Contagion: The Rising (2 page)

Emma
opened her eyes and found herself standing at window facing her old yard. She
looked outside and saw her father getting into the Humvee as her mother held
onto her shoulders. She looked up and saw that her mother was transformed into
a Riser. She frantically opened her eyes wide as a dark figure stood over her.
She stirred and attempted to sit up as the dark figure backed away from her and
muttered something incoherently. She squinted and fought with her eyes to focus
on the figure.

“I
said, ‘how are you feeling today?’” the figure responded more clearly than
before. Emma’s vision came into focus as her squinting finally paid off. The
figure now no longer unrecognizable was a young girl in a dark green uniform.
She looked no older than 13 and had her dark hair up in a bun.

She
opened her mouth to speak but her voice wouldn’t come out. She cleared her
throat and uttered, “Where am I?”

The
girl got closer to her and lifted Emma’s arm. Emma stayed still and watched as
she recognized it was a military uniform. She jerked her hand away and looked
around for more soldiers. The majority of soldiers in the area were either
bandits in costume or rage filled former army soldiers.

“It’s
okay, it’s okay. We’re not bandits,” the girl stopped short. “I’m sure that’s
hard to believe but my parents are soldiers here too. Besides, I’m the only one
in here with you. I just need to check your heart rate and blood pressure.” Emma
eased up and returned her arm.

“Soldiers?
You mean Army?”

The
girl smiled, “Not anymore, but they were stationed not far away from that farm
near the grassland.” Emma clammed up. “Don’t worry. We’ve been around your camp
for a while. The others made it back okay. Your sister, right?”

Emma
nodded, “How long?”

“A few
months,” the girl answered before Emma finished.

She
shook her head, “How long have I been here?”

“Oh
sorry, just a few days. We’re trying to figure out why you aren’t one of those
things.” Emma felt her shoulder and winced. “Please don’t do that, you need
your rest and time to heal. We’re not looking into making you a lab rat. We
just want to know how to keep you alive.” Emma complied and laid back. The girl
stopped before walking out of the room, “My name’s Daniella, but you can call
me Dani. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on you. Please just rest.” Emma
nodded. She walked out as Emma stared at the ceiling.

Sarah
opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. She smiled as she found Rory sleeping in
the chair. Her smile faded as she knew she was hurting more than helping him.
She got up and walked over to him. She paused as she watched him sleeping
peacefully and noticed that his hair looked crazier than ever. She felt
slightly jealous of his undisrupted sleep. He stirred for a moment as she
reached out to him. Her hand touched his shoulder which caused him to sit
straight up.

His
eyes brightened when he saw her, "Good morning." He smiled as he
stretched and his expression changed to pain.

"Morning.
So you slept in the chair?" She stood up and crossed her arms.

He
smiled quickly, and grimaced as he moved around. "Yeah, not the best
choice, but I wanted to make sure you were okay."

She
backed up and looked down, "I'm sorry."

"Don't
be. Please. I think I'm going to go help Ryan with the patrol tonight."

"You're
leaving?" she surprised herself with the sudden change in voice as she
felt her heart beat quicker.

"Well,
yeah," Rory shrugged. “I don't think I'm helping you with anything.” She
felt lost as she mulled over the thought of him leaving and hugged him. He
stayed quiet and hugged her. "I just don't want to hurt you anymore. I
keep making it worse."

"No,
please don't go." The words quickly escaped her mouth as she slightly
regretted showing weakness. Her heart pounded and felt his heart doing the
same. "I don't think I can handle this without you."

"I'm
trying to help but I don't think this is working," he said as she pulled
away.

"I'm
sorry," she blushed and turned away.

He
stood up, "Sorry for what? You lost your sister a week ago."

"I
just don't want you to go," she crossed her arms.

He
walked closer to her and held her, "I love you." Her eyes widened and
she looked down.

"That's
not the reaction I was looking for," Rory grimaced and walked out of the
room. She followed him into the kitchen. "I know you probably didn't want
to hear that, but that's what I'm feeling."

"Rory,
wait. Please."

"I
guess that's what I'll have to do. Wait it out."

"No.
Please."

"What?"

"Just
wait."

He held
her stare for a few seconds and turned away. "You need to eat. Let's eat
some breakfast." She followed him to the kitchen and sat down at the
table.

"How
long do we have here?" Sarah looked up from the table. Rory walked over to
the chair near her and sat down.

"A
few days. The others have scouted a few areas to where we can survive off the
land for a while longer."

"How
much longer? A week?"

Rory
looked at her, "A few weeks. Maybe even a few months. Fall is just about
over and we're about to hit a big winter."

"How
can they be so sure about anything anymore?" Sarah sighed, "What
about the outposts near Bridgewater?"

"Those
are gone." He turned away from her, "They were overrun by bandits and
the rest were taken up by the Risers."

"Great,"
she got up and walked over to the window. "What's next?" She crossed
her arms.

"We
stay put until the others make up a plan as to what comes next."

"And
that's it?" She turned around and leaned back on the windowsill. "We
just go along with everyone else?"

"What
else do you want us to do?" His jaw tightened.

She
covered her face and sighed, "We need to head for the coastline."

"We’ve
already tried that, remember?" he instantly regretted what he had said. “Sarah.”

Her
face flushed and eyes widened. She turned back around, "Yes, I know what
my idea caused and I’m pretty sure this is payback for what I did."

"Sarah,
I'm sorry." He stood up and walked over to her.

She
turned quickly and pushed his hands away from her, "Just leave me
alone." She walked out of the kitchen.

