FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Coauthor & Editor Averis

Infection 5

The End Begins

The last few weeks have been agonizingly slow, the dead cover the streets behind us, a complete massacre. The fight between me and El however hasn't. The others keep asking us to work it out. We try, but these conversations keep hitting the same wall, she can't trust me. I'm growing tired of it again, before I couldn't trust her and now she can't trust me.

I know I'm deathly ill. I think its cancer; I've recently started coughing up blood, mixed with solid substances. There's no way to tell how long I've got. I give myself about six months, but then again I'm no doctor. I keep it from them; they'd most likely kill me in my sleep if they knew.

"So how did your conversation go with her yesterday," Bradly asked.

"The way it has every day for two weeks, hit the wall, and that was the end of it," I said.

"Did you try being less aggressive," he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Shit, I was so hoping that would work," he said.

"Me too," I said, followed by one of my coughing fits. I covered my mouth quickly with a handkerchief and kept coughing for about a minute. This time there was plenty of blood and black stuff.

"You alright buddy," he asked.

"I'll be fine," I responded quickly.

"I think we should stop off in the next town and find a hospital," he said.

"I'm fine, I have these fits every once in a while," I said.

"We're stopping in the next town," he said firmly, after he said that the radio squawked.

"I swear we had better be stopping in the next town, I need a walk, and these two have used up my supplies."

Picking up the radio Bradly said, "My thought exactly Marcus just had a serious coughing fit. We need more medical supplies anyway."

In the background we heard over the radio snickering and El growling out "This is somewhat medical, it's nature's way of making the gender roles more equal."

"Roger that, there are probably quite a few places to pick those up," he said.

All of a sudden my vision blurred, and it was getting really dark. I felt light headed and I shook my head and it was all back to normal. Then he slammed on the breaks and I hit my head. This time I faded slowly into darkness.

********

El

Twisting my wrists around in the cuffs I mentally laughed as my fingers got caught up with each other thanks to the forefinger, pinky finger, and thumb being tied to their counterparts. Manipulating my middle fingers I used the shortened claws to slowly start unbuckling the irritatingly small straps on my forefingers. Hearing the doors open I stopped...

When the RV suddenly stopped I was knocked out of my memories as the two girls who weren't prepared suddenly flew off the couch and nearly hit me hanging from the ceiling. Dropping down after they passed under me I sprinted out of the RV and opened the passenger door to the hummer and caught Marcus as he fell out, coughing up blood on my shoulder and breathing heavily. Pulling him out and hearing the guy he picked up in his home city click the belt buckle I laid him on his stomach and put my ear on his back and heard the large amount of fluid in his lungs.

"Shit, what's your muzzle, help me get him in the back seat and then step on it toward the next city!" I said while grabbing his shoulders and seeing the guy get the back passenger side door then get his feet.

"Call me Hall, I knew something was wrong with him. He's been acting secretive all week. Thought maybe he got bit from our last encounter," he said.

Shaking my head while I stepped backwards into the humvee I said "It's those damned smoking habits of his, his lungs are destroyed. His doctors told him to stop smoking years ago but after the world became like this he started ignoring them, it's a coping skill so I ignored it."

"Well let's just hope it isn't as bad as it seems, for all of our sakes. Cause if it's worse one of us is going to have to put a bullet in him," he said.

Shaking my head I said "The virus isn't airborne, anyone who dies naturally doesn't need that treatment. We will simply have to bury him at least ten feet under."

"We don't know that, but that is redundant. What matters now is his health, keep him alive," he said.

Snarling I said "Then get in the driver's seat and drive!"

"Right away," he said grabbing the radio to communicate with the back and getting the vehicle in gear, "girls hang tight back there were going to be driving all over the place, our priories have changed for a minute."

As Marcus coughed again into my lap I felt something wet hit my leg. Moving him enough to pick it up I saw what could only be a piece of his lung. "Bradley Hall, listen to this precisely, press the green button we told you never to press on the gear shift. on the secondary panel that comes up press the button that says 'TD Trans', at that point the tires will change from road tires to steel braced all terrain, and the changes we made to the bumpers will emerge, it doesn't matter what is in your way, drive through it to the nearest hospital, at that point find the ER entrance and drive through it so we can use the humvee as emergency generator."

"Got it," he said.

********

Bradly Hall

Driving like I had never drove before I gave the humvee all she had. Steering over and through things I never thought would have. Damn! There's so much crap in the way, still though its only been about five minutes and I think I can see the hospital now. Blood and all kinds of shit is hitting the window, I would turn the wipers on but that would just smear it even more. Speeding up I drove through a crowd of zombies.

"Take that you sons of bitches," I yelled at no one in particular.

