by T. A. Sorsby
‘I have his landline number.’ One of my co-workers nodded, taking himself off into the stacks for some privacy.
‘Captain Davis, could you bring the gurney and restraints please?’ Doctor Lines asked one of the mercenaries before turning to Gladys. ‘It’d be wise to close up for the day ma’am, get your staff home safe. Do you all have the hotline number?’
It didn’t take us long to lock up and get ready for home. I was about to say goodbye to Gladys and walk for my bus before they stopped running, but she finger-wagged me into silence.
‘Nonsense, won’t hear a word of it, I’ll give you a lift home.’
Those who had cars climbed into them, offering lifts to those who used public transport like myself. But it was just me and Gladys in her car, driving in mutual, worried silence.
Every inch of me was screaming that I had to call Katy. She probably already knew what was going on, better than I did. County wasn’t where they’d take Greenfield’s infected, but still, she’d be on the medical frontlines. She’d still be risking exposure no matter which hospital she worked at. I had visions of her being the one with the blood vomit this time, stumbling out of a bathroom, pale, hair slick with sweat.
Jaw tight, I called her and listened to the dialling tone for a full minute before I gave up. She was probably just busy. Yeah.
‘No answer from your Katy?’ Gladys frowned. I shook my head.
‘She’s either not picking up or I can’t get through. They’ll have her working tonight though. Big emergency like this. Rotten timing…’
‘You’ll do her no good with worrying. Try her again when you get in, send her a text.’ Gladys reassured me, ‘She’ll be fine, the CDC look like they’re handling it.’
‘What’re you going to do, about this…mess?’ I asked, changing the subject.
‘Going to pick my kids up, then I think we’ll try getting out of town for a few days. We’ve family in Overbridge we can stay with.’
‘Sounds like a good plan.’ I nodded, texting Katy. We drove in silence for a few minutes while I composed the message, typing and retyping, not wanting to sound too worried, or overprotective. Just…wanting to know what’s happening.
‘Tiernan?’ she smiled, after I hit send. ‘Congratulations.’
It took me a moment to think what she could mean, before I split into a smile of my own. Some women just know these things.
*
Three
I thanked Gladys for the lift and wished her good luck as she dropped me off on the corner, at the other side of the mini-park between the street and Castle Tower. Usually I liked walking through the little ring of green space, but all I could think of was getting in and having a long chat with Katy, even if I had to call the A&E desk at County to get through to her. To hell with all those genuine emergency calls.
I met Neville as I reached the car park at the base of the flats. He was just getting out of his old sedan, Morgan getting out of the passenger side. Both of them looked tense; Morgan keeping her eyes on the ground and Neville rolling his shoulder uncomfortably.
Morgan was like a little sister to me, or maybe an adopted daughter, but I’d still say she was good looking. She was slim, on the athletic side rather than skinny side. Katy had once described as “rather angelic”, but was even jealous of her hair, ash brown and almost to her hips. Said it reminded her of when she was in med school. I’d have liked to have met her back then, before the scissors and dye. She’d shown me the old photos.
But Morgan’s wholesome looks and cheery demeanour had rubbed shoulders with me and Katy for too long - so she had a tendency to wear floral dresses and pink nail polish, paired with leather trenchcoats and heavy boots – much to her father’s amusement. She pulled her school satchel over her shoulder and gave me a wave of greeting.
Neville must have had a day off. I was used to seeing him in uniform, but today he wore comfortable jeans and a windbreaker over a green woolly jumper…with an underarm holster that flashed as he closed his car door. The sight of the gun caught me off balance.
‘Heard the news?’ Morgan asked as I approached.
‘Schools out for disease-control.’ Neville said, adjusting his jacket to better hide the gun.
‘Is that why you’re tooled up?’ I asked.
‘Nah,’ he shrugged, showing the gun again accidentally, ‘Princess here got all paranoid about the cannibal killers so I said I’d bring my work home with me.’
‘Imported plagues and cannibal cults,’ she said, almost managing nonchalance, ‘what is this city coming to?’
