The Demented Z (Book 3): Contagion

Version 1.0

Copyright © 2015 Derek J. Thomas

All Rights Reserved. The Demented: Contagion is an original work of
fiction. All characters and concepts are solely owned by Derek J. Thomas. Names,
characters, places, concepts, and events are the product of the author’s
imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to events or actual persons
living or dead is entirely coincidental.

This book is dedicated to Elgin High School in Elgin, Oregon.

The red blood stood in stark contrast to the brilliant white
snow. Liquid life continued to seep out of
the large wound, pouring across the snow, eating away at the frozen
crystals. A rising cloud of moist breath
lingered in the air above a pair of dark nostrils before the lungs let out one
final puff. A few last leg twitches and
then the body went eternally still.

Tom never liked to see an animal suffer and he was glad his
aim was true. The lung shot went clean
through, quickly sapping the deer of life.  
The small buck had barely made two steps before falling to the snow where
it now remained. Its emaciated body was
a testament to how afraid animals were to be down in the valleys where food was
much more plentiful. Each deer Tom got
for his family was thinner and thinner.  
He would be lucky to get a useable forty pounds of meat.

Already dreading the hike, he pulled his face away from the
rifle scope and began gathering his gear.  
Dark would be coming on soon and it would take some time to clean up the
deer and pack it back to the cabin.  
After he shouldered his rifle and ruck, the slow trudge through the deep
snow began its rapid energy drain.

The 300 yard shot had looked deceivingly close.
  The hike required a drop of nearly 200
vertical feet into a ragged ravine, followed by the tedious climb back up the
other side. A rocky outcropping sat just
below the deer’s body. This is where Tom
now stood with one boot up on a medium sized boulder, trying to catch his
breath. He remained in decent shape, but
climbing through deep snow really sapped it out of him.

While standing there he thought he heard something.
  He surveyed all around him, but found only
flat white snow and gray rocks. It had
sounded like rocks rubbing against each other.  
No wind
.
 
Maybe
the sun was warming rocks, beginning to melt some of the snow, forming voids
that rocks would shift into.
He
pulled his binoculars and took a slow sweep around.
  Nothing.
  In the mountains sounds could echo for
miles. He still felt uneasy.
  A sense of dread he couldn’t quite shake.

One look at the sun, barely clinging to life above the
mountains to the West, reminded Tom he better move.

  He swiftly made the
last of the climb and began working on the deer.
  This was the part he didn’t like and no
matter how many times he did it, it never got better.
  His hands were freezing and the warm innards
were little comfort. He occasionally
paused to check all around him. To
survive in this new world, where everything was out to get you, required
constant vigilance. Caution hopefully
bought you another day. Recklessness surely
bought you never ending rest.

It was just as he was placing the last quarter into his pack
that he saw movement in the ravine below.
  A dark form was working through the rocks,
climbing steadily up the mountain.
Has Hank finally returned?
 
Tom pulled his binoculars to get a better
look. The figure was dressed in thick
winter garb and had a hood pulled up over his head, hiding his identity in dark
shadow.
Not Hank
. He continued to
squint into the binoculars.
Who then?

Darkness was beginning to fill the ravine.
  A quick glance at the fading sun let Tom know
there was less than an hour of light remaining.  
Even with no rest, it would take that long just to get back to the
cabin. He put away his binoculars and
shouldered the heavy pack. Rifle in
hand, he began side-hilling to where the ravine carved between the two
hillsides.

Rather than point his rifle directly at the approaching figure,
Tom kept it at low ready, knowing he could quickly bring it to bear if needed.
  The person was making fast, confident work of
the steep terrain.

“That’s close enough.  
Let’s hold up right there.” Tom
shouted when the figure was within a dozen paces.
  The figure pulled to a stop and looked up at
him. Tom was surprised to see a woman’s
face under the shadowed hood.

She didn’t seem at all surprised by his command.
  “Hank sent me.”
  Was all she said, and that was enough.

Those three words hit Tom hard.
  He was both relieved to know Hank was alive,
but also a weight sunk to the pit of his stomach.
 
