Chapter 8: Lucy again.

.....Jerrid got up to get another round.

Chris looked around the room, taking in everyone in the bar. He was able to recognize some of the people already from the cafe and could tell who the people coming back from Colorado were: They were the ones being passed around and hugged while being examined for the change from three years ago. Chris’ gaze fell on a table filled with four girls, one of them Mary-Anne Dawes and one was Lucy from Doctor Stevensen’s office. She was wearing the same outfit without the sweater covering her shoulders and she had on more make-up, making her look older and sexually enticing. She saw Chris looking at her, she mouthed ‘hi’ and waved. All the girls except Mary-Anne turned to look as Chris waved back.

Katrina watched to see who Chris was waving at. When she saw it was Lucy they exchanged waves, but the other girls rolled their eyes and turned back into their seats. The girl sitting next to Lucy said something that made the rest of the girls laugh. Lucy shrugged. Katrina knew it was something about her but she didn’t care; she wasn’t popular in school and if these girls didn’t like her, then she did want to be their friend anyways.

Gregory and Jerrid were pre-occupied with a couple of women dancing next to the bar, obviously trying to get the attention of the men: rubbing each other’s bodies and pressing their hips into one another rhythmically swaying with the beat of the music.

The haggard waitress plopped her butt down in Jerrid’s lap and asked if they wanted to do any more shots. Jerrid said they did and she stood up as quickly as she had sat down.

Chris glanced over at the girls’ table to see if Mary-Anne was bothered by this interaction. Lucy smiled at him again while Mary-Anne shot daggers at the waitress. Lucy stood up to walk over to Chris’ table, keeping her eyes on him the entire time. Katrina realized her intentions and got up to go to the lady’s room. She felt uncomfortable knowing Lucy was interested in Chris and needed to avoid that interaction.

Jerrid smiled and nodded at her, which she returned with a polite smile and nod.

“Hi Chris. I was hoping you’d come tonight,” She giggled awkwardly. Jerrid and Gregory looked at Chris with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

There’s a lot of hoping to see people tonight Chris thought. “Oh, yeah, well Katrina and I thought it would be a good idea to come and meet some more people-- to interview.”

“Doctor Stevensen thinks that you have very good potential to get the story out.” She twirled a lock of blonde hair around her finger.

“He said that?”

“Uh huh.”

Chris got a little red in the face and looked over at the giggling table of girls from which Lucy just came. He looked back at her and she was caressing her bottom lip with her teeth. “Oh, well that’s nice.” He was cursing his inability to entertain females.

Lucy gave him a confused look and ended the conversation. “Okay, um, well I’m just over there if you want to chat later. It was good seeing you.” She turned to walk away.

“You too.” He dropped his head in shame.

Jerrid and Gregory had turned their back to the conversation in the beginning but had obviously been listening because they both spun around in their chairs, laughing and shaking their heads. Katrina walked up at that moment and asked what happened--even though she already had a pretty good idea from the lack of high fiving.

“Well, your boy Chris here wouldn’t know how to pick up a chick if she were attached to his finger.” Jerrid said

Katrina was relieved nothing romantic was exchanged between the two and she regretted the feeling that came with it; it meant she was starting to have feelings for Chris. She recognized it and pushed it to the back of her mind

Chris didn’t say anything but shook his head. He was confident his face was at least three shades pinker. He couldn’t look over at the table of girls again. But Katrina could and they were all laughing while Lucy sat there with a wondering look on her face. Katrina felt a pang of happiness and contentment.

They spent the majority of their time at the bar drinking and taking more shots. Gregory and Katrina got caught up on the past three years while Jerrid and Chris played more pool. During one of their games, a man, who seemed intoxicated burst through the front door and frantically searched the room with his eyes. Jerrid noticed and recognized the guy. He put his pool cue down, excused himself from the game and calmly sprinted towards him. Chris couldn’t hear the exchange between the two men, but judging by Jerrid’s animated hands, it wasn’t a pleasant situation.

Chris walked up to Katrina and Gregory. “Who’s that guy Jerrid’s talking to?”

They both looked over towards the door. Katrina stood up and rushed over as quickly as Jerrid had.

“That’s Clint—Katrina’s uncle,” Gregory answered. He wasn’t as concerned as the other two, and he didn’t get off his chair.

