Olivia Marie - Virus

He didn’t say anything in return. Instead, he gripped the steering wheel tight and kept going. One of two moved out of the way, slapping the windows as we drove by. Others weren’t as smart. They tossed themselves on the hood of the car, trying to hold on, their pus and blood splattering on the car as Jake kept going. Most fell to the wayside, but not the boy. Not the boy that wanted to play ball.

The farther we drove, the people seemed to thin out. I couldn’t take my eyes off the little boy, still holding to the hood of the car. He stared at me through the windshield and every few seconds snapped his jaws like he was trying to take a chunk out of me through the glass. I didn’t need to tell Jake just how unsettling the boy was. He knew. Which was why he yanked the car around one of the curves in the road quickly and rolled the boy off the side. The bump I felt told me the back tire took the kid out. I didn’t need to look in the side mirror to see it. I could go the rest of my life without that memory.

We didn’t speak for a while. Night was rolling in and neither of us wanted to talk about what that could mean. Our plan had been the armory. It would be our best shot. The trick would be getting there, with so many of our townspeople infected and looking for something besides themselves to chew on.

“Viruses normally run their course,” Jake finally spoke, taking me by surprise. “It makes me wonder if those who are infected would survive if they weren’t gnawing themselves to death.”

I cut my eyes at him. I hadn’t thought about anything like that, and honestly didn’t want to. The idea of those I’d killed someday healing from this shit wasn’t something I needed to add to my list of nightmare fuel. Instead, I shrugged off his thought process. “I doubt it. I think this virus is one to take people out.”

“Natural selection at its finest, I suppose.”

“Do you think it’s natural? Could it be some kind of biological warfare we don’t know about?”

“That’s always a possibility. You can’t ever rule out things like that. I didn’t get a chance to hear about the rest of the world. I was so hell-bent on getting to the hospital and helping patients that I didn’t listen to the news.”

“The last thing I saw before Keith and Dad got so sick was the UK battling it too. I didn’t keep up with other countries having issues, or didn’t see it I should say.”

“If the UK was having issues, it’s safe to say more countries were. That means it wasn’t just us, and if it was biological, it was a huge attack.”

I watched his face. He didn’t seem impressed with the biological warfare thought. “You think it’s natural, don’t you?”

“Honestly, yes. Don’t you?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess it would be the greatest ‘fuck you’ to the world from Mother Nature possible.”

He looked at me, then laughed lightly. “I guess you’re right about that.”

“Now, here’s the really fun part of our adventure,” I told him with a slight smirk. “I need to pee.”

“I knew that was coming,” he answered with a shake of his head. “Especially since I could go myself. I’ll pull over, we’ll make a pit stop, and get back on the road in a jiffy.”

I didn’t buy the whole jiffy part of his statement. I was on crutches. I wouldn’t be doing anything fast, but when he pulled the car to the side of the road, my bladder started thanking him instantly.

We didn’t need a long discussion about how to do a bathroom break. He knew I would need help, and so did I. I wasn’t a fan of the idea, but I’d do whatever it took to get back in the car quicker. When he hurried around and started pulling me out of the door, I didn’t argue. Instead, I let him do it. “I should be good right here,” I told him indicating the car door. “It will give me something to hold to.”

“That works. I’ll step over there and be right back.”

I waited until he vanished behind the tree he’d pointed at before I slid the scrubs down and squatted. I held my bad leg out, holding to the door for help. I finished and reached into the car for a napkin I saw when I heard the growl erupt from where Jake had gone. I finished quickly, then pulled myself and my pants up. Just as I did, Jake came rushing out of the woods, a large bear right on his heels.

Being raised by hunters, I didn’t freak out at first. That is, not until I saw the bear’s side. It was eaten away by the virus. I could see its rib cage and its intestines as they threatened to spill onto the ground. He was a good-sized bear and wouldn’t be taken down by Jake’s hammer. I propped myself up on the car door and grabbed the shotgun. I only had two shots. I would need to get it in the head to do any real damage. I took aim, then yelled, “Jake, down.” The moment I saw him hit the ground I fired once, then twice, then prayed it had been enough to stop it.

I hit the ground hard just as the zoom of the bullet flew past me. I hoped she was as good a shot as she said she was, or I was in major trouble. That thing had the virus and it wasn’t going to go down easy.

I heard the grunt of the creature before the thud of him hitting the ground. He slid right next to me before stopping. I turned my head to look at him and held my breath. When his lungs filled and released, I figured he was done. Sitting up slowly, I kept my eyes on him as I made my way back to Cammy.

He jumped back up, looked at us, and then ran the other way. He almost made it back to the tree line before he collapsed for good. She had done it; she’d stopped that thing from eating me.

“That was a hell of a shot.”

“Thanks.” She teetered leaning against the car door with the gun still swinging in her hand.

“Here, let me help you.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Stop and let me. We have to get moving and now. That thing, as big as it was, wasn’t the full adult I’ve seen out here before.”

“I know. We got lucky it wasn’t. I only had two shots and I really doubt it would have taken the big one out as easily. You would have been bear bait for sure.”

“I guess the good part would be it would have been quicker than a human chewing at me. A few bites and it would have been done.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at the fact you almost died.”

“I didn’t almost die. You had it and I’m still here and untouched.”

“Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“If a bear got it, what’s to say other animals won’t? We can try to avoid people, but them and all of nature too? That is going to be impossible.”

“I don’t think impossible, but it will be a challenge. We don’t know enough about this to even say all animals will get it. We don’t even know how far this has spread or if there is anything they can do about it. All we can do is keep going and stick to our plan.”

“I know.”

I hated I couldn’t give her more answers, but she had the same information I did, and it wasn’t much. The one thing I saw from the CDC didn’t tell us anything we hadn’t already known. It was a nasty virus and it spread fast. I knew she was worried about all the animals that were in the thick forest that surrounded us. It was teaming with wildlife and not all of it was the cute and fuzzy kind. Not only bears but cougars, wolves, and coyotes too. All of those could do major damage if they came after the town in the middle.

She sat there without saying a word. It had been three blocks since we saw anyone out walking around. It told me they had moved on for food or they were all dead. I hoped it was the first one, because if it was the second and they were dead, there was no hope for us or anyone else to beat this shit.