A New Virus

Ch: 3 (old)

I screamed as I woke up. I felt tears on my face, was I crying? I thought back to my dream or really, memory. It happened when I was 6 years old, at the time I didn't know what had happened but now I do. At the time mom had told me that Emma had died from food poisoning but when I was 10, I figured it out that she had turned into a zombie. I cried for weeks on end when I first realized that, if we had gotten on top of the monkey bars earlier than she would be alive. I kind of blamed it on myself as we had a little talk before doing what dad had told us to do. I saw it as my fault for dragging out the conversation. If we had just done what dad told us to do the second that he had left, we would both probably be alive right now.

I looked at my surroundings and noticed that I was on a bed in a room in the nursing area. I sat up on the bed and backed against the room. I pulled my knees to my chest and let tears fall down my eyes. I hadn't cried like this since I pieced it together that Emma had turned into a zombie. I looked at my scratch and wondered if I had been infected. I really don't want to die but if I had been infected, then maybe I will see her again.

I looked up as the door opened and my mother walked into the room. "How are you feeling?" She asked me.

"I saw it again," I told her.

"Saw what?" She asked me.

"Emma, the day she died," I told her as tears rolled down my eyes.

Mother came over to me and sat down before giving me a huge hug. "It'll be alright."

"It's my fault that she died," I told her.

"No, it isn't." She quickly told me. "Things just happen."

"We didn't do as a dad as asked as soon as he had told us to do it," I told her. "We had a little talk, I told her that we weren't in trouble."

"You couldn't have known." She told me.

"I started that talk and whether I knew if we were in trouble or not, I still lied to her." My tears became more noticeable as I started to cry.

Mother wrapped her arms around me and I leaned against her, crying into her chest. We sat like this for a couple of minutes until I calmed down.

After I had calmed down and stayed calm for a few minutes, Ninetta came into the room.

"How are you?" Ninetta asked me.

"Fine now," I told her.

"Are you hurting anywhere?" Ninetta asked.

I took a few seconds to answer that as I checked myself over, nothing seemed to hurt. "No."

"That's good," Ninetta tells me. "I checked your blood for the virus while you were asleep."

I held my breath as I heard her say this, she would know if I was infected or not. I sat up, waiting for her answer.

"There is no sign of any virus in your blood," Ninetta told me.

I let out a breath, that was good, at least I wasn't going to die anytime soon.

"But some people are paranoid and want you to stay in here for at least 8 days, just to be sure," Ninetta told me.

"That's understandable," I told her. If someone else had been scratched by a zombie, I would have been the same way. Science may show that I don't have a virus in my blood but paranoia can be someone's downfall and we all know it. Everyone always likes to check things from time to time, as science can sometimes be flawed.

My mother didn't seem to understand what Ninetta was asking and inquired, "you've checked her for the virus, it showed us as negative. What more proof can they ask?"

"Actual evidence, word has spread that her eyes had glowed grey while her blood had stayed red," Ninetta told her.

"Wait!" I paused. Why did my eyes glow? I didn't have the Heartfire virus as they had checked all of the children's blood for it when Emma had turned into a zombie. It turns out that for some reason, half of the children with Heartfire parents didn't get the virus. That fact had people send out the word to other forts and strongholds, asking them if they had the same problem. A few of them did, but others didn't. Almost all of the children whose parents had wanted them to get the virus had gotten the virus. My parents wanted me to get the Heartfire virus as well considering what had happened to Emma, it turns out that I can't get the Heartfire virus. My cells recognize the virus as foreign and had destroyed the strain that had been injected into me. The stronghold in Canada called Sanctuary that hands out the virus keep how they make the virus contagious a secrete. No one knows why they do, they just do. Some people think that they want others to figure it out, others think that they are keeping that information to themselves for leverage against an invasion, others just think that they are stingy. My mind then went back to the conversation at hand. The two adults were looking at me, wondering what I had to say. "How were my eyes glowing? I thought I couldn't get the Heartfire virus."

"You can't, and we don't know why," Ninetta told me. "Now, please agree with us that it is best for everyone if we keep an eye on Anya?"

My mother hesitated before answering, "fine...." She probably realized that it was no good to argue with Ninetta, Ninetta always wins an argument. "Is she at least allowed to leave this room?"

"If she is accompanied by someone with Heartfire, such as yourself, your husband: John, or Sarah," Ninetta tells her.

"Alright." My mother tells Ninetta. "Let's go eat dinner, you slept through lunch."

"Come straight back if something happens," Ninetta told them.

"Will do." My mother told Ninetta. My mother then left the room with me following her.