“Jordan...I...I love you Jordan. Yes, Jordan,” said Kate becoming more confident with each word. She knew this Jordan Rose, she was her wife. This made her very happy, she liked this woman who was, conveniently, very attractive.
“I love you too Kate,” said Jordan, relieved. “You got a pretty good bite on your arm and you lost some blood but you should be able to go home any time now. Some of the guys from the PD are investigating the deaths, but I told them you’d do a statement later...I just want to get you home.”
“Deaths?” asked Kate. “I thought the woman just died-Kelly.”
“Well yeah she died, but the guy died too, her son. And one of the security guards, I think his name was Nick, he had half his face ripped off. The other two security guards were both injured, but just small bites, minor cuts and stuff, nothing major.”
“How did Mike die?” asked Kate sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes.
“Mike? The son? Happened before I got here. They had him strapped down in restraints and stuff and he was flailing around like a crazy person I guess. Popped all his joints out of his sockets...really crazy. Anyway, they said he was just going bezerk for like an hour nonstop and no drug could touch him, so the nurses wheeled him into a room and locked the door. When they came back to check on him, he was dead, still strapped to the bed and everything. They’re thinking a heart attack, but I dunno,” said Jordan trailing off.
“What do you mean? You think he was on drugs or something?” asked Kate sitting back against the pillows on her bed.
“You know, it’s weird. We had this briefing at work today from some guy at the CDC talking about that disease on the news out of New York City. He said that infected people will go into this “rage” phase when they’re at the peak of their infection and they completely lose their shit like that guy here. I guess people who have this thing are pretty contagious,” said Jordan realizing what she was saying. Kate could see the shock and fear on her face plain as day.
It was strange though, Kate felt like she should be panicking but she wasn’t. Mike was from New York and probably infected her when he bit her, but she was oddly calm. It occurred to Kate that things like this should probably at least bother her, but right now was different for some reason...Maybe it was the drugs being pumped into her arm. All she wanted to do was go home with Jordan. Kate was done dealing with death at this hospital.
“I think I want to go home now,” said Kate matter-of-factly.
“Kate, how many people were exposed to this Mike guy?” asked Jordan quietly.
“Pretty much all of us. I’m sure everyone got involved once security showed up” Kate said distractedly as if someone else was talking for her. Kate began glancing around the room looking for her things.
“Well that CDC guy said that if you so much as walk by a sick person who’s coughing or sneezing or whatever, let alone eating his mother, you’re almost guaranteed to get infected. I think we need to get out of this hospital,” said Jordan quickly.
“Alright sweetie,” said Kate dreamily.
Jordan cocked her head and gave Kate a strange look, but before she could say anything, one of the doctors came in the room. The doctor jumped right into what he had to say without any introduction. “So it looks just like a flesh wound, no damage to nerves or anything and no broken bones. You’re going to have to keep the bandage on your arm for several weeks as bites have much higher infection rates then cuts. The nurse will give you instructions when you’re discharged tomorrow,” said the doctor nodding his head and quickly turning to leave.
“Wait, tomorrow?” said Jordan.
“Yes, we’d like to keep her overnight for observation” said the doctor. “She lost some blood and passed out. Standard procedure for cases like this, absolutely nothing to worry about whatsoever,” the doctor said quickly. Just being questioned by Jordan seemed to make the doctor nervous. Kate thought that was funny and suppressed a giggle.
“I can take care of her just fine at home, I’d like to take her home now,” said Jordan sternly but conversationally.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but that…” the doctor started.
“Look,” said Jordan cutting in. “I’m a police officer here in town and my wife is a nurse at this hospital. If there are any two people that you should allow to go home, it’s us.”
“Wait, she’s a police officer?” thought Kate, “That’s odd, why didn’t I know that...That’s...That’s not true...Is it?” Kate had thought she knew this woman named Rose or Jordan or Jordan Rose, but was she a police officer? Kate’s mind felt cloudy and confused all of a sudden.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” the doctor was saying, “we need to keep her overnight and that’s all I can say. It’s just the way it has to be for now, ok? I’m sorry.” With that, the doctor turned, his white coat twirling, and quickly left the room closing the door behind him.
