Chase
I never imagined a glamorous life for myself when I was younger but I never thought it would come to this. Sitting in a hospital room with plain white walls, plain plastic chairs and pale bored looking guards by the door whilst I nibbled on my younger sisters’ wrist. The guards were for her protection to make sure my hunger didn’t get out of hand and turn me wild.
She watched every time, morbidly fascinated, even though she knew it drove me crazy. It’s not like I did this for kicks, I needed her blood to survive. I know what you’re thinking – vampire! No, I’m not. Except for the blood thing there’s nothing remotely vampire about me. I have Hep Z.
It’s a virus that has a much more scientific name which most of us can’t pronounce so the rest of us just call it Hep Z or Hepatitis Zombie but I think the former has more of a ring to it. Technically I’m not a zombie either, not yet. At first the virus was discovered as a cure for cancer. And it worked like a charm but the virus had deadly side effects too.
Once you have the virus, without proper medication, it strips you bare of all humane qualities such as morality and humanity. It left you remorseless, savage with an insatiable hunger. The Infected who made it to this stage of the decline were called Roamers. No one knew what to do with them at first except to lock them up until scientists found something to help them come back to themselves. But once you got to that stage there was no coming back and we soon learned it was never a good idea to keep large groups of them together. It got messy.
Eventually the Purebloods were born. Younger siblings genetically created with an antidote in their blood stream but even this was only temporary. Without frequent feedings from our siblings we would eventually be lost to the Hep Z and end up like the other Roamer’s.
“All done?” Maya asked.
“Yeah, thanks.” I said wiping my mouth then licking my fingers, hating myself while I did it.
“Don’t be embarrassed, Jess. It’s not like it’s my first feeding. We’ve been doing this for years.”
There was a knock at the door and a nurse in pale blue scrubs entered. “All done?” she smiled.
“Yes, ma’am.” Maya said, holding her wrist out for the nurse to bandage it.
“Dr Montgomery will see you in room two, Miss Chase.” The nurse said, dismissing me offhand.
“Okay, everything looks good here.” The doctor said, removing the blood pressure cuff from my upper left arm. “Everything else looks good. Your blood works came back with no irregularities, well, at least none we didn’t already know of. You’re as healthy as you can be, Jessica.”
“That’s great, Doc.” I said blandly.
The guy had taken over my case since my previous Doctor was lost to the Hep Z too. The Doctor was an overweight, balding man in his late fifties with a white lab jacket which looked a size to small and had a bad case of halitosis. His bedside manner was somewhat lacking, he had a bad attitude, a condescending tone and was a complete pervert. Did he really think I couldn’t see him leering at my chest?
“Any questions for me today?”
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
“So how’s Maya?” he said, smiling that broad fake smile of his.
“She’s good. She’s heading into her senior year of high school after the summer.”
“How the time flies.” He chuckled.
“Yes. Well, if that’s all…”
“Be sure to call in if there’s any changes in your, or Maya’s, health and welfare.”
“Of course.”
“And don’t forget to go to your weekly council sessions. They may be a hindrance to yourself but they’re not just for you after all but your family too.”
“Haven’t missed one so far, Doc.”
“Good. Thanks for coming in.” he said, offering his hand.
I took it in mine, swollen and sweaty as it was, I shook it firmly, smiled politely broke from him and walked out of his office to sit in the waiting area whilst Maya completed her check-up.
The room was mostly full of Purebloods and their Infected siblings with the occasional parent or guardian amongst them. I was friends with a few of them but not a lot. We had to socialise at least once a week for the council sessions which took place in the basement of the hospital – the safest place from the Roamers, even though the hospital was guarded and had a high wall topped with barbed fencing running around the perimeter of it.
Nina Hayes was the closest to the spot of being my best friend out of the group. We had a lot in common and she wasn’t overly chatty which I liked most about her. We could sit there and have a whole conversation with nothing more than a nod of the head, a roll of the eye or a heavy sigh. She had long glossy brown hair, olive skin, a long prominent nose and dark green eyes.
Her sister Alice sat opposite her, flipping the pages of a magazine with a bandage around her wrist. She was shorter than Nina who was almost as tall as myself whilst Alice had raven dark hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes. The two couldn’t be more different from each other.
“We’re ready for you, Alice.” Called a nurse.
“See you in a few.” Little Alice said in a low voice before tossing the magazine aside and striding towards the office door.
