by Carter, John
Emma sprang up in the bed and instantly felt the pain from her stomach. “Damn it!” She tried to calm her stomach muscles but it was too late.
Jeremiah rushed in, “Emma, are you okay?” He looked drowsy and half asleep.
“Were you sleeping in the hallway?”
He nodded and turned red, “I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay, and in case you need help.”
Emma smiled and shifted the bandages along her stomach.
“Let me help you,” he grabbed the first aid kit and attempted to lift the tape from her skin gently. “Sorry.”
Emma winced and looked on, “It’s okay, just pull it all at once.”
Jeremiah pulled on the tape which caused Emma to jump and curse.
“No more tape. Please,” she squeaked out as he replaced the soiled gauze with fresh ones.
“Okay, should be good for a while,” he turned and walked towards the door.
Emma quickly recovered from the pain, “You can sleep in here if you want to. I mean, since Sarah’s out with Rory on duty.” She cleared her throat, “That bed should be free.”
He looked confused and his face flushed, “Sure, I’d like to. I can keep an eye on your vitals and monitor your heart. Yeah, that works.” He went out to the hallway and retrieved his sleeping bag. He got the bed ready and laid down in the gurney. “Wake me up if anything comes up. Questions? Comments?” They both laughed.
“Thanks,” she turned over to face him. “I know this is probably a bit premature, but is there any way to know why I’m not a Riser yet?”
He sat up with an arm propping up his head, “I wish I knew for sure, but since your blood is abnormal, the virus might not survive for too long in it. There might be a small range of blood sugar that it thrives in. The only way we’d know for sure is to drop someone’s sugar low with insulin, granted if they’re non-diabetic, and see if that would either delay or eradicate the virus completely. All of this would have to happen pretty quickly, since it’s dangerous to have low blood sugar.”
“I wish I could volunteer as a control subject for that, but I’m pretty sure you guys would hate that idea.”
He nodded, “Your sister wouldn’t be too happy with you. Besides that, we don’t have a base reading to compare to.”
“Well, I’ll let you get to sleep,” Emma yawned and turned over. “I really appreciate you being in here with me.”
“Have a good night,” Jeremiah laid back on the gurney and stared at the ceiling. He listened to her heart monitor and let beeping lull him back to sleep.
Mark tapped Sarah on the shoulder to let her know it was time to switch. She stood up and walked over to Rory who was sleeping in a sleeping bag. “Just let him sleep. I’ll keep an eye on him,” Mark sat next to Rory and motioned for Sarah to go inside. She smiled and opened the steel door slowly. She walked in to the bunker and nearly ran into Dani.
“Crap,” Dani dropped a tool to the ground. “I’m so sorry.”
Sarah helped Dani pick up the tool, “It’s cool. Are you okay?” She held the tool in her hands as Dani looked embarrassed.
“I made it,” she blushed. “It’s a sort of hand saw that’s hidden under a sleeve on your arm. I’ve got it on a spring to activate when you move a small lever. See?” She demonstrated for Sarah and showed her the lock that held the spring in. The movement was quiet and seemed like it would work great while sneaking onto a Riser filled area.
“Wow, I like it. Have you tried it out?” Sarah watched as Dani’s smile disappeared.
“No, unfortunately, my parents won’t let me venture out as much as I used to,” she looked on disapprovingly. “It’s not fair since I’m older, but I get why they’re doing it. It just sucks.”
“Yeah, Emma used to keep me inside all the time,” Sarah half smiled. “I never fully forgave her for it, either.” Dani looked confused as Sarah moved the lever on the weapon. “I was always so upset to never be allowed to go scavenging with her. I was a lot smaller than her, even though I’m only 2 years younger.”
“She tried to protect you,” Dani closed the weapon.
“She always does,” Sarah shifted her focus towards the end of the hallway. She laughed to herself, “Where’s Jeremiah?”
Dani smirked, “he’s sleeping in your bed. I never thought he’d ever like anyone as much as he likes your sister.”
“Is there another bed I can sleep in?”