“Something is wrong here. I don’t like this,” said Jordan out loud but to herself. She appeared to be thinking for a moment then turned to Kate. “I’m going to see if I can pull some strings and get us out of here right now. Will you be ok if I leave you here in the room for a little bit?” Jordan was standing up and putting her phone in the side pocket of her carpenter jeans.
Who was this woman? Kate had been so sure she knew her but those feelings of safety she’d felt before, of warmth and comfort, had now been replaced with doubt and cold emptiness. “Was she lying about being my wife or did I forget? Am I forgetting things?” Kate continued, questioning herself internally.
Jordan was now standing at the door and staring at her, waiting for an answer. Kate nodded her head up and down and the woman named Jordan seemed to accept it as an affirmative response. The woman quickly left the room and quietly closed the door behind her leaving Kate alone. Kate rested her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. “All I need is a nap,” she mumbled to herself. “Just a nap and I should be back to normal.”
Chapter 3
Something was wrong. Rose wasn’t sure what it was just yet, but with Kate safely in her hospital room, she was going to find out what that was. She’d changed out of her uniform when she had gotten word that Kate had been hurt at the hospital. Rose had assumed the worst but was glad to see Kate was only was injured on her arm-until she realized she might be infected. Rose should have known, it always seemed to work out that way. Once they got a training on this disease, she’d immediately run into it. It was Murphy’s Law. Last time they had a training on dealing with the mentally disabled, her entire shift that night was filled with mentally disabled people.
This was different though, this was Rose’s wife and she was going to keep her safe no matter what. First stop for Rose was the cluster of nurse’s desks as there were always at least a few nurses hanging out, but no one was there. Very odd, but not out of the question based on some of the stories Kate had told her about how the hospital was run. But that was usually midnight shift people and the day shift people should be on duty by now. Rose made her way to the front desk in the lobby but that desk was empty as well, as was the lobby. The entire hospital seemed to be cleared out it seemed. Rose looked out the front window into the parking lot and it was empty except for a few cars including her own truck and several white SUVs with blue CDC letters painted onto their doors. Rose froze. They knew. This was ground zero of an outbreak and she was trapped inside of it.
Rose turned on her heel and headed back in the direction she’d just come from. She needed to grab Kate and get out of this hospital before anyone knew they were gone. Trying not to run and possibly attract attention to herself, she walked quickly down the hallway back to the nurses desks, her mind racing. As Rose passed room 1, the patient room closest to the front lobby, Rose could hear people talking. The door to the room was closed but since there was a glass window in the door, Rose could hear most of the muffled conversation through it.
From what Rose could tell, doctors from the CDC were speaking with one of the security guards who had some minor injurie
s from the earlier attack.
“...just lookin’ to go home. My shift ended like 45 minutes ago,” said the guard.
“I’m sorry sir, but there are a few more tests we need to perform before we’re sure you’re safe to return home,” said a male voice.
“I already told the other doctors-I just have some cuts and that dead guy bit my hand. Look, it barely broke the skin and they cleaned the shit out of it. It’s not even bleeding anymore,” said the guard, his tone making it apparent he was not interested in talking to any more doctors today.
“The CDC takes these types of incidents very seriously,” said a second male voice. “We have a protocol for these types of incidents, especially since New York. That’s why my colleague and I are speaking with you.” Rose could hear the clasps of some sort of briefcase being opened.
“What does this have to do with New York?” asked the guard.
“Sir, we need you to relax, we have a shot we need to give you and then you’ll be all set to go home,” said the first voice.
“What?” said Rose softly, instantly confused and angry. The CDC had just briefed her department on how there was no cure. Why would they recommend that we not get close and shoot the infected if they had a cure to administer? That didn’t make any sense. Part of her wanted to walk into the room and get that shot for Kate, but Rose decided to just continue to listen at the door.
