The final move took her to an older hospital in Morgantown. Two or three days, Dr. Jeffers promised, then without a doubt, she could go home. They were just making sure that they had gotten all the eggs laid within her system. No surprises. Bret believed that she would go home on Sunday.
She was given clothes, the first non-hospital garb in days, and escorted through the semi-vacant building. There were some people moving around, mainly moving equipment. She walked to an elevator, then to the sixth floor.
She thought for sure she was in some bad science fiction movie when she saw the old and faded sign: Psychiatric Ward.
Bret resisted. “I knew it.” She fought. “I knew it.” She shook her head as they guided her to the locked door.
“Hush now,” the guard told her. “You’re overreacting. This is just an abandoned building we’re using to keep you guys from the press and the public.”
That not only made Bret stop her resistance, but also question, “Us guys?”
The guard told her no more.
After checking her in, giving her a room and a couple of days’ worth of clothes, Bret was told she could freely move about the floor. Paranoid, she still wanted proof that she was going to emerge alive and that people would see her again. They let her call Jesse.
Feeling somewhat better, but not completely, she ventured out. The sound of music caught her ear and she began to follow it. The corridor was long and hers was the last door. She moved slowly and inconspicuously, peeking in the rooms. The first one she passed was definitely vacant; the second looked as if it contained someone, and so did the third. As she moved onward, a voice calling her name made her stop.
“Bret?” he called out.
First looking over her shoulder, Bret peeked back, then when she saw him in the hall, she spun and raced to Chuck with a loud shriek.
He bellowed, “Oh my God” and grabbed her in a big hug. “You are the last person I expected to see here.”
“I was gonna say the same thing. Were you attacked by roaches, too?” she asked.
“Roaches?” Chuck pulled from the embrace. “No, I was arrested and detained over the ant story. They just moved me here this morning. Is that why you’re here?” he asked. “Were you attacked by roaches?”
Bret whistled. “Was I ever.”
“Oh, this is so great. Let’s go back to my room and talk.” He took hold of her arm. “You have to spill your guts, because after I’m out of here, I’m gonna spill my guts about this whole goddamn thing. My editor will love it.”
“Do you really think.…” a voice called out from the other end of the hall. “That’s a good idea?”
As both Bret and Chuck turned around, two men and a woman wearing street clothes approached them.
Darius moved closer. “It’s not, you know.”
“Who.…” Chuck crinkled his face. “No one asked you. Why were you eavesdropping anyhow?”
“We weren’t.” Darius said. “We heard a scream. We thought the new woman was being attacked.”
“By me?” Chuck laughed.
Darius shrugged. “Hey, none of us have met you. You haven’t left the room. We don’t know.”
“Do I look like the type to attack someone?” Chuck asked.
Colin stepped forward in a lighthearted manner and spoke quickly, with a smile. “Absolutely. But we won’t hold that against you.” He extended his hand to Bret. “Colin Reye. How are you?” He then shook hands with Chuck. “And you two are?”
Bret replied innocently. “Friends.”
Darius closed his eyes and chuckled. “He meant your names.”
“Yes,” Colin said. “Names. Not that my friend was insinuating you made a dumb blonde comment or anything like that.”
Bret’s mouth dropped open and she swung a look at Darius. “That was really rude.”
“What?” Darius backhanded Colin. “Quit starting trouble.”
After a scolding glance, Bret turned pleasantly to Colin. “Brettina Long. This is Chuck Wright.”
Chuck nodded, but kept eye contact with Darius.
The quiet woman with long auburn hair slipped into the pack. “I’m Virginia. Nice to meet you. I got here yesterday.”
“Are there any others?” Chuck asked.
Virginia shook her head. “Nope. We’re it. Your quarantine buddies.” She was pleasant enough.
“Nice to meet you all.” Chuck clenched Bret’s arm. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we have things to discuss.”
Darius huffed.
Chuck stopped. “Man, what is your problem?”
“My problem is, that you want to get all the information you can out of this woman so you can break a story,” Darius said. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
Colin interjected. “Mr. Wright. Instead of picking only this woman’s mind, why don’t you join us in the other room, hear all of our stories. We’re all in here for similar reasons. I mean, in case you were confused, that isn’t acne on Darius’ face, those are roach bites.”
Darius rolled his eyes.
Colin continued, “Get his story. But don’t tell it. Not yet.”
“When?” Chuck asked. “This is news. I can’t believe it’s being capped.”
“It’s being capped for a good reason,” Darius said.
“Who are you to make that judgment call?” Chuck asked. “You work with the government? FEMA? What?”
“No, I’m a teacher.” Darius replied.
“Well, thank you, but your opinion as a teacher isn’t reason enough for me to withhold news.” Chuck began to turn Bret. “Excuse us.”
“Actually.…” Darius called out. “I’m head of Ecological Studies at West Virginia University, and my expert opinion tells me that something bigger is headed this way, something worse than the bugs. That is the reason to cap the story…for now.” Darius saw he had Chuck’s attention. “Just…talk with us. I think that after you do, you’ll see why.”
Chuck stared at Bret for a moment then they moved. Not toward his room, but in the direction of the recreation area.
