Contagion: The Rising (11 page)

“Look,
man I’m sorry,” Mark said as he raised his hands. Rory looked on in amazement.

Jeremiah
covered his face, “You have to be careful with her. She’s still healing. We
still don’t completely know what that virus has done to her. She’s normal, but
her stress level needs to be non-existent.” He crossed his arms and Rory continued
to look at both of them.

“When I
told you to look after them, this isn’t what I was expecting,” Mark watched
Jeremiah shift his feet. “To be honest, that part is none of my business. I
just want to make sure you actually care for her and not using her.”

“You
know it’s not like that,” Jeremiah shook his head.

“Yeah,
I know that. Now,” Mark fixed his uniform. “Jeez, man. I didn’t think you could
pick me up.”

“Well,
you’ve lost some weight,” Jeremiah said as he tried to hide his smile.

Rory
laughed, “Are you serious?”

Mark
punched Rory on the shoulder, “Shut up.”

“Ouch,
man,” Rory massaged his sore shoulder. “I just helped Tony move some dirt over.
Cut me some slack.” Mark and Jeremiah laughed as Rory shook his head. “Well,
I’m heading back inside for some food.” They followed Rory as he made a beeline
for the mess area.

Trevor
guided the group over to the highway and pointed towards the hill near the
bunker. “That’s where they are.” One of the bandit Risers started to walk
forward, but Chloe stopped him and shook her head. “Calm down, Riles. We’ll be
paying them a visit tonight.” Riles shook and stood near the rest of the bandit
Risers. “I’ll need at least three of you to go with Riles later tonight to pick
up the girl.”

Chloe
looked over to the hill, “I’m pretty sure there are two on watch every night.
Or our recon team is slacking off.”

“Of
course not, we’ll plan for two,” Trevor shook his head. “Maybe we’ll get both
sisters.”

“I’m
sure we won’t be that lucky,” Chloe fired back.

“Hush
it, or I’ll get Riles to bite you,” Trevor threatened as Riles sneered at Chloe.
She looked back at Trevor and sneered at Riles, who cowered.

“Who’ll
bite who again?” Chloe smiled as she blinked innocently.

Jeremiah
walked into the mess area as everyone else was gathered at the table eating.
“I’ve got some good news and possibly some bad, but it’s mostly good.” They all
looked over at him as he continued to read off of a paper that had Emma’s
latest results. “Emma’s a1c levels are down. Dramatically.”

Sarah
looked over at Emma, “That’s good right?”

“Yeah,”
Emma answered. “There’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

“No,
I’ve confirmed it twice. Your diabetes is improving along with your injuries.”

Emma
looked down at her palms and removed the bandages. Her eyes widened as she
found all that was left of the wounds were pink scars. “What the hell?” She
shook as Sarah inspected her hands.

“See,
like I told you before, your body adapted to the virus.”

 Tony
turned to Kayla as she covered her mouth.

“That’s
what they were looking for?” Kayla looked over to Emma. “We have to get rid of
all of the results. We don’t really know who’s out there anymore.”

“I
agree,” Tony said as he squeezed Kayla’s hand. “We can keep you safe here.”

“I
thought you’d throw me right out on my ass, if you found out,” Emma said as Sarah
looked down.

Tony
shook his head, “No, you guys are a part of us now. We don’t leave our own
behind to fend for themselves.”

 “What
do we do?” Rory asked as he held Sarah’s hand.

Jeremiah
continued, “Nothing really. We’re stopping the testing and just monitoring her
blood sugar.”

“What
if one of you gets bitten?” Emma asked as she looked over to Tony and Kayla.
“You have to keep testing my blood to see if glucose has anything to do with
the effectiveness of this virus.”

Sarah
looked over at Emma, “We’re going to have to take that chance. There’s no way
we’re losing you again.”

Tony
nodded as Jeremiah sat down next to Emma. “You have to keep testing on me,” she
whispered to him.

“No,”
he said as she shook her head in disagreement. “This is the only way to protect
you from what’s out there.” She sulked for a moment until he put his hand in
hers.

Rory
stood up from the table and walked over to the garden area to start harvesting
the vegetables that were ready. Sarah sat with Emma for a while as Dani joined
them.

“So
you’re joining me tonight?” Dani asked as she stole some of Sarah’s food and
smiled. Sarah’s head was turned towards Kayla as she explained what they needed
to do.

Emma
smirked, “Yeah, bringing your weapons?”

Dani
nodded enthusiastically as she finished the stolen food. “I’ll meet you outside
around 8. I think my dad and Rory will be on watch at 12.”

“Sure,”
Emma smiled as Sarah just noticed her missing food. Dani stood up and took off
towards her room. “She ate your apple, by the way.”

