Self-Preservation

Chapter 4

We didn't see any signs of human life on our way to the cabin, it was as desolate as it had been when we left. By the time we saw Brent's semi and parked in the gravel road, the woman was weaker and coughing more. Maya ran inside and got her some tap water and crackers from the grocery bags in the back of the jeep. The woman thanked Maya.
Once we had all taken the grocery bags into the kitchen and put them away, we decided
to make formal introductions. While Maya and I had put the Groceries away Keith, Brent, and Keith's son helped the woman onto the couch. The daughter sat next to her on the loveseat. We all converse with each other in the Kitchen, deciding to give the woman and her daughter some privacy. The only person I didn't know was Keith's son, he introduces himself as Nathan, just like Keith had called him back at the gas station except I'd forgotten.
    Nathan had lighter brown hair than Keith, and he was a typically attractive- looks wise- man. He was tall, strong, had a sharp jawline, and full lips. Maya introduced herself and I, when she said my name I saw Nathan give me a discreet look up and down. I shiver slightly and decide that this guy is a dick.
    "-It's nice to meet y'all, maybe we should go introduce ourselves to the woman?" Keith adds.
    "I agree." Brent and Maya say at the same time.
    We all walk over to the woman and the daughter, upon further inspection the woman looked quite different from her daughter. The mum had light brown hair and a larger nose, the daughter's features were prominent, large eyes, lips, and long blonde hair, her nose was the opposite of the mother's it was a tiny button. Keith started out by introducing himself, then Nathan, Brent, Maya, and Maya introduced myself. The woman replies to us all and says;
    "I'm Rebecca." She then starts coughing hoarsely and more blood comes out, Maya runs to get her a towel to cough into.
    Brent cocks his head in the direction of the little girl and asks what her name is.
    "Paisley." The girl replies.
    Maya continues to help the woman cough up her blood, I guide the guys towards the kitchen again and try to remember some of my medical school training. Being in this awkward situation with these practical strangers is pushing my feelings aside, and forcing an instinct within me to come out. Self-Preservation. Something is seriously up with this woman and if she caught the disease from the cashier that attacked her, doesn't that mean she should end up doing the same?
    "She's coughing up blood, usually that means she has a serious infection. Which means that bite was transmitted to her, it infected her." I say and shiver at the part when I say infected.
    Nathan looks at me unfazed and asks, "So she 'uh zombie or somethin'?" He chuckles sarcastically.
    "In a sense, I think." I reply seriously.
    The boys all looked back at me with utter amazement and slight fear. Keith took his cowboy hat off and ran his hands through his dark brown hair that shows signs of greying.
    "If she 'gonna turn int'a zombie, we can't have her sitting in our livin' room." Keith adds and his face contorts into a sorrowful look.
    "I agree." Brent pipes up, uncrossing his arms and stops leaning on the counter.
    "What're we 'gonna do about her then?" Nathan asks and I don't want to know what his idea is.
    "The garage? We can isolate her, that seems like the most humane thing we could do." I mumble hoping they hear me.
    "What about Paisley?" Keith asks.
    "She'll have to stay in here with us." I say.
    "But will she?" Brent counters.
    "It's worth a shot." I reply.
    Nathan hadn't put himself into the conversation after we talked about putting her in the garage. He clearly did not agree with our decision, but then again, I wonder what he wanted to do with Rebecca.
    Nathan remained in the kitchen as we all went over and talked to Rebecca and Paisley. Keith, again, removed his cowboy hat and sat down near the lady. We all sat within close proximity to her. Maya was the closest though, sitting right next to her applying some pressure on Rebecca's gushing wound.
    "Ma'am, we are willing to set 'ya up in the garage? We just want to make sure none of us catch it. We know we've already been 'round 'ya, but we don't know how this disease could work." Keith asks considerably.
    "Ok." Rebecca grunts out through hacking coughs.
    "Anna, will 'ya come set up the garage with me?" Keith asks before Paisley can voice her opinion on where he mum will be and I wrinkle my brow at him asking me to help.
