Quarantine

Breaking Dawn

Five days ago I was trapped in a van with a dying woman, her boyfriend, and my own boyfriend. Now I was sitting in a bomb shelter located somewhere inside of Topeka. I didn't know where at, but knew that we were inside of the Capital.
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I looked at Jackson who was huddled over Rose's prone body. He hadn't moved at all since our arrival, and waited for Rose to say something. The medical supplies they had helped save Rose, and I realized how close we came to dying with my stunt.

What if they didn't show up? What if we really were alone?

I didn't like thinking about it, but it nagged at my brain the whole time. We never saw Ann's body, but assumed that she was dead. Charles hadn't talked to me yet as he was reading a book in the corner. It was a survival guide, and I wasn't surprised at his attempts to even the odds for his survival.

I rhythmically put my fingers together, and pulled them apart. The tapping a distraction to the soldier that stood watch over us in his chair next to the doorway. I glanced at him, and saw the rifle laying across his laps. I couldn't tell if they were friendly or our enemies yet, but I hoped for the first one.

A red light flashed above the hydraulically locking doors, and the soldier stood up. He rested the gun to his side on the strap, and stood to attention when the door opened up. A man entered with military clothes on, and an array of seemingly useless metals that slowly tinkled as they hit each other.

Jackson stayed sitting over his Rose, but Charles and I stood up. The man glanced at Jackson, but said nothing. He looked at Charles and I who had stood up at the mans sudden entry.

"You two. Come with me. Leave the man with her. Hondereas. You can leave the room to those two, so they can have some peace." The soldier nodded his head as he left the room.

"I guess I'll introduce myself to you. My name is Ty. It's not short for anything. I already know your name Ethan, but who is this?" He pointed at Charles who stole a glance at me.

I pushed out my jaw, and looked forward, but secretly was watching Charles from the corner of my eye.

"My name, Ty, is Charles." Charles looked ahead as well, and I went loose in my stance a little.

"Very well, Charles. Both of you are coming with me. We have some.... stuff to discuss with both of you." He wavered in his sentence when deciding what to call the plans they had.

I glanced at Charles, and then followed Ty as he walked out of the room, and into a brightly lit hallway. Charles wasn't far behind, and we avoided holding hands as they didn't seem to know that we were a couple. The roughly six foot tall man in front of us blocked what was ahead, and I looked down the hall we were walking when he turned right to another passageway.

The hall way we entered was darker than the first one, and he stopped in front of door. He turned around to us, and said "Charles. Do you know why your here?"

Charles shook his head, but looked forward. His eyes focused on the handgun in a holster.

"Then why don't you ask your friend here? He is the reason why. Ethan McAllister." He muttered my name with amusement in his eyes.

Charles glanced at me with forgiveness in his eyes. He wasn't mad at me, but was thinking of something.

Don't do something stupid.

I grabbed his shoulder, and he looked back at me. He relaxed a little bit at my touch, but I could tell that he was still thinking of something.

"What you are about to see is our trials at a vaccine. You will notice how they have all failed." He stated that glumly, and with sadness in his voice.

He put in a five digit number, and opened up the door. We walked into the most horrifying thing I had ever seen in my life. Clear glass boxes lined the small walkway, and blood was splattered against the walls. One Rotter was in each box, and they were all malformed.

"What happened to them?" I coughed it out as the smell reached me.

"The vaccine was nothing more than a destroying agent. It killed the victim faster, and added some unique character traits to them." He spoke that with more interest.

"What type of traits?" Asked Charles.

"Some of them can remember things. Not how to use complicated things, but on how to enter... let's say a passcode. It can be no more than six though, or they'll forget. The best ones don't need to bite you to infect. They simply have to touch you because their bones will pop out from their skin." He seemed mystified at it, but also with wonder.

As he spoke that we walked past a box where one slammed against the glass, and sharp pieces of bones suddenly shot out fork his skin before sinking in. The glass wasn't even cracked, but scratches were dig deep into it.

"How do they move if their bones do that?" I asked with confusion.

"That I don't know. Luckily we are going to kill them all now that you are here." He said this nonchalantly.

"Wait. Why? What am I supposed to do here?" I cried out.

"You don't have a vaccine, but the quarantine does. It's in the lab were it all started at, and we need to find patient zero to research it better. We need you to lead us around, and tell us where patient zero is located at." He looked at me with seriousness across his whole demeanor.

He didn't even flinch when the boxes suddenly filled with flames, and the moans of the undead had stopped. Charles looked at me, and I looked at him.

"I'm not going back there. I don't even know where this 'patient zero' is at." I looked at the man.

"Take your time ok saying yes. You will go eventually. Wether you like it or not." He simply ushered us out of the room, as punched in the five digit code again.

Charles was whispering something under his breath, but I didn't disturb him.

He must be praying.

He led us down the corridor, and showed us to a door where he pulled out a card key, and slid it through a reading device. The door unlocked, and we entered a fully furnished room. Charles entered it, and looked around.

"You two can stay here. Both I you will get an access card, and the eating room is just three doors down the hall to the right." With that he handed me two card keys, and Watched him leave us alone.

The door closed shut, and I turned around to find Charles digging through drawers. "What are you doing?"

He silenced me by saying, "Quiet!! Five-seven-eight-nine-three."

Is he loosing his mind?

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What is Charles doing?

Why does the military need Ethan to find patient zero?

What are those numbers for?

Find out in the next chapter!!!