I’ve Got You

CHAPTER 3

Choking back sobs, Eris clutched Dorian to her side as they, and the other six they shared the jeep with were led into a sterile room, draped in plastic. “Eris, shut up” James hissed under his breath at her. “You’re causing a scene”. Eris’s jaw dropped, and her voice came out weak and shaky. “I’m causing a scene?! We were dragged from our home in the middle of the night with no explanation, They shot our neighbour, did you even see what was going on around us on the way here? The way those people were-” her words caught in her throat when James’s glare hardened and the tips of his fingers dug deep into her upper arm, almost daring her to keep talking after being told to shut up. Eris winced, and cast her eyes down at Dorian, who was shaking in her arms and barely containing sobs of his own. She shrugged her arm out of James’s painful grip and resumed silence. “That’s what I thought.” He sneered, putting his lips against her ear, he quietly warned “You will not speak until I tell you you can speak. Do you hear me, Eris?”

A small nod.

“Now for the last time, shut up.” Eris sighed, so much for being the way they once were.

“Ladies and gentleman!” Announced a firm, but quiet voice from the far corner of the room. Eris looked in the direction from which the voice came and immediately recognised it as belonging to the man that had herded them to the Jeep from their building. He was wearing a knee length navy coat, complete with brass buttons and decorated with medals. His gloved hands were balled in to fists at his side and his dark skin glistened with sweat. Blood had dried to his left cheek. He was flanked by two soldiers wearing blood stained combat ensembles. They stood still and serious by his side. Hands clasped behind their backs. “I am Lieutenant General Yarran. I’m sure you are all very confused, and very frightened. I apologise for being unable to explain things in detail. My men and I dragged you all from your beds, ushered you to safety from hostile individuals, and brought you here, to this facility, to this room without so much as an introduction. And for that I apologise.” His hard, dark eyes scanned the room and softened when they landed on Dorian. Who -Eris was only just now realising- was the only child in attendance.

“About a year or so ago, it came to our attention that our allies in the United States of America, had developed a weapon. Biological in nature. A man made mutation of their rabies virus. It transmits more easily, survives longer outside of a host, and takes hold of the hosts consciousness in a matter of hours.” Lieutenant General Yarran paused, as if even he couldn’t quite believe what was coming out of his mouth. “The symptoms are more or less the same as it’s sister virus, although far more amplified. About a month ago we got hold of this virus. To study it. To find an antidote if possible, as the standard rabies vaccines prove ineffective against it. We needed an antidote in case the virus fell into the wrong hands. And in to the wrong hands it did fall”

Eris swallowed the sobs that bubbled back up into her throat.

“Dr Indra Acharya in the inner city was entrusted with this delicate task. We aren’t sure how, but it seems his wife may have been exposed to the virus. Dr Indra Acharya was found dead in his home three days ago. The live specimens, missing, his wife was apprehended as she caused havoc in their neighbour-hood, attacking anyone she saw. She killed five people and contaminated another ten, possibly more. From there, transmission of the virus grew so quickly that we were unable to stamp it out. The state of New South Wales, is as of this moment overrun.”

“Well we can leave the state! Can’t we? Done!”. The Lieutenant General glared at the man at the back of the room who had interrupted him. The greying man seemed to shrivel and shrink into his shadow under the scrutiny of the Lieutenant General’s hard stare. “If it were that easy we wouldn’t be stuck in this room talking”.

“Why isn’t it that easy?” Eris blurted out before she could remember James’s warning. He reminded her by covertly grabbing her free hand in his and squeezing. To others it probably looked like a gesture of affection and reassurance. But the others couldn’t see that he was squeezing so hard that Eris felt something in her wrist give, there was a barely audible pop and she fought the urge to scream out in pain. She lowered her head, face hidden behind her hair and took short, shallow breaths, her eyes watering at the sensation of her slender wrist being crushed in James’s grasp. “Because, as of yesterday we received word that one of the contaminated civilians boarded a flight to Melbourne. Contaminating everyone on board, contaminating the surfaces. Some passengers had connecting flights to other states. Perhaps even other countries, though we are yet to hear from them despite sending out alerts... Are you okay Miss?”. James squeezed harder. A warning. Eris bit down on the inside of her cheek, drawing blood in an effort to keep from crying out. Broken. That wrist was certainly broken. “Yes” she gasped. “Yes I’m just scared”.

Lieutenant General Yarran nodded “I’d be concerned for your mental health if you weren’t. These are frightening times. We do no at this point in time know of any destinations in the country that are uncontaminated. We tried our best to keep this low key and under control, but we failed. Any and all control we had over the contamination slipped from our fingers mere hours ago. The best we could do going forward was evacuate who we could from their homes and try and hold out here until we thought of a solution, or things calmed down. Which is still a possibility, however slight it may be.”

James finally dropped Eris’s hand and moved to her right side to wrap his arms protectively around Dorian. Eris discreetly cradled her already swollen hand in her other, examining the damage done to her wrist and fighting to stay on two feet as she whimpered silently.

“Now, we are going to have to thoroughly search each and every one of you for signs of contamination before we allow you in to the facility. Upon entry you will be assigned a room and given a pamphlet of all the information we have so far, gathered from Doctor Indra’s notes. You will each now be taken to a separate examination room to be stripped and searched for any of the more visible signs of contamination-”

“She keeps her clothes on!” James interrupted, jerking his head towards Eris. The colour drained from her face. The bruises. How would she explain the bruises from last week?

“The boy may have one of you present while he is searched, but there will be no exceptions to the search.” The Lieutenant General strode over to James, sizing him up as he leaned in and warned under his breath “Not much escapes my notice, Mr Winter. I saw what you were doing and I know men like you. I have met many in my time. You may think you have the right to throw your weight around and bully others within the walls of your own home. But I am in charge here, and I will not tolerate a single moment of it. Not in my camp. Do we understand one another?”. The veins in James’s forehead bulged. He didn’t like that. Eris was going to get it later. She just knew it.