I met Tiffany in the hallway as I exited my room. I leaned against the door, hoping she wouldn't see me. Not today, I thought to myself.
“Nice flower. He made me one before too when we first started dating. Next it will be romantic dinners and walks under the moonlight, where he shows his affection,” she said, jabbing me in the ribs. “But watch out because once you start to need him, he will drop you like the ugly potato that you are. Just a warning from one who’s been there.”
“I didn't get one flower.” I pushed open my door to reveal the bouquets all over my room.
Her jaw dropping open was the best satisfaction for her jealousy, and I had to admit it felt good to stop her bragging. I shut the door and strode away.
Her voice followed me, “That just means once he has you, the challenge of destroying you will be all the more satisfying in the end.”
I tried to ignore her words, but they set in like claws. The flower burning in my hair, I wanted to take it out but kept my head held high. Tiffany would not deter me because Jaime saw past her spoiled self. Even still, her words lingered. I went to the kitchen to grab a granola bar before heading down to the lab. I heard voices before I entered. I didn’t want to eavesdrop again, but I heard the voices discussing Roth in hushed tones. I had completely forgotten about him and the problem he posed. I pushed my way into the kitchen to find Jaime’s parents, Annette, Hugh, and Buck. The conversation halted as I entered.
“Good morning,” I offered to break the tension.
“Good morning, dear. Would you like me to make you some breakfast?” Annette made a move to get up.
“No, I am only grabbing a snack. Heading to the lab Jaime and I set up yesterday to work on the samples we acquired, but thank you.” Edging toward the pantry I turned back. “I don't care what you do with Roth much, but it should be a house vote since we are all stuck here together. It will bring some unity. I don't like him, but I don’t think we should feed him to the creatures outside. That is making us just like him,” I said as I grabbed the bar and left.
I hoped they would take my advice. I was being honest; I had no empathy for Roth, but I also didn’t think he should be treated the same way he treated us or given free rein to hurt us again. The house was stable for now, but the adults seemed to think they were in charge. They needed to understand we teens had a say in this new world. I stood firm. I would not give up my freedom. My choices. My life.
Roth must have heard my footsteps on the stairs because his voice rang out as I took the last step into the basement.
“Let me out! I have to use the bathroom!”
I turned to look at the door to the room he was held in. Peggy stepped into my line of sight. Her eyes met mine, and the look mirrored my thoughts. No empathy.
“You’d only just been to the crapper; don't think you’re getting out. Like the last hundred times you asked.” She gestured for me to go.
A soft chuckle came out my mouth at her words. I liked her accent, the southern twang. Never in my right mind would I use the word “crapper,” but it fit Peggy Sue. If Peggy Sue had been my mother, how would my life have been, and would I have pushed myself so hard at my studies? Would I be like Tiffany, boy-crazed and self-absorbed? Would I have been loved? The only regret would have been Jessica. It hurt to think of my baby sister, but it also made me smile. Jessica was my light in the dark of that house. Her pudgy fingers as a babe, and then her questioning when she grew older. Always asking to play Barbie. I wished I had played more with her. She asked so little, and I had brushed her off to study. My future wrapped up in escaping. Little did I know the few years we would have with each other. Brandi and I would not end up like that, we would form a true sister bond. I’d ask her later to watch a movie or something. That’s what siblings did, right? So many thoughts rattled around my brain. Opening the door to the lab, I was startled to find Jaime and Gracie.
“Hey,” I said, stepping inside.
They both looked up, smiling.
“We want to help,” Gracie saluted me.
Going over to her, I lifted her hands, inspecting her fingers.
“First, you need to wash these hands. Then you can work the centrifuge.” I pointed to the bathroom.
“And what about me?” Jaime lifted his hands to me.
I could feel a blush heating my cheeks, but I took his hands in mine and did the same inspection as with Gracie. His hands were warm in mine. The sensation I couldn't describe any better than my stupid teenage brain would allow was masculine. Brushing my fingers over his palms and turning them over, I said, “They look perfect to me.”
I turned to get the samples out of the cooler as I heard him whisper, “As do yours.”
“We all should wash up though. Less cross-contamination.”
Gracie barged back in with water all over her shirt. “All done, what do you think?” She thrust her hands in my face, water splashing me. “What is the center, whatever you called it?” she asked eagerly.
Jaime and I both laughed as I took her hands, leading her to the bathroom.
“Did I not do a good job?” Gracie asked, looking hurt.
“You did an excellent job washing, but you forgot to dry.” I wrapped her hands in a paper towel.
“Oh, well, you said wash not dry. I’ll remember for next time.” She smiled back.
Gracie’s personality was infectious. I couldn't help but feel happy. It was a new emotion for me. We stepped back into the room. I turned to wash my own hands. Jaime brushed past me when I finished.
