"The Center Pointe" Chapter 9

Chapter 9

         

In my youth I was in a unique position to be the proverbial fly on the wall.  It continually amazed me the things that the adults would talk about within ear shot of me.  Sometimes I would hide and listen to the conversation that the group would have about their pasts or the future of the community they were working so hard to build.  With the addition of John to the leadership of the group he and Rich worked quickly in securing the hospital and setting up some semblance of normalcy among the people, over the months our group grew from a little over a dozen members to a community of over a hundred survivors with a council comprised of John, Karen, Brian and Rich to oversee the day to day operations of the building.

People jokingly took to calling the community “Nibiru’s Bane” because we were a group that against all odds was surviving in this harsh new world.  Although there was safety and security in the immediate vicinity the outside world was a dark and miserable place.  The survivors that would make their way to the hospital would tell tales of the savagery of the Static and the brutality in which the uninfected were committing on the innocent.  They would stand in council meetings and tell stories of the growing storm of groups that had formed whose sole purpose was to enslave the weak and use them for their own growth.  I could see the concern on the faces of the council members as they listened to the horror stories.

          Sometimes late at night when my new parents Rich and Karen who I now called mom and dad thought I was asleep they would talk about their fear that these groups would come and try and take the hospital.  They felt they should be ready for the possibility they could have a war on their hands.  Rich always said that in a world gone mad where people were eating each other he never would have thought they would have to worry about the people who were not affected by Nibiru.  Through all of this the planet sat in the sky like a bad omen reminding the people in the hospital of the gathering storm.

          It was a meeting that took place in late December about the future of the community that was so serious that even I at my young age was able to grasp the fear and dread that the rest of the people were feeling.  So far since coming here I had felt safe and happy in our small community, but after that night even I understood that in a moment all that we had could be lost.

          It was a day like any other when I decided to listen in on an emergency meeting that Rich had called with the council and members of the community who wanted to hear.  At this point there were a few other children in the community and during meetings another member of the group would usually watch over us because children were not allowed to listen in on the matters of adults, but I was a sneaky child and was often able to slip away without being noticed.  On this night the person watching us was an elderly man that had been a tailor before the arrival of Nibiru.  He was not very attentive to the children and would many times drift off into a light sleep, I took this opportunity to slip away from the other children and sneak to my hiding spot in the cafeteria.  Shortly after I had arrived at the hospital I had found a cupboard in the cafeteria that for some strange reason made me feel safe, many times I would go to my secret spot and take a nap or just think.  It was there that I had overheard many meeting and conversations of the adults in the group.  Tonight I was already there before anyone came to the meeting.  I am sorry to say that I heard everything and to this day I wish I hadn’t.

          The meeting began after a half hour of waiting for everyone to finish their duties and get to the cafeteria.  John, Rich, Brian and Karen were all seated in chairs at the front of the congregation of people.   At the time it seemed that none but the four at the helm of the meeting understood the importance of this situation.  Many were talking but only rumors had been said and the community did not know the extent of the danger, this was the purpose of tonight’s meeting.  The four leaders were now sitting patiently for the members of the community to take their seats.  After about half an hour everyone had been assembled.

          Rich rose and welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He explained the situation to the people in attendance and introduced three members to the group of people.  These people were newer to the group than most and had spent a lot of time out in the world and were invited to tell the community what was out there and what to expect.

 The first of them was a man of small stature, he was portly and balding and always smelled of garlic pickles from a lifelong obsession with the bitter food.  He always had a brown overcoat on to cover the ratty old business suit he wore underneath that he could not bring himself to throw away; it was his way of trying to keep a part of his old life with him.  He introduced himself as Ralph Evans.  He rose from his seat rather nervous to be speaking in front of so many.

