Contagious

by Druga, Jacqueline

  In the confines of that car, the two men fueled by the virus, fought to the death … literally.

  Chapter 19

  Ambassador Suites

  They were at a loss as to what to do. They had been abandoned and left on their own. Seventy-three white towels hung on doors, and Joel estimated that was two thirds of those who remained. He didn’t know how bad they were, no one came out.

  But in a sense they had an advantage. The CDC health people had left supplies. Masks, gloves and boxes. He and Rayne began the task of going through them.

  “Do you know what any of this stuff is?” Joel asked.

  “Saline solution,” Rayne lifted an IV bag. “Hydrate, keep the veins from collapsing.”

  “There’s medication, all this stuff …”

  “Joel,” Bianca called softly from the doors of the ballroom.

  Joel looked at Rayne. “Keep going through it. Separate everything using that deep knowledge you have. Try to figure out what we have.” He walked over to Bianca. She stood, Landon at her side. Landon wore the face mask Joel had given him. “Where’s your mask, Bianca?”

  “Where’s yours?”

  “I can’t go through this stuff with it. I feel constricted.”

  “I’ll put mine on when you do.”

  Joel exhaled heavily.

  “Don’t huff at me. I’m worried. Walter isn’t answering his door.”

  “Please tell me you didn’t take the boy near Walter’s room.”

  “No, he’s been in this back hall or in the kitchen. But, Joel … Walter…”

  “I’ll check on him. He’s probably sleeping.”

  Bianca’s eyes moved about the ballroom. “All these beds. And you’re going through the supplies.”

  “Gonna try to help or at least give comfort.”

  “There’s four of us stepping forward to give care. As cold as it sounds it may be easier if everyone moves in here. The only lights in the rooms are the battery powered bathroom lights.”

  Rayne interjected from across the room. “Isolating those with a germ in one room is better than spreading it about the hotel, as well. She’s got a point. There’s only four of us.”

  Joel held up his hand. “It’s a good plan. Hopefully people will move in here. But … there’s only three of us. Landon doesn’t count.”

  Bianca shook her head. “Not, Landon. JJ. JJ is making soup.”

  “JJ isn’t sick?” Joel asked. “I figured when I didn’t see him, he was sick.”

  “No, he’s been in the kitchen with me,” Bianca said.

  “Well, take Landon to him. Send them to the basement for supplies,” Joel said. “Tell JJ to keep Landon down there until he hears from us. I don’t want the boy anywhere near here when we start moving the ill.”

  “Will do.” Bianca leaned forward and kissed Joel on the cheek. She clutched Landon’s hand and they stepped from the ballroom.

  Outside the ballroom, Bianca took one more glance in. Joel and Rayne were in there trying diligently to make heads or tails out of the supplies. She was proud of her husband and fearful for him at the same time. He was stepping in there and that worried her.

  Her focus though had to be on the little boy. He was so sad and even at six, he had an understanding of what was going on. His sister had just died, his brother was sick and his mother would probably fall ill as well.

  She crossed the corner of the courtyard, trying not to look at all the white towels. But they waved at her. They were white flags indicating surrender to the virus and it was heartbreaking.

  It wasn’t just them. It wasn’t just those at the Ambassador. It was all over. And Bianca knew, everyone, everywhere was going through the same thing. Something vicious had hit so fast and despite the government’s best efforts to stop it, they had failed.

  Perhaps Mother Nature had other plans.

  Just as she and Landon moved to the hallway that led past the lounge and to the kitchen, she heard a crunching. Almost like the stepping on broken glass. It made her stop.

  There was something eerie and sneaky about the sound. It could have been someone sick roaming around, or an intruder.

  She ushered Landon into the hall and instructed him to run real fast to the kitchen and stay there.

  Reluctantly, Landon agreed and Bianca raced into the lounge, ran behind the bar and grabbed what Matt the bartender used to call the ‘Peace Keeper’. It was a small, thin aluminum baseball bat. A souvenir from Chicago, and more of a joke. But it was something and the only weapon she had.

