Forgetting the Apocalypse

33. Riva's Notebook

Riva's Pov*

"Still writing in that thing?"

"You know it, baby girl! Plus with the extras that big jerk got me along with my favorite pens, I'm not running out any time soon." I wink at Mara.

Mara was cool. Beyond cool actually. Sure she had a twisted way of expressing her humor but that's one of her many quirks. She was the sister I never had. Now it's just official.

My brother on the other hand right now is tricky. Yes, I still love him and would take a bullet for him but... to say that I wanted to strangle him was a serious understatement. Our mother AND our father taught us how to treat women. How to be a gentleman. Granted their methods varied from one another, it was the same point being made. Never treat a woman with any form of disrespect, even if she is your enemy. When I heard him getting real sassy with her, I wanted to punch him. Sure it took a good while for them to get along given that they have the same type of personality. Both strong willed, stubborn, short tempered but extremely freaking loyal like a newly adopted puppy.

Hearing him spout one mean and toxic thing after another to when she was trying to be nice to him was too much. The last straw had been when we stopped at that shopping center to gather up on some supplies. I didn't think it could've gotten worst after the weight comment but I was soo wrong.

But I'll have to give it to them for their little trick. After the second outfit she tried on and fourth pet name, Pookie, that was a dead giveaway. That and my bro's face was another. Truthfully I was surprised to see how cool gramps was with it all. I mean I know he sees us as the sons he's always wanted, but I also know that huntress.

My thoughts wander off here and there and on our terrain. As we continue travelling upwards it started getting steeper. So we had to take more breaks than usual.

This led to me being able to ask them some questions that have weighing on me. "Huntress can you recall the first zombie you encountered?" Of course she can. How can anyone ever forget their first time seeing one of those things?

"I had just woken up and crawled out of the crashed car. I was walking to a yard where I was hearing noises and it was formerly a man who was cop."

"Can you describe him to me if you don't mind?" I ask softly.

"Um he was missing an arm, his eyes the usual color of a zombie, and leaking blood. He wasn't as fast as a freshie but faster than the middles. Now that I recall, he made sounds but none of the actual signalling calls that they do when they see food. More had come after he ended up getting impaled by some bars that were in the car but I really think that's because I was screaming."

Surprisingly, my pen doesn't start smoking as I write down everything with incredible speed. "So based on our timeline now to when that happened, how long ago do you think that was?" Maybe there was more to the incubation theory I've got.

When I look to her I see her face is scrunched up a bit. Shit, maybe I shouldn't have asked that.

"If I had intake a good guess, I'd say maybe a year and three or four months. Cause I was maybe a couple of months in alone when I met Fredi, and one month in with him when I met you guys".

I nod my head at her. That timeline sounds about right from what I remember meeting her and gramps. Speaking of which, I want to know his firsts too.

"My first has got to be my friend Ian. He was bitten said he got injured maybe a week before he came to see me. He looked really bad, almost like someone going through detox or is in hospice. Then he just dropped. I wasn't in the room but I heard him."

"How long was he dead? I mean like..." I ask without looking making sure to write it all down.

"I know what you mean. It couldn't have been more than a minute or two. When he rose up he was a full on freshie." He continued to tell me how he slowed him down and eventually killed him. Of course that left my bro and his first. Roone obviously told me about his neighbor but I have some other questions now.

"From what I gather from all of our first, there's two variables I can count on from the time of being infected. One is where the bite is, and the other actaully is more theory than an actual variable." I mumble before my face is buried in the notebook and my pen going faster than a freshie.

Thankfully they don't ask me anything just yet or talk because I need to write all this down before I lose it. Something is here that we are missing, I just know it.

We have encountered people that have been bitten and yet it took a while for them to turn. However, with others it was within moments.

"Ok so first one is time of being infected. Fredi you said your friend, rest in peace, was infected for about a week. But you said you're neighbor started acting strange about a month before. And then there's those assholes from mama, well let's put the estimate of about in between that time frame. So this might correlate with the one I consider a theory. They all acted like a freshie because they were all just bitten."

It may seem off or odd at first but I think that it just might have some merrit. I mean cause it was just a simple bite. So therefore, there was more of the body for the virus to work with. If the person who was attacked and had more of their body missing then maybe they wouldn't be as strong or as fast as a freshie despite being newly turned.

I don't know. Maybe I just wrote this down to get it out of my head.

"Number two is where the bite is, now let's just say that this virus acts like a poison or venom. Be it spider, snake or insect. Depending on where that animal bit you will determine your chances and time of survival. For instance that awesome scene in Kill Bill where Elle kills Bud is in fact accurate. If you get bit by a black mamba on the foot or thumb you can survive maybe an hour or so before death. But a bite to the neck or face and death can occur within ten minutes. And that's still not factoring in how many times you get bit."

That seems more substancial to me than what I had written and said first. We have proof of it. Sort of. I don't know how long it would've taken the woman I was with in the store to turn. She was bitten in the arms but she was bitten multiple times. I shake my head trying to stop a couple of tears from forming of the memory of leaving her.

"Number three, like I said might factored with one. But there's no actual proof unless you get bit by freshie but make sure that you only take a bite and not get mawled completely. So that's definitely out and also it's just seems highly improbable. Still worth mentioning though."

"Hey Riva I've got two things."

Call me intrigued. "Let me hear it."

"Ok um, it goes with what you had mentioned long ago as possible signs of the initial outbreak. The rash thing. Not everyone showed symptoms, right? So can those who never showed any symptoms have any kind of immunity to the virus?"

Son of a bitch!

Why didn't I ever think of that?! I furiously start writing down her question along with other notes that I would later like to look back on.

"Ok well it also goes with the rash thing. Those who showed symptoms, working theory is that maybe they were the first wave. What if not all of them turned? What if they're what you called carriers? So can a vaccine or cure be made from them?"

Repeat of the reaction from my last thought. This woman is on a roll. I should ask her if she has questions more often. I don't being used as target practice, it'll be worth it. Though the one question I really want to ask, I know I probably shouldn't. So for now, I'll just keep it written in my notebook.