Contagious (3 page)

“
Hey, Zoe-Boey. Whatcha doing?”

“
Hi Hilary! I’m talking to Orissa. She hasn’t seen the monsters yet.”

“
Ah. Hopefully she never will. Have you eaten yet?” When Zoe shook her head, Hilary instructed her to find Jason and eat dinner. Without giving me a chance to ask any questions, Hilary led to me a small, dirty bathroom. It worked, she assured me, though the water in the shower never got hot. It certainly felt good to be clean. I begrudgingly put the hospital gown back on, happy Hilary had given me a pair of bleach stained scrub bottoms to go under it, and padded my way back into our little group.

A teenage boy handed me a sandwich and it was only when I looked down at the plain, white bread that I realized how hungry I was. I snarfed it down, draining the bottle of apple juice that came along with it. Surprisingly I was tired, but sleep could wait; I needed answers first. I sought out Padraic, who was changing a bloody bandage on a sandy haired man. He saw me waiting, nodding in acknowledgment. I retreated back to my bed, which was really a gurney, and sat. A few minutes later, Padraic joined me.

“
You need to tell me more,” I pleaded.

“
I don’t know much more.”

“
Then tell me what you do know.”

“
Ok.” He nodded. “A few weeks ago we started seeing odd, isolated cases of what seemed to be psychotic behavior. At the same time, an alarming number of people came in complaining of headaches and dying within twenty-four hours of admittance. We didn’t see the connection then. We know now it’s the same virus. It seems to do three things: make you insane, kill you, or do nothing.”

“
How is it spread?”

“
We don’t know for sure yet. I’m guessing through the water. It started on the west coast and now it’s here.”

My heart fell into a bottomless pit. “It’s nationwide?”

“
Yes.”

“
H-how long was I out for?”

“
Almost three days,” he admitted, sounding ashamed.

“
What the hell, Padraic?” I jumped off the gurney, wincing in pain. “Why?”
He waved his hand at me. “That’s why. I thought it would give you time to heal. You seem to be quite the fighter. I didn’t think you’d rest.”

“
You’re right I’m not going to rest! I want out of here!” I stared at him, for once in my life, unable to come up with anything to argue with. Sighing, I sat back down. “Tell me about these ‘monsters’.”

“
It comes on suddenly, with very few symptoms. The victim might seem agitated or angry, but then they-they just snap,” he snapped his fingers, “like that. And aren’t human anymore. Like a rabid dog.”

“
Is there a cure?”

His blue eyes met mine. “No, we’ve only been able to autopsy a few of the bodies before the CDC took them away but the virus completely kills parts of the brain.”

“
Then how are they alive?”

“
It seems the virus doesn’t affect the parts of the brain, right away, that control basic life skills, like breathing and eating. All aspects of humanity: drive, memory, and emotion are gone. The victims are never the same and never will be. The virus turns them into angry, raging monsters.”

“
And then what?”

“
The central nervous system starts to shut down. I haven’t seen anyone who has had the virus for that long, though.”

“
Lovely.”

“
Are you alright, Orissa? This is a lot of information to take in at once.”

“
Yeah,” I said quickly. “I’m no stranger to horrible things.”

“
If you say so.”

“
How many?” I asked suddenly.

“
How many what?”

“
How many people got infected?”

“
I’m not sure. After the outbreak, everyone panicked. We were told to stay in our houses and that the local authorities would send out buses to take us to quarantines.”

“
But you knew they wouldn’t take us sick, injured people,” I said bitterly.

“
Right.”

“
So you stayed?”

“
Yes.”

“
With the lot that’s gonna die?”

He narrowed his eyes a bit. “You don’t know that. Not everyone here is at death’s door.”

I looked around the room once more. True, there were several people who, like me, were on the mend. A few more didn’t look sick or injured at all. Maybe they were here with someone, a family member perhaps, and couldn’t stand the thought of leaving them behind.

“
Could any of us be infected?” I asked, apprehensive to hear the response.

“
No. It’s been long enough; we would have known by now. My guess is that most of us are resistant to the virus.”

“
Good.” I nervously twisted a section of my dark hair around my fingers. “So what’s our plan?”

