Deathly Contagious (25 page)

With a shiver, I remembered my twenty-four hours in the barn. I was mad at Hayden for not telling me about it before hand. It was incredibly boring to be stuck in a horse stall for a whole day. My mind wandered and became filled with the most unwelcome thoughts. This was the exact reason I didn’t want Brock locked up out here. When you think something is happening, you start to act that way. And if Brock started to act like he was infected…

I shook my head. No, he was fine. We were all one magically immune, happy family. We’d live happily ever after with puppies and kittens, killing zombies from a safe distance and never getting dirty, sweaty or bloody ever again. And we’d never be hungry, cold or uncomfortable anymore. Yea, the fuck right…

Ivan and I went straight through to Fuller’s office. When we didn’t find Hayden and Brock in there, we decided to check the only other place they would be: the hospital ward. After missions, we went straight to our quarantine room, not interacting with anyone but other A’s. Covered in crusted blood and still carrying our weapons, Ivan and I attracted a lot of attention as we strode down the halls.

I set my face and looked straight ahead, wanting to make myself look as unapproachable as possible; I was not in the mood to talk to anyone. Maybe it was our hard expressions or the lack of knowing what to say to us in this situation, but we made it to the hospital ward without having to open our mouths.

Brock was sitting on the foam bed, his sleeve rolled up and arm extended. Padraic and Dr. Cara crowded around him. Hayden and Fuller were talking in whispers down the hall. Ivan strode forward, joining his fellow Marines. I hung back, staying out of Padraic’s way.

I had to remind myself to take a deep breath and stay calm. Seeing Brock under the harsh exam lights was sickening. Padraic said something do Dr. Cara, who nodded and grabbed a vial and a syringe. She jabbed the needle into Brock’s vein with no hesitation.

“Oh, Orissa,” Padraic said when he turned around. “I didn’t know you came in here.” He smiled and looked into my eyes. “I’m glad you’re back.” He took a step forward as if to hug me but stopped, his eyes sliding down my front. “A-are you alright?”

“Yea,” I assured him. “This isn’t my blood.”

Padraic nodded. “Good.”

“So, what do you think?” I asked.

Knowing what my question implied, Padraic took another step closer. “We’re not sure. You acted brilliantly, pushing the blood out and stopping it from spreading,” he complimented honestly. “We’re going to see how much of the virus is in his system.”

“So you will know right away if he’s infected?”

“More or less,” Padraic told me. “I don’t think I can confidently say we know anything for sure about the virus. We just don’t have the means to run proper tests. Everything we ‘know’ is all speculation and theory, honestly.”

“And what if he has a lot of the virus in his blood?”

“Then he’ll be quarantined and we wait.” Padraic smiled weakly. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

I nodded, wanting to be optimistic like Padraic. “I was right there, I should have stopped it,” I whispered, feeling a weight being lifted as I said it out loud.

“You can’t stop everything bad, Riss,” he reminded me.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to.” I shook my head. “The last two times I’ve gone out, something horrible has happened to someone I care about. I think I’m cursed; I should just start going out alone.”

“Or not at all,” Padraic tried to joke. I was suddenly reminded of his unfriendly exchange of words with Hayden before we left. I wanted to be mad at him but was too tired, worried and upset to give a damn. Padraic thinking I wasn’t capable was the least of my troubles right now.

Dr. Cara pressed a cotton ball over the small hole in Brock’s arm. She held the vial of blood tightly in her hand and scuttled out of the room.

“It won’t be long,” Padraic told me and joined her. I hopped up on the bed next to Brock. He looked like he was about to pass out or puke.

“How are you holding up?” I asked him.

“I’m wonderful,” he said sarcastically. “I just want to know. One way or another. I-I don’t like waiting.”

“You won’t have to wait alone,” I told him and gently placed my hand on his.

“Thanks.”

Several painful minutes ticked by. The door opened; both Brock and I jerked our heads up thinking it was Padraic or Dr. Cara with the lab results. Hayden came in first, causing my stomach to flutter in a stupid way. Ivan followed and Fuller brought up the rear. With five of us, the exam room was crowded.

“Did you find out anything?” Ivan asked.

“Not yet,” Brock answered ruefully.

