AM13 Outbreak Shorts

Quarantine - Fifteen

My wooden legs can barely move, even to escape the monster who now has his eyes firmly fixed upon me. Only moments ago he was a boy, a young teenage lad who had just lost his sister. Yes, he had a bite, but that was it. There were no other signs that he was about to become this. He was sweaty, possibly fluey, but usually, the process is so much longer.

"We cannot kill him," I insist through panicked breaths. "He's different, he's special."

"What the hell are you going on about?" Hannah queries. "Special how?"

"He turned so quickly, faster than the others." Brain scans, we need to do brain scans. "We need to examine his brain, to see what happened. It could be the key."

"The key to what?"

"To curing this, to putting an end to it all."

"We can't do that." Hannah is starting to sound desperate. "We just need to keep this mess under control. He has to be killed, to prevent an epidemic."

"No, no, no." Why can't she see? That's the wrong decision. "We need to be humane..."

"Are you going to get him?" the doctor joins in. "Will you be the one to drag him from this room to pin him down?"

"If I have to." Of course, I don't really mean that. I have no intention of grabbing onto this beast alone, I just want the doctor to see that I'm serious. "I would much rather that you help me though."

Please say yes, please!

"That is madness. No, we need to follow protocol. We need to kill this boy, just as we have done so all the others. This is no time for change."

"Can't we just..." I roll desperately through my mind, trying to find a solution that will suit us both for now. Time is of the essence, we can't waste time on a petty argument. "Just lock him in here? Give me a moment to speak to someone. I'm telling you that this boy is different." I don't know why, but I'm convinced that somehow he holds the key to everything. "Please?"

"Urgh, whatever." He rolls his eyes at me. "Let's just get going, shall we? We no longer have time to plan, we need to take action."

I sigh so deeply with relief as we all leave the room and I close the door behind us all, that I forget everything else that's happening. It isn't until I move away, safe in the knowledge that Eric can still live another day, even if it isn't in the way that I would like, or he would like for that matter, that suddenly I recall everything else.

The patients...too many for the hospital...the panic...the chaos.

I have to almost run to keep up with Hannah and the doctor, it's almost as if they're walking rapidly on purpose because they cannot stand to be with me anymore. Maybe I've shamed them in some way by insisting that we keep Eric alive, but it hardly matters. Once they calm down and they start to see reason, all will be forgotten. Soon enough I'll make them see that I was right to keep him alive.

It saddens me to see him in such a sorry state, I feel awful that I left him to die alone. If I'd thought for just one second that he would go that quickly I would've...well I don't know what I would have done, but I don't think I'd have left him.

"Where have you been?" Dave grabs onto Hannah's arm the second he sees her. I can tell that his grip is too hard by the way that she winces. I expect her to snap at him for that, but she simply leans in closer to listen instead. "We've had it, the announcement, from upstairs."

"What do you mean?"

This feels deadly serious, it makes my heart thunder painfully in my chest. I open my mouth to speak, but I don't totally know what it is that I want to say.

"The announcement," he repeats. "The announcement that we have to kill."

"What...everyone?"

Oh God, is this serious?

"Yes, everyone. They're all going to die anyway, this is just to speed up the process. This is to stop all the medical staff from getting infected too. The way that the world is going, we're going to need all the medical staff we can get."

"So...we just have to kill?"

"Yes." He hands Hannah a shiny, metallic object. "Here's your knife. Best get to it."

No.

No, no.

No, no, no.

This is too much.