I can’t stop until I know I’ve found somewhere with medical supplies; otherwise, it’s a waste of time. My only safe bet is a hospital.
After a short distance, Evans crossed a bridge that went over a highway. If the outbreak hadn’t happened, she was sure that there would be a high amount of traffic below, but only abandoned vehicles and the infected now traversed the roads.
Upon reaching the other side of the highway, Evans found the road split in two directions. To the left were giant white warehouses, and to the right not far away, she could see two golden arches. Everyone knew what that sign meant, western influences brought its most popular fast-food chain to more corners of the world than any other, McDonald’s. Evans knew that everything inside the place would have most likely spoiled by now, or at least hoped it had.
I would kill for a burger and fries! It makes me sad I can’t just go inside and place an order.
Knowing that there was at least one fast food place, the path to the right looked more promising, and she began to walk down the road toward the McDonald’s. Passing it, left her only with a feeling of wanting to be home. The sun was bearing down on her at this point, and she needed to rest. Her reprieve came in the form of a convenience store on her right. The store had a sign planted on the sidewalk with a familiar symbol that she knew, 7/11. Smiling, Evans knew that there would be food and drinks inside, and she could load up on some supplies.
She walked past a few infected milling around the street, noticing that there were a few bicycles outside of the store against the wall, something she made a note of if she needed to get away in a rush. Evans moved carefully around the bikes, so she didn’t accidentally knock them over, and went around the corner, moving to the door. It looked untouched from the outside, deciding after watching inside for a minute, that it was safe, she slowly pulled the door open, wide enough for her to enter.
Inside the shop was humid, and she could tell that no one had opened the doors since the outbreak, and an ungodly smell assaulted her. The smell coming from the section where all the freshly made food was kept, normally in a cooler, had spoiled, making her gag. Evans covered her mouth to stifle the noise, and to help try blocking some of the horrid smell. Her stomach turned, and Evans found she wasn’t really hungry anymore. Knowing that it was just the smell, she moved to the other side of the store, where the prepackaged food was. The shelves were lined with all kinds of products, all with bright colors and bold text. She couldn’t read anything printed on them and decided to open some, to discover what was inside.
Grabbing what looked like a bag of chips, she pried apart the seal, finding she was correct. She had the foresight to grab a backpack from the base, and quickly stuffed several bags into it. Evans stopped, suddenly feeling bad because she knew technically, it was stealing. However, Evans didn’t think anyone would mind her taking food to survive. Shoving a few chips from the open bag into her mouth, she greedily chewed them. Having not eaten in a few days, the salty chips exploded in her mouth, the flavor almost too rich for her taste buds.
Swallowing, Evans coughed as the chips scratched her throat. Her mouth was dry, begging for some water. Evans looked down the aisle, finding the drink coolers at the end, she moved quickly to see what was inside. The drinks created a rainbow of color, and she yanked open the door, grabbing a yellow-colored drink. The lukewarm soda hit the spot as she felt her cracked lips burn. Her mouth now rejuvenated, she looked at the rest of the drinks.
I don’t know what any of this is, but at this rate, it doesn’t matter.
Small silver cans with gold colors printed on them were lined perfectly in the drink cooler next to the soda. She opened the cooler and opened a can. Evans wondered what it would be when the familiar taste of coffee hit her taste buds. The rich taste was almost too much, but after gasping for air, she could feel her body working to absorb the caffeine. Shoving several of the cans into her bag, she moved to see if she could find any medical supplies. She was able to find some pills and bandages but nothing to clean and treat the wound with.
Not a bad haul, but I need to keep moving. These wounds are really starting to ache.
Evans decided to keep following the road and see where it landed her. She stopped, grabbing some bar-shaped objects toward the front of the store first, discovering it was chocolate. Shoving half a bar in her mouth, she crumpled the wrapper and dropped it in the trash can outside the door of the gas station. She walked to the middle of the intersection, looking to her left, then her right, before deciding to keep heading the same direction she had been.
Passing a tall building on her left, that had a small metal gate around the property, wondering if she should return to it after treating her wounds. Evans knew that in a few hours, she would need somewhere to rest for the night, and tried to remember as much as she could along the way.
Walking, she noticed how empty it really was. Beyond the occasional infected roaming about, she was alone. It was empty. Evans hadn’t noticed before, but it was quiet. The only noise she heard was the wind blowing. It was almost peaceful, but she knew that only a few weeks before, there would have been people everywhere going about their lives. As if to remind her of this, she stopped in front of a large, dried pool of blood, soaked into the concrete. The blood trailed over to a nearby house, where the door swung ever so slightly with the wind.
Evans was alone with the dead, fearing that she might not find anyone alive. Hope, it was the only thing keeping her going. It drove her to find somewhere to treat her wounds and rest until she could move around without pain. Hoping that someone was still alive and that together with their help, she could find a way to escape.
