by Sands, Samie
Bang!
It’s only when a gunshot that sounds off far too near to where I’m hiding for my liking that my limbs loosen and I make a break for it, tearing off as fast as my legs will carry me. I pump my feet hard into the sidewalk, my arms flap and flail by my side, but I keep on going. It’s hard to recall the correct direction that I should be moving in because I’m going to a house that isn’t my own, but I keep on moving regardless.
Hopefully, Emma isn’t forced to kick me out because of this. Hopefully, her parents still don’t know that I’m staying in the garage. Hopefully, I survive...
“Oof.” I’m so busy focusing on moving that I forget to look at what’s happening right in front of me. It isn’t until I slam into a body that the realization hits me.
And then, when my eyes travel up the person in front of me a sickness hits me hard. If they’re killing everyone, then this could be it. I might be about to die right here, right now.
This could be the horrendous, bloody ending to the most horrific few weeks of my life.
Seventeen
“I’m...oh erm I...” I can’t form a sentence. This is potentially the only time in my life where saying real words will actually save my life, and I can’t seem to manage it. Something seems to have a firm grip on my tongue and won’t let it go.
Then it hits me.
The smell gets to me first, it wafts up my nose like a trickle, then an explosion right in my face. This man is full of the most pungent scent I’ve ever had the horror of experiencing. He’s like a barbeque that’s been left of for far too long, with meat and fat dripping onto the coals. He’s metallic and bloody, almost as I imagine certain parts of a far smell like. He’s death, pure and simple. It radiates off of him in waves.
I gag, without even thinking about it I start to wretch. Then my eyes move upwards and I see a sight that matches the smell. The man has a bite wound that puts my dad’s to shame. The puss pouring from it is blackened and tainted with brownish blood. His shoulder is almost all torn away from it, whatever beast grabbed hold of him and destroyed him in that way must’ve been one of the worst.
Although it wasn’t an animal, was it? It was another human who did this; a concept that seems impossible.
The man steps slowly closer to me, shaking on what’s left of his legs, his left ankle broken and crushing further with each step. This isn’t what I imagined victims of the virus would look like after a time, even if it is exactly as described, because this man should definitely be dead. There’s no way someone should be able to survive this long, looking like this.
Dad... I don’t want to think of him becoming this, but the image fills my mind all the same. This could be in his future, and I am out here, hiding from him like a coward.
Bang!
There it is again, a sign that I really need to leave.
I run until I can’t breathe anymore, I move until my legs ache a red-hot pain, I don’t stop despite the fact that my face is flaming, even though I think I’m going to pass out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunshots start coming from everywhere, forcing me to continue when it’s impossible, keeping me moving regardless of how loudly my body screams at me.
As I collapse back into Emma’s garage, my haven, the tears stream down my face as the reality of life hits me. I knew this was bad from the second my dad told me to go, but I don’t think I knew just how dramatic it truly would be. Now it all makes sense; everyone’s fears, the quarantine, the panic. It’s absolutely petrifying to admit, but this actually could be the end, this virus really could be the one thing that it’s been claimed to be.
The AM13 virus could actually be the end for all of us.
Eighteen
I toss and turn under the thin sheets that Emma has provided for me, unable to sleep very well because of the nightmares that threaten my brain every single time I try to shut my eyes. I see that man, my father, the smell of death suffocating me, gun wounds piercing the bodies of anyone that happens to cross the wrong person’s path...
I guess my main problem is that I can’t believe what the world has become. Not that long ago, my main issue was the new town I’d moved into. I wondered how I would make new friends, how I’d get by, I daydreamed about Zac. Now my whole life has become like something from a horror film.
“Rae?” My body shakes, my bones rattle in my chest. “Rachael, are you okay?”
“Huh?” I mutter, only half-replying. “Wha...?”
“Rae, wake up,” the tone becomes more insistent with each passing second. “Rae, stop it you’re scaring me.”
I force my eyes to blink open, but something isn’t right. I can see the light, I can sense shapes, but I can’t see anything like I should be able to. My arms ache as I prop myself up onto them, vomit swirls a little too violently in my stomach as I stagger upright. Emma’s voice becomes thin and gossamer-like, my face feels sheeny and wet...
WHEN THE LIGHT FLICKERS into my eyes once more, I rapidly become aware that the ice-cold garage floor is beneath my back. My limbs are spread-eagled, sprawled across the ground like I’ve been sleeping there, and every single one of them aches.
“Infected!”
I hear the word screamed from somewhere above my head. It doesn’t compute at first, I can’t quite find a way to place it in my brain properly, but the fog feels like it’s slowly dissipating, so I know it’ll come to me soon enough.
“Oh, Brian, she’s infected, we need to get her out of here.”
Brian...I can’t immediately place any Brian, so I succumb to the sleepiness for only a few moments longer.
“Emma, what the hell were you thinking?”
At the mention of a name I do recognize, I instantly push myself into a sitting position. Emma, my friend, the one who rescued me. I stare up at her and spot her head hanging low, her expression one of guilt and shame.
