Contagious (2 page)

While it wasn’t my first weapon of choice, it worked. The guy was stunned, giving me enough time to knee him in the balls and roll away from him. I sprung up and kicked him hard in the side, immobilizing him long enough for the cop to recover his assailant. I backed away, my vision fading. A strong hand caught me just as I passed out. I remember seeing his big, blue eyes and his mouth moving, but I couldn’t recall what he said.

I came to in an exam room. My purse and notebook were on a chair next to the hard, foam bed. Stiffly, I sat up, gathered my things and opened the door.

“
Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” a deep male voice asked in an alluring Irish accent.

I spun around, not a smart move at the moment. Blood rushed to my head and I felt dizzy again. The doctor with the pretty blue eyes put his arm out, thinking I’d faint again, but I held my ground. He led me back into the room. After I was lying on the uncomfortable bed, he said,

“
You were just in here a few weeks ago for surgery, right?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Appendectomy?”

“
Yep.”

He carefully touched my side. “Does this hurt?”

“
I just had my stomach sliced open and part of my guts ripped out. Of course it hurts.”

He laughed. “Does it hurt anymore than it did before you fell?”

“
No.” I sat up. “It hurt before then too. But my back didn’t.”

“
You seem to be healing fast,” he said, as he inspected the incision site. “But I’d still like to run some more tests and do a CT scan to make sure the fall didn’t damage you. You could be bleeding internally.” He looked into my eyes. “Did you hit your head?”

“
Uh, yeah, I think.” It happened so fast. The guy diving down a flight of stairs. The blood, the primal growls rumbling in his throat. There was something else, too. It was in his eyes, well, kind of. It was more like there
wasn’t
something in his eyes. It was as if all the humanity was gone and all that was left was raw, animal instinct. I forced a half smile. That was a stupid thing to think. There is no way I could tell all that from the two seconds I had to look at the maniac. “What was with that guy?”

“
I’m not really sure,” Dr. Blue Eyes said, looking at the floor. He was lying. “Why don’t you change into a gown and I’ll get you set up for a scan right away.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. He filled a Dixie cup with water from a bottle and handed me the pills. He closed the door and left. Assuming the pills were a strong pain killer, I popped them in my mouth, willing them to take effect right away. I carefully folded my clothes on the chair and put on the stupid gown. At least this gown was more substantial than the last one.

To keep from feeling freaked out, I rummaged through the drawers to find paper towels. Using hand sanitizer, I cleaned the drying bodily fluids from the notebook. When I was satisfied it was clean enough, I sat back down and opened it, flipping nostalgically through the pages.

Someone screamed.

It startled me, and I jumped. The quick movements hurt my recovering abdomen. Another scream was followed by a loud bang. Half tempted to get up and see what was going on, I reminded myself that this was a hospital and screaming probably wasn’t uncommon.

I turned to the first page in my notebook, smiling at what I was reading. I was starting to feel kind of sleepy from the pills; my mind felt at ease and my muscles were relaxed. Then, all of the sudden, something clattered to the floor outside the door. Someone screamed again: a long, a harrowing, horror movie scream. Then a gun fired.

My blood ran cold. What the hell? I gripped the notebook tight and swallowed. The screaming started again, this time coming from multiple people. Three consecutive gun shots put an end to their shouts. I heard more panicked shouts as people ran up and down the hall. What sounded like heavy objects clattered to the floor. I tossed the notebook to the side and carefully put my legs over the edge of the bed. Slowly, I inched toward the door.

Something thrust against it and I jumped. Pain radiated through my side and I feared I had ripped my stitches out. I smelled it before the high pitched beeping confirmed it: smoke. I needed to get out, even if it meant facing what was out there. I grabbed the cold, metal, round knob and twisted. The door didn’t open; something had fallen in front of it, blocking its path. I was locked in. Smoke billowed in from the vents. Panic rose in my chest. Desperately, I slammed my body against the door. Every move hurt but I needed to get out of this room if I wanted to live. Again and again, I tried forcing the door open. My vision blurred. My legs buckled. “Fuck,” I swore, wishing I hadn’t taken the pain pills. Then I lost consciousness.

It was the emergency sirens that woke me up. I sat up, a migraine threatening to form, and realized I wasn’t in the exam room anymore. I was in what looked like a basement, laid on a cot on the floor. Two backup flood lights were the only source of illumination. I was surrounded by many other people, patients by the looks of it. Children cried right along with the howling of the sirens. I ran my hands through my hair trying to make sense of what was happening.

It was bad, that much I could tell. That was as far as I got, however, since the medicine still poisoned my veins. Then I saw him, looking all calm and professional in his scrubs and lab coat. A fire burned inside me, fueling my ability to get up. I attempted to angrily march over to Dr. Blue Eyes but staggered along the way.

“
You!” I shouted. “You drugged me! What the hell is going on! What are you doing to us?”

Alarmed, he rose up and move away from the crying girl he was soothing. “Calm down, it’ll be ok.” He put his hand on my arm. I jerked it away and shoved him.

“
Be ok? What, after you surgically attach us to each other? Yeah, I’ve seen the
Human Centipede
you creep!”

He took hold of my arms. I tried to fight him off I but was too weak. My head pounded and any force hurt my side.

“
Calm down and I’ll explain,” he whispered. “You’re scaring everyone more than they already are.”

“
They should be scared. He’s trying to kill us!” I shouted, able to break free from his hold. “He’s going to kill us!”

“
Quiet! They’ll hear you!”

