Two Alive, стр. 26
“No. I’m talking about those dead infected.” Antonio pointed his still-bound hands at the bodies under the sheet. “We’re too close to them. You could get infected if you’re not careful.”
Anderson looked down at the bodies. The other soldier pointed his gun at the corpses. “They’re dead. We don’t have to worry about them.”
“Maybe we’re like, inhaling the virus.” Anderson pulled at the collar of his shirt and put it over his nose.
“Don’t be an idiot. The LRS-10 virus isn’t airborne. It’s a bloodborne pathogen. Don’t you remember the news reports? The pamphlets are still all over the store. The virus can only be passed through the blood.”
“And through suh-lie-vuh,” Miles said under his breath, but the men still heard him.
“And scratches and bites,” Antonio added.
“That’s cuz there’s blood or saliva under the fingernails or in the teeth,” Miles added.
“Or like if you get stabbed wit like a knife wit infected blood on it,” Antonio remarked.
“It’s the blood and the saliva. It’s both.”
“I know that, Miles.”
“I wasn’t tellin’ you. I was tellin’ them. They don’t know. They don’t know.” Miles was shaking his head.
“Duh,” Antonio scoffed and threw his head back.
“What?” Anderson was confused.
Bandana was irritated. “Hey shut up huh. We know enough alright.”
“Y’all don’t even know you keep the bodies this close to you. Blood leakin’ out and shit, getting’ everywhere. Somebody step in it, don’t even realize it, walk around yo store wit it on they foot…”
Antonio went on, explaining an elaborate scenario about transferring the blood, while Anderson looked at the small burgundy spot pooling under the two bodies. The sheets were starting to turn the same color from sticking to the ravaged skin underneath. Anderson could smell the odor coming from it and it made him swallow back bile in his throat. The stench was pungent, like sour meat and vinegar.
Antonio was reaching the end of his story now. “Then somebody get it on they food or a open wound then boom, everybody’s infected!”
At the climax of the boy’s story, a bang against the door caused the two soldiers to jump, especially Anderson.
Bandana turned up his lip. “Well that ain’t gonna happen ok, you little shit. We’re gonna be able to stay here forever until somebody fixes that shit out there.” He looked to the door.
“Ryan… maybe we should do something about those bodies.” Anderson looked at the dead infected, then at the other soldier.
Ryan wiped at his bandana again. “Man we don’t gotta do shit. They tryna mess with our heads.”
Both the soldiers spun around, startled, as they heard boots coming from the doorway behind them. When Major Carver and Captain Baker both came out with Ben, Julia and the others, Anderson and Ryan visibly relaxed.
“Major Carver… should we do something about these bodies?” Anderson asked when the major made his way over.
Carver towered over the children sitting on the floor. He stopped in front of them, looked over his shoulder at the bodies under the sheet and then leered down at the boys. “I’m not sure what your plan is here or what you expect to achieve. But here we are, caught in a predicament where there’s too many unanswered questions. Who’s out there waiting for you to come back? Because someone taught you how to use those weapons and I doubt that you two are just living off the land by yourselves. And those weapons you have aren’t yours, so you got them from our people somehow. There’s just too much shit that makes all this difficult to swallow.
“Those freaks outside are here because of you. So, you should be the ones to get rid of them.” Carver sighed and shook his head.
“Strikers,” both brothers said in unison.
Carver just glared down at them. “But we’re not going to let you just have your way. We’re going to wait. We’ll wait to see if those infected outside leave on their own, and we’ll wait and see if you really do have someone waiting on you out there. Until then we’ll keep you locked up, which will give us time to find out how full of shit you really are.”
“That’s bullshit!” Antonio jumped to his feet and stood nose to chest with the major. “You not gon lock us up in that closet!”
Carver didn’t flinch at the boy’s erratic movements as Antonio flailed his arms when he spoke.
Miles jumped up next. “No!” He grabbed his brother and pulled him back.
“You’re right. We’re not going to lock you in the closet.” Ben stepped forward and the boys looked at him. “You can stay in the office. There’s a foldout couch. And while you’re here we can give you some food.”
Carver sucked at the back of his teeth before covering his mouth to cough. His apathy was enough to give Ben pause before he continued.
“We’re not keeping you prisoners. We just want you to stay long enough so that we can sort through all this.” Ben moved closer.
Antonio and Miles exchanged glances and then looked back at the major. Antonio scoffed and lowered his eyes.
“Ok. Ok.” Miles spoke for the both of them. “We’ll go with that. We can go with that.”
Ben smiled and Julia stepped forward next. “But if there’s anything that makes us regret keeping you here, anything at all like putting a knife to someone’s neck or actually having people waiting out there…we won’t hesitate to deal with it appropriately.”
“In other words, kill us. You can just say that, lady.” Antonio shook his head after he finished.
Julia’s eyebrow went up. “Fair enough.”
“Anderson, Bates, get rid of those bodies.” Carver ordered the two soldiers in the room to move and they