covered in solid red. He looked from the TV to his laptop. The stories on the internet did not help calm his fears. The web was reporting deaths and some weird stories about people suffering from heavy fever that caused them to act crazy and attack doctors and loved ones.
Swine Flu, bird Flu, whatever flu, Dave didn’t really care. What he did care about was Bridgette and she was very sick. She was cold no matter how many layers of clothes and blankets covered her. She also complained of a horrendous headache and stomach ache. Dave was staying home from work to take care of her. She had always been a bit sickly and frail. Dave was not surprised when she got ill. She was lying in their bed coughing. Dave gave up on the news. He was now in the kitchen making her some tea.
“Dave…” she called. Her voice was very weak. He wasn't sure he had heard it at first. When she called out again he hurried to the bedroom. “I really feel terrible. I think I need to go to the hospital.” She moaned starting to cough.
“I’ll get your coat ok, be right back.” He ran to the hall closet, her coat wasn’t there. He remembered she was already wearing it to beat the chills. Shaking his head in frustration he grabbed his coat for her. He hurried back to the bedroom. It was quiet.
“Bridge? Bridge!” He yelped at her motionless figure.
The coat dropped from his hand onto the floor. He rushed to the bed feeling her wrist. She didn’t seem to have a pulse. He leaned over her ear close to her mouth, checking for breathing. He couldn’t feel anything. He put an ear to her chest praying to hear a heartbeat. No sound came. “Bridge? Bridgette?” He asked, finally yelling her name.
Her eyes flew open, relief washed over Dave. Her eyes watched him as a sound escaped her throat. Dave leaned over to hear what she was saying. Relief turned to terror. She lurched forward sinking her teeth into his neck. Blood sprayed over her lips and across the wall. He jerked away in agony and fear. Stumbling back he stood straight up, his hand flew to his neck. He tried to cover the severed artery spurting blood over the walls and bed. Dizzy he turned to run from the room but she caught him by the arm. Her weight pulled him back to the bed. He fell over across it knocking free of her grip. She was on him in a second biting him in the face.
He tried to fight off the small woman. His blood flowed freely from his neck onto the comforter. His eyes focused on the floral pattern he hadn't liked to begin with now covered in red. He didn't even notice when Bridgette grabbed his hand. He had tried to keep her away, holding her at a distance. She was biting off one of his fingers, chewing the digit like a chicken wing. Dave’s eyes darkened as he died. Down the hall an older couple watched the news. The burning buildings in Pittsburgh mixed with the reports from New York and LA had them frightened. The screams, then absolute quiet coming from the new tenant’s apartment was enough. Frantically they packed, now was the time to get out, get out before panic made it impossible.
Bad News
“Hey, how’s your Stepdad?”
“Not so good. Man he is really sick.”
“I just heard that school is canceled Monday. Can you believe it? The news was saying this is a pandemic or something. People are sick all over the place.” There was a hint of fear in Beth’s voice.
“Yeah Mom said the stores were running out of cold medicine and water and all kinds of stuff. You’d think there was a snow storm coming. People fighting over eggs, bread and milk. I guess French toast will get you through anything. How did Steve’s meeting go?” Wes asked trying to change the subject.
Beth sighed, “Not too good I think. Steve was really down when he got home. He and Dad had another fight about it.”
There was a long silence on the phone then Beth spoke again. “Wes, I…I’m sorry…”
Wes stomach dropped she was going to dump him already. He knew it.
“Wes?”
“Yeah I’m here.” He morosely replied.
“What’s the matter?”
“You’re gonna end it aren’t you? You realized you just want to be friends but I don’t know if I can be just friends now.” Wes huffed.
“Wait what?” Beth asked confused,
“Um so…you’re not dumping me?”
“OK listen!” Wes cringed at the annoyance in her voice, “Let’s get something straight right now. Your self-doubt has never been one of your endearing qualities. I am not going to spend our relationship validating you.’
“Um right, sorry…you were saying?” Wes cringed He had been dating Beth for almost fourteen hours. In that time he had blown off a date and made her angry.
“What I was saying…Well I hadn’t been much of a friend to you since I started dating Corey and I wanted to apologize for that.”
Wes interrupted again, “Beth you don’t have to…”
“Wes, I have to explain things OK.” She took a deep breath. “I made a mistake to go for popularity over substance. I’m sorry.”
Wes smiled, “Cool I have substance." He joked. "OK, you're right. I’ll work on the self esteem thing.”
“You better."
Several seconds ticked by. Finally Beth broke through the awkwardness. "We’ve been watching the news. Dad is getting really worried. ” Beth explained.
"Yeah, I get that." Wes tried to sound casual, "I keep trying not worry about the coughing and hacking coming from the living room." Even as he said this he kept watching the pictures on the TV. Hospitals overrun, stores picked clean, pharmacies looted and burned, people protesting outside of pharmaceutical companies demanding drugs.
“Listen," Beth paused to collect her thoughts. "Dad thinks it might be a good idea to get out of town. He says to tell you that if things don’t get better soon we are going to come get you guys.”
“I don’t know, Reg is really sick. I don’t think we can move him.” Wes frowned as a fresh wave of coughing erupted.
“I think Dad…um meant…" She took a breath, "only you and your Mom.” Beth hesitated. Wes didn’t answer. She hurried on as if it would be easier faster. “Wes, the stuff on the news. The sick people have been doing stuff…They've hurt people.” Her voice trailed off.
Silence stretched again. When Wes spoke it was calm. “No Beth, no. Not Reg. he would never hurt us. Never." Beth tried to interrupt. Wes spoke over her. "He promised!" It was her turn to cringe. When Wes spoke again it was with finality. "Let me know where you are. We’ll meet you if things get bad and Reg is better.” Wes shook his head. She couldn’t be serious. The silence on the phone only accentuated the coughing from the living room. “Beth…I gotta go.”
Worse News
“The CDC is now discouraging the public from using hand sanitizer as it seems to speed up the rate of infection.” The male news anchor stated as the female anchor took over in a dramatic serious tone. “Coming up next on your six o’clock news, our top story is the continuing team coverage of the flu epidemic. We’ll have all the latest closings and cancellations including this evening’s game between
