The Infected Trilogy

by Doris Qualls

  I quickly ran through the wet grass to Maria. It started to pour rain. Great, I thought. Just what I need. I quickly picked Maria off the ground and threw her over my shoulder, trying not to get her blood on me. It took me quite a while to get to the door of the manor. Once I arrived I was met with a locked door. Who did that? Who locked the door knowing that we were on duty? I rang the door bell and pounded on the door while Zeke ran though the house in a sleepy haze to see what was going on. He opened the door to find me with his bride on my shoulder and blood dripping from her arm. He turned white from fear.

  “What happened to her? Maria! Can you hear me? What happened love?” He demanded. “Zoe, tell me what happened!”

  I took Zeke’s bride to the downstairs guest bathroom and put her in the bath tub. Her wound was bleeding but not badly.

  “I was sleeping and the security guard asked for back up because it was becoming more than she could handle. I got up and went out there with her and we were shooting those things like field mice. We killed off most of them and had a moment of silence. I fell asleep and then I woke up to the craziest blood curdling scream. I turned around and found Mr. Gong’s wife chewing on her arm.”

  “You’re kidding me right now, right? You’re joking. You’re giving me a load of bull. That didn’t happen. There’s no way that could have happened. They can’t get in the fence. My wife did not get bit by one of those things! There’s no way. There’s no way! There’s no FREAKING way!” He screamed.

  “I’m sorry!” I managed to force through sobs. “I tried to help but I couldn’t! It was too late!”

  “Where in the world was the new security guard? Wasn’t he on watch?” He demanded.

  “He’s the one that called me and asked if I could help. I tried to call him and I couldn’t reach him so I went to check on him and they had gotten to him too,” I cried. “I am so sorry! I hate myself for this.”

  I pulled myself together and finished cleaning Maria’s wound. She finally woke up and did so with a scream. We had to reassure her that nothing was going to get her because she was inside, safe and sound. She was trembling. Zeke picked her up and took her into his arms and held her there until she calmed down. I grabbed some gloves and alcohol, hoping I could disinfect the wound so that she wouldn’t become infected too. It was all I had, I had to try it.

  By then all of the commotion woke the entire house. Gabby and Jose ran in first, next was Chris, then Bre. Everyone was very shaken up by the whole thing. Zeke got Maria dressed and took her upstairs to her room. The rest of us made a pot of coffee and started our day early.

  “I would like to know which one of you IDIOTS locked the door after I left earlier,” I angrily demanded.

  Nobody volunteered.

  “Well since nobody did it, I hope to GOD that never, ever happens again. What if we had been running from one of those things and needed to get inside quickly? We would have all been doomed. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. And I’m so flipping serious!” I added.

  “Well who died and made you the stinking boss?!” Chris rebelliously answered.

  “What did you say to me child?!” I angrily replied.

  “You heard me! Who died and made you boss?”

  “Chris shut your freaking mouth before I shut it for you!”

  “Whatever ZOE, if you keep being bossy like that you won’t have any more friends. Watch and see!” He yelled.

  “OH, so you’re the one who did it? You heard the screams and locked the door and ran back upstairs where you were safe. You didn’t care if we were ok, huh?” I accused.

  “ZOE, CHRIS, KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW!” Bre loudly commanded.

  And then there was silence. Everyone went back to their rooms to process what just happened and didn’t come out until breakfast time. Zeke stayed in the room with his wife, taking care of her every need. He kept dressing her wound but refused to take her to the hospital to get her checked out. He knew they would keep her if they knew what happened to her. He was too sick to his stomach to eat but he eventually came out for some coffee and some fresh air.

  “Zeke, what are we going to do with her? Don’t you think she’s infected?” Bre nervously asked.

  “I DON’T KNOW! I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!” Zeke panicked.

  “Listen, maybe there is something we can do to help her. We need to get one of those breathalyzer’s. Maybe we can get one and just test her to see if she’s ok.”

  “SHE GOT BIT, SHE’S INFECTED. OK!” He yelled. “We all seen the videos at the fire station. She’s infected and there’s nothing we can do about it!”

  “Maybe we should take her to the clinic. Maybe they are trying to help those that are infected.”

  “Are you kidding me right now? Don’t be naïve. All those people go in and none come out. What do you think they are doing with those people? THEY ARE KILLING THEM, BRE! THEY’RE KILLING THEM!” He sat there with his face in his hands and cried like a baby.

  “I’m sorry Zeke, I’m just trying to help.” She paused. “What if I can find that man from the store? He seems to know a lot about the virus. What if he can help?”

  “Do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore,” he resigned.

  Chapter 11

  BREANNE

  Zoe and I camped out at the convenience store by our old apartment complex waiting in hopes for John O. to show up. We waited for days. Zoe and I took a turns watching for him. On the 3rd day I began to lose hope. And then here he came. I watched him drive up in his little red Prius. I grabbed him as fast as I could and made him get in our car.

  “I remember you little miss!” He exclaimed.

  “Listen John, we need your help. We have a friend that got a bite a few nights ago and we need you to help with anything you can!”

  “What are you thinking?! Get her to a clinic NOW!” He replied.

