Radiation Point

Forty Three

"Open your eyes."
The voice sounded familiar and I struggled to see the speaker.
"Wake up."
I blinked awake and looked at Jackson in shock. For a moment, I forgot where I was. Forgot even the woods. I was just in quiet darkness with nothing but myself and my emotions. And it was scary.
He leaned forward in the chair across from me and smiled, his brown eyes twinkling.
"You were really out for awhile there. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wake you," he said.
I looked around the nurses station, taking in the buzzing florescent lights and the door still firmly shut across from me.
"How long was I out?" I asked, my voice unsteady. The darkness in the void had unnerved me.
"About an hour," he said, shaking his head. "Do you feel any different."
Aside from my throbbing head, I felt exactly the same as when I laid down. Numb. Hopeless.
"No," I said quietly.
Jackson looked uncomfortable then. I'd seen Jackson in several different contexts by then. First out in the woods, when wawas at his basest nature. He was a warrior; silent and brooding. Then as a doctor. He sent of an air of someone intelligent and capable.
But now he just looked young and lost. I could see from the disappointment across his face that he had really hoped for a different response.
"Look," Jackson said, reaching out to touch my arm. "I didn't want to rush you, but we gotta move. You need to say your goodbyes to your sister before we bury her and make your choice."
"Choice?" I echoed dumbly.
"Yeah. You can either evacuate with the other refugees or go on your mission with Tyler and Ellen. Whatever you're up to, but you can't stay here," he said, looking down at his watch. "We're already cutting it close."
I swallowed.
Was I ready to get out there and fight the commissioner? I felt weaker than I ever had. Even thinking about Mia made me feel like breaking out into tears. Could Tyler and Ellen even count on me if I did come along? What if I blacked out again from this post traumatic stress? My mind was buzzing with concerns.
But a single thought cut through the concerns and made me sit up.
I could get my revenge on the commissioner.
Anger surged through me as I thought of all the things the commissioner had put us through. And now my sister was dead because he brought contaminated into the camp. He had to pay.
Swallowing hard, I returned my attention to Jackson.
"I need to go. He has to die."
Jackson nodded.
"I guess this is goodbye then. I need to get the refugees out before it gets dark. But I'll let Ellen know you're in here," he said, a hint of a smile on his lips.
What he did next surprised me.
He bent down and hugged me tight. I blinked in surprise. I honestly thought Jackson and the other renegades hated me. Even when Jackson was helping me, I thought it was only because he had to-as a fellow renegade.
Blinking tears away, I hugged him back and watched him leave the nurses station. I stared around me, feeling lost. I knew it was time to say goodbye to Mia, but I didn't have the words. With a heavy sigh, I pulled myself up and slowly made my way out to Mia's cot outside the door.
Ellen and Jackson had pulled the thin sheet up over her head, but I could still see her tiny form as if she weren't covered. With trembling hands, I pulled back the sheet. Mia's eyes were closed as if she were sleeping. Her skin had a waxy sheen to it. Even in death she was beautiful.
Jackson and Ellen had wiped up most of the blood from where she had been bit. But still I tried to piece together what happened. If a contaminated attacked her, she would have been bed bound. She must have felt such terror.
But she fought and killed it.
The contaminated had her knife in his eye. But it wasn't enough to save her. I searched her body for the cause of death, knowing I couldn't rest until I saw for myself.
My eyes landed on her bare leg. There was a massive gash and teeth marks just above her ankle. Had he bit her and she lost too much blood? How had she even died?
I knew people who had been bit and lived for a few moments. Myself one of them. My brows furrowed. It just didn't make sense. And it wasn't simply because I wasn't ready to let her go.
"Mia?"
I whispered her name, as I tucked her hair behind her ear. I don't know what I was expecting, but she just lay there motionless. Tears blurred my eyes as I sat on the floor next to Mia's bed. She was really gone. Even if it wasn't the bite that had killed her, something had. Mia was gone. Gone for good.
I sobbed into my hands, unable to tell her goodbye or prepare myself for her burial. The hypnosis hadn't lessened my pain. It only made me hollow and numb, an effect that was broken the moment I saw Mia's doll like body.
I don't know how long I sat there. Long enough for the refugees to be evacuated most likely. The light from the windows was dimming, as the sun began to set.
My bottom ached from sitting in the same position for so long, but I couldn't make myself leave. I was acting as the final guard for her until Ellen came back and we could bury her. Until then, I wasn't leaving her side.
Rustling next to me make my head jerk to my left.
Nothing.
I was still completely alone in the gym. I sighed, leaning back on Mia's cot. Ellen had been gone for a long time. I was almost starting to wonder if her and Tyler had started the mission without me.
Movement to my left made me whip my head around in a panic. I definitely was not alone. But what I saw made me freeze, fear flooding me.
Mia was sitting up in her bed. Her face still had the waxy sheen to it and she was too pale. Her eyes were glassed over and stared forward to the other side of the gym. Her hair was a tangled mess of gold that seemed too bright for her pale, sick looking skin. And her mouth-her mouth was dripping with foam.
A gasp was ripped from my throat at the sight of her.
Her head snapped to the side and she growled menacingly. Her eyes caught mine, but it wasn't recognition that lighted her eyes. It was hunger.
A million thoughts raced through my head as I pulled myself from the floor and began backing away from her. I backed up all the way to the nurses station door, my back pushed up against the cool wood.
My sister was alive! Alive!
But she also was a contaminated who wanted to eat me.
And then there were questions about how she had turned, even though she was clearly dead. If people could change into a contaminated postmortem, that would change the way we fought these enemies. They would no longer be contaminated people.
They would be undead.
Breaking my thoughts, Mia gave a wild growl and lunged for me. Thinking fast, I twisted the door handle to the nurses station and threw the door open. With only a second to spare, I slid out the way of her lunge.
Mia went flying past me and into the nurses station where she sat crouched on all fours. Her long blonde hair dangled to the floor and she looked up at me with slitted eyes. Her lip curled up and she snarled. Just as she pounced again, I slammed the door shut.
Mia let out an angry howl and began pounding at the door, trying to break free. As I stared at her face through the glass, my mind was racing to find an answer. Or some type of solution.
It didn't take me long to come to the grim realization that I couldn't lose Mia. Not again. Contaminated, undead, or alive, I had to save Mia.
Placing my hand on the glass, I whispered, "I love you."
She let out a gutteral wail in response. Tears blurred my eyes as I pushed the Mia's cot in front of the door and prayed she wouldn't find a way out.
Feeling hollow inside, I turned and made my way out of the gym. I stopped by the door and flicked the lights out, blanketing the entire gym in darkness. Then I pulled down on the bar from the door, moving it to locked position. For the time being, Mia was safe-locked away in the dark gym.
Stay put, sweet Mia, I thought as I made my way down the hall.