Can't Have Shit in Kentucky (Project Zomboid) ch.10 (Patreon)

+++

Jackie turned away as blinding, piercing light turned towards the bus. It was only for a brief second however as the bus  trudged on from rough dirt roads to smooth asphalt. Her ass appreciated that fact. Then, a shadow loomed over her and the bus. That shadow belonged to concrete walls, tall and thick to Jackie's examination. It all looked very new to her, fresh as an apple pie from an oven. Their little convoy consisted now of extra Jeeps, their headlights lighting the way. 

The bus smelt like viscera, blood, sweat and powder. The blood was starting to stink now and made her want to lose what little of breakfast she had. Glancing around, each and everyone around her was exhausted to a degree. She too was exhausted. Her legs hurt. Her boobs hurt, her shirt felt like wet wrapping now. She would do anything for a shower and good long sleep just to get away from what she saw. 

The convoy stopped for a second. Jackie blinked and looked ahead. 

The gates were being opened. 

She sighed and relaxed. 

She didn't care what they wanted or demanded of her just to stay in their compound. They could ask her to join their cult as Elis so eloquently put. She just wanted to shower and sleep. The convoy trudged on, moving forward underneath the watchful eyes of armed men with steely glinting gasmasks atop the wall, rifles slung over their shoulders, mighty looking machineguns held aloft behind their towers. 

Whoever this cult was, they were prepared. 

The bus followed the Jeeps to a parking lot where a few other men stood by, equipment in their hands. Chiefly among them, a man with a cowboy hat. The jeeps halted by them and out came their passengers, all clad in the olive and gasmask combo that this cult was a fan of. Jackie didn't care if they wore clown make up or thought themselves soldiers, they offered sanctuary and she wanted that. 

The bus crept to a halt, sighs of relief echoing from the survivors inside. Just one more hurdle and they could finally rest. 

At the very front, the same man from earlier climbed up, glancing first at Roy then to the other passengers. "Alright, listen up," he called aloud, his voice authoritative. "Who's in charge for all of you?" 

As passengers all glanced at each other, Elis stood up excitedly. "Mister Soldier sir? I'm Elis. One of ya'lls workers here? I would very much be appreciated if the folk here and I could stay at this here compound, even just for the night. It's dangerous out there and I'-"

"Sit down, son," Gasmask said. "My boss will discuss it with your class president."

"How about Samson?" Jackie suggested. After all, he had lead them all in the skirmish pretty well and no one actually died or worse, got bit. Murmurs of agreement came from them but the big man simply shook his head. 

"No," he said simply.

Well, that was that. 

"I'll speak for them," Roy offered. It made sense considering he was the guy that drove the bus. 

"I'm going to need you to come down and speak with my boss," Gasmask said. 

"Alright," Roy nodded. "But I need a second. I'm old. My head ain't exactly so good as before, y'know." 

"Ooh, I'll go!" Elis quickly volunteered. 

"Take who you want," Gasmask said, shrugging his shoulder. "My boss is outside." The soldier, what else Jackie could call him, what with his get-up. He could certainly be much more professional though. And polite. The army men at the checkpoint were much more polite. As Gasmask leapt down, Roy stood up and nodded at Elis.

"Come on then," Roy said, to Elis's delight. The young man cheered, weapon slung around his shoulder as Roy and him walked out of the bus. Jackie leant back against her seat, watching as the men strode over to the group Jackie spied earlier. 

"Adorable, isn't he?" Rachel commented from behind, leaning against the backrest of her seat, as she watched Roy and Elis enter a conversation with the armed men. "Like a puppy." she finished, chuckling to herself. 

Jackie gave Rachel a side-glance. "Is this really the time for you to thirst over a young man?" she asked, her voice slightly accusatory.

Rachel held her hands up in surrender. "Oh, it isn't at all. I was just saying." She leant back on her own seat, her legs crossing. "I don't want dick now. I need a shower, some food maybe, and a bed." 

"God, me too," Jackie sighed, relieved that the demoness next to her stopped thirsting. Her eyes never left Roy and Elis. "I don't care if I'm sleeping in a tent or a bag, I just want to shower and sleep." There was suddenly a loud growl. A growl Jackie realized came from her. She blushed as Rachel laughed, chuckling at her embarrassment. "Some food doesn't sound bad either." she cleared her throat, trying to regain her dignity. 

"Don't worry, darlin. I trust the boys to secure us shelter here." Rachel said, gracefully helping Jackie out of her embarrassing display. 

"And what makes you so sure of that?" A man from behind them asked. Rachel opened one eye, looking out. 

"They let us in, didn't they? If the group here, or cult as Elis called them, didn't want anyone in here, they wouldn't have bothered to even come to us or allow us inside." Rachel offered. The man blinked and thought about it. 

"It makes sense," the man muttered. "I just hope we can get to stay." 

"Looks like we'll be getting our answer," Rachel mused as Elis reached forward, passionately shaking the cowboy's hand. He quickly turned away, running to the bus as fast as he could. Climbing up the stairs, he grinned as he turned to face the crowd. 

