Kyle
I give Rebekah a kiss on her forehead. "Hey, babe. How are you feeling?" I put my arm around her shoulders and entwine my fingers around hers with my other hand. "Today was supposed to be our wedding day. You were going to become the Mrs. Kennedy to Kyle Kennedy," I say, smiling at her. The low chattering of the many families in hear makes my head ache.
"You dork," she says, punching me in the shoulder lightly.
"Who're you kidding Kyle? It doesn't matter if you guys are legally married or not. Rebekah Brooks was always bound to become Rebekah Kennedy," my dad chimes in, winking. My mom gives my dad a kiss on his scrubby face. I think of my little brother and sister. I rub my forehead in stress and close my eyes, laying my head on the dark wall.
"Hey, baby." Beka redirects my face to look in her direction. "Don't worry, I'm sure they are safe out there somewhere. And remember, I'm safe, and she or he is too." Beka has a way of easing my stress and worry. I kiss her shoulder.
"I know, I know." I rest our entwined hands onto her abdomen. "Do you want to take a breather outside? Everything is locked in and safe," I ask her, helping her up.
"I would love that. I could use stretching my legs." We go outside, my parents following behind us. I look around and see that it is just before dawn. The sunrise is behind the buildings, allowing for a beautiful silhouette of the buildings.
"Baby, look over there." My wife points to the gate and check-in point of the Coliseum. There is a guy and what looks to be his wife who is pregnant. They're arguing with the military checkpoint officer.
I glance at Beka and gesture her to stay over there. I go up to the officer. "Is there a problem, officer?" I ask, crossing my arms.
"Sir, I'm afraid this doesn't concern you," he says with a deep voice, crossing his arms and pressing them on his chest.
"This is a pregnant woman and you aren't letting her in? She is obviously pregnant, like at least seven months," I reply, my hand gestures only getting stronger.
"I'm only following the rules, man," he tries to reason. I look back at the long line of people waiting to get in. There are children and babies; there are people of all sorts. I give him a little shove.
"Let the pregnant lady in. I don't care if you kick me out. Just let the pregnant woman and the people with babies and children in. They shouldn't be out there, vulnerable." Every word I speak toward this man is laced with anger. I get into the soldier's face and then he points the gun at me.
I don't lower my stance, instead, I grab the end of the automatic. He starts to shoot but all the bullets hit the ground and fly into the air instead. People crouch down and some scream. He drops the gun by mistake and I punch him in the face. Soon after, four or five other men come rushing up to me. I have no damn clue where this courage came from.
They pull me back and drag me away. I look at the military guy I assaulted and he lets in the pregnant woman and her husband. Everyone else waiting starts yelling and shaking the gates. I look at Beka and she looks at me with fear in her eyes. Three military men escort my parents and wife calmly, opposite of how they're treating me.
They drag me into a trailer and the rest of my family into another one that is connected. I get thrown on the floor in the corner of the room and then get locked to a bar that's mounted to the back wall.
"You won't be causing no trouble now," one of the gruff men says. He scratches his bright red handlebar mustache. He rolls up his sleeves and punches me in my jaw. My face jerks to the side and I begin kicking at him. "Boy, are ya tryna get yourself skinned like a snake?" He grabs the collar of my jacket and lifts me to be up against the wall with ease like I am a wall decoration.
I aim my hand to punch him but I am saved by one of the other men calling him. "Infection and riot have broken out in the building and people are filing in angrily," the other man says, two other men standing behind him.
"We're not done here, prick." He drops me, spits on me, and then kicks my gut for the fun of it. He jogs out and closes the door behind him. I try pulling my arm away from the metal bar and then I try slipping my hand through the cuff but fail with both.
I look at the desk nearby and see a paperclip. The desk isn't in arm's length. "Well this will be difficult," I tell to myself, looking at the lone paperclip. I reach out my leg to the desk and manage to hook my foot around one of the legs of the desk around the top. With all my strength, I bend my leg towards me quickly, thus making the desk fall towards me.
The paperclip on the mysterious folder slides over with the folder itself. I take and unravel the clip and put the two ends in. "Hopefully this will work like in the movies. Or I'm screwed." I hear a click and the cuffs open off my wrist. "Wow, it does work." I rub my wrist where the cuff turned it red.
I hear faint footsteps so I hurry to turn the desk back upward with the folder and paperclip on the desk where they were before. I sit back down and pretend like I am still cuffed. The ugly man comes back in and sells over to me. There is blood all over him. Blood of infected people and what looks like the blood of people who aren't sick. I feel my atoms apple bob as I gulp.
