AM13 Outbreak Shorts: The Complete Collection [Books 1-4]

by Sands, Samie

  I’m numb, hollow, empty.

  “What am I going to do, Rachael?” he begs me, asking me the same question I’ve been torturing myself with all night long. “I can’t ignore this forever, I can’t shy away and act like this won’t come back around to kill us all. I’m infected with the AM13 virus, I got bit just outside my new office, and now...well, now I’m changing. I’m becoming the things we fear, the beasts the media are describing. I want to stop it, but I can’t. It’s coming for me regardless.”

  I open and close my mouth a few times, trying to find the right words, but there’s nothing there. I don’t even know what he expects me to say to that.

  “I think...” he continues, talking over my thick silence. “I think I should go to one of the hospitals, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know,” I rasp back, unable to make myself sound normal.

  “I think it’s the right thing to do, but your mother doesn’t agree.”

  “What...what does she say about it all?” My voice cracks, the emotion pours through. It takes all that I have not for an ice cold, still numb tear to roll down my cheek. “What has Mom said?”

  “She’s gotten this funny idea that the hospitals are a bad place.” I suck in a deep breath, wondering what the hell Mom’s gotten her brain into now. She never seems to stop and recognize how her mad ideas impact upon everyone else. “She thinks that it’s more of a slaughter house, that the only way to stop this virus from spreading is to kill everyone that has it.”

  I can no longer breathe. During that comment, a thick ball lodged itself in my windpipe, and now I’m afraid that I might die myself. Dad wraps his equally slick fingers around mine, and we have a moment of bonding, a second where we’re both silent, lost in the magnitude of what this means for our future. There is no happy end with this story, only heartache and misery from every damn angle.

  If only we hadn’t moved.

  If only I was around more.

  If only Dad wasn’t stood in that exact position when he was bitten.

  If only...

  “I’m too tired and confused to make the right choice.” Dad shatters my terrified thoughts with his own. “What should I do for the best? I mean, this isn’t going anywhere...”

  He lifts up his top to show me the bite once more. It’s even worse than before now, stick, coagulating, brown. The smell is so pungent it sticks in my throat, and as I inhale once more the tears start flowing.

  The sound I make with my howling sobs aren’t buried into my father’s bear hug enough to stop Mom from overhearing. Her bedroom door clicks open, and I spin around to see her bright red face, her puffy eyes, and the sheer exhaustion dripping from every limb.

  “Rae?” she asks kindly, cocking her head as she looks at me. “You don’t want you dad to go somewhere to be murdered, do you?” The emotional blackmail rests heavily on my heart. “We can look after him here, can’t we?”

  My eyes flicker between the two of them, the adultness of this decision hits me powerfully in the face.

  “But...I don’t think Dad wants to infect us too...” I try diplomatically, but the attempt at remaining calm gets me nowhere.

  “No one needs to know, we’ll make sure he’s safe.” Her eyes grow wide as mania overcomes her. “We can do whatever it takes to keep him where he is until all of this is over. A cure will come soon, won’t it? There’s no need for your dad to suffer unnecessarily.”

  “What if Dad wants to go?” I hate arguing this point, especially because Mom might well be right—she’s kept up to date with this virus far better than me, after all—but someone needs to. Just in case that is the sensible option after all.

  It’s safe to say this responsibility isn’t sitting well with me at all.

  “But I...”

  “Rae,” her tone is warning now, she needs me to agree with her. “Think about what you’re suggesting here, and for the love of God do the right thing.”

  “But what if we get infected too?”

  “I don’t mind.” Mom throws her hands on her hips, the sheer madness of what this situation has done to her finally shining through. “I want to be with your father no matter what.”

  With that final, sweeping statement, she spins on her heels and returns to the bedroom where she can undoubtedly convince herself that this isn’t the worst idea she’s ever had. I turn to look at Dad with sheer terror in my eyes, but all he can give me back is a stare of resignation.