“Okay, we are all clean. The centrifuge is a machine that separates material such as liquid and gas. We can pick apart the zombie material and see if any clues help us find a cure. The heavier liquid of the blood will be forced to the outside of the vial. Here, let me show you.” I turned to the table and hit the on button of the centrifuge, letting the device spin. Gracie hopped onto a chair, looking down into the machine.
“What are we spinning first?” Gracie asked excitedly, her eyes wide.
What did I want to do first? The blood. I would work the blood. I hit the off button on the machine.
“We need to protect ourselves first. Gloves, masks, and tape our clothes off in case of any spillage.” Looking at both Jaime and Gracie I said, “Safety is of utmost importance. If you are unsure, ask. No question is dumb. Ignorance is dumb. Ignorance can kill us or make us like those outside.”
Jaime nodded, and Gracie followed him. I pulled out some duct tape from the bag we’d salvaged the day before. Jaime passed out gloves and masks to us. We each took turns taping off each other’s sleeves and pants. When we were done, we didn't look half bad, even if we looked like a rip-off laboratory. We had to work with what we had. Gracie seemed eager to learn; this gave me another purpose. Teach her what I knew, and she could teach me how to be social. Opening the Styrofoam cooler, I lifted out a blood vial. The blood was not normal red like a human. The blood was a grayish white. Tipping the vial upside down, the blood had turned to a glob. The blood flopped to the other end of the vial.
“Eww, is that blood?” Gracie made a disgusted face.
“Yes. From a zombie that had just expired in the mine.” I put the vial in the holder on the counter. I looked to Jaime. “Are you afraid of needles?”
“Uh, no. Why?” he asked back wearily.
“We will need untainted blood to compare the zombie blood to. I will need a sample from everyone to have a solid baseline of how our blood is. Once that is set, we can decipher the components in the zombie blood. How far off the blood was from ours or if this is a virus or infection affecting the blood? This is just a start. It may take longer. We need to start somewhere. Since you are here, your blood will be the first to be analyzed.”
“I'm not afraid of needles either!” Gracie chimed in.
“Of course not. You are the bravest girl I know.” I patted her arm. “But I need you to help me take the blood from Jaime. I will have to work quickly to view both samples at once. Can you do that for
me?”
I knew Gracie could give her blood. I wanted to leave her for last. She was still a child, and I saw some of Jessica in her. Pulling a chair over, Jaime peeled back his tape and exposed his arm. I gathered a needle, alcohol swab, vial, cotton ball, strap, and gauze. I had taken blood samples in summer school to get my credits done sooner. Summer school was only half days, and I didn’t want to be in the house longer than need be. These summer classes were at the adult learning center. I took pre-nursing. We got to take blood samples on a dummy and then on each other. I practiced even when the class was dismissed. The teacher was happy to teach my eager self.
“You know what you are doing, right?” Jaime’s voice had a hint a fear in it.
“Yes, I have taken blood from the vein before.” He didn’t need to know the veins were only for practice.
Wrapping his arm in the strap, I felt the inside of his elbow for a healthy viable vein. A blue vein popped right up. I handed the cotton ball to Gracie along with the gauze. I prepared the needle.
“Once I have enough blood, I will pull the needle out and you put pressure on the hole with the gauze. We will wrap the cotton ball around to let the whole clot over and close.”
“You got it, doc!” Gracie walked to Jaime. “Do you want me to hold your hand? My Ma would hold my hand whenever I had to get poked.”
“I would like that.” Jaime reached his hand out to her, and they joined hands.
“Here we go.”
I placed the needle directly over Jaime’s arm and slid the needle into the vein. I pushed a vial onto the cap end of the needle that stuck out of his arm. Bright red blood squirted out and filled the vial within minutes.
“Gracie, you are up.”
I pulled the needle out, and Gracie pushed the gauze on the hole.
I placed the vial next to the zombie vial in the holder and turned back to the two.
“Great job, both of you.” My heart raced as this was the first time, I drew blood without a teacher watching. “Gracie wipe his arm with the gauze, then we will put a cotton ball on and secure it with the coban wrap.”
She did as I instructed, Jaime helping her a tiny bit. Jaime pulled his sleeve down and re-taped his sleeve. Wasting no time, I took the holder with the vials to the microscope. I had a fresh needle waiting for both. Pulling a small amount of each and placing it on a slide, I slid them under the microscope and adjusted the focus. The human blood looked normal, red blood cells floated around and a few white blood cells were visible. Twisting the slides to the zombie blood, I looked into a whole different sample. The blood had no red blood cells. The cells looked like white blood cells, but with some kind of mutation attached to the cells. The blood did not float around like Jaime’s. The zombie blood pushed and swirled at a fast pace. Standing up, I wrote all I saw in a notebook next to the microscope.
“Would you like to see?” I asked them.
“Yes!” They both said in unison.
Jaime let Gracie go first.
“You see, the zombie sample has no color and moves faster.” I moved the sample back to Jaime’s. “Now, Jaime’s is bright pinkish and moves together, working as healthy blood should,” I taught Gracie as she looked into the microscope.
