The Black Tide I: Remnants (Tides of Blood)

by Baileigh Higgins

  'Bruno.'

  Ava grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. “What are you doing? Get inside the tent. Now.”

  Her voice was unsteady but hard. I obeyed, casting a look over my shoulder as I ran. She was turning in a circle with the gun held in both hands, scanning the trees. I unzipped the tent and fell inside, then turned around and called to her.

  “Ava!”

  “I'm coming. Just wait there, Lexi.”

  I watched as she walked around the campsite, searching the trees before grabbing the dog's hind paw and dragging it away. The seconds passed and I shivered. “Please come back.”

  Just when I was about to go look for her she staggered back, holding her left arm close to her chest, cradling it.

  Ava fell into the tent and I zipped it up before turning to her. “Are you okay? Did it bite you?”

  She nodded then gasped as she rolled up her torn sleeve revealing several angry looking puncture marks in the flesh of her forearm. Dark, red blood dripped onto the floor and I stared at it. A sharp crack of lightning scared me and I jumped.

  “Get me a towel, Lexi.” I handed one to her and she wrapped it around her arm, hissing in pain. “Why don't you take off those wet clothes? Before you catch a cold.”

  “What about your arm? Why did it bite you? Was it sick?” Now that it was all over, my hands had begun to shake and I couldn't take my eyes off the growing patch of blood on the towel.

  “It'll be fine, you'll see. It's not that bad. I've just got to clean it up and bandage it. As for the dog, it was probably just hungry.”

  Her voice was confident, but the wild look in her eyes betrayed her. Ava was scared. “What if somebody heard when you shot it?”

  “I think they'll write it off as lightning. It would be hard to tell the direction the shot came from in this weather anyway.”

  As if in support of her statement, a deep rumble of thunder rolled across and the rain came down even harder.

  At her insistence, I dried off and changed my clothes then watched in silence as she disinfected her wounds and bandaged them with the first aid kit. With my help, she put on warm clothes and we crawled into our bed, snuggling up to get warm.

  I listened to the rain falling on the roof of the tent long after Ava fell asleep, her good arm draped across my middle. It was warm and comforting, her breath tickling my neck. For a time, I could almost believe we would be okay.

  ***

  When I woke up, I was all sweaty. And no wonder when Ava radiated heat hotter than the fire. I sat up and turned on the lamp, looking at her in the faint glow. She was moaning in her sleep, her normally pale cheeks flushed a deep red.

  I shook her shoulder. “Ava. Ava, wake up.”

  She mumbled something and her eyelids fluttered. I shook her again and she blinked, staring up at me with a confused expression.

  “Lexi?”

  “Are you okay? You were talking in your sleep.”

  “I was?” She blinked a few more times before pushing back the blankets with one hand. “Why is it so hot?”

  “I don't know. Maybe you've got a fever.”

  “Can't be. I feel fine.” She pushed herself upright, then her face pulled all funny and she fell back down with a cry.

  “What's wrong?”

  “My arm,” she whispered, clutching it against her chest. “It burns.”

  Ava sat up after a while and unwrapped the bandage. Her arm looked worse. It was all black and blue while the holes oozed some kind of liquid that smelled bad.

  She cleaned it again and wrapped it with a new bandage, but I knew she was in a lot of pain. Her face was all twisted and afterward, she fell back onto the bed, panting.

  “Can you get me some water, sweet pea? Please?”

  “Of course.”

  I scrambled out of the tent holding the flashlight. It wasn't morning yet and it was dark outside. Gulping, I stared into the trees, searching for more crazy dogs. My heart was banging like a drum, but I forced myself to fetch a cup from the box and fill it with rain water from a bucket. I rushed back to the tent, feeling safer inside, and handed Ava the cup which she gulped down with a handful of aspirin. I hoped it would make her feel better.

  My stomach growled loudly at this point, reminding us both that we hadn't eaten in a while and Ava pushed herself upright again.

  “You must be hungry,” she said. “Let me make you something.”

  “No, it's okay. You're sick.”

  “I'm fine. It's not that bad.”