  “Do you have any friends here yet?” he asks curtly. “I know you’ve been out a lot, but is there anyone you trust? What about that boy who’s been here?”

  “Zac? Sure, why?”

  “I think you need to leave.” He can’t look at me as he says this. “I know your mom truly means what she says, she won’t leave me and she won’t let me go either. I genuinely think that she’s gotten herself into the state where she doesn’t mind if she lives or dies, so long as she stays with me.”

  “But...what about me?” I sound more like a child when I ask this, than I ever have done before.

  “Your mom loves you, we both do.” Dad wraps his arms around me and he holds me close to his body. “But right now, she isn’t thinking straight, and I can barely think at all. What you need to do is get yourself somewhere safe and wait this out. The Government will resolve this soon, and no matter what happens to me, I need to know that at least you are safe.”

  “I’m not going anywhere...”

  “Rae, I’m begging you.” He pulls back to give me the most desperate look of my entire life. “This might be my dying wish, all I need to know is that you’re okay. Just get out of the way for now and see what happens.”

  I don’t want to agree, that’s the last thing in the world that I want, but there’s a self-preservation kicking in deep inside of me. I remember the men fighting, and how scary that was, and I try to picture how I’ll deal with that going on inside my own home, with my parents nonetheless. Even if I don’t want to admit it to myself, there’s a survival instinct in there, begging me not to die, telling me that I need to do the most selfish thing known to man.

  “Okay, Dad,” I eventually whisper, giving him exactly what he wants. “Whatever you say.”

  Fourteen

  My heart thunders noisily as I stuff things into a bag, without even looking at what I’m packing. This is horrible, I feel utterly dreadful about what I’m doing, but it’s what Dad wants. When I agreed to go along with his crazy plan, the relief was so evident in his face, I truly do believe this might be his dying wish, which is the main reason I’m still going along with it.

  Plus, the distraction is good. I don’t want to imagine my dad’s death any more than I already am.

  I flick the TV on in the background, just to make some noise burst into the room before I feel compelled to scream, and since I’ve had it on rolling news channels for the last few I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am when a newscaster bursts to life on the screen.

  “The quarantine, currently being referred to as ‘The Lockdown’ is now set to start this Friday, which has surprised some...”

  I gasp loudly and fall onto my bed sheets, my eyes staring widely at her as she continues to talk, as if only to me.

  “The recommendation is still for anyone showing signs of sickness to get to the specialist medical facility, and of course anyone else will need to ensure that they’ve registered where they will be residing during the quarantine on the Government website, to make sure they have food delivered to them...”

  Nope, I can’t listen to it anymore, it’s all making me want to throw up in my mouth. I turn the screen to black and check my bag once more. As I touch all the items within the backpack, it’s automatic, as if I no longer really exist, I’m simply a robot, acting out the commands that have been thrown my way.

  Then, I wait.

  I sit, and I wait. Time ticks past, the second-hand races noisily, and with each passing moment the time comes nearer for me to actually take that dreaded action. Thinking about it
, and actually raising my butt off that bed to snap into action are two very different things. My mind races back and forth, wondering if this is the right move for me. I mean, where will I even go? Certainly not to Zac’s house, I don’t even know where he lives for one thing. He’s far too elusive and mysterious to give me that sort of information. I guess I have Emma, she’s given me her address, but this is a lot to put on a brand-new friend, and her poor parents. There’s no guarantee that they’ll even have me, considering my father is infected...

  Infected and going to die.

  That thought stabs me painfully, it digs me in places I didn’t even know existed. I’m doing my best not to break down right now, when I have so much to worry about, but it’s really hard. I feel like I need a wall around me, binds simply to hold me together.

  When the clock hits 4 AM, I finally decide that it’s time to go. It’s late enough for me to sneak out undetected, but early enough for the sun to be rising soon, ensuring I don’t get too cold. It’s definitely a case of now or never because I can already feel my brain gearing up to talk me out of it.