  “I can’t do that to her. Anyone who goes in there doesn’t come back out and you know it! You seem to know how all this works and we need your help. Please. Anything you can help with would be great. Even if it’s just a breathalyzer test. If she’s infected I promise to take her in myself. Can you do anything?” I pleaded.

  “I’ll help you little lady. I’m gonna go home and get you one of those tests, I’ll be right back.”

  Just then Zoe cocks her glock and points it to the man’s face. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere mister. We are going to take you to your house and you will give it to us. Oh and don’t pull any fast stuff or you’ll soon regret it.”

  He gave us directions to his house, quickly went in and retrieved the test for us. He came out and told us he never wanted to see us again. We sped back down the highway to get back to the manor.

  “Zoe, what is your problem? Why did you take that man at gun point?” I demanded.

  “Don’t be such a baby. I did it so we would know where he lived in case we needed him again,” she smiled.

  “Well, I guess that’s not too much of a bad idea,” We laughed.

  We quickly administered the test to Maria and instantly it showed positive. No one said a word but Zeke fainted. Great, now we have a problem, I thought.

  “What is going to happen to me? Am I going to die? Am I going to be like one of those demons?” Maria said as she heaved.

  “I don’t know sweety. I wish I knew. Listen everyone, her and Zeke need some time alone. Let’s go.” I motioned for everyone to leave the room.

  We gathered out by the gazebo. Everyone was stunned and we all knew deep down what would happen to her.

  “What are we going to do?” Chris asked.

  “Well, when worst comes to worst and it’s her or us, you know where I stand with that,” Zoe chimed in.

  “That’s my cousin you are talking about and she is going to die!” Gabby lost it. She curled up in a ball, rocked back and forth in her seat and sobbed.
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br />   “Baby, it’s ok. She’s gonna be ok. We will take her to one of those clinics. They will help her!” Jose tried to reassure his wife and then insisted on praying with her.

  “We need to convince Zeke and her to go to a clinic that’s for sure. She has about two weeks from the bite until she becomes a danger. We need to try to live with her in her last days until then,” I stated.

  “She’s a hazard as we speak!” Zoe retorted. “Her bodily fluids are enough to infect any of the rest of us. She needs to go now. Do we risk ourselves to have a few more days with her? Is it really worth it?”

  “We need to take a house vote,” I demanded. “All in favor of her going to the clinic now?”

  Everyone but Gabby’s hands raised.

  “Who is going to tell them?” I asked.

  “I will,” Zoe volunteered.

  “Ok, let us know what happens.”

  An hour later Zeke emerged into the back yard, shouting and raging at us.

  “You can’t seriously think my wife needs to be admitted into the clinic!” He yelled. “What am I going to do without her? She’s the love of my life. I can’t live without her. I just can’t do it. You’ll have to drag my butt with her!”

  “Zeke, let me get you a Xanax, ok? You need to calm down. Please, let’s talk about this when you’ve had time to process it all,” I pleaded.

  I ran to the guest bathroom and got him a pill and a glass of water. He took it willingly. 30 minutes later he was ready to talk calmly.

  “Listen Zeke, she needs to go to the clinic otherwise she is going to change and she will hurt us. We will all end up like them. There is nothing we can do for her now,” I confessed.

  “Let me stay with her until she changes. Please. I just need a few more days with her. She hasn’t changed yet, I know we still have time. I have at least another week with her before anything happens. Can’t you guys just grant me that? He asked.

  “Zeke listen buddy, the longer she’s here the more chance we are taking for her to infect the rest of us. The virus is spread though bodily fluids. If you even kiss her you are taking a risk in catching it yourself. What if she sneezes on one of us? We could be next. Do you really want to risk that on anyone else?” Zoe made sense and we could see it in his eyes.

  “Just let me have one more night with her. I’ll keep her locked up in the room with me and then I will personally take her tomorrow. I promise,” Zeke said.

  “What do you all think? Will one night make much of a difference?” I addressed the group.

  Everyone agreed that one night wouldn’t hurt anything. Zeke went back into his room to his newlywed bride to console and love on her until he had to take her to the clinic in the morning.

  I called Maria’s mother and filled her in on the situation. She was devastated but decided we made the right decision and suggested Maria allow us to stay here until she gets home. Her mother was being hopeful about the situation but was obviously uneducated about the situation.

  Maria and I talked for a good hour. She admitted that she was afraid and we cried together. I kept my distance and was very careful about letting her touch me. She didn’t want to infect me either.

  “Listen Bre, I am going to sign the house over to you and Zeke. I want you to continue to stay here after I leave. I’m leaving you my money and everything. We all know I am not coming out of there alive.” She paused to blow her nose. “It would mean the world to me if you would stay here and use the house as kind of a safe house until all of this madness is over.”

  “Maria, don’t talk like that! Nothing is going to happen to you. You are going to the clinic and they are going to make you better. They probably have found a cure by now for all we know.”

  “You know they haven’t. I need you to do me a favor. I want you to call my lawyer and have him draw up the paperwork by the morning. And this part is very important. I need you to make sure Zeke is ok after I’m gone. Please. That would mean so much to me.”

