Contagion: The Rising (4 page)

Dani
paced around Jeremiah as he drew blood from Emma. His slightly longer than Army
standard, straight black hair shook as he fought to keep his arm still. “You’re
making me nervous, kid.” He looked at her and she finally sat near Emma. “She
hates needles. We always had to check her levels daily. But give her a stick
and some nails and you’ll have a melee friendly weapon in no time.”

Emma
looked at Dani searching for an explanation, “I wasn’t bitten but they thought
something that happened to my mom would’ve been transmitted to me.”

Jeremiah
gave the vials to Dani, “Yeah, Lopez, or Kayla as you know her, was part of an
experiment a long time ago. It was a few years after the Risers happened. We
were stationed together and one of the officers decided that the need for super
soldiers was more important than protecting the great soldiers already had.”

“What
did they do to her?”

Kayla
walked in, “To me?”

Dani
and Jeremiah stood up, “I’ll run a basic panel and see where you’re at
overall.”

Emma
spoke up, “Yes. What happened?” Kayla’s eyes darkened for a few minutes as she
cleared her throat.  Emma looked at her as both Dani and Jeremiah stepped
out of the room.

“I’m
sorry.” Emma looked down as she hoped her apology sounded sincere.

Kayla
sighed, “There’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m sorry for the dramatics. It was
a rough time and I probably wouldn’t have had Dani.” She showed Emma her
scarred ankle and arms. “The ankle wasn’t really the Major’s fault. The rest
were just him trying to inject different fluids. We don’t really know what he
was trying to mix up with those injections, but it supposedly had a Riser’s
blood. I feared that I was going to turn into one. I had nightmares where I’d
rip people apart and the blood. It was horrible. It finally stopped until about
a year later when I was pregnant with Dani. The dreams came back. That’s why we
had to make sure she was normal.”

Emma
closed her eyes and realized she had been daydreaming a lot more. She hadn’t
had a real dream in the past few days after waking up the first time in the
room.

“The
daydreams are getting a little too real for you, huh?” Emma nodded as Kayla
smiled, “that’s good at least. Maybe you’re getting enough rest at night now.”

“When
can I go home?”

“Whenever
you feel that you’re ready. Your wound is still healing, but I think you should
be fine. Jeremiah will do some tests on your blood and we can see what
happened.”

Emma
looked down, “thank you.”

Kayla
put her hand on Emma’s uninjured shoulder, “no thanks necessary.”

Dani
walked in as Kayla stood near the door, “Dani, help Emma with whatever she
needs, okay?”

“Okay,
mom,” Dani answered as she walked out of the room.

“Nearly
16 years later, I’ll never get over being called ‘Mom.’ Before I enlisted in
the Army, they told me having kids was next to impossible. I can say that
something good did come out of this.” Kayla left as Emma sat thinking of how
she was going back without stirring up too much. Dani walked in with Emma’s
clothes, a backpack full of supplies and a machete. Emma suddenly remembered Sarah’s
face as she watched the Riser bite her. She remembered the blood spraying out
of her shoulder and neck. The horror of looking into Sarah’s green eyes when
that happened caused her to shudder at the thought.

“Are
you okay?” Dani looked at her with concern.

Emma
rubbed her eyes, “How far away are we?”

“Used
to be about two hours. You can make it in under two hours though, since we’ve
cleared out that whole area.” Dani stood close to her, “Let me know if you need
anything else.”

Emma
shook her head, “Thanks. I don’t think I could ever…”

“Don’t.
There are still people out there that are still among the living. Not all of us
are dead heads. At least, not completely.”

Jeremiah
walked in, “Well, I may have an idea as to why you didn’t turn. I ran an old
school panel and found that your glucose levels are low. Lower than normal. How
long has it been since you’ve been diagnosed?”