Why was
it not him returning?
It had been
nearly a week since he left on a scouting trip.  
Food, supplies, and information were his goals; none of them should have
taken more than a few days.

“Are you armed?” Tom
asked, already knowing that she had a rifle slung on her back.

“I have Rudy on my back and Jerry on my hip.”

Named
her guns…weird.
  I guess we’re all weird these days.
  He was glad for her honesty.
  “Come on up.”  
He glanced around. The light was
quickly fading and the temperature was dropping rapidly.
  “We need to hustle.”

As she neared, he said, “I’m Tom, but I have a feeling you
already knew that.”     He was surprised
to see her up close. She was much too
young and beautiful for this rugged world, probably in her early twenties,
although Tom was terrible with ages.

“I did. We can talk
once we reach shelter.”

Tom hesitated for a bit, expecting her to say something
further. When she didn’t he said, “At
least tell me what is going on.”

“I will, I just don’t want to get caught out here at
dark.” She said while beginning to walk
past Tom.

He reached out, placing an arm in her path.
  “Hold on.  
You have to understand. My family
is back there and I’m not taking someone I don’t even know back to them without
knowing what is going on.”

She paused, thinking.  
After a moment she turned to Tom and nodded her head in
understanding. “Hank’s in
quarantine. Said you
would know what to do.”

“What…what do you…why?”  
Tom stammered, unable to decide which question to ask first.

She reached out and rested a hand on Tom’s shoulder.
  “I will tell you everything, but we have to
get out of the open.”

Tom couldn’t argue with this, having been a survival trainer
he knew that hypothermia could kill just as easily as the demented.
  “This way.”

******

Because of the fading light, it took a little more than an
hour for them to reach the cabin. Up on
the flat they could just make out the soft glow of candlelight in the cabin
windows. As they approached, Tom could
see Kelly pacing back and forth inside.  
Occasionally she would pause and try to peer out one of the windows.

Before Tom even made it partway through the front door,
Kelly ran over, wrapping her arms around him.  
“I was so worried. You’re never
out past dark.”

Despite the cold outside, Tom was sweating from exertion,
and the heat coming off the wood stove hit him like a blast furnace.
  “I know.  
I’m sorry.” He stepped further
into the room, making space for his new friend.

“Sam is getting worse, he…”  
Kelly stopped when she saw the girl behind Tom.
  Creased lines of worry crossed her face.
  She knew company would not be good.
  “Come on in hun , it’s
freezing out there.” She stepped over to
the small kitchen table and began tidying up the few items on it.
  “You need anything?
  I can warm some water on the stove.”

Tom and the girl began stripping off their heavy winter
clothes.

“Just water would be great.”  
The girl said.

“I’m Kelly.”

“Hannah.”

“I bagged some food…a small deer.”
  Tom said while pointing back to the front
door. “Left it out on
the porch.”

Kelly headed for the door.  
“Good job…boy did we need that. I
will start cutting and wrapping while you two talk.”

Tom pulled out a wooden chair and then moved to the other
side of the table and pulled out his own chair.  
“Old fire watch cabin…back when they used such a thing.”
  He said while sitting down.
  He looked around.
  “Not much, but the view is great.”

“Any view that lacks infected is great in my book.”
  Hannah said.  
She took the seat Tom pulled out and said, “Hank said you guys have been
isolated since their return. How much do
you know?”

Tom knew exactly who she meant by “their” return.
  “Not much.”  
He sat looking up at the ceiling, thinking back.
  “The spray…the choppers sprayed for a couple
weeks. Must have been two,
three days that we didn’t see any.  
Any we did see seemed dead.” Tom
shook his head. “We thought they were
done. Should have
burned ‘em all.
  When they came back we headed for the
hills. Been up here ever since,
scrapin’ for food, but like you said, no infected.”

“So you haven’t heard about the spread. It got lots
worse. Nobody knows what was in the
spray, but after they came back it became contagious.”

“What…what do you mean?”

Hannah replied, “It spreads…the rage spreads.”

Tom sat forward in his chair.
  “Contact or air?”

