Battle of Ash

Chapter 5

"It was there. It was there in my blood.
It's living in me now.
It's spreading and living and taking over."
James Holland, personal note

2017.02.24 07:48
Ash unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped inside. She looked around slowly, she felt like she was dreaming, or in some sort of video game. Everything seemed so... normal back in New York. Sure there were a few infected, but most of them were still in the beginning stages and taking great care to keep themselves from infecting others. People were walking around with medical masks on to filter out spores, most of the infected had sent themselves to the hundreds of freshly set up medical tents or hospitals, there were civilians passing out informative pamphlets on corners about the new illness chock full of CDC information.

It was so unlike South America. Just a few thousand miles away was complete social break down; infected eating humans, attacking people, gangs and groups of people attacking one another. Chaos... but here...

She flipped on a light switch quickly moving around to open her blinds and let in the natural light, spilling the pile of mail and newspapers on her desk as she did so. The title of an article glared up at her through the mess as she moved on by, catching her eye and causing pause. Curiously she pulled it from the pile, scanning the page. Apparently there was some special building going on that had been assigned top priority by the government immediately after the man had bitten his wife and the number of the infected had risen. They were special bio domes being constructed in designated 'safe spaces' around America, one in every county was hoped for- but apparently funds were low so some places would see a shortage. Of course that meant space was limited and to reserve your spot you would have to pay for a reservation and lifetime supply of food and water and other such things.

Ash walked through her living room and into the tiny kitchen. It wasn't a large apartment, just enough room for her and her dog and cat. She looked at her home phone which she kept for the few friends she had who needed to contact her when she was deployed. It was flashing. She turned from the glaring red light and focused on the white and blue and beige tone of her apartment. She had never tried to add more color than necessary which left the whole place feeling rather like the waiting room of a hospital. She felt like she wasn't home, she never felt like anywhere was home; except on the field of battle.

Ash sighed, running a hand through her hair and getting her fingers gnarled in the long braid. She took a quick peek in a mirror and sure enough there were odd bits sticking up. She sighed again, feeling it from the depth of her lungs. Nothing about life here contented her; she saw things when her eyes closed that made all the normal, mundane acts of civilian life seem like a cruel joke.

"Hey!" Life would shout at her when she went to dive for cover under a produce table after someone had tipped their full shopping cart, "Hey! Look at how you'll never fit in again!"

She tried for a few minutes to pace and become comfortable... but she couldn't. She gathered a few necessities and ran out the door again. She needed distraction, she needed something to get her mind off of everything... she needed to get her pets. They would help. They always helped.

More than anything else she hated being alone.

2017.02.24 11:06
He knocked on the door, shifting uncomfortably outside. He saw some of the curtains in the windows around the block shift open and fall back down quickly. It was a military neighborhood... they knew what him being at Tex's doorstep dressed like that meant. They kept their blinds shut as if to ward off the same happening to them.

He focused once again to the door hearing Sarah, Tex's wife, rush around inside.

"One minute!" came through the door muffled.