The Contaminated: Where Were You When The Pandemic Hit?

by Kypers, Ryan

  “So, you’re saying that we’ve been technically doing it all wrong this whole time?” I asked.

  “Well, kind of yeah, but it has been working out. So you have also been doing it right,” He finished. “Really, I am no expert on human anatomy or the most effective way to kill people, so I honestly have no absolute answer.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, “That’s okay. I figure that I am right anyways.”

  “Right about what?” He asked.

  “Everything,” I smiled at him as Chelsea brought out the food. I picked up a hotdog and proceeded to sneeze on it full force, “That one’s mine.”

  “Along with half of the rest of dinner,” Zach jested.

  We ate heartily that night. Zach bid us a good night and went off to his side early. Chelsea was up, cleaning the dishes, “You really don’t need to do that.” I said. “It’s not like we’ll need those by the end of the week.”

  “I guess it’s just habit,” she said, vigorously scrubbing the pan. “It sort of calms me from all of this craziness that’s been going on around here.” She continued to scrub. I wrapped my hands around her waist, but coughed, ruining the moment. Chelsea reached over and kissed me on the cheek, “Why don’t you go rest up. You will need your strength for tomorrow. No need to be fighting the cold on the eve of our departure. I’ll be up shortly.”

  I nodded and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning in. I don’t remember how I became so tired, but all that I remember was my head hitting the pillow and the darkness of sleep take me.

  I awoke the next morning with a pounding headache and weakness in my eyes. My nose was running and my chest felt as if a fifty pound weight was resting on top of it. It seemed as if every single one of my breaths was a hard, phlegm filled cough. I sat up, and it did not get any better. Looking around the room, I noticed that Chelsea had already gotten up. My watch read ten thirty in the morning. I overslept.

  Forcing myself out of bed, I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Chelsea was sitting on the counter talking to Zach. “He’s just really doesn’t look too good. Oh hey, Daryl!” She said, jumping off the counter to give me a morning peck on the cheek. “You don’t look so wonderful.”

  “Thanks for being blunt,” I replied.

  “You look like shit,” Zach said with a smirk on his face.

  “Keep that up and I’ll sneeze on you,” I replied.

  Chelsea’s hand was on my forehead, checking my temperature. “You are burning up. Gosh you have a fever and it’s huge. You are not going out of the house today.”

  I shook my head, “No, we need to prepare things. I can’t have the two of you guys running around without me. Besides, I need more practice with the guns-“

  “Chill out, Daryl,” Zach said, leaning his chair back so that it balanced only on two legs. “We have already talked it over. We’ll be going back to the superstore to look for medicine and take some target practice.”

  “Which I need target practice,” I interrupted.

  “Eh, not really. The guns might not be as effective as we thought since we’ll have to start focusing on the spine now. A headshot might not be as effective without the blunt weapons, which you specialize in.”

  “Oh, I don’t specialize in anything,” I countered.

  “Daryl,” Chelsea said, resting her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t strain yourself. Besides, we’ll need you here. Zach and I have already planned it out to work nicely. You can discuss the travel plan with our guy in Indianapolis, what was his name? Ah doesn’t matter. If anything happens to us you’ll have a walkie talkie to get in contact.”

  I did not respond right away as I knew when I was beaten. It was a solid plan. We had communication, and they would be practicing. Chelsea and Zach had already gone out on their own before, but this time it bothered me for some reason. I could not tell if I was being a jealous boyfriend or simply paranoid. “Alright,” I finally responded. They both sighed in relief. I figured that we did not need to argue when they would be doing such a dangerous task. My sick self did not need to be on their mind distracting them as they potentially fought against the contaminated.

  Chelsea squealed in excitement and kissed me on the cheek. “We’re going to be leaving then. I actually argued with Zach to wait for you to be up just so that I could explain things.” I gave Zach both a curious and threatening look at the same time. “Let’s go, mister impatient!” She said to Zach, who quickly bolted upright and was out the door in a matter of seconds.

  Chelsea pecked me on the cheek, “See you in a bit!” She said before walking out the door. A moment later, the car engine hummed to a start and was revving off down the street.

  “Testing, 1, 2, 3,” a voice called. I looked around the kitchen to see the black walkie talkie sitting on the kitchen counter next to a stack of pancakes. “Testing, 1, 2 - oh come on Daryl!” Chelsea’s voice called through the talkie.

  I picked it up and held down the center talking button, “Testing back.”

  “Loud and clear, general,” I heard Zach say through his talkie.

  “I made you special pancakes,” Chelsea said. “Have fun while we’re gone!”

  I looked to the stack of pancakes. They were in a shape that looked like a cancerous heart, “Your heart pancakes look delicious,” I said.

  “Thank you! It took me forever to make them. Zach found the batter in your grandma’s cabinet and everyone who ‘s not a commie likes pancakes,” She replied. “Okay we’re going to be out of range soon, so don’t do anything stupid. I’ll hear from you soon.”

  “Okay, love you!” I said, but got no response. “Must be out of range,” I said to myself.