The foyer was full of people, so when we opened the doors we had to squeeze our way inside. Most of them had suitcases or backpacks to hand, but there was a feeling in the room that struck a chord with me. Everyone there was afraid of something.
They were all showing it differently. Some of the women looked to have been crying recently, their eyes red or their makeup smudged. Most of the menfolk looked tense, even angry, scratching the back of their heads and pacing back and forth like caged animals. I caught glimpses of conversation. Relatives had been taken into Mercy. A son, a father, a best friend. Nobody was allowed into the hospital unless they were a doctor, a soldier or a patient – no visitors, even for the non-quarantine wards.
A lot of people were talking about leaving the city for a few days, like Gladys, heading into the country, waiting for the danger to pass, like what people did during the bombing back in the war. Suddenly, the landlord’s voice cut over the background chatter.
‘No, this won’t affect your rent like that – I’m leaving too,’ he said, ‘All payments are suspended until you and me are both back, yes.’ The man was sat up on the front desk and he seemed to be fielding questions. Neville stepped up and raised his voice.
‘What’s going on, Stan?’ he asked.
I don’t know if the landlord clocked Neville’s shoulder holster, or if he was just zoning in on the nearest thing to an authority figure, but he ignored a couple more raised hands, and turned his head to Neville.
‘Heya, Mr Roberts. A lot of the tenants are going to be moving out of the city while this whole thing settles down. Are you staying?’ Stan asked back, a trace of relief in his voice. I got the impression he’d been stuck here for a while.
‘Yeah, we are,’ Neville said, putting a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. She put her hand on top of his, eyes taking in the dishevelled crowd. ‘I’ve already had chickenpox.’ he smiled.
Perhaps sensing that the forum was closed, people started shuffling out of the doors behind us, slowly draining the foyer of tenants. I only knew a few faces, and I’d definitely never seen any of them so scared. If they weren’t so well dressed, I’d say they looked like refugees. I nodded in greeting at a few of the ones I recognised from the elevator and the co-op, and got the same in return.
‘How would you mind looking after the keys for a while? Just until this all blows over?’ Stan asked, an optimistic smile on his face. ‘I’ll freeze your rent for a year.’
‘Sounds like fun,’ Neville enthused, suddenly beaming at the prospect and accepting a small ring of keys.
‘So you’re just going to ride it out, huh? Thinking it won’t get as bad as in Rojas?’ Stan asked.
‘That’s the hope,’ Neville nodded, putting the keys into a jacket pocket. I’m guessing he flashed the gun again. He needed a bigger jacket if he wanted to carry that thing around without being gawked at. Stan knew Neville’s gun was licensed; he’d had to fill out paperwork for it when he got the apartment, but even people who had licenses usually didn’t just walk around carrying their guns.
‘What’s that for?’ the landlord asked calmly, going behind the desk and grabbing a notepad.
‘Just bringing it home for cleaning,’ Neville lied, ‘but if Human Rabies creeps up on me, I’ll pop a cap in its ass.’ He said, miming a gun with his fingers.
We chuckled, and the landlord left a note on the desk; his contact info, why the place was so empty, Neville i
n 1402 has the master keys, that sort of thing. Then he wished us luck and left with a suitcase in hand. The remaining three of us took the elevator up to the penthouse together, and after the third attempt I realised Neville’s throat-clearing was prompting me to say something.
‘Oh, yeah,’ I laughed, getting his subtle hint at last. My mind was elsewhere.
‘Am I missing something again?’ Morgan sighed, ‘Because if this is “man stuff” then you can just let me off here.’ She added, inverting the commas in the air.
‘Couples stuff, Morgan.’ I smiled. ‘I’ve popped the question to Katy.’
Morgan squealed like a kid on Midwinter morning.
‘Does this mean she’ll be moving in?’ she asked, ‘Possibly with the addition of tiny feet in cowboy boots?’
