Before The Cure (Book 1): Before The Cure

by Gould, Deirdre

  “You’re still broadcasting this?”

  “Yeah. Ssound at least. Couldn’t hold it for them to ssee out there. I can show em again now.”

  Shay led them to a junction in the corridor. “Which way?” she asked.

  “On thiss side? Tunnels are through cardio. But there’sh pharmacy to the right,” slurred Cody.

  Shay turned right without stopping to argue. Neil could still hear the courtyard door thudding behind them and glanced back, hoping he wouldn’t see more sick people attracted by the noise. The corridor was empty. The next one was not.

  Shay had frozen, stock-still in the center of the hallway, staring at the other end. A figure stood in the far corner gently swaying side to side. It was too far to see much beyond that. Dark spots that might be blood spattered its pants, but they could just as easily be paint. Or something else. Neil glanced down at himself. His own clothes were torn and stained both from the courtyard escape and from moving the sleeping woman. He imagined he appeared sick to anyone looking, too. He didn’t think the figure had seen them yet. Or if it had, it was ignoring them. Full, maybe. Like the woman, he thought. Or sane, like us, but too run down and helpless to care anymore? Or too terrified to recognize a threat? Maybe this is how we die. Maybe we all just stand here in the hallway of a fucked up hospital too panicked to move until the sick ones find us. Or the soldiers shoot us. He tugged gently on Shay’s wrist and she glanced over. He pointed to the bright red and white pharmacy sign about fifty feet further in. She shook her head. He walked toward it anyway, stepping slowly and trying not to make much sound. If the person at the end wanted to attack him— well, it was only one and they were far enough away that he’d be somewhat ready. He hoped. He looked back to find Cody and saw him aiming the phone at the swaying person. Neil wanted to yell at him, tell him to stop, to focus on what was happening, but wasn’t even sure what good it would do. If he were honest, at this point he knew that Cody’s video had a better chance of reaching his mom than Neil did. He hoped Randi would never see it.

  The pharmacy door was thick metal, a small safety glass window set at the top. Dried blood flaked from it, coated the door handle. Neil glanced at the swaying figure. It hadn’t moved. He could make out long hair now, a thick curtain hanging down. Neil couldn’t really tell whether it was turned toward him or away. Cody and Shay had drifted closer to him. Shay blanched when she saw the bloodstains on the door, but Cody was still focused on filming the figure. Neil wondered if he could see more through the phone and half-wished he could tell him to zoom in so they could maybe see if the person were insane or not. Stupid, he told himself, can’t see madness. Or if we could, we might look just as crazy. Probably do. Shay pointed at the door. Neil pressed the handle down, but it was locked. He peered through the safety glass. Something had wanted to get in at some point. His first instinct was to assume it had been a sick person chasing down someone else, but then— maybe it was a doctor, like Debbie, trying to get something they needed to save someone. Or someone running from the sick people just trying to find a safe place. He couldn’t see much through the glass. The edge of the pharmacy counter and a magazine display. That was all.

  He turned around and shook his head to Shay. “Locked,” he mouthed. Shay nudged Cody who looked around, dazed. She pointed at the door and Neil jiggled the handle to show him. It took a few seconds for the idea to register. Neil saw it in his face. Getting worse, he thought, when Cody finally nodded. He handed Neil the phone and carefully pulled the keyring from his belt, wincing as it jingled. Neil focused the phone on the figure. He found the option to zoom and focused in. Definitely blood on its pants and its boots. Jeans and a flannel jacket. The hair covered its face, clung in places, some of it slightly matted but Neil could tell it was turned toward him. Neil wondered if he should call out to them. It was only a matter of time before someone from the courtyard broke through and wandered down here. Or another sick person did. If this one was sane then—

  A puff of warm air hit him as the pharmacy door swung open. Cody took the phone back. Shay stepped inside. Neil opened his mouth to call to the person, but Cody slapped a hand over it and shook his head. They slipped into the pharmacy and shut the door.

  “What if they’re not sick?” whispered Neil as soon as the door closed.

  “She is,” said Cody.

  “We don’t know that. We all look like her right now.” He held up the shreds of his shirt.