  She grunted and stood up, swaying as she climbed out the tent. I scrambled after her, watching as she rummaged in the box of food before coming up with a can of corn. “Will this do? I don't think I can manage to make a fire.”

  “It's great.”

  I opened it for her as her left arm didn't work and we shared the can, digging in with our forks until it was empty. It wasn't enough but I didn't want to complain. Our food was almost finished and with Ava sick, she didn't need the added worry.

  She didn't want to go back into the tent afterward, so we sat outside, waiting for the sun to come up. The air was fresh and cool, birds were chirping and the sky turned a pretty pink which I hardly saw. I was watching Ava. Sweat beaded her forehead and her lips had a bluish tint. Around sunrise, she began shivering, sitting huddled up with her arms wrapped around her.

  “Can I get you a blanket?”

  “No, sweet pea. It'll warm up soon.”

  “Are you sure? You look sick. It's your arm, isn't it?”

  She shook her head but never got the chance to answer. The next moment, she doubled over and vomited a stream of yellow corn. The smell of sick hit my nose and I gagged, turning away.

  Ava kept convulsing until her stomach was empty, then sat gasping while I rushed to fetch her some water. She rinsed her mouth and drank the rest before reaching out to grip my sleeve.

  “I think I need to lie down, Lexi.”

  After helping Ava to bed I sat by her side, watching as she got sicker and sicker. Her fever got worse. She'd sweat and throw off the blankets then shiver and cry from the cold. Later on, she slipped into a restless sleep, tossing and turning.

  Nothing I did seemed to help. She wouldn't eat or drink, pushing my hand away to retch on the canvas floor. I wiped her forehead and mouth, held her hand and piled on the blankets when she got cold. It wasn't enough.

  “Please don't die, Ava. Please!” Her fingers squeezed mine but she never answered.

  That's when I noticed the blood trickling from her ear. I didn't know what that meant but it was nothing good. I wiped it off with a cloth. A few minutes later it was back. Choking back a sob, I wiped it off again.

  Ava turned her head, mumbling and I saw the patch of blood staining the sheet below her other ear. My throat swelled up and I wheezed for breath through the tight feeling in my chest. I was going to lose Ava. She was dying.

  No!

  I wiped away the blood every time it appeared, willing the sickness away as hard as I could. So focused was I on Ava, I hardly even noticed what was going on around me until the sound of voices made me sit upright, heart bouncing like a rubber ball.

  The shadowy silhouette of a man loomed over me, visible through the canvas before the figure bent down. I swallowed, the 'zzz' sound the zipper made loud in my ears.

  Bright sunlight flooded the tent, blinding me and I raised my hand to shield my face. A pair of deep, brown eyes stared at me from a face the color of milky coffee topped with black curls. He looked young, maybe the same age as Ava and his mouth quirked as if he thought something was very funny.

  His eyes jumped from me to Ava then back again. “You must be Lexi.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I'm Lloyd.”

  26

  Chapter 25

  I woke up in a bed. A strange bed. Confused, I blinked up at the ceiling, taking in the beige paint adorning the walls. My eyes flickered to the left, fixating on the warm sunlight streaming through the windows, paisley curta
ins fluttering in the breeze.

  The same paisley pattern decorated the duvet underneath which I lay while old-fashioned porcelain figurines stared at me from a bookshelf against the wall. The room smelled like roses and baby powder, reminding me of my grandmother.

  Where am I? How did I get here?

  My gaze came to rest on the sleeping Lexi curled up in a chair next to the bed. She reminded me of the promise I had made to look after her, to replace the mother she'd lost because of me.

  Have I kept that promise?

  Lexi's face was thin, pinched with worry even in sleep. I considered waking her, then decided against it. She looked like she needed the rest. My brow furrowed as I thought back to what had happened. My memories were shrouded in mist while my head throbbed to the beat of my heart.

  Brian. It began with him. He left and never came back. I'd been mad with worry, the days dragging by with agonizing slowness. A dog attacked me. I remembered shooting it and dumping the carcass of the German Shepherd where Lexi couldn't see. I'd been worried it had rabies. I also remembered bandaging my arm and vaguely recalled Lexi's concerned face peering down at mine while my body burned with fever. The rest was a blank.

