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Chapter 7

We sat Mark's unconciouss body on the infirmary bed closest to the door. A doctor rushed over to us, still holding a styrofoam cup of coffee.

"Oh my god, what happened?" the doctor, who I recognized as Sam, asked, setting down his coffee and pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

"Somehow, a mutated was in the rec room. Don't know how it happened, but it got the jump on him when he came to play some pool," I responded.

The doctor nodded solemnly and said, "He's got claw marks on his face, and a large gash in his side.

Molly started crying, but managed to choke out, "Will he be ok?"

"To be honest, I just don't know. He's gonna need some stitches, which I can give to him, but it looks like it's infected, among other things. He's gonna need some medicine, or he'll die within a few hours." Sam responded gravely.

"We'll get some, or try," Jared said. "What kind?"

"If you can find a pharmacy, grab everything that looks salvageable. We'll need everything we can get, so just grab everything. If you knew what to get, you'd waste time going off to find another pharmacy if there wasn't any in the first one, and by the time you got back, he would most likely be dead. And who knows, you may have gotten something else that would work even better for him," Sam responded.

I didn't exactly understand his logic; it seemed like a bunch of nonsense to me. I think he just didn't know what to get, which I didn't blame him for. All the "doctor" had to go on was a large medical dictionary, he had no past experience before the war.

I shrugged and walked out the door, motioning for Jared to follow. He did, and we stopped at his room to grab his guns.

"Why don't you just carry your pistol with you?" I asked him.

"Don't see any reason I should," he replied.

"Need any more reason than what just happened?"

"Meh." he responded. I wasn't entirely sure what that was supposed to mean, but I decided not to question it.

He slung his sniper rifle over his shoulder, and we headed out to the barrier.

"Two hours," he said, as he grabbed a radiation mask from the rack.

"One and a half," I replied as the barrier was cranked open.

"Let's go south," Jared said, and I agreed.

South was the least popular direction, and because it was the least popular, it was also the least searched. To the south, there was a large office building in the way, and once you got to the top, you had to make several dangerous jumps. I supposed this was the main reason that South was the least popular direction.

East and West were ok, for all you had to do was climb over a large pile of rubble and debris, then you were good. North was the most popular, being wide open.

We entered the office building and took the large staircase to the left. To the right was another staircase, identical to the first, and in the front lay an oval receptionist's desk.

"Oh yes." I thought. "You also had to climb ten flights of stairs," I remembered with a groan.

By the time we had gotten to the roof, we were both exausted.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Jared panted.

I grinned under my mask, happy to see that even Jared could mess up sometimes.

Jared got a running start on the roof, then jumped over the two foot gap between the office building and the next. He hit the concrete at a perfect angle and rolled.

Then I went, but tripped over the raised ledge of the office building. I swore in the air, but managed to grab on to the next building's ledge. I pulled myself up, groaning in exertion.

"That was a close one," Jared remarked.

"You think?" I replied.

"No need to be grumpy," Jared replied as he jumped to the next roof.

After a few minutes of roof jumping, we finally came to a red brick building. A long piece of metal was attached to it in a sort of slide.

I went first, pushing off with my hands. This was my favorite part of the trip. I loved the exileration of the wind in my face, even if it lasted for only a few seconds.

When I got to the bottom, I was hurled off and fell flat on my face in a pile of ash. I stood up, trying to regain my dignity. This was made impossible when I hit the lid of a dumpster with my head. I swore, rubbing my head. This was not going so well.

Jared cracked up, then set off the slide himself, landing gracefully at the bottom. He gave me a smug look that I could barely see through his mask, and I returned it with the bird. He laughed, then broke in to a jog. I followed.