A New Infection

Chapter 3

As Freddie led her down to the bunker, Bella wondered how much she should tell him. He seemed trustworthy enough. Besides, Bella mused, how much damage could a nine-year old do? She smirked sadly as she thought of her younger sisters, who were ten and extremely mischievous and got into all sorts of shenanigans. There's only one of him so...

Her thoughts were cut short as she stepped into a dim room lit by a few LED lights. It had only a few pieces of furniture tucked away in the back - a slightly stained couch and a few banged up chairs. A foldable plastic table was collapsed and propped up against two of the chairs. To the left of the door was an industrial size fridge and a gas generator from the 21st century. A radio sat on another of the chairs spewing static that, combined with the whirring of the gas generator, made it hard for Bella to think. I'm going to have to fix those later. She rubbed her head, exasperated. In the other corner closest to the door was a large backpack, presumably Freddie's, which made Bella smirk at the idea of him carrying such a huge bag on his small frame. Poking out of one of the pockets was a thin laptop, which Bella recognised as one of the latest models in the market. She had been practically drooling over the idea of having it before the apocalypse had happened, but it had been pushed to the back of her mind.

Freddie slammed the door shut behind her, before struggling to push a crate Bella hadn't noticed before in front of it. Snickering to herself about the ludicrous image of the boy pushing something easily three times his size and five times his weight, Bella walked over and pushed the crate with ease, mentally thanking her parents for making her work out at their gym.

Looking over at Freddie, she noticed his awkward stance, shifting from foot to foot, eyes darting around the room, trying to pretend he wasn't watching her every move. Bella rolled her eyes and went over to get the couch she'd seen before. With a heave, she pulled it out into the middle of the room. She sat down on it with a huff, wrinkling her nose as a musty scent rose up from the couch, and patted the space beside her, upsetting a few thousand dust motes. Reluctantly, Freddie shuffled over.

"So," she began.

"So what?" Freddie countered petulantly.

"What do you think about what is going on out there? Pretty crazy, right?"

Freddie nodded mutely. Bella continued, trying to keep the space open, trying to engage, find out something more about the small boy on the couch beside her.

"Where were you when the gas was released?"

"Adoptive parents bunker," he grunted.

"Oh wow, me too. Well, not with the adoptive parents thing, but I was in a bunker with my sisters and mom."

"Cool," he grunted again.

While Bella considered what to say next, her thoughts drifted back to when she woke up after the second wave of gas hit.

~

Bella straightened up, panicked. She scrabbled for the device she created seconds before the gases were released.

"Shoot!"

Her arms stiffened. She reached out again, but her actions were thwarted by her own limbs, rebelling against her.

She collapsed as her blood boiled in her veins. She tried to move her arms, her legs, but nothing happened. In a panic, she tried to yell for help, but she couldn't open her mouth. A muffled scream pushed its way through her lips.

As the pain surged once more, she blacked out.

~

In the present, Bella shuddered remembering the panic she felt. She'd never been in that kind of pain, in that much pain before. After the first "blood surge" as she now called them, she'd had four or five much lighter ones, making it difficult to flee from the incoming hordes of the "zombies" as her limbs tightened. The pain reminded her of bad muscle soreness, similar bruises all over her body. Shuddering again at the memory of the pain, she followed her train of thought back to her memories, forgetting about Freddie sitting next to her, gazing expectantly up at her face, wondering what she would say next.

~

When she came to, there was a banging. Was it in her head or...

"Bella! BELLA!"

"Are you okay?"

"Shush Maya, she might be sleeping."

"Well, you were the one shouting before, Cara."

"Yeah, well you were banging."

"Yeah, well-"

"Girls!' Bella yelled. She'd had a splitting headache, but a new sense of purpose surged through her. It was anchored deep within her. In her soul, her heart. Maybe... her blood. But first, her sisters were freaking out.

"Cara, Maya, where's Mum?"

"Ah..."

"Ummm, she went outside?"

"Stay put," Bella coached. "I think the gases are gone, and I'll look for mum or anyone for that matter. Maybe..." she trailed off, unsure of herself. "I'll come back soon". I hope.

Cracking open her bedroom door, she strode through the main room of the house but stopped dead when she saw the plant. It was dead. She shuddered. What does this gas do?

Less confident now, she climbed the ladder to the "front door" and put in the passcode. With a heave, the hatch popped open with a bang.

"What was that?" a wary voice called out.

"Don't worry Cara," Bella reassured. "I just opened the door."

"Excuse me! I'm Maya."

Bella winced. They were sensitive about being confused. "Sorry!" she called. "I can't see you, and you sound similar."

"No we don't!" they chorused.

Sighing Bella climbed the final rungs before stepping into the desert. A white mist smelling like hospitals assaulted her senses. For the third in a matter of what she hoped was hours, she stumbled and started to fall.

~

"Bella! Hey, Bella" Freddie shook her, jarring her out of her memories.

"Sorry, I just got lost in my thoughts," Bella replied, somewhat distractedly.

"I'll say," Freddie scoffed. "You were staring into space for a good ten minutes."

"Sorry," repeated Bella.

Freddie grunted. Again.

Bella stomach rumbled obnoxiously. "Did you bring any food?"

Freddie nodded, pointing to his bag.

"Did you put anything in the fridge?"

He shook his head. Bella groaned. "Was anything perishable?"

He paused before shaking his head again. "I don't think so."

Bella got up and meandered over to the bag, digging around and finding a few cans - refried beans, diced tomatoes, pea soup, tomato soup. A bit more digging yielded miraculously intact eggs covered in bubble wrap.

"Hot or cold?" Bella called over to Freddie.

The boy looked up from a book she didn't see him get. "What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes. "I mean are you willing to wait a bit for a hot-" she paused, checking the time on her Reader with a few quick blinks. "Dinner."

"Of course, but how are you going to make it hot? I mean, there's a busted microwave and an ancient computer back there and some more junk, b-"

Bella cut him off, "That's perfect!" Striding to the back of the room, she grabbed what she needed - the microwave, the computer and circuit boards, which she was surprised to find. She lay everything on the floor, along with some tools from her pouch and started tinkering.