He
covered his face with his hands and walked over to the window. The sudden noise
from the front door turned him around. "Sarah!" He ran towards the
door but didn't immediately see her. He stood at the doorway and yelled for
her. After a few seconds of no response, he ran around the house looking for
his shoes and finally took off out of the house looking for her.

Sarah
ran and stumbled through the woods. She found herself in same part of the
forest she dreamt about a few nights before. The memory of her dream stopped
her in her tracks as she listened for the Riser from her dream. The forest
stood silent as she looked around and felt alone. She found the familiar large
tree and sat next to it. She remained in a daze as the day grew into evening.

Rory
ran through the cornfield near the farm they were staying in, and found
nothing. He finally searched the forest and ended up near the large tree.
"Sarah, where are you?" He sighed and paced near the large tree.

"I'm
right here," she stood up.

"Sarah,
don't you ever do that again!" He grabbed her shoulders.

"Don't
tell me what to do," she shook off his hands, and walked over to the
clearing near the large tree.

"I'm
only trying to help you," Rory looked down.

"Well,
stop. I'm not looking for help. I don't need you to chase me around."

"I'm
sorry."

"Can
you stop with that?" she turned around. "Quit saying that you're
sorry. I don’t need you to keep apologizing for me."

"Okay,"
he stayed quiet. "I just wanted to take you back to the house and keep you
safe. Is that wrong of me to do?"

"No,"
she sighed, "look, I didn't mean to." A sudden noise came from the
clearing. "Get down." They crouched near the large tree and listened.

The
crunching of branches and leaves got closer to them as a Riser jumped out. It
sniffed the air and wailed as another Riser joined it. The two explored the
forest floor and sniffed at the air. They grunted back and forth as they fought
over the scent of the fresh humans they were hunting. They pawed at the ground
and at each other, speaking to each other in low growls and grunts. A distant
wail made them jump as they stopped sniffing the air and stood still. A second
wail caused them to run off in the direction of the sound.

Rory
stayed crouched but looked on as they ran off in the opposite direction.
"They're trying to hunt us," Sarah grabbed his shoulder. He jumped at
her touch. “Shit, I'm sorry."

"Don't
say you're sorry. Especially if you're right, they are hunting us. Good thing
they suck at it."

"They
got pretty close to us, and they're talking to each other now? That's
new."

"I
figured they'd group up, just like we do. I mean we are all still human, right?
Socially, we group up. Why wouldn’t they?"

"What
if there's a huge pack of them? We don't have the manpower or the gun power to
deal with that. We were barely making it as it was with them being solitary,
mindless air-sniffing dead heads. Now we’ve got hordes of thinking dead
heads?"

Rory
looked at her oddly, "Dead heads? Really?"

"What?"
She smiled.

"Nothing,"
he smirked. "We have to tell the others." She nodded and they slowly
walked towards the farm. They found Brady sleeping in the barn with Mark
standing guard.

Rory
walked over to Brady and kicked his feet. "Wake up, Brady. We've got
Risers."

"Ugh,
come back later. I'm sleeping." He crossed his arms and turned over. Rory
kicked his feet harder.

"Get
up, Brady. The Risers are hunting in packs."

Brady
sat up, "Fine, I'm up." He stretched and yawned, "Risers in
packs. So?" He flicked his dirty blonde hair and put his fatigue hat back
on. “They’re always in packs. Packs, hordes, same thing.”

"We
need to move soon," Rory plainly stated as Brady rolled his eyes and
situated his uniform top as a makeshift pillow.

Mark
looked slightly dishevelled as his military cut was overgrown and his face was
unshaven. He walked over, "if they're hunting in packs, we've got nothing
to fight them with. We just had problems with them being in hordes."

Brady
squinted at Mark, "Go… back to your post. And wear a full uniform, damn
it." Mark frowned and walked back to the barn entrance. He looked down at
his dirty jeans and uniform top in disgust. He hated that Brady was in charge,
after all the years he served just for this gold bar to take over and destroy
what he protected daily.

Rory
crossed his arms, "We have to go."

"Go,"
Brady raised his arms. "What's stopping you?" He pulled out a
cigarette and lit it.

"What
do you mean, what's stopping us? We're all in this together, remember?"

Brady
laughed and exhaled smoke, "Please.” He held the cigarette close to his
face, “Once her sister decided to run around and get herself killed, the deal
is off. My contract is done. You can go on by yourself. This was the last stop
we were doing. You are no longer my responsibility."

Sarah
grew angry, "It wasn't her fault."

"That's
right, Sarah, it was your idea." Brady pointed at her and laughed,
"you're own sister, too. How long did it take you to convince her? 5
minutes?"

"Knock
it off, Brady," Rory stood in front of Brady.

"You
want to hit me? Do it." He inhaled from his cigarette, and blew the smoke
at them. "You don't have the balls to follow through."

Rory
took a step closer to Brady, and Sarah grabbed his arm. "It's not worth
it." She got in front of Rory. Rory's jaw tightened as he watched Sarah
punch Brady.

Mark
laughed and Brady jumped up looking for his cigarette. "You better keep
her on a leash." Rory grabbed Sarah and pushed her towards the door. She
held onto Rory's arm as they walked back to the house.

"You
should have let me hit him."

"What's
the fun in that?" She said as she nursed her knuckles and closed the front
door.

He
motioned for her to sit down and inspected her fingers. "I'm sure that's
something Emma taught you," he massaged her hand.

"I
should've known better," she cringed at the pain and looked down. He
looked at her and slowly leaned in to kiss her.