Mattie was the same height as me but he'd always been a beanpole, all skinny and tall. At first carrying him wasn't that difficult but as the minutes passed he seemed to grow heavier in my arms. I wish we stole a wheelchair before we left the hospital but we were too busy avoiding the zombies shuffling around the hospital parking lot. There weren't too many and they weren't going very fast but from all the hours of zombie content I'd consumed over the years I knew getting surrounded by them was easy and fatal. Never underestimate that slow shuffle.
We were about a mile from the hospital now and just getting into town really good. At the sight of a dollar store, the nurse fetched me a shopping buggy to rest Mattie in. I was about to suggest, she grab me a coke and some Doritos too but we'd agreed that it was too soon for looting. We didn't know if the army contained the zombie virus or not. It would be bad to start stealing if the government was about to clear all this up in a few days. I went through multiple possible scenarios in my head as we walked in silence. Every once in a while we would see a pack of zombies shuffling and we would duck behind a building and wait for it to pass. Despite not wanting to loot, we really needed weapons. I kept my eyes out for a place that sold anything we could use even though the others clearly didn't want to start stealing.
I thought it was weird how empty our town had become. Sure it was technically a tiny city, if you could even call it a city, but there should have been more people if not more zombies. It gave me a bit of hope that the government had swiftly dealt with the problem and evacuated but in all the video games and shows that never happened. I spotted another dollar store. It seemed like them things were popping up on every block these days. I couldn't really complain though. Where else could I get cake mix, Mountain Dew, a DVD player, a decorative wall fixture, and horse shampoo all at the same place but less than half a mile from where I happened to be any moment I was anywhere. Nowhere unless I lived next to Walmart. Unlike Walmart, dollar stores didn't carry guns and bows and arrows but they did have some sports stuff. It would also be cheaper to reimburse everything we'd stolen too.
"I'm gonna steal me a bat. You dudes can stay out here."
"Alfred, no. I thought we said no stealing."
"I'll only get a bat Mattie, I can pay it back after this. We keep having close calls. What if they surround us huh?"
"If you're getting something, I'm getting something."
The nurse followed me into the store while the doctor stayed outside with Mattie. It took me a few minutes to find the sports stuff. These places always had similar layouts, but I'd never been in this one before. They didn't have aluminum bats unfortunately, but a kids wooden bat would be okay I guess. Walking through the next aisle I got an idea. It was the home improvement aisle. I spotted hammers and boxes of nails and after about five minutes of working, my bat was much more dangerous. I could pierce skulls with this baby. I heard the nurse in the back. She'd gone behind the "employees only" door . I wandered over to see if she needed help only to see her walk out triumphantly with a shot gun.
"It was in the managers desk." She explained.
We left the dollar store to show the other half of our party our spoils. No looting rule gone to the wind, I handed Mattie a bag of Chex-mix and a coke so he could keep his strength up. All the color had fled his face and he almost looked like a zombie already. It wouldn't be long now. I put on the sunglasses I'd filched before handing out the other pairs. We officially looked badass, Betty Boop scrubs aside.
I spotted an old basic white Mitsubishi parked outside of the liqueur store. I didn't know how to steal a car but we could at least look at it. There weren't any zombies in the parking lot so we had time. I peered in the window only to jump back as a zombie clawed at me from inside. From the other window, the doctor could see the keys in the ignition. The nurse loaded the gun and instructed me to open the door when she gave the signal. I opened the door and covered my ears as I heard a deafening boom. Movies and games hadn't prepared me for how loud guns actually were. I looked back to see the white car stained a dull brown red. Some of the zombie guts were sprayed across the upholstery, making it smell hella nasty. Zombies were shuffling from all directions following the noise of the gun, so we didn't have time to do anything about it. At least we didn't have to walk any more. I climbed into the back seat with Mattie as the nurse drove off. I didn't know how to drive a stick. It finally hit me how real this all was. This wasn't a game or a movie. This was my real life. I was grateful for the sunglasses that hid my eyes from the others as I silently cried a few tears.
0o0o0o
I ran a load of dishes, washed our clothes, swept, mopped, vacuumed, and I was currently wiping down the counters. Cleaning always calmed me. Lovino slept on the couch in the other room. I should get some sleep. But I had too much energy. I was running out of things to clean. I couldn't clean the bathroom with Feli in it and it would be rude to clean someone else's room without their permission. Alfred's room would probably take me over an hour at least. When I went in there to find clothing earlier, I almost didn't go in because of the stench. A thick layer of dirty clothes lined the floor and old takeout boxes and dishes stacked across most of the surfaces. In the corner there was actually some kind of structure built from identical takeout boxes from the same Chinese restaurant. The only clean area was the path to and from the computer desk. I was just about to walk back there and clean it anyway when I heard the front door open.
Alfred and two women in scrubs carried Mathew into the house. After waking Lovino, they rested Mathew on the couch and Alfred went into the kitchen to pour them all some drinks. Mathew looked pale and sickly, his veins easily visible through his translucent skin. I helped Alfred carry cups back into the living room and watched the woman with a white lab coat check Mathews vitals. Why did they take such a sick person from the hospital? I wasn't sure what was wrong with Mathew, last night Alfred hadn't been very specific in his panic. Alfred couldn't have been serious about "escaping" from the hospital could he?
"Well, I guess this is it. You sure you don't want something to eat or for the road?"
"No, we'll manage. Thank you."
"Thanks for helping Mattie. It was fun escaping with you miss um-"
"Lizzie is fine and this is Angie."
"I've been calling you Nurse Betty in my head all morning! I'm Alfred."
Alfred shook hands with both of the women as if they were meeting each other for the first time. I found it odd. Usually introductions were held when people first met, not after they were together for a couple of hours. After Alfred showed the women to the door, he turned and gave us a weak wave.
