by Olivia Marie
The smell that wafted toward us as the door swung open doubled us over. I could hear Jake retching and I could no longer hold down the vomit that spewed from my mouth. It had been the smell of death, the smell of rotting flesh, and the smell of whatever it was those boils on the infected produced. On the bed lay three bodies. You could see from the doorway arms, legs, even faces had rotted away from the attack of the virus. One was a little girl, still in a pink nightgown. The other, a boy, slightly bigger in jeans and what was left of a t-shirt. In the middle was a man wearing a pair of coveralls. We couldn’t make out his age due to the fact most of the flesh on his face was either gone or laying on the pillow beneath him. What we could ascertain though were the bullet holes.
“Someone shot them,” Jake was finally able to tell me.
I had figured that was what had happened when I saw the bodies, but I couldn’t have been sure. “The mom,” I told him then shook my head. “It makes sense. They were infected, maybe she wasn’t, and she put them out of their misery before taking off.”
“Most likely. She couldn’t stand seeing what the virus was doing to them.”
I closed my eyes, then swallowed hard. “The downstairs seems to be okay. I didn’t see any blood or signs of anything down there. Let’s leave them here and go back down. We can regroup.”
Jake nodded his head then stepped back, closing the door in front of us. He and I both knew we needed a break. We needed to think. We needed to plan. Even if it had to take place in a house of death. It was the only choice we had.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jake
Coming back down the steps, neither of us said a word. The stairs moaned under the weight of us, but it was the only sound in the house. Cammy wasn’t wrong for saying we should hole up there. At least we were out of the elements and away from the bigger infected population.
If the wife had shot them and fled with whoever was left, I knew she wasn’t coming back. The sight of them, the guilt of shooting them and walking away would have been enough to make anyone never come back. It made me never want to venture back up those steps again either, and I never knew them.
Seeing adults with it was one thing, but little kids, that was a whole new level of hurt. Poor babies who never had a chance at life, stripped of everything before it even started. That crushed me.
Cammy took my hand when we were almost at the bottom of the steps and I let her. None of that was natural and all of it had been hard to see. She kept her feelings to herself, not wanting to add to all that was going on, but she didn’t have a very good poker face and I saw the shock, horror, and sadness every time I looked at her. I felt it too, but we had to suppress it if we were going to have a chance at making it out of this shit alive.
“Cammy, there is a closet by the bathroom. See if you can find sheets or blankets. There are two couches in the living room, and I think that is our safest place. We can move them closer together for protection. I am going to move that hutch in the hallway to block the front door. That only leaves the garage door. One way in. One way out.”
“Not a bad idea. As long as they don’t trap us by only having one way.”
“We can’t let them.”
She didn’t say another word as she took off down the hall. I lost sight of her for a minute and it didn’t sit well with me. When she didn’t come back and I couldn’t hear her, I stopped moving shit and went to go check on her.
“Jake, help!” she screamed before I got to her.
Picking up my pace, I raced to the small bathroom and flung the door open farther. Cammy was standing in the small shower with her back pressed hard against the wall. Her sickle was in front of her, but she was shaking so bad, I wasn’t sure she would have been able to swing it.
I pushed harder on the door when it wouldn’t open.
“Hold it there, Jake.”
“Hold what?”
“The door. Don’t move the door.”
She climbed out of the shower, held her weapon out in front of her, and made her way closer to me. With jerky movements, she locked eyes with whatever she was stalking and whispered for me to close the door.
I wasn’t going to do it with her in there and me out in the hallway. Swinging my body around as I shut it, I got inside before she could argue. What we came face to face with was the last thing I expected to see.
Without thinking, we both went after it. She swung her sickle and I came down on the head with my hammer. Blood splattered and covered us both before we had a chance to back away.
Bringing my hammer down over and over, it only groaned and grunted. My hammer stuck in the top of the head and I had to push down with one hand and pull it out with the other. The skull caved at the weight of my body and the hammer came out bringing chunks of brain, pus, and shards of bone with it. Cammy cut it one last time and managed to slice the throat. The spray of blood from that last cut covered us both. Her more because she was closer, but we both had it dripping from us.
Gurgling, the poor thing finally collapsed and died.
Even in the dim light of the single naked bulb hanging in the middle of the room, I could see the blood hadn’t looked right. No longer red but a creamy pinkish grey, it was a new symptom we hadn’t seen before.
“Where did THAT come from?” Cammy asked pointing at what was left of our uninvited guest.
“I don’t know. We checked the whole house.”
“Jake, does this place have a basement?”
“I didn’t think so. Most old farmhouses didn’t, but I think we better make sure.”
“He was only a kid. He couldn’t have been older than thirteen. Why would she have left him behind and not taken care of him?”
“Maybe he got sick as they were leaving? I don’t really know, Cammy. What I do know is we have to find out how he got in here, and we need to get the blood and stuff off of you.”
“You too. You are covered worse than I am.”
I went to the sink and flicked on the water.
It worked.
