The entire lower part of Texas was covered in red on the map display, with pockets of varying oranges in the smaller communities further up. Northern areas faired better with green hues covering nearest the top and surrounding counties.
The eccentric news anchors had already conjured up a clever title for this particular latest disaster in giant red font distastefully displayed on the top of the screen as the horrific incident with the girl played on repeat below: Mania In The Lone Star State.
“We have not received any word from the CDC at this time. When we do, we will be the first to report. Again, we only know this disease causes those affected by the virus to act in an animalistic pattern of anger toward their fellow person and apparently a deep hunger for human flesh. Stay away from the infected until we know more information and how to stop it from—”
I heard Ava’s door open and I quickly thumbed the TV off. She didn’t need to know about any of this on top of everything else that happened today. The poor girl was probably going to be scared for life after what she saw me do to our neighbor.
Pup’s furry face poked out from behind her door frame first. Ava held him in front of her as she appeared hesitantly in the hallway.
“Sweetpea—” I leap off the couch toward her.
Ava hugged Pups as I greeted them both. She kept her eye’s low from me.
“You know Daddy didn’t mean to scare you. Mr. Jim, he just wasn’t…” I pondered how to explain any of what we just learned to her without frightening her further.
“Mr. Jim is not himself. That was not Mr. Jim, ok?” I kneeled down before her as Ava stared down at her dress. She thumbed at the missing pieces of plastic gems that had gotten loose from being grabbed at.
“Daddy, I don’t like to wear princess dresses anymore,” She spoke in a quiver as her tiny hand pulled at the dress in an attempt to rip it.
My heart sank.
“Ok Sweetpea, no more princess dresses,” I said softly.
I choked back tears at my little girl’s confession, clearly distraught at witnessing her father bash the head in of one of their dearest neighbors that had attacked her nearly an hour earlier.
Emma stood up from the couch and walked over to her sister and took her by the hand as I rose to my feet and glanced back to Hailey still sitting on the couch staring at us with loving eyes.
“Let’s go change, ok Ava?” Emma looked back to her Mother and I, forcing a smile as she led Ava into her room.
Good big sister.
I waited as Emma and Ava were out of sight. The door closed as I heard Emma offering up options for her little sister to change into.
I glanced at my watch. The news almost a distant memory as my only concern was seeing to that my wife make an appointment at the hospital and not suffer any more pain I knew she was already dealing with.
We would go to the hospital and figure all this out. Surely we were still safe this far north. Her appointment would buy us enough time until Hailey and I could discuss just what to do next. Besides, I’m sure the police would have made emergency calls to us if we were in any real danger like the rest of them south. We would have been evacuated if there was a real concern for our safety.
“We need to make sure you are checked out by a doctor. Let’s have Emma look after Ava. We won’t be gone that long,” I said to Hailey. She was now staring blankly at the TV screen un-fazed that I was trying to get her attention.
I walked over to her and placed my hand on her shoulder.
“Babe. Did you hear me?” I asked catching our reflection in the blackened glass of the blank screen before us. Reflecting back our new reality. I thought it kinda funny in a way, it was though this was a show. It just couldn’t be real.
Hailey slid back into the couch in a sort of daze.
This was happening, and I would have to take charge of our family.
7
Goodbye, For Now
“Just keep the doors locked and don’t answer the door for anyone. Oh, and don’t open the shed. Jim is in there.” I instructed to Emma silently in the hallway. Ava, no longer wearing her dress was sitting on her sister’s bed. She glanced up at me and then down to her tiny sneakers. She inspected them with the look of sadness since they weren’t glittery as her princess attire would have called for. Poor girl.
“When your mother and I are done with her appointment I’ll have them send a doctor over. Jim has whatever sickness the people on the news were talking about. I’m sure he will be fine, but lets not take any chances, ok?” I said to Emma.
“No way!” Emma retorted. Ava looked back up to see what all the commotion was about. Her little ears perked up with that of a curious child. I dared to not have her risk anymore of her innocence today. She began to edge her way off the bed as I waved my hand up.
“Ava, Sweetpea, stay there for a second, I just need to talk to your big sister about your Moms doctor visit,” I told her softly as I gestured Emma back to the living room. Hailey twisted around to us as I held my finger up until we were out of sight from Ava.
Hailey looked as though she was pondering what to do. And then sat down suddenly. I could always tell when she was getting sick. She needed to be seen by Dr. Richards soon. She coughed a dozen times into a handful of tissues. Bloody mucus clung from the tissues as she balled them up and threw them away.
Her cold, or more drastically, this virus might have gotten into her system. I couldn’t believe that was what it was. But if this was an epidemic, the hospital would know how to treat it. At least, I hoped. I can’t lose her to this…
“Can I talk to you alone,” Hailey said gesturing Emma to leave the room. Emma flicked her head around annoyed to be shuffled from room to room.
“Fine, just go ahead and talk behind my back then,” Emma said as she folded her arms and left in a huff.