"Please explain what is going on."
"It's nice to see you too, Ludwig. We just fought our way through a window and zombies to get here, no biggie. You?"
Really? He was still going with that ridiculous story. I wasn't paying attention when Lovino started summarizing some of the events of our night. He ended by tapping the bathroom door to let Alfred hear Feli inside.
"Aw man! I wanted a shower. Why did you bring a zombie in the house?!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?! This isn't one of your fucking video games! Earth to Alfred, this is the real world where fairy tales don't happen. It's rabies."
"Lets see. Dying, coming back to life, and trying to eat people. That sounds like all the signs of a zombie to me."
So I wouldn't physically harm Alfred, I started hand washing the cups that had just been dirtied. How could we make an idiot like him listen to reason?
0o0o0o
Alfred is so fucking stupid. I wanted to punch him in the face but I knew he would hurt me much worse if he returned it. I could see Ludwig trembling with rage as he turned and gripped the sink tight enough to make his knuckles white before he started washing some dishes. I guess I would have to deal with this. I followed Alfred into the living room.
"What the fuck do you know about anything?! Feli told me that Mathew told him that you dropped out of school to play video games. More like couldn't handle reality."
"That's not true! I took time off because I wanted to work on myself! Don't bring me into this. Your brother is a zombie. I bet if we cut his arm off, he wouldn't even notice!"
"Wanted to work on yourself?! Can you hear yourself right now?! And don't you fucking dare try to hurt my brother. We need to be focusing on a way to get him help. To get your own brother help."
"Guys."
"There's no way to help them! It's too soon in this scenario for there to be a vaccine or a cure. The military is either still in contain and destroy mode or they've failed and fallen."
"Guys, hey look."
"Fucking really?! You're going to say that right in front of your own brother. That you've given up on him. Look at him!"
We both paused to look only to see Mathew weakly pointing toward the TV. The emergency news broadcast was looping and telling people to evacuate due to a gas leak. A gas leak? That explained why we hadn't seen other people.
"So that's what they're calling it. A gas leak. More like zombie leak."
"Did someone say gas leak?" Ludwig peered around the corner with a glass and a cloth in his hand, still drying it as he spoke.
"Yeah, the towns been evacuated. It's the zombies though. They had to make up a reason to get people to leave."
"People would have laughed it off if they were like 'warning zombies', we should leave too."
"They'll never let you through a barricade, Mattie. One look and they'll be able to tell you're infected."
"You're right, you're right. I-I'll stay here with Feli until, well, you know."
Mathew was spewing all that zombie nonsense too?! He was the smarter and more sane of the two. What had they seen that made even Mathew start with the zombie talk?
"We'll still be here when it happens. I won't leave you alone. Besides, I don't know about them but, I barely got any sleep."
Alfred pressed the center of his open palm to Mathew's forehead as he crouched at eye level in front of him. Ludwig and I exchanged bewildered expressions. Maybe it was his injuries that were causing Mathew to believe he'd seen zombies. A person with rabies probably did resemble a zombie the way they mindlessly attacked. There was no fucking way my brother was a zombie. He was acting docile now that he was locked up in the bathroom. I should really look up what to do about him. How long before permanent damage. What medicine I needed to go find.
"Hey, idiot, do you have a computer or something?"
Alfred actually turned when I called him an idiot. He blinked at me for a second before getting up and leading me to his room. He stopped me when I tried to enter.
"Wait out here for a sec. Don't want you seeing my passwords."
I tapped my foot impatiently. It was taking longer than it should have to type in a few passwords. He was probably clearing his browser history and deleting his porn. When he finally let me in, he already had the web browser opened and ready for me. He gave me some space but didn't leave the room. Wow there must be some nasty shit hidden on this thing. I almost didn't want to touch the keyboard in case it was covered in dry cum from him jackin off. The keyboard looked almost new it was so clean. That's probably why it took him so long to let me in. Had to hide the proof that he was as pathetic as I thought he was.
I ignored him and pulled up a search engine. I typed in "rabies symptoms and treatments" and hit enter. I could hear Alfred scoff at my search and mumble something about zombies. What I read made a lump grow in my throat. No it had to be wrong. This piece of shit website wasn't even accredited. I kept hitting the back button and opening other websites trying to find one that gave me the answers I wanted, but all of them had the same thing. One piece of information kept rearing its ugly head.
After symptoms started there was nothing that could be done for the infected person or animal besides kill them.
I remembered the last words Feli said before he walked out the door yesterday. Before all of this started. They were typical and something only he would say. He was running late to go meet his friends for lunch, leaving me behind as usual. I didn't want to hang out with those lame fuckers. I had a class soon anyway. Feli said, with his usual dopey smile as he walked through the door, "I hope there'll be pasta."
That's what he fucking said! I'm not making it up. From what the articles and the angry soldiers last night said, Feli wasn't there anymore. His brain had been damaged beyond repair from the infection and the only lobes of his brain still functioning were the ones that controlled instincts. My baby brother was no better than dead. My eyes were starting to blur as I read another piece of information, my fingers trembling on the scroll wheel of the mouse.
Symptoms took between a week to several months to start occurring after being exposed to bodily fluids of an infected animal.
Feli's bite was fresh. Only a day ago. Unless he'd gotten into another fight with a cat over a piece of pizza off of the ground, Feli had no other chances to come into contact with an infected animal. Maybe it wasn't rabies! I couldn't accept Alfred's zombies theory. It had to be some other disease. I couldn't give up on Feli. No matter what this was, I knew the clock was ticking. I needed to find something to give him. Antibiotics. There had to be something. There had to be-the computer blinked off with a click before I was thrown into darkness.
"The power's out! The grid's down! Society's collapsed!"
