WorldLost- Week 1: An Infected Novel (6 page)

Amy got up and moved to the sliding glass door to her
balcony. She used the curtain to wipe the blood and gore off her hands. It was
dried and she couldn't wipe it off, but she kept trying.

I walked up behind her and took her hands and led her to the
kitchen. Using the water from the sink, we cleaned off her hands and forearms. I
used a towel to wipe off the blood from her face.

“I was stunned and didn’t know what to do, 911 was a bust,
the news said to stay put and from the video I saw, it didn’t look safe to be
on the street. As I was waiting I started to hear all kinds of screams in the
apartment complex. I just couldn’t take it, I shut and locked my bedroom door
and that’s when I texted you.” She turned to me and hugged me, placing her head
on my shoulder. “I didn’t know what else to do.” she cried.

I held her for a while, telling her everything would be ok,
which I didn’t think was true, but it was something she needed to hear.

Really, it was something I needed to hear.

I got Amy to sit down on the couch and relax. I couldn’t
stand looking at Mike lying on the floor, so I moved him from the living room,
out to the balcony. I figured, outside would be best, just in case something
weird happened. Not that this wasn’t weird, but who knew what else we were in store
for.

I also moved the other neighbor lying in the hallway and
placed him on the balcony. We didn’t need any dead bodies in the apartment.

“Amy, are you ok with me moving Shelby’s body out to the
balcony?” I asked her.

“Just close the bedroom door, there’s nothing in there I want
anymore.” She replied as she drank the remaining wine.

I went to the bedroom and wrapped Shelby up in the comforter.
I grabbed a change of clothes for Amy and a gym bag for other supplies. I hoped
we wouldn’t have to go back into the room again.

I sat down next to Amy and flipped on the TV to see if any of
the channels had any news playing. I pulled out my phone and checked for any
new messages or missed calls. Butch had texted me while I was on my little
adventure to Amy’s.

“Dude, I’m heading to Amy’s, she needs our help.” he wrote. I
hoped he was ok and just got a later start than I had.

CNN was still on the air and was reporting that this was a
global event and that China, England, and France had gone dark. Communications
systems were failing all over the world, reports of the virus were coming in
from the countries still actively online.

So they were calling this a virus now. They didn’t have clue
the last time I had checked the news.

The news was now reporting that the virus was a strain of the
flu vaccine that was made this year. Something had gone wrong the vaccine and
people were having adverse reactions. Some of the initial reports were that
people were passing away shortly after receiving the vaccine, but then in a
very short time later they started to come back to life, but they would attack
other people, biting them and tearing them apart.

The vaccine had been shipped around the world over the last couple
of months and an estimated 42 million people had already received the vaccine
in the US alone. Some reports had people dying and reanimating faster than
others. Sources believed that those people who were predisposed to catch the
flu turned quicker than those who had some natural immunity.

In most cases, once the individual turned, they were
extremely slow, like they were disorientated and seemed to be like a newborn
calf. They weren’t sure-footed or fully aware of their surroundings and
couldn’t speak to others.

Once they had their first bite of another human and ate the
flesh, they seemed to wake up. They became faster, more aware and started the moaning
I had heard all day during my adventure to Amy’s.

There were reports that the infected had improved hearing, better
eye site and their sense of smell was heightened. The amount of damage to their
bodies impacted their ability to “hunt”.

The news was actually calling a hunt. Really?

The infected were ‘hunting’ those that had not been infected.
It was like they had a need to spread the virus to as many people as they
could. When they found their prey they would bite and spread the virus.

The mutated flu virus seemed to not care if the person it was
infecting was predisposed to the flu or immune to it. Everyone was despicable
to the virus, no one was going to be safe.

After hearing this on the news, Amy and I looked at each other
and asked if the other had gotten a flu shot this year. Neither of us had
gotten one, so we figured that we should be safe unless we were bitten.

The news continued to feed us with the same information and continued
to provide us with grizzly images from around the world of people chasing other
people, attacking them and eating them.

They reported that the President and his staff were safe in
some bunker in Virginia and that Cheyenne Mountain was locked down.

All air travel was suspended. Emergency teams and the
military were trying to respond, trying to get the spread of the virus under
control. They were setting up safe zones at military bases, hospitals, and
schools.