“Ok, go ahead and get it over with,” said the guard. This was followed by a long silence.
“Is he gone?” asked the second voice.
“Let me check his pulse,” said the first voice, pausing. “Yeah, he’s dead. Call Dr. Knight and let him know we have an outbreak here. He needs to know there are going to be numerous bodies for incineration.”
“Ok, we have this guy, the other two security guards, the carrier and his mother, the nurse with the arm injury, and who else?” said the second voice.
“We’re going to have to weed through the midnight shift nurses and see what exposure they had,” said the first voice. “If we can’t figure it out, we’ll just to make it a clean sweep.”
“Ok, we should clear this with Dr. Knight first though. Hold on, I’ll call him now,” said the second voice and that was all Rose stuck around to hear, panic surging through her body. She needed to get Kate out of here before she suffered the same fate as the security guard.
Rose stayed low and sprinted across the distance between room 1 and Kate’s room, #7. Rose cracked the door, slipped in, and silently closed it behind her. Kate was asleep in the bed, but woke up as she entered. Kate was wearing a hospital gown but when she realized Rose had come into the room she pulled the blanket of the bed up to her chin. “Yes? What is it?” she said, a worried tone to her voice.
“Kate we need to go, now. Get that IV out of your arm and I’ll grab your stuff, we need to hurry,” said Rose moving around the room and gathering Kate’s things. Rose found a bag and began stuffing Kate’s bloody scrubs and her jacket inside.
“Where are we going?” asked Kate who’d yet to move, an hint of fear present in her voice.
“We’re going home...to our house. You’ll be a lot safer there.” said Rose doing one last check for anything she may have missed.
“We have a home?” asked Kate quietly, more to herself then to Rose.
Rose stopped gathering clothes and stared at Kate. So this was it. She was infected. Her beautiful wife, who’d only minutes before, told Rose that she loved her, was quickly slipping away before her eyes. Dr. Knight had said that memory was the first noticeable function to go. Since Kate had been bitten, her infection was going to progress rapidly. Gritting her teeth so she wouldn’t cry, Rose forced herself to keep moving. They needed to go now.
“Please,” said Rose with a strained voice. “We need to go, it’s for your safety. There are people out there that want to hurt you...to kill you.”
“Will you hurt me?” said Kate lowering the blanket slightly.
“Of course not Kate, I love you,” said Rose, desperate to get her moving.
If there was any memory of Rose left in Kate’s mind, her “I love you” must have nudged it enough to push Kate off the fence. She lowered the blanket, skillfully removed the IV from her arm, and climbed out of bed. Rose pulled Kate’s jacket out of the bag of items she’d gathered and put it around Kate. Holding the bag under her left arm, and Kate’s left hand in her right, Rose went to the door of room and peeked out the window. The two CDC scientists still had their backs to the door of room 1 and the men appeared to still be on the phone.
Silently, Rose opened the door and she and Kate exited the room. Rose closed the door behind them and keeping low, Rose and Kate quickly crept across the room and down the hallway toward the front lobby. As they approached room 1, Rose could hear one the CDC doctors still talking on the phone but as they moved under the window, the conversation ended. Rose heard one of the voices say loudly, “Alright, lets get this guy down to the morgue. We can store all the bodies there until Dr. Knight gets here.”
“Shit,” said Rose. She turned to Kate, “We’ve got to run.” Once past the door to room 1, Rose and Kate stood up, sprinted down the hallway and took a quick right into the lobby. In the distance behind them, Rose could hear the door to room 1 open. Hiding out of view in the lobby, Rose could hear the bed from room 1 being wheeled out, the door close, and then the bed being wheeled toward them down the hallway.
“Into the bathroom,” said Rose in a hushed voice, and she and Kate hustled into the lobby bathroom. Rose was able to quickly and quietly close the door just as the dead security guard was being wheeled into the lobby by the two scientists.
“Yeah...This is the lobby. I’m pretty sure the morgue is the other way,” said one of the doctors, embarrassed.
