The First 400 Days (Book 1): We Are What Remain

by Taja Kartio

  Kale and Alex returned from inside the building with an armful of plastic bags and stashed them in the back of the suburban.

  "So... You have any idea where we're headed?" Beckett asked as Kale climbed back into his designated spot as driver. Alex was setting the last of the bags in the back.

  The oldest brother ran his fingers through his hair, "Got any ideas?"

  Beckett shook his head, "No. I don't."

  "Ya," Kale fumed. "Neither do I."

  Alex closed the hatch of the suburban and Beckett held up another dampened pad, "Ready?"

  I nodded, hissing in pain as the intense stinging sensation returned. My neck snapped back and dropped against the headrest. My arm felt like it was on fire.

  Maybe a bit dramatic. The vibes really did burn, though.

  I watched Beckett carefully clean the putrefying hole in my arm with benign concentration. Beckett had always made sure something was done with the utmost delicacy and gentleness. He was a perfectionist and it was a very admirable trait. I didn't think I could have ever had his level of patience and tranquility.

  After my arm was neatly bandaged up with gauze and antiseptics, Beckett placed several Aspirin tablets in my hand and held up a bottle of lukewarm water.

  "Drink up."

  He watched me take a big swig of the water and wash the pills down my throat.

  "Thanks." I handed him the bottle back.

  "We'll take another look at them tomorrow morning."

  I bobbed acknowledgingly and turned my eyes to the window again. A silence fell along us all as Kale drove. This time he didn't put the radio on, it was just our silent thoughts and the sound of the wheels along the pavement.

  Five

  Like a switch, my body experienced moments of cold sweats and heat strokes. Trembles ran up and down my spine and my head grew heavier by the minute.

  "Dani?" Beckett shifted beside me.

  "What is it?" Kale asked, turning around in his seat.

  Beckett shifted again, this time closer. He placed the back of his hand against my forehead again, just like earlier, "You weren't this bad a couple of hours ago."

  My brother casted a worrisome and rather discomforting look at Kale in the rearview mirror. I must have been hot under his touch, at least, hotter than I was before. Glancing down, a jacket was draped over my shoulders. I must have fallen asleep or something and Beckett laid it over me.

  "So... I'm warm?" I asked, regarding earlier when he first noted that I wasn't feeling well. Beckett nodded, lightly cringing at my gravel-like voice. He immediately began digging into the backpack on the floor in front of him.

  "Ya D, you look awful," Kale commented, gritting his teeth at me uneasily.

  Fire licked my throat and scorched each short, shuttle breath but there would always be enough strength to glare at my oldest brother. I even managed to roll my eyes a bit, "Gee, thanks."

  The car maneuvered around several vehicles on the road ahead of us. We were on a highway, and there seemed to be no shortage of roadblocks. Although it was smooth steering, everything I saw around me was spinning. Dizziness made my senses hurt. I shut my eyes and lowered my chin to my chest in hopes that it would help remove the sick feeling in my stomach.

  "Dani," I opened my eyes and glanced at Beckett holding a water bottle in front of me. The same I'd been drinking out of earlier, "Tilt your head up."

  I did as he said, leaning my head back slightly as he opened the bottle and lifted it to my lips. At first, it was easing, but I was only able to get one small swallow before my throat tightened and forced me into a harsh fit of coughs. Beckett snapped the bottle away, letting out a small sigh.

  "Sorry,” I rasped, swallowing.

  He put the cover back on the water, "Do you want to try eating something? There's some canned fruit in the back."

  I shook my head. My appetite was completely diminished and even if I wanted something to eat, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it down. I let my chin sink back onto my chest. Everything ached.

  "How long have we been driving?" I asked suddenly, my eyes lifting.

  "About a half hour," Alex answered out of the blue, "Still a long ways to go."

  To where?

  "Get some sleep kiddo," Kale said, turning back around in his seat.

