by Lee Argus
The shorter girl had an almost opposite appearance. Brown and auburn hair rested just below her jawline, whose rounded cheeks showed a bright flush of color. Her skin was tan and she had the build of someone who played soccer, or was an athlete.
Despite their dissimilarities, they carried themselves in a similar manner. Were they related? I’d guess sisters.
The tall blonde one shrilly yelled, “Don’t shoot us!” throwing her hands up in surrender.
I had forgotten the shotgun I’d kept pointed at them. I lowered the barrel to the ground, and let out a deep breath. I had almost shot two people, two real people.
The blond didn’t lower her upraised hands, but the shocked look was replaced by one of confusion. Her companion came over to her and placed her hand on a shoulder.
“Are you all right, Steph?” she asked, concern clear in her voice.
Steph nodded, but looked pale and shaky. I hadn’t meant to frighten them.
“I’m sorry,” I said, apologetically. “I was attacked last night, and there haven’t been any other people anywhere.”
“We saw,” the dark haired girl said in a matter of fact tone, “if it weren’t for the gunfire and noise they made, we wouldn’t have known you were here. We didn’t know anyone else was hiding on this street. Are you related to the Ayalas?”
Her voice was rich and dusky, with a smooth clarity to it. She seemed educated, enunciating everything they said in a clear and concise manner. It was strange to be talking with someone, but also enjoyable.
“Ayalas?” I asked, confused.
“They lived in that house.” she said, pointing behind me. “I’ve never really talked to them, but they seemed nice enough.”
“I was just hiding out here.” I told them. “I wanted to get out of town but the sun was starting to go down. I didn’t want to be stuck on the street with them out.”
“Hiding in that house didn’t do much better for you.” Steph said, in a well-educated voice. She sounded like someone who liked to put on airs.
“I don’t know how they found me. I kept quiet inside, but they seemed to know I was hiding in the house.”
“Your smell.” the unnamed girl said.
I blinked in confusion.
“If you go into a house, you have to mask your scent. Cheap perfume and bleach seem to work best. They don’t like the sharp smell and will avoid them. If they do see you, it doesn’t matter whether they can sniff you out or not.”
They were smart to survive so long. I saw that they smelled around the car and house, but it never occurred to me that I could cover up my scent.
I felt uncomfortable talking with them from the lawn, and there wasn’t anything inside left to sit on. I was also self-conscious about my own appearance. Smoke and soot had clung to and dried all over my skin. I hadn’t shaved, and my hair probably looked like a wild mess. The two women looked like they still maintained themselves. Steph was wearing a light amount of make-up, and both had their hair combed and tied back.
We stood there, staring at each other for a while. I tried to think about what to say, but I couldn’t think of anything. What do you say in this kind of situation?
“Where did you come from? Have you seen anyone else still alive?” the brunette asked.
“No, haven’t seen anyone else,” I didn’t know where I had come from, but how could I explain that?
“I…I woke up in a hospital a few days ago and that’s all I can remember.”
“You don’t remember anything? Do you know what’s going on? How did you survive last night?” Steph asked. She stared at me with an amazed expression.
“I got lucky the first night.” I said, and went on to explain everything that happened since I’d awakened on the hospital bed. I probably missed a few details here and there but I tried to remember what I could.
Their story was a little longer than mine and had more details. They were sisters and their parents had died several years ago in a car accident leaving them the house and money placed into a trust. Stephanie was on spring break when the disease broke. She’d been studying to be a psychologist and councilor. Her older sister, Rachel, was a registered nurse. She had thought about training to become a doctor, until her parents were killed.
They were together when an outbreak of Kuru started to spread. It had an incubation period of around a week, and was highly contagious. It had started about a month ago, and they’d been hiding in the house since. It was a mutation of a cannibalistic disease and no cures or treatments were found.
On TV a scientist had said that their smell and hearing were much more sensitive than human, almost at K-9 level. He suggested lights, perfume, and bleach as a deterrent. With the power out, Rachel and Stephanie were relying on keeping them from tracking their smell.
“You say you woke up in a hospital bed?” Stephanie asked. I nodded. “You might have suffered some mental or physical traumas that caused your amnesia. I wish we could do a CAT scan on you, without one it’s hard to rule anything out.”
“We have some food at our house, if you want to go inside. Kurus stay indoors until sunset. Their eyes are too sensitive to look out windows to see where we go.” Rachel said.
I followed them across the street. My sword was still on the porch, but I didn’t want to make them any more nervous carrying it. They kept looking at the shotgun uncomfortably.
Steph went inside first while Rachel held open the door for me. I followed Steph, and Rachel closed the door behind herself.