  Cody shook his head. “Not her clothes. Hands. All bloody.”

  “So? Could have been the one trying to get in here. Maybe she’s bloody because something attacked her.”

  “No. Did it hersel’. Saw it with Debbie. In the ER. Chew up their fingers. Before.”

  “You don’t know—”

  “Look,” said Cody and put his hand on the door handle. He considered, backed up again, brought the hand to his mouth and hushed Neil in warning. Then he opened the door and stepped back out. He held up the phone and pointed at it, indicating Neil should look. He zoomed all the way in on the woman’s hands. They’d been bandaged at some point, the gauze was now a dull brownish-yellow and ragged, trailing from her wrist and palm. Her fingers welled and dripped with fresh blood. Neil shook his head but stayed quiet. Cody held up a finger. He pointed to the dark doorway at the end of the corridor, then readjusted the phone’s focus. There were people slumped against the frame. Two that Neil could make out. He shook his head and pulled Cody back through the door.

  “Maybe they’re asleep,” he said, “Maybe they couldn’t find anywhere safe so they stayed there and she’s the watchman. Maybe that’s why she’s swaying, to keep herself awake. Could have been hurt by something else. Hell, could have just cut her hand and broken a stitch. I have.” He held up his bandaged hand. Blood had seeped through and dried on the gauze.

  “She’ss ssick,” whispered Cody. “She killed the people in the doorway. Or found em. Ate em. Now she’ss quiet. Like the other one in the courtyard.”

  “We don’t know that. What if she’s not sick? What if they need help? You wanted to charge through a courtyard filled with people that want to tear us apart to get Debbie. All we have to do to help them is call out, tell them we have a safe place.”

  “Let them find their own safe place. We did,” said Shay, coming out from behind the counter. “This one is empty and quiet. Like to keep it that way.”

  “That’s awfully cold,” said Neil.

  “It’s practical. Cody says she’s infected. If she is, she’s dangerous. You say she’s watching for trouble while the others sleep. She didn’t notice us. So if she’s their watchman, she’s bad at it. Which makes her dangerous. Either way, she’s not going to be able to help us. Lock the door, Cody.”

  “It’s not about her helping us. It’s about us helping her,” said Neil. Cody’s keys jingled as he turned the lock.

  “Best way to help her and anyone else in this hospital is to get the news out about what’s happening here. They might know about the quarantine, but I guarantee they didn’t know about soldiers shooting anyone who asked for help. At least not until Cody recorded it.” She stopped, turned to Cody. “You did record that, right?”

  “What I could. Couldn’t ssee much. Shoulda given Debbie the phone. Maybe they wouldn’t have— wouldn’t have—” He choked up and stopped.

  “They would have,” said Shay rubbing his back. “They don’t know about the video or they would have been ready for us. But now— maybe the people who saw it start sharing it. Maybe the next Debbie that goes out there, they listen to. Maybe. Maybe when we find a way out, they don’t shoot us. So. Our biggest priority is getting news out. For our kids. For everyone out there. If that means we don’t rescue everyone, then— we don’t rescue everyone. This pharmacy only has one exit, Neil. The one we’re standing in front of. Not even a delivery door. I just checked. We call out to her and she turns out sick, we’ll only have one choice if we have to get out of here. You want to kill her? Because that’s what’s going to hap
pen. We leave her alone, she wanders away or falls asleep or finds someone else. We get her attention and she freaks out in the hallway, she’ll attract attention or at best hurt one of us more. Then we have to deal with her. We’re running out of humane spots to put people. No running water in here. No bathroom. Even if we left her alive in here, she might die of thirst before the quarantine’s over. If you want to save her or save any of them, we have to get to an exit. We have to make sure somebody knows. Because once the government finds out about our little live stream here, they’re going to—”

  The pharmacy’s office phone began ringing.

