Contagion: The Rising

by Carter, John

  Mark and Rory both ran towards the last spot where Trevor was shooting from, but only found a few spent casings, a small blood trail and his rifle.

  “He dropped his rifle after I shot him,” Mark looked at the blood. “It looks like I winged him pretty good.”

  Sarah and Emma looked up at each other and smiled. Emma made an unusual face and coughed as blood spilled from her mouth. She looked down at the blood pooling on the floor below her and fell forward. Sarah’s eyes widened, “Emma!”

  Mark quickly turned around as Rory ran toward Sarah and Emma. Sarah sobbed, “It’s Emma. She’s shot.”

  Emma lay still and lifeless on her side. Her eyes continued to stare at Sarah and pleaded with her for help. “Help her, Mark. Please!” Rory tore off his jacket and applied pressure on her stomach as blood oozed out.

  “I’ll get the truck and we can take her over to Tony, okay?” Mark grabbed Sarah and shook her. “You have to keep pressure on her stomach, just like Rory is, once we get her in the truck.”

  Sarah nodded as she stared at Emma, “She’s not blinking. Why isn’t she blinking?”

  “Sarah, put pressure on her stomach,” Mark looked at Rory who applied pressure as well. He ran over to the truck and started it in one go. Rory and Sarah pulled Emma closer to the entrance of the barn as Mark drove the truck over.

  Chapter 8

  They reached the steel door of the bunker as Mark used the handle of the rifle to knock on the door. Noises from the door scared Mark and he backed up as it slowly opened. They were met by Jeremiah and his rifle aimed at them.

  “Mark!” Jeremiah dropped his aim and he grabbed his hand to shake. Mark stood in temporary shock as the handshake woke him up. “Long time, man.” Jeremiah smiled as he shifted his glance back to Rory. A look of worry took over his face, “What happened? Where’s Emma?” He set his rifle aside.

  “We need your help,” Mark sighed. “Emma was shot.”

  Jeremiah looked over at the truck and saw Sarah, “I’ll get the stretcher.” They walked in after Jeremiah and followed him to the main room of the bunker. Tony walked down the corridor with Kayla.

  “Mark, nice to see you again. I wish the circumstances were different.”

  “Me, too.”

  “What have you done to help her already?” Tony asked as Jeremiah wheeled in Emma and checked her vital signs.

  “Just put pressure,” Sarah said as she stood in shock.

  “She’s got a weak pulse,” Jeremiah frowned and looked over to Sarah.

  “How long has it been?” Jeremiah asked.

  “It’s been about an hour, maybe less than that,” Mark answered.

  “Okay, we have to see if the bullet went straight through,” Tony shifted his arms as he helped Jeremiah turn her over.

  Jeremiah sighed and felt relieved, “Yep, it looks like it did.” Dani walked over to Jeremiah and helped push the gurney into the medical room. They transitioned over to the medical room and watched as Kayla hooked up Emma to the heart rate monitor. Sarah stood near the other gurney with Rory as they waited to see if Emma would respond to anything.

  “Her heart rate is too irregular,” Jeremiah motioned for Kayla.

  “I’ll get the defibulator,” she said as she ran over to the other room and brought it over.

  They hooked her up to the machine. “Her heart isn’t beating correctly, so we have to shock it in order to get it back into a rhythm.” Jeremiah explained to Sarah. “See? Okay, in one. Two. Three.” Emma’s body twitched as Jeremiah pressed the button. “Alright, one more time. One. Two.” Sarah closed her eyes as Rory held her. “Three.” Emma’s body moved as the monitor sounded more in rhythm. “It looks like it worked. We’ll keep an eye on her and make sure it stays regular. Since she’s a diabetic, the healing process isn’t going to be as forgiving as it would be for the rest of us.”

  Tony ran out and brought in an oxygen tank, “Here, let’s hook her up.”

  “Can I stay here with her?” Sarah asked as she looked up at Tony.

  “Of course,” Tony glanced at Sarah. “She spoke about you a lot.”

  Sarah broke her stare and half smiled, “Really? I’m sure it’s all bad.”