Her pain started to feel worse as she kept walking, but she needed to find somewhere with medicine, and soon. Evans stopped, hearing the sound of the infected in numbers; it was a loud, unmistakable sound of moaning. She crept slowly down the street, trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from, finding a large horde of infected surrounding what looked like a grocery store. Evans made sure her pace was slowed down but ignored the group. Leaving the sounds of the infected behind her, she made it to an intersection, with the road split in a T. Looking left she made out a train station behind several tall apartment buildings and decided she didn’t want anything to do with following train lines for a while.
Her side was hurting beyond belief now, and the pain was beginning to creep through her entire midsection. She couldn’t give up, though. Evans had to keep moving, keep searching. Her eyes flicked back and forth at the buildings she passed, stopping on an arch-shaped awning. Reading it several times, just to make sure it wasn’t her mind playing tricks on her, she had found a hospital. The sign read Sagamino Central Hospital.
Evans didn’t waste any time as she moved to the door, opening it without worry. She stumbled into the lobby, finding a directory in front of her. Luckily, everything had English translations in small print under each label. Evans scanned the list of different departments, General practitioner, Surgery, patient rooms, and a host of other places. Two-thirds of the way down the list, discovering what she was searching for, the pharmacy. It was directly ahead and down the hall toward the back of the floor.
Just a bit further…
Using the wall to help support herself, she moved toward her goal. Her vision tunneled, feeling herself on the brink of collapsing. Forcing herself forward, she made it to the pharmacy. Finding it was open, she pulled herself over the counter, fighting back, crying out in pain. Evans fell onto her back, blacking out from the pain.
Chapter 26
Evans woke up, the pain still arcing through her body in spasms. She rolled onto her side, trying to pick herself up. Above her were shelves, filled row after row of various medicines, bottle after bottle. She couldn’t seem to find the strength to pull herself up. Crawling toward the back of the room, fighting with every inch she moved. Eventually, Evans spotted what she needed, fresh bandages, and what she assumed was alcohol.
Using the shelf to help su
pport herself, she tried to pull herself up. The shelf wasn’t anchored as Evans thought, and as she used it to pull herself up, it toppled over. Luckily, there wasn’t much of a gap between shelves, and it stopped, leaning against the other shelf with a loud thud. Falling to the ground, her vision went black again.
A chorus of moans sent a chill down her spine but was unable to move. She lay there uncomfortably, the drinks in her backpack digging into her back. Evans knew if she didn’t move that the infected would leave her alone, and currently moving only caused her problems.
She listened as the infected stomped toward the pharmacy, marching to find out who had intruded in their domain. Evans closed her eyes, finding that her mind and body both told her she was tired. Even with the noise from the infected searching for the source of the noise, she let sleep take her.
✽ ✽ ✽
A scream pierced the walls of Evans’ mind. It slapped her awake, quickly moving to see who and where it had come from. She couldn’t see anything but the shelves with bottles and began to crawl out from under the shelf, so she could stand. Once Evans was standing, she held out her hands, trying to keep her balance. After a few seconds, she felt her equilibrium return and moved toward the front of the pharmacy.
Nearing the counter, she had climbed over earlier, Evans found the source of the scream. A woman was on the other side of the counter, struggling with an infected doctor. The creature lashed out at the woman, who held her ground but was quickly losing to the strength of the dead man. Evans took off her backpack, setting it gently on the ground next to her.
With the weight off her back, she felt a little better, grabbing the knife from her belt. Evans moved to the door separating the back from the store side of the pharmacy. She quickly got behind the doctor, grabbing his shoulder. Evans stabbed with all the force she could muster, which was more than she thought she could, plunging the blade deep into his ear canal.
Evans could feel the blade penetrate through the soft tissue of the brain and pulled it out quickly. The doctor fell to the ground, spasming as she pulled the blade out. The woman stared at Evans for a moment as she met her gaze.
“Hello,” Evans eventually mustered.
The woman didn’t reply, still shocked that someone had just helped her. Eventually, she spoke too, “Hello.”
Before Evans could respond, she fell forward, the woman catching her.
“Are you hurt?” the woman asked.
Evans nodded, trying to show her the crude bandages on her bites.
“Hold on, I’ll get us somewhere safe,” the woman responded, half dragging Evans down the hall.
Evans didn’t pay much attention, but soon found herself laying down in a hospital bed, and the woman moving the pull back the bandages. The woman let out a gasp in surprise upon seeing that there were bite wounds.
“Bites… There isn’t much I can do about this, I’m sorry,” the woman said with sorrow in her eyes.
Evans managed to speak, “Two days ago, not infected.”
“These bites are from two days ago? That’s not possible, you would have turned by now. The longest someone lasted was sixteen hours before the virus took them!” the woman said louder than she meant.
“Promise. Need new bandages. Antibiotics,” Evans choked out.
“How do I know you aren’t lying? That would be a waste of good supplies.” The woman said sternly.
Evans still held her knife, holding it out for the woman to take, “Promise, saved you. Take it.”
The woman grabbed the knife before Evans blacked out once more.