The smell of coffee was overwhelming, and while Chuck went to the small circle of chairs set up by the television, Bret went to the coffee pot. She grabbed a cup, poured coffee, and brought it to her nose to sniff.
“We.…” Darius walked up to her. “We didn’t have the proper introduction. Brettina, I’m Darius Cobb.” He extended his hand to her.
“You can call me, Bret.”
“Nice to meet you. And I wasn’t calling you a dumb blonde.” He gave a partial smile. “Colin, he just likes to instigate. It’s his way of being funny.”
“I take it you two are friends. Is this a new thing?” Bret said as she fixed her coffee.
“God, no,” Darius said. “I’ve known him since I was a teenager. You…you look as lost as Virginia did yesterday.” He pointed back.
“I feel lost,” she said. “Shuffled here and there, like a refugee. Kept in the dark. Lost.”
“We all felt that way. Not too much anymore.” He ran his finger over his goatee. “If you came from the Ward. Sip that coffee. You need to. It’s Starbucks.”
Bret chuckled, sniffed, sipped, and then looked at Darius. “You were in the ward too?”
“We all were. Good, huh?” he referred to the coffee.
“Yes,” She nodded. “Thanks.”
“So, tell me, Bret. What do you do?”
“For a living?’
“Living, career.” He shrugged. “Some don’t make a living off of their career choice.”
She smiled. “I’m a talk show host and DJ for a Christian Radio.”
“Ah.” He nodded once, then stepped out of the way for Colin who approached the coffee pot.
Colin said as he reached for the coffee pot, “She’s married. Look at the ring.”
Darius briefly closed his eyes. “I’m not hitting on her. I’m making conversation.”
“Uh huh.” Colin poured. “Really, Dare-Dare, idle conversation at this point
would be to ask how badly she was attacked by roaches.”
“Dare-Dare?” Bret questioned.
Darius waved off Colin. “I was getting to that.”
“Bad,” Bret said. “I had seventy bites.”
“Only seventy?” Darius whistled. “Someone must have been helping you. Nestings?”
“Three.”
“I had fourteen.”
Colin chuckled as he stirred his coffee. “Cockroach bite competition. When do you stop?” He shook his head at Darius and walked to the chairs.
Bret laughed. “He’s funny.”
“No, he’s not.”
Smiling, Bret asked. “So with so many nestings, I take it they are watching you for hatchings?”
Darius winked. “That’s the reasoning. I think otherwise. Please. Join us. We don’t bite. No pun intended.”
Gently, he took her by the arm and led her to the circle where she took the chair next to Chuck.
“We heard they were bringing in two new people,” Darius said. “We were waiting.”
Chuck aimed his finger at Darius, Colin, and Virginia. “So, all three of you, like Bret, were attacked by cockroaches.”
He received nods.
“Were they big?”
Virginia shook her head. “Not too much bigger than average. How many times were you bit, Bret?”
“Seventy.” Bret replied.
“What!” Chuck blasted in shock.
She lifted her sleeve. “These aren’t prong marks. They’re roach bites. This here looks like a scratch.” She pointed to her eye. “One of the places they laid eggs.”
“Oh, my God!” Chuck was flabbergasted. “Virginia?”
“They counted ninety-five bites, ten nesting on me. I’m gonna take it Bret had help, that’s why they didn’t nest as much as they did on us.”
Bret nodded. “My husband was wiping them off of me.” She shuddered. “I can still feel them.”
Chuck lifted a hand. “Why and how were you attacked?”
Bret answered. “I was at a friend’s house. The exterminator uncovered them.”
“Same here,” Virginia said. “Only it was my house.”
“Did your bug guy die?” Bret asked.
“Oh, brother.” Virginia nodded. “Just dying would have been humane for him.”
“Wait,” Chuck called out. “How about you two?” he asked of Colin and Darius.
Darius explained. “I was in my classroom playing my guitar. Roaches crawled out. Now we had seen a few that day, but when they came out of my guitar, I figured I knew where they were coming from. When I pulled out the bookshelf, bam, I was hit.”
Colin added, “That’s where I came in. I was just visiting him, left, but just as I was leaving, I felt bad for choosing the lecture over his open mike night, so I went back. When I did, Dare-Dare was covered with roaches. I called 911, but my preoccupation with that call left me vulnerable. I was covered as well.”
Darius shook his head. “I blacked out.”
“Me, too.” Colin said.
“Whoa.” Bret interjected. “You guys are lucky. The bug guy asphyxiated on them before Sally and I could help him.”
“I was,” Darius said. “They found a nest in my lungs. How I don’t know. See.” He pulled down the collar of his shirt.
“Oh, we’re not hitting on her.” Colin said sarcastically. “Now he’s exposing himself. Perhaps I should tell her husband.”
“Stop that,” Darius raised the collar of his shirt. “Anyhow, with all the people attacked, and there were a lot, why are us five here? Isolated. We aren’t the only survivors. That question popped into my mind when Virginia arrived, and then we heard two more were coming. Bret is a DJ. It fits, if you think about it.”
“That it does,” Colin commented. “Not what I expected, but still she goes along with Chuck.”