  Tony smiled, “No, at least, not yet.”

  “Don’t mind him,” Kayla nudged him.

  Tony and Kayla left the room as Mark stood outside. Rory looked at Sarah, “I’ll be waiting outside with Mark, I’m sure you want to be with her.”

  She nodded and hugged him, “I love you.” He smiled as he mouthed the words, “I love you too.

  Jeremiah checked the monitors as Dani adjusted the oxygen mask on Emma’s face carefully. “These things get so uncomfortable after a while.”

  “Thanks for doing that,” Sarah looked down as both Dani and Jeremiah left the room. She sat in silence and continued to look at Emma. “Even when you’re quiet in the room, you’re still loud.” She said as she listened to the heart monitor. “They really care, don’t they?” Sarah looked over at the door as Jeremiah passed by. “I think he likes you.” She snickered as her sister’s heart rate slightly quickened, “You’re happy when I’m happy.” Sarah sat back against the wall and let her legs dangle from the bed. She hated the jeans she had on and figured she’d trade with Emma a few weeks ago. “I never really understood why you like these so much.”

  Emma exhaled, “because you hated them so much.”

  “Emma!” Sarah rushed over to her side. “Want me to call everyone over?”

  Emma slightly shook her head.

  Sarah laid her head on Emma’s shoulder, “I can’t lose you again.” Emma’s eyes widened as she couldn’t breathe. Sarah stood up and yelled for help. Emma started coughing up blood that splattered within the oxygen mask she was wearing and her heart rate was erratic and fast. Jeremiah ran in as Dani called her parents over. Tony and Kayla held down Emma legs as she easily kicked them away. Her eyes turned from blue to milky white and her voice quickly changed into a screech. Sarah stayed back as she watched Emma attack Jeremiah and throw both Kayla and Tony out of the room.

  “Emma, please,” Sarah reached for her hand. Emma recognized her and became quiet like Parker was towards Trevor. However, as soon as Rory entered the room, she jumped onto him and bit into his throat. Rory fell towards Sarah and attempted to grab her extended hand.

  Sarah screamed as she suddenly woke up as she fell off of the gurney and onto the ground. She looked around for both Jeremiah’s and Rory’s bodies before finally relaxing. “It was just a dream.” She listened to her sister’s normal heart rate and took a deep breath. “It was just a fucking dream,” she exhaled with frustration and checked Emma to make sure she was okay.

  “I really wish you can hear me right now, Emma,” Sarah pleaded as she held onto her hand. She noticed that they had their mother’s hands. She thought it was funny, since she couldn’t really remember much of anything else regarding her mother. She was in and out of their lives pretty quickly before the Risers. Emma had picked up where their mother left off and ended up raising her when she was around ten. Sarah couldn’t figure out how she was able to do that, but Emma managed to do fairly well. When Ryan found them, they were on their last bit of food and he knew that their father was out of the picture for a while, at least mentally.

  Emma squeezed her hand, “Who can sleep with you talking all the time?” She smiled, “Is everyone okay?”

  Sarah nodded, “We’re all fine. Please don’t ever leave me again.”

  “I can’t promise anything that but I’ll try.”

  “I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”

  “I’m sure you would. You’re a lot smarter and tougher than you’re letting yourself be.” Emma poked her forehead, “Now, can I get some food?” Sarah laughed. “I’m hungry.”

  “I think that’s a sign of you getting better.”

  Jeremiah looked up from his outdated lab equipment, and over towards the direction of the triage room. Mark noticed the movement, “What’s wit
h the sudden interest in Emma?”

  He blushed and tightened his jaw. He moved the lens of the microscope, “It wasn’t sudden. She’s just an interesting person.” He cleared his throat, “What I mean is that this whole thing is interesting.”

  Rory looked at the old sets of beakers and scales. A dot matrix printer sat next to an old console and looked to have been used by some government agency in the late seventies or mid-eighties. “Jeez. What a load of junk,” he said as he put down a broken glass syringe.

  “That console will help us find out how Emma is doing by running a panel on her blood.”

  Rory shrugged and walked away from the desk that was covered in water stained printer paper.

