Contagion: The Rising

by Carter, John

  She walked out as Trevor was making a speech to the bandit Risers that gathered around him. They gnawed on bones and tore from the Riser bodies they picked apart. Chloe instantly felt queasy at their bloody feast as Trevor joined in with a few bites here and there.

  “Chloe,” Trevor turned to her. “I’m glad to see you’re ready to join us.” He smiled and motioned to her arm. She stopped and looked down at her arm to find a scratch. The skin was slightly raised and had a purple hue on the border of the jagged scratch. Chloe suddenly grabbed at her arm and freaked out. The bandit Risers watched as she swore at both Trevor and her arm. “I would calm down if I were you.” She glared at him before lunging and landing on his chest as they both landed on the ground. He laughed as he held her arms back.

  The bandit Risers stared and watched as she struggled to overpower Trevor. He simply pushed her off and sat up to continue to laugh at her. She remained on the ground, curled in the fetal position and quietly chanting “it’s okay” over and over.

  Trevor stood up and dusted himself off, “No, Chloe. It’ll never be okay.” Her head jerked at his direction and she glared at him. Her left eye looked more agitated than her right as she continued to rub it. He crouched down and stopped her from rubbing her eye. “Stop, it’ll make it worse.”

  “Good. Get the hell away from me,” she spat at Trevor, who turned away from her. The bandit Risers stared at Trevor, waiting for a command.

  “Leave her alone,” Trevor glanced back at her and back to the group of bandits now under his control. “There’s another outpost up ahead. I’m thinking we need a few more bandits to make this a rolling patrol in no time.”

  Chapter 12

  Emma woke up and saw Jeremiah’s sleeping face in the bed next to her. She watched as he slept peacefully. She hated that she hadn’t slept well since she had been bitten, and was envious of his ability to look peaceful while doing so. Jeremiah moved and shifted in the bed as she quickly turned over to face the wall. Her loose hair flew over her head and hit her in the face. Crap, she thought and blew the dangling hair away from her face, he caught me being creepy. She waited until he stopped moving and listened to his breathing to make sure it went back to normal.

  “Okay, Emma. Just get up and be normal,” she sat up and faced Jeremiah. She dropped her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to quietly place her feet on the floor.

  “You better wear shoes, the floor is cold.” Jeremiah’s voice scared her into jumping back onto the bed.

  “Damn it. I was trying to let you sleep,” Emma frowned as he stretched. She laughed when she noticed the sleeves on his black sweater were too short.

  “What?”

  “They didn’t have your size?” she said as she pointed to his sleeves.

  He looked at his arms, “I’m unusually tall.” He pulled the torn sleeves closer to his hands which caused them to spring back to the location on his forearm.

  “How tall are you? About six feet?”

  “Nearly 6’4, thank you very much.”

  She smiled, “That’s tall, but not unusually tall.”

  “Not in a world of short, hunchback Risers. At least, the rest of it fits me.” He sat up and looked over to Emma. “You’re of average height. I’m pretty sure you could find a lot of clothes out there.”

  “Yeah, I’m not really picky. Now, Sarah is incredibly picky,” she said as Sarah walked in.

  Sarah looked at Emma then to Jeremiah, who stood up from the bed.

  “Sorry,” Jeremiah turned bright red and began rolling up his sleeping bag.

  “It’s okay. I’m sure you didn’t drool on the pillow, right? I know someone who does,” Sarah smiled at Emma.

  “I don’t drool,” Emma stayed sitting on the bed as Sarah walked over and hit her shoulder.

  “I meant Rory,” Sarah whispered and laughed.

  Jeremiah smiled and turned to Emma, “I’ll check on you later. Remember, use shoes.” He picked up his sleeping bag and walked out.

  Emma exhaled and covered her face with her hands. “What the hell is wrong with me?”

  Sarah sat next to her and leaned her head on her uninjured shoulder. “You get really weird around him. I’m guessing you really like him. It’s his shaggy hair, isn’t it?”

  Emma slowly nodded and leaned her head onto Sarah’s.

