Level up Zombie

Lying there on the ground with a piece of paper in his hand, they all saw Zain suddenly hold his head and fall on the floor in the reception hall. If they didn’t know any better, they would have thought he was dead because his chest wasn’t moving up and down, as it should when one breathes.

“Holy sh*t! Is he okay?!” Dave shouted, ready to rush to Zain’s side. But before he or the others could reach him, both Pink and Kun stood in front of Zain, crossing their hands and stopping anybody from getting close to Zain.

“He’s okay, kinda,” Kun paused in between.

“Yeah, there’s no reason for you to worry. You see, Zain gets these headaches from time to time, and once in a while, he just passes out for a few hours.” Pink chuckled as if it was no big deal, but as she said these words, she realised just how strange they sounded.

It was clear to Brandon that both Pink and Kun were acting strange, this group certainly had secrets of their own, and it wasn’t just surrounding Zain but the two as well. They, too, were strange.

While everyone was concerned for Zain, Kun had shelled out a bed for him. It was one of those that would be used to transport patients from the ambulances to a hospital bed, and Zain was plopped on for the time being with ease.

This was no easy task for a single person to do, yet Kun was able to do such a thing. The others didn’t release this, but Brandon, who had done things like this in the past. He also noticed how easily they were moving the bodies before as well.

When Kun lifted Zain onto the bed, he noticed the piece of paper that was still in his hand. Grabbing it, he looked at what was written down, and he was quite impressed.

“Hey, I think you should all know what Zain was about to tell us all,” Kun said as he addressed the room. Starting out the piece of paper, Kun made sure that he would say everything clearly.

“The disease that Pink’s mum and suspected others at the base have is Tuberculosis. It’s a disease that can spread through the air. It’s not a common disease in this country, so people aren’t really vaccinated against it.

“It’s also relatively easy to treat as long as you have the right medicine. Zain has written down the medication that needs to be taken for each person that shows signs for the next six months. If we gather the medicine and isolate the two groups, I think everything will be alright.”

“Tuberculosis? I haven’t heard about that in a long time.” Kelly said. “I wonder how someone in the group was infected in the first place.”

It was something that Brandon wondered about as well, but the important thing was to make sure everyone was treated and to stop the spreading.

“Who knows,” Cody commented. “I mean, we have dead people walking around. All sorts of different diseases might start to pop up, even new ones. We should just be thankful that this can be solved with what we have, right?”

The rest nodded, and Brandon took over relatively quickly. Following the list, he told everyone to grab a bag and stock up on medicine. Not just the medicine for Tuberculosis but general medicine bags and disinfectants that could be helpful back at the museum.

It was quite easy for the group to find bags, as they were plentiful among the dead. While collecting the medicine, Kelly and Cody were together.

“It’s amazing, right? How did Zain know the disease and the right medicine to use? I’m sure he wasn’t a med student at uni.” Dave commented from the other side out loud.

“It really is,” Kelly mumbled as she went to grab something off the top shelf and squinted in pain, letting out a little noise.

“Are you okay? It would be best if you rest and let us deal with this. You went through so much.” Cody suggested.

“Thanks. I do feel sore all over and a bit light-headed.” Kelly replied as she went to leave the room, but before she did, Cody called out to her.

“Oh, and Kelly, when you’re feeling better and Zain wakes up, it might be good to thank him. It was because of him again that we could get to you.”

Kelly smiled at this.

“Sure, but it’s because of you that he even bothered to help, I bet.”

Outside the storage room, Brandon was sitting on one of the waiting area chairs, with his finger on his chin, thinking about the next step and what to do.

“Actually, I owe you my thanks as well,” Kelly said as she sat down next to him. “Although you said it was a failed rescue attempt, I’m sure that things would have gotten a lot worse without you being there next to me.”

“Yeah, but if I had kept my mouth shut, then maybe I would have been the one to have suffered from the injection,” Brandon replied.

“That’s not your fault. You know, I think you might have been hanging around the young ones too much, but you have to remember that I’m a teacher as well, even if it’s just a substitute teacher. The doctor is the one to blame for all of this, and the one to really get the blame for all of this should be whoever started this whole zombie mess.”

“Agreed, and sorry to ask you this, but I’m going to have to. Do you feel any different at all? Any changes that you noticed?” Brandon asked as he inspected her up and down to see if he could notice anything different himself.

If there was one thing, she looked better than he imagined for osmose, who had gone through all that. All the injuries on her body from before seemed to clean up quite well.

“No changes so far, apart from my body hurting all over, but that’s to be expected.”

There was silence between the two for a while until Brandon finally spoke again.

“I want to invite you and Cody back to the museum. You survived in the world this long, and you are both strong people. We need more strong people. Eventually, the two of you will need to join a group anyway, otherwise, something like today might happen again, and you might not be as fortunate next time.

“Besides, I’m sure you’re worried that whatever the doctor injected into you might do something. If it’s just you and Cody travelling together, there will be no one to stop you, but if you come to the base, I promise I will keep an eye on you.”

Honestly, Kelly was going to reject Brandon’s offer, but there were two things that he had mentioned that stood out to her. One, the events of today, which had taken a big toll, and two, protecting Cody.

If she really turned into a monster of some sort down the line, Cody, who had saved her, would be hurt.

“I’ll speak to the boy and try to convince him, but I would be happy to accept your request.”

After everyone gathered the needed things, it looked like they were ready to leave the hospital. Apart from one problem, Zain was still fast asleep.

“Look, I have a suggestion for you all. You all plan to come back here anyway, right?” Kun said. “Well, rather than wasting your time, head back. I’m sure that Ryan guy is worried about you all. Tell everyone the good news. Pink, you can go with your mother and come back here when you’re ready, while I will stay here looking after Zain.”

It felt somewhat wrong to leave the main saviour of the group, but time was of the essence as they needed to hurry back to base before sunset.

“Sorry for all the trouble, and I am grateful for your help. We all are. Tell Zain I will definitely meet him again.” Brandon said as the entire group got ready to leave and left the place to head back to the museum leaving Kun and Zain alone.

Looking at him lying in bed, Kun couldn’t help but think.

‘I wonder, what is happening to you right now?’

*****

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