  I glanced at Beckett who was nodding in agreement. He grabbed another blanket from the back that was still folded and laid it on his lap, gesturing for me to use it as a pillow. I didn't argue. Slowly, I curled up on the leather seat next to him. As exhausted as I was, I couldn't seem to get my body to relax. I kept my eyes close anyway, hoping that I would eventually pass out. Alex didn't help with that when he turned the radio on. Each station he switched to was nothing but static. Despite his best efforts, I didn't think he would find anything.

  Ten minutes went by. Maybe twenty. Hell, maybe an hour. I didn't know, but the car suddenly eased to a stop. I probably wouldn't have bothered wondering why if Beckett hadn't spoken out loud, "Looks like we finally found the living.”

  "Jesus. About damn time these douchebags made an appearance," Kale muttered.

  The statement caught my attention. I wasn't sure what I expected to see, but I certainly didn't anticipate several armored vehicles blocking our path on the road along with a couple dozen of men in full uniform standing in front of them.

  Four of the nine immediately made their way over to us the moment Kale put the car in park. We piled out and Beckett had me sit on the floor of the car doorway. Alex kept seated in the passenger seat and threw me an uncanny look just as the soldiers approached.

  "...central command. We've stopped a vehicle of civilians two miles outside checkpoint south. Three male adults and one female child. Checking for clearance to escort them back to quarantine zone. Over," One of the men said clearly into a walkie-talkie clipped to a strap over his shoulder.

  "Glad to see more of you people out here," Another of the soldiers said. His embroidered uniform wrote Jaime. "You're the first we've found in nearly six days."

  "... brief examination and report civilian status ASAP."

  "Found?" Beckett asked.

  "Found. Come across. Run into. However you want to say it," Jaime said as he eyed each of us. I could tell he made a mental note to himself over my slightly debilitated appearance, "Where're you all coming from?"

  "Litchfield," Kale answered.

  Jaime's brows worked together, "Litchfield? That's a drive from here. Where're you all headed?"

  "Well..." My brother ran a hand behind his neck, "Know anything about that quarantine zone in Minneapolis?”

  Jaime's eyes bounced back on me for a moment, "It's still there and that's what we're out here doing, finding any life that's not ripping out someone's insides and eating their damn face off. We're required to bring back any and all civilians."

  I could sense Kale's relief. Two weeks and we could just be in the clear. We just had to find them instead of them finding us. I kind of found that annoying considering we had to lose our home in order for us to get to this point but then again, we would have been leaving our home either way.

  "We are, however," Jaime continued, "Protocolled to check you out before bringing you in. Can't have any bit of the virus spreading around."

  Kale nodded, "Fair enough. Where do you want us to do that?"

  "Taylor and McCray here will sweep you over quickly for anything major. If you're clear, we'll escort you all to quarantine.”

  "And if you do find something?" Alex piped up. Even though I was just as curious, I didn't think it should have been asked.

  Jaime rose a brow, "We'll get to that."

  Taylor and McCray stepped around Jaime as he moved off to the side. Kale exchanged more words with him but I couldn't hear what they were saying as McCray stood in my line of sight. He gestured for Alex and Beckett to step in front of him, all while Taylor directly approached me with a small handheld device in his hand.

  "Is it okay if I take your temperature?"

&nbs
p; I liked that he asked rather than just did. There wasn't any sort of tone that would sound like he was lacing some kind of unspoken threat if I had refused his request.

  I nodded and he proceeded, holding the device in front of me so I could take a look. I knew what it was right away. It looked almost exactly like the thermometers a school nurse would have. This one had a few more bells and whistles than what I'd usually seen but it had the same purpose. A black cord connected to a thin metal rod with a hard plastic cover that would go under my tongue and record my temperature.

  I opened my mouth and he set the plastic rod just inside my mouth. I did as he asked me, to close my mouth and keep still. I sat patiently though it was taking longer than I expected it would. In the time that I'd been sitting here, Alex had already had the stupid rod in his mouth and McCray had moved onto Beckett.

  My foot tapped eagerly and Taylor eyed me, "Hold on. Just another moment."

  Mentally, I sighed.