“What
the…I knew it,” Sarah shook her head and hit Emma on the arm. “Why didn’t you
tell me?”

“She’s
quick.” She laughed as Sarah stood up and went to the garden.

Chloe
looked over towards the hill as the day grew into evening. The sky became pink
and purple for an hour as she admired it from below. Her new vision allowed her
to not have to squint to see. The glasses she had broken last year weren’t
needed anymore. Even with the added benefits, she still hated that she was
transformed into this monster, but she knew that there was a plan of revenge
she had to help execute. She closed her eyes and listened to the quiet
stirrings of the wind as it battled with the valley floor. The loosened dirt
floated in the air and landed quietly around her. Her hair looked dirty as it
flowed next to her. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, and she quickly
turned to the owner. “Riles?”

“Trevor
needs us to set up near the hill. I need your help in picking the three to go
with me. He said you knew those people more than anyone.”

She
looked over to where Trevor was standing and watched as he dictated to the
other bandit Risers. “He’s fairly annoying now, isn’t he?”

Riles
stood still, “Chloe?”

“Yeah,
I’ll help you. Bring Simon, Lefty and Pork with you.”

“Pork?”

“He’ll
be the muscle, in case you meet Mark,” Chloe turned back and faced the sunset.
“I’ve never seen the sky quite like this.”

He
looked up and tilted his head in confusion. “Thanks,” he said as he left Chloe
alone. She kicked at a rock on the ground and watched it skip through the dirt
and land on another rock.

She
wandered back to listen to Trevor, “I might as well listen in to see what his
plan is.”

Trevor
spoke with hands most of the time, but with this lecture, he used his hands to
simulate the different torture devices he wanted to use. Mostly biting of the
fingers and arms, plus bleeding her dry. “We should probably feed on her right
before we kill her completely.”

“Isn’t
she one of us?” one of the bandit Risers asked out of turn, which caused Trevor
to stop in his tracks.

“No,” Trevor
looked at his wound. “Our first wound isn’t going to heal, but I think hers
probably did. I don’t know why, but there’s something different about her. I’m
thinking if we feed on her, we can get whatever is keeping her alive. Like Chloe
said, she can hear her heart beating. We don’t have a heartbeat anymore. Our
bodies have stopped growing, moving, shifting and decomposing.”

“Maybe
her blood is tainted?” Chloe asked as she crossed her arms. Trevor turned his
attention to her.

“Maybe,
but I guess we’ll have to find out.”

Dani
waited near the edge of the hill and peered out into the valley. Emma joined
her after a few minutes and sat next to her. “See anything yet?”

“Not
yet,” Dani handed Emma the binoculars. “I’ve brought the axe and of course, I’m
wearing the hidden blades.” She smiled as she showed Emma her sleeves.

“Nice,”
Emma returned a smile and looked through the binoculars. She suddenly spotted
what she thought was smoke in the distance. “Whoa, there’s some smoke there.
East on 55.”

Dani
perked up and looked towards the direction Emma was pointing to. Emma handed
her the binoculars and she looked through them, “Oh shit, you’re right.”

“I’ll
go get your dad and Rory. Stay here, okay?” Emma said as Dani nodded. She
rushed off towards the bunker. Dani looked out towards the smoke and glanced
towards the edge of the hill. She spotted movement near the edge but it was too
quick to get a good look at what it was. She huffed and got up.

Dani
walked closer to the hidden path next to the hill and squinted her eyes as she
remained still. She attempted to listen as the wind kicked up some dirt and
temporarily blinded her. A sudden hit to the head knocked her out cold.

Emma
ran to Tony and Rory who were sitting in the mess area, “You guys, we’ve found
something.” They rushed outside and found that Dani was gone.

“Dani?”
Emma yelled. “I only left her alone for a few minutes.”

“What
did you see?”

“We saw
smoke, towards 55 eastbound.” She pointed towards the highway and looked around
the hill. “Where did she go?”

Rory
held Emma, “Calm down, okay? We’ll find her.” Tony ran back inside as Rory
followed. Emma stayed behind and looked through the binoculars. She saw four
men dragging something behind them. “Dani.” She rushed down the hill and hid
behind the bush at the edge of the highway. She was suddenly grabbed by a large
bandit Riser who held her as she struggled. She kicked at the first Riser she
saw in front of her and sent him flying into the air. Emma kicked at the one
holding her and he finally rushed her head into the hill.

Rory
ran back outside with Jeremiah and Sarah in tow, “Where’s Emma?”

“Shit.
She was just here.”

Sarah
looked around and found the binoculars near the hidden path. She motioned for
them to follow her as she made her way down to the valley and near the edge of
the highway. She noticed there were footprints in the loosened dirt. “Are these
Risers?”