  She didn’t know why she felt the need to be brave and not go run and get Joel. Bianca felt the need to handle it.

  Just as she stepped into the hall, the bat nearly toppled from her hand when she looked into the lobby.

  <><><><>

  “Medication,” Rayne said. “Lots of it. Lots of types. Some are fever reducers. Some I know are pain medications. Some …I haven’t a clue.”

  “Well we’ll just give one of each out.”

  Rayne chuckled in disbelief. “You can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” Joe stated. “They obviously knew the virus and knew what was needed. They brought what was needed. So we use it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “We don’t have a choice. We may not have doctors, but we’ll be able to give people some sort of help. That’s better than they’d get at home or waiting in a line somewhere.”

  “Maybe it isn’t everywhere. Maybe hospitals are still up and running and we should try to get our people some help.”

  Bianca’s voice carried once again into the ballroom. She was responding to having heard Rayne’s last statement. “That’s not going to happen.”

  Joel turned around and did a double take. “You put your mask on.”

  “Put yours on too, Joel. Then come this way.” Bianca turned and walked out.

  Curious, Joel lifted his mask that dangled around his neck and followed his wife. He didn’t have to go far. Just to the lobby. It was filled with people. None of them looked well.

  “They came for help.” Bianca stated.

  “Why here?” Joel asked.

  “This is the last place they knew that the CDC was at.”

  A man in the group coughed loudly, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and blood smeared across his face. “We came all this way. Hospitals aren’t taking anyone.”

  Joel whispered, speaking at such a loss and emotionally. “We can’t take them. We don’t know what to do. We’re running blind.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Bianca said. “We can’t turn them away.”

  “Yes. Yes we can.”

  “No, we can’t,” Bianca stated strongly. “They have nowhere else to go.”

  Joel, not moments ago had just said to Rayne that those in the hotel were better off because of the supplies. Little did he realize how quickly his words would be proven true.

  <><><><>

  Ava had opened the draperies in the suite to add some light. She turned off the battery operated light in the bathroom to conserve it.

  Calvin wasn’t doing well. She tried to get him to take water, but he wouldn’t. He said his mouth and throat hurt too bad. Ava could see the sores already forming. His eyes were dry which worsened the redness.

  She felt helpless and didn’t know what to do.

  She sat next to his bed, only occasionally getting up to walk. Most of the time he kept reaching out for her hand, grabbing it.

  “Will my dad ever show up?” Calvin asked.

  “I’m sure,” Ava told him. She kept wiping him down, trying to add moisture somehow to him.

  She had known Calvin since he was a boy, and he looked so young lying in that bed. The virus wasn’t kind to him and it moved faster than she expected. Ava believed she’d have time that it would move slowly, as it did with Semora. But the virus had changed.

  A part of her felt guilty for turning Landon over to Rayne. However, it was the responsible thing to do. God forbid Landon got sick. She
felt deep in her heart he wouldn’t get the virus and felt even stronger that she was going to fall victim.

  Calvin was ill because he was exposed to the virus, and as Ava believed he got it from her, she was a carrier. If he was ill and caught it from her, Landon would have too. But he didn’t.

  Ava had the virus in her, she was certain and it would come out. She hugged Semora, shook her hand, talked closely. How could she not? And she would get sick, but only after she took care of Calvin.

  God’s sort of last gift to Calvin and punishment to her was that Calvin would have her around. Hopefully, he’d fall in that one percent that recovered.

  But at the rate he was failing, Ava didn’t hold out much hope.

  Rayne didn’t knock, he just announced he was there and that angered Ava. How dare he take that chance.

  “We’re in the back, don’t come in.” Ava warned.

  “I’m wearing gloves and a mask. I’m fine,” Rayne said. “I have something for Calvin.”