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ Neville said, ‘give the man a minute. Congratulations, Kelly.’ he added, holding out a manly handshake. I took it with a slightly embarrassed smile, and he clapped me on the shoulder.
‘Still saving for a deposit, but we’ve talked about moving in together…’ I shrugged, suddenly in the spotlight.
‘Well I think that’s a great idea,’ Morgan said, folding her arms with a satisfied smile, like it’d been her idea all along.
Katy’d always valued her space, her privacy. There were even locks on a few of the drawers in her room – but that was just because it was an old student house. She’d shared the place since University with Dani, an old friend from back home, and Laurel, who’d simply been looking for new digs. They were thick as thieves now.
On the top floor, I stuck my head out of my place just long enough to hear the Roberts’ door close, and Morgan struggle to keep her voice down as she talked to her father about the engagement. I cracked up into a broad grin, but I didn’t think Neville would be. Morgan would probably go on about it all day now, even if it would be a distraction from the growing pandemic.
With the warning to stay indoors I guessed I wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. But I still needed to call Katy and make sure she was okay. I punched in County’s A&E desk number and chewed my lip for another minute before I hung up. Those pesky hounds started jumping in my stomach again, only this time they had three heads apiece. Nobody was picking up the emergency desk? Again, same result on my landline.
I tried calling friends. I’d come to Greenfield knowing only a couple of people, high school and college friends who’d moved up here for university and never left. Until I met Katy, I didn’t have a lot more friends than Jason, the cameraman, Will, a paperwork wrangler, and the host of moderate acquaintances they happened to bring along to the pub or invite to chat in online games.
If you can’t get in touch with one person, it’s not really a cause for concern. If you can’t reach half a dozen names, trying each one on a mobile and a landline – now that’s when you can start worrying. I took the back off my mobile, took out the card and blew on it before putting it back in, and trying all the numbers again, just in case I was the problem. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.
Desperately, I knocked on Neville’s door and asked to use his phone, just in case mine were both broken. Standing in his kitchen, I stared at my reflection in the black faux-marble worktop as I listened to the busy signals once more. No phone was getting me through to anyone else’s.
Maybe it was just the call volume, I thought, trying to reason with myself. So many other people must be trying to get in touch with their friends and family, or the ERHR hotline, the lines and masts must have been jammed up.
I tried my games console, hoping to use one of the chat functions to send out an email or get someone on the other end of a headset, but couldn’t connect to the Wireless. Castle Tower’s network was fine, but it wasn’t registering any further signals. If someone on the third floor wanted to play Galaxy Raider with me then we’d be fine, but that didn’t do me much good.
My mind started racing again. She was surely working. Everyone with so much as a First Aid badge would be called in to help with something like this. If she went to work and caught the infection, what could I do? Or…no, what if she saw the news report before she left? I crossed my fingers and tried Katy one last time, dialling the girls’ house from memory. It connected.
‘Kelly? Oh, thank Gods, I was so worried.’ Katy sighed.
A lot of people called me Kelly, but for her it was more like a pet name than most people thinking “Tiernan” was weird and old fashioned. In a house full of girls, they’d joked it made them uncomfortable to have a man around the house, so stuck with Kelly. I took it in my stride. Katy’s voice sounded stressed, but not like she’d been crying – more like she’d been given some bad news and hadn’t quite processed it yet.
‘I was too, I called as soon as I got back home,’ I told her, ‘do you know what’s going on at the hospital? Are they sending East River patients to County?’ I asked, to confirm my worst fear.
‘Yeah,’ she said, quietly. ‘I don’t want you to worry though. Mercy’s just getting a little overcrowded, so we’re getting some of the overflow. But I shouldn’t be treating any ERHR patients, that’s the CDC’s job. Mainly I’ll just be admin, paperwork.’ She added, trying to comfort me.
‘Can you just…not go in?’ I regretted asking it immediately.
‘They need me,’ she said, firmly. ‘This is what I wanted to do when I turned down that job with my parents. Be there for people. Make a difference. I can’t bail out on my oaths just because things are getting tough.’
