Contagious (24 page)

Before dawn had even broken fully, over half of those who had been quarantined in the hotel, fled for the door, making a break for freedom as if they had been held hostage and a dangerous situation was at hand.

There was. It was more dangerous outside.

JJ heard Joel state there were about a hundred and thirty remaining.

They ran for the door. JJ wondered if they'd get to Cleveland. Were they in the mess? Were they hit by the bombs?

By ten in the morning, including those who wandered in, there were one hundred and five sick people in the hotel.

By noon they were moved to the
ballroom and the number increased to one hundred and fifteen.

An hour before the bomb was dropped on Cleveland, the number of sick peaked at one hundred and sixty-one. All but seven people in the hotel were sick.

Those people were himself, Joel, Bianca, Rayne, Landon, Ava, and some random person in room 424 that wouldn’t come out.

Fifteen minutes before the bomb arrived, that number started decreasing.

Everything JJ heard on the news downplayed the effects of the virus. Nowhere did they mention the bleeding eyes, bloody vomit and choking sick people. And most certainly, they never mentioned how quickly people were dying.

Because they were dropping by the hour.

In a way, JJ was grateful they weren’t living long. It was a lot for all of them to handle and he was certain he wasn’t giving the care they needed or deserved, he was just giving what he could.

He prepared over thirty intravenous bags.

By the time he consumed his late afternoon meal of crackers and peanut butter, he had it down to a science.

In his mind there were two types of ill.

Those with primarily a stomach form of the virus and those with a respiratory form.

They didn’t start the same.

Eventually, everyone threw up. It was a given. They were choking and swallowing their own melting lungs.

Everyone started out feeling bad. Those with the respiratory, went down for the count immediately. Fever, chills, slight cough and sore throat. A hardcore case of the flu. They were sick longer, slept all the time, and died slower.

But not those with the stomach bug. Like any stomach bug, it hit them fast. They probably were sick before they went down, but didn’t realize it. Once it hit them, it hit them.

They were down, then they were gone.

That fast. They threw up so much blood, there was nothing left.

If JJ got the bug, he wanted that form. Yeah, it was worse, but for a shorter time.

He was on his ninth body that evening and the sun hadn’t gone down. At the rate they were all dying, there would soon be no one left.

What was it about that particular body? Another empty bed, laced with blood. JJ lifted her onto the banquet cart and wheeled her out of the
ballroom. They took them to the CDC Mobile.

What was it about her? Maybe because she was young. Maybe because she said to JJ as she lay dying that she was his biggest fan.

That killed him. Her final thoughts were on a singing pop star with a fake persona.

It was so heartless and cold to just take the bodies to the CDC mobile labs and leave them, as if they were numbers and not people. It wasn’t Joel’s fault or Rayne’s. There was nowhere to put them and keeping the remains in the hotel wasn’t safe for the few who weren't sick yet.

The wheels on the cart squeaked loudly and steadily as JJ pushed the cart. Somewhere before stepping outside, it hit him.

He was pushing a body.

What made him so special that he wasn’t sick yet?

Did he do something so wrong that he was being punished and condemned to watching people die?

Even the facemask didn’t stop the horrendous smell that pelted him the second he opened the CDC mobile door.

Put her in, shut the door.

Then her hand flopped out from under the covering.

JJ reached down to replace it and he felt how frail her teenage wrist was.

She was just a kid. She hadn’t even experienced life. Nobody had.

He slipped his arms under her body and whispered, “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

He carried her to the mobile, stepped inside and placed her next to the other bodies.

Bodies.

Men, women, even a child was in there.

JJ felt his throat swell up, and his eyes instantly burned.

What was he doing?

He flew from the mobile and his first through was to run. Just run.

But where would he go?

More than anything he wanted to go home. He wanted to see his mother. He was scared to death that she was sick or even worse.

He looked at the sky and saw the large dark cloud he determined was from the Cleveland destruction.

Back against the CDC mobile, JJ slid down to the ground and sat there.

<><><><>

Bianca was doing her last round in the
ballroom before she relieved Rayne. Rayne was with Landon in Joel’s old food and beverage office. The office was far removed from the main part of the hotel. Bianca remembered Joel loved that office because no one wanted to walk there and bother him.

But it wasn’t a matter of just relieving Rayne. It was a sequence of events. Change clothes, wash down, sanitize, and then spray a disinfectant all over herself, before even walking into that hall.

They were precautionary measures they had all agreed upon.

They agreed to keep Landon far away as much as possible.

Her duties in the ballroom were different. She checked each person, wiped them down if needed and looked to make sure the IV wasn’t backing up. She gave them medicine for comfort if they stirred a lot.

She hated cleaning up the bloody vomit, but what choice did she have? What choice did any of them have? When she was in the third row of cots, she noticed that JJ hadn’t returned. Worried, Bianca stepped from the
ballroom and into the courtyard. She didn’t see him.

Thinking maybe he went to the lounge, she headed that way when she stopped.

She saw him outside.

Just a speck in the distance, but the vision of him was clear. Bianca exhaled heavily and with sadness. They kept giving him things to do, running him here and there taking bodies, all
the while forgetting he was just a kid.

He wasn’t even old enough to drink.

The sight of JJ broke her heart. He was there, knees bent up, his head buried in his legs. He was crying.

She decided right there and then, no more.

