by Olivia Marie
“He’s in the room at the end of the hallway,” she finally answered, a cut in her voice no one could deny. “You move through here at your own risk. We aren’t responsible for anything you may contract,” I heard her snap as she tossed one of the masks toward me.
I grabbed the mask, using it to cover my mouth and nose properly, as I kept moving down the hallway. I could hear raised voices in the distance. I opened my mouth to call out for Jake again when movement to my right caught my eye. The man moving toward me didn’t seem to be a threat at first, then I noticed the oozing sores on the side of his neck. I looked down, seeing his leg visible from beneath his hospital gown. Half of his calf was gone, obviously being eaten by the virus.
“Stay back,” I told him as I tried to move past the room he was stepping out of.
“Help me.”
I turned, wanting to avoid being touched again by someone with the virus. Instead of moving away, I found myself rushing forward against someone else I hadn’t realized was there. Feeling their hands grip my arms, I screamed, realizing just how big of a mistake coming here had actually been. I struggled, feeling fingers dig into my arms as I did. If this was truly the end, I wasn’t going down without a fight.
CHAPTER THREE
Jake
I saw a piece of paper laying on the ground in the room they shoved me in and bent down to pick it up. Turning it over, I read it.
You’ve likely heard about the unknown virus that is spreading in the news. While the immediate health risk remains low to Americans and there isn’t a vaccine yet, there are still ways that you can help prevent the spread of this virus.
To prevent the spread of this illness or other illnesses, including the flu:
Wash your hands often with soap and water,
Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze,
Stay home when you’re sick, and
See your doctor if you think you’re ill.
Visit The Centers for Disease Control website for more information on the virus, including what you should know about symptoms, treatments, testing, and other frequently asked questions.
Sincerely,
The HealthCare.gov Team
I looked at the date and saw it was sent five days ago. Five days was all it took for the town I had lived in my whole life to be consumed by whatever this was. Five days to change families forever. Five days and everyone who was first infected was already dead.
My stomach dropped and I vomited all over the floor. Reaching up to see if I had a fever, it was impossible to tell with how cold and clammy my hands were. I walked over to the station in the room and dug in the top drawer for the ear scanner.
98.6
No fever. I moved to the bed to grab my coat. Looking it over, I tossed it in the bin with the hazmat symbol. It was covered in the puss from Tim’s hands. I would have to find another coat to put on and since most of the staff had bolted hours ago, I was sure I could find one easily.
I wasn’t going to stand on the sidelines no matter what and if they thought I would because I was grabbed, none of them knew me at all. In my short-sleeved scrubs, I felt exposed to whatever was out there. I put on a new pair of gloves to at least protect my hands. They weren’t sure how this virus was spreading, but they were pretty sure it was by contact. If I could keep them off my skin, I might have a chance to make it out of here alive.
I opened the door slowly and looked down the hall. I heard screams and panic the second the door was cracked. It sounded louder than before I was shoved in the room by Matt, and that only meant more patients.
“Are you okay? How are you feeling? You really should be lying down,” Marissa said walking toward me without taking a breath.
“I’m fine. He never touched me.”
“Really? ‘Cause I was sure his hands were on you. Maybe you should wait it out and see if things change. What if you have it now?”
“I promise you, I don’t. My skin never touched his. Look at this. Have you seen this before?”
I handed her the paper with the warning from the government on it.
“No.” Her nose wrinkled under the mask making it move up her face. She flipped the paper over and over as if it would tell her something different if she did it enough.
“I didn’t see it either, but it was sent five days ago. This is spreading faster than they thought.”
“That isn’t all. At first, it seemed to only hit the old, young, or companied. Obviously with Tim, it is hitting all of us now. But there is something even stranger. Come on. Explaining it won’t work. You have to see it yourself.”
I followed her to the lower level of the hospital just past the emergency department. I looked outside as we moved past the front glass doors and my heart hurt. I saw bodies littering the entrance to the patient drop-off. Ones that tried to reach us for help but couldn’t make it inside.
“What is that smell?” I covered my face with my hand and tried to breathe through my mouth. It didn’t help and I could taste it.
“The dead are decaying faster than normal and with nobody to get the corpses out and the air conditioning out, they are starting to smell pretty bad.”
“Pretty bad? That is not how I would put it. It is worse than a garbage dump and roadkill on a hot summer day.” The sour, vile smell penetrated everything, and I fought back the urge to throw up. Marissa would have seen it as a sign I was infected and quarantine me for no reason.
“Come on. It’s down here.”
I followed her down the dark hallway to the end before she stopped at the last door on the right. I watched her hand shake as she reached for the knob and slowly turned it. My heart raced in my chest, drowning out the silence with the constant ‘whomp, whomp.’
The door screamed in protest as she swung it open. She backed up and locked eyes with me.
“After you and be careful.”
“Of what?”
“You’ll see.”
Looking around, I couldn’t spot a thing until I looked in the far back corner under the window.
“What is that?” I asked and spun on her.
“It was a cat at one time.”
“A cat?”
“Yes.”