Hailey appeared positively sick now. Her face flush with worry no doubt from the TV broadcasting the virus situation. I knew right away I just needed to listen.
“We need to take the girls Nate. I don’t want to take any chances with this thing. With whatever is going on out there I mean, the safest bet is to have them in our sights,” She said.
“I’m sure we can just—” I started before realizing I was getting that look again.
Yep, better just stick to listening.
“No Nate, we need to take the girls. We’ll have a heck of a time explaining to Ava that our neighbor is sick with a virus the rest of the bottom of Texas has, but we’ll need to be honest with her eventually. She will find out one way other another,” Hailey explained.
I kinda figured her sister would become defiant and break down out of being mad at us and spill it all out to her anyways.
She was right. I accepted it as truth. This wasn’t looking like something that would just go away. How long would it take until we were consumed in the red developing up Texas? We needed to stick together. The rest would figure itself out.
Hailey helped the girls load some of their belongings into the truck. Ava had tried to pack her pink backpack with as many toys as she could fit, but Pups would have to do for now. Hailey and I agreed we couldn’t be sure if we would be able to make it back home tonight. So Hailey made sure to pack an overnight bag for each of us if we needed to stay at the hospital. With everything going on out there, it was better to be safe than sorry she concluded.
I walked outside and watched Emma help Hailey in the passengers side of the truck. It had been a long day already and I knew she must have been so tired.
I took a moment appreciating the beauty of our home and the property we built it on. If this was a goodbye, I at least wanted to make sure I got one last good look at all of our hard work getting to this point in life.
I stepped up into my truck, peeking over its hood, and paused to watch overhead the passing of clouds as they floated without any care on a canvas of a lowering blue sky.
I thought of the sun soaking in my skin and how much I enjoyed living here. I looked over to the
fields beside our home as a breeze pushed through its thick green of various plants.
This was our home—this is where we lived. I thought and wondered if this might really be the last time I would be home with my family. Where we lived. Where I wanted to build a life for them. Where I wanted Hailey and I to retire to and live out our days soaking in the sun, together.
I felt Hailey’s hand embrace my leg from inside the truck. She patted it and smiled upward.
“Let’s get moving babe, it will all still be here for us,” She said sweetly.
I wiped my eyes with the end of my long sleeve and shook my head to her.
As we drove away from the property I glanced back to the tool shed from the rear view mirror, I watched the door shake until it was no longer in view.
8
Busy
Not much appeared out of the ordinary on our way to have Hailey seen by Dr. Richards. We passed the occasional deer mindlessly running across the road. Only a few cars were out and about on the roads and highway. But everything seemed fairly normal given the events earlier.
I flicked on the radio. Each station was either silence or announcing; “This is a test of the emergency broadcast station,” On loop. People must be too scared to go to work today I imagine.
We drove down the highway spotting a number of vehicles stuck in traffic going the other way. Hopefully the hospital wasn’t as busy. I thought looking down to the blood stain on my jacket.
The parking lot to the hospital was packed, however. It was as though the hospital was the latest hip spot in town. Several ambulances were crowded at the emergency entrance. Red lights atop clashed against the graying landscape of dusk.
“I guess we’ll try the parking garage then,” I said emphatically.
The parking garage was just as packed but we managed to find a spot at the top.
I pulled into a spot wedged between two haphazardly parked SUV’s and looked over my shoulder to Emma and Ava.
“Stay here girls, your mom’s appointment shouldn’t take that long,” I said leaning back in the drivers seat to the girls in the backseat. They were facing one another in the small area of the back space of the truck with their eyes glued to Emma’s phone. She had a video playing of a cute little chorkie doing jumps for her owners attention as the girls laughed in delight of the furry dog.
“The lobby looked full when we drove past. Better you girls stay here, ok?” Hailey said to them both as she gathered her purse and loosened her seatbelt slowly.
“Stay in the truck, doors locked to just be sure,” I told them.
Who knew how many of these people are crazy out there with the virus. The news said it was happening to cities to the south of us. San Antonio and further mostly that way. I suppose Jim must have taken a trip down that way and picked up whatever the hell those people had going on.
“But dad, can’t we just hang out up here?,” Emma pleaded as she paused the video realizing our instructions.
“No, please just listen to me this one time Em. Stay here with your sister and watch a movie or something. Don’t leave the truck and don’t open the doors for anyone other than your parents. Understood?” I asked, though it wasn’t so much of a request as it was a demand. Time was of the essence if we were to make it downstairs and into the hospital before all those people backed us up.
“Daddy, can I play a game on your phone?” Ava asked.
“Sure thing Sweetpea,” I gave her my phone. If I know Emma, she wasn’t about to share her screen with her sister while we were gone.
We left the girls in the truck. Hailey wasn’t looking so great by now. I had to basically carry her down the stairs of the four story parking garage. Stopping at each flight because she exerted too much energy going to the ground level.
