Day 32

I wake up in a bright room. The walls are white and tiled. They match the floor. There is a hospital bed, sink, toilet, and a tray with a glass of water and a cup with a pill in it. My clothes have been changed and I am in a hospital gown and pants. There is a single white door with a small window at the top. I move my legs off of the bed and stand. Immediately my knees give out and I collapse.

"Take the pill." a voice sounds over a speaker. I look at it, grab the cup and throw it at the door.

"Where are my boys!" I demand, but there is no response. "Where the hell is my family! I want to see my family!" They do not respond and so I grab the tray and throw it as hard as I can at the window on the door. Nothing happens, and the momentum from the throw causes me to fall off of the bed.

"Let me out!" I yell again. "Let me out! We just wanted to get to Utah!" There is a click and the door opens. A guard comes in, a gas mask on his face and  he is covered head to toe in what looks like a white bio-suit. There is a gun in his hands. Another man comes in in the same garb, but instead of gun, he holds a syringe.

"Hello." He says through the mask. "What is your name?"

I don't say anything, but rather look at the man with the gun. I can see his eyes through the mask and stare at them.

"Please," the man with the syringe says again, "we are here to help you."

"Help me? By kidnapping me and my wife and kids. By taking  my family? How the hell do you think you are helping me?" I look at his name tag. It says Dr. Grant. "Listen, Doctor Grant, I don't know why you have me here, but I need to find my family. And so unless you're planning on releasing me now I am not going to cooperate."

"Oh, you will cooperate, but first we need to make sure you are not infected." He nods to the man that laid me down and he walks over, grabs my shoulders and pushes me down on the bed. The other sticks the needle into my arm quickly and within three seconds I am out.

* * *

I wake up again and it feels like the same day. I think I've been out for a few hours, at least that is what my body feels like. I ache. There is an IV in me and I rip it out, ignoring the sting from doing so. I try to stand again and this time find that I can put weight on my legs. I make my way over to the door and try to look out of the window. There is a hall, while like this room and it stretches both ways.

"Hey!" I yell, trying to get someones attention. "Where is my family! Where are my kids! What have you done to them!" There is no answer and no body comes to the door. I continue screaming, throwing what little I can in the room. I want to kill someone. For the first time in my life any moral sense is left behind and I want to break out and kill someone for taking my kids from me. Images of them doing experiments on them fly through my head. Of them locked in rooms similar to mine. Alone, without their Mommy or Dad. I start to cry as I think these things and sit on the bed wiping the tears away.

The door opens again. They are not in bio-suits, but the guard in all black, still holding his rifle, ready to shoot me if needs be. Doctor Grant is wearing a lab coat and has a clip board.


"Sleep well?" he says. I do not respond. "Well. Turns out that you are not infected. None of you are." At least I know they're alive. I'm not sure why I'd think differently, but I can tell I'm not thinking straight. "However, we are still curious how it is that you are not infected."

"Just got lucky, I guess," I say, knowing they would never buy that.

"Got lucky is an understatement. You've been bit. Twice in the same spot if I'm not mistaken. And so I ask you again, how are you not infected."

"I don't know," and truth be told, I don't know. I have only been guessing.

"It looks like you and your brothers are immune to this infection. And in turn, your children could very well be immune."

"If you so much as touch my children . . ." I am standing up, moving towards this man when I am hit hard on the head with the but of the guards rifle. I stagger back to the bed and lean back on it. It is hard to see.

"We'll see you again tomorrow," he says and they start to walk out. Getting all of the strength I have I stand and move towards the open door and get my hand in before it closes. I can feel at least two of my fingers break, and the two that I had suspected broken before  snapped. I scream out in pain but do not move my hand. I scramble to the door and feel another sharp pain as the guard maliciously slams the door again.

"Please!" I yell, "Let me see me wife! Let me see my kids." I feel hands on my arms and I am lifted. I am screaming but they are restraining me, putting straps over my body after laying me on the bed. I see Doctor Grant and he pulls out a syringe. Like I said, I'll see you tomorrow."