“
Good! Hey! HEY!” I screamed, hoping someone would hear me. The exit sign loomed ahead like a mirage. If only I could get out, maybe I could get help. Come back and save everyone. Dr. Blue Eyes grabbed me again, this time with more force. He held me back, telling me to calm down over and over. Still, I fought. I might be weak and drugged to all hell, but I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“
I’m sorry,” he said, not meeting my eyes.

Then I felt the needle pierce my skin.

Once again, I woke up from a drug induced sleep. This time, I woke up in restraints. It wasn’t the first time it’s happened, but this was very different than my wild night with Danny Merdock. A young nurse sat on the floor several feet in front of me. She hugged her knees, slowly rocking back and forth.

“
Hello,” I croaked.

She turned, tears streaming down her face
.

“
What…what is happening?” I managed to ask.

She shook her head. “‘And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.’” She turned away and went back to rocking.

Ok, not much help there. I pulled against the restraints, noticing for the first time that I was hooked up to an IV. How long was I out? Something moved next to me. I turned to see a small set of green eyes staring at me.

“
Can I help you?” I asked the girl. She had to be no older than ten.

“
I’ve been waiting for you to wake up,” she told me. She clutched a stuffed animal close to her chest. Her ears were pierced; pink sapphires barely glinted in the dull light. Her hair and eyebrows were gone and she was very frail.

“
Why?”

“
You seem strong. I think you can save us.”

“
Maybe. You need to undo these buckles for me, though. Then I’ll get us out of here,” I lied.

“
I don’t want to leave here.”

“
Why?” I asked again.

“
We’re safe here!” she whispered.

“
Safe? Safe from what?”

“
The monsters.” She looked around nervously. Heavy footfalls made her squeal and dart away.

A shadow fell over my bed. “You’re not going to attack me again, are you?” There was no mistaking that Irish accent.

“
Obviously not,” I retorted.

“
Promise and I’ll let you go.”

“
Why, so you can drug me again?” I asked.

“
I don’t want to hurt you,” he said and almost sounded honest.

“
Please. Then why else am I trapped in a basement tied to a bed?”

“
Let me explain,” he said gently.

“
Explain away.”

He sat at the foot of my small bed. “I’m sure you’ve noticed the violence.” He didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “There are—were—some things about it that we doctors were aware of that you—the public- weren’t. The Center for Disease Control asked us to keep it quiet. They didn’t want anyone to panic. They said they’d get it under control…”

“
Will you get to the point?”

“
The point is that the violence is caused by a virus.”

I wished I could sit up and dubiously stare down Dr. Blue Eyes. I wasn’t buying his bullshit. “A virus?”

“
Yes.” He twisted so he could look me in the eye. “Have you ever heard of Phineas Gage?”

“
Yeah,” I said, getting a flashback to Psych 101. “The guy that got the railroad spike blown through his head.”

“
Good. And do you remember what was so significant about him?”

“
Uh, he lived?”

“
True, but the damage to his brain caused his personality to change.”

“
Ok, I remember that part. What does this have to do with anything?”

“
The virus. It causes damage to the frontal lobes—”

“—
And then people go crazy.”

“
Right.”

“
Holy shit.” Blue Shirt, the guy on the stairs… “Ok, but why am I down here?” I still hadn’t fully decided to believe this crazy story yet.

“
This is the part I’m sorry about.” He cast his eyes down. “We’re safe down here. Everyone else left.”

“
Why would they leave?” As the words slipped from my lips, I realized the answer. If there really was some crazy-making virus, everyone would leave. It would be mass panic, just like in the movies. “Never mind.”

“
I’m Padraic Sheehan,” he said, getting up and unbuckling the restraints. In a swift jerk, the IV was pulled from my vein.

“
Orissa.” I sat up and rubbed my wrists, examining the room. We were definitely in a basement. There were several beds, a few cots, and mostly blankets scattered around the room. Old medical supplies, broken wheel chairs, and dusty boxes cluttered the already crowded room. The people occupying the make-shift beds were ragged, to say the least. A handful were hooked up to machines, many were bandaged and others looked too old to move. Over in the corner, a couple sat huddled together, holding their new baby. I got why we were here. “Why didn’t you leave?”

Padraic smiled softly. “I couldn’t leave my patients,” he said. An old man a few beds down from me started wheezing. Padraic got up and hurried over, doing his best to soothe the man’s pain. Trying to fathom what little information I had been given, I ran my eyes over every single person in the room. There seemed to be one other doctor: an old, gray haired woman who fell into the ‘too old to run’ category and three nurses. I counted forty-seven patients, including myself and excluding the baby.

The little girl was back. She set her stuffed cat on my bed and stared at me again.

“
I’m Zoe,” she told me.

“
Hi Zoe. I’m Orissa.”

“
That’s a pretty name,” she said, climbing up on my bed.

I shrugged. “It’s a city in India.”

“
Where you born there?”

“
Nope. Conceived there.”

“
What does that mean?”

“
It means my parents were in India when—you know what, never mind. You’ll figure it out when you’re older.”

“
You don’t look sick.”

“
I’m not, not really, I guess. I had my appendix taken out.”

“
That sounds like it hurt.”

“
Nah, it wasn’t so bad,” I promised.

“
Did your mommy and daddy leave you too?” she asked. She walked her cat up and down the bed.

“
They left a long time ago.” Well, that was partially true. It was really my decision to stay behind. “Zoe, have you seen the monsters?”

She nodded and hugged her cat.

“
Can you tell me what they look like?” I asked gently.

“
They look like people, ‘cuz that’s what they are. But they want to eat your brains.”

“
Oh, thanks.” This kid has obviously seen too many horror movies. I needed to talk to an adult, preferably one who’d seen the ‘monsters’. I also needed my clothes.

A middle aged woman walked over to us. She was dressed in pink scrub pants and a butterfly patterned shirt.