There were too many people with numerous injuries to count when we entered the lobby. Some hobbled around the waiting area with make-shift bandages wrapped around their legs or arms. And many of them looked plain ill.
Nurses sat behind the glass dividers for the in-coming patients, thumbing through stacks of medical pages as they called on the next person in a growing line of people looking to check-in for their injuries.
I grabbed one nurse as she raced by us at the entrance. She was clutching a chart to her chest. I noticed a speckle of blood had stained the top corner of a sheet of paper. She noticed my prying eye before pinning it tightly to her disheveled uniform. Poor girl looked as though she hadn’t slept in days…
“Miss, can I get some assistance for my wife. We need to see Dr. Richards as soon as—” I started to say before she interrupted. “Sir, I recommended you take a number from the counter over there like everyone else.” She pointed at the window where the line had been extended out the door and around the corner of the front entrance of the hospital. Each person pleading they needed help this very second.
The nurse paused briefly studying her papers before finally looking up to me.
“Is she sick like the others?” She said glaring at Hailey before nodding to the group against the wall. At least a dozen people were pressed against the wall. One, a heavy-set man, was leaning over a chair and coughing up a large amount of blood on the floor.
“No!” I exclaimed.
“She isn’t like that, she is just feeling faint. My wife doesn’t have this flu,” I told her. The woman looked Hailey over again in an unconvincing expression.
“And she isn’t throwing up blood or attacking people.” I said angered.
The nurse repeated that we take a number and wait in line with the rest of them. Sick or not, she wouldn’t be seeing a doctor for hours from the looks of it.
We watched as nurses and doctors ran between chairs grabbing people in stretchers and wheeled them behind a blue plastic tarp setup over the doorway leading into the hallway.
Hailey coughed into the cuff of her long-sleeve. I pressed my hand against her forehead, a light heat emitted on my palm.
Forget this. I thought.
“Stay here. I’ll grab Dr. Richards myself. You don’t need to see anyone for what they have,“ I said to Hailey pointing to the sickly group.
I helped my wife settle into an open seat between the only two people that didn’t seem to be coughing as much as the others. At least they weren’t covered in blood or coughing up blood.
Hailey was a germaphobe. She had brought one of the painting masks I was wearing earlier with her and quickly put it on at seeing the chaos inside the lobby as we entered. She was always smart like that.
“Nate, please don’t take long,” Hailey said shifting her head to her shoulder trying to rest.
“I’ll be right back. Before you know it, I’ll get them down here and bring you up,” I told her as I kissed her forehead softly and turned to make my way toward the hall.
9
The Good Doctor
I edge my way through the plastic curtains covering the entrance of the hallway and looked about as hospital workers pushed past, completely un-fazed by me wandering about on my own. They too had a disbelieving look gracing their tired faces.
I glanced around to see each room filled with distraught patients. They all had the same disoriented look on their faces. You could almost smell the fear in the air.
Extra beds were brought in to control the overflow. Many more were spilled out into the hallway and quickly filling with bodies.
The screams and cries for help were intense. So many people coughing blood and complaining that they felt ill. I kept my head low not wanting to make eye contact as I passed the sick there in the hall as I made my way as stealthy as I could.
What the hell is going on? I questioned again to myself.
How did so many people get sick so quickly?
I walked casually to the intersection of the hall to study a framed directory of names and office numbers displaying the hospitals staff of doctors.
A note had been attached asking staff if any of them would like to pick up extra shifts to inform their managers immed
iately to keep up with the unusual number of patients checking in.
I read the the directory, finding Dr. Richards name, floor number and office number, feeling from behind a rush of movement as nurses ran past shouting they needed assistance in one of the patients rooms.
Looking into one of the rooms, I observed three nurses restraining a man in his fifties to the bed. He was screaming from a bloody bite mark on his calf. He cried in pain before being injected with a needle. Only then did his cries cease.
After a short while, I had grabbed an elevator as another group of nurses came out wheeling yet another stretcher as I sidestepped my way past. The paper covering the mattress atop was soaked in what I could only conclude as sweat. Or at least I hoped it only to be.
Nurses over the intercom shouted breathlessly for staff to prioritize certain room numbers. Listing off a laundry list of wounds from the patients for them to address. The most common being bites.
Fingering the elevator button to the fifth floor, I watched the door shut, washing away the increasingly busy hallway of the sick peoples pleas and the staff doing their best to maintain order.
Chaos.
My eye’s closed long enough to feel my tiredness catching up before being rudely awakened by the sound of the elevator coming to a stop and the door dinging to life.
It’s door presenting a much different version of reality than the nightmare just five floors down.
This level managed to do better than the ground level at first glance. The halls not overflowing with the sick like the other. I supposed they must have moved the patients that typically stayed here long-term to other levels. Or that the families of the patients already came for their loved ones.
Dead Over Texas: (Infected Texas Book 1) Page 4
