Calvin was in a room preparing his zombie trap, he had already gone down to open the glass door to the balcony downstairs and now he set up the sound trap which showed the same effectiveness, he did it several times until when Lise came to offer her help so he told her what to do and how to do it before also leaving to take a shower.
As he was relaxing under the warm water, he thought about everything he had experienced with his body and as much as he wanted to be intrigued by it But it was so natural to him that he felt like everything was perfectly normal. Even his muscles had gained slightly in volume.
He came out and found clean clothes, probably belonging to the interns who sometimes slept at the hospital on guard duty.
He wore a black shirt and black pants with the SWAT boots he kept. Over his shirt, he had a black bulletproof vest on which four 30-round magazines were attached.
On his right hip he had the holster for his Glock 17 and on his left he had a pouch for the gun's three magazines.
He found Dawn with her gun, new clothes, and similar equipment that seemed to be waiting for him.
Dawn: You made me wait, Lise says there aren't many devourers left for the trap. She went to change because she wants to come too, I found another assault rifle for her, there is a silencer too.
Calvin: Instead of killing us, these soldiers left us lots of good things.
Dawn: That's a good thing.
Calvin: Did you take off your uniform?
Dawn: I've been carrying it for weeks, trying to convince myself that it still made sense. They bombed the city with us in it and sent soldiers to all of us. I realized that it didn't mean anything anymore when Amanda died.
Calvin: I understand.
"I'm ready…" Lise said coming dressed like them with her weapon.
Calvin: Are you sure you really know how to use this weapon?
Lise: I am the daughter of a wealthy man and we are proud southerners in the family. Of course I was educated on firearms and I was always told I had talent.
Calvin: A proud southerner huh…!
Lise:…
Calvin: I can bet there are several Confederate flags in your house ahahahah .
Lise: NO, I didn't mean that...we...I'm not a racist !
Calvin: You hide a small "SS" tattoo on your temple, I can see it very well from here. In short, everyone has their own stories and I was a dealer. We have a cleanup waiting for us, ladies. Lieutenant, you will open our rear, Adolf's niece will be in the middle and I will be in front. Setting your weapons to semi-automatic is much better.
Dawn: Are you ordering now?
Calvin: It's you who wants to come with me, either you stay and wait or else-(interrupted)
Dawn: Okay, we get it.
They opened the door carefully and descended the stairs to enter the floor below. Calvin saw the hallway populated by a single legless Zombie who tried to crawl towards him but he took it down cleanly.
"I repeat to you that I am not a Nazi, I was young when I got this tattoo with bad friends." Lise whispered to Calvin in front of her who didn't say anything to her, he was too focused on cleaning.
The doors of the different rooms were open and there was nothing else except the corpses of people killed by the soldiers.
They finally cleared three other floors occupied by around twenty zombies and Lise hadn't lied about her skill with her weapon, she really had talent even if she was still a little shocked by it all.
They rummaged for what was useful before going back to the showers. Calvin was eating and was going back downstairs with some canned goods to prepare the sound trap when Lise blocked his way.
Lise: I was 17 and I was easily influenced, OK ?! Things have changed.
Calvin: Is this the only tattoo you have from your past?
Lise:… no…
Calvin: Look, you don't have to defend yourself or try to justify yourself. Age has nothing to do with this kind of thing when you know what it entails. I started selling drugs when I was 13 and it was explained to me everything that was involved, which is why I never used what I sold. You knew what you were doing and honestly I'm not judging you, everyone is entitled to their opinions. We can help each other very well, but please keep your racial ideology to yourself and stay nice like when you took care of me under oath.
Honestly, Calvin didn't care if this time she was a former or current neo-Nazi as long as she kept her ideas to herself, for him who lived in the drug world, actions count much more than ideas.
He was nearly killed several times and those who always wanted to kill him were black people like him from other gangs. He was more likely to be killed by a member of his own community than by any white supremacist.
It wasn't really his business so he didn't need to listen to her explanations.
Three days later, they were finally able to leave the hospital but through the windows because the hall and the first floors had too many zombies and the sound of the timer would attract the zombies from the street inside.
They sneaked for several hours behind the buildings to the northern area of the city where Calvin and the girls saw an abandoned grocery store.
Calvin was lured there by Instinct and asked the girls to wait outside for safety.
He entered silently and heard noises behind some shelves. The place had been looted but there were still several interesting things left. He took out a dagger he had found and very silently moved closer with the intention of killing the zombie he expected to find when he just surprised a young Asian man who was putting some canned goods into a bag on the back, it was Glenn.
" NO ! DON'T KILL ME, PLEASE" Glenn begged as the tip of the knife was inches from his temple.
Calvin looked him in the eyes and lowered his gun, this guy was harmless and he was 200% sure of that from experience and Instinct.
"Sorry for scaring you man." He said helping him up.
Glenn: Thanks for not killing me.
Calvin: Dawn, Lise you can come in. I found a survivor.
" A survivor ?!" Dawn asked rushing over before looking at Glenn completely fearful of this small armed group.
Calvin: Don't worry buddy, we're not devourers and we're not going to kill you. I'm Calvin, this is police lieutenant Dawn Lerner and this is doctor Lise Simmons.
Lise: We are survivors and we have been stuck in a hospital since the start of the epidemic.
Glenn: Glenn Rhee, just a pizza delivery guy.
Dawn: How's the situation outside? The government organized survivor camps?
Glenn: No, we haven't heard anything for weeks and the survivor camp I belong to was set up by some survivors in the hills to the northwest.
Lise: We are alone, can we join you?! We have some food.
Glenn: I won't be against it, but it's mostly up to others to decide. I only came to get some stuff for the camp.
Lise: Wenll follow you, I hope they will be friendly enough to welcome us.
Dawn: We know how to fight so we'll be useful. I was a police lieutenant.
Calvin: Follow him, I'm not coming.
Lisa: What?! No, you have to come.
Calvin: It's okay, go ahead. Maybe I'll catch up with you later...I need to do a few things. Go ahead, you will be safe.
Dawn: We stay together.
Calvin: It'll be okay lieutenant, I'll meet you later.
Dawn: Are you sure this is what you want?
Calvin: Yeah, I have my reasons. If it's in the hills then I'll be able to find you but for now I have to do some things.
« Alright, Glenn right ?! We can go. » Dawn said to Glenn.
Glenn: Okay, just don't make any noise.
They left and Lise looked down at Calvin.
When they went out, Dawn came back and kissed him languorously on the lips.
« Thank you for last time, it was amazing and I was wrong to think you were just a kid. » she told him before leaving while Calvin sucked her lower lip before also leaving on his own.