I stood in a long hallway that was lined with pictures and paintings. Stephanie gestured for me to follow her, and she led me into a large living room.
A large ornate rug covered most of the hardwood floor. The furniture had a more aesthetic than comfortable appearance and was arranged around a large fireplace rather than a TV. Above the fireplace was a large family painting, which showed a younger version of the two sisters, who stood in front of what must have been their parents. They all smiled kindly out of the painting, seeming perfectly happy and at ease. Rachel had the look of her mother, while Steph was tall and gaunt like her father.
Stephanie was reclining in the couch, while Rachel walked past us into another part of the house.
“Can I get you some water?” Rachel called echoing down the hall.
“Sure.” I replied. My throat was parched and dry from the heat of the fire and from the exhausting night I had.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Stephanie asked politely.
I sat across from her. The couch was slightly more comfortable than I’d expected, but not as much as the one I’d burned the night before. I looked about the room, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling I had from Steph staring at me.
Before the silence built to uncomfortable levels, Rachel came back with several plastic bottles. She playfully tossed one at Steph and handed me another.
“Sorry, it’s warm.” she said, unscrewing the cap off of hers.
I was grateful to drink anything. “Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it. We went out last week and grabbed a lot of cases from a grocery store.”
“Have you fought off any Kurus?” I asked, curious.
They didn’t seem to be very physical people, especially Steph. I thought she had paled at the sight of my shotgun, but it still looked like she was about to pass out.
“No. Whenever we went out it was daytime and we kept away from darker buildings. Some of the grocery stores stay well lit in the morning, if they’re facing east.”
“It sounds difficult.”
“We had a few close calls. A Kuru was hiding in the darker part of one of the stores we don’t go to anymore. It wasn’t able to get to us once we ran to the front of the store.”
Steph didn’t say much while I talked with Rachel. She listened to us with rapt attention, but never interjected anything of her own. I wondered if she was feeling well.
“Are you all right?” I asked her. “You look kind of tired.”
“
Steph-” Rachel began to say, before she was cut off by Stephanie.
“I’m fine. Just need some rest.”
I didn’t know if that was completely true. She did look tired, but why would she interrupt what her sister was saying? I didn’t want to push further, despite my curiosity. It would have been rude.
“What were you two planning to do?” I asked, changing the subject. The house seemed comfortable enough, except for the threat of being attacked every night.
“We weren’t sure. By the time everything had happened, it was too late to leave. We’re kind of trapped here. Steph thought we should get out of town, and try another place. I thought it would be too…dangerous.”
“Maybe it was,” Steph said, “but if there are three of us, and he’s got that shotgun, I think we could make it.”
You know that’s not what I meant,” she said, angrily. “You shouldn’t be traveling, or exerting yourself. Not in your condition.”
Condition? Was she pregnant? It didn’t seem likely. She was thin and frail. If what they said about when the disease broke out was right, there would be no way she could have been pregnant. The timing wouldn’t make sense. Then what was it?
“I’m fine.” Steph said, more to her sister than me. “I can make it on foot to wherever we need to go. I know I can.”
“I’m supposed to be the one looking out for you. You know that, so why don’t you listen to me for once?”
“I’m not a child anymore. You don’t need to hold my hand all the time. I can make my own decisions, and I want to leave. It’s only a matter of time before we’re discovered, or attacked. We need to go somewhere smaller, with less Kuru everywhere.”
Rachel shook her head, not wanting to listen to what her younger sister had to say. I felt uncomfortable sitting there, in the middle of their family dispute. I still wondered about her condition. Was she sick? She looked it.
“You don’t even know if he wants to leave.” Rachel said, pointing at me. “He doesn’t even know who he is. What makes you think he’d just pack up and leave with us?”
“Well, would you leave with us?” Steph asked. “I’ve been saying all along that a small town, with less Kuru would be safer. We might not be able to drive the whole way, but we could walk if it came down to it.”
I didn’t want to get in between them, and pick a side. I figured I’d just tell them what I was going to do if they hadn’t come along.
“I was going to head to the west coast. To see if there was anyone else that hadn’t been infected. I can’t remember anything about my past, so it’s not like I have reasons to stay here. I have the keys to the car parked outside, and the tank is still mostly full. We could see how far we’d be able to go.”
Stephanie wore a pleased expression which seemed to infuriate Rachel even more. Her piercing gaze went from Steph to me, and the drawn line of her mouth spoke volumes about how furious she felt. Her cheeks were flushed with the raw emotion they held.
“I’m going to make us some breakfast.” she said sharply, as she stalked angrily from the room.
