I covered my mouth, the nausea washing over me as I pictured the wound.
“Luther had to get some metal to be able to do the surgery. That’s part of what took so long.”
I placed my hand on Daniel’s shoulder. He wanted to pull away, I could feel it, but I grabbed his hand.
“It isn’t your fault,” I told him.
“It feels like it was,” he replied.
“Daniel, you know it wasn’t,” Phoebe countered. “They wanted to help and alone you probably would’ve died in there.”
He sighed heavily but didn’t argue with us.
The three hours waiting for the plane did not pass nearly as slowly as the hours waiting for the guys.
Luther advised that Gerald’s surgery went well, and he would be fine but would take a lot of time to heal.
Daniel got our stuff from the dorms. We were ready as soon as the plane landed, which is what they wanted. They only wanted to fuel up and be back in the air. No time for any undead creatures to join us on board.
Rebecca looked apprehensive about letting me go but said we had no choice. She told me the doctors on base in Japan were aware to the situation and up to speed.
We hugged Luther and Brian goodbye. Gerald was still asleep, but Luther told us he would let him know we said bye. I hadn’t seen Kent since we got to the base and didn’t ask where he was. There was no time.
We boarded the plane. Lasa sat between me and Daniel. I let out a breath as the engines fired up. I had never been much for flying and was even more worried than if it was just an average flight since Rebecca had said under normal circumstances, she would have advised against flying in my condition.
About an hour into the flight, we hit some rough turbulence. Lasa was scared. Phoebe was the one who had to comfort her. I was suddenly overtaken with pain. Worse than the night we had made it to the base.
The pain was so bad and intense, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I squeezed my eyes shut willing the pain to go away but it somehow managed to intensify.
It hurt so badly, and I felt as if I made a mistake getting on the plane.
I doubted I was going to make it. That didn’t bother me, what bothered me was I didn’t think the baby was going to make it either.
I was so scared. More scared than I had ever been. The zombies didn’t even make this level of fear course through my veins.
I prayed to myself. I prayed so hard, over, and over. I was begging for some kind of miracle.
I knew people were trying to help me. I knew Daniel was right next to me. But I couldn’t see or hear them. I was trapped in my own bubble.
Finally, after what felt like years of agony, the world went black. I had finally passed out from the pain.
Chapter 18
I woke up to a blinding light over my face. I covered my eyes, trying to adjust my vision.
I felt disoriented. I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious or where I was. My mouth was terribly dry, and I had a pounding headache.
I heard a door squeak as it opened. The sound made my head throb even more.
“Oh, you’re awake,” a young woman said and smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Is the baby…” I began but couldn’t finish the question.
“You’re both fine. The cabin pressure got to you. We thought about an emergency C-section as soon as you landed but you’re both okay so we’re not going to do that yet. But we’re going to be monitoring you just in case. Rebecca was right, I really don’t think you’ll make it full term.”
I ran my hand over my stomach. I felt a kick against my hand but couldn’t feel it in my stomach.
“Why am I numb?” I asked realizing I couldn’t feel anything below my chest.
“Oh sorry, it was a shot we gave you for the pain. Nothing that will hurt the baby and it should wear off soon.”
I nodded; thankful we were okay.
The door opened and Daniel walked in the room. He smiled brightly at me. He still had dark circles under his eyes but looked like he had gotten some rest.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” He said, “You scared the crap out of me.”
“Don’t be too hard on her,” The young woman said and smiled. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
She left as Daniel pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down.
“How are you feeling?” He asked as he took my hand in his.
I shrugged, “Tired and confused. Where is Lasa?”
“With Phoebe. She was worried about you but fell asleep, so I didn’t want to wake her. It’s been a long day.”
“It’s been a long six months,” I countered. “You think this will ever end?”
He sighed heavily, “I wish I knew. We just have to keep fighting. Keep taking it day by day. And not lose faith.
I smiled weakly at him, “You’re a rock, you know that.”
He laughed a little, his smile lighting his face. “I hope I am for you.”
We sat together in silence. I felt myself drifting off. I was so tired. Before I went to sleep though I wanted to discuss something with Daniel.
“I’ve been thinking,” I began, “About what to name her.” I said as I rubbed my belly.
“Please don’t tell me it’s Zombirina?”
I laughed as his joke, “No, you dork.” I composed myself before continuing my train of thought. “I was thinking Jaime Catherine Bennett.”
Daniel smiled a sad smile since I was choosing to name her after our sisters. The one he lost and the one that I didn’t know if I still had.
“It’s perfect,” he said.
Chapter 19
I was on bed rest for a while but was allowed to move to another room in the hanger that was less like a hospital room after it was apparent both me and the baby were doing alright. I shared the room with Daniel and Lasa. I still had two daily checkups with the doctor though.