“I’m sorry, Rae, I’m so sorry,” she bleats at me, begging me for forgiveness. “I didn’t... you looked so ill and I was scared, and you were saying all these weird things. I didn’t want you to be sick, not now.”
“I’m okay,” I whisper, doing my best to reassure her. “I’m honestly okay.”
“No, you’re not,” the woman that I can only assume is her mother, screams again. “I cannot have you in here, I don’t want you anywhere near my family.”
I open my mouth, a million-and-one arguments balling up in my throat, but the fell away before they could come out of my mouth because I knew it wouldn’t be any use. Emma’s mom had her mind made up, and that was that.
“I’ll go,” I promised in the end, grabbing my backpack from the ground. “Thank you, Emma, but I don’t want to get you in any trouble. I’ll go.”
I back towards the door, which only sparks off another round of arguments. I can’t stand to listen to them, I need to get away. There’s not a chance in hell that I’m sticking around in a place where I’m not wanted. I have no idea where I’ll go next, but it has to be away from here.
Even if that does mean heading out into the big, terrifying world.
I DON’T STOP RUNNING until my body physically gives up, crashing me to the ground once more. I seem to have spent more time on the ground than upright today. As my face rests on the ground, I can hear low growls coming at me from every angle, but the logical side of my brain knows that it’s only my paranoia freaking me out, so I stay exactly where I am.
What will I do now?
As I lie still, I try to plan my next move. I know that I need to get inside somewhere, before the gunshots start again, but who will have me? There isn’t any hotel in town that’ll take in guests now—not that I have any money anyway—and no family will have me. Once the quarantine begins everyone will only want to look after their own families...and I’ve abandoned mine.
I guess I’ll have to find some shed or something to hide in.
With that one thought in my brain and a deep sigh in my throat, I force myself into a standing position. Then I look lef
t and right, trying to work out the best way to turn. As I do that, I accidentally catch a glimpse of myself in a nearby window and the image shocks me to my very core. I look as sickly as the infected, no wonder Emma got confused. When the hell did I begin to seem so...deathly? My hair is all over the place, my skin is grubby and disgusting, my eyes appear to have shrunken into the back of my head.
I step closer to the window, wanting to get a better look at myself, but as I do I instantly spot a shadow behind me. My heart hammers in my chest, panic twists up in my intestines, I grip onto my arms just to try and keep myself standing for a second.
Then I slowly turn and my breath catches in my throat, I cannot believe what I’m staring at.
“Zac...?”
Nineteen
“Zac!” I exclaim once I’m totally certain that it’s him. He doesn’t look his best, but then again nor do I so I cannot judge. “Oh my God, Zac, I’m so glad that you’re here.”
The relief at seeing a familiar face is almost too much to handle. I race over to him and toss my arms around his neck, with tears pricking at my eyes. I’ve never felt so alone in my life, so it feels wonderful to have someone who cares about me here...
But as soon as our skin connects, I get a terrible sense of something wrong. Zac’s skin is unbearably hot, I can hear a desperate wheezing coming from his chest, and he’s not hugging me back.
I step back and peer intently at him, and the truth instantly hits me hard, like a thump in the face. I’ve been so excited to see Zac again, I was so grateful to see a face that I knew, that I didn’t understand what was happening to him.
He has it, he has this virus coursing through his veins, consuming him, eating him whole.
“Oh, Zac,” I gasp, as my hand claps across my mouth. “Oh no, I’m so sorry this has happened to you.”
I don’t know how far along in the process he is, to be honest, all the information that I learned about the virus is gone now, my brain is horrifyingly blank.
Zac stares at me, his head cocked to one side as he drinks all of me in. I know what he’s capable of, or at least what he will be capable of, but I can’t move. Zac in this state represents everything that’s going on, and I can’t stop looking however hard I try.
I stare.
Zac stares.
Neither of us moves, speaks, or hardly breathes. This standoff cannot end well, but considering it feels like all of time has stopped around us, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.
I like you, Zac, I think pointlessly in my mind. I never understood what you were doing with me, but I’ve always liked you nonetheless. You were my first kiss, I will always remember you...
More time flies past, I have no idea how much, I’m only sure because the tremble in my hand is becoming more violent, and Zac’s face looks sweatier than before.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump.
My heart beats louder and faster, sensing that something is about to change, and it’s right. Actually, it’s righter than I knew it could be, because three things happen all at once.
Zac dives for me, loud bangs ring out from every angle, and everything goes black...
Twenty
I wake.
How long have I been asleep? What’s going on? I blink my eyes a few times, trying to strain against the brightness of the white light surrounding me, but it’s hard. There’s an intense aching in my head, in my arms too, it feels like something terribly dramatic has happened to me, but I’m not quite sure what.
I stir.
As my vision slowly starts to return to me, allowing me to see that nothing but whiteness is around me, I try to move, but there’s something weighing down on me. Either that or I’m so stiff that I can’t get up.
“He...hello?” I stammer, far too quietly for anyone to really hear me. A strange fear has clamped down on my voice box, making it incredibly challenging to talk.