  I placed my laptop on the kitchen table next to the pancakes and was just about to open it when Coal jumped onto my lap, “Why hello there, cat.”

  She meowed once and rubbed her face against my arm before settling onto my lap comfortably.

  I logged onto the forum quickly and a message instantly popped up onto my screen.

  Contamin8r: I’m in. Call me James while on the road.

  Contamin8r: I’ve attached my information on the message so you can find me.

  Contamin8r: Hurry, I need the help.

  Chapter 22

  “Chelsea!” I yelled over the radio. There was no response. “Chelsea! Zach! Someone answer!” As hard as I tried, nothing that I seemed to do made anyone answer. They were simply out of range. When I strained myself by yelling into the walkie talkie, my cold would kick up and I would break into a fit of coughing, forcing me to stop almost immediately.

  The chat where James had told me what was happening was still on my laptop screen. He told me that Indianapolis was a major place for some of the members of the Contaminated Resistance Unit, or what I used to refer to as Contaminated ‘R’ Us lived and called their home base. He said that they recently made a huge push into any powered zone that was available for them to contaminate. Indianapolis was practically overrun by contaminated already, and it would be dangerous for us to safely enter.

  I quickly improvised the plan and told him. We were to drive tomorrow, for about ten hours and meet James near the outskirts of Indianapolis in a town called Knightstown. He said that it was not a powered zone, but was a decent place to meet up at least. We could easily camp out on the highway that night, as it isn’t as if the contaminated were using the highway for anything. It was also a higher ground which let us be concealed by the height of the motorway. That was the plan in a nutshell.

  I initially wanted to meet up in Indianapolis in order to refuel, but we could do that on the fly so that we did not need to stay in the city for very long.

  James had also mentioned that the Contaminated Resistance Unit was putting up a decent fight against the military. It was not that they were able to fight on equal ground with the soldiers, which would be suicide, though that is almost what the CRU was doing anyway. Instead, these people would go in masses to break into cleared zones that were under military protecti
on. They would sneak through military weak sections such as woods or lakes and would contaminate any of the population that they could get their hands on. The red mouths, as they were also called, would attack indiscriminately. Their primary target was children, just to show how messed up they are. Once the parent discovered that their child had been contaminated, they would hide their child out of love.

  The military’s official position on contaminated individuals was that they were quarantined to a research and development section, or a concentration camp. There they would perform tests and observe the actions of the contaminated people. This way the military would not be viewed as monsters who are killing children, but instead are heroes for trying to save them.

  Needless to say, I was taken aback by the whole scenario. Before I could ask him more, James said that he had to go, that there was noise around his apartment and he had to hide. I became worried; he was our guide through the second half of the journey.

  “Daryl?” The radio piped up. “Daryl, you there?” Zach was saying through the walkie.

  “Yeah, I’m right here,” I replied.

  “We’re on our way back now,” He said. “Here.”

  “Daryl, its Chelsea.”

  “Hey babes.”

  “Hi! Well we’re coming back in one piece and with full tanks of gas,” She said, her voice slightly muffled by the car engine. “We also managed to grab some gas cans and fill those too. No resistance whatsoever.”

  “That’s great news!” I practically yelled into the radio, followed by a cough. “When are you guys going to be back?” I asked.

  Just then I heard a car engine and the grinding of tires on asphalt. “Uh, just got home. See you in a bit!” Chelsea said before cutting the radio off.

  I made my way down stairs and into the living room to be met by Chelsea and Zach. “You still look like shit,” Zach welcomed me.

  I smiled a fake smile, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  Chelsea came over and hugged me tight, “We’re going to load the stuff into the cars now.” She pulled me into the kitchen. It was dark until she hit the light. When I looked outside, I noticed that the light was fading, not able to believe how late it had already become. “Start making these,” Chelsea said, holding up a bag for me to see. “I started seasoning them last night without anyone knowing. Those steaks were in the freezer, and I figure that there’s no reason to save them anymore since we’re leaving.” I thought I heard a slight hiccup of sadness in her voice.

  Before I had a chance to respond, she was out the door with cans in her hand, followed closely by Zach. I decided not to argue them into letting me help and took out the skillet. I let it heat up for a minute before throwing the steaks on top of it. The hissing of grease being cooked out of the meat filled the room, as did the scent of freshly cooked steak. Coal began to meow, wanting a peace of steak for her own. Little did she know that Chelsea had prepared numerous extra steaks, leaving a lot of leftovers for Coal to feast upon.

  “You know, this is kind of like our very own thanksgiving,” Chelsea said when everything was set on the table. “It’s late November, and Thursday, I think. I mean there is no turkey, but I think that this will do.”

  “My mom always made ham for Thanksgiving,” Zach said.

  “What?” Chelsea said in disbelief.

  “I’m not joking. She always made ham for some reason. No matter how hard my father or I pleaded with her to make turkey, it never happened.”

  “Isn’t that a Christmas thing?” I asked.

  “Yeah, which we did have ham for Christmas dinner, but she was always weird like that.”

  “I can put out spam if you really would like that,” Chelsea said.

