“Well, what the hell happened to her?” I asked aggressively.
He flopped down and sighed. “That would be the question of the year.”
Chapter 3
Dr. Dirk Benson introduced himself before trying to explain what had happened to my Jackie. It was some kind of plague that had been reported first in Southeast Asia, then in Africa, before outbreaks in Europe and the America’s began to be reported.
“How come I haven’t heard about any damn plague?” I asked confused and angry.
“It was considered something on a need to know level until just a few hours ago. No one wanted to cause a mass panic until they knew what they were dealing with and how to handle it. Well, they didn’t find out anything and now more than sixty percent of the world’s population is believed to be infected. That number is rapidly growing though.”
“How do you get it? Is it airborne?”
“No, you have to be bitten or scratched by the infected. That’s really the only thing that has been determined about it.”
“And that the person who is ill is basically a walking corpse.”
He nodded, “that too.”
I sat there with Jackie in my arms looking at her grey face. It broke my heart to look at her eyes closed and her skin so decayed looking. She looked like she had been dead for a while and not only about ten minutes.
Dr. Benson put his hand on mine. The feel of another humans touch broke me out of my daze.
“So they’re zombies basically? All that fiction about zombies come to life sort of thing?” I asked.
He pulled his hand away and rubbed the sides of his temples with both hands.
“Not exactly fiction,” he stated.
“What?” I asked.
“The Zombie lore is based on a real virus. A mutated form of the black plague they believe. At least that is about the time it started happening. It seemed to disappear before it spread as rapidly as the black plague though and it wasn’t considered a concern. Very few people knew about it and those that tried to tell what happened were made out to be mad or liars. It took on a life of its own of course in movies and books but it was always considered to be complete fiction by the general public. No one ever thought the disease would return, it ended so mysteriously.”
“How do you know about it?” I asked.
“I’ve only just been privileged to the information when people started turning.”
I took a deep breath not quite believing the words this doctor spoke and snapped, “So I take it vampires and aliens are real too?”
“Vampires no, the information about aliens is classified.”
The look on his face suggested he was attempting a joke but I didn’t find it funny.
He sighed, “Sorry. I know this is a lot to absorb. I’m struggling with it myself.”
“Yeah but your daughter didn’t just eat your husband and then got shot in the head by her doctor.” I stated.
His brown eyes glistened in the light for a moment, “that is true.”
We went back to not talking. He sat across from me but I just stared at Jackie. I felt so overwhelmed yet completely empty at the same time.
The door crashed open. I looked up and saw a nurse standing in the doorway. She was out of breath and sweaty.
“Another one turned Dr. Benson.” She stated.
He let out a sigh. “I’ll be there in a minute Jenny.”
The nurse nodded. Her eyes were big and she looked even more scared. She left the room then.
Dr. Benson looked at me, “you need to go to the airfield.”
I looked at him, “what?”
“They’re evacuating people to the mainland on the airbuses. They believe it will be safer. You should go.”
He got up then and walked to the door. He stopped before exiting the room entirely.
“Shelly, please. It’s your best option to survive this thing.” He said then added, “I’m very sorry about your loss.”
He waited for me to say something but I said nothing. He left after a moment.
I heard the gunshot from down the hall. Putting down someone else’s family member. Putting down another monster.
I sat there with Jackie in my arms for a while. I half expected Dr. Benson to come back but he never did.
The only family I had left was my sister, Cate, in Arizona. It made sense to get on the plane to try and get back to her. Though that would only take me to California. Something told me getting to Arizona would be extremely difficult. Yet I had nothing else but this challenge in front of me. I felt a fire begin in my belly. A fire of purpose and drive. I needed to get to Arizona from Guam to the only family I had left even though I knew then it was going to be next to, if not completely, impossible.
I kissed Jackie’s forehead on the only spot not covered in thick black blood, “I’m so sorry this happened sweetie. I love you.” I said.
I felt the tears in the back of my throat but I wouldn’t let them fall. I couldn’t grieve now. I had a mission. There would be time enough to grieve, if time for nothing else, there would be time to grieve.
I got up and walked out the door. I didn’t look back at the scene of destruction in that room. There was no need. I would never forget the blood on those walls. The only thing left of my husband was his arm. Though on some level I felt he deserved it with the cheating but I still loved him. Most of all I would never forget my daughter as a zombie, the bullet going through her head and quieting her forever. If Dr. Benson