“Yeah, I think there’s a gurney in the lab, unless you want mine. I can take the lab.”
“No, it’s okay. I should be fine.”
“Alright, he’s got extra blankets in there too since it gets a little colder than usual,” Dani turned to walk away.
Sarah walked over to the triage room and checked on Emma. The heart monitor continued to beep and she relaxed as she watched her sister was quietly sleeping. The sight of the wounds on her sister’s body angered her and she resented being the reason for both painful reminders of how she’s failed Emma. She looked away and walked to the lab. The bed looked awkward and out of place next to the old lab equipment. She threw her pillow on it and covered up with some blankets. She shivered for a few seconds before falling asleep.
Tony joined Mark outside as Rory woke up from sleeping on the ground. Mark nodded to Rory, “Sarah’s inside, should be sleeping already.”
“She’s in the lab,” Tony said as he sat near Mark. “Oh. It gets pretty cold in there so plenty of blankets on the corner of the hallway for you guys.”
Rory nodded and stumbled back inside the bunker.
Tony took the binoculars from Mark and looked at the valley. “Nothing yet, huh?”
Mark shook his head, “I’m sure they’ll try something, just not sure what or how.”
“Well, all we can do is prepare and wait it out,” Tony gave the binoculars back to Mark.
Mark looked at the dark valley below. The moon remained full and lit up the entire highway. The various cars that were lined up on the sides of one of the bridges were still as visible as were many parts of the road that were torn up and uneven. It appeared that the forest attempted to take over the land it once owned so long ago before important people decided to take over and make it theirs. There was a slight breeze hitting them as they sat up above the land. Tall grass and overgrown weeds swayed with the breeze and attempted to lull them to sleep as the music of their swaying grew louder. Mark sat back and listened to the slight movements of the grass around them. The distant howls and screeches reached them, but Mark couldn’t decide if they were coming from the North or Southeast directions. Tony yawned and stretched.
“You’re not helping, man,” Mark copied Tony and yawned. “They’re contagious.”
“They’re the only thing worth catching nowadays,” Tony smiled.
The uneven land gave them an advantage to see everything that happened below without being detected. A small crevice in the hill allowed for two people to easily walk up and down quickly and quietly. The land sat still as the night became mid-morning, and part of the sky remained nearly jet black as the light of the sun colorized portions of it.
Trevor kept sniffing around trying to get a scent for people. Dead, alive, reanimated wandering dead heads, whichever came first. Chloe remained a few steps behind as she regretted the moment she agreed to go on this hunt. She stopped and checked her boots, “Ugh, can’t we stop for a second? My feet hurt from these damned boots.”
Trevor turned around quickly, nearly swivelling on his heels. “No,” he sniffed the air and recognized a familiar smell. “Shut up!” He motioned for her to get down. She groaned and crouched to the dirty forest ground. Chloe made an ugly face at Trevor as he was facing away from her attempting to find something. “Don’t do that or your face will stay that way.” She slowly stopped making the face and sat back onto the ground. He walked over to the tree furthest from them and looked down at the valley in front of them. “Chloe, look!”
She got up and sulked over to where he was standing, “What?�
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He rolled his eyes and moved her head, “There. Bandits ahead.”
“How do you know? That looks like a military flag.” The outpost consisted of four green tarps covering makeshift tents and two fire barrels. The entrance had a huge pallet of wood with barbed wire loosely draped on it as well as a rotting corpse. One of the three tarps looked like it had partially caved in and it was being secured with something inside, most likely a wood plank. The awkward shape of it’s roof made it stand out to Trevor. He allowed himself to smile and thanked his luck.
“That’s what they want you to think so you can be “saved”, when they end up robbing and killing you. Great plan,” Trevor salivated with rage. “I can’t wait to see what they’ve got in there.” Trevor searched for a way down to the outpost and found a slight drop from the edge of the forest to the valley floor. “Come on.”