Chuck lifted his hand. “Excuse me. Can I ask what you are talking about?”
Darius answered, “I couldn’t figure out why they had Colin and me in here alone when there were others that had beaten the bites and nestings, until they brought Virginia. I’m head of Ecology. Colin is head of Geology, Virginia is Head Astronomer at Beachit Institute.”
“Earth and space sciences,” Chuck muttered. “Where do we fit in? Neither Bret nor I are scientists.”
“No,” Darius said. “But like us, you have the means to get the story out.”
Bret spoke, “What if he just has us here to make sure we’re quiet until the government releases the story. He told me they were when they figure out what they’re gonna do.”
At that, Darius chuckled. “And tell the masses what?”
“Well,” Bret said. “The earth is heating up, and some bugs came up. They have found the nesting and….” she stopped talking when Darius shook his head. “What?”
“His explanation is weak at best. Freak bug migrations? He told me that, I laughed. Please. The earth heats up, bugs surface, go crazy and eat people? Colin, tell her.”
“It’s not feasible,” Colin said. “The earth’s internal temperature has risen before. Never have we experienced anything like this. No, they have us here to keep us quiet until the United States government gets a division of the scientific community to explain these isolated attacks with an explanation the masses accept. Once they do…we’re free and clear. No one will want to hear what we say.”
“Or will they?” Chuck spoke in discovery as he slowly stood up. “What if…what if Jeffers put us in here with you three on purpose? Figuring, hey, we’re gonna spread the story; why not spread the story with another believable angle. An angle learned from you three,” Chuck paced, “because he can’t get a decent explanation from his people. That’s possible.”
Virginia shrugged. “It is possible.”
“Have you guys been discussing this?” Chuck asked.
Darius answered. “Nonstop. However, we don’t have data to view. If we did, I think we could solidify some theories. Now all we can do is toss unfounded theories about.”
“Can you get your hands on the data?” Chuck asked. “Information you need?”
Colin replied, “Yes. Once we’re out. Until then, we’re in a theory phase. Trust me when we tell you we want the story out, but we want it out when it is correct and has scientific backing.”
“Can you hold off?” Darius requested.
“How long?” Chuck asked.
“Days. Weeks. Months.” Darius shrugged. “Who knows.”
Chuck laughed in ridicule at that. “Bugs attack hundreds of people and you want me to sit on the story until you can scientifically prove why it happened?”
“No,” Darius shook his head. “The government will take care of that. We want you to sit on the story until we can figure out where all this is heading. The bug attacks. They aren’t some freak things. They aren’t the end result of some strange phenomena.” Darius grew serious. “They are only the beginning.”
5. SHUDDER TO THINK
May 10th …
“I hate him,” Chuck unlocked his car, and opened his door. He slid into his car at the same time as Bret. “Did I mention I hate him?” His hand frantically reached into the ashtray before he even shut his car door. “Fuck.”
“Who?”
“What?”
“You said you hate him. Who? We just left three different men.”
“Oh.” Chuck glanced up. “Jeffers. Fuck! None.”
“What are you doing?”
“I need a cigarette. I thought I had a butt in here that was doable.”
“Just stop at the store.”
“I don’t have any money. They mailed my belongings home.”
“Oh.” Bret sunk back. “I don’t either.”
“Well, this doesn’t help, see.” Chuck closed his door, and turned over the engine. “We’ll never make back to Pittsburgh on no gas. One would think.…” He raised his voice. “Jeffers would have helped us out.”
“We didn’t ask.”
“Still he s
hould know. They took my belongings and brought you with the clothes on your back. I hate him.”
“I know.” Bret brought her finger to her mouth. “Oh! Got it. Beep.”
“Why?”
After grunting, Bret reached over and beeped the horn.
“What are you doing?” Chuck asked.
Across the parking lot, Darius and Colin stopped walking. They turned around and looked.
“Darius is from around here,” Bret said. “I’m sure he has access to money. I’ll ask him to loan us.…”
“No.” Chuck shook his head. “I hate him.”
“I thought you hated Jeffers.”
“Him, too.”
“Well, you want to get home, right. And you need a cigarette.” Bret opened her door. “I’ll be right back.” She waved her hand, shut the door, and trotted over to Colin and Darius.
Colin stepped to her. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes. Well. No,” Bret said, “They sent Chuck’s personal items home. I arrived with the clothes on my back, we have a long trip home and no gas or money.” She gave a humbled look. “Any chance we can borrow a few bucks. Colin, I can give it to you.…”
“Shit,” Colin snapped. “Shit.”
“What?” Bret asked.
“I’m screwed, too.” Colin turned to Darius. “They took my wallet. My money card is in there. Did they take yours?”
“I never carry a wallet,” Darius replied. “Bret, can you and Chuck follow me? I can hit the money machine for you.”
Bret sighed out. “That would be great. Yes. Which is your car?”
Darius pointed to the blue pick-up truck.
“Thanks, Dare-Dare. We’re right behind you.” Bret smiled and hurried back to the car.
Colin grinned. “Ah, the good Samaritan in you emerges. Warms my heart. So, like, can you help me out, too?”
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