“Is it dead?”
“I think so. I haven’t heard it move around in here for a little while now,” she said and hung her head. As hard as it was for her to see the people going through that, it had to be killing her to see an animal with it.
I moved slowly in case it wasn’t dead and made sure I had a clear way out if I needed it. The little grey cat was sprawled out across the hard floor and it wasn’t moving. The fur was matted and wet in places. It wasn’t with water though; the thing was covered in blood. Looking closer, I saw it was missing a front paw. The bone of the leg protruded out of the empty space where it should have been. Pussy pink fluid oozed from the open wound and pooled on the floor. Its tail was missing and so was a chunk of the back leg. None of that was as bad as what I found on it next.
It had been a male cat and in its mouth lay its testicles. Mangled, ripped, and chewed up. The cat died choking on itself. White foam was drying on the mouth and the eyes that had been budging out were starting to sink in.
Marissa turned to walk out of the room before I saw her crying. I moved closer and poked the thing with my pen. It didn’t move.
“Poor cat.”
I heard Marissa outside talking to someone and my attention turned to that.
When I heard the screams I froze. I knew that voice, it was Cammy. The little girl my Grandma used to babysit. I raced to the hallway and saw the man blocking her from where I was and leaped without thinking.
Laying on top of him while his bloody, puss filled arms tried to reach around and get me, I fought to keep him from reaching her.
I wasn’t sure how smart my heroic move was, but she was a child and I had to defend her.
CHAPTER FOUR
Cammy
Seeing that Jake had taken down the man who’d tried to
attack me, I knew he needed my help. Jake had always looked out for me. He and the other guys in the neighborhood always saw me as Keith’s kid sister. The last time I ran into him, he didn’t act any different. He didn’t care that I did two years in community college or that I was no longer the kid they used to threaten bullies to leave alone. It wasn’t the time to try and explain that either. It was time to help the guy who’d always looked out for me.
I watched the man struggle to reach Jake. The pus and oozing liquid seeping from his hands was smearing on the floor. Jake wasn’t wearing a hazmat suit or the protection the others were. I wasn’t sure about how the virus passed, but I had seen enough to know touch was a bad thing. Not having any other choice, I looked around quickly and tried to find something I could use as a weapon of some sort. My eyes locked onto a computer monitor sitting behind the nurse’s station. I didn’t think. Instead, I threw myself over the counter and dragged the cord free from the wall.
I wheeled around, holding the monitor over my head. “Jake move, NOW!” The instant Jake pulled himself off the man on the floor, I tossed the monitor, watching as it connected to his head, splashing blood, thick greyish brain matter, and chunks of bone and hair all over me.
“Cammy, freeze!”
I hadn’t thought the move through. My first instinct had been to protect my friend. Had I caused myself to contract whatever the hell was tearing through our town? Would I turn into the ravenous mess my father and brother had?
“What do I do?” I asked, trying to fend off the panic attack I could feel creeping its way up on me. I took deep breaths, hoping I wouldn’t freak and pass out in the yucky stew of brain juice I’d left in the floor.
“We need to get her decontaminated.” The nurse I’d been talking to spoke up. “I don’t see anything on her skin yet, but we don’t have time to wait.”
“Cammy. Don’t touch your face. Stay away from the blood and fluids. Move slowly to your right so we can get you down the hall, okay?”
I looked up at Jake seeing the concern in his warm, brown eyes. I didn’t have any words; instead, I did as he said and slowly began navigating the spreading infection spilling from what was left of my attacker’s head.
I slipped into autopilot. The blood smeared walls, the pained patients crying out for help, they were all vaguely there in the back of my mind, but all I could think about was myself. Sure, it was selfish as hell, but I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to give up.
“I’m going to suit up and help you, alright?”
The sound of Jake’s voice penetrated my spaced mind, pulling me from the deep recesses where I’d slipped, thinking about the pain and the flesh-eating sentence I’d given myself. I nodded my head in answer then followed him as he stepped into a room with plastic surrounding it. “What is this?” I asked feeling myself start to tremble.
“This is the quarantine area we set up. Don’t expect it to be perfect, we didn’t have much time. We do have a decontamination shower though. Marissa and Matt will wash us down since both of us came into contact with him.”
I looked around at them then made myself register what he was saying. Contact. At home, Keith went crazy and attacked my dad, but Dad had already started breaking out with the sores before Keith reacted that way. What if this thing didn’t need touch to spread? We may all have already been infected.
“Strip your clothes. They’ll go to an incinerator.”
I pulled off my shirt, then slipped off my shorts. Standing there in my bra and panties, I suddenly felt completely exposed. I didn’t like it. “All of it?”
“Yeah,” Jake answered as he started pulling off everything he was wearing. I knew I didn’t have any other choice when I saw his boxers hit the floor. “Once we’re inside the shower, I need you to look me over, any of the places I can’t see for myself, and make sure you don’t see any boils or sores. Anything out of the ordinary, point it out. Don’t freak out, but I’ll be doing the same with you.”