“First I would like to say, Thank you all for the amazing hospitality that you have shown me and so many others in this community.  When this all first happened I was terrified I was the only one left.  My wife and my children turned during a late dinner after my arrival home from work.”  He looked down at the floor for a moment in solidarity.  Others joined him in his moment of silence.  “I spent weeks sneaking from building to building just trying to stay alive and off the Static’s radar.  There were times when I just wanted to give up and more than once I tried.  But it seems that God had other plans for me.  My hope is that he wanted me to survive, if not to join this community to at least warn you of the terrors that exist outside these walls.”  He paused for a moment to make sure he had everyone’s attention.  His audience sat in rapt silence waiting for him to continue.  “It was three weeks into this nightmare; I had found a house that seemed safe enough.  There was canned food in the pantry and enough bottled water to allow me some comfort.  For the first time in a long time I was able to shut my eyes without fear of waking to being eaten alive.  Everything went well for the first couple of days, it was quiet and I felt a measure of safety.  On the third day I awoke at about 3 p.m. to gunshots right outside the house where I was hunkered down.  At first I was giddy; I thought there was someone out there who may be able to help me.  I moved to the window to get a better view of what was going on outside.  What I saw haunts me still.  There was a group of about twenty men outside across the street.  They were trying to knock in the door of a house; I could hear screams of women and children inside.  These men were not trying to help them and when they got the door open several of them began opening fire.  After a few minutes they emerged dragging three women and a small group of children, three boys and two girls.  They lined the three boys up one beside the other and the leader stepped before each one and shot them in the head while the women and girls screamed in horror.  The men then spent the next hour raping the women.  Thankfully they did not touch the girls.  When they were done they lashed them all together with rope and led them away.”  He paused again and they all could see his eyes tearing up.  “I wanted to save them, but there was nothing I could do.  I didn’t have a gun or any weapons.  I was so scared.  I couldn’t understand why they would do this where there was so much more out there to fear.  These people meant them no harm and they slaughtered and raped them just because they were stronger.  Later I went across the street to see if there was anyone who had survived.  The boys were lying motionless and I could not bring myself to approach them.  I knew they were dead but I did not want to see it.  Inside the house were the bodies of three men and two teen boys, they were apparently shot in the first moment of the invasion.  There was no one left alive to save.”  Ralph took his seat then and buried his face in his hands.

It was several minutes before anyone spoke.  John taking a cue from Brian stood up and walked to Ralph who had now begun to quietly sob.  John put his hand on the man’s shoulder and looked to the rest of the people in the room.  Many had tears in their eyes and some had a look of fright that left them frozen in their seats.  “I am sorry my friends that you had to hear this but it was necessary.  This is the new world we are living in and we cannot afford to sugar coat the reality that we find ourselves.”

Rich then stood and walked up to the man.  “I am sorry for what you went through and I am sorry that you had to relive it.”  The concern on Rich’s face softened the sobs of Ralph.  Everyone in this room was a kindred spirit and Rich was determined to keep them safe.  “We need to be prepared for whatever may come and try and take away all that we have built.  We as a community must work hard to persevere through this.  The moment we lax in our resolve is the moment we give up everything and let the Devil in the front door.  We must fight, we must live and we MUST grow.”  Rich said this loudly snapping many out of their frightened states.  “If these people or any others come here to try and do to us what they have done to so many others then we must stand together and show them that to try and take what we have built will mean their DESTRUCTION.”  At these words the cafeteria erupted in applause and many people got to their feet and cheered for their leader.

Two more people got up to speak over the next twenty minutes and shared their horror stories.  One was a single mother of three children and when two of her kids had turned she had been forced to kill them to save the one who had not.  After that she had spent weeks running from a small gang of thugs that were trying to harm her and her son.  It was only by the grace of God she had stumbled on the hospital as she was fleeing from them.  Not knowing what was going to happen she had ran and beat on the front door and was rescued by Brian and John who were on door watch at the time.  Luckily the thugs did not see where she went and did not come close enough to the building to see that it was inhabited.  Even if they had there were only seven of them and Karen had them in her sights the whole time.  If they had made a move toward the building she would have dropped them all before they even knew where the shots were coming from.  Before sitting down the woman thanked the whole group for the kindness they had shown her and she now felt like this place was becoming a home for her and her son.

The last speaker was a young man of about twenty three.  He explained that he had joined up with one of the groups of other men out of desperation to survive.  He never imagined that people he had known his whole life could be capable of the things that he was forced to witness over the brief time he had spent with them.  They had made a habit of taking what they wanted without care for the survivors they hurt.  They justified their actions by telling him they were just trying to survive a horrible situation and if they wanted to survive they would have to do things they did not want to do, but there was no escaping the fact they enjoyed the terrible things they were doing.  As soon as the young man got the chance he slipped away from the group and tried to go it alone.  He had wandered for days before he saw two men setting up traps near a hospital.  The two men turned out to be Rich and John and they had welcomed him in with open arms.  The man ended his testimony by saying that if someone came here looking for a fight he was ready to defend everyone here with his life.

After the last testimony time was given to let the reality of what was said to sink in.  Many people talked among themselves before Rich opened up the floor to questions.  The first one to stand was Ralph Evans, he had since pulled himself together and a look of anger was now spread across the portly man’s face.  “We have to do whatever we can; we can’t let what I witnessed happen to anyone here.  If it did I could not live with myself.  This is not a matter of if one of these groups will discover us, but when.  We have got to be ready for this.”

