Contagion: The Rising (8 page)

Mark
knocked on the wall near the doorway, “hey man.”

“Hey Mark,
got a blunt object that I can hit this thing with?” Jeremiah looked back at Mark
who smiled and walked further into the lab. He stopped close of the console
Jeremiah was working on.

“If you
want it broken, then yes,” Mark crossed his arms.

“Might
as well be,” Jeremiah sulked and returned to his stool behind the last row of
tables. He fumbled through some of the printouts and layers of cords that lead
to frayed ends of plastic. Mark picked one up for further inspection and
dropped it back into the pile.

“Rejected
pile?”

Jeremiah
nodded, “Gets bigger everyday with all these failing components. I’d give
anything for a fully functional keyboard.”

“I’m
probably taking off tomorrow. I need you to keep an eye on Emma and her
sister.”

“Are
you sure you want that?” Jeremiah looked up at Mark, who leaned his back onto
the higher table near the console. “I mean, I’m fine with it but do you even want
me near her? I don’t want to get in the middle of something you guys have.”

“Yeah,
man. It’s not like that,” Mark sighed. “I’m like a brooding older brother to
her and she’s the annoying sister you’d want to lose in a busy store. Always
have been and probably always will.”

Jeremiah
sat still, “So I take it the feeling is mutual?” He braced himself for a sudden
punch to the face but was surprised when Mark nodded and shrugged it off.

“Yeah,”
he smiled as his stare shifted to the console. “What’s really wrong with it?”

Jeremiah
exhaled and covered his face in frustration, “I don’t know. It’s the keyboard.
I think.”

Mark
walked over and checked the ports to the keyboard. “That’s your problem.” He
showed Jeremiah the frayed cord. “How did you not notice this before?” Jeremiah
gestured towards the other piles of frayed wires. “Ah, yeah, you’ve got a point
there. We just need electrical tape and it should work better. At least this
one looks like a real cord. The others don’t even have the end part to plug in.”

“They
kept melting off. Summers are brutal in here.”

Mark
laughed, “Well man, I gotta go talk to Tony and see what I need to do.”
               
“Going to see Paul in Canada, huh?”

Mark
nodded, “Yeah, we’ll see what’s going on over there. Maybe we all can go sooner
or later.” He walked over to the door way and waved back at Jeremiah. “See ya.”

Jeremiah
returned the wave and returned to his pile of cords. The front two rows of
tables were filled with lab equipment and old microscopes. They were much higher
than the last row of tables where Jeremiah enjoyed sitting and hiding. He loved
hiding from people, even if it was just from Dani or the occasional Tony or Kayla
visit. The console sat on a desk in the second row of tables. It was a high
desk so the stool made him feel short. He walked over to the console and
remembered where he last saw the electrical tape.

“Crap.
It’s in the triage room,” Jeremiah wasn’t dreading having to go over there, but
the fact that he couldn’t help being awkward around her. He stood up, “Well,
it’s now or later tomorrow.” He sighed and walked towards the triage room. Emma
was fast asleep as her light snores alerted him to be quiet. He opened the
drawer closest to the door and heard a loud creak.

“Jeremiah?”
Emma looked over her shoulder and flipped to face him, “What are you doing?”
She rubbed her eyes to focus on him.

“I was
running some tests and I needed tape. And I woke you up.” He dropped his arms,
“I’m sorry. This could’ve waited until tomorrow.” He attempted to rush out of
the room.

Emma
sat up, “You’re not running away that quickly. What’s your rush to get away
from me?”

“It’s
not that, I’m just trying to give you your space. I kept bothering you all day.
And the one time you’re actually resting, I wake you up. Where’s the sense in
that?” Jeremiah looked down. “I’m sorry that I keep bothering you.” He looked
defeated and swore under his breath.

“Look,
I’m sorry that I snapped at you earlier. I didn’t mean it. I know you’re trying
to help me, and it’s hard for me to accept that anyone would do that.” Emma
moved slightly and leaned back onto the bed. “Why are you really in here?”

“Mark
left,” he said as he crossed his arms.

“Yeah,
I know. Did he tell you to look out for us?”

Jeremiah
nodded.

“Figures,
he never thinks we can do things on our own. Minus getting bitten, the last
mission we had was fairly successful. We got more food and supplies.” She
grimaced and stopped speaking.

“What’s
wrong?” Jeremiah rushed over to the bed. “Is it your shoulder?”

“Neither,
I was stretching,” she laughed as he sat on her bed.

“Don’t
do that,” he looked at her. “I thought you were in some serious pain.”

She sat
up and said, “Sorry.”