I didn’t see much of Phoebe as she was undergoing a ton of tests to see what had caused her not to turn. They had a hard time figuring it out. Daniel kept me informed on the progress which wasn’t much.
When I finally saw Phoebe, she told me it was like they were so close to an answer yet still far away. But they were onto something with the repellent.
Phoebe was fascinated by the head of the team doing the research, Dr. Katou. Phoebe told me she was an amazing woman and a pure genius.
Phoebe’s blood was RH-Null which was the rarest in the world. Dr. Katou believed it may have been the key to why Phoebe didn’t turn. But applying it to a cure seemed impossible. Yet only a little was needed to make the repellent perfect.
The cure itself would need to be two-fold. The repellent would help fight off the hordes, but they needed something to stop the spread of the virus. That would be the first part of the cure. The second part would be something to destroy those that had turned.
The ones that had turned were dead. The doctor described it to Phoebe as those with the plague being like an active brain in a dead body. They didn’t need to breathe, which is why they could come through the water. They only needed to eat. She said it was like they were never full. They could eat any living thing that came into their path.
“Isn’t this something that will take years?” I asked Phoebe.
Phoebe shrugged, “I asked the same question. Dr. Katou just says we don’t have years to find it.”
By the Doctor’s estimation, more than 50% of humans had been wiped out. Without proper government, transportation or basic meds or food, she didn’t see how much longer we could survive.
Though to be fair, most people would have faired much better had there been some type of warning before the full outbreak.
After I was no longer on bed rest, I was still encouraged to take it as easy as I could. Though Daniel and I began going for short walks around the hanger. Lasa sometimes went with us but sometimes she wanted to stay with her aunt Phoebe.
I finally told Lasa Daniel and I were getting married. I hadn’t had a chance
to before. She was so excited; she began jumping on the bed. I didn’t tell her to stop, instead I just laughed at her enthusiasm.
“You’re getting married like a Princess,” she said. “Let’s read Cinderella!” She insisted.
I laughed as that was her favorite. She insisted on that book for any occasion. I sat down with her on the bed to begin reading.
I hadn’t been reading to Lasa long when a siren went off. The siren was so loud, and the lights went out leaving only a blinking red light.
“What is that?” Lasa asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
In the midst of the sirens I could hear a growling in the hall.
Lasa looked at me with panic in her eyes. I instructed her to hide under the table near the bed. I quietly shut the door and joined her in the hiding spot.
The alarm was loud and blaring as we waited for something. I wasn’t sure how the zombie got in as the hanger was like a bomb shelter. A bunker of safety.
I heard the faint sound of the door squeak as it opened. I heard the growling and saw the feet of the zombie shuffle in.
I held Lasa as we curled up in the corner of the dark room under the table.
The zombie was inching closer to us. Snarling and growling as it went. I didn’t know where the others were, and I couldn’t scream out for them. Being pregnant, I wasn’t in much condition to fight the zombie.
It got closer to us and then stopped. It was messing with something on the table.
Lasa’s breathing was becoming labored from her crying. I could feel her little body struggling to stay silent as the fear coursed through her veins.
“It’s okay,” I whispered into her ear and kissed the side of her head. “We’re okay.”
I had to believe it even though I highly doubted it was true.
The zombie was banging around on the table. I expected it to flip the table at any second.
It was growling and pounding its hands or fingers against the table.
Suddenly a loud ringing filled the silence of the room. It sounded like the ringing when you call someone on the phone. Which didn’t make sense as no phones had worked it months.
The zombie began to stagger away as the ringing continued. The ringing was leaving us. It was coming from my cellphone. I realized I had left it on the table.
As the realization hit me, the room filled in with a loud breathless and shocked sounding “Hello.”
The hello was quickly followed by “Shelly, is that you?”
My sisters voice was exactly as I remembered it. My memory had crystalized it perfectly.
I fought the urge to scream out and tell her I was okay. There were so many things I wanted to tell her. But any noise would give away our location to the zombie that had stopped bothering us seemingly mesmerized by the voice coming from the phone.
It let out a low but not menacing growl at the phone.
“Shelly?” Cate said again, now sounding panicked.
The zombie let out another growl that sounded almost like a cat purr. It seemed to be enjoying the voice speaking to it from the other end.
“What’s going on?” I heard someone ask. A younger voice coming in from the phone.
“I’m not…I’m not sure,” Cate replied, then said, “Shelly, if this is you please tell me you’re alright.”
“I don’t think that’s….” the other voice said before the phone cut off as it was thrown into the wall. The zombie clearly bored of it by then.
I thought the zombie staggered away, no longer interested in our room.
“Do you have her number to call her back?” Lasa asked quietly.
I nodded. “Yeah, I know it by heart.”
That’s when the table flipped. The zombie growled as Lasa screamed. I stupidly had left my gun on the table and it scattered across the floor away from me.
“Go Lasa,” I instructed as I tried to keep the zombie focused on me.