“Alright,” I agreed as I reached behind me and unhooked my bra, letting it fall to the floor, followed by my panties. I waited until Jake moved through the maze of hanging plastic then followed after him.
“Jake, I’m taking the clothes to the incinerator. Marissa will be out here,” I hear a voice call out from behind us.
“Matt, be careful out there. The patients are hitting the madness stage,” Jake instructed the man behind the voice. “Marissa, start the showers.”
I wanted to shrink away. I didn’t want Jake’s eyes rolling over me like I was some kind of specimen instead of a human. It was the nature of the beast though. I sucked it up, held up my arms, and turned slowly in a circle to allow him to inspect every portion of my body. When I finished, he gave me the thumbs up, then followed my lead, taking the same position. I caught myself praying he wouldn’t be infected. I also found myself turning beet red at the idea of looking at him.
“Don’t think about it, Cammy. I need you to help me with this, okay?”
I breathed heavily, then moved closer so I could see him better. Each freckle sent a wave of panic through me at the possibility he might have been infected. When my examination ended, and he was in the clear, I felt tears stinging my eyes.
“Hey, you’re fine. Calm down. Disinfect yourself so we can get you in a pair of scrubs. The AC went out a few hours ago, you don’t want to linger in this heat.”
Enough was enough. It was time I pulled myself together. I grabbed the bottle he offered me and got busy trying to save myself from falling prey to the pandemic.
“Let me know when to hose you down.”
Hearing the nurse they’d called Marissa call out to us, I glanced up at Jake just in time to see him shrug his shoulders before a spray of water powered into me, nearly knocking me against the wall. The only thing I could think while feeling my skin being scalded was what fresh hell had I gotten myself into by listening to Norene.
***
Dressed in a fresh set of scrubs and a pair of paper booties on my feet, I sat on a clean gurney watching as Jake and Marissa nervously paced the room labeled ‘isolation.’ After the scrub down, I’d told them about my dad and brother. Marissa didn’t seem too shocked at the possibility of the virus being airborne. Jake, on the other hand, was clearly attempting to wrap his mind around the fact our world had been fucked up and there was nothing we could do about it.
“I wonder how the man in 108 became infected. We’d tried to keep him away from everyone. Airborne answers so many questions,” Marissa explained as she stopped walking and stared at the door. “Shouldn’t Matt be back by now?”
Both Jake and I looked her way. I hadn’t thought too much about the other man who’d been with us not returning. I didn’t know for sure how far away the incinerator was, so I had no idea on the timing. “Should we go look for him?”
“No, the two of you were just decontaminated. I should go,” Marissa spoke up, clearly scared about the prospect.
“I’ll go with you,” Jake insisted. “I don’t like the idea of you out there by yourself. I can always decontaminate again if need be.”
“We’ll all go.” I slid off the gurney and pulled up the slightly oversized scrubs to keep them from falling off my ass. “I’m not staying here alone.”
I half expected a bit of argument, but there was none. Instead, Jake took the lead, and Marissa and I fell in line behind him as he moved slowly down the hallway, trying to stay as quiet as possible.
“Do you notice the screams have stopped?”
I didn’t want to think about what Marissa’s revelation meant. I saw what happened back at the house when Keith stopped screaming. He started eating his own skin.
“Try not to think about it,” I told her and took her hand to help her keep moving. The sound of our gloves meshing echoed in the newfound silence. “How far is the incinerator?” I questioned.
“It’s in the basement, near the morgue.”
“Great,” I mumbled as Jake came to a full stop in front o
f us. “What’s wrong?”
“We need to go. Just turn and head for the main doors. Now.”
I stepped toward him, moving to his side so I could see what was happening. In front of the door marked ‘basement,’ I saw a woman in a hospital gown. She was on her knees, showing her exposed legs and backside. One ass cheek was gone, obviously devoured by the flesh-eating virus she’d contracted. The sores on her arms were busted open, spewing pus and bile onto the floor. Beneath her on the floor was the man who’d been with Jake when I first saw him. I could see his legs kicking while she tore into the flesh on his face. With each bite, I saw the way his skin pulled away from the bone like putty.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered as I threw my hands over my mouth to keep myself from throwing up.
“We can’t stay here,” Marissa insisted from behind us. “Jake’s right. We need to go.”
I didn’t have it in me to tell her about the mess outside, but she was right. Being inside the hospital was far more dangerous. At least out in the open, we would be free of the infected already to the point of madness.
“Marissa, as we pass the quarantine room grab the gloves, masks, and scrubs. Cammy help her. Carry whatever you can.”
“I have Norene’s car out front, but the keys are in my pocket,” I told him as I pointed to the bag of clothes lying beside Matt’s body.
“Mine is out front. We aren’t taking on another infected right now,” he said as he turned, ushering us back toward the quarantine room.
At the quarantine room, both Marissa and I rushed inside grabbing the supplies Jake told us to grab. He hurried across the room to a few cabinets and was quickly grabbing bottles of medication and other supplies. He threw them in a bag, turning to let us put the things we were gathering in as well.