  22

  The phone’s trilling beeps seemed piercing in the silent pharmacy. “Find it,” hissed Shay, “it’ll attract everything in the area.” She raced toward the counter. Neil followed her, trotting down the long lines of neatly shelved bottles and boxes. She reached the work station desks and grabbed the phone. “I don’t know what you’re looking for,” she said into the receiver, “But I’m very sorry, this hospital’s not going to be able to help you. We’ve been quarantined. We’re trapped. Don’t call here, there are things chasing us, they’ll hear you.” She lay the receiver down beside the phone and they both waited to hear a pounding at the door. What they heard instead was another phone ringing. This one was mounted to the wall beside Neil. He fumbled as he picked it up, brought it to his ear, ready to repeat Shay’s explanation.

  “Don’t hang up. I’m here to help you,” is what the woman’s voice said.

  “Who is this?” asked Neil.

  “Harlain Thomas. I’m working with local enforcement on the quarantine. I can help you.”

  “Great. That’s— that’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Is Debbie okay? Our friend climbed out of the courtyard to talk to you. To ask for help. We heard the gunshots and thought she— well. It sounded awful to us. Were you using tranquilizer guns or something? Man, they sound just like the real thing. Well, not that I’d— I mean I’ve seen them on television but—”

  “Son, son, calm down. Who am I speaking to?”

  “Uh, oh. Right. My name’s Neil Newton. Listen, I’ve been trying to reach my mom and my daughter. And my friends are trying to reach their kids too, but we can’t—”

  “Neil. One thing at a time, okay? I can see you’re in the pharmacy. And I assume your friend locked that door, is that correct?”

  “Cody? Yeah. Yeah, he locked the door. How do you know where we are? And how did you know to call this number?”

  Shay squinted at him, confused and alarmed.

  “Your friend’s video. We’ve been tracking you for some time. For roughly three hours. We picked up your stream when you were in the cafe. Can you tell me how far Cody’s infection has progressed? Some things just don’t translate to the video. Has he been biting his nails at all?”

  “Wait— if you’ve been watching us since the cafe— what happened to Debbie? You haven’t answered that. Where is she? Is she with you? Can we talk to her?”

  “The woman who breached the quarantine?”

  Neil rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Yeah. The woman who came out from under the truck. What happened to her?”

  “I’m sorry, son. She didn’t make it. You have to under—”

  “Don’t call me ‘son’. She only wanted to talk to you. To tell you what’s happening in here. You didn’t have to kill her.”

  “The soldiers at the perimeter have been given orders to maintain the quarantine at all costs. They were told to give one warning and then—”

  “We weren’t trying to break quaran—” Shay slapped a hand over his mouth.

  “Shhhh,” she hissed.

  “We weren’t trying to break quarantine,” he continued in a whisper when she released him. “We just need help.”

  “I know, I know so— Neil. And that’s what I’m here for, ok? We’re going to get you through this, but you need to do a few things for me. Things that’ll make it easier to get you what you need. Things I can’t do from here.”

  “Get through it? Why can’t you just get us out? We’ll go into another quarantine, that’s what Debbie was trying to tell you. We just want to be safe. You can put me in a jail cell, I don’t care. Just— make sure our families are safe and we aren’t going to get attacked, that’s it. We’ll do whatever you want—”

  “Good. Good, Neil. Then the first thing I need you to do is to get Cody to stop broadcasting his recording. Can you do that?”

  Neil glanced back down the pharmacy. Cody was still standing near the door, repeatedly scrubbing at something on the countertop with a handkerchief. In his other hand, the phone hung, forgotten.

  “Why?” asked Neil suspicious. Shay noted the sharp shift in his tone and tugged his sleeve.

  “What?” she mouthed. He just shook his head.

  “For one thing, it’s starting to cause some concern among the public,” said Harlain’s voice over the line.

  “That was the point. They need to know, so if you guys messed up, if this is out there, they’ll know what to expect.”

  “It’s been contained. There’s no reason to—”

  “Bullshit,” said Neil. “I got attacked at a parade three days ago. The guy that did it sure seemed like the sick people in here. Made the same sounds, the same type of movement. Same— insanity. There were thousands of people there. You can’t tell me none of them got sick from him. Do you even know how it spreads yet?”

  “We have it contained. If, and when, we need to inform the public, there are clear, calm methods of communicating without posting an internet video of a sprint through a hospital. The only thing your recording is doing is sowing confusion and panic. That’s not what you want your families to see, is it?”

