Song: Human by Christina Perri
Later that day:
The five of us managed to make it back to the hospital without a problem. When we got back Thomas was quarantined and Dr. Cannerts went off somewhere. Katie, Jake, and I were walking through the halls back to the room. "I don't like this. Cannerts has been lying to us since day one. Thomas shouldn't be in his care, he should be with Iris and I!" Katie said angrily.
"Yeah I agree but Cannerts wants to see the end of this just as much as we do." Jake said as he went in front of Katie and I, forcing us to stop.
"Oh so now you trust him?" I questioned crossing my arms over my chest.
"No, but right now he's the best chance we got." As Jake was saying this I looked past him to see Bert walking down the hall with a box under his arm.
"Hi Bert." Katie said making Jake step out of the way and face our fried. "What's going on?"
Bert stopped in front of us and smiled kindly. "Dr. Cannerts has asked me to check on Thomas for him."
"Why couldn't he have done it himself?" I asked curiously.
"The Doctor has quarantined himself in his lab because of how close he worked with the boy. He will be fine, I'm sure you're in good hands." Bert replied calmly. "You three need to smile more. I met my wife during hard times too, we made a point to change that. Spin something up a bit." Bert said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"She sounds wonderful" Katie said smiling.
"And then some. I'm going to check on the boys and then get this medicine to her." Bert replied tapping the box under his arm.
"Is she okay?" I asked curiously.
"She has a cut on her leg. I'll take care of her. Now spread that sunshine." Bert said before he passed us and walked in the direction of Thomas."
"You know what Thomas would like? A game." Jake said to the kids as Katie, Rey, and I were watching them.
"I bet he would love a new game!" Katie said happily as her son volunteered to get a new game for Thomas.
"Hey, masks on!" I reminded the kids as they ran out of the room with Rey behind them.
"Nice work." Katie said as she crossed her arms and looked at Jake.
"Hey, just spreading the sunshine." Jake said as he shrugged happily. I could have sworn I saw him give Katie a 'can we have some privacy?' look because she then said she needed to go to the bathroom and excused herself.
"So about that date." Jake said as soon as she'd left the room.
"It seemed more convincing when I thought we might make it out of here." I said thinking of my family, which reminded me that I needed to write in my journal.
"It's still gonna happen. Usually I push for dinner and large amounts of alcohol but how about lunch?" Jake said giving me a cute smile that made my cheeks go red.
"Lunch?" I said a little curiously.
"Well isn't that something girls like to do to see if they're interested in the guy?" Jake asked trying not to laugh at himself.
"Well I think that should be before they shower with the guy.." I said trailing off.
"Oh we can skip to that part again." He said causing me to start laughing.
"No, I like the new you, you're very... respectable." I replied once I stopped laughing. "Yeah, I could do lunch." I nodded.
"Perfect."
A while later Katie was helping me get ready in the bathroom. "Should I braid my hair, put it in a bun, or leave it down?" I asked for the third time. Katie kept telling me I'd look good either way but I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Katie was about to answer her same reply when Quentin appeared in the doorway. "Mom, have you seen my cards?"
"Check your bed." Katie replied. Quentin thanked her and turned to leave. A moment later he turned back and looked at me.
"Do it in the bun, it looks really pretty like that." I smiled and grabbed my hair so I could put it up.
"Who says she wants so look pretty?" Katie asked next to me. "Maybe she wants to look smart or kind or funny."
Quentin smiled and took a step closer. "You like him don't you?"
I thought about it for a second then turned to Quentin. "Maybe... Do you?"
"Yeah! He said he's gonna take me to a Hocks game when we get out." I could see Quentin's eyes light up at the thought of going.
"Oh really?" Katie questioned curiously. "Just the two of you, or am I allowed to come?"
I started doing twisting the bun tightly so it wouldn't come loose. "What about me?"
"Yeah I guess you can come mom. So can you Miss Lithe... It could be like a family thing."
I looked at Katie who sighed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now go have fun."
With that Quentin left and I finished up my bun.
I walked into the empty room and quietly closed the door behind me. "Jake?" I asked as I started forward. I heard the sound of a guitar and I looked in the corner to find Jake strumming it.