  So the question remained: Where was I? And how did I get here?

  I lifted my left arm, wincing when it twinged but it didn't feel too bad. It was swaddled in bandages with only the tips of my fingers sticking out. The source of my illness remained a mystery. The sudden onset and my subsequent recovery ruled out rabies.

  My musings were interrupted when the door opened with a soft click and a girl walked in, carrying a tray. She was young, maybe twelve or thirteen, with caramel skin and frizzy chocolate colored hair. My eyes narrowed as I stared at her face, trying to place it.

  She looks familiar.

  “You're awake.” Her voice was as shy as her smile and it suddenly clicked.

  She's Lloyd's cousin. The one from the orphanage.

  That sent my mind into a tailspin.

  “What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Where am I?” The words were slurred, my voice rusty with disuse.

  My questions woke up Lexi, who sat up with a glad cry before flinging herself into my arms. “Ava, you're awake.”

  I grunted when she jostled my arm sending a shooting pain up into my shoulder but hugged her close, patting her back with my good hand. “Yes, I'm fine, sweet pea. No need to worry.”

  “I was so scared. I thought you would die. You wouldn't wake up and I had no one to talk to and nobody who could help.”

  “Whoa, Lexi. Give poor Ava a break. If you keep talking, she'll start bleeding from the ears again.”

  Lexi pulled away and my eyes fixed on the familiar face of Lloyd, leaning on the door jamb with that sarcastic smile of his. A mixture of confused feelings welled up inside at the sight of him, robbing me of speech.

  “Surprise.” He grinned. “I see you've met Sarah. She's a real sweetie, isn't she? Made you breakfast in bed and everything.”

  Sarah flashed him a look before directing her words at me. “I was hoping you'd be awake. You've been getting better since yesterday. Are you hungry?”

  Her question reminded me of my empty stomach, and my mouth salivated at the thought of food. “I'm starving.”

  She placed the tray on my lap after I propped myself up and I got down to the business of eating. The food was simple but good. Porridge sweetened with sugar, a cup of tea and a few biscuits.

  I was done much sooner than expected, only managing half of my food despite my hunger and lay back with a satisfied groan, savoring the tea. My headache had receded and I gazed around with an expectant look. “So? Are you guys going to fill me in or not?”

  Lloyd stood upright and walked closer, his smirk fell away, replaced by a somber look that I'd never seen on him before. It unnerved me more than I cared to admit.

  “Maybe you two should let me talk to Ava alone,” he said to Sarah and Lexi.

  Sarah got up and took the protesting Lexi by the hand, dragging her away with a few whispered words to let the 'grown-ups' talk. She seemed very mature for her age, her manner reserved and her eyes watchful. I surmised it had to do with becoming an orphan at such an early age, living on scraps.

  “Sarah's nice,” I said once they left. “Is she and Lexi getting along?”

  Lloyd shrugged and settled into the chair next to my bed. “It looks that way. They're forever giggling and shit.”

  I allowed myself a satisfied smile. Lexi needed a friend closer to her own age, and Sarah was perfect.

  Lloyd clasped his hands together then changed the subject. “So. Do you want the bad news first? Or the really bad news? Or the really, really bad news?”

  “Spit it out, Lloyd.” A twinge of annoyance flared, reminding me why I'd never taken to Lloyd in the first place.

  Despite their similarities in appearance, Lloyd had a sharp edge to his personality that Sarah did not possess. I studied his angular face, waiting.

  “If you prefer,” Lloyd answered, his lips thinning.

  He sat back in his chair, blew out a breath and began talking. “Lexi tells me you already know what happened to Brian. That you overheard a couple of guys talking about it. Well, they were right. Brian went off to the border along with the rest of Company C. Before he left, he got hold of me and filled me in on your situation. I promised I'd look after the two of you but...things happened.”

  “Things?”

  “Well, the Black Tide became airborne for starters.”

  “What?” A note of incredulity crept into my voice.