  “Sure,” Mark crossed his arms and gave Jeremiah a stern look. Rory smiled as he watched Jeremiah look at Mark.

  “Hey man, what does this do?” Rory pressed a button that turned the centrifuge on. “Whoa.” Jeremiah smirked and turned off the centrifuge without looking.

  Sarah walked in and scolded them, “You guys leave him alone. Besides, there’s some food ready so I’m sure you’d like to get a plate. I think Tony cooked some vegetables, I forgot what they’re called again.”

  Without looking up from the microscope, Jeremiah answered, “Broccoli.” He smiled and watched as Mark looked away and followed Rory out of the room.

  Sarah walked over, “Don’t let Mark get to you.”

  “Oh, I know how he is. We all go a ways back,” Jeremiah wrote on a nearby steno pad. “Are they a ‘thing’?”

  Sarah smirked and shook her head, “Personal interest?”

  He smiled, “I was just wondering.” He stood up and stretched, “You better get some food before it’s gone. Dani may look small but she can eat a whole lot.”

  “I’m heading over right now,” she stopped at the entrance of the door. “Thank you for doing this.” She left before he could answer her. He figured he’d need to check Emma before getting some food, so he brought along his steno pad and pencil.

  Emma looked up at the ceiling and visualized shapes moving around above her. Jeremiah walked in and watched as she was grasping at the ceiling.

  “Morphine, it’s a hell of a drug,” he grabbed a stool and rolled it over.

  Her eyes remained wide, “Is that what’s causing this?” She winced as she thought one of the shapes was about to hit her.

  “Yeah, don’t worry. You can tell those shapes to leave you alone so I can check your eyes and vitals.”

  She looked up nervously, “Please go away.” He frowned as he saw her concern of the shapes hitting her was more of a fear than he had first thought.

  “I’m sorry, I should’ve told you that a little sooner than I did,” he held her arm still and placed the blood pressure cuff on her. He felt for her pulse as the cuff tightened. He counted the beats as he looked at his watch and let out some of the air from the contraption.

  “Do you even know if that thing is right?” she sounded a bit more lucid as she looked down at his watch.

  “I don’t really use it to tell time anymore. It just keeps ticking though, so I use it to count things out, like your heart rate. Your blood pressure looks good so far. Let’s check your blood sugar, okay?” He reached into his pocket and retrieved the monitor. She grabbed the lancelet and jabbed her index finger. The machine beeped as her blood seeped into the test strip. “100. Not bad.”

  “Where’d you get all these diabetic testing supplies?

  “We found a warehouse full of unused medical equipment by the bay,” Jeremiah smiled. “You can still eat if you want to.”

  “No, Rory brought me a bowl of some noodle stuff. I haven’t had noodles in so long. I nearly forgot that they look like worms.”

  “Yeah they do.” He put the monitor away and grabbed his steno pad. “I’m glad that you’re feeling better. I’m hoping you’ll be able to eat more soon.” He wrote down a few notes as she relaxed.

  “I’m hoping that I can. I miss junk food.”

  “Nope, no junk food, at least for a while,” he motioned for her to move her arm and checked on her stomach wound. “I think I did fairly well closing that up. Can you turn over?”

  She nodded and complied. “These bandages itch a lot.”

  “Yeah, I had to use a lot of gauze to allow you to lie on your back without too much pain or discomfort.”

  Her eyes dulled as she stared forward.

  “What’s wrong?” Jeremiah looked around.

  “I forgot about my shoulder,” she winced in pain.

  “Sorry, let me check that too.” He peeled back the bandage and found that the ragged skin turned pink but oozed some dark blood. “Let me get a few things to clean it out.” He stepped out and grabbed the first aid kit near the door. “It’s just draining so we have to keep it cleaner than we had been.” He gave her a look.

  “What?” she innocently deflected the look he gave her and shrugged. “Ouch.”

  “Exactly,” he smiled as she stared at him.

  “Thanks,” she returned the smile as he stepped back.

  He slightly blushed. “Please. I like helping out. Now, if we can get you to change this bandage regularly, you should be fine.”