  Another millennium later and the device finally beeped. There was a short pause as Taylor seemed to read the screen over and over again. His eyes darted to me several times. It wasn't a good sign, I knew that much.

  Yet, Taylor said nothing and let the plastic rod cover drop to the pavement before clipping it to his belt. Next, he pulled out a small flashlight.

  "This is going to be a little bright so just bear with me here."

  I nodded and let him open my eye wide. The light burned but he thankfully only shined it for a second in both eyes. A dull dot swam in my vision after he put the flashlight away.

  Taylor then pointed to the bandaging around my forearm, "What happened here?"

  "Glass."

  "Mind if I take a look?"

  I shrugged and held my arm out to him. It wasn't like I had anything to hide.

  Taylor wasn't half as gentle as Beckett was, but I gave him credit for trying.

  I flinched at my own wound. It was worse than before but I assumed that was because it was trying to drain out all the pus. Taylor however, seemed unaffected by it.

  My throat cleared, "Look bad?"

  "Well it's not pretty but believe me, I've seen a lot worse than this."

  I believed him.

  Another couple moments longer, Taylor slowly turned and twisted my arm, checking all angles of the wound. The more closely he examined, the more I started realizing that he was looking for something in particular. A bite mark.

  He winded the bandaging back around my arm when he was done, not quite as well as before and smoothly turned away to talk to Jaime and the fourth soldier who been standing quietly by himself. I watched Taylor's lips move, giving the full report on whatever his examination had found and he finished, Jaime gave a short reply to the other soldier before meeting back with Kale and the rest of us. The spare soldier spoke into his walkie-talkie again.

  "So this is how it's going to play out. Your girl here has sparked a few red flags, especially on the TS device. First and foremost, her temperature. Read at a hundred and six point nine degrees Fahrenheit..."

  "That has to be a mistake!" Beckett blurted suddenly, "A-a-a... misread! Anyone with a temperature that high should be dead or-r-r close to it! Her insides should boiling and melting! She should be in a coma if anything!”

  Jaime nodded slowly, warily, "Yes. She should be dead, or close to it. Her insides should be boiling and melting. She should be in a coma if anything. Yet, she only reads as a sick kid to the naked eye. Also, her saliva."

  "Saliva?" Kale repeated.

  "Yes. The TS device was designed to read temperature and read the glands beneath the floor of the mouth for high levels of saliva production," Jaime turned eyes on me, "I assume you know what I'm talking about?"

  Now that he mentioned it, I had been constantly swallowing wads of spit since leaving our home this morning. I barely noticed until now, maybe because it was just really gross.

  I nodded.

  "The high temperature and mass saliva are early symptoms of the Z-Virus.”

  “Z-Virus?” Beckett questioned, “Is that what the-”

  "Them. The corpses. The zombies. The sickness that turned the people of this world into what they are."

  "You trying to say that my sister is turning into an Infected?" Kale rose up, his voice deepened and took a tone from a very dark place. He knew he was outnumbered but didn't seem to pay much attention to Taylor, McCray, or the third soldier who drew more defensive.

  Jaime however, changed nothing. His orderly stance was unmoved and the only change in expression was a slight thought process that seemed to run through his brain about our choice of name for the zombies, "That is not up for me to decide. At quarantine, there's a group of doctors. She will need to go see them."

  Doctors. Of course, there were doctors. These doctors were more than likely researching for a vaccine, or researching the steps prior to becoming an Infected. These soldiers weren't just looking for survivors, they were looking for an antidote and the most potential candidate was standing right in front of them. They were going to take me whether we all liked it or not.

  Kale wasn't going to accept this. He was the first to object, "Absolutely not. She's not bitten."

  Jaime looked back at Taylor, who shrugged. He pointed at my wrapped forearm, "That particular wound isn't a bite. She stated it was glass and it very well could have been. I can't say for sure if she has any other wounds we don't know of, though."

  "She's not bitten,” Kale's teeth were nearly baring.

  "Even so. She'll need to come with us," Jaime continued while McCray and the fourth soldier stepped forward and stood beside me. It was an indication to stand and follow, "We'll escort the rest of you to civilian living quarters after you go through a more thorough examination process."

