Contagion: The Rising (9 page)

Emma
woke up and saw Jeremiah’s sleeping face in the bed next to her. She watched as
he slept peacefully. She hated that she hadn’t slept well since she had been
bitten, and was envious of his ability to look peaceful while doing so.
Jeremiah moved and shifted in the bed as she quickly turned over to face the
wall. Her loose hair flew over her head and hit her in the face. Crap, she
thought and blew the dangling hair away from her face, he caught me being
creepy. She waited until he stopped moving and listened to his breathing to
make sure it went back to normal.

               
“Okay, Emma. Just get up and be normal,” she sat up and faced Jeremiah. She
dropped her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to quietly place her
feet on the floor.

               
“You better wear shoes, the floor is cold.” Jeremiah’s voice scared her into
jumping back onto the bed.

               
“Damn it. I was trying to let you sleep,” Emma frowned as he stretched. She
laughed when she noticed the sleeves on his black sweater were too short.

               
“What?”

               
“They didn’t have your size?” she said as she pointed to his sleeves.

He
looked at his arms, “I’m unusually tall.” He pulled the torn sleeves closer to
his hands which caused them to spring back to the location on his forearm.

“How
tall are you? About six feet?”

“Nearly
6’4, thank you very much.”

She
smiled, “That’s tall, but not unusually tall.”

“Not in
a world of short, hunchback Risers. At least, the rest of it fits me.” He sat
up and looked over to Emma. “You’re of average height. I’m pretty sure you
could find a lot of clothes out there.”

“Yeah,
I’m not really picky. Now, Sarah is incredibly picky,” she said as Sarah walked
in.

Sarah
looked at Emma then to Jeremiah, who stood up from the bed.

“Sorry,”
Jeremiah turned bright red and began rolling up his sleeping bag.

 “It’s
okay. I’m sure you didn’t drool on the pillow, right? I know someone who does,”
Sarah smiled at Emma.

“I
don’t drool,” Emma stayed sitting on the bed as Sarah walked over and hit her
shoulder.

“I
meant Rory,” Sarah whispered and laughed.

Jeremiah
smiled and turned to Emma, “I’ll check on you later. Remember, use shoes.” He
picked up his sleeping bag and walked out.

Emma
exhaled and covered her face with her hands. “What the hell is wrong with me?”

Sarah
sat next to her and leaned her head on her uninjured shoulder. “You get really
weird around him. I’m guessing you really like him. It’s his shaggy hair, isn’t
it?”

Emma
slowly nodded and leaned her head onto Sarah’s.

“So
tell me, what’s been going on?” Sarah bit on one of her nails and waited for Emma’s
explanation.

               
Emma smacked Sarah’s hand away from her mouth, “Quit doing that.”

               
“Nope,” Sarah said as she bit at another nail and smiled.

Emma
inhaled deeply and exhaled, “I’ve asked him to sleep in here with me twice
already. He just makes me feel comfortable. I don’t understand it.”

               
“Well, he did save your life twice. I mean, he’s a doctor but he was damn sure
he was going to get you back to us.” Sarah moved her head and pulled her red
hair to the side. It annoyed her for it to be dangling so closely to her face.

               
“You should pull it back with the twine I gave you,” Emma offered.

               
Sarah shrugged, “I don’t have it anymore.”

               
“Who did you give it to?”

               
“Dani has longer hair than I do, and she looked miserable having to tie it up
with a short piece of ribbon.” Sarah stood up and grabbed her sleeping bag.
“Are you going to be up for a bit?”

               
“Probably not, I’m still tired.” Emma leaned back onto the pillow and stared up
at the ceiling.

               
Sarah looked over as she placed her bag on the gurney. “Good, I’ll sleep in
here with you for a while. I probably won’t make you as comfortable as Jeremiah
though.” She smiled as she gave her sister one last jab.

               
Emma smirked and turned towards her, “What is it, morning?”

               
“Too early to call morning. Too late to call evening. It’s sleepytime,” Sarah
said as she yawned. “You’re up for watch later tomorrow?” She tucked herself
into the sleeping bag.

               
“Yeah, I’m kind of worried to see something,” Emma closed her eyes and covered
herself with the thick blanket Jeremiah brought her.

               
“We’ll be here and Dani is going to be with you,” Sarah closed her eyes as Emma
turned and faced the wall. Emma heard Sarah’s breathing become shallow and
braced for the snoring that awaited her. She smiled and brought the blanket
closer to her face. Sarah’s snoring didn’t keep her up long enough and she was
asleep as well.

               
Jeremiah looked over the latest test results on the old printer paper that was
slightly torn on the outer corners where the water damage was most visible. He
compared those results with the others around him and used a ruler to go
through each result. The first results were about the same which was just a
lipid panel, but he finally was able to get to the A1C level. He stopped short
and raised his head from the paper and shifted his focus to another lab result.

               
“Holy shit, it’s lower,” he said under his breath, and checked the older
results once more to confirm. He decided to run another series with the same
blood, and see if this wasn’t an error in processing her blood the first time.

               
Sarah and Rory sat near Kayla as they were working on the garden in the back of
the bunker. The lights pulsed as the generator was slowly losing power.

               
Kayla looked up and squinted, “Give it some time. The secondary will kick in to
take over for the first one.” The lights dimmed and suddenly glared bright once
again. “See. Okay, so what you have over there in your hand, Rory, is Tony’s
prized broccoli. We found a huge pallet full of the seeds in one of the old
school feed stores near the bay. You can put them next to that light.”

