Virus

by Olivia Marie

  The minute Jake was out of my sight, I hurried back into the living room and grabbed the shotgun I’d used earlier. Remembering what my dad had taught me growing up, I loaded it, cocked it, and flipped off the safety. If I heard anything moving in the house, my plan had been to take it out, no question. If I thought Jake was in trouble, I would need to vacate our original plan and high tail it down the stairs. Either way, I needed to stay ready.

  I held the shotgun tight to my chest as I walked around in circles in the house. I felt a slight bit of relief when I saw Jake rush into the living room, carrying one of the totes full of food. “You alright?” he asked breathing a little heavy from carrying the load.

  “Yep. You?”

  “I’m going to get another load, but there’s too much to take all of it. I’ll carry it all out to the car when I get back,” he finished before turning and rushing back down the stairs.

  Something inside me didn’t want to wait. I couldn’t put my finger on why. So, instead of waiting on Jake to come back, I set the shotgun down then lifted the tote. I immediately wondered how the hell Jake got it up the stairs. It was heavy as hell. I started lugging it toward the garage door, setting it down long enough to open the door, then turned to pick it back up when something grabbed my foot and dragged me down the couple of stairs leading into the garage.

  I jerked around in time to see a woman standing there, boils covering her entire face. She reached toward me, her hands dripping pus onto the garage floor. “I’m hungry,” she moaned as she snatched at my hair, pulling me closer toward her. “Please, help me.”

  I tried to struggle without getting any of the pus or ooze on me. I could see bits of something in her teeth. She’d already snacked on something or someone, I just had no idea who or what. Glad I had the gloves on my hands, I reached up and took hold of her hand, trying to pull it out of my hair. She wouldn’t let go, so I had no real choice. I jerked my hair, feeling it pull free from the roots, then kicked her back away from me. When she hit the ground, I could see the flesh on her leg had been eaten away from the virus and the pink sundress she wore was covered with blood and gore from it.

  I turned to try and get back in the house, when I fell over the tote of food I’d carried to the door. I felt my shin tear open and let out a squeal. Pulling myself up, I didn’t take the chance of looking back. I had no idea how the woman ended up in the garage or if there was anyone else out there with her, but I had to stop her before she got her hands on me again. With the pain I was feeling in my leg I knew I couldn’t fight her off. I stumbled my way toward the kitchen, where I’d left the gun. Before I reached it, the bleeding and the pain in my leg became too much and I fell face first onto the floor again.

  “Please, I’m just hungry.”

  It was clear she hadn’t lost her entire mind, but she still wanted to tear me apart. It was also very clear that I had no chance of saving myself. I was losing too much blood. I closed my eyes, wondering what it would be like to go out like that, when I heard the boom go off just above my head. My eyes sprung open and I saw Jake standing there, the shotgun in his hand. I looked toward where the woman had been and saw her laying there in a heap, most of her head missing.

  “Cammy, are you alright?”

  I glanced up, then down at my leg. “I cut it on the tote. There was a busted spot. It wasn’t her, I swear, but it won’t stop bleeding.”

  I watched as he leaped into action. That was where he shined, being a doctor. I was trying to control my breathing as I watched him rush around the room, grabbing the bag he’d been carrying with him since we left the hospital. I laid my head back and gritted my teeth, preparing for the pain I knew was coming. When the disinfectant hit my skin, I screamed. “Goddammit, Jake, take it easy,” I pleaded as my head fell back and the room swam in darkness.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jake

  “Cammy? Cammy? Come on, I need you to wake up now.”

  I nudged her gently at first, but when that didn’t work, I started to shake her. I wasn’t sure if it was from the pain, loss of blood, or the fear of that woman almost getting her, but she was out. I looked her all over for sores, boils, body fluids from the woman, and any signs she was hurt other than the one spot I had already patched up. I couldn’t see any, but I took a washcloth and carefully wiped her down where her clothes weren’t covering her skin.

  Her leg was bad, but she didn’t break the bone. I stitched her up the best I could with the limited supplies we grabbed at the hospital. I would need to find her something to help her walk for a few days after, but she would be fine and back at her normal pace in a couple of days.

  Part of me wanted to scream at her for not listening to me and dragging that damn tote to the garage when I told her to wait for me. There was a reason I wanted us to stay together and that was it. The infected had snuck up on us a lot the past two days and staying together was our best chance at making it out of here. I wasn’t sure how to get her to understand that and not start a fight. I knew she was fiercely independent, but in that case, it wasn’t always the best way to be.

  I didn’t like having to depend on her for shit either, but it was what it was. In a normal world, I would have been her protector. It wouldn’t have been both of us having to do it.

  Looking at her lying there, I was so pissed at myself for putting my whole life aside to focus on work. Looking at what could have been the end of days, I had nothing to show for my time on the planet. No wife, kids, or pets. I had the house that needed major work, the car that fell apart every time I climbed into it, and debt coming out of my ears. At the end of the day, none of that mattered. What did were the people we put in our lives. I had lost them all but her, and I refused to let the last one I had go.

  “Mmm,” she moaned rolling on to her side.