‘I know, I’m sorry I said anything, I didn’t mean that. I’m just…’
‘You’re worried you won’t be able to return the ring if it’s a biohazard.’ She sighed. For a second, I thought she was serious. ‘I’ll be sure to give it a good scrubbing before the cold sweats start.’
‘Not funny.’ I told her, pacing around my apartment. ‘Call me, text me, any chance you get.’
She laughed, but it was nervous, fleeting. ‘I’ve got to go, but, just, listen to me for a minute Tiernan,’ she stopped, clearing her throat, her voice becoming much quieter and more serious. She used my first name and everything. ‘Stay safe, okay? Keep an eye on the news any way you can, stay inside, and please, don’t go near the infected. I can’t lose you now. I love you. I’ll see you later.’
‘I love you too…see you later…’ I replied.
We hung up.
*
Four
I slipped into a kinda coma for a minute, imagining Katy getting infected in the line of duty. I know, I know she said it was just paperwork, admin, but it’s still a hospital. She could still be asked to help, and help she would. I couldn’t bear the thought of her being hurt. I wanted to go down there and grab her, take her back here where it was safe…If she knew I was thinking like such a white knight I’d get such a kicking…
Suddenly I got that feeling that comes after a noise, where you know you’ve heard something but now it’s all quiet. Someone knocked on my door and I jumped, a hot wave of embarrassment making me uncomfortably aware I was still in my jacket.
I walked over to the door and opened it. Before I could even ask her what was wrong, Morgan ducked past me in the doorway, ponytail swinging. My apartment’s fairly big, but mostly open plan. Only the bedroom and the bathroom are cut off.
‘You’ve got to see this.’ She explained, turning the TV on and picking up the remote.
‘Looks like things are getting worse,’ Neville said calmly, appearing behind me. ‘President just declared a state of emergency, and a few minutes ago the Senate called up all remaining Territorial units to reinforce quarantine areas in the south. The CDC’s really worried about Greenfield’s infection rate, so they’re contracting more mercenaries to block the roads, and there’s some kind of riot downtown.’
We all fell quiet, as Morgan searched through the TV guide function for the local news station. It was showing aerial footage of Mercy Hospital, where Something was Happening.
The hospital was just on the edge of
the city centre, and the footage was focusing on the main entrance, where several grey military four-by-fours and trucks had parked in a semi-circle on the main road.
As we watched, something was thrown at one of the blockading Humvees and exploded over the roof of the vehicle, covering it in fire and causing some of the men behind the 4x4 to stumble back.
‘This shocking footage was taken just a few minutes ago at Mercy Hospital, where victims of the East Rojas virus have been taken by the CDC. According to our on-site reporter, the rioting was sparked by the patients’ treatment by PMC soldiers hired to assist in the search for infected citizens. Gillian Allman has more.’
The aerial footage was replaced by a lady reporter, standing some ways down the street from the hospital. I could make out the crowds of people around the CDC blockade, and just about hear the resonating shouts of their protest. She was a fairly safe distance away from the crowd, but she still looked a little worried, beneath the calm, professional, Auntie Veeb training.
‘Thanks Matt. I’m outside Mercy Hospital, where a crowd of angry protestors has gathered. I can inform you that only moments ago shots were fired above the heads of the crowd by the soldiers in response to a projectile thrown by the protestors, some of whom have since fled the area.
‘According to one bystander who did not wish to appear on camera, concerned family members refused to give up their loved ones to the CDC, which understandably sparked tensions, after leaked footage from Rojas showed unarmed infected civilians being shot by peacekeeping forces.
‘As per Parliamentary orders, the soldiers used non-lethal force to separate the infected into a quarantined area set up inside Mercy Hospital. But only a few minutes ago, rioters forced their way inside the hospital and began to harass both the CDC and hospital staff.
‘According to a phone call made from inside the hospital by a member of the CDC’s medical team; the rioters have barricaded sections of the hospital and are demanding that the soldiers leave. The mercenaries have since declared the entire hospital a quarantine zone.’