She sat back and asked me, “Why does the zombie blood look and move differently?”
“I am not sure yet, but we will find out. There has to be a reason the red blood cells are missing. Red blood cells are the transporters. They carry oxygen to the body and carbon dioxide out. People with anemia have fewer red blood cells. My only opinion at the moment is that the red blood cells are gone because the zombie infection killed them. It would make sense why the zombies are deteriorating. They do not have oxygen to be alive, essentially making them the walking dead.”
Jaime leaned in and looked at the blood samples.
“What would happen if you put some human blood on the zombie blood?” he suggested.
“I was about to test that next.” Picking up the needle, I placed a drop on the zombie blood and gazed into the microscope. “Amazing,” I said.
“What is it?” Gracie fidgeted next to me.
Chapter Forty-One
“How can it do that?” Gracie asked as she watched the blood in the microscope.
I pondered over what we saw the blood do together.
“We already know that if a person is bitten by a zombie, there are two outcomes. One, they become food for the zombies and die. Second, they turn into a zombie. The only conclusion is the blood is doing the same.”
“You are saying the zombie’s blood is eating Jaime’s blood?” Gracie said disgusted.
“The blood is integrating the new blood, absorbing the live blood. But, yes, for a lack of a better statement, the zombie blood is eating the new blood.”
My mind was racing to understand. Under the microscope, the white cells of the zombie blood attacked the red blood cells, destroying its components and turning the white blood cells to whatever, the zombie blood was. It made sense and was not really anything new. The only new fact we had found was that zombies had no red blood cells.
Thinking aloud, I tapped my lip, “This could be a virus. Viruses need a host cell, then a virus will insert genetic material into the host and take over that host's body. We see this with the white blood cells taking over the body of a person to make them a zombie. It cannot be that simple, though.”
“Why can’t it be that simple?” Jaime interrupted my pondering.
Staring at his eyes that reminded me of coffee all the time, which I had a craving for now, I responded, “Well, if it was that simple, do you think zombies would still run around outside if it was a virus? I am sure the Department of Health would have researched that and found a cure if that was the case. Even if it is a virus, and no cure has been found yet, I am sure someone would have put that information out. Don't you think?”
“It is possible that the information has been found out, but with no way to get in touch with others, it would be hard. No TV, no cell phones, no Internet, and no radio,” Jaime replied.
He was right, of course. It did not sit well with me that it could be that easy. If it was a virus that attacked the red blood because the white blood was the host for the virus, surely it would be an easy fix to reverse the way the blood attacked the red blood cells. There is also the fact that the common cold is a virus, and no cure has been found for something as simple as a cold. My brain churned the problem more. Plus, viruses could turn into deadly illnesses, such as smallpox and Ebola, and those didn’t have cures either. Germs possibly? I needed to research more.
“Let’s move on and see what else we can find.” I moved toward the blood samples.
Rubbing my neck as I closed the laboratory door, Jaime stood next to me. We peered at each other. Gracie had long since grown bored with the quiet and testing. She went to play with Connor.
“Is your neck stiff?” Jaime eyed my hands.
“Yes, a bit. I had forgotten what it felt like to work bent over all day,” I said as I stretched my back.
“Don't take this the wrong way, but I can help with that.” He gazed at me before adding. “Being a football player, we had to learn to keep our muscles stretched out.”
I had told myself I would try and be more open.
“Okay. What did you have in mind?”
He put his hands in his pockets gazing at the floor. “Umm, you would have to come to my room.”
I tensed and stepped away. He came toward me bringing his hands up in front of him.
“No, no, not that. I have this cream that will soothe sore muscles. It’s in my room.” A sheepish smile creased his mouth.
“Oh,” I said in a whisper.
We walked to the stairs. Jaime gestured for me to go first. All the while, I could feel his eyes on my back. My stomach twisted in an odd sensation again, like a tickle and also like I wanted to throw up. Steeping into the kitchen, it was empty. I could hear some of the others in the living room watching a movie. Walking pa
st the living room, I saw my sister, Gracie, Peggy Sue, and Buck as my eyes darted around looking for Tiffany. No one noticed us, and Tiffany was not there. I prayed we would not run into her. She was the last person I wanted to encounter when I was tired. Rounding to the stairs, Jaime walked next to me going up. His hand brushed mine. I wanted to take his hand, but I was still too shy. When we reached his room, he opened the door for me. His room was not as I expected a jock’s to be. I expected a smelly locker room with clothes strewn about. What I found was a clean room that smelled of the woods. His dark bed frame sat in a corner, a desk next to the bed with a laptop and a few papers, a few other furnishings, and on the ceiling origami stars hung down in all colors and shapes. He must have seen my gaze on the ceiling.
“I have always enjoyed making things with my hands. You can say it’s a hobby,” he smiled, closing the door.
The click of the door brought me back to reality. I was in a boy’s room alone, an exceedingly handsome boy. He passed me going to the bedside table, opening a drawer, and coming out with a tube.
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