The Green Flu

Chapter 10 - Alexis

My first thought was that we need to get Micheal to the hospital or to one of those CEDA stations. He's infected and bleeding, we need to get help. He was hesitant to follow me at first, but I blame that on all the craziness that is happening.

What he said was bad news. Will was infected? But Micheal said that he scratched him, so Will must've already turned into one of those creatures. And the blood on the baseball bat only confirmed my fears. Will was dead. That poor guy. He never did anything to deserve this.

For the record, Will and I were never a couple. We'd gone on a few dates, but we were just close friends. Nothing more. Still, that doesn't make the fact that he's dead any easier. I can't think about that now though. I know that if I do, I'll start crying.

"So..." Micheal said, breaking the silence. We got to the end of the hall and he held the door open for me. I nodded a thank you and started down the three flights of stairs. Our building doesn't have an elevator, so it was good to find an apartment on the third floor or below. I can't even imagine having to climb down five flights or six flights everyday.

"Your door was knocked down. How did that happen?" Micheal asked casually, probably just trying to make small talk.

"An infected man broke it down. I think he used to live here." I heard Micheal stop on the stairs behind me.

"You mean one of those...creatures broke into your home?" His voice was full of fear and concern. I stopped and looked up at him.

"Yeah, but I'm fine." I raised my hands in the air to show that there was no cuts or bruises or anything. "I got to him before he could get to me."

Micheal started going down the stairs again, but he was busy thinking so it was slow going.

"They can break down doors?"

"Apparently." I gave a shrug, not thinking much of it. That creature was an infected person and so it makes sense that it has most of the same abilities as a person, aside from opening doors and speaking comprehensive languages I suppose.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Micheal said as he started picking up speed again. Now he was going down the stairs almost as quick as I was. "If I didn't meet you, I don't know what I would've done. I really should've paid attention to the news."

We had reached the bottom of the stairs by now. I opened the door to the lobby area quietly and cautiously, unsure if there would be any creatures in there or not. So far, the coast was clear.

"Are there any of those...things in there?" Micheal asked as he caught up to me. I shook my head no and I could hear him sigh a sigh of relief. We walked out into the large area that's usually filled with people. I was just hoping they were still alive and not infected.

"So, what now? Do you know where any of those CEDA stations are?" Micheal asked, searching around the room for something.

"I...don't know." I guess I hadn't thought this far ahead. I just expected that we'd run into trouble.

Okay Alexis, think! I told myself. Think! Where would CEDA set up?

"Hey, Alexis!" Micheal called to me, breaking my train of thought. He was over by the desk where the receptionist would normally be. "Come look at this."

He lifted up a sheet of paper. I walked over to him and it looked like a small poster for CEDA. At the top in big letters it said "Infection Warning" and underneath it had four steps for what to do if you think you're infected.

• Remain calm.
• Quarantine yourself from the uninfected population immediately.
• Do not attempt to interact with friends or family.
• Contact a contamination facility for immediate screening.

Under all those points, it had phone number. I wondered if it was for a hospital or a quarantine company.

"Should I be considering doing this?" Micheal asked, sounding almost scared. "I-I mean, am I infected?"

Logically, Micheal probably should be infected. The creature that Will was when he scratched him would've passed on the virus through his body via his bloodstream. But Micheal hasn't shown any symptoms of being sick at all. I don't know how long it takes for the infection to start showing, but he doesn't really seem affected by it, aside from pain of the scratches themselves. Before I could answer, Micheal suddenly started freaking out.

"Alexis!" He exclaimed. "What if I've infected you? I've been infected for almost half an hour, I might've passed it on to you!" He dropped his bat and the piece of paper and backed away from me, looking at his hands like he could see the infection growing on his skin.

"Micheal, are you sure you're infected?" I asked him calmly, trying to get him to quiet down.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm infected! I've been freaking scratched!!" His tone didn't change at all and his voice only got louder. He didn't understand what I was asking him and that was only making him more frustrated.

"No, hold on." I said. "What I mean is, do you feel sick at all? You haven't been showing any signs of catching the flu." That got Michael's attention. He took a minute to think before answering.

"I...don't feel sick or anything. But what are the symptoms of the Green Flu?"

"Uhmm..." I started looking through the CEDA papers on the desk, hoping to find a list of effects from the sickness. "That's a good question."

Finally, I found a sheet of paper with CEDA written on it and a list of medical symptoms for the Flu.

"It lists coughing, sore throat, fever, headache...Are you feeling any of that?"

Micheal answered with a shake of the head no.

"Okay, that's good." I looked back down at the paper. It said that the infection is extremely contagious and can spread from direct contact or just from being near an infected person. The infection is airborne. And it spreads fast.

"Micheal, don't worry." I tried for a reassuring smile, though I'm not very good at it so I'm not sure how it looked. "I'm pretty sure that if you are infected, you would've been feeling it by now."

That calmed him down a bit. He relaxed and started to pick up his bat again.

"Well, what about you?" He asked. "Are you feeling sick?" I shook my head and started looking through the papers again.

"I probably would be feeling the effects of it if I was infected by now." Micheal sighed and smiled too, clearly relieved to know that he wasn't sick or making me sick. It's good to know he cares, even though I only learned his name about 20 minutes ago.

I kept looking through the papers and mostly found intructions of what to do if you're infected or just reminders to stop spreading the Flu, but I did find something interesting. It was still a CEDA paper, but it had a list of essentials for something called a safe house. I guess that's a room or rooms that you block off and keep yourself quarantined from the outside world.

On the list was stuff like non-perishable foods, a flashlight, a first-aid kit. But what caught my eye was the one that said weapons and a decent supply of ammunition. CEDA expects that a safe house would need weapons? 

"Hey, Alexis!" Micheal's excited voice brought me back to the present. "Take a look at this one." I looked at what he had and it was a poster with a handful of destinations on it. Those places were a few of CEDA's stations and the nearest hospital.

"Eben-Ezer Church of God." Micheal read one of the places out loud. "That's just down the road, maybe two blocks from here." He looked at me with a smile on his face.

"Then that's where we're going." I couldn't help but smile back. We had a place to go and a plan in mind. Things were looking up.