The Infection

The Next Day

I woke up after some time. Looking out the window, I saw that the sun was down. It was cold inside my cabin and the door was still open, and snow was beginning to build on the foyer in front of the door. My bag was next to the door, still zipped. Outside, there was about a foot of snow and tree lining had an eerie dark shroud about it. I stood up, slowly and painfully, and walked to the door and shut it. Picking the bag up, I walked over to the table in the kitchen and emptied the contents onto the table. There was still my gun and box of ammo along with the extra supplies from before.
       I got up and took inventory of my pantries. There was very little food, and what there was, was moldy and rotted. I had not been up here in a long time apparently. I turned on the faucet and the water started but quickly slowed to a very slow drip. Of course, why would there be running water in the apocalypse? If was to survive long, I needed water and food. My rations from my bag were only going to keep me for so long. Luckily, there was a forest with abundant wild life and a lake next to my house. Only problem was, I had never hunted before. I guess I had better learn quickly.
       Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in my chest, and I got a raging headache. I leaned over, gripping my chest from the pain. I coughed and spattered drops of blood and spit on the floor. I stood up wobbly and holding the chair. I struggled and straggled into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. My eyes were a dark yellow, and my skin was pale. There was a tiny trickle of blood on my chin. My lips were dry and cracked, and my eye lids were sagging. Had I turned? I couldn't have; Nothing other than my features and pain flash was different. I was still thinking clearly, so I couldn't have been infected. I didn't have any unusual urges anyway. I went over to my couch and layed down for a minute. The pain in my chest slowly subsided into an itch that urged me to cough, and the headache sunk into a flood of thoughts, none of which I could sort out. My head cleared up after a few minutes, and I sat up.
       After the strange episode I just had, I was a little concerned about what might have caused it. I went to the medicine cabinet and grabbed some Advil just to be safe. I opened the bottle and gently shook it and two pills fell out into my hand. I turned the water on and remembered that it didn’t work. I couldn’t waste my little water on just two pills so I just threw them in my mouth and tried viciously to force them down my throat. They finally slid down like two bricks after some effort. I looked in the mirror and saw my eyes had actually regained color and my skin was not as pale as before. That episode I had must have been my body getting the last of my sickness out.
Still looking into the mirror, I suddenly heard a thud on the door. I jumped from the shock and quickly turned all my lights off and grabbed my revolver. I heard it again, this time followed by a quiet mumbling. I looked out the window and saw someone standing there. I walked quietly and cautiously opened the door just enough to peek with one eye. Being ready for whatever might jump out, I looked through the crack in the door and asked, “Hello?” To my surprise, nothing jumped. The girl standing there just stood there, shivering slightly. “Well she can feel the cold,” I thought, “that’s a good sign, I guess.”
       “My name is Atris, I just need a place to stay. My son has been taken by those things and my husband went with him trying to defend him and myself. Please have mercy!” She stood there, silent after that, holding a brown backpack on her back and tear stains on her cheek. It would be heartless of me to turn her down, if only just for the night.
       “Are you bitten?” I asked suspiciously and examining her for any wounds.
       “No.” She said quite frankly.
       “Alright you can come in, just don’t do anything suspicious.”
Her eyes lit up as if it had been the best news she’d heard all day, which it probably was. “Thank you so much!” she said, tears building in her eyes. I took the bag from her and set it next to my duffle bag on the table.
       “Have a seat.” She sat down and I sat next to her and she just looked at the empty fire place with imitative empty eyes. She had long red hair and blue-green eyes. Her face was dotted with freckles. Her cloths were slightly worn and dirty. She had dirt on her arms that were slightly scratched, probably from a fall.
       I finally broke the silence. “So what’s your story?”
       She looked over at me, her eyes still empty, but this time, tears were building up again. She blinked and the tears began streaming down and she threw her face into my chest weeping, her whimpers muffled in my shirt. Awkwardly, I started stroking her hair and telling her that it was okay. I knew it probably wouldn’t but what was I supposed to say, that we were all going to die eventually and that all hope was lost? I couldn’t do that, so I lied to her.
       She took her head away from my shirt, my shirt slightly damp from her tears. Her hair was tangled and her eyes were red and puffy. Her lips were quivering and she couldn’t help but sob. She looked up at me. “It’s been two days since I lost my son and husband and they still haunt me in my mind. Every minute of every day, they consume me and control me.”
       “It’s not your fault, there’s nothing you could have done.” There was a long pause again, her tears still slowly forming at her eyes and trickling down to hang off her chin until they get heavy enough to fall. I took a finger and wiped a tear from her cheek and she looked at me with helpless eyes. “Look, we just need to focus on surviving right now. If you want, you can stay here. I have another room with a bed and full accommodations, save the cloths, and it’s yours if you want it.”
       “Thank you! You have given me hope in a world that seems to have run out of it!” She hugged me and started crying again, this time I think from being overwhelmed though.
       I got up and showed her to her room. She walked in slowly and laid her pack on the bed. She stood there for a moment. Finally I walked to the kitchen, grabbed her a water bottle and handed it to her. “Here, you’re probably thirsty after two days of no water.”
       “How did you know I didn’t have water in two days?”
       “You look dehydrated and hungry. I’m about to make us some spam for dinner. Want some?”
       “Yes please.” She said with a very timid tone.
       She went to her room and shut the door. I made dinner and she didn’t come out until I called for dinner. We sat and ate in silence, asking the occasional background question of where we were from and what we did before this incident. She was quiet and I learned almost nothing, because she usually started weeping every time I brought up her past. After dinner she went to bed with the door shut.
       I sat in the living room in silence until I noticed that it was cold. I went to the door with my revolver and looked out the window. It looked safe for the most part. There was an eerie shroud of darkness silhouetting the forest in the heavy night. There was a cloud cover over the moon and almost no stars were out that night, so I went outside as silent as I could. There was crunching from my foot steps on the snow as I went around to the side of my house to grab a few logs from my rick of wood from a few years ago. I went inside and shut the door as quiet as I could and put the logs in the fireplace. I pulled the lighter from my pocket and lit the logs. They were half rotted so they lit pretty easily, and the rotting bark served as good fire starter. Once the fire was started and looked like it would stay, I went to my room and shut the door. I looked around. It was dark and everything, including the bed, was dusty. I had not been here in a long time. I took the blanket off the bed, shook it, and then wrapped up in it on my bed and fell asleep. I dreamt about happier times that night.