"Did it hurt?" the Doctor asked.
"No," the girl grudgingly admitted.
"Then what are you complaining about?"
Zoe just looked away from her.
"Look, Zoe. The secrets in your blood could very well be the end of this virus and the zombie epidemic. Don't you want that?"
"I guess," the girl grumbled.
"I have a couple of things to do, and then I'll meet you in the conference room, okay? Why don't you go to the cafeteria and get something to eat?"
"I need to go talk to Colonel Halstead first," Zoe informed as she stood. "He said he wanted to see me."
"Just don't wait too long to eat," the doctor ordered. "You still need to take your medicine."
"Yes, Doctor," Zoe sighed as she left the laboratory.
The walk to the stairs seemed like a long one, though she barely noticed as she was hopelessly lost in thought. Such things had never bothered her before, being different and all. It was just something that always was and she never really noticed. Now, she was even more different, much more.
Passing a group of civilians, four women and two men, who had sought safety in the hospital, she offered them a wave of her fingers, and in return she only got mistrusting looks, and quickly three of the women looked away from her as if they did not want to see her there at all. Further down the hallway a small group of children ran toward her, laughing and giggling with each other. They were five to seven years old, four of them, and when they saw her they stopped where they were and turned wide eyes to her. Zoe also stopped. She had always been more comfortable with children than grown-ups and she offered them a little smile and bade, "Hi." They backed up a few steps, staring at her in silence, then they turned and ran the other direction.
Zoe's heart broke as she watched them disappear around the corner of the hallway. There were things she had to do, but they slipped from her mind. She finally made it to the stairwell, but she did not stop climbing until she got up onto the roof.
Solitude was there. The make-shift shooting range was abandoned and only the hearing protection, targets and a few cans were still set up there.
She wandered to the short wall that surrounded the roof and turned to sit down with her back against it. Pulling her legs to her, she wrapped her arms around them and just stared across the roof at nothing for a while. With a deep breath, she slowly took the cap from her head and held it in front of her, flattening her legs out in front of her. She read the tag inside the cap, W. Morris, and she read it over and over. It was all she had left of him. He was one of the first who did not treat her like a monster. He was very kind to her and she felt in her heart that she loved him, then he was gone.
Tears welled up in her green eyes and her body quaked under the sobs inside of her that insisted on being known. Drawing her legs up to her again, she clutched the hat tightly in her hands and lowered her head to her knees.
And she cried.
There was no way to know how long she was up there, but she needed a good cry and wanted to be by herself. It could have been an hour or it could have been longer. She did not know, did not care. Little mattered to her but the pain of the moment, and it was all consuming.
The door to the roof burst open and people emerged. Zoe finally raised her head to see the people she had just met file out of the stairway.
Dan was first, and as he exited the door he immediately put a cigarette into his mouth and raised his other hand where a lighter was waiting to give it flame. Josh was right behind him, then Adrian, Morgan, Charlie, Matt, and Donny. Two of them, Josh and Adrian, were carrying an ice chest. The last to emerge was one she had not met, one who was still on the silver jeep during the heat of the battles. He was kind of a big fellow, clean shaven and with short hair, and he was the only one speaking.
"I'm just saying," the last one assured as he joined them, "that it's not that out of line for you guys to help clean some of the brass out of the bottom of the jeep after a fight. I mean, come on! I work hard to keep that thing up!"
Josh and Adrian dropped the ice chest, and Josh opened it and reached inside, taking a beer out as he observed, "Yeah, we're fighting zombie hoards every day and you want to make sure we keep the jeep clean. Eric, you're about as mental as they come."
Eric also reached in and took a beer opening it before he countered, "We can take out zombies and look good doing it. And let's not forget who has to keep patching you dumbasses back together every time you do something stupid."
Donny also opened a beer and shook his head, taking a drink before he grumbled, "It's like having my mother along." He looked to Eric and asked, "So, does your other half know you're up here drinking with us? Oh, that's right. She's not here."
"She doesn't mind if I have a beer," Eric informed before taking a drink himself. "In fact, my gal's so awesome that she'll even get me one and open it." He looked to Morgan. "When was the last time you did that for someone?"
Morgan took a sip of her own and replied, "Has Hell frozen over yet?" She looked to the wall, her eyes finding Zoe, and she raised her chin, greeting, "Hey! Didn't see you there."
Zoe turned her eyes down and just nodded.
Josh was the first to approach her, stopping a few feet away as he asked, "You want a beer?"
"She's seventeen!" Morgan spat.
Looking over his shoulder, Josh countered, "You know, under the circumstances of that whole zombie apocalypse thing, I'm sure the legal drinking age can be lowered for a while." He looked back to the girl and raised his brow. "Want one?"
Zoe shook her head and politely declined, "No, thank you."
He motioned behind him with his head. "So Morgan was telling us that you're about half zombie."
Turning her eyes to the side, Zoe nodded again.
Josh took a drink of his beer before he said, "And you're fighting for our side."
Eric also approached, and he sat down beside her, nudging her shoulder with his arm. "Going to spend some time with the rest of us misfits?"
She shrugged.
Morgan sat down on her other side and took a slurp from her can, then she looked to the girl and observed, "Got you a new shirt. How many of those do you have?"
"This one and two more," Zoe replied, looking down to the hat she still held.
"We need to get you into an official ZRT shirt," Morgan insisted, "that way you don't get shot by mistake."
"I already have been," the girl informed. "I've been shot six times now."
The group got very quiet, and finally Eric asked, "So, how long did it take you to recover? I heard zombies can recover from body shots in an hour or two."
"It was pretty fast," the girl replied, her eyes still low.
"You know," Josh suggested, "If we were all like that then we wouldn't need a medic anymore."
"Oh, sure!" Eric barked. "Then I wouldn't be as important!"
Many of the group laughed, and Eric joined them.
Zoe could see that this group was very close, that their friendship was very tightly knit, and she could not help but feel left out yet again.
But, this day it was not to be allowed.
Morgan nudged her again and informed, "Seriously, I have a couple of extra shirts, one a tank top, and I think you're about my size. Want to try one on? You've already got the hat."
Quiet for a moment, Zoe stared down at the cap and finally informed in a low voice, "This was Sergeant Morris' hat. The zombies got him yesterday."
That silence gripped the group again and they all exchanged looks. All could tell that she was close to him, that she missed him, and now they seemed to be on a mission beyond killing zombies.
Morgan slipped a hand around the girl's shoulders and pulled her close to her. "I'm sorry to hear about him, but, now you've got us to kick around with. Unless you start trying to eat people."