“Maybe
bandits? But don’t they just kill and rob?” Rory asked as Sarah glared at him.
“I’m just asking a question.”

Jeremiah
looked around frantically and noticed the footprints disappeared as they
crossed the highway. “This way!” He followed them until there weren’t any left
due to the ground was harder and packed together. “Damn it!” He paced and
grabbed at his hair. “We have to find them.” He walked towards Rory, “What did
she tell you?”

“There
was smoke coming from eastbound 55,” Tony answered as he made his way to the
ground floor with Kayla right behind.

“Is
there blood anywhere?” Kayla looked around. “No,” she said as she found some on
the edge of the hill. “No, no, no…we have to go right now. Right now, Tony!”

Tony
grabbed Kayla, “Listen. Listen to me. She’s going to be okay. We’re going to
find them.”

Jeremiah
crouched down and covered his face. Mark walked over to him and grabbed his
shoulder. “We’ll get them back, man.” Jeremiah wiped his eyes and followed them
as they went back to the bunker to plan the search.

Emma
woke up to Dani screaming at the bandit Riser guarding them. “Leave her alone,
you freak.” The bandit looked up from sniffing Emma and sneered at Dani. Emma
looked over to the bandit and saw that his eyes were milky white.

“What
the hell?” she attempted to back up but her vision was slightly distorted. The
bandit Riser backed off and went back to his chair next to the entrance of the
tent. She looked back and found Dani reaching for her. Her face was bruised and
bloodied. “Oh my god, your face. Are you okay?”

Dani
nodded and looked at Emma’s head, “They got you really good.” She tore off a
part of her uniform and placed it on Emma’s head. “That’ll stop the bleeding.”

She
held it there as Emma attempted to restore her vision by shaking her head.
“What the hell is that thing? Is it a Riser?”

“I
think so, but I’ve never seen one control its anger so well,” Dani looked at
the bandit who sneered at them.

“There’s
more of them?”

“Yeah,
at least five or six,” Dani said as some familiar voices approached them. The
bandit Riser standing guard stood up and stayed still as Trevor and Chloe
walked into the tent.

“Well,
hello there girls,” Trevor said as the bandit Riser walked in front to keep a
distance between them.

“You
need a Riser dog to keep us at bay?”

The
bandit snarled at them again as Trevor laughed. “Careful. He’s prone to lose
his temper quite easily.”

“Chloe.
Long time,” Emma watched as Chloe shifted her feet due to feeling
uncomfortable.

“Emma.
Who’s your friend?” Chloe looked at Dani. Her milky white eyes caught Emma’s
attention as she realized Trevor had only one.

“You
don’t need her here. I’m the one you probably want to deal with mostly,” Emma
looked to Trevor.

“Of
course, but we may need some leverage on you,” Trevor smiled. “It would’ve been
better if your sister was here,” he said as he looked at the bandit Riser, who
dropped his head. “That’s why he’s on guard duty.”

“I’m
pretty sure the torture of smelling humans and not eating them is annoying him
slightly,” Chloe said as the bandit looked back at her. “We can change that
though.”

“What
do you want?” Emma watched as the bandit Riser sniffed at Dani. She kicked at
him which caused him to bite at her shoe.

“No,
Lefty,” Chloe scolded the Riser.

 “You’ll
find out soon enough,” Trevor looked over at the Riser and laughed. “They’ll be
looking for you, so our time schedule is going to be slightly hectic.” He
walked over to the entrance of the tent with Chloe right behind. “I would be
nice to Lefty if you want to keep your arms and legs.” The bandit Riser bared
his teeth at them as he followed Trevor and Chloe out of the tent.

“Well,
that’s perfect. They’ve got an army,” Emma said as she covered her ears.

“How do
you know that?” Dani leaned against the wall supported by wooden pallets.

“I can
hear them,” Emma cringed.

Mark,
Rory and Jeremiah walked into the bunker with their heads hanging low. Tony and
Kayla met them at the door. “Any news?”

“No,”
Rory said as Sarah showed up. “We found a day old camp a few miles away that
was causing the smoke but no signs of Dani or Emma.”

“We
need to break up in to groups and search,” Tony said as he led the group into
the mess area. He spread out maps of the area and pointed out the farm. “Sarah
and Rory, you head to the farm since you’re more familiar with it.”

Sarah
nodded as Rory added, “We can check the forest behind it as well.”

“Sounds
good,” Tony agreed. “Kayla and I will check the highway eastbound while Mark
and Jeremiah can head westbound.” They all looked at each other and nodded in
agreement.