  “So tell me, what’s been going on?” Sarah bit on one of her nails and waited for Emma’s explanation.

  Emma smacked Sarah’s hand away from her mouth, “Quit doing that.”

  “Nope,” Sarah said as she bit at another nail and smiled.

  Emma inhaled deeply and exhaled, “I’ve asked him to sleep in here with me twice already. He just makes me feel comfortable. I don’t understand it.”

  “Well, he did save your life twice. I mean, he’s a doctor but he was damn sure he was going to get you back to us.” Sarah moved her head and pulled her red hair to the side. It annoyed her for it to be dangling so closely to her face.

  “You should pull it back with the twine I gave you,” Emma offered.

  Sarah shrugged, “I don’t have it anymore.”

  “Who did you give it to?”

  “Dani has longer hair than I do, and she looked miserable having to tie it up with a short piece of ribbon.” Sarah stood up and grabbed her sleeping bag. “Are you going to be up for a bit?”

  “Probably not, I’m still tired.” Emma leaned back onto the pillow and stared up at the ceiling.

  Sarah looked over as she placed her bag on the gurney. “Good, I’ll sleep in here with you for a while. I probably won’t make you as comfortable as Jeremiah though.” She smiled as she gave her sister one last jab.

  Emma smirked and turned towards her, “What is it, morning?”

  “Too early to call morning. Too late to call evening. It’s sleepytime,” Sarah said as she yawned. “You’re up for watch later tomorrow?” She tucked herself into the sleeping bag.

  “Yeah, I’m kind of worried to see something,” Emma closed her eyes and covered herself with the thick blanket Jeremiah brought her.

  “We’ll be here and Dani is going to be with you,” Sarah closed her eyes as Emma turned and faced the wall. Emma heard Sarah’s breathing become shallow and braced for the snoring that awaited her. She smiled and brought the blanket closer to her face. Sarah’s snoring didn’t keep her up long enough and she was asleep as well.

  Jeremiah looked over the latest test results on the old printer paper that was slightly torn on the outer corners where the water damage was most visible. He compared those results with the others around him and used a ruler to go through each result. The first results were about the same which was just a lipid panel, but he finally was able to get to the A1C level. He stopped short and raised his head from the paper and shifted his focus to another lab result.

  “Holy shit, it’s lower,” he said under his breath, and checked the older results once more to confirm. He decided to run another series with the same blood, and see if this wasn’t an error in processing her blood the first time.

  Sarah and Rory sat near Kayla as they were working on the garden in the back of the bunker. The lights pulsed as the generator was slowly losing power.

  Kayla looked up and squinted, “Give it some time. The secondary will kick in to take over for the first one.” The lights dimmed and suddenly glared bright once again. “See. Okay, so what you have over there in your hand, Rory, is Tony’s prized broccoli. We found a huge pallet full of the seeds in one of the old school feed stores near the bay. You can put them next to that light.”

  “How long did it take you to get this going?” Sarah asked as she filled some of the pots with soil.

  “Actually, it looks like it would take a long time, but it only took a few weeks,” Kayla rubbed her nose with the back of her glove and looked over to the end of the garden.

  Rory sowed a few seeds as Sarah continued to fill the pots. Kayla checked the rest of the seedlings to make sure enough water was being
pumped out. There were two plastic hoses above each row. Each hose had several holes poked through them. The water leaked out and managed to hit the plants below without making much of a mess. Behind them, a huge tank held the water. A small pump guided the water through the hoses and to the plants.

  Sarah looked around, “This is a very interesting system.”

  Kayla smiled, “You should ask Tony. It was all his idea. I just built it and put it together.”

  Rory smiled back at Kayla, “You guys make a great team.”

  “We try,” Tony stood at the doorway before he walked in and checked on the water pump. “We have to change this out soon. Paul should be sending a new one over.” They turned around and looked as Kayla faced Tony.

  “I’ll install it once Mark gets back. I’m sure it won’t take long,” Kayla said as Tony hugged her. She looked confused and asked, “What was that for?”

