When I came to, my vision was a blur and my hearing was delayed. I felt fuzzy. Dizziness permeated. Near me, there was a loud and also quiet rustling, never at the same time, one then the other, like a light switch flicked on and off. I was being carried. By what? I'm not sure. Whatever it was, whatever was happening, I think it had something to do with Turval Labs, the place I currently worked. Come to mind, also the place I supposedly have a day, no, the week off.
I sighed and laid my head back down on the sheet. I was being moved, I knew that. But I didn't know anything more. I don't think I could, even if I wanted to. A deep fatigue crushed my soul.
"-you thinking?!" A voice shouted. Due to the high pitch and my internal cringe, I can only conclude that A. I have a migraine and/or concussion, and B. It's a female. Presumably one in charge or in a place of power. Given that she was the one asking and not answering the questions, it seemed fair to guess.
"W-we need..." Whoever she berated with fell out, and I could hardly listen to their conversation. What with my fading in and out of consciousness, and the vertigo along with my speed, it was truly tough. The conversation or I guess interrogation as a better dub, had evolved into a screaming match, uncontested by the lone female participant. Her partner shrunk and continued to help me down these long hallways in my immobile form.
"...survivors. We need survivors, Carlie." Whoever he was, this man spoke with a calm inflection. That was essential in arguments. If you got emotionally invested in your side and showed it, that was a weak point for the other party. He was smart. That was evident.
Carlie wasn't having it. "We have everyone we need. We have a cook. We have guards. We have scroungers. We have-" She stopped short.
A chill descended into the room. Everything became quiet. I stopped being pushed and the people that moved me hardly breathed. We waited. And waited. Soon, a triumphant mood brought about my elation, and I was struggling to relieve myself of the stretcher I was on, along with the straps. I pushed against them and strained, trying to get out. Two men, both from each side, put pressure on me and laid me still. No other movement or sound was heard. The former argument dwindled to nothing in a second. All that was heard was a faint wheezing, far off in whatever place we were. Someone near me in their group relinquished a long metal knife from a sheath, and handled it expertly. The man who fought with Carlie looked behind and instantly made a gesture for him to put it away, now. The man complied without a word. The chill turned into a deep icy cold, and goosebumps raised all over my arms. I felt terrorized to my core. Nobody showed any sign of it getting to them, or even if they felt it. They were all like statues, like modern-day Medusas. I did nothing and followed their example, and the freezing that reminded me of hypothermia faded away in a matter of minutes. We continued silently for a long time.
"That was too close, Daniel." Carlie remarked softly. Daniel didn't respond, out of spite or out of will. Our little group reached a little door that looked like it belonged to a meat freezer or on a barge. Daniel and Carlie worked together to unlock the heavy steel door, and the people they brought with them carried me up and over the doorway, getting us all inside and closing it after the last man made it in safely.
"We might have a cook, but what are we to do about...?" Daniel and Carlie left me to the mercy of the grunts, keeping the debate going between them.
I laid there for some time, staring at the white fluorescent light above me. Noise was all around, of pots and pans, of children singing and playing, of men arguing and cheering, women talking and being sultry. I heard it all. The waft of well-cooked meat floated over me, and my stomach growled in response.
A curtain I didn't even know was there was flung open quickly, and a woman in a long white coat let herself in and assessed me quietly. "Can you hear me?" She asked. I nodded. "Yes." I coughed. She looked mildly shocked, but proceeded with the examination.
"Follow my finger with your eyes." She moved it from my left to right, and then finally the middle. Then, she used a bright light in place of her finger, and conducted several more tests.
"Where am I?" I questioned. She didn't look up and instead wrote words down on a blank sheet of paper with a pen.
"You are in our safehouse." She didn't answer any further. I figured I had to be direct and to the point. She might be one of the only ones to answer my questions here.
"What happened? Yesterday, things were fine." I felt a smudge indignant.
"Yesterday?" She raised an eyebrow. "What is today's date?"
I racked my head. "May 27th, 2016."
"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry. That was four years ago."
