The Last Plague

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The City

"Okay, so, most people are scared of newcomers. They think we missed inspected y'all or something dumb like that. Of course, we don't allow many new people. Most that come here have already been bitten and try to cover it up or refuse to be inspected. I've had a couple that doesn't want to be naked in front of a stranger, but we still get rid of them. We only have about five hundred people living here, and it's a pretty small city," Raymond said as we walked out of the hospital. "So, just stay with me, and you'll be fine. You'll be living amongst these people in a week or so. You got any questions before we start?" he asked, sounding friendly.

"No," Trina said. "Can we see the city?" she asked, sounding eager.

"Actually, yes, I have one question. Why do people use cars for such a small place?" I asked him, looking out and seeing cars honking in traffic.

"You know, I don't really know. But people are fairly lazy, so maybe that's why." Grayson added, his tone drifting off slightly.

We started walking through the city without another word. I found it strange that they weren't more cautious. In the times we were in, I expected more order and precaution. I also had expected there to be a wall around the city. Everything about the city seemed to be off, strange, misleading even.

We came upon several restaurants and apartments and a few houses. The cars in the streets all seemed to be parked on the road. The ones being driven seemed pointless; you could walk at twice the speed you could drive there. Grayson told us about everything going on in the city. He seemed to know every location and every home with every person inside of it.

"Are you the mayor or something?" I asked him, finally finding a pause between his words.

"No," he responded with a light laugh.

"How do you know everything everywhere?" I asked him, still curious.

"I've lived here since it was open," he responded, then he continued walking and giving us a tour.

After three hours of walking down in the city, we finally came to a restaurant. It was about lunchtime, and he told us about a place in town that served pizza. I couldn't get enough of the pizza, anything that wasn't human would've tasted good at that point. We ate our food and walked out. The pizza wasn't worth too much, but it was filling.

"Where did people get cars?" I asked, genuinely curious, but slightly jealous.

"To be honest, I have no clue," Grayson said, not helping me at all.

After a few more hours we walked back into the hospital. We weren't doing anything and basically sat around. Hours went by without anything happening. The next day was pretty slow and dull too. We just sat in a room waiting to be let into the city. A third day came when something happened.

Grayson walked up to us with our food again that day. I finally asked him what I had wanted for days.

"Why can't we be let into society?"

He looked down at me, coldly. I felt a small prick of fear in my heart. He didn't seem pleased with the question; he seemed almost upset.

"Why are you asking me stupid questions?" Grayson said, still looking at me coldly.

"Why's that a stupid question?" I asked him back, refusing to trip on my words.

"You're either a complete idiot, or you actually haven't heard," he said under his breath. It was loud enough for me to hear and he seemed like he wanted me to hear it. Grayson had gone from a kind man helping us out to a cold-hearted creepy man, almost too quickly.

I was starting to actually fear the man just from him looking at me. He paused and stared at me longer, seemingly expecting me to say something. I looked at him and noticed he was a tall, fatter man. He didn't seem that strong. I would have thought he was a joyful grandpa if I ever saw him, but he started looking cold the moment he stared at me.

"I guess you seriously haven't heard," he said, almost snorting. "Okay, well, come here," he told us, motioning to join him. He quickly turned back into a seemingly friendly man. "Do you see this?" he said, pointing at a window.

There was a man laying on it with tubes coming in and out of his body. The tubes weren't carrying blood as I had expected, they were carrying a clear liquid. Slime, it is the creature's slime. I quickly realized staring through the window. The man was breathing steadily, his chest rising and falling slowly. He seemed to be in distress though, he had worry on his face. His eyes and face were wet, with what looked like tears. I couldn't hear anything through the window, but I could almost feel whimpers in my chest.

"This is a man who had swallowed some of the slime," Grayson said, staring through the window sympathetically. "You have the same effects as getting bit, but they're slower. After getting bit, it will only take a few hours to become a zombie. If you swallow some, you start showing symptoms after about five days. You'll become a full-blown zombie in a little over a week if you drink it. That's why we have you stay here with us for a week. We're just making sure nothing happens." Grayson explained, sounding calm and kind again.

We walked back into the small waiting room and it was still empty. I and Trina just sat down next to each other and sighed. I didn't know what to do, and I doubted Trina knew what to do. I didn't know what we were supposed to do even when we got out of this place. Were we supposed to get jobs? Try to find an apartment and go shopping for food? That sounded too normal of a life for what we were in at the moment.

The next day went by without anything happening. The fifth day drilled on the same. On day six Grayson walked into the room cheerfully.

"I have great news for you!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "You are going to get to go into the city tomorrow. Now, before we go though, you have to know some rules about this place." He took us into a small room in the back. "First of all, absolutely never leaving here. You, under no circumstance, should leave these borders. We will shoot you before you get close enough to even return here.

"Y'all are lucky enough you didn't get shot out there. I bet you met Rhone, he's a nice guy. He risks his life too many times to count on saving us. Anyway, back on topic. You're second rule, you have to do what we say. We don't have a leader around here, it is a group decision. If we make a new rule then, even if you don't like it, you have to follow it. Otherwise, we will make you leave. We can also give orders, for example, evacuation. If we decide to evacuate everyone, then you are going to listen. Our final rule," He paused and took a deep breath.

An alarm started blaring across the building. There were bells in multiple corners I hadn't noticed before ringing throughout the building, becoming unignorable. Grayson grabbed I and Trina's arms and walked quickly down the hallway. He was muttering something under his breath, but it was drowned out by the constant bells. He pushed us into a small room and locked the door behind us.

There weren't any bells in the room; they were all outside. I could still hear the bells pushing their way into the door though. I noticed the turrets had started firing. I wanted to know what he was going to say. The sudden alarm had caught me off-guard and startled me. Grayson had acted so quickly, it almost seemed robotic. He didn't even bother finishing what he was saying because he acted so quickly.

The alarms had stopped blaring, leaving an eerie silence over the room. I couldn't hear anything besides the occasional turret blast.

"What was that?" Trina whispered quietly, but it sounded loud in the eerie quiet.

"I have no clue, but I think we should find out," I told her, hoping Grayson would give me some answers about what had just happened.

The handle clicked and Grayson walked in. "Okay, so, back to rule number three. Always, and I mean every single time, listen to when an emergency happens. Just like the one you just heard. That was an emergency. Listen to it, if you don't, you may very well die. Tell me you'll follow those rules or we won't let you out." Grayson said, giving us no option.

"We agree," Trina said very quickly. "Now, please, tell me what that was."