Free Station Hope (Book 1): Humanities Last Stand by Thomas Bach Page A

before last night. Ivy, do you have the items we took off of her?”
    “Ya, right here in my pocket.”
    “Show her that picture, the one with the man and boy in it. Maybe that will jar her memory.”
    Ivy grabbed my arm and pushed me into the corner of the room. We were turned now with our backs to Nancy.
    Whispering into my ear, close enough to feel her breath she said, “you sure that's a good idea? It's obvious she has been thought a shit storm. Maybe we should hold off on showing her the picture, it might send her over the edge.”
    “Normally I would agree with you but from what she said and what David said I don't think we have much time. I have to know what's coming this way and I think she knows.”
    “Alright Billy, I hope your right. Here's the picture.”
    I walked over to Nancy, stretched out my arm with the picture facing her. “Do you know these people?”
    She started to tremble as she studied the faces of the man and boy. Tears began to flow as she grabbed the picture and clinched it to her chest.
    “Who are they Nancy?” Ivy said in a soft comforting tone.
    Through the tears she managed to say, “that's my husband and son.”
    “Where are they now,” I asked, hoping her memory had returned completely.
    She stopped trembling and looked at each one of us. A mixture of pain and hatred was etched on her face. I wondered if the hatred was directed at us or the creatures.
    “They were taken and fed upon by those hideous vampires! Those bastards killed my family!”
    “How long ago was that,” I asked.
    “I don't know; I just don't know. My husband was killed back in Minneapolis on the first night of the attack. My son, my beautiful little boy was taken a few nights ago.”
    Ivy stepped forward and wrapped her arms around this tragic woman. Nancy sank her head into Ivy's chest and wept uncontrollably. I knew no more questions would be answered for a while so I turned to James and instructed him to take Rob and get the trucks ready to go back to Station Hope.
    “Pack everything you can from yesterday along with everything we got from this hospital into the trucks. Leave the Dodge and load it up with the best guns, plenty of ammo, food and water for three days. You, me, Ivy, Spencer and David will head south to do some recon. The rest of the group will high tail it back home. You got that James?”
    “Ya, no problem. I'll have everything ready to go in 20 minutes. I'm sure Eddie will be happy to get out of here.”
    “No doubt, I hope all that shit we got for him will keep him busy for a while. Rob, I want you to look after Nancy on the trip back. She has been though a lot but she's still a stranger to us. We don't really know her so I want you to keep an eye on her.”
    “No problem Sir, you can count on me.”
    “Get going then, I'm going to try and get more info out of her”.
    James and Rob left the examining room as Ivy helped Nancy sit on an old plastic chair. Ivy reached to her side and removed a canteen from its carrier. She unscrewed the top, glanced up at me with a half-smile, and handed it to Nancy. Nancy took a long drink and handed the canteen back to Ivy with a forced smile. She whipped her mouth with her sleeve and sat back. As I looked down on this little woman with the knit hat I couldn't help but wonder what she had been though. I also couldn't help but wonder if she was telling us the truth. There were a few red flags going off that raised my suspicion. For one, how could she have made it all this way without a weapon. For another, her clothes in the light of day seemed to new, to clean to have traveled all this way. And for another, the little voice in my head was telling me to watch out for her, and that little voice is seldom wrong. I had to know more, more about her and more about her story.
    “Nancy, how long ago did the vampires attack you in Minneapolis?” If felt so strange, almost surreal to say the word vampire. I grew up calling them simply the “creatures” but I