Then after clearing a set of trees we emerged outside the hospital. I scanned looking for the sign that said ER. I was looking all over and I almost missed it, being the fact it was covered with leaves and moss. But I saw it and made a sharp turn in the humvee's direction to the ER doors. I drove right through one of the columns and right on through the doors. I quickly jumped out and got a gurney for Marcus, then set about making a backup generator.

********

Marcus

I hear a whirring of something mechanical as I come back. I try to move but I find I am strapped down heavily. The room comes into view as my sight clears. I'm in a tube, the lights are blinding, and the thing I'm trapped inside of is an MRI machine.

"What's going on," I ask.

Over the speakers I heard El say "You're in an MRI machine, after you passed out we found a hospital and got it running again by combining the engine of the humvee as a secondary backup generator with the actual backup generators in the basement."

"You know I'm terrified of closed in spaces, right," I ask.

Her voice shaking slightly El said "Yeah, there are only a couple minutes left so please just hang in there."

"I'll try. I'm through with standing in line to the clubs I'll never get in. It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win. This life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be," I started singing my favorite song to calm myself.

The time passed slowly as I tried to keep my cool. The very fact was that I was losing my mind. I kept looking around hoping to see some glimmer of hope that I was getting out soon. But that was making it take much longer so I closed my eyes real tight and kept singing. The echo's didn't help much either. Then all of the sound stopped.

"Please tell me it is over," I said.

Chuckling a little despite the obvious worry in her voice El said "Yeah, it's over, I'll come un-strap you now."

After she unstrapped me I got out of there as quickly as I could, "Thank god that's over but tell me what's wrong."

Leading me into the control room El sat in front of the computer showing the MRI images. Pressing a few keys she showed an image of my lungs, sobbing a little she pointed at it and said "You coughed up the bottom half of your left lung and the rest of what is left as well as your right lung show spots, you have cancer in your lungs and it has spread to your bronchia and your brain. It's far beyond being possible to cure it even if the world weren't ending."

"I see. I need a moment. I'm going for a walk," I said.

For about an hour I just wandered around for about an hour. Then I finally stopped grabbed a bench, and sat in front of a window fiddling with a German Luger. I just kind of lost all sight of what I was doing I started going over every single thing I had ever done. My mind kept asking me what I should do, for the first time in my life I was stumped. Then I heard footsteps coming towards me.

As El approached I looked up and startled her, realizing she hadn't been stepping lightly for once, "Please don't do anything rash." she said lightly.

"I'm sorry El," I say.

Moving more like her usual self El suddenly surged forward and grabbed the luger out of my hands, "Don't do something so stupid! Don't just leave me behind like that!" she screamed at me while stepping out of my immediate reach so I couldn't take the luger back, tears were streaming down her face.

"I wasn't planning on anything. I was saying sorry for all the shit I've put you through," I said.

Slumping to her knees El just sat there crying with her eyes open and staring at me, "I can't lose you now, not when I can't even just immerse myself in a war again to lose my feelings."

"Please stop crying El. I need to know that you're listening, and I want to be able to hold you. So please sit next to me," I said.

Slowly standing in a slumped state El gradually stopped crying and walked over to the bench and sat next to me, she looked so broken. I felt sorry for her. There was nothing I could do, except try and comfort her. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Look I know how difficult it is for you. It's killing me to. I brought this on myself, I was an idiot. Now I know you know I never apologize but I am to you. I treated you like shit. I lied to you, and I expected you to trust me after I lied to you for so long. Now I'm honestly wondering what would have happened had I stayed. Maybe we would have had more time together, had kids, maybe even grow old together. Now though that is out the window. I love you more than you could ever know and I don't want to die either, but life, though it has an I in it, isn't about me because the E stands for everyone," I said, "so let's make the best of what we have right now.

Looking up at me she reached up and slowly kissed me, it was different than previously. It was softer and felt like it touched a deeper part of me. Breaking it she said "I need a memory, and something to care for, you will live on like this." It was all different, it was still her but she was softer and needed to show me her deepest part as well, she truly trusted me for once.

"Just one thing, I want you to make me two promises. Then we can try and make as many memories as possible," I said.

Nodding El said, "Anything for you."

"First, when I die I want you to move on, but don't forget me. Second, when and if the time comes and if I become one of those things, shoot me with that Luger," I said.

Tears formed El's eyes again as I said the second promise but she looked over her shoulder at the luger on the ground, turning back towards me she nodded and said "I promise that I will fulfill both of those promises, I will move on and if you become a mindless monster I will kill you with that luger."

"Thank you now I think one thing we should have is a candle lit dinner with some real food what do you say," I asked as I kissed her on her lips.