Thirty part one
The ambulance rolled along at a pretty good pace. Elijah was sitting in the back so he wasn’t sure how fast Jones was pushing the bone buggy along, but what outside he could see through the rounded rectangular windows in the rear door seemed to sliding away at a good clip. His leg was throbbing where the little bitch had bitten him, but he was confident that something could be done at the hospital. Just had to get there.
He scooted over on the two-man bench and tapped on the window into the front cab. He saw Jones’ eyes raise to the rearview mirror and Elijah tapped his wrist. How long? Jones shrugged, then held up five fingers. Five more minutes. He could handle that. They must be moving well faster than the speed limit, then, since it took more than the ten minutes they’d been travelling plus five more to reach the hospital from the library going the city-mandated twenty miles per hour. He sat back again, adjusting his leg on the stretcher affixed to the middle of the ambulance’s boxy backend. The wound was throbbing and seemed to be dripping a bit of yellow pus, even through the bandages that Jones had wrapped tightly around it. He wasn’t sure, but he thought his foot was turning black. He had taken off his shoes and socks after he had gotten into the ambulance when it had started itching like mad. It definitely looked more purple. Maybe it was just blood deprived or something.
He sat back and closed his eyes, but immediately was met with the eyes of the dead girl, wallowing in ecstacy at the taste of his blood and flesh. His eye lids flew open and he stared at the slowly swaying medical equipment hanging from the ceiling rack. He felt those eyes would stay with him for a long, long time. He tried to push any thoughts and memories from his mind but was interrupted by the ambulance quickly slowing down and stopping.
He leaned forward and looked out the back windows, half expecting to see the flashing blue and white lights of a police cruiser pulling them over. Wouldn’t that be ironic? They had survived an attack by a dead girl — two attacks! — just to get pulled over for speeding to a hospital. Well, once they saw his bite and Jones explained the situation, they’d be on their away again. There weren’t any lights, though, flashing or otherwise. Whatever they had slowed for was in front of the vehicle.
He slid back toward the cab and leaned forward to look through the window again. He saw flashing lights and a barricade in front of the truck. It was stil raining a bit, more mist than rain at this point, so he couldn’t see too much of what was in front of them. He thought he saw some green Jeeps over to the side, though. What would the military be doing here?
Jones reached up a hand and knocked on the window once the car was stopped. Elijah was still looking out, but Jones hadn’t known that. He turned around and saw Elijah’s face. He pointed out the window and nodded. Elijah nodded back and shrugged his shoulders. If this had been a newer ambulance there’d probably be a better way to talk to each other, but it was an older model and they had to get by with knocks and body gestures. It had worked pretty well so far. Jones pointed over his shoulder at the door then turned and exited the ambulance. Elijah sat back down to wait for someone to open the door. Which he was sure they’d do if they needed him.