hooded and cuffed on the other side of the room, remained quiet. The newcomers selected their cots and stared at the creature.
Captain Crawford tried to arrange his grim and rugged features into some semblance of a welcoming smile. “You folks make yourselves at home. We’ll have nurses here promptly to triage and treat you. This is for your own safety, and the safety of the general population. I appreciate your cooperation.”
“Do you mind giving us some information?” the state trooper asked as he sat on one of the clean cots. “I’d like to know what’s going on, and also I’d like to find out where my partner is.” He glanced from Captain Crawford to the creature by the opposite wall. “I’m also curious about that guy.”
“I don’t have information about your partner, Officer,” Captain Crawford said. “We’ll be sure to fill you in with as much as we know. Right now, we just need to take care of your health.”
One of the women looked like a body builder, with developed arms showcased by a sleeveless shirt. She refused to sit. One large bicep had been covered by white bandages. The other one displayed an intricate tattoo. The white cloth of her bandage was stained pink at the edges. She looked angry, and Pam could visualize her getting out of her vehicle to yell at the creatures that had blocked her car. She might have tried to intimidate it as she, no doubt, intimidated most people. Then she must have found out that the Zed did not get intimidated no matter what anybody did to threaten them.
The woman beside her was lean, like a runner. She had a spiky haircut, artfully dyed platinum blonde at the tips. The pair stood close, as if personal space was not something they kept between them.
The other two looked like ordinary business men, probably on their way home from office jobs. They did not appear to know each other, and they silently took their places on cots.
“We need to know what’s happening here,” the body builder said. Her square jaw, cropped haircut, and aggressive stance made Pamela take a step back. She considered herself a tough farm girl, but nothing like this obviously strong and domineering woman. The woman’s developed arms looked as thick as Captain Crawford’s. For some reason the woman seemed to be addressing Pam, and not the officer.
“I’m like you,” Pam said. She spread her hands in a gesture she hoped was peaceful. “They brought me here.” She glanced at Captain Crawford sideways. “I might know a little more than you do but not much.”
“We don’t have any information to give you right now,” Captain Crawford said. “You are simply here to be tested and treated. You’re welcome to watch the TV, and we will have some more food delivered right away. Other than that, we’ll give you any information as quickly as we can. For the time being we need you all to stay here. That’s for your own protection and safety.”
Now the room held eight patients, nine counting the Zed still chained on the far side. Four armed soldiers guarded the room, while a handful of men and women in scrubs and surgical masks took blood, gave injections, and checked wounds. None of the new injured people had been cuffed so far, but now one soldier’s job seemed to be to man the door and make sure it was kept closed and locked. At a knock, he glanced through the small, reinforced window, saw the ID of a young man in workman’s clothes, and let him enter. The young man pulled a cart, like the last one, piled with wrapped sandwiches and cans of drinks.
Since Pam had eaten little all day, her stomach almost ached with hunger now that the cart reminded her of food. She picked up roast beef and forced herself to sit on an empty cot and eat it. Her stomach seemed to have settled, and she had no problem swallowing the food. Though the room had been cleaned, the air still smelled tainted with the combined odors of rot and disinfectant. The food still seemed to drop into her stomach like a weighted lump, but she did not believe she was ill. Every bite just seemed to remind her of the way those things would gnaw into human flesh, and that thought made her wonder if eating animal flesh was so different. After the sandwich had been reduced to crumbs, she opened a small can of