Chris mentally reprimanded himself for not remembering Clint from the photo albums. His dark hair was just as thick, but streaked with gray; his face was worn like old leather but his strong jaw was still very prominent. He was wearing a jacket thicker than what Chris thought he would need for this weather.

Chris sat down and watched the interaction with Gregory. Katrina was distraught; she pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead. Jerrid threw his hands up in the air again and Katrina was trying to diffuse the situation; pushing her hands towards the floor in a ‘calm down’ motion, followed by touching her hand to Clint’s arm. When she patted him on the shoulder he seemed to calm and nodded in some kind of agreement before he walked out the door.

Katrina said something to Jerrid, which only received a nod in return and they started back towards the table. No one in the bar was bothered by the situation—they didn’t even notice.

Chapter 7, leaving the Dr. office

7.

Outside, Chris was sitting with his back against the hot brick wall going over his notes, trying not to look at the picture of the little girls arm. He assumed that the Doctor wanted to talk to Katrina about her ‘condition’ so he wasn’t curious as to why she was being held back.

“Catch a cold?” The familiar voice hammered Chris on the head like the barrel of the rifle the man was carrying. Jerrid? He’s everywhere. He took a deep breath before looking up at the gargantuan man. Ugh. He was dressed in his camouflage, dirty from a day’s work. The rifle butt was peaking out over his right shoulder.

Chris jumped up to his feet and brushed off his butt. “No actually.” He waved his Moleskin at Jerrid. “I was just talking to the Doctor.”

“I see.” And before Chris knew it the journal was out of his hand and in Jerrid’s. He started to flip it open when Chris made a grab for it. Chris knew Jerrid wouldn’t let him have it back; it was the gesture to show Jerrid he wasn’t welcome. Jerrid spun on his heels so his back was to Chris.

“Not much in here kid. What kind of writing is this anyway? Some kind of short hand?”

“No, I just can’t write fast enough. Give it back.”

Jerrid dangled it above Chris’ head like a bully and the picture fell out. Jerrid bent down to pick it up. He unfolded it and glared at it, turning it around in his hands. He made a funny face and looked up a Chris. “Is that the Dawes’ girl’s arm?” He handed the journal back to Chris, still holding on to the picture.

“Yes.”

“I never did get a good look at the real thing, but that’s just as nasty as the Doc said! Poor girl.” He folded the picture up and gave it back to Chris who stuck it back in the Moleskin and pulled the elastic around it.

“Jerrid, hey.” Katrina was coming through the door shielding the sun with her hand.

“Hey kid.” Jerrid reached in his pocket and pulled out an extra pair of sunglasses and tossed them to Katrina. “Catch. Where are yours?”

“I always forget. Never used them before, you know.”

Jerrid nodded. “Just give ‘em back to me later tonight at Stumps. You’re going right?”

“We’re thinking about it.”

“I was only asking if you were going.” Jerrid threw daggers at Chris with his eyes.

“Jerrid!” Katrina glared at him. She knew that Jerrid was joking for the most part, but she could feel that Chris was uncomfortable.

Jerrid threw his hands up in the air to surrender.

“What’s on your shirt? Is that blood?” She leaned in to inspect it. She was always fascinated with the watch-keeper’s job and at one point wanted to join Jerrid before she left Forest hills. He wouldn’t let her.

Jerrid examined the stain on his chest. “Me and Greg were just having a little shot practice. Few birds is all.”

Katrina didn’t believe him for a minute, but there wasn’t enough blood to assume they were successfully patrolling for zombies. Chris on the other hand, hadn’t noticed the blood in the beginning and didn’t care who’s or what it was, just the fact that there was more than a paper-cut’s amount and it was still relatively fresh was enough to give him the shivers.

“Where are you kids headed?”

“I think we’re just going to go back to Mama’s. The long way, I wanna show Chris a bit of the town.” She watched Jerrid’s face for a reaction. “When’s the last time you seen her anyways?” Katrina waved her finger in his face.

“When’s the last time I was in that building Katrina?”

“Fair enough, but you need to go see her on her territory.”

“I know. I’ve seen her around town of course, but I’ll try tomorrow maybe. I would appreciate if you guys could try and stay out of the forest from now on. You should know better Katrina.”

Before Chris could respond Katrina opened her mouth. “I know, sorry Jerrid, I should have told Chris. I didn’t. He knows now.”

Chris put his hands on his hips and nodded. “Sorry.”