Sarah
carried Dani’s new weapon towards them. Kayla smiled and quickly frowned as the
thought of her daughter in trouble crossed her mind. She shook her head to get
rid of the bad thoughts that surrounded her and pleaded with her mind to stop
reminding her of the worst.

Tony
grabbed the weapons and handed them out to everyone else. “Let’s go.”

Sarah
and Rory reached the farm and found nothing but extra supplies in both the silo
and barn.

“I
think they were funneling supplies through here,” Sarah looked around for
movement. Rory searched the house and found nothing disturbed. They ventured
through the forest and found a fresh kill.

“It’s a
dead Riser,” Rory said as he inspected it with his machete.

Sarah
inspected it, “It looks like something ripped everything out of it. What would
feed on a damn Riser?”

Rory
shrugged, “Something or someone who’s not human? Maybe another animal.”

“There
aren’t any other animals in here, remember? Brady decided to kill everything
for their meat.”

They
packed up the supplies and decided to return to the bunker with what they
found.

Jeremiah
noticed a disturbance in the ground near the 155 mile marker on the highway.
“Wait, stop.” Mark double backed and stood near Jeremiah. “There’s something
missing here.” He walked towards the broken barricade and found a partially
eaten Riser.

“Holy
crap,” Mark crouched down and inspected it. “Someone took this thing apart.”

“Yeah,
but I didn’t think Risers ate each other,” Jeremiah searched the Riser’s
tattered clothing and found a sliver of paper that read “Getting warmer.” He
passed the note to Mark who looked around them.

“Shit,
we’re being watched,” Mark attempted to find any hidden spots throughout the
flat land but came up empty.

“Fuck
it. We have to find them,” Jeremiah walked through as Mark caught his arm.

“No, we
can come back at night. It’s just too close to morning.”

Jeremiah
reluctantly agreed as he followed Mark back to the bunker. Mark and Jeremiah
sat near Tony and Kayla as they came up empty on their search of eastbound 55.

               
“We found a note on a dead Riser,” Jeremiah took the note out and put it on the
table near the maps.

Kayla
picked up and angrily passed it to Tony, “We head out there tonight.”

“Where?”
Sarah said as she walked in with Rory.

“Jeremiah
and Mark found a dead Riser with a note attached,” Kayla showed the note to Sarah
and Rory.

“We
found a dead Riser at the farm too but no note,” Rory said.

“It
looked fresh too,” Sarah added.

“What
the hell are we dealing with here?” Mark looked at Tony for answers.

“We’ve
never seen this before,” Tony shrugged.

“Wasn’t
Trevor shot? Maybe he turned?” Sarah asked.

Mark
looked down, “Yeah but he’d be a Riser if he died. They can’t write, can they?”

“Not
that I know of,” Rory answered.

“Either
way, whoever it is, we have to get to them before they do something to the
girls,” Kayla shook her head.

“We’ll
head westbound and once we hit marker 155, we’ll continue with our search.”

“It’s a
flat area so we have no chance for cover, other than relying on the darkness of
night.”

“Fine,
we take off as soon as it gets dark. It’ll be dark once we get there,” Jeremiah
frowned and walked off towards the direction of the lab.

Emma
kept an eye out as Dani attempted to sleep. She watched as Lefty sniffed the
air momentarily and sat back down on his seat. Another bandit walked over to
the entrance of the tent and signaled to Lefty standing guard to follow. Emma
shook Dani to wake up and they backed up against the corner of the tent. The
other bandit, who was slightly larger and intimidating, pointed to Emma.

“Let’s
go,” he instructed and attempted to pull her arm.

She
pushed his hand away, “Go where?”

He
abruptly grabbed at her to stand her up as Dani lunged at him. Lefty pushed
Dani towards the pallet wall and held her by the neck. He tightened his grip as
she fought with him. Emma kicked at the bandit holding her. He finally released
her as Lefty managed to pick up Dani and continued to strangle her. Dani’s legs
awkwardly kicked in the air as the other bandit Riser laughed.

“Leave
her alone!” Emma ran at Lefty as the other Riser backhanded her. She was sent
her flying in the opposite direction. She sat stunned as Dani’s legs stopped moving.
Lefty smiled at her and threw Dani next to her. Emma checked Dani as she was
facing down on the ground. She moved the hair covering part of Dani’s face and
pleaded with Dani to wake up, “Please, Dani! Wake up! Please!” She kept hitting
the ground next to Dani’s head to jolt her awake, but Dani laid there
motionless.

Both of
the Risers laughed at Emma’s attempt to get Dani to wake up as one of them
grabbed her left leg and started to drag her.

“No!” Emma
kicked back at the Riser but missed as they dragged her away from Dani and the
tent. Dani remained still as Emma was pulled away from her.