I opened my eyes groggily and saw a lantern hanging above my head. My gaze flicked around the room and saw that the walls were made of sheets and that I was laying on a tall cot in the middle of the room. I heard a beeping next to me and noticed that I was hooked up to a heart monitor. I watched for a couple of seconds as a machine charted my heart rate. A faint dripping noise caught my attention and my eyes shot up even higher to see an IV bag with a long tube that ended at a vein in my arm.
A scuffle of feet sounded outside the sheet in front of me and the edges started to open. I flopped my head back down onto the pillow and closed my eyes, like I had been sleeping the whole time. The footsteps made their way into the room and gradually made their way towards my cot.
“Is she ready to go?” I heard Vivian Hoff's voice on my right side. I vaguely recollected a memory of her sticking a needle in my arm. The beeping on the monitor sped up when anger flushed through my body.
A man said on the other side of me spoke. “I've patched up her arm and she's had the IV for a while. She lost a pint and a half of blood so it was pretty close to being real serious. She definitely doesn't need to be walking to the helicopter.”
“I was planning on her being sedated anyways,” Vivian said matter-of-factually. “I know she wouldn't go without a fight. Her and the boy seem too attached.”
“From what that man Rich said, it sounds like she's some tough stuff.” The man scoffed with amusement. “A little thing like this can be that intimidating?”
“She will do brilliantly in the cages,” Vivian said admiringly.
I struggled to keep my body still as panic rushed through my veins. Cages? I asked myself. What kind of cages are we talking here? I heard the beeps of the monitor pick up in rhythm and a bead of sweat formed at the temple of my head. Feeling the drop slowly trickle down behind my ear, I willed my heart to calm down.
“She'll be awake soon,” The gruff voice of the man seemed very close, as if he were leaning over me.
I heard Vivian rustle next to me. “Here, give her this in about ten minutes,” She ordered. A shadow passed over my face as she handed something to the man. “I want to have her fully sedated by the time the helicopter gets here.”
“Yes ma'am,” The man said, and I heard Vivian walk away.
The sheet made a fluttering noise and I knew she had left. A small clink sounded on the small table next to me and a second flutter of sheets let me know that the man had left. Slowly, I peeked open my eye to make sure the coast was clear.
When I didn't see anyone I slowly lifted up my head to peer around the room, my eyes landing on the table next to me. I reached out my hand and grabbed the syringe that now occupied the once vacant space. I swung my legs over the side of the cot and sat up, wishing I would have done it slower. My vision started to black out as my stomach started to feel woozy, the verge of fainting almost overtaking me. I took a deep breath and sat as still as I could while the feeling washed away.
I looked down and saw that I had been put in extra large green scrubs. A white bandage poked through the collar of my right shoulder, covering part of my neck and I realized that was where Cody had bit me.
Cody! My mind screamed at me. They were making me leave Cody! I gripped the syringe hard in my hand and slowly stood up off of the cot. I could feel the anger rolling off of me. After all I did to get here, they were just going to inflict more pain on me?
I reached into my scrubs and tore off the monitors that were sticking onto my chest. Closing my eyes, I gripped the base of the IV and yanked it out of my arm. Quickly, I put my fingers over the whole adding pressure to stop the bleeding. When I stood up however, I could feel the blood start to drip down my arm.
My body felt slightly dead as I weakly made my way over to the sheet that I figured was the door. I carefully brought my fingers to the edge of it and peaked one eye through the crack. There was a man about my height standing outside with his back to me. His head was shaved and I could tell by the newly growing hair that he had been balding on the top.
I opened the sheet more when I saw there was no one else outside and brought my arms toward him. I slammed the syringe into his neck and wrapped my hand around his mouth, pulling him into the room with me. I muffled the man's scream with my hand as the sedative streamed through his veins. When his body went limp I plopped his head on the floor and stood up, brushing my hands off onto my scrubs.
I cracked the sheet back open to see if any soldiers were coming and then stepped out into the makeshift hallway when I saw that I was alone. I glanced right and left wondering which way to go. The hallway was lined with stretchers and random carts containing IV's and other medical items. I heard a loud murmur of voices coming from my left so I turned and let them be guide.