I grabbed Lasa’s book off the nightstand as it was all I had. I swiped it at the zombie. I hit the side of the zombie’s head, causing it to growl in anger.
When I tried to hit it again, it caught the book in its teeth. I tried to get it free, but the zombies jaws were locked in tight. In the tussle, I fell backwards, and the zombie landed on me. It was uncomfortable but I put my forearm against its neck as it chomped wildly near my face. Its breath smelled of death and it was all I could do to keep from gagging.
I knew this was it. It had to be, there was no way this zombie wasn’t going to bite me.
Just as I thought I was done for; I heard a loud shot ring out. Cold black blood landed on my face and the zombie stopped thrashing as it went limp.
I pushed the zombie off me and looked to see Lasa with the gun in her hand.
“I should have acted sooner but I was scared,” she said.
I smiled, “You did great.”
The alarm died, and the lights came back on.
“Shelly?!” I heard Daniel say panicked.
Daniel burst in the room. He took in the scene of the zombie on the floor and me covered in its blood. Lasa still holding the gun.
“Oh my God,” he said.
“We’re alright,” I said as I got up. He wrapped me up in his arms.
He gave Lasa a hug as well and took the gun from her.
“Nice job kid,” He told her, and I saw her smile beam.
“What happened?” I asked.
“A bunch of zombies got in but…well, you just got to see it.”
Daniel led us to the room where the zombies were being held. There was about ten of them. The guards were able to round the rest up using the repellent.
“We’re on to something big.” Dr. Katou said.
Phoebe hugged me tight. “We’re going to be alright,” she said.
Daniel carried Lasa as we went to wash the zombie blood off me.
When I walked in our room, my phone began to ring. My phone was lying in the corner of the room where the zombie had thrown it. It surprisingly wasn’t broken.
I picked it up and saw that Cate was calling me back after the zombie had called her. I laughed through my tears as I hit the answer button.
Epilogue
Cate
I sat on the stairs outside our dorm and stared at my phone so long my eyes began to blur. I was convinced I had dreamed the whole thing. Not just the fact that I had spoken to my sister but the things she had told me.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that they were finding a cure and my sister was a part of it.
Also, I couldn’t believe she was pregnant. I knew she had wanted another baby for years. It all seemed so bittersweet. She told me a little about her fiancé, but the phone service gave out. The most important thing was that I knew she was safe. That was the most comforting thing.
Natalie came out of our room.
“You can come to bed you know,” she said.
“I’m just…” I said.
She came over and sat down next to me. “Yeah, I know. She really said there’s a cure?”
“They’re working on it, yeah. Something about her friend having a rare blood type and not turning.”
Natalie nodded, “Wow. That is so cool.”
I sighed. “It’ll be a long time before life goes back to normal.”
Natalie laughed, “Life is never going back to normal. There will just be a new and weird normal.”
“I’m going to have so much canned food in my house it’s not even funny.”
“I’m going to stock up on toilet paper and put a porta potty in my yard.”
We both laughed.
“Your sister is pregnant?”
I nodded, “And engaged.”
Natalie made a noise that sounded like a cross between a scoff and “hmm.”
“What?” I asked.
She shrugged, “It’s just your sister lost her husband…”
“Her cheating asshole of a husband.”
Natalie rolled her eyes, “Still her husband a
nd her daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And she found love?”
“Natalie get to the point,” I stated.
“I’m just thinking maybe if we’re heading into a brave new world of cures and no more undead walking around, you’re going to have to not be so closed off from the world.”
“I like being closed off from the world,” I said defensively.
Natalie looked at me and shook her head. “I’m not judging. I’m closed off too. But we’re going to have to go through the painful process of healing. No better time than to start now.”
“How about we start in the morning?” I asked.
She smiled, “That will work I guess.”
We headed into our room. Natalie seemed to go to sleep pretty quickly.
I however stayed awake staring at the ceiling. I knew that Natalie was right.
It was crazy to think how Shelly had found a family. I knew she missed Jackie and would mourn that loss forever. But she had found love and not only had a baby on the way but had adopted a daughter. She had the family she longed for. It’s crazy how even through the worst of times, life still goes on. It still finds a way.
I was in awe of how Shelly kept living her life. She didn’t stop living because of the plague of the dead. In fact, she seemed to thrive.
Where I seemed to just stand still. I wasn’t dead but I wasn’t living. I was just surviving.
With this cure on the horizon, I realized we’re all getting a second chance. The plague of the dead may not be done, but it’s close to being over. But now it will be up to us what we do with the life that’s left. I hope to be better. I hope to do better. I hope that we learn to unite. That maybe after so much violence and grief, maybe the human race will be kinder.
We’re being given a second chance. I was being given a second chance. Regardless. It was a gift and it’s lucky. I hope to be more than just a survivor, I hope I learn to live.
Plague of the Dead | Book 3 | Plague of the Island Page 7