 I looked up at Hayden, trying to send a nonverbal message to him. I met his eyes then looked at the spot next to me. He nodded ever so slightly but didn’t move. He cast his eyes to Fuller. I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. I heavily sighed and looked away.

“What’s the plan?” Brock asked Fuller.

“Don’t worry about that yet,” Fuller said in a gentle, out of character tone. I had the feeling he didn’t think Brock was going to be ok.

“Easier said than done,” Brock laughed shakily. I nodded and patted his hand. Brock nervously tapped his foot against the wooden base of the bed, rattling whatever was in the built in drawers. Hayden crossed his arms and leaned against the door, his brown eyes filled will concern. Ivan’s face was blank, as if he refused to process any emotion. Fuller looked straight ahead, trying to appear stoic.

As much as I detested him, I had to give Fuller credit for caring about his soldiers. Maybe it was because we were the only ones left, I thought bitterly. Several minutes later, Padraic came back into the room. We all jerked around to stare him down.

“I’m sorry, Hayden, but I need a sample to use as comparison.”

“That’s fine,” Hayden said, straightening up and extending his arm. Padraic put on gloves, got the supplies he needed, disinfected Hayden’s skin with an alcohol wipe and very gently plunged the needle into Hayden’s vein.

“Do you know anything yet?” Brock asked, his voice cracking.

“Not yet. Your lab results are done, but I want to compare your blood to Hayden’s before I tell you anything.” Padraic slid the cap up on the needle and pressed a piece of gauze over the little drop of blood that sat in the crook of Hayden’s elbow.

“That was fast,” Brock stated. “You were able to see everything already?”

Padraic looked almost confused for a second. “Oh, no. I ran your blood through a machine that tells the lab values.” He smiled. “We don’t have to manually test everything, just the zombie virus.”

“You should name it,” I said suddenly. Everyone stared at me. “You know, doctors and scientists who discover crap always name it. I think you should name it.”

Padraic half smiled and turned to me. “What should I call it?”

“You’re the doctor. You name it.”

“Uh, alright. The…the, uh, Lazarus…Lazarus Contagium then.”

“I like it.”

“Not too creative. I’ll think about it,” he promised and left the room. We waited in silence for what seemed like eternity. When Padraic came into the room for a second time, I knew right away that I could breathe easy. His blue eyes were clear again and he was resisting the urge to smile. Like Raeya, he could easily be read.

“You’re clean,” he told Brock.

“Are you sure?” Brock asked, on the edge of his seat.

“Yes. No traces of the virus were found in the sample we took.”

“The sample,” Brock repeated. “But it could be in the rest of me?”

Padraic ran his hand over his hair and the light that lit up his face died. “I can’t be sure about anything related to this virus. It mutates, changes, and affects everyone differently. But I can be sure that there was none in the sample we took. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not infected.”

Brock’s body relaxed. He squeezed my hand. “So I’m immune?”

“That,” Padraic said as he leaned against the counter. “I’m not sure of. If you were resistant, like Hayden, you’d have traces of the virus in your system. And you don’t.” He flashed a brilliant smile in my direction. “I think you can thank Orissa for that.”

Brock hugged me. “I cannot thank you enough, Riss.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said casually and patted his back.

“Now what?” Brock asked Fuller.

“You can be quarantined with the others if they agree to keeping watch over you.”

“That’s fine,” Hayden answered right away.

“Fine with me too,” Ivan answered.

Without giving me a chance to voice my opinion—which was that I was ok with watching Brock too—Fuller continued. “Alright, then. Get your stuff and go straight there. You will get an extra day off since tonight will not be restful.”

The guys nodded in agreement and got up to leave. Padraic put his hand on my shoulder and nodded for me to follow him.

“Riss, I want you to be careful,” he said, his eyes moving down my body. For a split second I thought he was looking at my boobs; instead, he was eyeing the dried blood I was covered in.

“I am careful,” I replied. “What are you talking about, Padraic?”

“I was really surprised to see the lab results,” he started, rubbing the back of his neck. He sighed and let his hand drop.

“Brock’s not ok?” I asked, a flicker of fear stabbing my heart.

“No, no, Brock is. It’s…it’s Hayden.”

