I Don't Care If You're Contagious

“Vic!” I opened my eyes to the shrill voice that I wasn't so used to hearing this early in the morning.

“What?” I jumped up in my bed, expecting to hear him say something I wasn't prepared to hear.

“Good morning.” he greeted my sleepy eyes with a dorky grin that I could just slap right off his face.

“Mike.” I sighed, throwing the blanket off of my lap, “I’ve told you before not to scare me like that.” he rolled his eyes.

“I know” he said, “but it’s Wednesday” and I turned to look at him again as a stood up on my cramping dry feet, feeling the less than comfortable wood floor beneath me.

“You know what that means.” he turned on his bottom to watch me as I walked into the bathroom to throw cold water on my face at the sink.

“Yeah, I know what that means” I sighed, mostly just from exhaustion, “Go put on your clothes” I told him. He would need more than a plain t-shirt and some ragged old jeans to protect himself from the unforgiving environment of what is now our home state, California.

“Whatever.” he stood up with a child-like huff to walk into the other room of our small little home. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, noting how my eyes seemed to grow more and more tired each and every day. What used to be bright vibrant brown eyes, turned to lifeless circles which were now my weapons to hide emotion. My hair was slightly tangled and could use at least 10 showers. My whole body could use a shower, in fact. But it would have to be done later. Now I was focused on changing into more suitable clothes to keep me from getting too badly bruised out there. I pulled on a thick jacket over my shirt and some jeans that weren't as badly torn up. It was usually best to travel as light as possible without being too light. You want to be protected but you also want to be able to run fast to make quick get-a-ways. Also, you wouldn't want to get trapped in water with tons of clothes on. I sat on the floor and slipped on some dirty old socks before shoving my blistered feet into my shoes. I made sure the strings were double knotted before standing back up to leave the small bathroom. I walked in on my brother who sat on the chair that we had sitting in the small living space, watching him as he pulled on his boots. I walked over to him and knelt down on one knee, helping him with the strings.

“I know how to tie.” he huffed, “I’m 24 years old.”

“I know how old you are.” I said as I pulled on the strings to tighten the knot. I was the one who taught him how to tie his shoes when he was 5 years old. I actually taught him a lot of things as we grew up and usually what I taught him I learned from dad. He learned a lot from mom, so we teach each other different things all of the time. Now that they’re gone, we learn from ourselves.

“So what’s the rule?” I asked him as my eyes met with his.

“Only trust the group.” he sighed.

“Good.” I stood up to retrieve our bags.

“You make me say it every time.” he huffed again.

“Just don’t want you to forget.” I said as I threw some cloth bandages into my bag from the kitchen cabinet.

“I’m not going to.” he rolled his eyes. I opened the door to blinding sunlight and stepped out to smell the morning air. It couldn’t have been later than 7 because only half of the town was awake. We usually have a schedule around here. Not too demanding; they just ask us not to be out before 6 am and behind gates past 9 pm. No one is permitted to be outside of the gates unless given a pass stating otherwise. They also expect us to be in our houses before the 11 o’clock deadline.

“Fresh air.” Mike breathed in, “Smells like society going down the drain.” he joked. I stifled a grin and hopped my backpack higher on my shoulders. I waved to the neighbors as we walked by, avoiding conversation the best I could. Mike and I had a strict time and place to be on Wednesdays. We only have to go out on Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Or unless our instructor tells us otherwise. Other days we just go out and hustle for food and money.

We met up with the rest of our group near the entrance of the gates, all of us standing in our usual positions to wait for instructions. Each organization is made of groups. Groups are assigned different duties based on our capabilities. Different groups work on different days at different hours.

“Sup.” said Oli with his usual tired and muffled voice. Oliver is the kind of guy with a quiet voice but had a way with words. He’s very witty and isn’t good at taking shit from anybody. A part of me wished he could be the one in charge around here.

“Have any idea where we’re going today?” I asked.

“Nope, not yet.” he said, “I wish the boss would get his head out of his ass and come tell us already” and just as if on cue, out came a man in a heavy duty suit, standing above all of us on the podium. He counted every one of us, making sure to see if we were all here. Then he opened his mouth; “I’ve been given the order to inform you that you’ll be stationing across town today.” he said and I have to contain an annoyed sigh from passing my lips.

“We’re low on medicine around here” he informed, “so it’s you’re jobs to get to the nearest hospital and stash all you can and bring it back safely.” he said.