  I heard Kale's fist, most likely thrown at Jaime's face, "You're not taking her!"

  A moment later and more soldiers, the ones that had been patiently standing by their vehicles, came rushing forward. They surrounded us and I found myself getting hauled to my feet, not roughly, but not entirely by my own will either. I weakly nudged McCray's and the other soldier's hands off my shoulders and walked between the two of them, away from my brother's indistinct cries. We weren't going to get our way with this one so there was no point in me running off or fighting back.

  I was led to the vehicle farthest to the right. McCray opened the door and the other soldier climbed inside. He turned and offered me his hand. With his body facing in my direction for once, I could clearly read his embroidered name tag. Rey.

  Well, I thought to myself dismally, here goes nothing I suppose.

  Six

  Something was off. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. The closer we got to the city, the more the butterflies in my stomach ate away my insides. It didn't really help my situation that I was sitting in a vehicle with a bunch of strangers, nobody said a word and maybe it was just me, but the silence was a bit awkward. I tried to concentrate on something else, like the incoming view of Minneapolis.

  Through the windshield window, the cityscape was a jumble of soaring shapes. On TV, most big cities had either been overrun, or burned to the ground in a sad attempt to control the Infected. That's what happened to Chicago and Seattle. They were concrete wastelands now, filled with nothing but rubble and discarded bodies. Even though it was more against my will, I was relieved to see my home city standing tall, and apparently well if the quarantine zone was still running smoothly.

  In moments, the tips of the skyscrapers disappeared from my view as the car drove through a tunnel. The mellow orange lights passed by every second in hazy flashes. I remembered purposely driving through these with Kale and Beckett all the time, betting on who could hold their breath the longest. We'd done it dozens of times yet would drive in loops just to settle scores that have already been settled. It became more of a repetitive game, something we did in our off time. A family outing.

  I didn't find any joy in it right now.

  The driver of ou
r ride slowed down as we met a chain-link fence towards the end of the tunnel. It was a gate, and hanging from the top was a large yellow banner written with what looked like sloppy black paint.

  MINNEAPOLIS MILITARY ZONE

  CHECKPOINT SOUTH

  The gate opened and our driver was met with another officer-like military man. It was explained that I was to be brought straight to medical, I was a "Code 2", and that someone named Brinston would probably want to see me. I didn't like how any of those sounded... at all.

  A second gate opened in front of us and we drove forward, straight into the heart of the city. I'd been through Minneapolis more than a few times and I never could have imagined it to look as dull and unlively as it did now. Hardly any movement. There were few people walking around, any that were were huddled in small groups, eyeing the military vehicle that passed by them. It seemed that every building was graffitied with some hopeless quote about the end of humanity or a hated message towards the world for going out the way it did. I noticed several large billboards posted on the corners of several streets. The headline, "Mandatory Residence Notice" was clear enough but the small wording below wasn't as easy to catch, even at the low speed we were driving at.

  The vehicle finally came a complete stop and Rey was the first to bound for the door. He opened it, climbed out, and swatted his hand at me as an indication to follow. I did without objection and found myself outside the Hennepin County Medical Center. Every glass window reflected the overcast skies, dreary puffs of cotton that mimicked charcoal and ash. The building looked as bleak and depressing as the gloomy streets it was surrounded by. The front doors were guarded by several more soldiers. One of them opened the door for Rey and I and we were let by without a word. Inside was not exactly what I had in mind.

  A couple dozen people who weren't wearing long white coats were buzzing around booths and tables that'd been set up around the main lobby area. I could see many were receiving the same checkups that I'd gotten. Some were getting their blood drawn and some were even taking eye exams. I figured this was where I was supposed to be but Rey didn't slow in his stride. Instead, we passed the clamor and walked on where there were fewer people and then past them. The walk was actually quite tiring but we eventually reached a long hallway with a pair of double doors at the end. Another few soldiers were parked in front of them, and above their heads was yellow banner that wrote,