  “No! I hate that stuff,” Zach said flailing his arms. “Steak is so much better, besides this may be the last time that I get the opportunity to have a nice juicy steak, something that I do not want to miss out on.”

  “Well,” Chelsea started. “Since it’s our Thanksgiving, are we thankful for anything?”

  “I’m thankful that no green beans were made for this delightful dinner,” I said, getting a chuckle out of Zach.

  “Oh come on, Daryl. Be serious,” Chelsea scolded me.

  “I’m thankful for you guys,” Zach said. “You saved me, and I still owe you for that.”

  “Well, Zach, I am thankful for you guys too. Without you, I’d probably have never lasted this long, and you showed us the way to Kansas City,” Chelsea said.

  “I think that we’re really just thankful for each other,” I piped in. “We have all saved each other in different ways and have been able to move forward because of it. We are all part of this puzzle that connects with surviving.” A nice wave of calm spread over the three of us. Something between us seemed to click at that moment. We finally understood that no matter what happened, no matter what dangers or fortune came between us, the three of us would be eternally intertwined with each other.

  The rest of dinner was excellent. We laughed, joked, and told stories of our lives past. Nobody brought up the shitty situation that we were in, or the probability of the chances to our success, or any of our relatives that had died from the contamination. Instead, I told of when I pulled the emergency shower in chemistry class my senior year in high school, Chelsea told of how she tripped over her own dress at prom, and Zach told video game stories that neither Chelsea nor I understood but enjoyed nonetheless.

  The moment of good-nights came with a strong taste of bitter sweetness. Our time of survival in this house was up, the curtain called. We all knew the dangers of the journey that we were about to embark on, but were prepared to do it because of the promise that it held, and we were not about to let anything get in our way.

  “Hey,” I said to Chelsea once we pulled the covers over us in bed. “I’m really glad that I got to spend this time with you. Even though it is kind of a crappy way to live, I really did enjoy it.”

  She loosed a huge smile, “I loved every second of it,” she replied.

  “Even when you were bit?” I asked.

  She giggled like a twelve year old girl, “Especially when I was bit. You were so caring and concerned for my health. I’ve never had anyone act like that towards me before. You have been absolutely amazing to me this whole time, and I’ll never forget that.”

  I reached over and kissed her on the forehead, not wanting to spread any of my cold. “I would do it all over again for you.”

  “Oh please,” she chuckled. “I wouldn’t want you to have to go through that again. Anyways, it is getting late. Let’s get good rest for the morning.” Chelsea kissed me goodnight before rolling over and falling asleep.

  I lay in bed, unable to fall asleep. All that I was able to do was watch as Chelsea’s breathing pushed her back up and down as she inhaled and exhaled. I did this for over an hour, unable to take my eyes off of her. Darkness eventually took me, filling my eyelids with weights, dragging them into a deep slumber.

  My body was being shaken awake, forcing me from my sleep. “It’s time to go, Daryl,” I heard Chelsea’s soft voice say through the darkness of my eyes. I opened them to meet Chelsea’s looking down at me. “We have to get going.”

  “How do I look?” I asked in a sleep construed voice.

  She tilted her head a bit, “Not as bad as yesterday, but still not good.”

  “Thanks,” I said, sitting up. “Is everything in the car?” I asked.

  She nodded, “Even our bags and extra blankets and sleeping bags. Zach and I loaded them before you woke up. I wanted to give you as much rest as possible.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

  “Only thing is, we kind of have to go,” She looked down with a sorry expression on her face. “Zach wanted to be out of here a half an hour ago, but I insisted that we wait just a bit longer for you.”

  I nodded and stood up, “I’ll be out in a minute. Got to grab the cat.”

  “Okay, don’t be too long, it’s cold outside and we don’t want to
waste gas,” Chelsea said before heading down stairs.

  I found the cat’s carrying crate in the corner of the room. She was already sleeping inside of it, curled up in a black ball of fur. “Hey you,” I said to her. “Time to go!” I closed the cage and made my way downstairs.

  It was bright outside, and I was hit by a giant gust of cold air once I hit the outdoors. I found Chelsea in a car and hopped inside. Zach was in the vehicle next to us, window down.

  “Ready princess?” he said. Not feeling up to responding, I simply nodded.

  “Take a nap, there’s no reason for you to be up,” Chelsea said, her hand resting on my own. “Just rest easy. We have a long way to drive, and I can handle everything.”

  I nodded to her. Little did she know that I had never been able to fall asleep while in a car. It was just something that I was unable to do. So I stayed awake, my body ready but unwilling to pass out. The tall green road signs began to fly by, and that is when I knew for certain that our journey was just beginning.

  Chapter 23

  For some reason, Zach insisted on taking a strange route over to i-70. He wanted to go from our location over to route three then take some winding, I don’t know, way over. Zach constantly insisted upon there being more than enough gas in our tanks to go said way, and I was too sick to argue with him.

  Therefore we were on our way, already passing the three way fork leading from route twenty-three to forty-six and eighty. We took the winding path straight to enter route forty-six. The ramp swirled in a downward crescent, merging with the main part of the motorway.