“Wouldn’t
it be high? Why would it be low?” Emma thought back and remembered the beeping
of the insulin pump. The look of disappointment her father gave her when the
Army doctor at the VA diagnosed her with Type 1 diabetes. “I was about 12. I
was on a pump for a short time until the stock ran dry. I’d use regular
syringes sometimes but we ran out of those. I started to eat conservatively and
suffered through the highs and lows. Mostly the highs. I’m just really surprised
that it’s low right now.”

“Your
blood may be too abnormal for the virus to attack your body. You see, the virus
is activated when your antibodies and immune system attack it. Since your body
is too busy attacking itself, the virus stayed dormant in your body. I think
that the irregularity in your blood, meaning there’s too little or too much of
something in there, saved your life. I just wish I had a better explanation as
to what will happen afterward.” He grimaced and looked away.

“Is
that why you’re giving me that look?”

“I’m
guessing that the virus isn’t active but I think it might be trying to
hibernate in certain parts of your body, like your brain. At least, that’s what
I’m thinking. I’ve taken blood swabs and tested them for the spikey cells of the
virus. Fortunately, I didn’t find any of those spikey cells in any of the
samples I took from you. I don’t think it should affect you since your body is
constantly fighting itself. Even if you got normal insulin treatments, it
should still stay dormant if not die.”

Dani
looked confused and tapped Jeremiah’s arm, “So she should be okay, right?”

“It’s
not as simple as that. Since I don’t have specialized medical equipment and
most of this stuff I’m working on is from at least the eighties, I wouldn’t
know other than to tell you that you have an infection that your body is
already attacking. I just hate not having a complete diagnosis.”

“Am I
safe to be around you guys?”

“Yes.
Well, at least I think so. You aren’t showing any signs that would prove otherwise,”
he crossed his arms.

“So one
step forward, twenty steps back. Is that why you aren’t working on a cure?”

“You
can’t cure this without a permanent solution like death. In your case, you were
able to survive because you’re a diabetic. We’d have to somehow make our bodies
attack one of our organs. It’s not simple; your body does that because it’s
coded to do so.”

Emma
stood up and picked up the backpack that she left by her leg. “Will you guys
follow me?”

Dani
shook her head as Jeremiah spoke, “No, you should be fine on the way there
though. You have some MREs, sugar pills, and a gun with some ammo, in case you
need them. I’ll take you to the end of the highway then it’s all you from
there.”

Emma
hugged Dani goodbye, and followed Jeremiah out of the room.

Jeremiah
waited for Emma at the bunker door and closed it once she was outside. He led
her towards the grassy hill that was near the highway. The afternoon sun was
growing old and made the rest of the area look cold and desolate. The sand from
the nearby beaches had been carried for miles and landed on the unused highway.
They could see the entire layout of the valley as they peered from over the
hill.

Jeremiah
brought out his binoculars and searched the area, “Looks like it’s clear.”

“Are
you guys planning to stay here for a while?”

“If we
can keep our location a secret,” he looked at her and smiled.

She
laughed, “Seriously?”

“I
think we will. It’s been fairly nice getting some new vegetables that we
haven’t seen in a long time. Now that winter is pretty much happening in a few
weeks, we get to harvest it and hold our position for a while.”

“You
guys have been together for quite a while, huh?” Emma winced at the pain coming
from her shoulder.

“Yeah,”
Jeremiah watched as she argued with her bandages. “Let me see that.” He
adjusted the underlying bandage enough for her to move freely. “I’m sorry for
making those a bit too tight. Are you feeling okay?”

“It’s
okay, I understand I have to make double sure it heals properly. Not really, I
feel normal, but that’s coming from someone who doesn’t understand how it’s
like to be at normal.”

Jeremiah
nodded, “How have you been able to survive this long without controlling your
sugar?”

“Well,
we’ve been lucky to not have any good food whatsoever. It was either cardboard
or grass. So I stuck with grass. Although, that might not be a great option, it
was simple and kept my sugar low.”  