  Neil hesitated. “Look, you want him to stop, I’ll grab him, you can ask him yourself—”

  “No! No, Neil,” said Harlain, “I need you to do it.”

  “Why?”

  “For one, we know he’s infected. Our case studies show that causing distress can trigger the transition between prodromal and—”

  “Hey, if you wanted someone who could understand that, you shouldn’t have shot the only doctor with us.”

  Harlain sighed. “I just meant making Cody upset could push him into becoming like the people who attacked you, okay? And since it isn’t my neck in there, I wanted you to be able to choose when and how you ask him to stop recording. But it needs to be soon. Before things escalate.”

  “Look, Harlain, is it? I’ve got some pretty bad wounds. Shay and I are both bitten to heck. We’re breaking stitches and we’re exhausted. We’ve seen several corpses. Been attacked by people who want to eat us. There’s one outside right now. Maybe more. We’ve only narrowly missed having to seriously hurt anyone to save ourselves. Things can’t escalate too much more, lady. And if it keeps Cody calm to keep doing his— thing, why should I stop him? As you said, it’s not your neck on the line.”

  “Well, there’s the fact that if we can narrow down where you’re broadcasting from closely enough to call you on the telephone in the room you’re standing in, then other people can as well. Or that we know you were trying to head for the maintenance tunnels to escape the quarantine because Cody broadcast that conversation, too. If the general welfare of society doesn’t persuade you, maybe that will. I wouldn’t continue with that escape plan by the way. You’ll find it’s just as blocked and guarded as the courtyard exit was.”

  Neil hung up the phone and swore under his breath.

  “What?” whispered Shay. “What was that? Who was that?”

  “Someone in charge. Says she wants us to stop broadcasting Cody’s video.”

  “So? We have no reason to listen to them. Not unless they do something to help us. They want the video down, they’ll have to get us out.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I thought first too. But we were so stupid. Scared and stupid and Jesus. Why is all this happening? This isn’t supposed to be what happens. Should be sleeping off a doubl
e shift at the restaurant while Randi watches those crappy tv Christmas specials all day. Not here. Not fucking terrified like this—”

  “Calm down. We’ll wait until this person calls back and tell her that’s the deal. We keep the video running until she gets us out of here or the phone runs out of juice.”

  “She’ll just let us sit in here and rot then. Get wherever Cody’s broadcasting to shut the feed off. And not just that— we broadcast our plan. They know about the maintenance tunnel. Maybe they always did. I don’t know. But it doesn’t really matter. That plan’s not going to work anymore. And anything we do, they’re going to know as long as Cody keeps that thing on. Even if they take it down from where he’s broadcasting, they’ll still be able to see. Hell, probably be able to see even if he doesn’t keep the video going.”

  “I think you might be overreacting,” said Shay, touching his elbow. “You have to calm down. If they asked you to turn it off, then they either can’t force it or don’t want to. Either way, it’s a good thing for us.”

  “Debbie’s dead,” he said flatly.

  “We already knew that. I’m sorry for it. Didn’t know her very well, and honestly, I’m pretty numb at this point, but I still have enough— me to feel bad about that. We had to try. And now they know we’re here. Us and anyone else still trying to survive. They’ll have to send help. Especially because Debbie went out there while people were watching.”

  “Cold comfort for Debbie. And the people who loved her,” said Neil.

  “Yeah,” Shay admitted, “It really is. And when we’re out of this, I’m going to go visit them, tell them what a good person she was when we were with her. That she patched us up even though she was injured, too. That she didn’t want to hurt the people who were attacking us because they were just sick. And that she went under that truck because she was trying to keep us from getting more injured. That’s not going to be enough either, but it’s a start. First, we have to make it out of here so we can tell them, right?”

  She’s right, he realized. Feel bad all you want, but get home to Randi, that’s the goal. Whatever else happens, she’s got to be safe. Bargain for it, sacrifice for it, whatever you have to do. “Debbie and this Harlain lady both said we have to avoid stressing Cody out. It’ll push him into snapping faster.”