He
shook his head and took out the monitor. “Before heading to sleep,” he motioned
to the lancelet.

“Sure,”
she jabbed her finger and placed it near the test strip. The machine beeped
when it received her blood and beeped once again when it read out her sugar
level.

“90. That’s
actually better than I thought it would be. After those bananas, I thought it
might shoot up your sugar.”

“Well,
I dropped the majority of them on the ground,” she frowned and blotted her
finger on the bandage on her stomach. “Dani ate most of them.”

“I told
you. She can eat almost everything.”

Emma
looked uncomfortable as Jeremiah stood up, “Can I ask you for a favor?”

He
turned around, “Sure, what?”

“Can
you sleep here tonight?” her face instantly reddened. “I mean, Sarah’s out for
the night with Rory and I feel really weird being alone.” Before he could
protest, Emma watched as he thought about it, “Please. I don’t normally beg
many people.”

He
slowly nodded, “Let me get my sleeping bag.”

Emma
turned to face the wall as Jeremiah walked in with his sleeping bag. “Thanks.”

“No
problem,” Jeremiah situated the bag onto the gurney. Emma turned over to face
him and grabbed his hand before he knew it.

“No,
really. Thank you for doing this,” she smiled as he returned the smile and
blushed. She let go of his hand and he sat on the gurney. He leaned back
against the wall as Emma turned over to face the other wall again. “You don’t
snore as loud as Sarah does, either.”

They
both laughed and slowly fell asleep.

Mark
sat with Tony in the Mess area as Kayla was making the last bit of instant
ground coffee. The makeshift kitchen doubled as a meeting room, mostly to
discuss travel and which outposts to help out. The otherwise dark gray walls
would be covered with maps and notes during this time. Kayla put the hot kettle
near them as she sat down next to Tony.

“There
are some tea packages left, if you want some caffeine.”

Mark
declined as Tony pointed to a map, “If you take the truck, I would recommend
taking some of the farm roads to keep out of sight. The main highways have
always been pretty packed of dead and living obstacles. 86 to 78 would work
once you get past Langston.”

“I
should be there roughly tomorrow afternoon to mid-evening. What kind of outpost
does he have so far?”

“The
last we heard, he had been working on more generators and was able to get a
farm going.” Kayla answered as she sipped from the cup. Her facial expression
showed the bitter taste of coffee was something she probably wouldn’t get used
to. “He had a few people with him, who are working with him on making it a more
solid and secure location.”

“What
about this place? Do we need to fortify it more?” Mark looked at Tony.

“Not
now,” Tony answered as he leaned back and crossed his arms. “I don’t plan on
leaving soon, unless you’re still heading to the coastline after all.”

He
shrugged, “I think we should explore that part of the country just to see if
there’s anyone out there.”

“I’m
more afraid of who’s out there than what is,” Kayla pushed the still full cup
away and crossed her arms. “Risers are easy to deal with when you have good
weapons. Some people can’t be easily dealt with. Those bandits we saw the last
time. They were brutal people.”

“True,
but I think we can bypass a lot of that and see what’s really out there,” Tony
searched for a map of the area. “See,” he pulled it close to them. “This road
should lead us to another farm road and give us a way in without being
detected.”

“Anyone
will see us with that truck,” Mark said. “It’s loud and unreliable.”

“I’ll
work on it and see if I can make it a bit more manageable,” Kayla said as she
stood up. “I can take a look at it in the morning. I gotta go to sleep.”

“It’ll
be morning in a few hours.”

“I
don’t care, I’m going to sleep,” she patted Tony’s head and walked out.

Tony
continued to look at the map, “We’ll figure this out when you get back. I’ve
got the truck packed and Kayla will look at it before you take off in a few
hours.” He stood up and walked over to the doorway. “I might as well sleep a
bit. You should too.” He said as he walked out.

 Mark
rubbed his eyes and looked at the maps as they laid out on the table. “Yeah,
sleep sounds like a good idea right now.”

Trevor
waited as the ambush played out in slow motion. He watched as the bandits saw
him and his bandit Riser was able to subdue at least two while Trevor slashed
the throat one with his bare hands and held down the leader.

“Trevor?”
the bandit leader squeaked out under Trevor’s arm.

“Never
thought I’d see you again,” Trevor held him down with his full weight on him.

Chloe
stood by and listened in as the bandit Riser warned her of coming too close of Trevor.

“You
better listen to him,” Trevor warned Chloe as she backed off. He switched his
focus back to the bandit leader on the ground. “Now, wasn’t Brady supposed to
kill you off?”

