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“Please,” he said desperately.
Dez felt her anger flare to the boiling point. “‘Please’? Seriously? How many of the infected said that to you? Please?”
She wanted to shoot this son of a bitch so bad it made her teeth hurt.
“We only know what we were told. What were we supposed to do?”
Dez said nothing. Polk was right and she was picking a fight with someone too many pay grades below policy level.
She backed away, keeping the gun on him.
“Listen to me, Polk,” she said sternly, “I’m going into the school. I know that there are people in there. Uninfected people. Kids. This is the shelter for the whole county. This is where people go because it’s supposed to be safe. You hear me?”
He nodded.
“You get back and tell your commanding officer that Officer Desdemona Fox, Stebbins PD, is in the school with the survivors. I’ll make sure everyone who isn’t infected is kept safe and in one place. I’ll get the uninfected to safety inside the school. ”
“What if there are infected people in there?” he countered. “They said this thing spreads so fast that it can’t be contained. Once a person’s bitten or whatever, they’re done. It’s just a matter of time, and not much time, either. ”
“The people in there are fighting back. They’re not sick. ” She said it with venom, but in truth the gunfire from the upper window had stopped and she had no idea at all about what waited for her inside that old building.
Polk was staring at her, reading the doubt on her face. “They’re probably dead inside there…”
Dez raised her hand to backhand him across the face and he flinched, but she did not hit him. Instead she lowered her hand. “What did they tell you about this thing? How did it start? What is it?”
Polk rubbed his bruised head and looked past Dez.
She smiled without turning. “Yeah, I know, company’s coming. ”
“We got to get out of here—”
“Talk to me, Polk, or I’ll kneecap you and leave you here for those dead fucks. ”
He squirmed as if weighing his need to run against the chances she’d really gun him down. “They didn’t tell us much. Mostly about how to avoid the infection. ”
“They must have told you something…”
“Terrorists,” said Polk. “They said that this was a terrorist bioweapon. ” He licked his lips as he looked past her again. “Come on … please…”
Dez smiled. She could feel the ice in her own lips. “Yeah, Polk … the big bad monsters are coming to get you. Sucks, doesn’t it? Sucks to be afraid. Now—imagine how those kids in that school feel? They were counting on you. People believe in you guys. You’re the heroes, you come and save people. ”
He said nothing.
“Except when you don’t,” she sneered.
There was a sound behind her. Dez turned in place and fired four shots. Double taps. One to the chest, one to the head. Twice. Two of the infected fell. The others were still far out of reach.
Dez turned back and pointed the gun at Polk. “You remember what I said. You tell them that people are alive in there. ”
“It won’t matter what I say,” he said. “They won’t care. ”
Dez stepped forward and touched the hot barrel to his upper lip. Polk hissed in pain.
“Make them care,” she said.
Polk stared up at her. His eyes were filled with doubt and fear and anger. But in the end he nodded.
Dez lowered the pistol and stepped aside. “Get your friends and get the fuck out of here. I’ll cover your ass. ”