  Before she could warn him again, he entered the room. “Rayne, please!”

  “It’s fine, Ava. I’m not getting this thing.”

  “You can’t be sure. How can you be so sure?” She asked.

  “I feel it,” Rayne said. “And my nose is broken, so no germs are going in there.” He placed a small box on the foot of the bed, it was once a hot chocolate packet box. “How’s he doing?”

  Ava shook her head.

  Calvin was sleeping, yet he coughed while he slept.

  “How’s my son?”

  “He's sad and missing you. But he understands,” Rayne said. “I promise you we’re keeping him away from everyone.”

  “Thank you.” Ava exhaled and looked down at Calvin. “I don’t know what to do for him,” Ava said. “I don’t. This is all my fault.”

  “No, it’s not.” Rayne replied. “It’s everywhere, Ava. Everywhere. No one is safe, it escaped long before they tossed us in quarantine. Fate had a reason for bringing us together and we’ll find out why.”

  “It’s not in Cleveland, is it?”

  Rayne whistled. “It’s in Cleveland. Bad. And surrounding areas. The mutated form is in Cleveland. We’re twelve or so miles from there and people are showing up here looking for help because they saw this place on the news.”

  “The mutation, like in New York?”

  Rayne nodded. “One of the people that came in said New York is gone. JJ hasn’t picked up anything official on his radio. Just normal folks using ham radios.”

  “What’s in the box?”

  “Okay, well, here’s the thing. The CDC left medicine and stuff. I brought up what I recognized. Some stuff to help him feel comfortable. And to hydrate him, an intravenous. The poles are downstairs, but I thought I’d duct tape the bag to the wall.”

  “I didn’t know you knew how to do an IV.”

  “I don’t.”

  Ava raised her eyes at him,

  “None of us do. Me, Joel, Bianca. We’re all just gonna try,” Rayne said. “But that’s the option. We try and maybe screw up or we don’t try at all.”

  She looked down to the bag of solution and vials. “Do what you need to do. I have faith in you. Anything is better than nothing.”

  Rayne nodded. “Let’s try.” He reached in the box and grabbed what he needed.

  <><><><>

  Joel was trudging through the dark in every single aspect. The ballroom was dimly lit even with the drapes drawn and emergency lights they got from the CDC trailers. Thirty-three people made their way to the hotel, and Joel was fearful that more would come.

  They were sick. And with their pale faces and bloody coughs, came the reality that Joel truly was facing a killer virus. It was like something he had only witnessed in a science fiction movie. Strangers filled the beds and Joel was just helpless as to what to do.

  He wasn’t a doctor, in fact he had zero common sense when it came to medicine. Yet there he was holding an arm, staring at a blue vein and thinking, ‘how hard could this be?’

  Very hard, because he had to put the needle and shunt into that vein. After that, connect an IV bag and hope that it didn’t drip too fast or too slow.

  The goggles didn’t help with his vision. He needed them to protect anything from splashing in his eyes. Sweat formed on his brow and Joel’s hand shook. He was scared. Such a simple thing as a tiny needle was scaring him to death.

  “I think you need to brace the vein.”

  Joel raised his eyes to JJ who stood there.

  “How do you know?”

  “I was in the hospital three times for exhaustion and dehydration. Trust me, I had a lot of IV’s.”

  “I thought it was a cover up for rehab.”

  “Nah, not me. But ... you have to hold the vein so it doesn’t roll. You want me to do it?”

  “Do you know how?”

  “No, but I won’t stare at it.”

  Joel wanted to laugh but he was too tired and overwhelmed. He breathed out and stood. “Yes, I want to check on Walter.”

  “You aren’t gonna make him come down here, are you?” JJ asked.

  “No, we’re gonna make him comfortable in his room.”

  “He acts all tough, but he’s a good guy.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, he is.” Joel handed JJ the needle and shunt and exchanged places. After retrieving another IV bag intent on letting Walter be his guinea pig, Joel left the ballroom and headed to Walter’s first floor room.