Nina looked my way and gave me a tight smile with a small nod of the head. I nodded back before scanning the rest of the room. The Snow’s were congregated in one corner waiting for a feeding room to become available whilst the youngest glowered hostilely at anyone who dared look her in the eye.
The three ladies were often hard to tell apart because they resembled each other so closely with their tall lanky frames, pale pallor, silvery blonde hair and icy green eyes. But Mrs Snow was always the easiest to spot since she had a few wisps of grey along with wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.
She constantly fretted with her Infected daughter and spoke to her like a child. I don’t mean she talked down at her, I mean she treated her like she was a precious little thing she needed to keep safe in a bubble of protection from the outside world.
Elyse, the eldest and Infected of the Snow daughters, was often frail looking and paler than her relatives. Although most of the other Infected, myself included, had guessed she only had weeks before her time was up she’d surprised us all and was still alive and kicking seven years after she was first admitted to the Hep Z clinic here in Boston.
“We’re ready for you, ladies.” A nurse called to them, indicating an empty feeding room.
“Let’s go, Snowflake.” Mrs Snow whispered to Elyse, helping the girl to her feet.
I shook my head in irritation. The girl was the same age as Nina and me at twenty-five. But she still allowed her mother to speak to her even though we all knew she found it embarrassing. Carrie, the youngest, the Pureblood, followed behind them at her own pace. She was in no hurry to have her sister chew on her own arm.
“Someone should remove the stick from that girls’ ass.” Nina mumbled only loud enough for me to hear.
I smirked. “That might not be possible with the chip on her shoulder weighing her down.”
Nina laughed. “I heard that she tried to run away from home.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, her uncle caught her with those kids down at the youth centre hiring Purebloods to join the ‘Children of the Revolution’.” She air-quoted, rolling her eyes.
“Way to step on a good song.” I groaned. “What the hell was she thinking?”
Nina shrugged and shook her head. “Apparently they had to pull her mother off of her when she got home. Things got a little violent.”
“She looks fine.”
“Well, it’s like I said. The uncle had to pull her off.”
“I heard that Mr Snow threatened her with divorce papers if she didn’t join him in Long Island. She’s a Regular after all.”
“Yeah, but you can’t blame her for wanting to stay with her kids.” Nina said, frowning.
“It’s not safe here though. Pretty much every other Regular has been shipped out to the Safe Lands or the Under Lands.”
Regular’s were human that weren’t Roamer, Infected or Pureblood. It wasn’t safe for them in big cities like Boston which were overwhelmed with Roamers. Safe Lands were places like in Long Island, gated communities heavily guarded and far removed from any kind of threat. Under Lands were beneath the cities like Boston. Those who wanted to get away from the Roamers but still close to home or loved ones whom were either Infected or Pureblood. Once filthy sewers they’d been taken apart, cleansed and sterilised. Networks of towns now lived beneath our feet semi-safe but without the same amount of protection as the Safe Lands. The Regulars whom chose to stay here had to find their own means of protection.
The door opposite opened to reveal the stuck-up nurse and Maya, rolling down the sleeve of her red hoodie. She was a younger, miniature, version of myself with wavy brown hair, pale but freckly skin, blue eyes flecked with a steely grey in a thin face with thick dark eye brows.
“Ready?” I ask, getting to my feet again.
She nodded. “All set.”
“Remember,” the nurse said in a low voice, “if you have any concerns, don’t hesitate to make an appointment.”
“I won’t.” Maya said, offering a forced, brittle smile. “Thank you.”
“See you later.” I said to Nina, following Maya out into the corridor.
Maya strode ahead of me in silence with a stiff walk and tense looking shoulders. She sighed whilst I lifted the heavy gate that led out the guarded parking lot on the west side of the hospital.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“I’ll tell you in the car.” She said.
The guards, whom patrolled the car park every hour on the hour, walked passed us dressed in white and dark blue uniform with the medical symbol upon their left breast. It was nine o’clock on a Sunday morning so it was fairly quiet with three other cars parked two lanes over from my monster of a Jeep.
Maya remained tight lipped whilst she crossed the lot just ahead of me never daring to get too far ahead. She stood back whilst I did our usual routine – making sure there were no Roamers inside or underneath the car. Even with all these guards we still had to take precautions. When I gave her the all clear, I walked her round to her side of the car, with one hand in my purse where my Dad’s handgun hid under the debris of my personal items.
“So what’s the matter?” I asked, pulling out of the lot.