  I remembered Brian telling me the rumors about the disease mutating. Was this what the stories had meant? Thoughts of Lexi dying the terrible death the Black Tide entailed made my insides grow cold. Not that I looked forward to going that way either.

  Lloyd nodded. “The army hid it for as long as they could but well, here we are. Royally fucked. Once it went airborne, there was no stopping it anymore. Just a mad scramble to prevent widespread panic while the big shots ran off to distant country retreats. Not that it helped them any.” He paused, eyes traveling to my bandaged arm. “To top it off, a new strain appeared amongst canines who fed on the corpses of those who'd died. And with so many corpses, it's spreading pretty fast among them.”

  “Canines? You mean dogs?”

  “Yup. So far it's only dogs who've shown the symptoms. It's nasty. They become aggressive, attacking anything in sight.” He pointed at my arm. “You had a run-in with one such and contracted its version of the Black Tide which almost killed you.”

  I blinked a few times while my mind tried to catch up. “So, the dog had the Black Tide, attacked and infected me, but it didn't kill me. And now we will die anyway because the disease has gone airborne. Is that what you're saying?”

  “We?” Lloyd shook his head. “Nope. If we were going to die, we'd be dead already. We're immune, sweetheart. The last left standing.”

  My mind spun at the words. “What do you mean the last?”

  “We're it. Everybody we know is dead. Unless they're immune, like us.”

  A sense of relief that Lexi and I wouldn't die washed over me. Followed by guilt as the rest of what Lloyd had said sank into my brain. “Dead? Everybody is dead?”

  “Yup.”

  His matter of fact answer stunned me and a surge of anger at his careless attitude prompted my next words. “Everybody's dead and you're sitting there like it's nothing? Do you even care?”

  He blinked, leaning back in his chair as I continued my harangue.

  “Do you care that your actions led to Andy's death? That Allen, Matthew, Neill, and Thabo died because of you? You and your stupid plan to bribe the guards?”

  “I care. I didn't mean for that to happen.”

  “Well, it did. It took Andy hours to die and he suffered every single second of it. All while you went back home, saved by your daddy who had friends in high places.”

  “I didn't know...I couldn't know, Ava,” he whispered.<
br />
  “Yeah, well. I warned you. None of you listened.”

  “I'm sorry, okay? I should have listened and I didn't. Instead, everyone died and I'm to blame.” He paused, a stricken look on his face. “Do you think I don't know? That it doesn't hurt me? Andy was my friend, Ava. My best friend.”

  The tension leached out of my muscles and I lay back against the cushions, exhausted. “I can still hear him scream in my dreams, Lloyd.”

  His eyes glistened and he looked away, unable to meet my gaze. “Nothing will ever make it right. Nothing. We all have to live with our regrets. Andy is one of mine.”

  I was silent, allowing my anger to ebb. Lloyd was right. He did not mean for any of it to happen. But it did and now he had to live with it. As did I.

  “So, you're saying we're immune?” I asked, deciding a change of subject was the best option.

  “We have to be. Neither of us is sick and you recovered from the canine strain. 'Natural immunity in our blood.' Least that's what the last reports to come from headquarters said.”

  I thought about that. A mental image of an empty and abandoned world rose in my mind. It was so far-fetched my brain wouldn't accept it. Were they all gone? Mrs. Peterson. Jacob. The lady at the corner shop who used to smile at me. My favorite teacher from grade eight, Mrs. Henderson.

  “That's impossible!” I didn't want to believe what Lloyd was saying, refused. “It's only been two weeks since Brian left. You can't tell me all the people in the world died within two weeks.”

  Lloyd looked at me with something akin to pity. “It's been longer than that. By the time Brian left, it was already happening. All over the world. The authorities hid it from us. By the time you got bitten, people were dying like flies. And by now...well...it's a different world out there.”

  His words brought me up short. “How long have I been sick?”

  Lloyd shrugged. “You've been in and out for three weeks. Give or take a few days.”

  Three weeks! Why can't I remember any of it?

  I did the mental calculations. That meant the new airborne version had been going around for five weeks now, more if the army hid it from us. Enough time to do a lot of damage.