“Difficult to say.
  Fluid to fluid contact for
sure. People have been bitten,
others have turned but nobody knows the level of contact.
  Takes anywhere from a day
to a week for them to get a high fever.  
Once the fever hits they turn in less than twenty four hours.”

Tom sat back, letting out a huge sigh.
  He shook his head and said, “Demented or the slow
ones?”

“Most call the slow ones undead or walkers.”
  She glanced over at Kelly working at the
kitchen counter. “Anyway,
both.”

  “How can that even
happen?”

“That’s why I’m here.  
Hank said you’d know.”

Tom let out a nervous laugh.  
“Like I said, I’ve been up here since the spraying.
  I didn’t even know it was contagious until
now, how would…” He hesitated for a bit,
thinking. “I do know one thing…where the spray came from.”

“Let’s start there.”  
She glanced at the dark kitchen window.  
“We’ll have to wait until morning.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…I can’t go with you.”
  He looked over at Kelly.
  “I’ve left these guys before, thinking I
could make a difference. All it did was
get people killed and put my family in danger.”

“I…we could really use your help.”

“I made a mess of things.  
I was a mountain man, expedition trainer…not a combat expert.
  I taught people how to find food, make a
shelter, stuff like that.”

“That’s not what Hank said.”

“He’s crazy. If you
wanted to make it in the Rockies or…or the Himalayas, I’m your man, but this
stuff…” Tom looked around with his arms
held out. “Sorry, but I am not a zombie
survival expert. You need an ex-Seal or
Delta guy or any other flavor of military hotshot.”

“We’ve got a couple of those.
  We need you…you find a way, at least that’s
what I’ve heard.”

“Find a way?” Tom let
out a low chuckle. “I found a way to get
people killed. I made a lot of
mistakes…many that cost lives.” Starting
to get choked up, he stood and moved over to the kitchen counter.
  “I think about things every day.
  All the changes I would make.
  All the decisions I would alter.
  Won’t bring anyone back…they’re gone because
of me.”

“Think about your future.”  
Hannah looked around the tiny kitchen.  
“Is this what you want for your family?   
If we don’t find a way to stop this there won’t be anything left.”

Nobody said anything.  
Only the sound of Kelly cutting at the deer could be heard.

After a couple long minutes, Hannah said, “Think about
it. I’m leaving in the morning.”

He nodded his head and then looked over to Kelly.
  “How is Sam doing?”

“His breathing has picked up…shallow and quick.
  Fever is about the same.”
  She said while continuing to work on the deer.

Hannah said, “Fever?  
Have you been around any infected?”

Both Kelly and Tom gave an emphatic “No.”

“He alright, some antibiotics would help.”
  Kelly added.

Tom stood in place, watching his wife work.
  They were everything to him and he couldn’t
imagine leaving them again, but he couldn’t imagine them living in this world
either. He looked back at Hannah.
    “I need
to think it over.”

“We could really use you.”  
Hannah said with a little more desperation than she meant.
  She needed this.
  She had never admitted it to anyone, but her
harrowing escape from Seattle was both the most terrifying and exhilarating
time in her life. After surviving those
intense days she never felt so alive.  
Since then the mediocrity of the day to day was not nearly enough.
  She had to do more than just survive.
  “The council wants action.”
  She finally said.

Council?
  Tom wondered, but let it be for now.
  “Hank, why isn’t Hank with you…you said
something about a quarantine, is he okay?”

“No visible signs of trauma.  
The council deemed it necessary when the scouts found him.”

******

Just like any other big decision, Tom and Kelly laid in bed
whispering back and forth, wanting to come to an agreement they could both
sleep on.

“I can’t leave you two.”  
Tom said.

“I know, but think of Sam growing up in this.”

“He’s already lost so much…his innocence…it haunts him.”

“His night terrors.
  Tears me up.”

“What I don’t get is why they need me?”

“What do you mean?”

  “Everyone seems to
think as an expedition trainer that I am somehow both prepared for zombies and
a combat expert. Zombies…seriously?
  I’m no good under pressure, quick stuff.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit honey.
  You’re a good man, you did what you thought
was right.”

“Do you think I should go?”