“
Survive.”

“
I know that. We can’t stay in this basement forever though.”

“
We have food that will last us…awhile. As long as the generators stay on, what is in the freezers will tide us over. The storage for the cafeteria is down here.”

“
And when the food runs out?”

“
I’m hoping someone will come rescue us by then.”

“
Hopefully,” I agreed ruefully.

The room we slept in was pretty secure. It was dark and cavernous, but it only had one exit and a heavy metal door guarded it. To get to the food storage, we had to walk down a dark hallway past the boiler room. To conserve what little power we had left, all unnecessary lights had been shut off. No one ever went to get food alone. Jason, an eighteen year old boy, had taken over the role of patrol guard. Armed with a twisted piece of metal, he made sure the coast was clear. As far as anyone knew, our little party had made it into the basement without being followed, shutting the main doors before anyone had a chance to come in.

Sonja, Jason’s younger sister, had taken upon herself the position of keeping up morale. She organized activities for the kids and tried her best to entertain us. For the next week, I allowed myself to fade into the background. I was still weak, my body still in pain. I didn’t want to think about anything or anyone. I didn’t want to wonder what had happened to Aunt Jenny. I lied to Padraic about being in pain so he gave me more morphine. If I wasn’t sleeping, I was talking to Zoe. She devised a storytelling game where we alternated adding words to some sort of epic tale. Maybe I was in shock. Maybe the truth of the matter hadn’t hit me since I didn’t see any of it. While others cried and prayed, I sat calmly by myself, sticking to my routine of eating breakfast, doing what little yoga my body could handle and getting my morphine shot.

That night, Megan and Heath’s newborn son wouldn’t stop crying. No one could fault her or the baby, but she apologized again and again. I was trying to force myself to pass out when I heard it. The thick, metal door blocked out most of the sound. I sat up, closing my eyes. Yes, I knew I heard it.

“
There’s someone out there!” I whispered. “Shhh!” I added, when anxious murmurs broke out. Some thought it was a rescue mission and we were saved. Others, myself included, didn’t trust what was on the other side of the door.

Then they knocked.

“
Hello?” a female voice called. “Is anyone in there?”

Jason and Padraic slowly cracked the door. They looked at each other and nodded, stepping aside to let two ragged girls limp inside. One was dirty and worn, but otherwise unharmed. She helped her bloody friend walk. Hilary rushed over, bringing the injured girl into the bathroom to wash out her wounds.

I seemed to be the only one that didn’t trust them. Outsiders, I thought, we didn’t know anything about them, but everyone else saw them as heroes, survivors. Rebecca and her injured friend Karli brought news of the outside world. It wasn’t what any of us wanted to hear.

They guessed about half the population of the town had evacuated. The other half wasn’t so lucky. They thought that more than half of the remaining either died or got the virus, leaving less than a fourth of the entire population alive. They spoke so mathematically that it was hard to envision the dead bodies that scattered the streets. They had survived by hiding in Karli’s little sister’s treehouse. Hunger forced them out of the trees. On their search for food, Karli got attacked by one of the ‘monsters’. By a major stroke of luck, they found the hospital. Exhausted, both girls slipped into a deep sleep.

No one bothered to keep track of time. There were no windows in the basement, so it was impossible to tell what time of day it was. I assumed my body kept with a fairly consistent cycle and felt tired at night, around ten or eleven. The girls had shown up several hours past that. I had one quick nightmare about death and turning evil when I heard the slurping. I sat up, pissed that someone got into our carefully rationed food, when I saw her silhouette.

She was standing over Mr. McKanthor, an eighty-something year old man who was dying of cancer. Padraic told me that Mr. McKanthor wouldn’t make it much longer, even with the medications he had been taking. Without them…it was only a matter of time. Something splattered on the floor. Thinking it was his IV bag and that Karli was fixing it, I turned over to go back to sleep. But there was something not right. The liquid was dark and thick. I sat up, eyes widening in terror.

Blood. It was blood that covered the floor.