"Now that that is all done," he says with pleasure, cracking his knuckles. "I can deal with you little prick." He gets close to my face and his putrid breath of cigarettes and tuna fan onto my face, causing me to almost gag. When he gets close enough, I butt my head into his.
Headbutting is not epic like it is in the movies either. My head pounds with a headache but we both groan in pain. He starts to push on a part of my neck and I begin to feel lightheaded. I punch him in the stomach and he grasps the spot where I punched him.
I slide away and take the files and glance inside after removing the paperclip again. There are pictures of people who looked infected and were shot. There were different gashes on them. Below the pictures is information about them. The military guy starts getting up, recollecting himself. I close the file and run over to the door that divides the trailers.
I try unlocking the door with the paperclip but he wraps his arm around my neck, making my vision hazy. I black out and then wake up outside shortly after. I feel the cold blade of a knife on my neck. I glance to my hands behind my back and try to break free, but my hands are tied together with strong zip ties.
There is chaos everywhere. People fighting each other. People fighting infected people. Infected people eating people. The sun is only rising and all of this has happened. The men force us into the tan military van. When they close the door, Beka goes up to me and moves her tied wrists in front of her. She rests her head on my chest and cuddles up to me. I look around the space and see no windows.
As we sit here, the whole van shakes. I scoot into the corner, along with Rebekah. I look around to see if there are any straight edges to saw off the twist ties but there are none. "What the hell just happened?" My dad stresses, trying to reassure my mom at the same time.
We hear an outside voice speak. "Shit. They blew the bridge. Move out everyone," someone commands. The engine rumbles and then we volt forward. The driver has to be driving at least 80 mph with how fast it feels like we are going. Rebekah almost throws up in her mouth.
"Are you alright, hun?" my mom who sits across from us asks.
"I'm just getting some motion sickness," my beautiful wife responds tenderly, putting her hands on her stomach. She rests her head against my shoulder. I lean into her and a sharp turn is made, pushing all of us to one side. "Do you think they will come up with a cure or an antidote for this? You are pretty keen with disease, babe."
"I don't know Rebekah, I've never seen anything like it. What type of disease makes people feel no pain. What makes their flesh rot. What makes them factory reset to cannibalistic and animalistic behavior. There is literally nothing like this that I can recall from medical school
After a brief time in the back of the truck, no more than 15 minutes, the door opens, blinding us and letting light into the previous dark back of the truck.
"Come on Y'all. Let's head inside. You guys are gonna be stuck here with us for a while," the young man with a buzz cut says. He gestures us out of the truck and it feels almost like a trick. And of course the minute we step out, guns are pointed at our backs. "Easy guys." The same guy that spoke moments before tells the other men, gesturing them to lower their weapons.
They guide us to the small building. There is a big paved area and then what looks similar to a storage unit. The garage doors of the building are a bright blue for whatever reason. There are barbed wire fences and we appear to be in the middle of nowhere.
"Yo man, look at this one," some random guy says bemusedly. All of our eyes travel to an infected person who has a neon green shirt on with blood staining the neckline of the shirt. They are also wearing running shorts and tennis shoes. That makes me think of the last track meet I went to for my sister.
The guy taunts the infected person and a small part of me wishes that the infected person bites his pretty little face. He wouldn't be laughing anymore. Just as the infected person gets close enough, the guy shoots their shin. The infected falls but makes no noise in pain. The guy proceeds to step on his chest and then shoots the person at least 10 times in the head. He chuckles and walks back over to us, his head high and a wide grin on his face.
The men bring us over to a smaller building and once we get closer, they separate my parents and then me and my wife. They bring me and Beka inside the first building and we look around. They close the door and lock it. I glance toward the window and see that it's covered by bars.
"Don't even try it. There is always gonna be someone watching Y'all," I hear someone yell through the walls. I look around the small room and see that we have a small plugin refrigerator with limited food inside, a few gallons of water, and a hotplate. There are also two cots and a sink.
I don't want to go and eat their food because I don't know where it came from but I hear my stomach growl. I take out one of the cans, a can of chicken noodle soup, and put it into a small pot on the hotplate. We wait for it to heat up and once it does, I split the soup into two bowls and we pray and eat.
"What do we do if we need to use the bathroom, sir?" I ask the guy on the other side. I take another spoonful of the soup and drink some from the gallon of water. He chuckles.
"We'll take Y'all," he says sarcastically.
"Would you like a bidet? Anything else I can do for ya princesses?" The man asks piquely, sighing.
"Can we see a doctor, my wife specifically?" She looks up to me, and eyebrow raised. I give her a kiss on her cheek.
"Yeah, sure. You done yet?" he adds. I hear him yawn.
"Yeah... that's all."