Chapter 11

The flicker turned into a fire. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He still has a lot of the virus in his blood. I thought it would be eliminated—and some of it has—but it’s taking longer than I expected.”

My body went cold. “You think he could get infected?”

“Technically, he is infected. But the virus doesn’t do anything to him. I don’t think it will.”

“Then why are you freaking me out over this?”

He put a finger on a clump of blood on my arm. “This. You used your hands, your bare hands, to take care of Brock. You probably saved his life but you put yours in danger. If Hayden was injured, you’d do the same, right?”

“Of course. I’m not following, Padraic. Just say it, please.”

“I think Hayden’s a carrier.”

My heart fell onto the floor. “A
carrier
?”

“Yes. If you came into contact with his blood, I think you could get infected.”

“Oh.” I already had. I’ve had Hayden’s blood on me more than once. And if his blood was infected then his other fluids were too…and I had been exposed to them more than once as well. And I wasn’t a raging lunatic who craved the already digested meals of humans.

“Riss?” Padraic asked, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You ok?”

“Yea,” I said and snapped myself back to the here and now. “I’m tired. And stressed.”

“Right. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Did you tell Hayden? I mean, I think he should know.”

“I will talk to him once you all are released.” He removed his hand. My mind was spinning thinking about the virus and blood and infecting each other. I wished Raeya’s dad was around to run all sorts of tests and experiments and give us some answers, though I doubted the pharmaceutical research company he worked for prepared him of anything zombie.  

When we were kids, Ray and I used to get into trouble playing with test tubes and beakers we found in her dad’s office. It was all fun and games then. Looking back, we were lucky we didn’t pick up any weird disease or mutation.

“I shot that guy with an arrow.” The words came out of my mouth just as the connection was made in my head.

“Yea, Brock told me. You had no choice,” Padraic said, thinking I felt bad for shooting a human.

“An arrow that I’ve used to kill zombies,” I told him, my voice low.

“Oh. Oh!” Padraic exclaimed, getting what my statement implied. He shook his head. “When was the last time that arrow had zombie blood on it?”

“I’m not sure.” I tried to think back. “Don’t take care of him,” I said selfishly. “I don’t want him to hurt you.”

“The virus can’t live without a host for very long,” Padraic assured me.

“I think I used them maybe two or three hours before I shot him.” I remembered shooting down zombies in the parking lot. Padraic pressed his lips together.

“It might be ok,” he assured me.

“Our weapons get covered in zombie blood,” I spoke. “And we don’t really clean them when we’re on the road.”

Padraic shook his head. “From what I’ve been able to tell, the virus will not survive in open air for very long; no more than a few hours at the most. I can’t help the sinking feeling that my theory might not apply to all zombies.”

“Oh, well, that’s good,” I said with a sigh of relief. “Did you find out anything else?”

  “I can’t say for sure since we’ve had limited samples to test, but it seems the virus in an S1 is the least threatening, which could be why Brock isn’t infected,” Padraic explained.

“What?” I asked, pushing my eyebrows together. I picked at the dried blood on my arms, which was starting to itch.

Padraic exhaled. “I don’t want to tell you since I don’t know for sure.”

“You can tell me,” I reminded him. “I want to know and I’ll pester you until you tell me, so you better spit it out now.”

“It seems the virus evolves. The virus in the S1 sample you brought wasn’t as potent as the virus in the S3 sample. I’m not sure why yet; I have several theories.” He crossed his arms and looked into my eyes. “It’s a long, boring topic though. I know you’re tired.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Today had been draining—mentally and physically. “Yea, and I better get into the quarantine before Fuller has an aneurism.” I walked to the door. “Tell Ray I’m back safe and sound and I said ‘hi’.”

“I will,” he promised.

“Thanks, Padraic.” I left the hospital ward and jogged up to my room. Hayden was waiting, with clothes for both himself and me folded over his arm.

“Slow poke,” he teased.

“I was talking to Padraic about the virus,” I told him grimly. “It’s weird; the more I know the less confusing it should be, but it’s the other way around. It’s more complicated that I imagined.”

“It is,” Hayden agreed. “Let’s not think about it now; let’s just get through the next twenty-four hours.”