Absolute Contamination

5/ Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

CHAPTER 5: TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD

“Oh God! Oh God, oh God, oh God…”

I didn’t seem able to say anything else besides those two words. My thoughts were snapshots of the nightmare I’d had earlier that day – as though someone found it amusing to pause the memories at the most gruesome moments, forcing me to relive those horrible scenes. With the contaminated on the loose, I couldn’t say that reality was much better.

Healthy people were being attacked outside, and to make it even worse, Jason and Hunter were among them.  Unlike my brothers, I was locked in and couldn’t warn them. There was no way to let them know they had to hurry back to the car, or to ask them what I had to do.

Was I supposed to stay in the car, or would it be safer to run? I couldn’t decide because of the many doom-scenarios my mind created at the same time.

Even though I was supposedly safein the car, the chaos outside and the hushed – but ever so alarming – sounds kept my mind from working properly. Despite the fact that I would only need onemoment of silence to figure out what to do, time didn’t stop, neither did it seem to quiet down outside.

In utter panic, I grabbed my cell phone and hurriedly dialed Jason’s number. Not once did it cross my mind that cell phones didn’t function, that all ways of communication had been disabled. It was only when the computer voice came through that I remembered trying to make phone calls was as ineffective as sending smoke signals.

“The number you dialed is not available at the moment.  Please try again later or leave a message after the beep.” A female, computerized voice informed me very amicably - and then she wished me a nice day.

“Nice day? A freaking nice day?” I yelled at my cell phone whilst throwing it to the other side of the car. I watched it crash into the window and then fall down, without doubt lost beneath all our bags and the belongings we brought with us.

Overcome by a wave of desperation, I buried my head in my hands.

Contacting my brothers was impossible. I couldn’t leave the car without being trampled, plus it was probably the safest to stay inside anyways.  The only option left was to wait and hope they made it back soon. I didn’t want to be left all alone, just like I didn’t want to lose my brothers because of some unexpected disease.

Once again, I turned around in my seat to stare outside. I cupped my hands around my eyes to see a little better, but it didn’t have any effect at all. It was too dark and there were too many people rushing by.

When we had arrived a couple of hours earlier, there had been a lot of people, but I couldn’t remember seeing this many. Of course, more cars had parked as time passed by and I hadn’t been too interested in anything other than taking the test.

Moving around in the car, from side to side, I tried all the windows to see if I could spot Hunter or Jason in the mob just outside the car. There was no sign of them though, and eventually I slumped down into the driver’s seat, not that I would be able to drive a car if my life depended on it – which may just as well have been the case.

Heavy knocks on the window startled me. For a second, I thought my brothers finally made it back to the car. My heart rate sped up as my eyes fell on a complete stranger.

“Please, girl, let me in!” The glass window muffled the sound of the older man’s voice, but the message was crystal clear.

Acting out of pure instinct, I reached for the door handle, but then I hesitated. Hunter told me to keep all the doors locked, and not to let anyone in other than him or Jason. Then again, my mind reasoned, if I had been outside, I would’ve wanted someone to help me, to let me hide inside their cars.