  She shook her head, “Not happening.”

  He headed towards the door, “Let me know if you need anything else.” He walked out and stood outside for a few seconds. He decided to skip out on eating and headed back to the lab.

  She sighed as she laid there and wondered if she didn’t make herself look too helpless. She definitely felt like she was but she’s been through hell. Emma never thought she’d want to be close to anyone, but it seemed as if Jeremiah really cared. She immediately stopped herself from drawing any conclusions, “he’s just being nice.” She turned over and faced the wall.

  Chapter 9

  Chloe slowly opened her eyes and felt for her head. The blood still oozed from her temple as she cursed under her breath. She yelped as her hand brushed against the welt under eye. The silence in the barn was disturbed by her groaning as she attempted to stand up. “Trevor?” She looked around but only found what appeared to be Parker’ body near the entrance of the barn. She walked outside and headed toward the silo. Trevor stood near his bed as Chloe walked in.

  “You’re finally awake,” Trevor turned around as he stitched up the gunshot wound on the left side of his abdomen.

  Her eyes remained on his wound, “Are you okay? It looks like it might be infected.” The wound looked like it was still oozing blood and the stitches made the irritated skin puff out around it.

  “It’s fine,” he said as he pulled down his bloodied white shirt. “I tried following them, but couldn’t keep up with Mark’s driving.” His suspenders hung loose behind him as she looked for a weapon of some kind.

  “You should really think about lying down or getting some rest,” she saw the shovel near him.

  “I’m actually feeling better than I’ve ever had,” he rolled his sleeves up as he covered the scratch he received from Parker. It looked inflamed, unnaturally purple and dark. He winced at the thought of Parker being killed and walked over to Chloe. She backed up towards the silo wall and braced herself for any attack he was planning. He touched her shoulders as she flung herself back against the wall and slid down. Trevor shook his head and helped her up.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he backed away as soon as she was back on her feet. He looked down at her dress, “You need to dress for a mission, Chloe.” He walked over to his brother’s footlocker and grabbed a pair of pants. “Here. I’m sure you have boots and a shirt to go along with that.” She gathered the clothes and stepped out to change. He turned away from her as she walked out.

  Trevor sat down on his bed and ran his hands through his dirty hair. “I’m pretty sure you have the same thing in mind,” he yelled over to Chloe who walked in, dressed and ready to go.

  “Well, what are we waiting for then?”

  Trevor smiled and motioned towards the barn, “We’ve got
supplies in there and a few guns. I’m sure they won’t be expecting us for a while.” His face twitched as his hand cramped up. He quickly turned away as the look of pain he was suppressing took over his face. The wave of pain cascaded through his body and he was left with a dull headache. He turned back around to face Chloe. “Let’s go.” Chloe nervously smiled as she followed him over to the barn.

  Everyone took turns to keep an eye outside of the bunker. The rotation included two people on watch for about 4 hours each. The watchers remained close to the hill and stayed hidden within the grassy bushes while scouting the valley. The first couple on watch was Rory and Sarah. Rory sat near Sarah as she scanned the land below them with Jeremiah’s binoculars.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “I don’t know. Movement of some kind?”

  “And do you see anything?”

  “No,” Sarah dropped the binoculars and handed them to Rory. She leaned on him as he stood still looking at the land in front of them. “I’m hoping they’re both dead.”

  “They might as well be,” Rory put the binoculars down. “Emma beat the crap out of Chloe.”

  “Yeah,” Sarah looked slightly worried. “I’ve never seen that side of her before.”

  “Emma was protecting you.”

  “No, I meant Chloe,” Sarah touched her throat. “I know she was mourning her husband, but I had no idea she had that much hate towards us. It wasn’t just hate though. It seemed more like an act of desperation.”

  Rory gave a confused look, “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. She just didn’t seem like how she was before.”

  “I wouldn’t think so. The love of her life saved your sister and got blasted,” Rory stared at the valley ahead of him.

  Sarah shrugged, “It wasn’t Emma’s fault.”

  “No, but you both were involved,” Rory looked at Sarah. “I think she wanted to just get even with someone.”