I got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to see what
we had for food and other useful items. My stomach was beginning to complain
since I hadn’t had anything of substance since last night.

Amy spoke from the living room area. ”When Shelby turned on
me, she tried to bite me. I had her in the blankets and was able to use them to
control her movements. I had her wrapped up to help with the chills she was
having and I just kept the sheet wrapped around her once she tried to bite me. It
was weird, she all of sudden woke up, looked around the room, just like they
are saying on the news, disorientated, not sure where she was. Then she locked
onto me. I was moving towards her because she was awake, but she didn’t have a
clue it was me, it wasn’t even Shelby anymore, it was a monster.”

“I’m sorry that happened that you had to deal with such a horrific
situation like that. I can’t even imagine how you got through it. I haven’t
been able to bring myself to defend myself, to fight back, let alone kill one
of them. I just run and hide.”

Amy continued as if she hadn’t even heard me. “I remembered
how Shelby hit Mike on the head and somehow I knew I had to do something like
that to her. I knew deep down that this ‘thing’ trying to bite me wasn’t Shelby
anymore, so I grabbed my fingernail file
off of
my makeup table, threw Shelby to the ground on her back and jammed the file
into her eye. It went straight through her eye and into her brain. I screamed
when I did it but I knew I had to do it. She would have bitten me and I would
have become one of them.”

“I cried for a long time after that, holding her, knowing I
wouldn’t ever wake up next her, never having a laugh with her, there would be
no more her. There is no tomorrow anymore.”

No tomorrow? There would be a tomorrow I thought, but what
would it look like?

She stopped talking and stared at the TV, not really taking
what was being said, just zoning out. Completely forgetting that I was there.

I got up and went into the kitchen to see if there were
things we could use for survival, to defend ourselves. I was looking through
her cabinets pulling things out that we could use. I pulled out mixing bowls to
hold water, knives for defense, a meat cleaver, anything I could find.

Shit, could you use a cheese grater to defend yourself?

Amy wasn’t into cooking, she was a well-known connoisseur the
various restaurants around her apartment building. She spent a good deal of
time eating at the club she managed. Her kitchen supplies were limited, but she
had a meat cleaver, go figure.

Because of the bar, she had a lot of booze, so if we wanted
to make some drinks we could, but I figured that this wasn’t the time to drunk.

I did grab a bottle of vodka to put it in the gym bag I had
grabbed from her bedroom. I knew I’d need a drink at some point, might as well
be prepared.

Since Amy had limited supplies, it would mean we would need
to to find supplies before we left her apartment. I was pretty sure the floor
that she lived on was no free of the infected, but the thought of leaving the
apartment was terrifying to me.

I also didn’t think that Amy’s apartment was a good long term
place to hang out since we had dead bodies on the balcony and in the bedroom,
so the smell would be a problem sooner than later. Summertime and dead bodies
didn’t end well.

“Amy, let’s plan to spend the rest of today here and see if
Butch makes it. Then we can head out tomorrow morning and find a better place
to wait this out.” I said from the kitchen. “I think we should get out of the
city, way too many of these infected around. We need to find somewhere remote
and isolated. Something we can defend. Somewhere secluded and safe.” I was
starting to get an idea of someplace that would be safe and we could hold out
while things settled down.

“Ok.” was the only response I got from her.

She laid her head down on the couch pillow and closed her
eyes. I knew, from the story she had told me, that she hadn’t slept since
yesterday morning and I’m sure the two bottles of wine had taken its toll on
her.

·
        
I continued to search Amy’s
kitchen, looking for something to eat. I found some left Indian food in her
refrigerator and used the microwave to warm it up. My stomach grumbled at the
smell of the chili peppers, the sweet cinnamon, coriander, cumin and ginger and
my mouth started to water as the leftovers heated up. After a night out
drinking, I loved some hot Indian food with the spices that would help to
settle my stomach and soul.

I grabbed the food from the microwave and started to shovel
it into my mouth. It was delicious….the best I had ever had. Maybe running from
the infected put your taste buds in a heightened state of awareness.

After eating the leftovers, I found a blanket in the hallway
closet and covered Amy up so she could sleep the wine off.

I decided it might be good for me to start checking out the
other apartments. Maybe they would have some supplies we could use.