  Tony smiled, “Because we make a great team.”

  Dani stopped at the triage room to talk to Emma, who was grimacing while rotating her shoulder.

  “What are you doing?” Dani watched Emma.

  Emma dropped her arm slowly, “I’m trying to get my arm back to the way it was.”

  “How’s your wound there?” Dani got closer and examined Emma’s shoulder. “Wow. It looks a lot better than I thought it would be.”

  “Really? It feels the same,” Emma grabbed her shoulder and extended her arm. “I’m trying to get the muscles to remember that they’re supposed to move with my arm.”

  Dani frowned, “Yeah, bones will mend but muscles, tendons and ligaments take a long time. Tissues are sensitive. You’ll eventually be able to move normally.”

  Emma shook her head, “I don’t think so. It just feels different.”

  Dani changed the subject and quickly stood up, “Hey, can you follow me? I have to show you something that I made.”

  “Sure,” Emma got up and followed Dani. They reached Dani’s room and Dani rushed ahead of Emma.

  She motioned for Emma to wait at the doorway. “Okay, wait there,” Dani went towards the end of her room and grabbed a bag. She dragged it back to Emma. “So, I’ve been interested in hand held weapons. I know you and your sister stick to the machete, which I would prefer too.”

  “Yeah,” Emma said as she stood still. Dani pulled out a hatchet looking weapon, and pressed a button that caused the head of the axe to open up and reveal a small double edged blade. “Whoa. That looks serious.” Emma gazed at the blade while Dani handed it to her.

  “That one took a while to assemble. I have a smaller one for the arm, but it’s just the double edged blade. It hides very well under a light sleeve or heavy jacket. I’ve made two, one for each arm.”

  Emma stood, in shock and amazement, “These are awesome! You show Sarah?”

  Dani smiled, “Yeah, she said the same thing you did.” Emma handed the switch axe back to Dani and watched as the blade disappeared from the top of the axe.

  “Wow, Dani. That is too cool. When did you start making those?”

  “Well, my mom helped me with the wrist ones, since they were my first real project. The axe I did on my own,” Dani zipped up the bag and dragged it back to the corner of the room.

  “You guys are too talented,” Emma shook her head. “Those weapons are amazing. I bet a lot of people can find many Riser uses for them. I know my machete looks pretty tame next to them.”

  Dani blushed, “You can use the axe if you need to. I figured you’d like that one.”

  Emma’s eyes widened, “Really? Are you sure you can trust me with it?”

  “Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Dani walked beside Emma.

  “I don’t know. Everyone thinks I’m fragile right now.”

  “You did get bitten by a Riser and shot by a crazed man,” Dani shrugged. “Not many people can deal that. Let alone survive.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Emma reached her room and turned to face Dani. “I appreciate you showing me those weapons. They’re really amazing, I’m not kidding about that.”

  Dani smiled, “Thanks. I need ideas so I’ll probably come to you later. We can probably collaborate?”

  “I’m not really that creative.”

  “It’s cool, I can spin any idea,” Dani heard a noise over by the lab. “Did you hear that?”

  Emma perked up and looked over, “What was that?” They ran over and found Jeremiah covering his hand. Blood seeped out of the rag he was holding on his hand.

  “Crap, are you okay?” Emma rushed over to him and pushed his uninjured hand away from his other hand.

  Dani grabbed his hand and examined it, “What was it? A beaker?”

  “Yeah, I just moved my hand slightly over and caught the edge of the broken one right there,” Jeremiah frowned.

  “I’ll put pressure on his hand, get the first aid kit from my room,” Emma told Dani, who ran over to the triage room. She turned her attention to Jeremiah, “What’s wrong?”

  He looked at her and back down at her hand on his, “I’m just tired.”

  “I’m sorry that I threw you off your schedule,” Emma attempted to apologize but Jeremiah shook his head in disagreement.

  “No, it’s not that. If anything, you helped me. That was the first time I’ve slept for more than two hours. I guess I’m just not used to sleeping.”