She didn’t say a word but stared moodily ahead.
“You know I’m just going to think about the most awful things until you tell me what’s wrong.”
Looking at me from the corner of her eyes she turned back to stare at the gate once more. “Just drive, Jess.” She sighed.
The guards motioned me forward when the gate lifted just high enough for my Jeep to fit through. The car really was a monster. I’d paid through the nose to get the top of the range. Not that we really got out much after the Zombie apocalypse, I just needed it for taking Maya to school or to the Clinic.
Once upon a time you would’ve seen this kind of metal on military vehicles or the Presidential motors. I could plough down a whole pack of Roamers in this thing and not even dent it.
“Maya?” I prompted her. It wasn’t like her to be this quiet.
“Would you pay attention to the road?” she whined.
“Fine!” I said testily. “I’ll drive whilst you talk.”
“You’re not going to like it.” she said, her voice shaking a little.
“Did your blood come back clean?” I asked, worried.
“Yes, I’m still Hep Z negative, don’t worry.”
I wasn’t worried about that. Hep Z couldn’t be passed on to Purebloods or Regulars. Neither was it an airborne disease. The virus was given to us by our doctors on our parents’ permission. Even with all the dreadful side effects it gave us incredible strength and heightened senses, the only good thing to come of the virus.
“So what did the nurse say to you?” I prompted again.
“She suggested that I should take up some new classes at school.”
“What’s school got to do with her?”
“It’s actually after school activities held in the gym.”
“Absolutely not. The school isn’t as guarded at night like it is during the day.” I sighed, “Tell that cow to mind her own business in future.”
“The classes she wants me to partake in are the self-defence lessons. You know, how to fight and fire a gun in case…”
“In case your Infected sister tries to eat you when she can no longer fight the virus.” I finished for her.
“I told her it wouldn’t be necessary.”
“Oh really?” I asked.
“Yes, because I said that you’d teach me.”
“You did what?!”
“Well, Dad taught you and I figured…”
“I’m not teaching you to fire a gun, you’re way too young for that.”
“Oh, please you were younger than my age when Dad taught you.”
“That’s different, Dad was being shipped off to Afghanistan and Mom had contracted the virus too. He couldn’t leave me defenceless.”
“Leave us defenceless, you mean. And aren’t you leaving me defenceless by not teaching me? I know we don’t like to talk about it, Jess, but there may come a day when I might need to defend myself.”
“Maya, I’m not going to show you how to fire a gun.”
“But, Jess…”
“No but’s, you’re not mature enough to handle that kind of responsibility.”
“Oh, you mean I’m not mature enough to know all of the access and security codes to the house and locked rooms like I know now. Or how to drive the car through a mob of Roamers?”
“That’s different. I’m not giving you a loaded weapon. Bullets aren’t cheap or easy to come by these days either.”
“Then let me practice target shooting with something else.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Jess!”
“I said I’d think about it!” I said crossly.
“No, Jess, watch the road!”
The street we’d arrived on was our own and it was quiet. It was always quiet since Boston became overrun by Roamers. Most of my street left when they found out I had contracted the virus. It was around the time when Safe Lands started appearing all over America. Only a couple of people remained whom were either too stupid to realise the dangers around them or too stubborn to leave their family homes. Only one other remained in our neighbourhood because they had a loved one living nearby who also had the virus.
Of course Maya the only thing on the road at the time which was cause for alarm was the first Roamer I’d seen in my neighbourhood for over a month. I recognised him as Mr Halliwell, a friendly man whom used to own a sweet little ice cream parlour and always gave Maya and myself extra hot fudge sauce and sprinkles at no extra charge because he was an old school friend of our Mom’s.
He ambled down the road looking like Quasimodo on a hunger strike with one arm jutting out at an irregular angle. He took no notice of us when I started to drive slowly alongside him.
“Don’t look.” I told Maya when she too had recognised him at last. “Don’t draw attention to yourself. Hopefully he’ll just pass onto the next street before he catches your scent.”
“I’m in here though.” She tried to reason. “He won’t smell me.”
“If he passes our house then we’ll be in trouble. Once he catches your scent he won’t be quite so tame anymore.”
Pureblood’s can only help the Infected, there is nothing they can do for a relative when they’re lost to the Hep Z. But there’s still something about them that Roamer’s are attracted to more than the Regular humans. A teacher once explained it to me in tragically lame terms. She explained it with hot chocolate.