  “Cam?”

  “My leg.” She sat up and reached down to where the bandage was. Rubbing it gently, I waited for her to wake up a little more.

  “You cut it pretty bad, but you will be alright in a few days.”

  “Am I…?” She couldn’t finish what she wanted to say, but I knew.

  “I couldn’t see anything and none of her got into your open wound. I think you’ll be fine.” I paused trying to figure out the best way to bring up what needed to be said. I didn’t want a fight, but she needed to know how serious it was. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

  “I want out of here. I’m not sure why, but the urge to get moving was so strong, I listened to it and it wasn’t the right call.”

  “I want out of here too, but we have to be smart about it. No more splitting up. If we both don’t agree on something, we don’t do it. They are obviously on to us being here. We have to keep our eyes and ears open until we can leave in a few hours.”

  “I know. It was dumb.”

  “Kind of.” I wasn’t going to argue with her. What she did was dumb, and it almost cost her her life. If I would have stayed in the basement another thirty seconds, she would have been dead.

  “You didn’t have to agree so fast,” she said and hit my arm softly.

  “Was she waiting for you in the garage or did she make it into the house?”

  “She was in the garage. I don’t know how she got in. The big door is still shut, and I didn’t see another way in when we got here.”

  “I didn’t either. That means she was already in there, waiting. Or we missed another way in. If we did that in the garage, it’s very possible we missed one leading into the house too.”

  “If we did, they could keep coming. If these people knew the family or this house, they would know things about it we don’t. We aren’t any safer here than if we left.”

  She was making sense and while my whole body said leaving before dark was a bad idea, it was telling me staying in that house another three hours was an even worse one. I was down one person with her injury. She wouldn’t be a ton of help, but I had to use her how I could. Not only for our protection, but also to make her feel like she was
still needed.

  “This is going to be a little harder now that your leg is messed up. We have to be smart about it. No hobbling around for you and trying to load the car; you will slow us down.”

  “So, what can I do then?” Her arms flew up in the air before coming back down and slapping the sides of her thighs. When she smacked her right leg, I watched her wince in pain.

  “Take these,” I said opening the bottle of pain meds and shaking two out. “They won’t make you drowsy but will help with the pain.”

  “Thank you.” She took them from me, popped them in her mouth, and swallowed them dry.

  “I need you to sit on the steps going into the garage. You can see the living room and whole garage from there. If something moves, and it isn’t me, shoot. We can sort out the rest later after we are on the road.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Good. Come on, I will help you get over there. Hopefully I can find something here for you to use as a crutch.”

  “I saw one,” she said excitedly.

  “Where?”

  “In the room where the lumberjack is.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. Her shoulders slumped forward when she realized he was blocking her from what she needed.

  “Okay.” Walking her to the couch, I helped her sit down before I let go of her. Making my way down the hall to the room, I stopped when she gasped.

  “What are you doing?” she shrieked.

  “Getting you the crutch. We don’t know how far we have to go or how long before we find help. You need it. I will be right back.”

  “I don’t like it, Jake. Something still feels off.”

  She wasn’t wrong. I felt it too, but I didn’t have a choice.

  “It’ll be alright. I’ll be right back.”

  “Jake,” I heard her whisper loudly as I opened the door.

  Looking around the room, it wasn’t easy to see. With the sun slowly sinking into the earth and the drapes drawn, it was almost completely dark in the room. I took out my keyring with the small flashlight in the end and used it to help me see. I saw the crutches leaning against the dresser and moved in that direction.

  Stepping over the body, I tried to avoid any of the infection that still ran from his lifeless body. I slipped as my foot came down on the other side, landing on the edge of his pool of blood, and grabbed the edge of the dresser to catch myself.

  “Gross.”

  My hand wrapped around the crutches and I started to go back to where she was waiting for me. Shutting the door behind me, I thought the feeling of doom would dissipate, instead it grew.

  “Cammy, I got them.”

  Nothing.

  Silence was all I was greeted with and my heart jumped.

  With the room being lit better than the one I had come out of, I could clearly see the now empty couch. Anger hit me first at the fact she wasn’t where I left her. If she went and did her own thing again, I was going to tie her to me so she would stop wandering off.

  Crash.

  I heard glass break in the kitchen. Grabbing the gun, I made my way over there. I found her facing away from me and looking at the corner of the room. Not seeing anything, my stomach dropped.

  All of them had started to act weird as the boils formed and fevers spiked. If she had it, she was starting to show the signs.

  Slowly, I walked to where she was and that was when I saw it. She wasn’t looking at nothing but at another person who had made it into the house we thought was so safe. I knew we had to speed up our escape. There were too many of them and it seemed word had gotten out this place was here and had company.

  I watched Cammy for a second trying to decide the best way to help her. She had the gun against her throat, and she was shaking. I knew she couldn’t do what needed to be done. It was different that time. It seemed personal.

  “Cammy?” I whispered.

  “I knew her.” I could hear her fighting back tears and it ripped me apart.

