The Outbreak Monologue

“Be nice Jonah,” my father’s voice echoes through my mind, “After all, she is your sister.” Yeah, but an annoying one at that I thought. I look around our make-shift campsite and my eyes stop on her sleeping figure. I have to admit, she’s the bravest fourteen year old girl I have ever met. I haven’t seen her cry once. After the Outbreak spread, we’ve lost contact with our parents because of the chaos in the streets. We haven’t seen them in 7 months, when this all started. I fear the worst, but she’s optimistic. Tess, my sister says we’ll find them at the Superdome in Chicago. That’s where all the survivors go. I don’t know how many miles we’ve traveled, or if we’re even going in the right direction, but if I can keep my sister alive and out of harm's way until an antidote gets made, I’ll do it.
I’ve had to lie, steal, and kill to keep her safe.
I’m exhausted from traveling day and night; my seventeen year old body hurts every time I walk, but I must keep my sister safe because that was our parent’s last request to me.
When the Outbreak entered our city, bodies littered the streets and there was mass destruction everywhere. The CDC scientists released a new strain of vaccines that was supposed to cure many of the fatal diseases known to mankind, but something went wrong with their formula and it mutated into something worse. Scientists are calling this new infection Leishmaniasis, or the black virus. It gets transmitted through a bite from the infectious person or animal. It originated from Africa, which spread to Asia, Europe, and North America within a matter of weeks. Major disease control organizations tried to fight the virus, but failed. The government set up quarantine zones, so they could try to control the virus, but that just made it worse. When a person is bit, discoloration will show on the infected area. Clots will appear in a brownish-purple color. A fever will initiate. This will be accompanied by shakes, chills, vomiting, slight dementia, minor
hallucinations, and pain in the joints. Also, extremities like loss of muscular control, increased dementia, and major hallucinations. Paralysis of the infected area and lower body will occur along with numbing of the entire body. The heart rate will slow down and become weak. You will become unresponsive to all stimuli including severe pain. You will slowly slip into a coma. Your heart rate will slow, and then stop. There is now zero brain activity. You are clinically dead at this stage. You finally begin to turn. Minor brain activity near the brain stem occurs. You will begin to move but only slightly because your blood is no longer flowing. Because there is no blood flow you have no control over your tissue and it takes several hours to get to your feet. Within this last hour you will be fully transformed. You will crave human as well as any other flesh. You will be violent and have no care for former memories or past friends. With no cure yet, anyone who is bitten, will soon turn into a soulless corpse within a matter of days.
Just as my eyes start to flutter shut, a blood-curdling, animal sounding scream tears through the night. My eyes pop open, I leap up, and grab the only weapon I had on me: an aluminum baseball bat. I quickly shake Tess awake, and tell her we need to move now. She nods her head and jumps up. Another terrifying scream echoes through the night.
“Run!” I yell. “Move it!”