"Oh Iris, oh Iris. Here is this song for you, to start off our lunch date." I started laughing at how silly this was.
"That was awful!" Jake said laughing at himself.
"No, no, no. It was beautiful... and funny. Where'd you get the guitar?" I asked, trying to contain some laughter.
"At the Chapel. It was either this or the electric organ, this was lighter." Jake replied before he walked to the middle of the room and gestured to the floor. "Picnic?"
"Of course!" I said as I noticed a blanket on the ground and food laying on top. "So what's on the menu?" I asked as we both sat down.
Jake picked up to brown packages and looked at them. "We have a fine assortment of dehydrated meals. I hear the Vegetarian Taco Pasta is heavenly, we also have some dried fruit. Oh and we also have some Astronaut Ice Cream."
I gasped at the thought of ice cream. "You spared no expense!" Jake chuckled as my eyes wandered over to the acoustic guitar that Jake placed on the blanket. I haven't played in so long I'm afraid I might've forgotten some notes.
Jake must've noticed my staring because he grabbed the guitar and handed it to me. "I-I didn't say I played."
Jake scoffed at me. "I could tell you do, plus you were strumming your fingers on your leg." I looked down and of course he was right. I stopped moving my fingers across my leg and put them on the guitar.
"I haven't played in a while so I might be rusty, and I've only played for my family so don't laugh." I took in a deep breath and placed my fingers in position.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Jake said before I began to play. I strummed a few times, trying to remember the feel of what it's like. "Can I watch?" Jake asked.
"Close your eyes." I replied a little self consciously. I strummed the notes to one of my favorite songs as Jake closed his eyes and put his chin against his chest.
When I got up the courage I started to sing.
"I can hold my breath, I can bite my tongue.
I could stay awake for days if that's what you want. Be your number one.
I can fake a smile.
I can force a laugh.
I can dance and play the part of that's what you ask. Give you all I am.
I can do it.
I can do it.
I can do it.
But I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down.
I'm only human, and I crash and I break down.
Your words in my head, knife in my heart.
You build me up but then I fall apart.
I'm only human."
With my silky voice, I held the last note for a few seconds causing Jake to start clapping. "That was beaut-"He was suddenly cut off by the door opening and Quentin and Katie running in.
"Rey took Britney and Mary! He tried taking me but I wouldn't go."
"What?" I asked shocked.
"People are breaking out." Katie said. Jake and I jumped up immediately, I went with Katie and Quentin while Jake stayed to put on his gear.
Katie and I made sure that Quentin was safe in the hospital before us and Jake went out searching for Rey, Britney, and Mary. The three of us were walking down a sidewalk when dozens of people started parading down the street in front of us with weapons. Chaos.... The world is going to chaos....
I heard the sound of an engine and saw a man on a motorcycle stop in front of us, staring. Even with his face covered, I recognized him as one of the guys from when we went to the baseball field.
Finally the man rode away and Jake turned around taking off his vest. "What's wrong?" I asked as Katie and I both turned and started walking back were we came.
"I'm a moving target. I'm going to circle back, you two stay here and out of sight." Was all Jake said before he disappeared around the corner. Katie and I ducked behind a small indent in the building we were next to.
Jake's POV
"Where's Mary?" I asked Rey who was holding on tightly to Britney. I had just found them running from people in the streets.
"W-we had to leave her." Rey said as he lowered his face mask.
"She got sick." Britney said, tears in her eyes.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Sick? Like sick sick?"
Rey pulled his mask up and nodded. "I'm sorry." He said before him and Britney left me standing there shocked.
I have to warn Iris and Katie.
Iris' POV
After a few minutes of watching, I noticed a young girl walking through the streets. The girl was frightened and coughing. As she got closer I figured out it was Mary.
Katie must've noticed too because she breathed out her name and started running. Mary was still coughing and wandering through the streets when she noticed a van, she quickly got in the van and laid down in the back seats.
"KATIE WAIT! SHE'S INFECTED!" I screamed out to Katie. It was no use, the chaos happening around us was too loud for her to hear.