“You
need some carbs too,” Jeremiah shifted his feet around the sandy part of the
highway shoulder. She nodded. “Sorry for preaching. Okay,” he cleared his
throat. “If you go through the part of that other hill that’s a bit flatter,
you’re pretty much hidden from anything that’s traveling on the highway. If you
go south, you should hit the forest where the farm is at pretty quickly.”

“Thanks,
Jeremiah.”

Jeremiah
nodded, “Hey Emma.” She turned around but walked backwards. “Be careful.” He
smiled and started his walk back to the bunker. Emma continued to watch as he
disappeared and she turned back around to the road in front of her.

Brady
stopped and turned to Mark, “Why are you helping them?” Mark stood still as Brady
paced. “I see how you guys are. Working both sides of the fence, huh?” He
pointed at Mark and laughed, “You didn’t think I’d notice how you acted around
that bitch of a sister of hers.” Mark grabbed him and picked him up by his
uniform.

“You
want to hit me? Then hit me. I’m not the one being a rat,” Brady laughed as Mark
let go of his uniform and dropped him. He landed on his knees and continued
laughing. Mark walked back and headed to the forest. “Yeah, go. Go waste more
energy and time! That’s all you’re ever good at,” Brady got up and strolled
over to the barn.

Mark
continued walking and stood near the edge of the forest. He listened to the
trees swaying and heard a twig snap close by but saw nothing stirring. He
walked closer to the sound and pulled out his gun. A sudden wail scared the
crap out of him. He jumped over the broken log in front of him and laid down on
the forest floor. He quietly listened to the noises get louder and closer to
him. The ground rumbled as the Riser stood still near the broken log. It raised
it’s head and wailed once again. Mark looked up and watched the Riser sniff the
air. A distant wail signalled the Riser in front of him to answer. It responded
with a lower pitched wail and jumped off the log. Mark waited until he heard
the wails get further away. He slowly crouched near the log and leaned on it.
He sat down and looked at his gun. Another twig snapped near him which caused
him to point the gun in the same direction. A shadow forced him to fall over as
it loomed over him. He attempted to shoot but his gun was no longer in his
hand.

Brady
sat on his broken lawn chair and took out another cigarette. Trevor walked in
and threw a bottle of alcohol at him. His green eyes glowed with frustration.

“It’s
about time. I was beginning to wonder if you even had time to make this,” Brady
lit his cigarette. He offered one to Trevor, who raised a hand to decline.

“What’s
the plan?” Trevor sat on a nearby barrel and played with his suspenders holding
up his jeans. He reeked of alcohol.

Brady
shook his head, “We have to get rid of Mark’s group.”

“Yeah,
I figured so.”

“I’m
thinking Chloe is ready now.”

“Yeah?”
Trevor looked uncomfortable.

Brady
smiled, “Are you falling for her?” Trevor’s demeanor quickly changed and he
shook his head. The flash of light from the fire showed the scar under his chin
that he received from the failed supply run. His father had shielded him with
his own body and died due to the shrapnel.

“Seriously?
I figured you would,” Brady puffed on his cigarette. “Don’t be so upset. I’m
sure she’d forgive you.” He exhaled smoke, “Eventually.” Trevor stood up and
walked over to the barn door.

“Get
things done,” Brady stretched his legs as Trevor walked out of the barn.

Sarah
watched as Trevor walked out of the barn and back to the silo. “He had another
meeting with Brady.”

Rory
sat at the table, “I’m guessing we have to leave sooner than we thought.”

Sarah
backed away from the window and sat down at the table. Rory looked down at the
maps stretched out on the table.

“We
still need to head to the coastline,” Sarah pointed on the map. “I know that
outpost is out there.”

“We’ve
had no confirmation of any survivors there. It’s a gamble to even think about
heading that way.”

“It’s
that or deal with Chloe and Brady,” Sarah looked up as Rory frowned and nodded.
“I’d rather see if we can survive out there. We have no idea what they’re
planning for us here.”