  I tuck my backpack onto my back and I grab a piece of paper on the side. Much as I want to sneak out with nothing, just for a clean break, I can’t. I don’t want to destroy my mother anymore. Even with my dad’s explanation, it might not be enough. But as I stand there with my favorite ink pen, poised above the paper, inspiration deserts me. How can I say goodbye, when it could very well be forever? How do I apologize appropriately when I’m abandoning a sinking ship?

  ‘I’m sorry, Rachael x’

  I stare down at the words, knowing that they’ll never be enough, but also aware that nothing ever will be. Then, I turn with a heavy sadness in my heart and I make my way towards the door.

  Just until all of this is over, I try my best to convince myself. I can be home soon enough, I only need to keep away until it’s safe.

  A deep chill runs up and down my spine as I click the door shut behind me, and a wave of tiredness washes over me. It’s amazing that during the time I could sleep, I was far too wired to even lie down, but now that there’s not a hope in hell my eyes want to close. Still, there’s no point in getting bogged down, all I need to do is keep on walking...

  Eventually, I flicker my eyes upwards to spot the glittering sands of the beach stretched out in front of me. It seems I can’t keep away even when I want to. Giving up on finding somewhere else to wait out the night, I plonk my butt in the softness of the beach and gaze up at the rising sun.

  Another day is starting, only this one is the most dramatic of my life so far.

  As the yellow glow overcomes the ocean, I return to thinking about Zac once more. I’ve been trying my best to keep him out of my mind while my world goes to hell, but with nothing else to think about but misery, it seems fruitless to resist. However, as I recall the first time I sat on these sands, waiting for him to come and speak to me, the memory has a dream-like quality to it. It’s almost as if it happened to someone else now.

  Who knows what will happen next; with Dad, with me, with everyone in this town. The only thing I can be certain of is that nothing will ever be the same again.

  Fifteen

  I hop anxiously from foot-to-foot as I wait outside of Emma’s home, my hand outstretched ready to knock. In my seat of warm contemplation on the beach I decided that this was the sort of conversation that I absolutely had to have face-to-face, but now that I’m actually here I can’t help but wonder if a heads up might’ve been preferable.

  My heart thunders noisily in my chest, my mouth feels sick and dry, I inadvertently bite down so hard on my lip that I can almost taste blood...but unfortunately, this is the only option I’ve left myself. I can’t come home now...

  Can I?

  The idea of sneaking back in, of lying down between the sheets of my warm comfy bed, of pretending the little nighttime runaway never happened is so utterly tempting, I can almost feel the sensations wrapping around me. If it wasn’t for Dad and his plea, I might just give into it.

  But I can’t, I promised him.

  Knock, knock.

  My hand taps against the door so lightly I’m certain that no one will’ve heard it, but it was such a strain to just make myself do that much, I’m not sure I can do it again. Maybe I should take that as a hint that this isn’t going to happen, that it’s time to find other arrangements...

  Ring, ring.

  The shrill ring exploding free from my pocket causes me to leap into the air in shock. I curse myself, the phone, the entire world as I scrabble around trying to shut it off before it alerts everyone to it, but it seems to take far too long for me to get it. My fingers are slippery, my arms, trembling, my whole body slow.

  Zac.

  I only glimpse his name for a second before I hit the cut off button, I barely get a moment to process what that means, to wonder why he always seems to get in touch with me at the weirdest of times.

  “Hey,” Emma’s curious voice breaks through my shock barrier. “Rae, what are you doing here?”

  “I...I...” How do I work this? “I need help.”

  “Of course, come in.”

  She steps aside instantly and ushers me towards her bedroom. As I tiptoe quietly up the stairs, trying not to grab the focus of anyone else, I’m so grateful to have met her. If I hadn’t found her on that random day in the school...well, who knows what I would’ve done now?

  “What’s going on, Rae?” Emma asks, indicating for me to sit down on the bed beside her.