Every step I took took so much effort I thought I would collapse in the hall. I could feel my heart beat slowing as it tried to pump the lesser amount of blood in my body. Thinking of Cody made each step easier. I couldn't and wouldn't let them take me away. There was no way in hell was I going to sit and wait patiently in that room for them to come get me. They'd have to come find me.
A new sound made me stop dead in my tracks. The blades of a helicopter beating through the sky rang in my ears. I heard excited voices coming from behind me and I broke into a jog, gunning for what seemed to be the exit.
I burst through the opening of the tent to see a mass of people looking up towards the sky. My eyes followed theirs and saw a black helicopter descending into the camp. The wind from the blades whipped my hair in front of my face as I searched the crowd for Cody. I saw him standing in front of me yelling at Rich.
“Cody!” I tried to yell, but my weak voice was nothing compared to the loud helicopter. I took slow shaky steps toward him, my knees wobbling with the effort. “Cody!” I yelled at the top of my lungs when I was a few feet away.
Cody whipped around frantically his hair flicking away from his face. His silver eyes met mine and he pulled me into his arms just as my legs gave out on me. He scooped me up in his arms and kissed my forehead.
“Cody,” I whispered as my eyes fluttered open and shut. “They're trying to take me away from you.”
“I know,” He said with his lips still touching my head. “I won't let them.”
“Give me the girl,” Vivian's icy voice made me shudder. “She's coming with me.”
“No!” Cody yelled, gripping me tighter. I buried my face into his chest, closing my eyes. “She's not going anywhere!”
The crowd behind Cody started to chatter, wondering what was going on. I began to drift away, and voices began to blur together and contort.
“There's no need to cause a scene,” Vivian laughed cold heartedly. “You can either hand her over or we will take her by force.”
I felt myself suddenly being tugged away from Cody's arms and I heard him him grunt with pain. I felt myself in new arms and snapped open my eyes. A husky hairy man was carrying me and I gave everything I had left to kick out of his arms. He gripped me as hard as he could, popping my bones and making me gasp in pain. I looked around him and saw Cody trying to fight his way past soldiers to get to me.
His fist connected with one man's jaw before a butt of a gun bashed him in the temple making him fall limp to the ground.
“Cody!” I gasped for air and sunk my teeth into the arm of the man carrying me. He screamed and I fell to the ground with a hard thud. I arched my back on the impact and gritted my teeth, trying to contain my scream. I rolled my head to the side and saw Cody lying on the ground. Tears filled up in my eyes and spilled over, trailing down my cheek.
“I knew we were going to have to do this the hard way,” Vivian's voice sounded from above me. I turned my head to look at her. She was kneeling down in her pressed black women's suit. I could see the mud from the rain seeping into her knee. A syringe dangled from her hand.
“Why are you doing this?” My voice only allowing me to speak a whisper.
“You're services are needed in Vegas,” She said, acting like it was privilege.
“And I have no choice in this?” I asked through my teeth.
“Afraid not,” Vivian teased, twirling the syringe in her manicured fingers. “Participants in the cages don't usually go willingly anyways.” She smirked plunging the needle into my arm. I could feel the sweep of sedation almost instantly.
I woke in the helicopter, strapped down onto a stretcher. The vibrations shook me and I popped my eyes open to see Vivian's red hair shining at me. She was talking on some kind of phone.
“Yes,” She said, looking out the window. “I have the girl.” Her long fingernails drummed across her leg as she listened to a voice on the other end. “You're going to love this one. She's got quite a bit of spunk in her. She'll be good and angry too so she should put on quite a show.”
Vivian's head nodded and I saw her eyebrows furrow through the reflection in the window. “Yes, Turner she's experienced with killing them. Yes sir. Be there soon.” She clicked the phone off and gazed out the window.
If I had the strength I would somehow manage to squirm out of this stretcher and throw her out of the helicopter, watching her fall til she hit the ground. She was worse than the infected, she had something sick of her own.
An infection has spread throughout America and I'm not so sure if this one can be cured. Even in a time when the world seems to be at its end, an illness of greed and barbarism emerges from the human race.
Vivian broke me out of my thought as she dialed on the phone and held the receiver up to her ear. I heard a muffled voice on the other end before Vivian spoke.
“Kill the boy.”