Deadrise by Steven R. Gardner

the man said. "But even real doctor have their limits when they see hundreds of patients per day and no longer have the proper medical supplies to treat them. They'll do what they can for him. You just pray it's enough."
    Zack better live! First Frank, and now this? I can't do this by myself.
    He remembered Franks dying gasp.
    Take care of my family.
    They were Matt’s responsibility now. He may not like it, but he could never walk away from them. In their short time together, they had grown close, relying on one another to survive. He had to get them to safety. Out of the city, and up to Adam and Kelly’s property up on Rainbow Lake. The man saw the grim look cross Matt’s face.
    "Ron. Ron Black." he held out his hand. Matt took it in a shake.
    "Matt Robbins."
    "And this here is my brother Rick." he looked toward the other man, standing silent, assault rifle slung. Rick nodded to Matt, adjusting his blue ball cap.
"Is that there your family?" he nodded toward the bus.
"I guess you could say that. They were friends. Her husband was killed. We’re all each other have."
"How bout you let me show you around." Ron said.
    "Sure. Just give me a minute." He turned and went onto the bus. Sharon and David sat together, talking quietly. The crying was done for now, and they both seemed the better.
    "I'm going to go take a look around." Matt said. "See if I can catch some news on what's happening. David, I need you to hold the fort while I'm gone. Think you can handle that?"
    "No problem." David said.
    Sharon stood and gave Matt a huge hug, squeezing him tight then kissing him on the cheek. She held his face, looking him in the eye.
    "Thank you," she said softly. "My husband thanks you." Matt could only smile awkwardly for several long seconds before leaving the bus. Ron was waiting for him. Rick had disappeared.
    "Wasn't there another woman with you? Blonde?" Ron inquired.
    "She stayed up at the hospital with Zack."
    They began walking west, down to hill toward the edge of the encampment. People moved around them on their daily business like ants in a hive. Almost everyone they passed was armed, even the older, teenaged children. They passed several families preparing or eating their morning meal by their cooking fires. Large pots of stew... canned supplies they had with them. Army rations. He even saw fresh bread and rolls, cooked in a Dutch oven over the fire.
    "Where do people get these things?" Matt asked.
    "You'd be surprised what people take from their house when they don't plan on coming back. Some the army provides. The rest is salvaged."
"Salvaged?" Matt asked.
"You know…from the city?" Ron looked at Matt like he was a fool.
"You mean they loot it?"
"Where else do you think it comes from?"
"I haven’t really thought about it. I'm just glad to be alive."
    "Let me explain it to you." Ron said. "Right after the initial outbreak the hospital was flooded with wounded. Most of them bite victims." He gave Matt a grave look. "There was nothing they could do to help them."
"Nothing at all?"
"One bite is all it takes. One bite and you are infected. Then in two, three days at most, you become a zombie."
"What kind of disease do they carry?" Matt asked.
    "No one knows. All they do know is that it is one hundred percent fatal. And the hospital was not prepared to deal with hundreds of zombies at a time. Within twenty-four hours, the Hospital, and nearly 1/4 of the campus was infested with zombies. But then the Army came in and kicked some deadfuck ass!" Ron broke into a laugh. "But once the hospital was retaken it was flooded with even more wounded. To prevent the deadfucks from overrunning the place again bite victims were shot immediately. The rest were helped. But the hospitals resources were depleted with a week. And that was over a month ago."
    "The news only went off the air a couple weeks ago." Despite what was happening in the rest of the country and around the world, the emergency broadcast stations had all proclaimed Salt