  Emma didn’t look very pleased with his answer as Dani sifted through the first aid kit.

  Dani placed the gauze and tape near Emma, “We have to check it out to see if you need stitches.”

  “I’m fine,” Jeremiah started to protest but Emma moved her hand. The blood flow slowed but the wound looked deep.

  Emma quickly looked away as he grimaced again, “Dani, can you suture his hand?”

  “Um, yeah but he’s not going to like it though,” Dani looked up at Jeremiah, who reluctantly agreed to let Dani sew his hand up. Jeremiah sat as Dani worked on the sutures and Emma held his hand still. Within a few minutes, Dani was finished, “I think that’s the best sewing I’ve done in a long time.”

  “Not bad, kid,” Jeremiah half-smiled as the pain continued to throb not in just his hand but his entire body. “I may have gotten blood on your lab results.”

  Emma shook her head, “It’s okay. You’ll run another series right?”

  “Well, I need to talk to you about that,” he said as he grabbed the results. The corners of each page were saturated with his blood. “See here,” he pointed at the date and the a1c results. “Here, it’s 10.2, right?” He grabbed the newer paper and pointed at the levels, “It shows here you’re at a 7.0. How do you go from a 10.2 to a 7.0 in less than a few weeks?”

  Emma shrugged as Jeremiah took that as a queue, “Exactly. You don’t. That has to be some fast acting insulin that slightly repairs your pancreas every day.”

  “So you think the bite did this?”

  Jeremiah nodded, “I think your body adapted to the virus, instead of completely rejecting or triggering it. Your body decided to use to what it could to repair certain deficiencies.”

  “But my wounds took just as long to heal,” she peeled the bandage off of her shoulder completely. “See? Holy crap.”

  “That’s what I mean. It’s almost like it never happened,” Jeremiah grabbed the gauze and placed it on his hand. Dani pulled off strips of tape and handed it to him. “Just feeling discomfort, right? Like it’s not right?” Emma nodded. “Your body is still rebuilding on the inside. I bet your stomach wound is nearly cleared up as well.” She looked down and moved the bandage to find that the wound was a lot smaller than it had been last week. The gaping hole in her back was nearly sealed as the front was still draining very little.

  “When the Army was testing on different soldiers, they were looking for results like these,” he said as he grabbed all of the results and tore them up. He threw them into a metal dish and reached for a lighter. “Dani, can you get a bucket of water?” Dani rushed out with no hesitation and brought back a bucket of water.
“We need to get rid of this before it falls in the wrong hands. We don’t need people to take you away from us. I mean your sister mostly.”

  Dani smirked, “he meant us.”

  Jeremiah blushed as Emma looked down. “I won’t run any more tests on you.”

  Emma suddenly looked up at Jeremiah and slightly shook her head, “So no more visits?”

  Jeremiah shook his head, “I’ll leave you alone but I’ll first give you a glucose monitor and test strips with some insulin and syringes. Just let Dani know when you need a refill.”

  Emma looked disappointed and sighed. She walked over to the doorway and waited for a second before walking out of the room.

  “Why did you do that?” Dani glared at Jeremiah. “She really does like you.”

  “You don’t know that,” he looked down at his hand and attempted to extend it. “She’ll be happy that I won’t bother her anymore.”

  Dani exhaled angrily, “Whatever. It’s your life, especially if you want to ruin it.” She walked out and left Jeremiah alone with his sore hand. He looked down at his hand and swore at it. He stood up and walked over to the bloody mess he left on the results table. The blood was everywhere, on the edge dripping onto the floor. He started to clean up and suddenly stopped when he remembered he had to give her the supplies before completely leaving her alone. He grabbed a box and began filling it with syringes, insulin and the monitor.

  Emma sat on her bed and looked down at her feet dangling. She remembered how much she hated her feet when she was younger, but now, they didn’t seem to be much of a big deal. She ignored the pain she felt and leaned back on the bed. The tears from her eyes caught her off guard as she attempted to wipe them away. A few got away from her arm and landed in her ear. She sat up and found Jeremiah standing in the doorway.