“There are people here counting on you to get your job done right and fast.” he said and I had to hold back a laugh. The only person here counting on us to get our shit right is them. They tell the same thing to everyone. We’re counting on them to do their job. And guess who has to do their job; us. We’re like their little prisoners but it’s the only way to keep order around the world anymore.

“Any deceased are to be brought back here” he said. They make us bring back the bodies to make sure no one’s run off or anything like that. If someone was to try and run off it is our responsibility to drag them back or it will be on our heads that they got away.

“You are to report back as soon as possible” he said, the words so overplayed that I could repeat everything he said in my head, word for word. “-and good luck.” he said before turning and walking away. The gate’s doors began to pull open, the familiar view of the outside world coming into my sight again.

“Ready?” Oli turned to me.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I said as our group began walking, our small town of people disappearing as the doors closed behind us.

--

Ever since scientists found the 'new cure for cancer', the world has been nothing but a fucking dump. The vaccine ended up being a virus, similar to rabies. You lose control of your mind and you go crazy. Your body rots and you crave only the flesh of living things. You're basically dead. Hence, living dead. The only way to be cured is by taking out the head, decapitation of the head or penetration through your brain. I still remember when it all started; everyone was cheering in the streets, thinking that the answer to all of our problems was finally here. Boy, was everybody wrong. People began rioting in the streets and things were crazy for a while until eventually everybody settled down after a year. Things were quiet. Until we found ways to organize people across the country. Now we have organizations planted in every state. We communicate with each other, of course. Some people's duties are to carry supplies to other states through trucks and vans. Organizations have been getting smaller and smaller because people continue to die every day. I'm just waiting for the day when we're all finally dead.

“Looks like it might rain” said a voice behind us that belonged to none other than Austin.

“It’s not like that would be the worst thing to happen to us.” responded Alex with obvious sarcasm.

“How much farther is this hospital?” Kellin asked with a sigh.

“Not too much farther, I’m guessing.” I said. We were always told my instructors to always stay quiet and low but most groups never listened to them anyways.

“We haven’t even been walking that long.” Alex rolled his eyes.

“It feels like we’ve been walking for about an hour” Kellin retorted.

“You know, you don’t have to make our lives anymore miserable than they already are.” Oli scoffed, earning a glare from Kellin. Those two never got along with each other. They liked to get into arguments a lot and say shit to each other just out of spite.

“No one wants to hear you complain.” said Oli flatly. Just as Kellin was about to open his mouth, everyone stood in there spot when the sound of faint growling come from the trees.

“Hurry.” I whispered loudly as I began to pick up the pace in my walking, everyone following behind me and Oli. It wasn’t until we passed over the hill and the maze of cars that we came upon a large building that looked like it had been knocked down at the top, titled “Hospital” on the side with large metal letters.

“That must be it.” I whispered to where only Oli could hear. We all made our way to the entrance, which looked like it had been shattered in order to beak in. I reached behind me for Mike so I could keep him close by my side as we all walked in. I taught Mike to always look at his surroundings before entering an unknown property. Everyone stepped in cautiously, making sure not to rush in. So far the lobby looked clear so we all made our way to find a pharmacy. That’s where we’d find the goods. The group took baby steps, staying as quiet as possible so we could listen for any other presence.

“Over here!” Jeremy motioned us with a loud whisper. We all turned our direction to the hallway which had a sign that read “pharmacy” and an arrow pointing forward. We tried avoiding stepping on glass or anything too noisy or bumping into anything or anyone.

“Here” pointed Jeremy as he was now in front of the group. We all looked at the door which labeled ‘pharmacy’ and wasted no time getting our grubby mits on the handle. Lucky it wasn’t locked; that saved us some time and some lives. Obviously someone had broken into here before, or else everything may have still been shut. We all looked upon the landmine of bottles of medicine, stored on shelves and in boxes. I was quick to notice the graveyard of empty medicine boxes that covered the dirty tile floor.

“Someone must’ve been here before us.” Oli whispered.

“You think?” Kellin rolled his eyes and I was quick to shut him up before another fight started. The last thing we needed were two boys yelling at each other to get us caught.

“Grab as much as you can.” said Oli as he unzipped his bag, throwing in bottle and bottle of medication. All of us did the same, fitting in as much as he could. Unfortunately our bags were mostly full of weapons and first aid items and even food so we could only fit in so much. It was hard providing for a town of 2,000 people. In retrospect, that’s not a lot of people but when you talk about taking care of them then it does become a lot.