  “It’s been a nightmare,” I admit, my exhaustion finally starting to catch up with me. “My Dad, he’s infected with this virus, and he...he sent me away so I wouldn’t get it too...” I try to explain this as simply as I can, without letting emotion get the better of me, but I don’t succeed very well. “He wants me to stay away until he’s, you know, better or whatever. I’m not sure...where...”

  “You can stay with me,” Emma replies kindly, while throwing her arms around my shoulders. “I won’t let any harm come to you.” She pulls back for a second, her eyebrows knotting together thoughtfully. “I promise. But, well I don’t think my parents will like you being here. They’re all freaked out.” Just like my mom. Only, she was right to be, I was in the wrong being so relaxed and naïve. “Maybe if I make you up a bed in the garage for a moment, just until I can find a way to bring it to them.”

  “Of course, whatever you need. I’m just so grateful to you for helping me at all. I haven’t slept for ages, so I can sleep anywhere right about now.”

  With the current heaviness of my eyes, I know that I’m telling the truth.

  JUDGING BY THE ACHE in my neck as I finally force myself into a sitting position, I’ve been asleep for far too long. I only intended to have a nap in this dark, damp place, but obviously, that didn’t quite happen.

  I grab my cell phone off of charge and check the time which informs me that it’s just after 6 PM, but that also alerts me to the fact that I have a text message from Zac, probably in reference to the phone call I cut off earlier.

  ‘Rae, please meet me tomorrow, I want to see you before the quarantine kicks in.’

  Despite myself, I couldn’t help the familiar twang in my chest, the desire to see him. After all, I’d lost pretty much everyone else in my life for the time being, and I certainly didn’t want to spend weeks down here alone with no one to talk to. Emma would come down as often as she could, but there was still going to be a lot of loneliness in my immediate future.

  ‘Yes, okay. At the beach at 8 PM.’

  Night time feels safer, there are less prying eyes then.

  Once that’s sorted, I move towards the door feeling the need for some fresh air right now. I don’t want to be seen by anyone really, but a short escape into the outside world can’t cause any trouble, can it? Now that I’m awake and standing I’m pretty sure that I’m more of a danger to myself than anyone else.

  I push at the door, glad that it isn’t making any noise, and I gulp i
n the cold air like it’s a drug to me, like I’m an addict that can’t get enough of it. It’s hard to remember that it wasn’t long ago that I was out here last.

  I take a step, then another, a strange twisted smile forming on my lips. I don’t feel any happiness inside, but I smile nonetheless, a weird sensation really.

  I hear cars whizzing past, a slight howl in the wind, a police siren somewhere in the distance. The normal sounds for a city, not necessarily for here, but still I try not to look too much into it. For now, I just need a moment to breathe.

  Bang!

  That is until a gunshot rings through the air, stopping my heart completely.

  Sixteen

  I don’t run back, I know that I should but I don’t. I continue moving forwards, like an idiot lamb racing right into the slaughterhouse. I know people are firing guns, I’m pretty sure people are having bullets tearing through their bodies, but still, I cannot stop.

  I keep in the shadows as much as I can, at least having some sense in my mad mission where it seems I want to magnetize trouble in my direction, and as I creep sweat trickles down my forehead, salty water making its way into my eyes, blurring my vision. My ears strain, desperately trying to give me any clue as to what’s going on around here, but I don’t get anything.

  I mean, logically I know what must be happening, but my hammering heart wants more, evidence or something.

  “Run!” someone screams in a voice so loud that it seems to echo through the whole town. “They’re killing everyone, run!”

  That should be my cue to leave, I know it, but still, I don’t go back to Emma’s where I might be lonely but at least I’ll be safe, I simply remain frozen to the spot.

  If people are dying, if their being killed for being infected then maybe that’s the only way. Maybe Mom was right to insist that Dad stay at home; at least he won’t be lined up and shot, which is now what I think must be happening at the specialist medical facilities.