“No,
man,” the leader struggled with breathing. “He was trying to set you up. You
and your brother. After that mission went down, he thought you would rat him
out to the rest and say it was his idea.”

“Figures,”
Trevor said as he bit into the leader’s neck. He waited until the leader
stopped thrashing and let go of his neck.

Chloe
shook her head and attempted to process what the bandit leader had said. “What
mission? The supply run with Jeremy?”

Trevor
sighed and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Yes, the supply run.” He rushed
over to her and held her shoulders, “We killed your Jeremy. Not Emma or Sarah.
We did.” He let go of her shoulders and she fell to her knees. “You’ve been
blaming the wrong people. I can’t believe you nearly killed Sarah.”

Chloe
covered her head, “That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

“Not
really. That part was Brady’s idea. Sick, twisted bullshit of an idea,” Trevor
looked down at his arm, which throbbed as the wound looked angry with
infection. There were more purple veins and some were protruding. He slid his
sleeve over it and collected his rage.  He looked down at Chloe and back
at the bandit Riser behind him. “Go secure the area. Make sure there aren’t any
stragglers behind.” The bandit Riser ran out of the tent and searched the area.

“You
killed Jeremy,” she stuttered and sobbed.

He
rolled his eyes, “Not directly no. If he didn’t push Emma out of the way, he’d
be fine.” He crouched down and looked at her, “It’s still her fault.”

She
glared at him with red eyes and wiped her face with her sleeve. “Now what?”

‘What
do you mean ‘now what’? We’re going to get them.” He stood up and walked over
to the entrance. The first two bandits jumped up and stared at Trevor. “Well, I
suppose it’s time to get you guys in order.” They shifted their feet and looked
at each other. The taller bandit snarled at Chloe, who was still crying. “She’s
fine, just go and eat someone else.” The two bandit Risers ran out of the tent
in search for food.

“Fine?
I’m nowhere near fine,” she stood up and faced Trevor. He looked at her and
smirked. He walked over and stood in front of her as she started to shake. She
finally realized what kind of monster he was turning into, and there was no way
to fight him without dying first. Chloe sighed and attempted to gain her
composure as Trevor walked around her to the tent entrance.

He
stood at the entrance, and said without turning around to face her, “You can
stay in here until you’re done. I wouldn’t want one of them to catch you off
guard as you’re having a pity party of one.” He walked out and joined the rest
as they fed on field mice, weasels and other Risers. Chloe sulked over the
decisions she had made and can’t undo. She looked over at the other bandits who
began twitching. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and pulled her black hair
back into a ponytail. The bandit Risers stood and watched as she fixed her
shirt.

Chloe
looked over to them, “Outside. They’re all waiting for you outside.” They
stared at her with puzzled looks and walked over to the tent entrance. One
looked back as the other continued walking. “Let him know, I’ll be out there in
a few minutes.” The bandit nodded and proceeded to follow the others. She
rolled her eyes and said aloud, “I guess I deserve this. Whatever this thing
is.” She wasn’t afraid of being overheard and didn’t care if they killed her.
She was sure they’d take their time on her, pulling her apart and she had no
problem with that.

She
walked out as Trevor was making a speech to the bandit Risers that gathered
around him. They gnawed on bones and tore from the Riser bodies they picked
apart. Chloe instantly felt queasy at their bloody feast as Trevor joined in
with a few bites here and there.

“Chloe,”
Trevor turned to her. “I’m glad to see you’re ready to join us.” He smiled and
motioned to her arm. She stopped and looked down at her arm to find a scratch.
The skin was slightly raised and had a purple hue on the border of the jagged
scratch. Chloe suddenly grabbed at her arm and freaked out. The bandit Risers
watched as she swore at both Trevor and her arm. “I would calm down if I were
you.” She glared at him before lunging and landing on his chest as they both
landed on the ground. He laughed as he held her arms back.

The
bandit Risers stared and watched as she struggled to overpower Trevor. He
simply pushed her off and sat up to continue to laugh at her. She remained on
the ground, curled in the fetal position and quietly chanting “it’s okay” over
and over.

Trevor
stood up and dusted himself off, “No, Chloe. It’ll never be okay.” Her head
jerked at his direction and she glared at him. Her left eye looked more
agitated than her right as she continued to rub it. He crouched down and
stopped her from rubbing her eye. “Stop, it’ll make it worse.”

“Good.
Get the hell away from me,” she spat at Trevor, who turned away from her. The
bandit Risers stared at Trevor, waiting for a command.

“Leave
her alone,” Trevor glanced back at her and back to the group of bandits now
under his control. “There’s another outpost up ahead. I’m thinking we need a
few more bandits to make this a rolling patrol in no time.”