The Green Flu

Chapter 15 - Blake

It took a good 5 minutes of concentrating on not throwing up before I was certain that I wouldn't. I tried not to look at Sarah's-no, that creature's- dead body. Instead, I just looked down at the bloody crowbar. It was hard to believe that I had just used it to kill something. I closed my eyes and tried my hardest not to look, but I was too curious. I had to see what Sarah had turned into. I just had to.

I opened my eyes and my gaze fell on her. Oh, God...her head was barely still attached. The bone had broken in half and all that was holding it there was a couple of tendons. A a big, dark, and growing pool of blood spread out on the floor under her broken neck. Oh Lord, what have I done? My heart started beating faster and my breath came quicker. I backed away as I felt tears well up in my eyes.

But I just shut them. No, I can't start breaking down now. I have to get out of here.

"I'm sorry, Sarah," I whispered as I reluctantly stepped over her. "I'm so sorry."

I took off running towards the front door, not even sure what to do next. All I was sure about was that I was getting into my car and driving away, away from this mess.

***

I don't know how long exactly I drove around the city for. I pulled over to the side of the nameless road I was on and just thought for a moment. I'll admit, driving around blindly was a bad idea. Now I didn't know where I was.

"Ugh!" I groaned in frustration and hit my head against the steering wheel once, twice, then three times. "Dammit," Bonk! "Dammit," Bonk! "Dammit!" Bonk!

That was a stupid move. I can't let my fear take control of me like that. I sighed and tried to figure out my next move. I decided to turn on the radio and see if it has any more news stories and look around for anything I recognize. First all there was to hear was static, but then the radio caught the stations channel. A man's voice pierced the silence in my car. He was in the middle of saying something.

"...CEDA is trying to contain the sickness. They've set up many medical stations throughout the city and are urging anyone infected with the Flu to go to the nearest hospital or CEDA station."

Sounds like not much has changed. But does that mean that no one else has encountered whatever kind of creature Sarah had become? Surely Sarah couldn't have been the only one to change. So am I the only one to have been face to face with one?

"The city officials are organizing a citywide evacuation. Planes and trains are the preferred way to leave the city, but the highways are still open." The voice continued. "Everyone is expected to leave the city. Although our sources say that some people prefer to stay here and weather this virus. Both CEDA and the city officials say that that is a bad idea."

"People!" The man's voice changed dramatically. It was more stern and almost demanding. "Everyone needs to leave the city now, or the Flu won't be contained! Leave now while you still can!" The voice stopped abruptly and static filled my car again. After a minute of just static, the man's voice came back.

"People of Philadelphia," The voice was the same, but it sounded so much more calm than the first voice that I had to question if it was the same man. "The Green Flu is spreading quickly. A government organization called CEDA is trying to contain-" I shut off the radio, knowing that this was just a looped program.

I sighed and looked at the street around me. There were lots of houses and a grocery store near by. The tallest building was a church, its cross reaching higher than the roof of the house next to it. Then a tent the colour of pale green caught my eye. A sign near it said CEDA on it. That must be one of those CEDA stations that they set up.

Finally, I caught a break! I'll go talk to the people there and they can tell me where we are. Then I can go home and get my stuff and get out of this sick city! I started my car and drove closer to the church before parking and getting out.

"No! He's been scratched! He's infected!" I heard a man'a voice shout out. I turned the corner of the church and saw who was talking. There were three CEDA workers, one woman and two men. They were in the CEDA tent and the two men seemed to be in a heated argument.

"We can't just not help them, it's not even a bad scratch!" The taller man out of the two said quite angrily.

"That doesn't matter! Leon, he's infected! He'll turn soon anyway!" The two guys glared at each other in the eyes.

"Hey, it's alright." A man that I hadn't noticed said, trying to calm down the two arguing guys. He was standing next to another woman, a blond girl with a backpack on. She had a hard look to her, like you really wouldn't want to mess with her. And the guy beside her had short brown hair and a blue sweatshirt on. He just seemed like he didn't want a fight to break out.

"It doesn't even hurt much. I'll survive, it's fine." Blue sweatshirt guy said.

"No, you won't survive." The more harsher of the two men arguing marched right up to him and jabbed a finger towards the blue sweatshirt guy's arm. "You've been scratched. That's how to Flu spreads, through scratches or bites. You're infected." He jabbed his finger right in his face when he said that.

"So? You're just not going to help us because he's infected?" The kind girl said sounding offended.

"We can't help him! He'll turn no matter what!" The loud, rude man yelled at her.

"Everyone just calm down." The taller man that was fighting with the other man spoke up. I think he called him Leon?

"No, I won't calm down! I'll-" The rude guy was interrupted.

"Uh, guys?" The guy named Leon was looking at me, probably wondering why I was here.

"Hello," I gave a short wave. "I was just looking for directions-" I was cut off.

"Look!" The CEDA woman shouted, pointing her finger to something behind me. I turned around and saw a person across the street. Except, it wasn't a human. Not anymore. It was one of those creatures. I knew that Sarah wasn't the only one. He was looking right at us. Then, he snarled and started running towards us.