“Clearly,” said the other, unimpressed. “I thought you said you knew this hospital.”
“Other way...definitely.” the first voice said unsurely.
Rose waited until their footsteps faded before cracking the door. The lobby was empty, so they slowly moved out of the bathroom. Rose was still holding Kate’s hand and she was following, but Rose was getting the distinct impression that if she wasn’t leading Kate around, Kate would still be back in her hospital room. Rose and Kate quickly made their way through the lobby and over to the front door. The door, which automatically opened when Rose had arrived several hours before, was now off and closed. Rose pushed and shoved the front door but couldn't get it to open.
“Do you know of another way out of the lobby and to the parking lot?” Rose asked Kate.
Kate just shook her head no, fear etched on her face. Whether it was fear of her or fear of what would happen to them if caught, Rose was unsure. Rose gave the door one more shove and was about to give up and move on when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. The door was locked with a deadbolt...but it was bolted from the inside. Chuckling to herself despite the situation while shaking her head, Rose unlocked the door, opened it enough for her and Kate to slip through and closed it again hoping no one would notice the deadbolt was not latched.
Once outside of the hospital, Rose and Kate ran to Rose’s truck parked nearby. The morning air was crisp and fresh compared to the stuffy, stale air in the hospital, and Rose was glad to be away from it. Once at the truck, Rose helped Kate into the passenger seat. After buckling her seatbelt, Rose gave Kate a kiss on the forehead. Partially out of habit and partially because she was glad to have gotten her out of the hospital. Kate gave Rose a weak smile that broke her heart. Rose could tell Kate was just being nice, she’d felt no emotion or affection from the kiss. Rose felt as if someone had stabbed her in the gut and the knife was just twisting round and round rending a larger and larger hole that was draining her, body and soul. Closing Kate’s door, Rose quickly made her way around to the driver’s side of the truck and, despite the crushing pain, pulled herself into the seat, fired up the engine, backed out of the parking space and then floored it out of the lot.
Driving home, Rose wanted to touch Kate, wanted to hold her, or at the very least talk to her about everything she’d been through, but in her heart, Rose knew it’d be a wasted effort. Rose was little more than a stranger to Kate now and if what Dr. Knight had said in the briefing was true, it was only going to get worse. Foreigner's Cold As Ice played softly over the stereo as the hospital disappeared behind them. Out of frustration, Rose skipped to the next song, The Rolling Stone’s She So Cold. Sighing and turning off the radio, Rose figured silence was better. Rose could feel the tears on the corners of her eyes and suppressed the urge to cry, wiping her eyes on her right sleeve. Rose needed focus right now, not tears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kate had fallen asleep by the time Rose pulled the truck into the driveway of their house. Rose had taken a long and winding route through town on the off chance that she’d been followed from the hospital. If the CDC was going to kill an entire shift of nurses at a hospital to control the outbreak, they’d think nothing of killing her and Kate, regardless of whether Rose had been infected or not.
Even after Rose had parked the truck in the driveway next to the house and turned it off, Kate continued to sleep in the passenger seat. She was likely exhausted from working all night as well as everything she’d gone through plus Rose was sure the infection didn’t help. Rose knew that it’d only get worse and she dreaded when that was going to happen. What Dr. Knight had described and what she’d heard that man had done at the hospital were Kate’s future and Rose didn’t know how she was going to handle that.
Rose went around to the passenger side of the truck and quietly opened the door. Kate didn’t wake up, even when Rose picked her up out of the seat and carried her into the house. Kate still had dried blood on her from her attack and was still in her underwear and hospital gown, but Rose didn’t want to risk waking her up by changing her clothes. Maybe if she let Kate sleep for a while she could battle back some of the effects of the disease and maybe Rose could get a chance to say goodbye before she’d completely disappeared from Kate’s memories. It was unlikely, Rose knew, but she had to try and stay positive.
Break Away (Jordan Rose Duology Book 1) Page 4