Free Great Bitten: Outbreak by Warren Fielding

Weren’t the news reports saying the virus was in the bodily fluid of the victims? Did I have any open cuts on my hands? Had I swallowed any of it as I dealt my blows?
    Carla was sobbing behind me, probably in shock too. Rick had somehow heaved himself from underneath the corpse that had fallen on him, and was trying to comfort her as best he could. I felt the grateful pain of the sharp scour dig in to my skin and envisioned the tiny particles of viral matter being scraped off the surface, draining harmlessly down the sink and… and where? In to the mains system, to be apathetically filtered and put back in to circulation? How many other people had done this?
    I staggered back from the running tap as if it was spouting lava. I looked wildly at my sister. “Have you had any water today?”
    She looked at me as if I were a clown. “Water? What? Of course I’ve had water Warren. Want something a bit fucking stronger than that now though.”
    “When? When did you have it? How much?”
    “I… I can’t remember. I just had some filtered water from the fridge. Why?”
    I sagged with relief and eyeballed the same question at Rick. He shook his head to indicate he hadn’t had any water at all. “Look at what I’ve just done. If that’s a common reaction - if what’s happening is in the blood, and I’ve gone straight to the sink to wash it off, that infected blood is going right back in to the mains. We don’t know how many people have done that in the last day. Hell, some of those things could have even died in the water supply. We’ve got to keep away from mains water from now on. We don’t drink anything from taps.”
    “That’s ridiculous Warren. How long would the water take to circulate around the system? Weeks? And it gets filtered first. We need that water supply to survive.”
    “We’ll take the water you bought from the supermarket, and we’re getting out of here. It’s not safe, not if they’ve already made it to people’s houses.”
    “Alan’s dead because he was trying to get out of here. Have you seen him, Warren? Did you see what that thing had done to him? I’m not going out there! I’m boarding up the bloody door, putting a hole in the stairs and hiding up here until the government clears this place out!”
    That statement caught me blindsided. Old Ass had been caught making a run for it. His remaining and precious gun didn’t help him after all.
    “Ok calm down love, we’re all alright, Warren wasn’t hurt, you weren’t hurt. We can’t help Alan. There’s people dying all over the country and I hate to say it but he’s just a number now.” I became sorely aware of my solitude when Rick snaked a comforting arm around Carla’s shaking shoulders. “Let’s get him moved outside, away from the house, then we’ll board up and get safe upstairs. We’ll keep rationed and rational, and make sure we know what’s happening everywhere else, and especially keep an eye out for when someone is going to come and scoop us out of this shithole.”
    Rick placed a kiss on her forehead and she leant in to him slightly, feeling his warmth and seeking comfort in his presence. With no one to focus on but myself, and embarrassed to witness their own tender moment, I became aware of myself for the first time in hours. I felt the stinging path of the scouring pad raw on my skin and setting on fire the heat of the chemicals on my sodden arm; the ragged beating of my heart; my body seeking to balance itself against the unexpected energy it had just needed to expend to ensure its temporary survival. My head thumped dully and my outer limbs were cold, goose bumps standing up on my exposed flesh as the fear refused to be quelled. The back of my eyes pulsed in a sure sign of fatigue and my legs felt heavy, unused to rigorous exercise and now protesting severely at the strain they’d been put under for the last 24 hours. I was about to suggest to them we took turns at taking some rest as the others finished