He was going to be on Landon detail all the time.

He didn’t need to see any more death.

What Bianca wanted to do was go out there and give him a huge hug. She didn’t think that was exactly what he needed. He needed to hear it was okay to be down, to cry, to not handle it.

She sought out Joel.

Reluctantly, Joel agreed to check on JJ, and Bianca continued her rounds, confident that her husband was much more compassionate than he gave himself credit for.

<><><><>

Joel wasn’t as saddened by the sight of JJ as his wife, but it affected him. He felt genuinely bad for the kid. It was apparent, the teenage boy, no matter how hard he tried to be cool and grown up, had done enough.

“Well,” Joel exhaled as he approached
, “had I known this cool space existed, I’d have taken it hours ago.”

JJ didn’t look up.

“So, um …” Joel was going to sit next to JJ but stopped. “Don’t make me get down there; I’ll never get back up with my knees.”

Finally, JJ lifted his head and wiped his eyes with the back of his arms. “That was funny.”

“I’m a funny guy.”

“Yeah, you are.”

“Even though you know, I don’t feel like being funny. I probably won’t feel like being funny for a long time. But … eventually we’ll all have to smile again.”

“I’ll never smile.”

“Yeah, you will.”

“I feel so weak. I just … I want to be strong for those people, but it’s hard. I don’t want to cry.”

“Why?” Joel asked. “Why don’t you want to cry? You have to cry, especially if you feel it. I cry. Rayne cries. Rayne cries all the time. You need to be human through all this. We may be losing everything around us, but we have to hold on to our humanity.”

“What’s the point?” JJ asked. “It’s over. It’s all over. There’s no hope. We’re out of options.”

“Joel!” Bianca cried out with an excited voice. “Joel.” She rushed over to them.

“What’s wrong? What is it? Is it Landon?” Joel asked. “Rayne?”

“No.” Bianca shook her head. “We have someone getting better.”

Row five, cot seven. He was a man in his forties and no one knew his name. He never gave it, he came in to the hotel with the other strangers and passed out ill not long after getting there.

Bianca remembered him because his fever was so high and she was upset because he never gave his name,

“How do you know?” Joel asked, as he and JJ stood by the cot.

“Look at his color,” Bianca stated. “And …” She lifted an aural thermometer. “His temperature is 99.4. That is five degrees lower than two hours ago.”

“What did we do for him?” Joel asked.

“Nothing more. Nothing less. Nobody has a reduction in fever Joel. No one.”

“We still can’t determine he is recovering.”

“Yes, we can.” Bianca reached her gloved hand down to his closed eyes and lifted his eyelid. “Look at his eyes, Joel. They aren’t blood shot any more. He had respiratory infection and his eyes were filled with blood. Not now. Listen to his breathing.” She placed her head close to his chest.

“Bianca, stop that.” Joel warned. “Don’t get that close.”

“Joel I clean up bloody vomit. If I’m gonna get sick, I’m already infected. This man is getting better. I can see it.”

JJ interjected. “They did say in New York a couple people recovered at the airport. But they had slipped into some sort of coma and we don’t know what happened after that.”

“That’s what he’s in,” Bianca said. “Some sort of body shut down, and I think it’s to rest and repair. I don’t know how long, but I feel it. This man is going to recover. This is good, Joel. This is really good.”

“You’re right. This is very good.” Joel then looked at JJ. “And you see,” he said with passion
, “we aren’t out of options. There is still hope.” He glanced to the man on the cot. “There’s still hope.”

<><><><>

Rayne needed a nap. He was so tired and worn out. He hadn’t slept much at all. He lay on the office sofa with Landon perched on his lap, as he closed his eyes. He was able to get a good twenty minutes sleep while Landon colored.

The child didn’t talk much. He looked sad and spoke very little. Minute by minute he withdrew further, with valid reasons.

After his power nap, Rayne stood and stretched. He looked out the window and saw that it was getting dark. He’d need more battery lights in the room.

“Are you hungry?” he asked Landon.

“No.”

“How about I make you a peanut butter sandwich and you can nibble on it?”

Landon shrugged.

“Well, I want a peanut butter sandwich.”

“You like them?”

“Oh, yeah. Ate them my whole life,” Rayne stated
, “like Charlton Heston. You probably don’t know who he is.”

Landon shook his head.

“Great actor. His movies were like what we’re dealing with now. Anyhow... he never went anywhere without peanut butter. It makes you tall.”

“Is that how you got so big?” Landon asked.

“Yep.”

“Okay. I’ll have one.”

Rayne smiled at the child and after he made the sandwiches, he handed one to Landon and the door opened.

JJ walked in with his guitar.

Rayne was surprised. “Where’s Bianca? Is she all right?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. She wanted me to sit with Landon. Play some music. Get him to sleep.”

“You all right?” Rayne asked. “You’re not sick, right?”

With a pouty mouth, JJ shook his head. “Nah, just been crying.”

“Me, too.”

Rayne watched JJ walked over and sit on the floor next to Landon. “Peanut butter huh? Good stuff
,” JJ said. “What are you doing?”

“Coloring.” Landon answered. The child stopped, dropped his crayon and stared up to JJ. “I miss my mom.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” JJ reached out and rubbed Landon’s head. “I miss my mom too.”

Peanut butter sandwich in hand, Rayne figured it was a good time as any to slip out.