It didn't really take us long to get here, just a little over an hour, but that includes checking cars on the way or moving cars out of the way.
There was a system of sort set up so that the entire convoy didn't need to stop to check just one or two cars. If there was only one or two cars to be checked, the last car or two in the convoy would take a few minutes to check and then catch back up. It's how we have mostly operated so far and was kinda simple. If there was a bunch of cars to check, obviously more people would stop or if necessary everyone would.
But now we are at the hospital. It looks kinda like you would expect a battlefield to. The first episode didn't really do it Justice. Maybe budget constraints versus reality? The show didn't really show bullet casings everywhere or the dead bodies on the lawn, at least not that I remember. There were bodies wrapped up in the back I think but that was orderly and this was chaos.
We made our way as close to the military camp outside the hospital as we could as that would be the first thing we checked for supplies, I wanted everyone to go in as armed as they could. My own little group was the first to reach me as we all dismounted so they were the ones I talked to first. "Ladies, go with the M4's and your side pieces instead of the hunting rifles. I am not sure what we will run into in there exactly, maybe survivors or maybe walkers." I had made sure we had a few extra M4 or their civilian variants in my truck for them for situations like this.
Once everyone arrived we began to check the supplies in the military camp to see what was left behind. There was the expected weapons that got left with the soldiers, but in the Humvees there were also rocket launchers and some grenades in their crates still. There were the expected cases of MREs and Ammo cans in the transport vehicles.
The helicopters looked functional but I only knew the basics of how to fly one and they were simply too easy to shoot out of the sky but maybe one day we would come back for them if possible.
Altogether we came out with a few dozen M4, a few pistols, enough magazines and ammo to supply a small unit (this was a small unit here) and a few extras that most soldiers had on them or in their gear such as Night vision goggles, MOPP gear,(protection from getting gassed and shit) two Beretta .50 caliber sniper rifles with ammo and the M2 .50 Caliber emplacements that were around the area, what wasn't immediately put to use was loaded into the LMTV, or cargo truck if you will. The rest of the soldiers personal gear, Rucksacks and assault packs were also thrown in the truck.
In the end everyone went in ready to kill a horde of monsters or protect ourselves from crazy people. I honestly don't even know what to expect in there but I guess we will see.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's clear this bitch, groups of five to ten, children and other none fighter will stay in the first safe zone we make inside with the mom squad for protection." (Mothers with children who wouldn't want to be separated, with Desiree leading them.)So far everyone was nodding their agreement so that's positive.
"If you see any blocked off areas or chained off areas pull back and wait for instructions or make some noise to see if there are walkers on the other side. Only engage if necessary. If there are any interesting areas blocked we will clear it in larger numbers as necessary. We are also hoping there are staff that have survived so check fire unless you confirm they are an infected!" Everyone nodded again. The instructions were not overly complicated so hopefully they would be fine.
Me and the girls took the recovery ward to 'check' for survivors and anything else interesting that peeks our interest.
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It was slow moving, going through this hospital wing, because we literally had to check every nook and cranny that we passed and then secure it again while marking it as checked with a sharpie. It took a while to find what I was looking for, Rick but to my surprise he wasn't alone, there was someone changing his IV, maybe the nurse as she looks far too young to be the doctor from the series.
As we kinda barged in and cleared the room that the nurse and Rick were in I tried to observe the nurse, she looked to be in her mid twenties maybe, brunette, and possibly a decent figure behind those scrubs. Not that the last point really mattered. She froze as soon as we walked in, paling when guns were pointed in her direction. She slightly recovered when we lowered our weapons slightly.
"Who are you, are you alone?" I ask as authoritatively as I could. "And please have a seat." I pointed to a chair near the bed.
"M-my name is Jesse" she nearly squeaked out as she moves to the chair. It was kinda amusing but I didn't really have time to enjoy it. "There are a few patients and staff but not much! The rest either fled or were killed by the soldiers!" She told us with tears in her eyes. I just sighed and slightly lowered my weapon to be less threatening.
"Alrighty darlin, why don't you explain everything that's been going on here and why your still actually here?" I kinda knew from the show but details would be nice to have to fill in some of the blanks.
"I guess I should start at the beginning? Before we were over run." I just nodded in agreement.
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Well everything pretty much seemed to happen as I remembered it. The army was shooting infected and non infected alike once the hospital began to be over run by the dead, most likely in blind panic.
The soldiers locked down parts of the hospital before they left trapped the majority of the walkers and some people inside. While that was going on some of the staff and patients had managed to hide and Jesse is one of those staff members, a nurse.
There were currently only a dozen or so living people in the hospital before we got here and only four were staff members, one doctor and three nurses, the rest were patients.
"Alrighty then Jesse. How are the patients doing at the moment? Any at high risk of dying?" Something I needed to know really.
"The only real question mark is our coma patient right here, the rest are minor injuries now but when they came in were more serious." I just nodded to that. That's good.
"What are there current ailments?" The nurse took a moment to think it through. "Well one is Rick Grimes here, another is a mother and daughter, the mother is fine but just gave birth two days ago to a healthy baby and obviously we didn't want to send her outside. Other was a baby whose mother passed away during birth and we are simply taking care of her as best we can. There are three men with varying degrees of head wounds but should pull through and a female soldier who was shot by by somebody in the chaos when the hospital fell."
Huh more than I thought would be here. The dudes might be the unruly and violent patients I remember hearing about from the series though, who knows for sure though. Very well this could be good I suppose especially if the soldier girl joins up.
"Will you gather the rest of the staff for me? I would like to evacuate this facility. There are very few survivors in the area so the hospital doesn't really serve a purpose anymore, but the medicine and machinery that is portable enough could be a godsend elsewhere. As well as yourselves if your all willing to travel with us?"