’t go to the ER if you’re feeling good just for a visit. And as far as I know, very few bingo games or family fun nights are held in emergency rooms.

A nurses’ station is situated against the far wall with swinging doors branching off the room in places. We could grab a diagram here , I think looking around the room for any sign of night runners lurking in corners. I’m still in the light so I feel relatively safe. The safety of daylight is just a couple of steps behind. I’m pretty amazed at how much light is actually penetrating as I can see most everything in crystal clarity. Yeah, it’s in shades of gray but I can make out magazines strewn on the checkered linoleum floor with some still opened on the tables in front of the chairs. It’s to the point that I think I have lowered my goggles. I reach up to raise them only to discover they are already set in the upward position. I look back to see Drescoll and Lynn hovering at the front door; silhouetted against the door with the light behind.

“Can you see the nurses’ station?” I ask.

“Jack, I can’t see shit past the first twenty feet,” Lynn answers. “Use your goggles.”

“Oh yeah, duh,” I reply covering the fact that I can see pretty well without them.

“Jack, are you sure you’re okay?” Lynn asks.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Just still stunned about the size of the place,” I say trying to cover an uneasiness that has come over me.

I turn back around before lowering the goggles. The room is like it was; in shades of gray. I lower the goggles and turn them on. The room brightens more but only incrementally and the gray changes to green. The shock I feel has nothing to do with the enormity of the complex. I really don’t know what to make of it. I lift the goggles and they shut off. Gray replaces green but that’s about the extent of it. I’m not sure I should tell anyone.

“You can use mine if yours aren’t working,” Drescoll says.

“No, I’m good,” I reply. I really don’t trust myself to speak and don’t know what to do or think about this. What the fuck happened to me?

I have a clue but I’m not about to voice it even to myself. It’s like thinking about it will bring it into reality and I’m not sure I want to do that. I can literally feel my body shaking. The filters in my mind shut out my completely focusing on it, but shit, what else is there possibly to think about that has a higher priority in my head? I hear a very faint shriek echo within the vast interior. Well, that has a higher priority , I think hearing the scream die away. It was very faint and seemed to come from the depths of the building.

“Okay, let’s get two teams in and let me see what’s at the desk,” I say.

I look at the enormity of the room and the many doors leading out. “Make that three,” I say. “I think someone knows we’re here. We have to make this quick.”

“How do you know we’ve been discovered? Oh never mind. I don’t want to know,” Lynn says and turns to Drescoll. “Go get Black, Blue, and Red teams.”

That’s not a good combo of colors , I think watching Drescoll walk quickly away from the doors. Wait, Red Team? No, wait , I think and am about to say something to Lynn before checking myself. This is only to the desk and back and the exit lies scant feet away. It’s as good an introduction as any and you can’t get much safer inside a building . The fear that momentarily struck my heart, and to be honest, still sits there, is because Bri is supposed to be attached to Gonzalez. Again that ‘no right decision quandary.’ Sure enough, Red Team approaches and there’s Bri right next to Gonzalez. I see the nervousness in Bri’s eyes. Or maybe it’s my own nervousness projecting outward.

Bri stands next to Gonzalez and Robert covering a section of the big parking lot. Her M-4 still is a comfort but this is the first time she’s been out as a member of a team. It was all training until now. Sure, she’s been around night runners during their trek across the world and felt the fear of those long nights, but this is the first as part of a team; honorary or not.

To Bri, Gonzalez looks relaxed but intent on scanning the area and Bri tries to mimic her. If she looks relaxed on the outside, it certainly doesn’t translate to the way she feels inside. She feels a tightness in her stomach and is apprehensive. She knows she can put a bullet on target but what if something does happen. Will she freeze? After all, the targets don’t shoot back or try to eat you . She looks to see the same relaxation in Robert. There is tension around his eyes but to all intents and purposes, he looks like he’s thinking about his favorite pizza. He’s alert but it’s a relaxed alertness.

“Don’t worry, Bri, we’re all nervous. It’s normal,” Gonzalez says beside her as if she has read Bri’s thoughts. Robert looks over at her and gives her a verifying nod.