    I don't reply and just follow him out to the kitchen, he asks me to grab her some food. I rummage through the fridge and cabinets and decide on giving her some crackers, water, and some almonds I'd seen pushed way back in one of the last cabinets. Keith comes back to me and says he found her some blankets and a pillow from a hallway closet he passed by. We both walk out through the screened in porch and follow the tiny gravel pathway leading to the garage a few meters away. Keith stopped at the garage door and waited for me, clearly it wouldn't open without a remote or a pin, so we walked the perimeter of the building and found a door on the left side. Keith opens the door on the first try and some dust flies out. Keith waves it out of the way and continues through the threshold. In the corner of the dusty garage there were some long boxes, like what'd you be able to fit a couple of folding camping chairs in. He pushed them together until they formed a bed-like platform, then he grabbed some duct tape-- off of a shelf on the wall-- and loosely 'wrapped' them together. Keith then proceeds to arrange the blankets and pillows onto the boxes. I drop the supplies I had gathered for Rebeca on top of the blankets.
    He looks down at the 'bed' condescendingly and says, "I feel awful puttin' this woman in here, considerin' her state."
    "It's better than shoving her out in the wilderness." I counter and shrug my shoulders.
    "I know," He says and leads us out of the garage.
    We walked back to the cabin and back through the porch, once we hit the kitchen I could see Maya at the sink. She was preparing more bandages for Rebecca, I decided to leave Maya to her business. I walk back up to the loft and sit on the bed, I pull my phone out of my jacket and click Thomas's name again. It rings, and rings, and rings...
    "Maya!" I hear his voice say.
    "Thomas!" I cry out and can feel a tear start to swell up in one of my eyes.
    "Maya we don't have much time, my boss is calling another mandatory meeting and ordering all CDC and government personnel to a bunker. All flights in and out of the U.S have been cancelled, they're being completely isolated by the rest of the globe. My boss and I were just in a meeting over the phone with Russia, China, Nigeria, Australia, and Canada. Canada has seen their first signs of the disease within this hour, they're closing all borders." He says frantically.
    "What are we supposed to do, Thomas?" I ask.
    "Stay away from anyone infected, keep inside that cabin and lock the doors. Do not let anyone in, I repeat do not. Wait for this all to blow over, doctors around the world are figuring out what to do. Just wait this out honey, as soon as this all starts slowing down I will be the first bloody person out there to get you." Thomas promises me.
    "What do we do if there's someone that has been bit?" I ask, deciding not to tell him about the 4 strangers sitting in the living room. One of which is infected.
    "They're going to die within a day or two. How the re-animation occurs is still uncertain, there's nothing you can do for them besides not let them turn and bite you." He says and seems a bit distracted.
    "So if you've been bitten, you're already infected?" I ask a bit paranoid.
    "Correct, there's nothing you can do except stop the brain, that's the only way the person will 'die'." He says and sounds like he puts air quotes on die. "Basically, their a bloody zombie."
    "Jesus christ, what is this, Night of the Living Dead?" I ask hoping he's just joking.
    "Yes." He says and my heart drops. "Shit, Anna. My boss is taking people down, Charlotte is okay she's safe with me. I will call you in 2 hours, that's when my next global meeting is. We don't get any signal in the bunker where my meeting in a couple minutes is. I love you so much Anna. Please stay safe." He says and I can already tell by the sound of his voice that he was tearing up.
    "I love you too, Thomas. I want to say how sorry I am for how I've blocked you, and Charlotte, out for these past months. I would do anything to go back now and change that." I say expressing my sorrow, my eyes begin to water and a tear falls down my cheek.
    "Anna, no matter what-" Thomas starts but the phone ends with a double beep and my phone shows at the top a notification, call lost.
    "No..." I drag out, feeling like this could be the last time I hear from him.
    Charlotte's safe and so is Thomas, that's all that matters. Now, the only thing left for me to do is make it to where Thomas and Charlotte are safely, and that includes Maya. This is how my parents would want me to be thinking, Maya was right. Mum and Dad would be so disappointed in the way I've been acting these past months. Well bloody hell, we are going to change that, it's time to fucking shape up Anna.
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