"Good news, ya'll!" he beamed. "We're in!" 

A sigh of relief came from the crowd. From their seat, Joan finally allowed herself to relax as she leaned into her husband. 

Sanctuary. 

Finally. 

+++

The process of settling in wasn't so simple. Jackie quickly found. 

After a lengthy cleansing process where she and the rest were made to shower and get rid of the viscera on them, in gender specific bathrooms thankfully, she and her fellows were made to be examined by the compound's doctors.

"Alright, lift up your hands," the doctor ordered. While muffled, it was clear to Jackie that her examiner was a woman. The two others in the tent were women as well, judging the shape of their bodies underneath their olive uniforms. Jackie complied as she did so. The doctor immediately went to work, examining every single inch of her body. She felt naked with the hospital gown on her, her dirty clothes in a basket somewhere.

The doctor who had introduced herself as Blair finished her examination of Jackie and pulled back, scribbling down on a notepad. She then pulled out a vial and held it out before her. "Spit into this, please," Blair requested. And Jackie did so, spitting onto the vial. Blair nodded again and set it aside, covering it with a tight cork.

Blair turned to Jackie, her voice gentle. "Now, I will need to extract a little bit of your blood. Understand that I am doing this to make sure that you aren't a carrier. Do you understand what a carrier is?" 

Jackie shook her head. 

"A carrier is a person exposed to the virus infecting Knox but is resistant to it," Blair explained. "You may be resisting its effects but you are more than capable of passing it on to people." 

Jackie's face fell as she listened to the explanation given to her. She was infected? "But...I haven't been bitten at all," she whispered. "No way in hell am I sick or...those things out there!"

"You aren't, physically wise," Blair comforted her. "But you actively have the virus in your system. For weeks, you've been breathing the thing but you haven't turned. By all accounts you are immune. That is both a good thing and a bad thing." 

"How is it good and bad?" Jackie asked. She wanted to know. 

"It's bad because you have the virus in you and it could be passed onto other people via contact or fluids," Blair began, aware that what she was saying would make anyone hearing her feel like shit. She quickly followed it up with the good news. "But, you are alive and you haven't turned. You are one of the few people who doesn't have to worry about the air. And in time and with some research, we could find the key to synthesizing a vaccine to inoculate people against this virus." 

Jackie knew that Blair was trying to make her feel better. She could see it with how apologetic and gentle the doctor was being to her. "Inoculate," she tested the word. "That means vaccines, right?" 

"In layman's terms, yes," Blair nodded. She considered extrapolating more but frankly, she saw the Jackie was tired, exhausted, and in a dire need of a bath, food, and sleep. As for Jackie, if it meant that her blood would help people out then she didn't really have a problem with that. She'd rather go and contribute eradicating the virus than let it get worse. 

"You need me to do anything else?" Jackie asked. Blair shook her head, producing a syringe. 

"No, it's fine. Now, hold out your hand to me and relax, alright?" Blair asked sweetly, inching the needle directly towards Jackie. The redhead did so, hesitantly holding her hand out towards Blair. The good doctor rubbed her hand with a swab of alcohol first before swiftly putting the needle into her. Jackie winced as the needle stung her. Not a second later, rich dark blood slowly filled it. 

The process was over quickly, a cotton swab directly added onto her wound as the needle was withdrawn. 

"And there we go," Blair announced, setting the syringe onto a bag. She pointed towards the tent flap to their right. "Take that and you'll be in a common area. There will be food and a communal tent for your sleeping quarters. Feel free to take a stretcher for yourself." 

"Thank you," Jackie nodded, relief in her voice. "Um, what about my belongings?" 

"You'll be able to reclaim them in the morning. Just ask one of our guards about it and you can get them back," Blair informed her. Despite the mask, Jackie could feel that Blair was smiling at her from behind it. 

"Thank you again," Jackie nodded. Blair shook her head, chuckling. 

"No, don't thank me. I'm just doing my job. Thank the boss for even thinking about all of this," she said, gesturing around, towards the needles, the medical gear, the tent. 

"Your Boss...you mean the Buyer?" Jackie said carefully.

Blair cocked her head. "Buyer?" 

"Oh, the name we gave to the fella who went on spending runs in Riverside," Jackie revealed. "He just threw money at the wall purchasing everything from construction materials to groceries and more. We all just called him the Buyer after all that." 

"Oh," Blair nodded in understanding. "Well, that surely is an appropriate name. Most of the stuff here, he bought with cash. The man going around to purchase the goods isn't actually him though. It's just one of his representatives he's been sending out to buy stuff for him. He's mostly stayed here, supervising the construction of this compound." 

"Really?" Jackie asked with a blink. "Then, where is he?" 

As she asked that question, the sound of a helicopter flying ahead echoed through the tent walls. The sound of its engines was eerily familiar to the helicopter that showed up out of nowhere to rain machine gun fire and distract the zombies earlier from swarming the bus they were on. 

"Ah," Blair said simply. "That would be him." 

+++

A/N: And here's the compound. More lighter stuff to follow.