“This is a good thing.” I couldn’t help but smile at the one thing that seemed to be in our favor after the last few days of this hell we had landed in. With a roof over our heads, and water, there wasn’t much more we needed for the moment.
“I will wash right after we check again.”
She was more shaken up by what had happened in that bathroom than the rest we had been through. I couldn’t say I blamed her. It was one thing to fight off an adult, it was another when it was a child. We had to push past that though if we were going to make it out. They were already gone by the time they became aggressive. It wasn’t a child she fought off; it was a virus.
We looked all over the lower half of the house and in the back room, in the closet, was a door that led to the crawlspace. The door was open and fresh tracks of dirt led from there to halfway across the room.
“You stay up here and shine this down for me, okay?”
“Why can’t I go with you?” she whined.
“Because I need you up here. Shine this down and stay put no matter what happens, got it?”
“I get it, but I don’t understand it.”
“Cam, I need you to keep an ear out for any sounds up here while I am in the hole. If we both go down there, we are exposed. I won’t be long. Quick sweep and I will be back up. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I hated leaving her up there alone, but I wasn’t sure what was down there and there wasn’t any reason to trap us both.
There were only three small steps leading to the dirt floor of the storm shelter. The smell was musty and wet, but I couldn’t smell any infection or rotting corpses like we had before.
“Shine the light down here more if you can,” I shouted up.
I heard the light clunk, clunk of her feet hitting the top step and spun around. I calmed down when I saw her sitting up there and not coming any further. She did shine the light better though and I was able to take a better look around.
Splat.
I landed hard on the ground. The sound of glass shattering broke the silence. I felt a shard slice into my leg before I was able to sit up.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I just tripped.”
“Over what?”
“Shine the light in the far corner to your left.”
As the light hit what caused my fall, I slowly dropped my hammer to the side.
“Cammy, come down here.”
She was at my side in no time and we both looked down at the jars of canned food at my feet.
“Is that food?”
“Yes. Help me grab a few jars. I didn’t see anything else down here. I’m not sure how the boy got down here, but we found this thanks to you and your demands to find the basement.”
We loaded up our arms with everything from fruit to pickles and carried our haul upstairs. We laid it out on the floor between the two couches I pushed together. Cammy headed to the kitchen and came back a few seconds later with two forks
“Open the apples first,” she said.
The ‘pop’ of the seal breaking and the sweet smell of cinnamon and apples made both our stomachs growl. I let her dig in the jar first and when she had fished out a big chunk of the treat, I did the same.
“Oh my god, this is so good,” she mumbled with her mouth full. Juice ran down her chin and when she brought her hand up to wipe it off, I saw all the blood and splatter from before.
“Stop. I know it’s good and we need to eat, but we are covered in infected blood and whatever else landed on us. Showers first and then we can finish eating.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. And stop touching your face.”
I was pissed at myself for not making her clean up already. If either of us touched the food with our hands, we could be speeding it up by eating any hint of the virus. Airborne made sense, but without knowing what or how that shit spread, we had to be extra careful.
“Fine. Will you come with me though? I don’t want to be alone.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cammy
Being able to hear Jake in the bathroom made me feel a lot better. The feel of the hot water helped wash away the memory of the boy. I never imagined I would come face to face with a kid infected with the virus. I’ve never been one to look at life with rose colored glasses, but the idea of kids…I didn’t like it one bit.
When I finished up, I reached out of the shower and grabbed the towel lying there. The minute my feet hit the floor Jake was there.
“I need to check. You were coated in infection.”
I swallowed hard, then nodded my head as I dropped the towel and stood there, nervously, as he once again inspected my body for sores. The first time he did it, I wasn’t as nervous. This time, I felt my heart pound in my chest at the idea of becoming like the others I’d seen. I didn’t want to be a hindrance to Jake. I didn’t want to try and kill him either.
“You’re good.”
I turned toward him as I wrapped the towel back around my body. “It’s your turn,” I insisted as I grabbed the clothes we’d gone upstairs and collected before deciding to clean up again.
He nodded. “I’m going to strip, then put my clothes in the bag with yours.”
“What will we do with them?”
“I’m going to tie it down then take it to the garage. That’s as far as I’m willing to go right now.”
He was right. We couldn’t go any farther. If we lifted the garage door, it would alert anyone who may be in the area, along with the infected who could still be wandering around. I watched while he dropped his scrubs, slid out of his top, then stuffed everything into the bag. I walked slowly behind him as he marched to the garage door in all his glory, then stopped short of opening the door.
“Do you hear anything?”
“No,” he sighed. “I just don’t know if I’m ready to face another infected.”
“The garage door is down. Hopefully nothing has gotten in there.”
Reluctantly, he smiled in agreement then opened the door. I waited with bated breath, but thankfully nothing came rushing toward us. Instead, he tossed the bag in the far corner, then hurried back in and closed the door behind him.
“See, that wasn’t hard,” I teased then let my eyes run over his body. “Dude, you’re starting to drip. Go get that craziness off you.”