My brain reels, trying to recall the last thing that happened to me. Maybe if I can remember that, everything else will be a lot clearer in my head. Flickers of odd things come up, but nothing that can truly help me; packing up boxes, moving house, the beach, the school...but none of the images stay in my head for long enough to mean anything...
I flicker my eyes open once more, shaking as I realize that I must’ve accidentally fallen back to sleep again. Exhaustion must be rife inside of me for me to sleep in a place I’m totally unsure of.
Everything is different.
This time I can hear noises coming from everywhere around me; screams, growls, yelling. It’s enough to make me want to join in with the racket myself. I try to push myself upright, but it quickly becomes apparent to me that the reason I can’t move has nothing to do with my stiff limbs. I’m pinned down by something else entirely.
I shift my eyes down, straining my neck as much as I can manage, and while I can’t see much, I do notice a black strap across my chest, fixing me in place. That sight creates a massive golf ball in my throat, blocking my airwaves, leaving me barely able to breathe at all. I gasp loudly and desperately, trying to fill up my lungs, but they continue to empty, more and more with each passing second.
I slowly struggle to move my head to the left, then the right, and what I witness shatters my heart painfully in my chest. I’m not alone strapped to this bed, there are hundreds of people around me; some screaming, some silent and terrified, some in the full throes of infection, thrashing and growling violently, frustrated by their restraints. It’s like a nightmare, one that I cannot wake up from.
“What...what is this place?” I mutter to myself. “Where am I?”
A specialist medical facility.
I don’t want to think those words, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. This is what my dad wanted to avoid, what my mom wanted to keep him away from, and now I can understand why. This is hell...and I’m stuck here. Whatever I thought it would be like in my mind, it’s a million times worse.
“Help me!” I yell, twisting my neck once more to see another petrified face looking back at me. “Help, this isn’t right, I’m not infected...”
My words trail off as I remember something else. Zac, staring at me, slowly losing himself to the virus. I watched that happen to him, I saw it, and now...well, maybe now I am infected. Would I know if I was? Would there be any way for me to tell?
“Help,” I continue to whimper, regardless. “Please, someone.”
As I turn to the other side, I see a girl who hasn’t been human for a while now. A girl who’s snarling and snapping, drooling blood, her face falling apart from the massive hole in her cheek revealing the majority of her teeth.
Finally, I can hear footsteps walking around the room, which must mean that someone who’s fully alive and there for me to talk to is here. I try not to lose myself in the excitement at the opportunity of an escape, the fear that I can’t get it finished sooner, and the dreaded anticipation as I wait, but it’s hard. Almost impossible.
“Ah!” I can hear the person now; the shoes are clipping behind my head. My heart hammers in my chest as I painfully turn myself around. There I see a very pretty-looking nurse, with stress etched all over her features. “Hello, you, please help me. I need help,” I bumble over my words, I can barely get them out. “I’m not infected, I don’t know why I was brought here. I think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all...”
My words fall apart on my lips when I see her pull a jagged knife out from her pocket. She presses it to the boy’s throat next to me, seemingly ignoring the fact that he’s showing no obvious signs of the disease, and before I can even begin to react she drags the knife along his throat, causing blood to spurt out everywhere.
Time stops, yet rushes past me at the same time. Shock has rendered me absolutely useless, I don’t even feel like I’m on the planet.
No, I think desperately in my mind. No, not me, I’m not infected, I don’t want to die! Yet somehow, I can’t get the wor
ds out however hard I try.
The nurse steps over to me, her expression one of cold calculation. The knife is high above her head, and she’s coming at me with it. I need to speak now before I lose my life.
“Th...this is a mistake,” I finally manage to pant. “This is a mistake, it is.”
“Yep,” she replied, barely meeting my eyes. “It always is.”
If this were a horror film, this would be the moment the camera pans away as I’m screaming...
Quarantine
Prologue
Shrill alarm bells ring, lights flash, fear and panic comes at me from every single angle. My heart thunders noisily in my chest, my mouth feels like it has a cotton ball stuffed right into it, I don’t know what to do. There’s a screaming noise coming from somewhere too, which is weird because for some reason it feels incredibly disembodied.
One moment everything was calm, the day was exactly the same as every other and the next...well, the next everything had completely fallen apart.
As the infected stagger from their beds where they were strapped down to protect us, I tumble backwards falling hard into a wall. Someone must’ve cracked, maybe someone lost it because they couldn’t stand what we’d been asked to do. I understand that I feel that way myself but not so strongly that I’d endanger everyone else. This is utter madness!
As I glance my eyes from side-to-side my lungs squeeze tight, an ice-cold hopelessness washes over me. This is it, the end. The quarantine has failed, the attempt to control the virus is done, we’re all utterly screwed.
They say when you’re about to die, your whole life flashes before you. I’ve seen enough death in my time, but it’s not until this exact moment as a strange sense of calm takes over me, I can see how true that is. I see my childhood, my loved ones, my achievements first before my brain takes a much darker turn. I close my eyes as the faces of the people I’ve killed brushes through my vision. One by one they taunt me, they remind me that I’ve not always been a good person, that maybe I don’t deserve to live.