               
“How long did it take you to get this going?” Sarah asked as she filled some of
the pots with soil.

               
“Actually, it looks like it would take a long time, but it only took a few
weeks,” Kayla rubbed her nose with the back of her glove and looked over to the
end of the garden.

               
Rory sowed a few seeds as Sarah continued to fill the pots. Kayla checked the
rest of the seedlings to make sure enough water was being pumped out. There were
two plastic hoses above each row. Each hose had several holes poked through
them. The water leaked out and managed to hit the plants below without making
much of a mess. Behind them, a huge tank held the water. A small pump guided
the water through the hoses and to the plants.

               
Sarah looked around, “This is a very interesting system.”

               
Kayla smiled, “You should ask Tony. It was all his idea. I just built it and
put it together.”

               
Rory smiled back at Kayla, “You guys make a great team.”

               
“We try,” Tony stood at the doorway before he walked in and checked on the
water pump. “We have to change this out soon. Paul should be sending a new one
over.” They turned around and looked as Kayla faced Tony.

               
“I’ll install it once Mark gets back. I’m sure it won’t take long,” Kayla said
as Tony hugged her. She looked confused and asked, “What was that for?”

               
Tony smiled, “Because we make a great team.”

               
Dani stopped at the triage room to talk to Emma, who was grimacing while
rotating her shoulder.

               
“What are you doing?” Dani watched Emma.

               
Emma dropped her arm slowly, “I’m trying to get my arm back to the way it was.”

               
“How’s your wound there?” Dani got closer and examined Emma’s shoulder. “Wow.
It looks a lot better than I thought it would be.”

               
“Really? It feels the same,” Emma grabbed her shoulder and extended her arm.
“I’m trying to get the muscles to remember that they’re supposed to move with
my arm.”

               
Dani frowned, “Yeah, bones will mend but muscles, tendons and ligaments take a
long time. Tissues are sensitive. You’ll eventually be able to move normally.”

               
Emma shook her head, “I don’t think so. It just feels different.”

               
Dani changed the subject and quickly stood up, “Hey, can you follow me? I have
to show you something that I made.”

               
“Sure,” Emma got up and followed Dani. They reached Dani’s room and Dani rushed
ahead of Emma.

She
motioned for Emma to wait at the doorway. “Okay, wait there,” Dani went towards
the end of her room and grabbed a bag. She dragged it back to Emma. “So, I’ve
been interested in hand held weapons. I know you and your sister stick to the
machete, which I would prefer too.”

               
“Yeah,” Emma said as she stood still. Dani pulled out a hatchet looking weapon,
and pressed a button that caused the head of the axe to open up and reveal a
small double edged blade. “Whoa. That looks serious.” Emma gazed at the blade
while Dani handed it to her.

               
“That one took a while to assemble. I have a smaller one for the arm, but it’s
just the double edged blade. It hides very well under a light sleeve or heavy jacket.
I’ve made two, one for each arm.”

               
Emma stood, in shock and amazement, “These are awesome! You show Sarah?”

               
Dani smiled, “Yeah, she said the same thing you did.” Emma handed the switch
axe back to Dani and watched as the blade disappeared from the top of the axe.

               
“Wow, Dani. That is too cool. When did you start making those?”

               
“Well, my mom helped me with the wrist ones, since they were my first real
project. The axe I did on my own,” Dani zipped up the bag and dragged it back
to the corner of the room.

               
“You guys are too talented,” Emma shook her head. “Those weapons are amazing. I
bet a lot of people can find many Riser uses for them. I know my machete looks
pretty tame next to them.”

               
Dani blushed, “You can use the axe if you need to. I figured you’d like that
one.”

               
Emma’s eyes widened, “Really? Are you sure you can trust me with it?”

               
“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Dani walked beside Emma.

               
“I don’t know. Everyone thinks I’m fragile right now.”

               
“You did get bitten by a Riser and shot by a crazed man,” Dani shrugged. “Not
many people can deal that. Let alone survive.”

               
“I guess you’re right,” Emma reached her room and turned to face Dani. “I
appreciate you showing me those weapons. They’re really amazing, I’m not
kidding about that.”

               
Dani smiled, “Thanks. I need ideas so I’ll probably come to you later. We can
probably collaborate?”

               
“I’m not really that creative.”

               
“It’s cool, I can spin any idea,” Dani heard a noise over by the lab. “Did you
hear that?”

               
Emma perked up and looked over, “What was that?” They ran over and found
Jeremiah covering his hand. Blood seeped out of the rag he was holding on his
hand.

               
“Crap, are you okay?” Emma rushed over to him and pushed his uninjured hand
away from his other hand.

               
Dani grabbed his hand and examined it, “What was it? A beaker?”

               
“Yeah, I just moved my hand slightly over and caught the edge of the broken one
right there,” Jeremiah frowned.

               
“I’ll put pressure on his hand, get the first aid kit from my room,” Emma told
Dani, who ran over to the triage room. She turned her attention to Jeremiah,
“What’s wrong?”

               
He looked at her and back down at her hand on his, “I’m just tired.”

               
“I’m sorry that I threw you off your schedule,” Emma attempted to apologize but
Jeremiah shook his head in disagreement.

               
“No, it’s not that. If anything, you helped me. That was the first time I’ve
slept for more than two hours. I guess I’m just not used to sleeping.”

               
Emma didn’t look very pleased with his answer as Dani sifted through the first
aid kit.