“Okay.” He glanced over at Chris. “I have enough to deal with already. Gregory was ready to shoot your ass. You’re lucky we’ve met and I recognized you!” Jerrid was now the one waving his finger in Chris’ face.

Chris wasn’t so sure about that. “Yes sir,” Was the appropriate response.

“Okay then. Maybe we’ll see you at Stumps.”

“Yeah. I might show up a bit later. I’m just going to give the forest a once over before I come.”

“Right. See you then, maybe. If not, tomorrow at Mama’s.” Katrina winked at him.

Chris started to take a few steps towards Mama’s to show he was more than ready to leave. Katrina obediently followed and waved at Jerrid who was already walking away but raised his hand towards her without looking. “Here, we’re going to go this way—“ She pointed at a small gap between the Doctor’s office and the next building. Chris didn’t know where she was taking him, but he didn’t care; he was excited to see more of the town.

Chapter 6 continued still... Finishing talking to the DR.

“How come it lasted so long? Why wasn’t it nipped in the bud?”

“Well, there were different stages of the infection. As I told you, Mary-Anne didn’t know she was infected, but she gave the infection to Jennifer-Dawn whos body metabolized the infection completely, but not for a few weeks. If she infected anyone else—which she did—their time before they turned varied on each individual. But, the ones that were out feeding on people were the ones that were passing the infection quickly. Katrina, you told him about the café?”

She nodded. “As much as he needed to know, but he’s going to speak with Mary-Jo and Gary day after tomorrow.”

“Okay good. Well, that’s a case of quick transformation. If everyone turned as quickly as they did in the café, then maybe, yes we could have controlled it better because everyone would be visibly infected all at once.” The Doctor nodded as if to end his speech.

“Okay, next question: What was the hardest part of this for you personally?”

“That’s a rhetorical question Christopher.” Chris wished he would stop calling him that. “I had to deal with people dying all around me and you might understand that me, being a Doctor, it is my profession and passion to help people and do everything in my power to keep them alive. Not only was I not helping them, I was practically killing them with my hands.” He looked over at a picture he had on the corner of his desk by Katrina. He picked it up as gently as you’d lift a dying flower. “This was my daughter Karen. She was the same age as Jennifer-dawn. Jennifer-Dawn infected her and a few others at school and Karen died shortly after Jennifer-Dawn.”

“I’m sorry.” Chris could tell the Doctor was upset and would most likely not want to talk about this anymore but he had one more question: “If you don’t mind me asking: what do you do with the bodies?”

Doctor Stevensen’s head shot up at Chris as if he forgot there were people in his office. Chris jumped a little. “Oh, Um, I have a morgue in the building behind this one, where we burned the bodies. That was safest because of the infection. Do you mind if we end this now? I’m a very busy man as I’m the only Doctor in town.”

As if Chris had a choice: before he knew it, Doctor Stevensen was behind him opening the door.

“Oh, okay, well thank you for your time Doctor. I’m sorry if I caused you any grief. “

The Doctor shook his head at the ground. “No, it’s fine.”

“Ya’ll have a great day.” Lucy said with a smile. “Oh, I forgot: Katrina, are you and your friend comin’ to the party tonight at Stumps? They’re havin’ a big welcome back for y’all that were gone for so long.”

Katrina wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t heard about this. “I don’t know maybe. Who’s going?” As if that matters she thought.

“Oh, I think like most of the town. I know a lot of people said they’d come but you know how people are funny around here. But I’ll be there.” She directed the last part to Chris.

“Um, maybe. We’ll see what we’re up to. Maybe we’ll see ya.”

“That would be great!” She smiled.

Chris waved and was half-way out the door when Doctor Stevensen called: “Uh, Katrina can I speak with you a minute?”

Chris could see the Doctor’s eyes directing him out the door. “I’ll meet you outside.” he said to Katrina as he shut the door behind him.

Katrina waited until the door clicked in place. “Yes Doctor?”

“I just wanted to see how your treatment went in Colorado? I assume you’re not cured?”

“No, it’s not cured. It’s the same but it’s being kept under control. I take a shot everyday twice a day. I can’t infect anyone else, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Oh, I’m not worried.” He smiled at her. “And did you bring the extra back for…you know.”

“Yes of course! Plus I have to go back in two years for my check-up, I’ll get more then.”

“Great, that’s amazing. Let me know how it goes!”

“I will, of course.”

The Doctor gave Katrina a proper hug as they said their good-byes. Katrina waved at Lucy on her way out.