I gasped and tried to get up from the stretcher again. My efforts were vastly renewed. "Four years?!"
I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. The room was bleak. "Calm down. It's okay. You're safe." She chided me. I didn't bother to listen. I had to get out of here. She turned and stuck her head around the curtain, to call out some order to a nurse.
One or two of them rushed in with a syringe, and I knew what was happening. I grabbed at the air and shook the mobile platform, doing anything I could to not remain still so I wasn't put under.
"Push 50 fentanyl!" She ordered. Through all my shaking and trembling and screaming, I was held down and sedated. I felt murky. My eyelids closed and I saw nothing.
"Wake up." I was shoved. "Hey, buddy, wake up." It was familiar. I opened my eyes to see Daniel. "Don't freak out. I'm here to tell you what's been going on." Seeing as I couldn't really do much other than listen, I compiled. "2016 is when everything started. That uh, new virus that went around. Stay clean and all that. Well, it was a little more than a virus. When you get infected with it, it turns you. You're not human anymore. It's like a regular cold, but it gets nasty fast. That's why we held you down and stayed quiet. It does something in the air. You can't talk if it's around you. If you don't, you become a carrier for it. We figured it out after seeing people screaming and yelling in the streets be the first and the fastest to go."
"I've never heard of a disease like that before." I spluttered. My vocal cords were not used to talking. For years, apparently.
"Yeah, well..." He cleared his throat.
"So, I saw you in that lab, that building, while I was out looking for meds. You were just laying there so I wasn't sure. I took a chance and got a little squad together and we brought you back. And here you've been," He summed up.
"What about the four year gap?" I asked.
He shifted in his chair.
"We don't really know. It's been almost a week since the labs, and that's where you came in, so you tell me, man."
I blinked. "Got a name? I'm Daniel."
"Frederick." I murmured.
"Do you have anyone studying it here?" Maybe I'd be able to help. Maybe this thing could be stopped. "We did all the studying we could, Professor," Daniel said sarcastically. "Be careful or it'll fuck you up. You were lucky yourself."
So nothing then. I might be of use to this little survivor group. In exchange for a meal and a place to stay and a bed, I could see what this thing resists. And what it doesn't. There has to be a workaround!
"Maybe I could do some observations." I offered. I felt frail on the stretcher.
"Maybe," my savior repeated. He stood up and prepared to leave me in solitude. "Well, you'd have to talk to with Carlie about that."
Daniel paused and took in my state and thought to himself. "I guess I'd have to talk to Carlie about that. Cross your fingers, Freddy."
I grimaced. Freddy...
"Thanks, Daniel." I made my gratitude known. "No problem. I'll get back to you on that observation thing."
He left. When would I be able to do the same myself? This was torture, sitting here. I didn't have any entertainment. No TV, no phone, no books. Actually, where is my phone? Those fuckers probably took it. I know I had a password, but I'm sure that won't stop them. There are backdoors for everything.
Next to me was a primitive call bell. A little yellow bell hung on a string levied from the top of my bed-thing, close to the wall. I hit it with a hand and soon a nurse was summoned.
"Excuse me, when would I be able to leave?" I wondered amiably.
She looked a little confused. "The doctor would have to sign you off, and you'd need to be in good health besides that. Right now, looking at you, probably a few days," She guessed liberally.
"Great, thank you." I dismissed her.
"Do you need anything else?" She stuck around.
"No, no, I'm alright. I just wanted some clarification." I waved a hand.
"Oh, alright. Ring the bell if you do need anything else." She left to tend to other patients. The girl was nice enough. She had kind of a dirty blonde mixed with something else, and a bit of a flat face, but it looked cute somehow. I wasn't complaining. It'd be nice to have some company around here. I laid and stewed, thinking and thinking. The virus. I was a scientist. Perhaps anti-virals would be of some use? They never really stopped a virus, nothing could, it had to run its course, but what if it could delay the effects, and prolong the period before a carrier? I had to examine it from other angles. I also needed something to write with. I sighed.