Infected

Medicine

Ben

It was just after noon when they got back. I saw Cindy standing up on the railing then disappear down the ladder. When he walked in, she hugged him, like yesterday. But this one was different, somehow. She seemed... troubled. There were red streaks on her face.

"Guys, come inside." He said. "We need to talk."

"What about?" I asked, but he walked inside.

Something was wrong. He didn't even show his hand to Richard.

We walked in and followed him to the tents. As we got closer, we could see a couple of people outside of one of them. A woman was crying on the ground, and a man, her husband I assumed, was sitting beside her, holding her. Silver and Cindy walked inside. We could hear his voice inside over the crying woman.

"How is he?"

"Worse. He woke up a few times, but he started vomiting again. His temperature isn't going back down. I might be wrong, but it's still going up. I don't know what to do."

"Just give him more medicine. He might pull through."

"Honey, dozens of people were coming in the hospital either perfectly normal or with bites that were infected. None of them made it. The chances are inexplicably slim. I don't think there is a cure for this. Benny was supposed to be immune. This doesn't make any sense."

"We can only pray. He deserves to live."

"We all do."

Benny. I remember, now. He was the kid that we played with the other day, our first official day. Infected? How? The woman started crying even more. I noticed some people coming up behind us.

"He's Infected?" Mike said behind me. We both overheard.

"Someone must've brought the Infection inside the compound. Either that, or the virus is airborne." I said. Silver came out of the tent and saw the crowd gathering outside.

"Meeting in ten minutes at the eating area." He said. "I expect everyone to be there." We watched as some people left to knock on doors, and the rest walked to the meeting area. He said to us, "Can you get Marcus for me?"

I nodded. He went back inside, and we walked off to Marcus's house. We didn't have to knock on the door. He was working on his small garden. He saw us and tipped his cap.

"There's a meeting in less than 10 minutes." Mike said.

"What about?"

"We don't know for a fact... but one of the children, Benny, is infected." I said.

"Why must the world suffer the little children?" He said. I wondered what he meant, but he walked off before I asked.

"What...?" Mike said.

"Let's just go." I said. I had a feeling we would find out at the meeting.

~~~

Silver

"Thank you for coming." I said to the crowd. "I need to discuss with you something tragic that has happened. Many of you came to the tents to see what was going on. No one has died, but something I hoped wouldn't happen has occurred. Benny, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford's son, has been infected."

There were faces of concerns, faces of horror and shock. The children either stared or looked down. They knew what it meant.

"What's going to happen to him?" Marcus asked.

"We'll know in a day or two. If he pulls through, he might be the first person with a natural immunity to the virus, and he could be the cure we need."

"And if he doesn't?" One of the men asked. I looked away.

"Keep your doors closed at night. Don't wander around after dark. If he turns, I don't want anyone else infected."

I heard mumbles in the crowd. One of the children started crying. Mrs. Crawford was about to break down in tears.

"But we'll do what we can to help him, whether things get better or worse. Everyone just stay away from the tents for a couple of days. The meeting is over."

Everyone left, except for the Crawfords and Cindy.

"I don't want you two going over there, either. If you become Infected, I don't want it to spread."

Mr. Crawford nodded. I walked home and went in the small shack that housed most of our supplies. I checked the battery, making sure it was still working, and plugged my phone in. I was readying packs when I heard small footsteps. Cindy walked inside. Her face was a little puffy from crying, but she seemed curious.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm getting the packs ready for tomorrow."

"This early?"

"Yes. I want us to be ready."

"For what?"

I put the packs down and looked at her.

"Tomorrow, we're going to Walmart."

Her eyes were wide with surprise.

"But... the gunshots you told me about... You could get killed!"

"We have to do this. We're cleaning out Wal-Mart a.s.a.p. In fact, I want the whole town raided, and quickly."

"Why?"

"We're going to completely isolate ourselves from the town. We'll grow our own food, we have a clean water supply, and we'll expand the compound, at least until the Infected are gone."

"But what about other survivors?"

"Okay, maybe not completely. We're still going to go looking for other people. Other than that, we're isolating the compound. No one in or out except the runners."

"Okay. Just... don't stop looking for people. We have to help them. We're one of few who are taking refugees. I doubt many people are doing the same. And be really careful. If there were crazy people before, they'll be everywhere, now, doing anything they can to get what they want. Even if that means killing live people."

"I know. It's happened before, remember?"

"I haven't forgotten. It was horrible. I regret the day he did it. We didn't know..."

"I know. It wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself."

"I do. I was suspicious about it, but I had no idea he would... I'm so sorry."

"It doesn't make much of a difference, now. He probably was just like my mom. I doubt he was immune."

"Maybe... I don't know. I don't like thinking about it, but that's why I hate it when you go out and do things like this."

"Once we have everything we need, we won't have to worry about it. We'll be safe here. We'll grow and expand back to the abandoned areas. We'll thrive again. You'll see. I promise."

"And I promise to help you all the way through." She said.

"For now, though, keep an eye on Benny. Don't visit too often." I said and gave her a hug.

"I promise I'll be safe." She said.