I headed out of the apartment which wasn’t something I really
wanted to do, but it had to be done. The longer we waited the less chance we
might find things we could use.

Before leaving, I wrote a short note for Amy, in case she
woke up and wondered where I was. I grabbed her apartment keys so I could lock
the door behind me and my unused bat that I had been carrying around all day. I
moved the couch in front of the door a little so I could squeeze out the door
and I quietly shut the door and locked it.

Having not been to the other side of the 2
^nd
-floor
apartments, I thought it might be good to see what the other side of the floor
looked like.

I moved to the left of Amy’s apartment and stopped at the
first door. This was Mike’s apartment and I knew Mike was currently on Amy’s
balcony, chilling. I was pretty sure it might be good to check his place out.
The chances of running into a problem were pretty low.

The door knob turned without resistance and the door opened
to an empty apartment. Mike was single, so another person in the apartment was
unlikely, but I was cautious anyway. All the time we had known Mike, he hadn’t
introduced us to anyone special. I kind of figured he was into Amy and was just
waiting for a chance. After walking in, I closed Mike’s front door and walked
into the living room.

Mike’s place was pretty clean, considering that at some point
he had been infected. There wasn’t blood anywhere or any sign of a struggle.

I looked in the other rooms of the apartment but found
nothing of interest. Basically a single guys apartment. Mike’s place was a
typical guy's place, simple furnishings, not a lot on the walls, but the one
thing Mike had that might be of use was a set of samurai swords hanging above
his couch.

I grabbed those and sat them next to the front door. Weapons
would be handy, so anything I found might be worth taking.

I went into his kitchen and started to search through his
cabinets. I found tuna, baked beans, and top ramen. His refrigerator had
bottled water and two packages of steaks. I placed everything in the gym bag I
had gotten from Amy’s and moved into his bathroom. Again, a typical guy’s
apartment, the bathroom needed to be cleaned. Who was I to complain, though; my
own bathroom was left with puke all over the wall.

I found a first aid kit, cool, and some antibiotics that
might be useful.

In Mike’s bedroom, I found a .45 caliber pistol and a box of
shells next to his bed. They went into the gym bag also.

I took another sweep through the apartment but didn’t find
anything more of use. I grabbed the gym bag of supplies, picked up the swords
and headed back into the hallway.

I opened Amy’s door with the keys and dropped the items onto
the couch behind the front door. I was sure it was best to stash them before looking
for more supplies. I was right there, so no big deal.

Looking down the hallway, next door to Mike’s place, there were
two more apartments with their doors shut. I tried the handle of the first door
but it was locked.

The second door was locked to and I was pretty sure at this
point that most doors that were closed meant that people were either not home
or were locked in for the duration. It was a weekday and I assumed most people were
just getting to work or on their way when the worst of the problems had
happened. Chances were they would not be back if they had been out.

I made my way to the end of the hallway and looked around the
corner. There were five doors which were all shut. I moved forward and tried
each one. Of course, they were all locked. The good news was that I didn’t hear
anything from behind the closed doors. Once Amy was up, maybe we could break
into a few of the apartments and grab the things that might help us get out of
the city.

I found myself back at the elevator which meant that I had finished
a complete walk around the 2
^nd
-floor of the building. I turned the
corner to the elevators and headed back the way I had originally come. I was planning
to stop in the three apartments that I had seen the door open. At this point, I
was pretty certain that Amy and I were the only ones on this floor.

As I walked past the elevator, I heard it starting to head up.
I stepped to the side of the doors and waited, just in case it stopped on the 2
^nd
-floor.

It did stop and after the ding of the elevator bell, the door’s
opened. No one came out, so I stepped in front of the doors and looked inside.
I found Butch on the elevator floor with a petite woman on top of him. Butch
had his forearm stuck under her neck trying to keep her snapping jaws from his
face.

“A little help, Dude,” Butch screamed. I could see that Butch
was trying to reach a hunting knife on the other side of the compartment.

I grabbed the women around the waist and with all of my strength
lifted her off of Butch and threw her out of the elevator. I turned around to
help Butch up as the doors to the elevator closed heading further up to god
only knew what.

