Free Verge of Extinction (Apex Predator Book 3) by Glyn Gardner Page B

she said.
    “We don’t have a choice,” Theresa gently explained.  “You know what this means, and you know what’s going to happen.  You know what we need to do now.”  She paused and squeezed Jen that much tighter.  She cried unashamedly with her friend.
    “Now,” she said pulling away from her friend.  “Let’s finish this.”  She pointed to the shelves filled with medicine bottles.  “Let’s get what we came for and go home.”  After she stood, she helped Jen to her feet.  She led her around the shelves on the other side of the room.  As they turned the corner, she gave SSgt Brown a quick nod.
    Without hesitation, the older man pulled his bayonet out of its scabbard.  With one quick motion, he jammed it into Mike’s skull behind his right ear.  A tiny bit of blood flowed from the wound.  He turned the head so that it would be unseen by anyone not looking for it.
    “Ok people,” he whispered loudly.  “We got work to do.  Jackson, you and Josiah make sure we still have a way out.  Kerry, find a sheet and cover him up.”  While she tried to find something, he kneeled down beside his friend.  He had intended to retrieve his weapons and ammo.  He too was overcome by grief.
    Tears cut deep swaths through the accumulated dirt and grime on his face.  “Damn it, Mike,” he began.  “I’m so sorry.  You were…  You were…”  He couldn’t finish.  His chest heaved as he sobbed openly.  He stood and walked away as Kerry returned with a white sheet.
    She deftly wrapped the man in the sheet.  She couldn’t help but notice that he looked like something she’d seen in books.  The sheet looked like a burial shroud.  Suddenly, she was struck with a need to pray.  She kneeled next to his lifeless body.
    “Lord,” she began quietly.  This was between her and God.  “Please take your son, Mike, into your loving embrace.  Grant him peace and serenity as he leaves this world of strife and pain, and enters your kingdom.  Give him a special place at your table, as he holds a special place in our hearts.  Lord, please forgive him of his sins.”  She wiped the tears away with her sleeve.  She didn’t know what else to say.  She finished with “Amen” just as Jen and Theresa returned, backpacks full of medicines.
    Jen saw the sheet, taking note of the tiny red speck of blood that stained the sheet under Mike’s head.  She knew what the others had done and was glad she didn’t have to.  She saw Kerry rising from her knees.  She never knew the girl to be religious, but was grateful someone said something for her husband.
    The word husband made her think about her wedding vows.  “Until death do us part,” she thought.  Fresh tears ran down her face.  She began to sob again.
    “Jen,” Theresa said in a soft but stern voice.  “There will be time for that, but not right now.  We have to go.”  Somewhere deep in the center of her brain, her survival instinct strongly agreed with the teenager.  Go!  Get up and run!  GO!  Another minute or two and she was up and moving.
    The stairwell they had ascended was full of zombies.  That left the elevator or a window.  Jen advised them that windows in hospitals are notoriously hard to break; something about people committing suicide.  That left the elevator.  Josiah told them he believed it would work, but he wasn’t sure.
    “What happens when we get to the bottom floor?  How do we know the doors won’t open on a herd of zombies?  We’ll be trapped.”  Kerry was right, thought SSgt Brown.  It was Jen who thought of a solution.
    They found three IV pumps in the hallway.  In a minute, she had loaded them up with empty tubing.  Once turned on, the pumps would alarm loudly telling the long absent nursing staff that there was air in the IV line.  She explained that this was a safety feature on just about all IV pumps.  Soon, Jackson and Josiah were pushing the pumps and accompanying poles down the stairs.