Beyond The Barrier [COMPLETED]

Chapter 1 -"How many? Any injured? Any bites?"

"Louie!"

Louie ignored the call, sinking deeper into her blankets.

"Louie! Louie, wake up!"

The caller had moved closer and was now at the side of her bunk. When Louie refused to stir, the caller resorted to nudging, pulling, anything to try and wake her up.

Louie fought hard to suppress the urge to roll over and punch whoever was trying to wake her right in the jaw, just so she could get back to sleep. But she was awake enough now, she could hear the urgency in the caller's voice.

Louie rolled over to face Abbie. She was dressed in full nurses garb with her emergency kit slung around her shoulders. She stopped shaking Louie when she saw that she had finally woken up and held onto the bunk's ladder.

"Louie, you have to come. Now! Outlanders. At the front gate."

The words were like a jolt of electricity. Louie grabbed her own emergency kit, stowed at the end of her bed and crawled out her bunk. She hustled down the tall ladder. After throwing on her boots and her rain jacket, she followed Abbie as they ran out of The Cage, towards the front gates.

"How many? Any injured? Any bites?" Louie asked.

"I know just as much as you," Abbie said, through her labored breathing.

Louie rushed over to the man standing guard when they reached their destination. He unlatched the locks and pulled open the gates. Louie tried to talk to the man, but the grating metal drowned out her words. She resigned her attempt to garner any information from him and took a step back. She stood tall, crossed her arms in front of her chest and bent her knees ever so slightly, preparing herself for what was about to enter through the gate.

The guard had only opened the gate halfway when the Searchers rushed in, bringing in the raging storm with them. Their boots squeaked against the floor, their jackets dripping rainwater everywhere. With them, they helped lead in a group of wounded from their nightly rounds.

Some of the people were barely walking, holding on to the guards' shoulders. Others were completely unconscious, hunched over the shoulders of some of the guards. It looked like ten Outlanders total. Louie rushed to the head Searcher, falling in step with him as they hurried towards the Med Wing.

"Marc, How many are there? Any badly hurt? Any bites or scratches?" Louie asked, looking behind her at the crowd of newcomers.

"There's ten of them. We found them just a few miles south of here. Three unconscious, most nearly starved. No bites."

Louie's shoulders relaxed just a bit at that last part, but only for a millisecond. They had reached the Med Wing and there was already beds and cots ready to go. The head doctor stood waiting. Louie reached the first bed and helped lift one of the unconscious off of Marc's shoulders.

"Teresa, Abbie, and Louie, get water boiling and start mending all cuts and bruises. We can't risk infection," the head doctor said, already moving to one of the patients.

"Marc, make sure all ten are accounted for, and then go let Chief know we've got newcomers," Louie said.

Everyone fell into line and did as they were told. Louie turned to the patient in front of her and started checking his arms, legs and face for any cuts or scratches. When she went to lift his left arm, his dislocated shoulder sent a stab of pain through him and he jerked awake, sitting up straight. In his startled state, he grabbed Louie's wrist and held it tight. Louie barely winced at the pain and just tried to focus on calming him down.

"Sir, sir! You're okay! You're safe now!"

"Where am I?" His deep voice rang out in fear and anger, his grip on Louie's wrist only tightening.