“We need more pain medication” Austin said.

“Looks like someone else needed it more” Said Alex when we all realized there wasn’t much left of the pain killers.

“Oh, I think this is some” Mike announced as he went for an almost empty bottle on the floor, not paying attention to the shelf above him and bumped into it, knocking over a thick sheet of glass. We all cringed at the sound of the shattering object, Mike turning to look at all of us.

“Oops.” he bit his lip.

“Michael!” I was about to scold him when the sound of growls and dragging feet across the floor came into earshot and cut me off.

“Get up!” I grabbed his arm quickly, pulling him up to his feet again as we all began running. Just as we turned around the corner, there stood one of the foulest smelling things anyone could ever witness. It’s teeth were rotted and it was missing half of it’s face and an arm. Here in front of me stood a rotting corpse, growing and hissing like a rabid animal that wanted to get a taste of my flesh. I came back to my senses quickly, moving as fast as I could to stab my knife through it’s skull. I turned to look over my shoulder to see that we had a parade of them coming after us, our group doing our best to keep them at bay as we all ran to get the hell out.

“Wait!” Mike yelled and stomped his foot down, “I forgot my bag!” he turned to run back to the pharmacy room.

“Mike!” I yelled as I began running after him frantically, ignoring the hoard of undead that swarmed around us. I ran as fast as I could until I was stopped by another one of those bastards standing in from of me. it reached it’s decaying hands out to me, grabbing at my body. I pulled out my knife as a reflex and jammed it as deep as I could into it’s temple. Just as it’s limp and heavy disgusting body fell to the floor with a thud, I heard the blood curdling scream that sent shivers down my spine. I ran on impulse as fast as my feet could take me, coming to a screech as I reach the doorway of the room. My eyes widened in pure horror, my worst nightmare happening right before my eyes. There my brother lay on the floor, using every muscle he had in his arms to fend off a zombie that had him pinned to the floor. I didn’t wait another second upon seeing the terrifying sight and acted on instinct and kicked the large body that kept snapping his teeth at Mike. I pulled my brother up who had got his godforsaken bag and booked it out of there as fast as we could until the dead got back up. I decided I’d scold him later, right now I only had one thing on my mind and that was to get Mike out safely. I left my knife in the last zombie’s head so I had no choice but to use my gun. It was a rule that we were never supposed to use weapons that made noise unless we were in deep shit. Well, I think now would qualify.

“Vic!” called a familiar voice and I turned to see Oli, fending off the undead as he waited for me.

“I knew I could count on you” I panted from running so much. He turned to run and I followed, gun fires going off every 10 seconds it seemed. Suddenly I could see light, I could see the doors. I felt my feet move faster, my grip getting tighter on my brother’s sleeve.

“Hurry!” the sound of multiple voices yelling as I felt the concrete beneath my shoes. Now the whole group was running. We were all running as fast as we could. The sound of feet hitting concrete filled my ears until I could hear us all reach grass. We kept running until the spine chilling sound of growls and hissing stopped, the only noise lasting was the sound of everybody’s heavy breathing. I stopped, my legs shaking from exhaustion. I collapsed onto my hands and knees, my body heaving. I felt a hand touch my back and I jumped a little.

“Michael!” I yelled and the group immediately sputtered with ‘shushes’.

“Vic, don’t scream.” I heard Oli’s thick voice calm me. I couldn’t calm down. I was beyond furious.

“You’re stupidity almost got us killed!” I exclaimed as Oli helped me back to my feet.

“How many times do I have to tell you!?” my eyes met with the small inferior ones of my brother’s, “Watch what you’re fucking doing!”

“I didn’t mean to!” he defended between heavy breathing.

“Vic, stop it!” Oli had to grab me by my shoulders and shake me, “Do you want to attract any more of those things?” he asked in a loud whisper. I stood there, feeling hot in the head with my fists clenched at my sides. I looked up into Oli’s deep brown eyes and slowly began to nod, my breathing slowing down.

“No.” I swallowed, “No.” I repeated calmly. I felt his hand pat my back and he turned back around, leaving me to stand with my brother.

“Vic” Mike began quietly.

“Stop.” I told him sternly, “Well talk when we get back home.” I said as he picked my bag back up, throwing it on my shoulders as I began walking again.

“Did we lose anybody?” I asked with a sigh.