  I looked over her shoulder and around her to see the younger girl slouched over in the corner chewing on her arm. She might have been pretty at one time, but all I saw was her hair falling out in clumps, sores covering her skin, and the boils leaking the foamy pink and white pus. Half of her lower left cheek was gone as the virus spread and devoured her inch by inch. Not even noticing us standing there, she took another bite of the arm she had been chewing on and caught a boil. Pus flooded from it and filled her mouth along with her skin and muscle. The sound of the tendons snapping was sickening, but nothing was as bad as listening to her sloppily chewing on herself. Spit flew from the corners of her mouth and dripped down her chin.

  “Cammy, let me.”

  “No. I should do this for her.”

  “It’s okay. You don’t always have to be so strong. Let me help you.”

  I reached for the gun she held in her hand, turned her away, and shot the girl in the head. Cammy flinched when she heard the boom before her shoulders shook. For the first time in all of the mess we were in, I watched her break a little.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Cammy

  The idea of Izzy being dead wasn’t what bothered me. In all honesty, I didn’t like her much. She was annoying, liked to use her friends, and tried to play that pity shit too often. The thing that stayed in my mind was the way she looked and the fact she was like the others, eating her own flesh. She was proof. Proof we’d never outrun this thing. Proof everyone ended up the same way. Proof even Jake and I could end up tasting our own flesh at any moment. It pissed me off.

  Jake knew I couldn’t dwell on Izzy’s death. Instead, he kept me moving. He placed me on the stairs where I could keep an eye on everything while he quickly loaded the car. He’d finally let go of the waiting until dark idea. That part made me happy as hell. I didn’t want to be in the house any longer. In the beginning, it felt like a refuge. It had become nothing more than a mecca for all those hungry, oozing bodies that wandered around.

  “We’re loaded up.” He hurried around to the other side of the car and got my door opened for me. “Now we just need to load you.”

  I rolled my eyes as I tried to use the crutches while still holding the shotgun. I couldn’t do it. If I was stuck with the crutches long, I would need to practice with that. The gun would be my only protection in the state I was in.

  “I’ve got you,” he announced as he hurried over and without hesitation scooped me up and carried me around the back of the car. He settled me in my spot, then shut the door before he ran back around to his side, doing the same again.

  “Jake,” I started the moment he closed the driver’s door. “What’s the likelihood there’s people out there like us? You don’t think we’re the last ones not infected, do you?”

  “No. I think if we’re still okay, someone else is. They may not be in this area though.”

  “That makes sense,” I told him as he cranked the car. I clicked the button on the garage door opener and waited. Nothing. I tried again. Still nothing. “Fuck me,” I snapped.

  “I’ve got it. Stay here, don’t move. I’ll raise it then hurry back. Surely, I can move faster than anything that may be out there waiting.”

  I nodded my head in agreement, but inside, that uneasy feeling had already come back. Izzy had somehow gotten in the house. The woman I fought when I messed up my leg had gotten in the garage. It was clear we were on the outside looking in. We didn’t know this house. We didn’t know enough about the people in the area. Hell, they could’ve all been great friends and knew everything about one another and each other’s homes. We had no idea what we were getting into holing up in there. It had been a mistake. The plan had been to rest; in all honesty, we didn’t get any of that.

  Jake took a deep breath, then yanked open the car door. He left it open, which was smart. He needed to move quick. I pulled the gun up, holding on to it tight. I would struggle getting out of the car, but if he had trouble, I would do it. He still held his hammer, which would be great if something came close quarters to him
and I couldn’t get a shot.

  I held my breath as he opened the garage door. It was a slow process. The door moved and jerked with every few inches. It was half up when I spotted the first set of feet that wandered across the paved driveway leading to the garage. I didn’t call out to Jake. He didn’t need the freak out, and I hoped those wandering out there hadn’t noticed him yet. The feet meandered along, like nothing was happening at the garage door.

  With one last push, Jake heaved it open the rest of the way, then froze for just a moment when he saw the infected wandering the area. We’d chosen an isolated house. It hadn’t mattered though. They had still found their way out there.

  He rushed back to the car; the color having drained from his face. I knew exactly what he had been thinking. If they’d noticed him, he’d never have been able to fight all of them off. We would’ve become a snack for them. He pulled the car down into reverse and slowly started backing out of the garage, then down the driveway. That’s when I saw the blood stains on the garage floor and my mind realized what had happened. The woman, the one who attacked me, she’d been under the car the entire time.

  “They are reacting to us,” Jake sighed as he pulled past a few of the infected on his way toward the main road. “I don’t get that.”

  “Maybe they aren’t as far gone as the others?”

  “I’m not buying that either,” he answered as he attempted to straighten the car up and pulled it into drive. “That woman was talking to you. She knew you were there. They aren’t completely gone yet. They can’t be.”

  He’d barely spoken the words when a boy, maybe ten years old, glanced toward the car. The entire side of his face had been eaten away by the virus. The bone and tissue beneath the skin showed and the pus ran freely. He smiled at me and the half-eaten grin sent shivers down my spine.

  “I’m hungry,” he called out then fist pumped the air. “You wanna play ball?”

  “Jake, go, please.”