  “I’ll do it. I promise.”

  I left them to spend their last few hours together. I called her lawyer like she asked and he had his courier drop the paperwork off early in the morning. She didn’t hesitate in signing it and handed it over to Zeke to keep in the files.

  She and Zeke spent most of the morning holding each other and her reassuring him that it would be alright. She was exactly that type, the type that would try to make him feel better when she knew she was getting ready to die.

  It was time to go to the clinic and Maria went from person to person saying her goodbyes. She stopped at Gabby and the both of them cried together and reminisced on old times. She ended with me.

  “Bre, you know I have always thought of you as my best friend?” She paused to cry. “You have meant so much to me over the last few years. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You helped me through the death of my brother and through some of my hardest times. You were there for me when I said ‘I do’. You know I love you right? You’re my sister.”

  “I love you too!” I couldn’t help but to hug her. I knew I was taking a chance but I couldn’t stop myself. It hurt me so bad to say goodbye to my best friend. We wept in each other’s arms.

  Zeke told his wife it was time to go and they left. See, this is exactly why it is so risky to fall in love at a time like this. Someone always ends up hurt. Accidents happen. But can we really stop ourselves from falling in love? It was their destiny to be together and now was it their destiny to be apart? Was their marriage only supposed to be for a short while? I didn’t know what to do with my thoughts because they were all over the place.

  “I feel bad for sending her away,” I said through tears.

  “Bre, you did the right thing. We all did the right thing. Don’t second guess yourself. Nobody said it was going to be easy. It’s not easy. But we have to do what is right for the whole group. None of us could have prevented what happened and now we just have to live with the consequences. Don’t blame yourself. Just know you did what you could. After all, we did take a guy at gun point so we could get her some help. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is,” Zoe did her best to comfort me.

  We gathered in the gazebo drinking warm tea and sharing stories of our fondest memories of Maria. I flashed back to the time we went to the amusement park and she threw up all over the tea cups. Gabby shared a time when they were kids and another kid in the park was bullying her and how Maria threw sand in the kid’s eyes so they could both get away. Jose recapped the story of how he met her when she was covered in grease on the side of the highway trying to fix her car so she could go home. Zoe didn’t know her well but she recounted the time she spent the night in our apartment and kept us laughing all night while we played Call of Duty. Maria was an exceptional person and we all knew it.

  Zeke was gone all day. We couldn’t reach him on his cell. I sent him probably 20 texts. It was kind of strange. We woke up the next morning and he was home. He didn’t have anything to say about the previous day’s events. He just stayed off to himself.

  He did that for a while. He really didn’t come out of his room except at night time. Zoe thought it was really strange. She is such an investigator, she would find out why.

  Chapter 12

  ZOE

  Zeke was behaving strangely. He slept all day and left the house only at night. He was sneaking around and I wanted to find out why. Late one night in late February I decided to follow him. I had to know what was up. I followed him to the east end of the yard where there was a small shed. He unlocked the lock, swung the door open and said,

  “Hey baby, you doing ok in there? I’m sorry to keep you locked up but they just don’t understand that you need to stay at home with me. I just couldn’t take you to that clinic and baby, I’m not gonna.”

  INFECTED BOOK 2:

 

  Zombie Hunters

  CHAPTER
1

  ZOE

  I was shocked and highly offended with Zeke and his lies.

  “WHAT IN THE HECK IS YOUR PROBLEM, YOU PSYCHO?” I screamed.

  Maria was trying to claw her way out of the shed that was her new home. Zeke abruptly shoved her back into the shed and quickly locked the lock. He was shaking so hard that he dropped his keys. He looked at me with wild eyes and then scanned the rest of the yard to see who else followed him to his secret. He looked like a mad man.

  “I um, I, I was just coming out here because I thought I heard something. But we are all in the clear. There’s nothing out here,” he anxiously lied.

  “That’s a load of bull and you know it Zeke! Maria’s in there! You never took her to the clinic. You are so dead! Wait until everyone finds out what you did!” I was so full of rage I could have killed him right then and there.

  Just then Zeke balled up his fist and took a swing at me. He was barking up the wrong tree. I was about to light a fire under his butt. I blocked his punch and met him with one of my own. He lay on the ground twitching with blood pouring from his nose. I had knocked him out. I couldn’t leave him laying there so I drug him by his ankles to the gazebo. Then I woke up everyone in the house and took them outside to observe my findings.

  “What’s wrong with Zeke?” Breanne groggily demanded.

  “He took a swing at me so I knocked his butt out!” I replied.

  “What happened?”

  “I told you he was up to something. So I followed this idiot out into the far corner of the yard because he’s been acting strangely again and I find that he has Maria locked up in the shed in the far corner of the yard! I startled him by asking him what he was doing and he took a swing at me! I don’t know what he thought he was going to accomplish by doing that but he sure didn’t win this one,” I smugly replied.

  I told Bre that I would get to the bottom of it all and I did. Everyone was shocked and amazed that Maria hadn’t been taken to the clinic and we all knew she was past her two week incubation period. She was completely turned and we now had a full fledged zombie locked up in our back yard.