“No” said Alex, “everyone’s here.” he confirmed.

“Good.” I said as we all set out to head back. The walk back was long and quiet, Austin and Mike swapping a few words here and there as they tagged along behind the group. He should be walking beside me but he was probably too timid to stand next to me after I blew up on him. Maybe this was the chance for me to cool down and collect myself.

We reached the gates just as the sun was halfway across the sky. The town would be busy and alive at this hour. We stood there as a group, watching as the doors pulled open for us to enter. We did so, immediately greeted by our instructor for feedback.

“All here, sir.” I said respectfully even though I didn’t mean it.

“Good work.” he complemented with a stiff voice, “You’ll turn in your finds and return to your homes.” he said and we all responded with an understanding nod before walking past him.

“Hey.” I felt Oli’s hand land on my shoulder, “I’ll take your stuff.” he offered as he reached for my bag. I nodded and handed over the old raggedy sag and reached for Mike, ordering him to give Oli his bag. Mike did so, not one to disobey his older brother.

“See ya’.” I told Oli before turning, dragging Mike along with me by his sleeve. We got to our house, me opening the door and walking through first.

“Close the door.” I said even though Mike wasn’t dumb enough to leave it open but then again he was dumb enough to run back to get his bag. I heard the door close slowly and quietly as I walked over to the kitchen sink, leaning over it to look down the rusted drain.

“Vic?” Mike spoke timidly and I brought my fist down on the countertop with a loud bang.

“What is wrong with you!?” I immediately yelled, turning to look at Mike who looked back at me with a guilty face, “I’ve told you and told you! Never leave my side!”

“I know, Vic, I just-“ he tried to explain but I didn’t want to hear his excuse.

“You would have rather save the stupid medicine than your own life!” I barked.

“No!” Mike defended.

“You could have been killed!” I screamed at him, watching him shrink in his spot.

“Then what would I have done!?” I had to fight back tears that pricked my eyes, “You would have turned into one of those things!” the thought making me want to burst into tears.

“I’ve already had to shoot mom and dad in the head!” I screamed, “I wouldn’t want to have to do the same to you!”

“I’m sorry!” Mike screamed suddenly, the subject of mom and dad always being a touchy one for Mike.

“I didn’t think and I’m sorry!” he wailed, “I didn’t mean for things to get out of hand! It was a fucking accident!” he swallowed, the visible adams apple in his throat shifting.

“But I’m fine!” he said as if it were any consolation. I just shook my head, turning back to the sink so wipe my eyes with my arm.

“Vic, I’m sorry” he said with a shaking voice, “I didn’t mean to…”

“Just…leave me alone.” I said thickly. I could feel Mike’s presence linger for a long minute until I finally heard his footsteps walk into the other room. Now I could cry in peace.

--

Later that night, after the sun had gone down and the house was left dark, I took a candle into Mike room as quietly as I could. This town was scarce on electricity, so majority of the time our only light source was fire.

“Micheal.” I said quietly, sitting the small candle down on the nightstand not too far from his bed.

“Hm?” I could see his face turn to look at me as he lay in his small creaky bed. I sat down next to him, pulling off my shoes and sat them down under the bed.

“What?” Mike asked again quietly, “Are you still mad?”

“Mike” I sighed, “No. I’m not mad.” I admitted, “I could never stay mad at you.”

“I’m sorry” he sat up and I turned to wrap my arms around him.

“I know.” I reassured.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” he said as I cradled him.

“I know.” I repeated myself, “I just….you have no idea what you put me through back there” I said, “You could have been bitten.”

“I know.” he said this time.

“Then I’d have to watch you suffer.” I tried not to sniff, “I don’t want to have to imagine…the thought of you leaving me.” I gripped onto his shirt tightly.

“Vic, please” Mike frowned but I cut him off again,

“You’re all I have left.” I whispered.

“But you have Oli…you have Austin” he tried to comfort me but I shook my head.

“They mean nothing compared to you.” I whispered and felt him go quiet in my arms.

“I love you” he whispered.

“I love you too.” he said, rocking him back and forth slowly.

“Sing?” he asked quietly and I nodded, beginning to hum. I hummed to him for five minutes until I felt his body go limp and laid him down on the bed. I laid down next to him, pulling the blanket up over him so that he’d stay snug for the night. I closed my eyes, feeling his hair against my dry hand, ignoring how dirty it was as I felt my mind go unconscious.