✽ ✽ ✽
The sunlight hit her face, bright and warm once more. She opened her eyes, expecting to wake up back in the dorm room at the barracks. Doomed to her own personal hell, repeating her day. Instead, finding she was still in a hospital bed, feeling like a whole new person. Her side and arm no long throbbed with constant pain, and her head didn’t feel like it was swimming. She looked around the room; to her right, there was a counter with a small sink, along the counter was various pill bottles and gauze. Turning her head toward the window, she spotted the woman, who had opened the blinds to allow the natural sunlight to light the room.
“Hello?” Evans said, unsure what to say to the woman.
“You’re up!” the woman said, moving over to Evans quickly.
“How long was I out?” Evans asked the woman, rubbing her eyes.
“Two days. Now, can you tell me how you were bitten?” the woman said with interest.
“I was part of an American military force sent to find out what happened here and secure a foothold to provide relief. After realizing what happened, we tried to escape from the nearby Air Force base. I was bitten while we were securing a helicopter to fly out. I assumed I was dead and found somewhere to die in peace. I woke up the next day. Not much else to tell,” Evans said with a matter of fact tone.
“That is quite a tale,” the woman said earnestly, “I heard the helicopter take off. I thought I heard things, but I saw it in the sky, but it was already far away.”
“What about you?” Evans asked.
“Me? I was a teacher. I taught English at a nearby high school. The funny thing is, I was sick with the flu the first week of the outbreak. I was home, sick, and didn’t know anything was happing until I heard the screaming and gunfire outside. I think it’s partly the only reason I survived. I heard the school was attacked in the first week… it wasn’t pretty.”
“Is it just you then?” Evans asked, sitting up.
“Yeah, I’ve been hiding and looting for food. I came here for medical supplies. I was hiding near the pharmacy when I heard a crash. I went to investigate, only to get surprised by one of the infected.”
“Looks like we were both in the right place at the right time!” Evans said, pointing to her knife.
“It would seem so. You saved me, and I saved you in return,” the woman said.
“What’s your name, by the way?” Evans asked.
“Meika. Yours?”
“I go by Evans since I am in the military. We go by our last names. If you prefer, my first name is Michelle,” Evans said.
“Well, Evans, you need to eat, then we can talk about getting out of here. We’ll talk more at my apartment,” Meika said.
✽ ✽ ✽
Two weeks later, Evans stared out Meika’s third-floor apartment window. She watched as a small group of the infected moved down the street, chasing after some noise that drew their attention.
“We are running low on food,” Meika stated from across the apartment.
“Quiet! There are quite a few of them out there today,” Evans hissed.
“They are always out there. Besides, we are all the way up here,” Meika said quietly.
Evans and Meika had grown to become close friends in the time that had been together. They watched each other’s backs, went on supply runs together, and, most importantly, they provided each other with someone else to talk to. Evans’ bites had mostly healed over but were still raw and sore. She wondered if they would ever feel normal, but was thankful for Meika, and her help treating them.
“Well, if we need food, we will have to find a new store, that last one was empty when we left,” Evans said, moving over to a map they had placed on the wall.
Meika had made sure to mark places she had hit for supplies before, as well, marking places where there were a lot of the infected. Together they had cleared out a three-block by three-block radii around her apartment, although most of it had been Meika before they found each other. They were a solid team, Meika knew the city around them, and Evans had survival skills, rationing techniques, and had the know-how to kill the infected. Meika hadn’t fought any infected before Evans had come along, hiding and using stealth to get around.
“We can try this store here,” Meika said, pointing to a block to the north they hadn’t cleared yet, “First though, let’s check your bites.”
✽ ✽ ✽
After slowly and stealthil
y making their way through the city, sticking to the shadows, they had made their way to the store. Meika looked through the windows, cupping her hands and pressing her face against it. Evans eyed the street around them, making sure there weren’t any of the creatures lurking around. There wasn’t any in sight, but Evans didn’t let her awareness drop.
“Looks clear, watch my back while I try the door,” Meika whispered.
Meika moved to the door, attempting to pull it open. It was locked and didn’t budge.
“Damn!” Meika said.
“Move aside,” Evans said, grabbing a spark plug from her bag.
Using it to smash the glass, which shattered into a million small pieces, the tricked worked it had before. Evans looked around, making sure that the noise of the glass shattering hadn’t drawn any creatures to them. The road was still empty. Evans held her pipe that she carried as her main weapon, pulling out her knife, holding it her other hand.
“Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you,” Evans said.
Meika entered through the broken door, ducking under the metal bar that was still in place to pull the door open. Evans followed her, blinking her eyes to the darker interior of the store. The daylight lit up the front half of the store, but the back recesses of the store were poorly lit. Evans didn’t waste any time to see if any infected were inside.
Banging the pipe against the shelf closest to her, the sound rang through the store. No reply came back, and after waiting what felt like ages, they moved to start looting. Evans put her knife back into her belt, setting down her pipe. Swinging her backpack around from her shoulder, she began to grab anything deemed useful. Food was their main priority, but anything that they could use they would try to take as well.
What Remains (Book 3): Epidemic Page 16