  It wasn’t far, only across the courtyard. Joel carrying his supplies, knocked once and called out. “I’m covered. So it’s safe, Walter. I’m coming in.” He turned the knob on the door. He expected a holler or fight from the scrappy older man. Instead he received silence and a dark room.

  Joel knew.

  The light from the bright courtyard lit the front room of the suite and Walter was there, on his side, laying on the couch.

  It had been hours since anyone had checked on him and Joel felt the guilt slam into him.

  Why didn’t he check on him? Why didn’t Joel try harder to see if Walter was all right?

  Walter looked so peaceful lying there. He looked asleep, but he wasn’t. Walter had died.

  Somewhere between the early morning realization that Walter was ill and Joel’s return in the afternoon, Walter had passed away. Joel didn’t know if it was the virus that killed him so quickly or his age just couldn’t handle it. Whatever the reason, Walter was gone. Joel collapsed on the floor next to Walter’s body. It was a sign of things to come and one Joel didn’t want to face.

  Not only was he consumed with the sadness over the loss of his friend, he was consumed with guilt. Walter didn’t just pass away, he died alone in a dark cold hotel room.

  He deserved better than that.

  <><><><>

  Cleveland University Hospital

  Randall was in the middle of it all. Center of the city. And Cleveland, like New York had become a war zone. The minimal amount of people treated spread like a bad case of lice. One infected became two, two became four and so on. Like a bad seventies hair care product commercial, it spread everywhere.

  Nature was doing just fine with the virus on its own, man didn’t need to speed it along.

  Randall only wanted to get out of the city, but locked in the back storage room with four bottles of water, a Snickers bar, half a bologna sandwich and three bags of chips, he lived every horror movie imaginable.

  Don’t make noise. Don’t move.

  He heard screaming and banging. Too many attempts were made at his locked door. He only hoped he could survive long enough until it ended.

  A short wave radio on campus, just before he retreated into hiding gave him some information.

  He told them he was in the building and was going into hiding and he needed help. It threw him some when he was informed that the military was being withdrawn from Cleveland.

  Hadn’t they just arrived not eight hours earlier?

  Withdrawn.

  He didn’t know who h
e spoke to, but it was someone that was able to get the message out.

  Randall simply told him. “Tell people to wait. Wait it out. Four days max and the infected will die. Just wait it out.”

  “I’ll put that out.” The man on the other end of the radio responded. “You’re in Cleveland right? In the city?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’ll be over soon.”

  Randall didn’t know what that meant. But in the closet, locked up safely with his limited supply of food and water, he took solace in those words.

  He’d wait.

  It would be over soon.

  <><><><>

  Ambassador Suites

  Independence, Ohio

  It crackled with a lot of hiss and static, so JJ decided to take it outside. He laughed at the old school ‘boom box’ when his mother gave it to him. It was something from her youth and still played cassette tapes.

  When JJ saw the attention it got, he kept it around.

  Now he was grateful for that radio.

  He snatched up more batteries from the gift shop, hoping maybe the batteries were the problem. He also grabbed aluminum foil from the kitchen. Outside, on that slight hill, he could pick up what that man was saying....he hoped.

  After stepping outside, JJ moved farther from the building to the grassy yard area that was in the center of the driveway.

  The CDC mobiles were set up to his right and he wondered if they had anything in there, but first he’d try his boom box.

  He placed it down, listened to the voice that was buried beneath static, pulled out the old fashioned antennas and played with them. He moved them about, stopping when he thought he heard something.

  Static – Moving out.

  ‘Moving out’. JJ thought. What does that mean?

  The smell of cigarette smoke hit him first and then JJ saw the large shadow. He turned to see Rayne standing there. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

  “I don’t. But I figured my nose is clogged might as well get shit into my lungs to make it impossible for the virus to settle there.”