Chloe groaned again and picked herself up, “what did I do to deserve this?” By the time she reached the edge, Trevor was already half way to the outpost. A Riser suddenly came out of the entrance of the makeshift camp. She froze mid step as she watched Trevor approach it calmly. It stood still as it sniffed at him, most Risers didn’t have expressions but the look of confusion on the Riser’s face was nearly impossible to miss. Chloe made a step toward them and the Riser quickly switched to aggression.
“I really understand, but you can’t eat her,” Trevor coaxed the Riser as it stared at him, almost mesmerized. “I think it likes me.”
“Wonderful,” she said as the Riser snarled at her.
“Careful, I don’t think he likes sarcasm.” Trevor turned to her, “Say you’re sorry.”
Chloe stood in shock, “What?”
“Say that you’re sorry.”
“To that thing?”
Trevor grimaced, “don’t call it a thing!” His anger seeped out and he quickly ruptured a vessel in his right eye. “Shit, just say it!”
“Sorry,” she held her hands up and didn’t move.
He wiped his eye as it started to bleed, “Thank you.” He turned to the Riser, “She said she was sorry.”
The Riser looked at Chloe and carried on with walking away from them. She waited until the Riser was out of eyesight and heavily breathed. She nearly fainted and vomited at the same time.
Trevor smiled at her, “See? All they want is respect.”
Chapter 10
“So, what are our next steps?” Mark sat down near Sarah as Tony and Kayla worked in the nearby kitchen. “Are there any?”
Tony crossed his arms after flipping the leftover food on the pan. “I believe Paul is still operating the outpost in Canada. The last I heard was that he’s working on more solar powered generators and getting more food.”
“That’s one option,” Kayla added.
Sarah sighed, “We had planned to go to the coastline. I think we can still go but we have to see how Emma is recovering.”
“I’m doing fine,” Emma walked in and sat near Mark and Sarah. She winced as she attempted to relax in the sitting position. “I don’t think the coastline is going to be a good idea after all though. At least for me.”
Sarah looked at Emma, “Well, we won’t go.”
Tony uncrossed his arms and pulled the pan from the flame, “We can do a recon mission to the coast and make sure it’s feasible to go?”
They looked back and Emma answered, “Yeah, you can check it out. It might be doable for you guys, but I won’t be mobile for a while. I might stay here and pull my weight, so I can try to pay Tony and Kayla back.”
Mark played with his food as he listened, “Maybe you can still come with us, since we have the truck.”
“Yeah, we can pull your ass along, like we usually do,” Sarah laughed.
Rory sat near Emma, “Who else is going to keep us in line?”
“I can’t even do that now, you guys are horrible.” She shook her head as Sarah passed along her plate of extra bananas. “Now, if you bribe me with food, I might think about going.”
They continued to laugh as Jeremiah walked in. Emma’s hand locked up and caused her to drop the plate of bananas. “Shit,” she scrambled to pick up the plate.
“Nice,” Rory smiled at Emma who glared at him.
Sarah threw an apple slice at Rory, “Shut up, you!” He laughed as Jeremiah sat near him at the large mess hall table.
Dani walked in and saw the plate of bananas on the floor as Emma struggled to pick them up. “5 minute rule!” She grabbed two, dusted them off and ate them.
“I thought it was the five second rule,” Mark said as he looked at Dani.
Dani shrugged, “In my head, it’s five minutes. I’m pretty sure the germs don’t care and aren’t counting to 5, so it doesn’t even matter how long you wait.”
Emma smiled, “Great logic.” She put the plate back on the table and grabbed the last of the bananas from the floor. “Thanks,” she said to Dani who winked at her and sat near Jeremiah. Tony and Kayla sat at the ends of each bench as they joined in on the main course. They were able to find more vegetables and made a buffet of corn, broccoli and green peas.
“Remember butter?” Kayla pointed to Mark. “Paul had a slab of it, literally a slab on our first meal out.”
“Where did he find it?” Jeremiah laughed.
Mark shrugged and laughed, “Probably from the farm next door. Dairy cows and churned butter.”
“I miss butter,” Tony said quietly, which caused everyone else to erupt in laughter.
“Ouch,” Emma said as she stopped laughing suddenly.