After her footsteps receded down the hall, Stephanie spoke.
“I’m sorry about that. She’s very protective, and quick to anger. When she’s angry she cooks, it’s her coping mechanism.”
She sounded like it was a common occurrence between the two of them. I suppose that they wouldn’t fight and argue so hard if they didn’t care about each other.
“I actually signed her up for a cooking class for a birthday present.” She went on to say, “Of course, I didn’t tell her why, but she’s been able to handle things without her temper getting the best of her since.”
I wonder what she could cook, since there was no power, fresh ingredients, or gas. I’d assumed the gas, but I might have been wrong. I asked her, and her parents had never liked cooking with electric, so they installed a large propane tank in a back yard shed. It was large enough to only require filling every few months, and was still fairly full.
“Water has been a problem, but we’ve been able to stretch the three water dispense bottles we have to last. It was only last week that we had to go out for water, instead of food.”
“Your sister said that you had a condition. You aren’t….” I didn’t know how to put it, without her possible finding offense at asking about her personal life.
She must have guessed at that, because she smiled and let out a short laugh.
“Pregnant? No, I’m defiantly not pregnant. Rachel has always been a worrier. I have a slight medical problem, but it’s under control I’m fine.” She abruptly changed the subject. “You said that you couldn’t remember anything, not even bits and pieces?”
I shook my head. “Sometimes I have these feelings, like I should remember something, but it always slips away.”
“Amnesia like that is rare. Can you remember anything non-specific? You can still talk, for instance. How about anything else? Dates, TV shows, favorite foods?”
“Nothing specific to me. I can still drive, and I know what foods are. I can’t remember what I like, or what things will taste like when I do try them.”
“Some cases of amnesia I read about would slowly clear up on their own, but I’ve heard about a few that never did. I’m sorry I can’t help more,” She thought about it for a moment. “If I had to guess I’d say it was retrograde amnesia caused by physical trauma. It might have been a head injury. If you injured your brain, it might be permanent.”
“Is there anything I can do to help remember?” I asked hopefully. I didn’t like not knowing who I was.
“The brain has ways of healing itself. Your memory might come back slowly, or not at all. There’s not much you can do but wait.”
We stopped talking when Rachel brought an enormous tray of food to the coffee table. I was amazed at the piles of junk food and snacks that were there. It looked like enough to feed a dozen people, not just us three.
No one talked while we ate. Rachel’s glare seemed less harsh than earlier, but it was still there. What surprised me more than anything was Stephanie. Even though she was very thin, she ate with great gusto. I now saw why Rachel brought so much. Piles of cookies, and plastic cup after plastic cup disappeared into her.
Rachael was more of a bird picker, just taking a small amount of this and that. I tried a few different things, not knowing what to expect. I found the bitter tartness of a pickle good, but didn’t care for canned peaches. There was something off about the texture. Stephanie was busy eating, but Rachel talked with me while sipping at her bottle of water.
“How was the meal?”
“Great. I was too busy last night to eat.” I said between mouthfuls.
“We saw. I hadn’t seen so many Kurus in one place before. I didn’t think you were going to survive, but I’m glad you did.”
She seemed to get past her prior anger, and was starting to warm up with new company.
“It must have been frightening.” she said.
“There were a few times it felt pretty close. I’d burned through almost everything in the house. A few more hours of dark and I would have had to chance taking off in the car.”
“We were too scared to come out, and it might have led more of them back to the house.” she said, embarrassed.
“I understand. If I were in your situation, I’d have done the same thing. You don’t know me, and family should always come first.”
I wondered if I had any family.
“If you too are done chatting we should decide where to go.” Stephanie said, still heavily eating. “We can’t just wait around here; it’s only a matter of time before we’ll be found out.”
“Steph, you know you can’t just pick up and leave.” Rachel said, and turned to me. “My sister has cystic fibrosis. She is in no condition to go anywhere.”
Stephanie glared at her. “I’m fine. If I want to go, it’s my choice!” she said, yelling the last part.
I didn’t want to get involved, but if we did leave together it woul
d be on my head as well. Besides, this sounded like an old argument that would go nowhere. I didn’t know what cystic fibrosis was, but it didn’t sound very good.
“Can you keep up if we do go?” I asked her.
“Yes. I still have a large enough supply of antibiotics, in case I have a lung infection. It’s common stuff that we could get at any pharmacy, if I need it.”
Rachel’s eyes shot daggers at both of us. “And what if we can’t?” she asked her. “How about your food? If we have to travel on foot we can’t exactly bring a lot of it.” She turned to me. “Her system can’t absorb food as well as a regular person.”