“We understand what you’re saying Ralph.” Said Rich.  “It is only a matter of time before one of these groups comes close enough to see there are people here and if we want to survive we have to show them that the people here are more dangerous than they are and will not allow them entry to our sanctuary.”

John stood now and took the floor, Rich sat down.  “We will have to get our security details together and start laying more traps around the perimeter of the hospital.  We should also set up some watch areas on the roof to see incoming groups of people.  Everyone will have to learn basic combat and weapons so they can help if necessary.  We will have to also find a way to reinforce the doors of the emergency room, the Static may not be able to get in but if these gangs are determined to get in even the bullet proof glass will not be enough to keep them out.”

“We will also need more snipers to eliminate threats from a distance.  I am the only marksman right now and if a large group comes I will not be able to get them all from my perch.  We will need enough to cover the whole hospital ground.  It would also be good for us to be able to concentrate our fire on specific targets as well.”  Said Karen looking to the people in the room for any hands who might want to learn to shoot.  So far the security detail she had put together while good at following instruction were terrible shots and Karen needed someone who would be able to hold their own shoulder to shoulder with her.  She needed people she could depend on.  No one raised their hand.  Karen was dismayed.

Brian decided to take another approach to the situation and called on people to be assigned classes that would teach each person generalized lessons and through that they would be able to weed out the people who had talent in those classes and those who did not.  Brian explained that the hope as through this they would be able to find more people to fill in gaps in the defenses.  On saying this he gave a wink to Karen, knowing she understood he was trying to find her recruits.

The meeting took place for most of the evening and by the time they were done it was decided that in order to keep the people of their growing community safe they were going to have to increase their efforts on all fronts.  All resident of the hospital were going to have to work together to reinforce the hospital grounds and patrol the perimeter.  New lookout points were going to have to be built to keep an eye out for any movement on the horizon and everyone was going to have to take part in training in arms and basic combat.  Luckily there was a retired Iraq war veteran who everyone nicknamed Shrapnel due to scars from a stray hand grenade he suffered during the Iraq war.  The back of his neck was pockmarked with scars.  He volunteered to train everyone in basic combat even the children because as John said it would be their fight one day as well.  Shrapnel told Karen later on that anyone who exceled in his training would be sent to her to help form a small fighting force she could count on.

Anyone who was not combat able would be given upkeep chores to keep the place in working condition.  Marissa had already been placed at the head of the kitchen and had no trouble finding people to help her there, but the nurse Christina Chekov who had now become the resident doctor but with Brian’s duties requiring him to be all over the hospital and only one other assistant she was in dire need of other medical personnel in her ER.  This whole building was a quagmire.  Rich and the other leaders thought they would have the time to ease everyone into the roles that would help keep this place functioning correctly but now with the looming threats that were out there they all knew there was not much time to turn this place into a well-oiled machine because if they couldn’t they were all doomed.  Everything had to work correctly and everyone had to work together, there could be no gaps in their defense or it would all come crashing down.

It was difficult for many of the people to adapt to this new world, they were all so used to lives in suburbia it was a shock to them that they would now have to become a fighting force that may have to defend this building with deadly force.  There was so much that needed to be learned and so much that needed done.  These people could no longer afford the luxury of sloth.  As a child it was easier on me to adapt the world because I had been in the world for a briefer period of time than the adults.  Although many saw themselves thrust into hell, I found myself enjoying the situation we were in many times. There was such a strong sense of community here.  Even at a young age I had been able to understand how distant the community was from each other but in this new hell the companionship and community that people had was one of the few good things to come out of this world.

Watching this meeting filled me with dread and the knowledge that this community that I had come to love so much could be destroyed so easily I began for the first time to understand that my childhood had to come to an end and that even at my young age things would be required of me that would test my maturity.  I know understood that I had to grow up.  I had no idea just how prophetic my revelation would be.  My world no matter how brief it had existed was about to be thrown into chaos.  That night when my mother and father were sleeping and the hospital was quiet I began to silently cry to myself, crushing a stuffed teddy bear I had found in the pediatric ward to myself.  Being so young religion was foreign to me it had merely been a place I was dragged to for an hour every Sunday, but for the first time in my young life I found myself rolling out of bed and placing my teddy on the pillow and getting on my knees placing my face in my hands and praying to whomever may be watching over us for safety in the coming days, when I was done my hands were wet with my tears.  I heard nothing.  No angel greeted me when I looked up, I heard no god.  In that moment I wondered if he was there or was humanity truly all alone.  I fell asleep that night, my cheeks stained with tears.