“Be careful, your wound isn’t completely closed yet,” Jeremiah looked over to Emma.
“I’m fine,” she said sharply, which caused Jeremiah to suddenly get up.
“Well, I might as well get back to the lab,” he left the room quickly as Emma covered her face.
“Oh god, what did I do?” Emma looked down as Rory patted her on her back. “I didn’t mean that. I’m just tired of being told that.”
Sarah looked as Emma rubbed her eyes, “Well, explain yourself to him. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“What can I tell him? ‘Oh, I’m sorry that I’m such a bitch’.”
“That’s a start,” Rory said as Mark smacked his arm. “Ouch. I mean, he’ll understand.”
Sarah shook her head at him, “Remember, I’m exactly like her, so watch yourself.”
“Emma, I’m sorry,” Rory attempted to apologize.
“Don’t worry about it,” Emma got up from the table and walked over to the door. “I hope he does understand.” She walked out of the kitchen area and towards the lab. She heard a huge slap as Rory yelped in pain. “Damn, Sarah,” Mark laughed.
Emma walked over to the lab and took a deep breath. She finally walked into the lab and found Jeremiah working on the console.
He stopped her from talking, “Don’t worry, I won’t be bothering you at all. At least, for the rest of the day. The console took it’s last command and we may be out of a computer.”
She sat on the stool near the console and watched as he attempted to bring up the prompt to get into the program. “I’m sorry.”
He stopped and looked at her, “No, I should be the one saying I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you.” He looked down and typed in a command. “Got it!” He celebrated quietly as she shook her head.
“You don’t have to be worried about me. I should be fine in a few weeks, and then I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Why do you feel like you’re such a burden? I’m here to help you get better,” he sat down on the stool next to her.
“I’m holding them back from leaving to the coastline,” she said as tears ran down her face. “I’m trying really hard to get better quick, so I don’t take too much of yours or Tony and Kayla’s. I feel like I’ve leeched too much already.”
“Look, we’re here to help people. Regardless of them paying us back, we help them,” he wiped away her tears with his handkerchief, and handed it to her. “I’m sorry
that I’m being overbearing, but I just want to make sure you’re doing okay. I really care…about you.” He tried to stop the words as they came out of his mouth.
She looked at him as his face reddened. Jeremiah got up and stood over the console, attempting to ignore what he just said. She got up and nervously stood there for a few seconds before grabbing Jeremiah’s face and kissing him. He stood still as she let go of him and smiled. Emma wiped the excess tears off of her face and handed back his handkerchief. She plainly said, “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he said automatically.
She grabbed his shoulder and smiled, “not for that.” Jeremiah awkwardly stood straight up as she walked away and out of the lab. He finally exhaled and his face stayed reddish.
Trevor sat in the makeshift outpost waiting for the bandits to return. “I’m thinking they’ll be back pretty soon.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Chloe shifted her feet and sat near the entrance to keep an eye out.
“You don’t have to do that,” he grinned. “I’ll be able to “sniff” them out before they get here.”
She looked at him like he was going crazy. The bloody red eye he had wasn’t helping the appearance of looking normal. His suspenders dragged on the ground and his clothes were dirty with blood and soil. He smelled like a rotting corpse but his skin didn’t look infected or the sickly pale color like the Risers. She was thinking the gunshot may be leaking out some of the rank smell he’s been giving off. Trevor suddenly stood up and sniffed the air.
“Ah, here’s one now.”
Chloe cowered behind him and waited to see what he was talking about. A small bandit walked in with his pick axe.
Trevor stood still as he could hear the man’s heart beating. “Drop it,” he said as he listened to his breathing quicken. “Quickly shaken, I like that.” The bandit swung at him with his axe but missed as Trevor just pulled the axe away from him. “I told you to drop it.”
The bandit jumped up and pushed Trevor slightly. The sudden hit angered Trevor who went into a rage and attacked the bandit. He bit at his throat and held his jaws shut on it until the bandit stopped breathing. Trevor unhinged his jaws from the bandit’s throat and wiped his mouth with the bandit’s camouflage jacket.