-Chapter 2-

Mr. McKanthor was dead. His head flopped back, dead eyes staring at the ceiling. Karli’s hands were shining with blood. She reached down, rummaging through his intestines, grabbed onto something that stretched and snapped, and shoved it into her mouth. Frozen in horror, I watched her do it again and again. She was infected. She had gone mad. Zoe calling them monsters wasn’t an exaggeration. My mind raced. I needed to stop her, but with what?

As I mulled it over, Sonja sat up. “Hey, what are you doing to—” she began, her voice dying with a sharp intake of breath. Then she screamed. Karli growled at the noise and lunged for her. Without thinking, I leapt off my bed. Jason, who was next to his sister, startled awake. He used his body as a shield, blocking Karli’s psychotic rage from killing his sister. I was by his side in two seconds, picking up his metal weapon and hitting Karli as hard as possible over the head with it.

She didn’t even react to the pain. She clawed and bit at Jason, who struggled to keep her at arm’s length. I hit her two more times; nothing. It was as if I was hitting her with a pool noodle. Knowing Jason couldn’t fight her off forever, I grabbed her hair and yanked her back. She snarled at me, thrashing blood covered hands in the air.

She crouched, reminding me of an animal stalking prey. Also adapting a predator mindset, I was ready when she jumped at me again. My foot hit her square in the chest. She gasped for air and stumbled back, tripping over a cot. Her head hit the hard concrete with a gut wrenching thud. My fingers gripped the metal pipe so hard my knuckles turned white. She unnaturally pulled herself up, a rumbling growl coming from deep inside her throat. Her lips snarled and she flung herself forward. I dodged out of the way, grabbed her arm, and spun her face first into the wall.

“
Nooo!” Rebecca screamed from behind me. Ignoring her desperate calls to spare her friend, I advanced on Karli. I didn’t want to kill the girl. I grabbed a fistful of her hair and smacked her head into the brick wall again. She wobbled, attempted to wrap her hands around my throat, but finally sunk to the ground.

I heard her sneakers scuffing on the gritty floor. But I didn’t see her launch herself in the air. She landed on my back, knocking the wind out of me. Paralyzed, I lay there in terror. Someone must have pulled her off of me. Padraic’s hand grabbed mine and he yanked me out of the way. I scrambled to my feet, clutching onto Padraic for support. I gasped for breath, turning to see Jason struggling with Rebecca.

Like Karli, she was snarling and growling. Recovered, I sprang forward, pipe still in hand, and drove the pointy end into her stomach. Jason let her go and she collapsed, her body twitching as her blood poured out.

The metal pipe clamored to the ground. I slowly became aware that I wasn’t alone. The children cried and the rest gaped at me in horror. My eyes refused to move off of Rebecca’s dying body. Someone took my hand and gave it a gentle tug. Shaken from my nightmare of a reverie, I faced Padraic.

“
I…I…” My voice died as I spoke. Shaking my head, I robotically walked back to my bed.

Little Zoe tiptoed over. “You killed the monsters!” she practically cheered. “You are a hero!”

“
No,” I breathed. I hadn’t killed two monsters. I had killed two humans, taking their lives and their souls. It had to be done, right?

Jason, Padraic, and two men I hadn’t bothered to learn the names of moved the bodies out of out safe room. Though I was far from tired I laid back down, pulling the thin sheet up over me. Clutching her toy cat, Zoe silently climbed in next to me.

“
I feel safe with you,” she whispered. I put my arms around her, suddenly feeling very protective of this sick little girl. We didn’t move while the others went about cleaning the blood. They all left me alone and finally, after what felt like an eternity, I fell back asleep.

I didn’t ask for my morphine shot the next morning. I went on with my usual yoga routine, showing Zoe the basics of the Sun Salutation. She stayed close to me while we ate breakfast, which consisted of a small bowl of cereal, powdered milk, and canned fruit. I could feel their eyes on me as I stuck the plastic spoon in my mouth. I couldn’t say I blamed them; for many days now I was portraying a pathetic, weak girl, eating only enough to stay alive, getting my drugs and hiding under the covers. Jason looked at me with a doey-eyed look I knew all too well. I smiled a tight smile and looked back at my meager meal.