Butch was on his feet and punched the fourth-floor button. “There’s
no telling who or what pushed the up button. It would be best if we get out
before we find out.” He stated as he picked up his knife, winked and smiled at
me.

“Your girlfriend seemed a little into you there, you sure you
needed my help?” I laughed as the elevator came to a stop and we both moved to
the sides of the car as the doors opened. Thankfully, nothing came running in,
so we both moved out of the elevator and look down the hallway in both
directions. “We should take the stairs back down. I bet your girlfriend is
waiting patiently at the elevator doors for you to return.”

“Not funny, dude, but you might have something there. Let’s
hit the stairs.” He whispered as he headed towards the door to the stairs.

I quickly followed him to the stairwell entrance and we
headed down to the 2
^nd
-floor. We slowly made our way to the second
floor and stopped to listen. “We should come up with a plan,” I whispered.

“What do you have in mind?” Butch asked.

“This door is right by the corner opposite of the elevator.
Maybe one of us should try to sneak out and hide around the corner. Then the
other can open the door and get her attention. Then close the door. That will
draw her over to the stairwell and while she is trying to get in, the other one
could sneak up on her and take care of business.”

“Ok. Sounds like a plan. Which do you want, be the bait or
the killer?”  Butch asked.

I really didn’t have any desire to kill the infected, even if
they were already dead. I decided to be the bait.

I knew Butch would have zero problems killing them. He lived
on a farm growing up and was taught at a young age how to quickly kill
something.

Is that what I thought of these poor souls, that they were
just something like a farm animal?

We opened the stairwell door and Butch moved out, heading around
the corner. Thankfully there was carpet on the floor which helped to hide his movement.
Butch pulled out his knife after making it around the corner and stood ready to
finish off his girlfriend. He flashed me a thumbs up and another wink and
smile.

Smug son of a bitch.

I gave him the one finger salute and said out loud. “Hey good
looking, I got what you need right here. Let’s have some fun. ”

Butch had to hold back a laugh. I’m sure I looked like a
frightened little baby and not some guy with swagger.

The infected woman moaned, turned at the sound of my voice
and started to speed walk towards the stairwell door. She was pretty fast and I
wondered how long she had been this way. I estimated she had been turned about four
hours based on what we had heard on the news.

I waited too long to close the door because I wanted to make
sure she was totally focused on me to give Butch as much of a chance as
possible. She turned out to be much stronger than I thought for such a small
woman and she slammed the door back into me causing me to fall back against the
wall with the door blocking her access to me. I dropped the bat as I tried to
hold the door pulled tight so she couldn’t get to me.

Butch ran up from behind and used his knife to end her life.
It was quick and there was a ton of blood. “You’re clear, dude,” Butch whispered
as he stepped into the hallway and wiped his knife off on the blouse of the
dead woman. He helped me up and we stepped into the hallway closing the door
behind us.

“Thanks. She was stronger than she looked and caught me by
surprise on how quick she was.”

“Ha, are you sure you’re just not weaker than we knew. The
look on your face was priceless. I’m surprised you didn’t scream like a little
bitch.” He laughed and started walking to the elevator doors.

“What are you doing?”

He turned to me, “We need to shut this elevator down so
nothing can use it and we should think about locking or blocking the stairway
door till we know what our plan is.” He turned back around and continued to
walk to the elevator. “You said the floor was clear, so let’s keep it that
way.”

I followed him to the elevator door where he pushed the down
button. We stepped to the side and waited till the car arrive and the doors
opened. When nothing came out, he grabbed a chair sitting by a table near the doors
and blocked the elevator doors from being able to close all the way. “Now we
need to block the stairway door.” He said to me as he turned and headed back
the way we had come.

I followed him.

“Maybe we could find a couch or a dresser from one of the
open apartments?” I replied.

I headed towards the closet apartment next to the stairs with
its door open and walked in. We moved the couch we found in the living room out
of the apartment. I was a heavy couch with a hide a bed. This would be good as
it was heavier than a typical couch. We lifted the couch onto its side and
leaned it across the door opening.

Since the stairwell door opened inwards to the hallway, the
best we could do was to block the door access and hope we heard it being moved
as a warning. It might give us a few extra minutes to get out.

After placing the couch to block the stairway, we wondered
over to Amy’s place and went inside.