Outbreak: Long Road Back Read Online Free PDF Page A

to see if anyone was listening in. The younger woman sank onto the bench and took a long drag on her cigarette. “First time in ages.” She let out the smoke in a shuddering breath. Holy fuckin’ shit I need a goddamn drink right now. Frannie thought and gritted her teeth against the urge.
    Beth sat down next to the woman and put a hand on her shoulder. “I have to go talk to Major Tennyson for a minute. When I’m done I’ve got some time if you want to talk about it.” She smiled at the woman and stood up. The expression faltered when Rodriguez sort of shrugged and nodded. “I’ll see you in about twenty minutes or so, alright?”
    Rodriguez glanced after the doctor and took another drag off of her cigarette, held it for a moment then let a plume of smoke squirt out of her nose. An unexpected blood boiling rage built up in her chest as she watched that smarmy little squid go inside so intense it made her vision go white. Who the fuck do you think you are? Rodriguez thought angrily at the woman’s back, shaking her head and snorting out another blue grey cloud like a pissed off bull You think you fuckin’ know me or some shit?
    Her hand closed tightly around the pistol grip of her M4. For a half second Rodriguez saw herself walking in and blasting that dumb stick up her ass bitch’s pretty little face right off her head. She jumped and looked around then wiped her face with the palms of her hands. “Holy fucking shit.” Rodriguez whispered as she took a moment to try and collect herself. She glanced at her watch and felt for the bottle of pills in an old ammo pouch on her plate carrier, her breath coming in little hiccup gasps. “Shit. Holy fuckin’ shit…”
    Once she was reasonably certain that she could go through the door without fragging a superior officer Rodriguez returned to the radio room. “Hey Frays…I gotta go pick something up from the Aid Station.” she said quietly and shot a glance at the two Navy guys nearby. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
    “Sure thing, Rodriguez.” Frays said with a knowing expression. Her friend was self conscious about her medication and she noticed the guys on Staff Duty trying to act like they were not listening to their conversation. “Hey Frannie…get some pads for me too.” She added in a stage whisper and barely kept herself from bursting out laughing at the looks of distaste on the squids’ faces.
    Frannie snickered and shook her head as she walked out of the TOC. After a few steps Rodriguez was shaking with laughter. She found it a little hard to believe that Frays had actually mentioned maxi pads in front of the squids. The goody little two shoes who she had never even heard swear and seemed unable to even say the word ‘sex’… It was the funniest goddamn thing she had seen in awhile.
    She gimped along as fast as she could manage towards the Aid Station. They were dialing back on her meds and Rodriguez found that it was fucking with her brain hardcore. There was this jittery sort of feeling in the pit of her stomach like spiders crawling around in her belly and it was getting hard to sleep. And at the bottom of everything there was a deep fear: that she was going to fuck up and get somebody hurt. That she was going to start drinking or taking pills again. That she might start sleeping around again. Worst of all was the fear that she was going to do something to fuck up things with Carl and his sister.
    While they were holed up in the school she had nearly run out of her medication and she had come on to Lacey. Shit, she had practically thrown herself at him but thankfully the goddamn Boy Scout had turned her down. Rodriguez chuckled to herself as she hobbled along on her bad leg. The Boy Scout and Goody Two Shoes. That was something else entirely. A completely different type of animal all together… Actually it was more like a love/hate relationship that had been smoking pounds of meth and chugging Jack Daniels by the gallon. She swallowed hard,