AM13 Outbreak Shorts

Quarantine - Nineteen

"...so, I still don't really know what happened to Zac. Maybe it was the cops that shot him..."

Huh? I glance my eyes wildly from side-to-side, trying to work out exactly why I'm sitting in the back of the very van that I told myself I wouldn't get into no matter what. Rachel's still talking to me, presumably telling me about her time since the AM13 virus broke lose, and for some reason, I'm just sitting here listening, as if I'm supposed to be here.

"Wh...what?" I stammer as a reply. "What happened?"

"What next? Well, after I woke up in the bed I thought I was dead...until someone made their way around the room and they set everyone free."

"Who was that?" I still need to know. It doesn't really matter, but I need to know all the same.

"Erm, a girl with, like reddish hair."

Hannah, that has to be Hannah. I mean, it might not be but I'd like to think it was my friend that did the right thing if it couldn't be me.

"And she was with a guy. I think someone called him Dan or Dave."

Oh...so it seems I wasn't the only one who wanted to make things right. Maybe if I hadn't been so self-involved I could've been in on the plan.

"Are we going to the hospital?" I mutter sleepily. The exhaustion is thick on my tongue, I'm not even sure that Rachel will be able to understand me. If we're going to the hospital, at least I can get some serious help. "Did they say?"

"Apparently the hospital is in a worse state than where we just came from. I don't know where we're going."

Ryan. He's the only person I can think of as I imagine the hospital being destroyed. I've lost him yet again. I know I'm dying anyway, so it hardly matters, but the thought of him being in danger still kills me. I lost him to Christy, then to this new girl of his, whatever her name is, and now to the virus.

Of all the people I hope aren't dead, Ryan is the top of my list. I guess I can't switch my feelings off for him however hard I try.

"Are you okay?" Rachael hisses quietly to me. "You're shaking." She grips hold of me which causes the trembling to stop for just a second. "Are you in shock?"

"Er, yeah, maybe."

I should probably just tell her, but I can't quite seem to find the words. I guess there isn't any point in causing an unnecessary panic right now, not when I can make my escape at the other end. And this time I'll make sure I do it. I don't quite know how I managed to slip through the cracks before, it must be the lapses in memory that I heard suggestions about at the hospital. No wonder victims of the virus are so angry and aggressive. I feel that way myself.

"We'll know more soon," Racheal reassures me. "Everything will be okay."

I don't want to tell her that not only will it not be okay for me, but also that it won't be alright for the world now. Things with this virus were bad enough before, but now they're out of control. AM13 is one of those things that should never have been allowed to spread. If everyone gets it and there's no cure, then everyone is screwed.

There really is no option of 'okay' anymore.