Then it was like the world slowed down. Katie was halfway across the street when a car came speeding down the road. The motorcycle guy threw a bottle of alcohol on the ground where there happened to be a small fire. The alcohol caused a huge fireball and the car ran right through it and swerved, hitting the van Mary just got into.
I screamed and ran towards the van. Katie got there first and opened the door to reveal a terrible sight. Mary was bloody, her mouth and head were pouring out blood and I knew right away she died.
I fell to my knees, crying and screaming. Time sped up again and I saw people rushing by me with weapons. I looked up and saw the blurry figure of Katie holding Mary in her arms. "...Katie..." I sobbed. I wanted to tell her to put Mary down, that she died, that she was infected, that she needs to go back to the hospital and wash all the blood off of herself quickly.
I don't know how long I was there, maybe ten, maybe fifteen minutes. I eventually came to my senses and saw Katie was gone. I got up and started looking for Jake and Katie.
I found Jake first, he was running around looking for Katie and I. I told him what happened before we took off, trying to find Katie.
We found her in front of a dumpster still holding Mary. "Katie..." I said quietly.
"There was nothing I could do." She replied almost emotionless.
"Katie put her down." Jake said, his voice cracking throughout the sentence.
"I couldn't save her...." Katie replied again, still looking down at Mary's body.
"Katie put her down." I said, she still didn't put Mary down.
"She's dead." Katie whispered. Tears started falling from her eyes.
"Put her down!" I almost screamed at Katie. This caught her attention because she looked at Jake and I, then at Mary.
"Oh my god!" She said before putting Mary down. "Was she...?" Jake stood not knowing what to do, I looked at the ground. "Am I?"
"We don't know that." Jake said, but I could tell he did know... We all knew.
We got back to the hospital. Katie ran into the bathrooms and started washing herself. Jake followed but stayed by the door.... I could tell he was devastated just as much as I was.
I ran into the room we stay in, Quentin was in there. "Quentin, I need to be alone." I said, I sure as hell was not going to tell Quentin his mom is sick.
"Are you okay Miss Lithe?" He asked concerned.
"Yeah, I just need some time alone." I half lied to him. Eventually he walked out leaving me some time to myself.
Day 13 of Quarantine
Dear Hannah,
We took Thomas to where they were supposed to get him but things got bad. They couldn't take Thomas because he was a carrier of the virus but couldn't get infected. People noticed us trying to get him out and that started a riot all over the cordon.
We went back to the hospital and Thomas was quarantined again. Jake and I were about to have a lunch date. He wrote me this short and cute song: "Oh Iris, Oh Iris. Here is this song for you, to start off our lunch date."
I laughed a lot. We didn't get to eat because Katie and Quentin bursted into the room. Rey had taken Mary and Britney. We went out searching for them. The worst thing I ever experienced happened then. Mary was wondering alone on the street when I saw her. She kept coughing so I knew she was infected. She went into a van and a car was speeding forward. A man on a motorcycle threw a bottle of alcohol on the ground where a small fire was, the fire bursted alive and the car went through it. Katie and I watched as the car swerved and hit the van Mary was in. We ran over and Katie opened the door. Mary was bleeding so much.... I knew she was dead... Katie picked her up and I guess started running for help, I was on my knees crying and screaming. I then remembered that Mary was infected and Katie picked her up right after she died. I should have warned her not to touch Mary.... I should have told her she was coughing.... I should have done something... Now Katie and infected and probably going to die.... And it's all my fault...
I closed my journal and sat on my bed for a few minutes. It's all my fault.... My fault.... My fault... I thought to myself as I breathed in and out.
All of a sudden I couldn't take it anymore, I threw my journal and pen across the room in frustration. I screamed loudly and tossed my bag to the other side of the room. Getting up, I started screaming and throwing things everywhere. Katie is going to die and it's because of me. My family will hate me because of this.
I kept throwing more things until I got tired. I sank down onto the floor in the middle of the room, sobbing. I heard a door open and close in the distance, feet running. I felt a gloved hand on my tear stained cheek. Looking up I saw that Jake was staring at me, worriedly.
"It's all my fault..." I whispered to him.
"No, no, it's not." He replied and used his thumb to wipe a tear away. I could see in his watery eyes, he meant it. But I didn't feel like he did.