I didn’t have the nerve to wait in the other room. Instead, I stood in the corner of the bathroom, slipping into my gloves and plastic booties Jake insisted I put on. I could hear how hard he was scrubbing his own body. I could understand it though. My own skin was still raw.
I heard the water shut off, then heard a faint, “Fuck.”
“Jake, what is it?” I asked, feeling my heart leap into my throat. Was he infected? My mind immediately imagined some unseen virus eating away at the flesh on his leg or arm.
“I have a cut. I don’t remember where I got it.”
I tried to remember where it could have come from. I didn’t see a cut on him when I inspected his body after he disinfected. Since then though, he’d pulled the guy free of the car, fought with the boy, and inspected the house. “What all did you pack in your bag?”
“Some antibiotics, bandages, stuff for wound care. Just the basics.”
“Okay, get out of the shower, let me check you over, then we’ll clean and bandage your cut to make sure you’re alright.” I had to speak up and take control of the situation. I could hear the nervousness in his voice.
I waited until he climbed out of the shower, then carefully looked him over. I fully admit, I paid closer attention. If there was more than the one cut, I wanted to know. No, I needed to know. When I saw nothing else, I couldn’t help but be slightly relieved.
“I’m going to dress first,” he told me as he quickly dried himself. I waited until he slipped into the clothes he had laid out then sat down on the toilet seat. “I can do it. You know, just in case it’s something you shouldn’t touch.”
Part of me wanted to argue, but this was Jake. He was the smartest person I knew. If he thought it was best for me not to touch the wound, there was no way in hell he would let me. Instead, I stood over him, watching as he pulled out what he needed to clean and set to work. On any other day, I wouldn’t think twice about what I saw. It was a simple cut. Barely broke the skin. Considering what we’d been through lately though, it could be some kind of fucked up death sentence for him.
“It’s not deep.” I wanted to give him a bit of clarity on what was going on. I could see the fear in his face as he worked.
“That’s a good thing. I don’t think it truly broke the skin, but I don’t know how contagious this virus is.”
“Now that we have a place to chill for a bit, maybe you could make a few calls. You said the CDC sent out information five days ago. Someone could still be waiting around to hear from people.”
“Or they may have figured out what this is. They could even be testing a cure.”
His words made me smile. I could only hope his random pondering could somehow turn out to be true. “I’ll hope on that one,” I sighed. “Now, let’s get you in here and get some food in you. It’ll make you stop worrying.”
The look he gave me sent a chill down my spine. It had been years since I’d seen Jake, but I still knew that look. Nothing I said or did was going to stop him from thinking he was infected. I could see his mind working behind his eyes. He was plotting and planning.
“Yeah, you need to eat something. I think I do too,” he finally said, getting to his feet. “Those apples have to go, though. We had blood on us when we opened them.”
“Dammit,” I mumbled as I fell in step behind him.
Making it to the living room, I collapsed on one of the sofas while Jake wiped down each of the cans of food with a disinfectant wipe. Once he finished, he carried the used wipes and opened cans to the kitchen garbage. I watched him drop them in then pull off his gloves and add those as well. Coming back to his sofa, he grabbed a fresh
pair then opened a can of peaches. Instead of digging in like we were before, both of us nit-picked, our appetites gone at the prospect of him being infected.
I reached over, not able to wonder any longer, and felt his forehead. Cool as a cucumber. That was a good sign. There was no fever at least. “You’re going to be fine,” I told him, refusing to hear otherwise. “Now see if you can get ahold of anyone at the CDC.”
He smirked at me, which was always a good thing when it came to Jake, before pulling out his cell phone. I watched as he scrolled through his contacts, then slowly pushed the one he needed. Placing the phone to his ear, he waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, he pressed the button ending the call. “Nothing.”
I couldn’t help it, but I sighed heavily. Some part of me had wanted him to get an answer. The other part of me knew it wouldn’t happen though. “Maybe they’ll call back.”
“That’s always a possibility, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. If things got too bad, I’m sure the doctors and staff there decided to get home to their families. It’s what they did at our hospital. It’s the smart decision.”
Hearing him talk about people going to their families made me realize he hadn’t asked me about Norene. I knew how much she meant to him, but knowing something bad must be a bit too hard for him. Still, him and Norene both deserved acknowledgements. “You haven’t asked about Norene.”
“You showed up in her car without her. I just assumed she went mad like the others.”
“No, that’s not how it happened,” I told him as I pulled my knees up to my chest and cuddled back on the sofa. “I was running away from the house. I couldn’t stay there any longer. With Dad and Keith lying there, dead, it was just too much. I hid for a bit, waiting.”
“Why? Were the infected everywhere?”
“No. Deputy Raymond Lee was.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. He was still patrolling, calling over the car’s speaker and reading the statement about staying inside and all that. When he was gone and I could hear him a block or two over, I started moving again. That’s when I heard Norene. Camilla Jolene. You know that voice.”