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killers and she learned what Hell really was.
    According to a tearful Jamie, several days before the guys returned from their trip, the woman’s daughter had been playing with their youngest, Tyler, when Jamie noticed the swollen nodule on the girl’s jaw line. Upon closer inspection she quickly sent the girl home and immediately bathed Tyler in water a touch too hot for his comfort. She said she had cried about it that night, and tears welled up again as she repeated the story to Nick, worried she could have hurt Tyler but feeling justified when he remained disease-free. Her guilt resurfaced several days later, when the little girl died and the mother told the press she noticed the sore a full day after Jamie had sent the child home. What if she’d called the mother? Would earlier treatment have helped the girl? Jamie didn’t sleep for several days thinking about the possibilities and her part in the child’s death. When officials announced none of the serums they had seemed to be having any affect on the infected, Jamie finally slept. Her stomach twisted in guilt, but her mind assured her that once infected, no amount of warning would have helped the girl or her mother.
    They pulled into the hospital parking lot, planning on raiding the maintenance area for tools, and Nick turned off the truck after coming to a stop in the emergency lane. Without the engine, the silence of their speechless trip was overwhelming.
    “Sorry. It just bugs me to see everyone like this.”
    “It’s ok.--”
    “No, it’s not.” Nick slammed the door as he exited the vehicle. “Remember when 9/11 happened? Afterward there was this amazing communal feeling across the country. This time? No one cares about anyone outside their own house. It’s wrong.”
    “It different, that’s all. It’s…” Jerry stopped and raised an arm, pointing at the hospital like a mute zombie. “What the hell is that?”
    A thick chain was wrapped around the handles of the hospital doors several times and held in place with three different padlocks. Inside, plastic had been fortified with sheets of plywood and windows were blackened with dark tarps.
    Nick squinted at the hand written sign on the outside of the glass, “What’s that say?”
    Jerry took several steps forward, “Closed. But I can’t read what’s underneath.”
    With matching strides, they walked the remaining twenty yards to the hospital’s door and read the handwritten sign.
    “Shit,” Jerry turned and headed back for the truck.
    “Bullshit!” Nick kicked the glass door, cracking the tempered glass but gaining no entrance. “Damn it.”
    “Nick. Come on, man. We still gotta go to my house and I don’t want to be out here any longer than we have to.”
    Through the business district, neither man said anything, but when a young girl who looked like she should have been in the hospital crossed the street in front of them without looking, Nick let loose.
    “We apologize for the inconvenience? Are they serious? Where are people supposed to go for medical care? We’re all on our own to do the best we can with our first-aid kits? Tell me how this isn’t bullshit.”
    “Oh, I can’t. I just don’t see how you getting all worked up is going to change any of it.” Jerry smirked and tried to break Nick’s anger, “You thought a tantrum would stop me from marrying your sister, too. That didn’t work out so well either, did it?”
    Nick rolled his eyes and offered a fake grin. He stared at Jerry, waiting for more attempts to lighten his mood. Instead Jerry screamed and put his hands against the dash.
    “Nick!”
    Nick looked forward in time to register the infected deer and slam on the brakes. They screeched to a halt with only a foot to spare between them and the animal.
    “Holy crap.” Jerry hissed through his teeth.
    “Ta hell? It’s not even close to dusk. They’re just going to roam town now?”
    “Screw it. Go around it. Let’s get this done and get back to your