“Breakfast is in the kitchen,” he said without taking his eyes off the TV.
I wanted to strangle him for what he’d done to me last night. But while I’d lain in bed, working at my restraints, I’d realized he was protecting himself. To be honest, I would have done the same if I’d been in his place had I thought of it. This whole time I’d been thinking of how bad I had it, never once thinking of how bad he had it. Clutch had allowed two strangers—one infected—into his truck and brought one of those strangers into his home. Before I’d fallen asleep, I’d made the vow to myself to let go any remaining anger.
I’d enough to deal with the way it was.
I stepped into the kitchen to find fried eggs, bacon, and toast already on a plate. After having a huge steak dinner, I was surprised that my stomach was already growling. Then again, running for your life burns a lot more calories than punching keys on a computer.
I took my seat on the couch and dug in while watching some national news channel. The reporter looked ragged, like he hadn’t slept or been home since yesterday. A map of the United States was behind him with red Xs over every major city. The map then expanded to the world, showing parts of Europe and much of Asia in red.
“The infected are considered dead by all medical definitions, but yet they continue to move…and feed,” the reporter said. “For lack of a better term, they are undead. Their bodily functions, such as heart rate and blood pressure are nonexistent. Their blood has congealed and they will not bleed out, which the CDC believes accounts for their stiff gaits.
If you must come into contact with the infected, use extreme caution. Destroying the brain stem is the only known method of killing an infected. Due to lack of blood flow, the brain seems to be their only critical organ. A bullet directly through any other normally vital organ, such as the heart, has proven ineffective. However, they can be incapacitated by decapitation or removal of limbs, but they will continue to pose some risk even incapacitated.
The high fever that sets in before the virus takes over seems to destroy most brain activity, which means they can be outsmarted if you do not panic. The infected are violent and hungry and do not seem to require rest. The CDC believes that their insatiable hunger is caused by the superbug altering the hypothalamus in a way to promote transmission of the virus. While a bite is the fastest way to transmit the virus, any direct contact with infected saliva or blood may lead to infection. Even a small open wound, such as a scratch or blister, carries risk of infection. The CDC does not believe the infection can be transmitted by mosquitoes or through contact with animals bitten by the infected, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of infection through those means.
We have reason to believe the virus originated from a new biologically engineered pesticide where the cells were coated with silica. When the pesticide was combined with a specific cleaning agent, the cells were shown to mutate.
There is no cure. Infection rate is believed to be at or near one hundred percent. Once infected, the virus will take control of your body, and you will either die or turn violent. This was all the information we received before we lost contact with the CDC.”
Clutch tossed me his cell phone. “Phone service seems to be unclogged,” he said while the reporter started reading off a paper he’d just been handed.
I stared at the phone’s screen and already knew why the phone lines were no longer clogged. There weren’t enough people left to make calls. No one left to go to work or school. Ah, but the schools would be closed today, anyway. “Today’s Good Friday.”
“So?”