“Imagine you’re mother bought you hot cocoa for you to make at home. Now the quickest and easiest way is to make it with boiled water. It tastes good and is quite enjoyable, yes?” she stopped for effect. “But it doesn’t quite compare to the hot cocoa which is made with warmed milk. That is the difference between a Roamer’s blood and a Pureblood’s.”
Pathetic I know but it was nothing in comparison to the gruesome and, sadly, factual stories we were told by those who worked at the clinic. If Mr Halliwell caught Maya’s scent he’d easily be able to track it down to her even if she was protected by bulletproof glass.
“You know the drill.” I said under my breath, still staring straight ahead. We were now only three houses away from my own and Mr Halliwell was not changing his course.
“If you have to get out I lock the doors, phone for help if needed and get the knife out of the back of the car.”
“Good girl.” I nodded.
Mr Halliwell’s head popped up before he’d even passed my neighbours’ house, he’d caught Maya’s scent sooner than I had expected. His pace quickened from a casual amble to a quick shuffle until he was stampeding around my front garden with his nose in the air like wolfhound searching from the source of the scent. He finally caught sight of us when my car groaned when ascending the slope up to my garage.
“Lock the doors as soon as I’m out and drive the car into the garage and shut the garage door with the remote.”
“Jess.”
“No arguments. Wait for me in the garage. If you don’t hear me do the special knock in five minutes you call the police or the clinic. Someone will come out to get you. Do not go into the house by yourself in case another Roamer is inside. I know it’s not likely but I don’t want you to take that chance by yourself, got it?”
She nodded.
Roamer’s never normally engaged with the Infected unless we enforced their hand. Mr Halliwell stood still in the centre of the little garden my mother had took care of for years until she too was taken by the virus. His head whipped up again when more of Maya’s scent escaped the car door which was only open briefly before Maya switched seats and shut it.
Roamer Halliwell started the shuffle in my direction whilst Maya drove the car into the garage. He was reedy looking whilst in life he was always quite stocky with broad shoulders. His pallor was like any other Roamer of a pale almost greying colour with their dark veins appearing almost everywhere. The once kind green eyes were now thickly cataract with a hint of yellowness about them.
I grabbed the baseball bat I kept beside the front porch hidden behind some small shrubbery and kept Dad’s magnum tucked in the back of my jeans as an extra precaution. Halliwell didn’t falter when I threatened him with the bat he just kept on coming towards me, Maya’s scent must have been all over me otherwise he would’ve been trying to peel off the garage door by now.
Swinging wide I caught him on the chin but he barely stumbled even though I was pretty certain I’d broken his jaw, the way his chin hung limply from his face and drool and blood started pouring from his open mouth. Again I swung the bat and caught him on the shoulder of the arm bent at an odd angle, Halliwell grunted angrily and tried to reach for me.
“Fuck off!” I shouted, letting the savage little beast in me come through just a little to scare him.
He growled again but ambled towards the now closed and sealed garage door.
“Mine.” I said, the growl rippling in my own voice.
Halliwell grunted when I moved in the way blocking his path from Maya’s sanctuary. “Mine!” I growled. He grabbed me by both shoulders and threw me out of the way. I threw the bat at his head and he turned to me again, growling angrily, advancing with his hands outstretched.
“Mine.” He barely whispered. “Mine!”
“No, bitch.” I said, pulling the gun out, “She’s mine.”
He stopped to stare at the weapon before making his advance again. Pulling back the safety I squeezed the trigger with ease and the bullet blasted forth piercing him through his forehead before exiting the back of his skull. I watched entranced whilst his head burst open like some gruesome fireworks display, his brain spraying everywhere like confetti or rice at a wedding. His back arched and he was lifted off his feet only briefly before he fell to the ground with a crash and crunch of his bones.
Breathing heavily, my hearing had been momentarily impaired at the blast of the gun, I could hear at last Maya tapping away at the garage door in Morse code, ‘SOS?’, she asked. Getting to my feet she still tapped away whilst I rolled Mr Halliwell’s body down the slope of my drive till he fell out of our line of sight. Once I’d scraped as much of brain as I could I left it in a pile beside his body, I’d have to call the police to send someone to retrieve the body and decontaminate the area. Maya was now pounding on the garage door whilst I scanned the area to make sure there were no other Roamers around before turning my back to the street, dusting myself down to climb the slope once more.
I raised my fist to the garage door and tapped back, ‘All clear’.