Last Rites
by Steven Ormosi
Jacob stumbled out of his door, his eyes blurry from sleep. There was a commotion out in the street. What was she saying? Praise something Jesus? No, something else. Abe’s had a seizure? That was it.
Jacob shook the cobwebs out of his head. Abe was his neighbor, his confidant. A seizure? No, there must be some mistake. And yet there was Abe's wife, Julia, standing out on the walkway screaming for someone to help. Jacob jogged over.
“What’s going on?” He asked.
Julia was shaken, “Abe—he just started convulsing in his sleep, I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
Jacob put his finger to his lips, “Well shut up already, you want everybody to think he turned?” He was wide awake now, cerebral functions resuming normal capacity.
“I’m sorry Jake, I just didn’t know what to do,” Julia sputtered.
“Take me to him.”
Inside Abe wasn’t moving but his breathing seemed normal, and he continued to sleep, “What happened?” Jacob turned to Julia.
“I don’t know, he just started shaking, I didn’t know what to do.”
“Well we’ve got to bring him a doctor. Has he been in any contact with…you know?”
“Not that I know of, he was out on the outskirts scavenging the other day, but he didn’t mention anything and I didn’t see any bites.”
“Help me get his shirt off.”
Julia started unbuttoning his shirt, her eyes welled as she clumsily plucked at the buttons.
Jacob turned to comfort her, “Hey, I’m sure he’s going to be fine, but the faster we do this the faster we can get him some help.”
She quickened her pace.
With the shirt off, Jacob inspected Abe for bites; there were none that he could see. There was a scratch on his right arm, but it didn’t look infected. Probably just a little cut from poking around the wrecked cars around the perimeter where the debris still hadn’t been cleared.
Julia said, “See? Nothing. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Please go get the doctor.”
“And there’s nothing wrong under his pants either? You know what they’ll do to him if the doc finds something.”
“Nothing, I would know. Please just go.”
“Ok, keep him comfortable. If he wakes up, make sure he doesn’t move. And just keep a little distance, ok? Just in case.
“Here,” he handed her his gun, “Don’t let anyone come near him.”
“Ok, just go.”
Julia knew full well the reason for the gun. Jacob hoped she was smart enough to take his unspoken advice if circumstances went south.
Jacob didn’t like it. Abe was in his late twenties. He was as strong as an ox and got plenty of exercise every day. He didn’t have any health problems that Jacob knew of. Things like this looked bad to the docs. They would definitely quarantine him.
Jacob took a deep breath and knocked on the doc’s door. No answer. He knocked again, louder.
“Just a goddamn minute!” came the response from the other side.
“Emergency doc!”
The door opened and Doc Brown stood there crusty eyed and pissed off. Jacob knew how he felt.
“What? What’s the fucking emergency?”
“It’s Abraham doc, he’s had a seizure or something. Seemed ok when I left him, but something ain’t right. His wife was scared half to death.”
“Alright son, alright, let me get some pants on.”
Jacob waited.
On the walk over, Jacob apprised the doc of the situation. Random seizure, that was it, that was all he knew.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Probably just a freak occurrence.”
The words did nothing to soothe him. Jacob would only be happy when Abe was given a clean bill of health, he’d seen too much fucked up shit to ever be assuaged by a doctor’s words.
When they got there Julia was sitting in a corner, gun on the floor, just watching Abe sleep. She was still crying a little.
“So exactly what happened,” the doc asked.
“I don’t know, I was sleeping and he just started convulsing. Pushed me off the bed it was so violent.”
“Alright, look,” the doc said, keeping his distance from the bed, “I’m sure everything is fine, but we’re gonna strap him down as a precaution. This is for everyone’s safety.”
The doc put down his bag and pulled out a couple of lengths of rope. He handed one to Jacob, “Get his legs, I’ll get his arms and head.”
Jacob put the rope under the bed and over the top twice, then tied it down tight while the doc tied off the upper portion of his body. The doc pulled a piece of wood out of his bag and put it in Abe’s mouth, “Just in case he has another seizure,” he explained, “We don’t want him swallowing his tongue.”
The doc opened Abe’s eye and shone his flashlight in it. You had to have serious clout to have a flashlight these days. Doctors had clout in spades.
He checked Abe’s vitals, “His heart rate is a little higher than I’d like it to be,” he said quietly, almost to himself.
Abe’s eyes opened and the doctor nearly jumped out of his skin. He struggled a bit against the ropes. He mumbled something through the wood lodged in his mouth.
Jacob stepped forward to remove the hindrance, “What are you doing?” said the doctor.
Jacob ignored him and took the wood out of Abe’s mouth.
“What’s going on?” Abe demanded.
“You just had a little episode Abe. You had a seizure. Doc’s taking care of you now, just try to relax.”
“Shit. Shit. Really? Shit.”
“Yeah man, doc says it’s no big deal, you’ll be right as rain in no time.”
“No. No, I should’ve told someone sooner.”
“Shut the fuck up Abe, don’t say something stupid now, you just woke up. You have no idea what’s going on,” Jacob fixed him with his hardest glare, “Listen, the doc’s gonna take care of you and you’ll be back to bugging Julia in no time, just shut up and let him work.”
“No, Jake. I hoped it wouldn't be a problem, but I cut myself on the outskirts the other day.”
“I saw it Abe, just a little cut, no worries, doesn’t even look too bad.”
“There was blood on the car door Jake, fucking blood,” it was plain to see Abe was panicking. Tears started to well up in his eyes.
The doctor was on his way out the door already, “We’ve got to get him quarantined. I can’t even get close to him if there’s a chance he could be infected. I’ll be back when I can get a quarantine crew.”
Jacob grabbed him, “Doc are you serious? The guy just woke up, he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.”
The doctor shook him off, “Standard protocol…for everyone’s safety…really, I’m sure he’ll be fine,” and he stumbled out.
"Let him go, Jake. I want to talk to you and Julia alone anyway," Abe said with a deliberately even voice, tears streaming down his face.
“Fuck Abe, why’d you have to spout all that crazy shit? You know you’re gonna spend two weeks in the pen now. Jesus, how stupid can you be?”
“I got it Jake, I got it. I can feel it, there’s something not right with me.”
“No,” Julia said quietly, Jacob had almost forgotten she was there, “Oh no. Nononono,” she sobbed, her volume rising, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Julia, I’m so sorry. I thought I’d be fine. I thought it was someone from… blood off someone from another scouting party.”
“How could you do this to me?”
“Hey!” Jacob fairly shouted, “No one did anything to anyone, he’s going to be fine. Let’s just wait for the doc to come back before we start jumping to any stupid conclusions.”
“Jake, I want you to know that you’ve been a good friend. Look after Julia when I’m gone.”
“Stop talking like an asshole.”
“Jake give us a minute? I have to talk to my wife.”
Jacob sighed, then nodded and made for the door. Julia stood, picked up the gun and walked closer to her husband.
In the other room, Jacob could hear the soft voices from inside. The hushed whispers. The I love yous. He knew that Abe was saying his last goodbyes. He couldn’t wrap his head around it.
After all everyone had lost, he had been so fucking careless as to get infected from a rusty hunk of metal? He thought Abe was smarter than that, better.
And then Julia came out of the room, her eyes dead, her face hardened. She handed the gun to Jacob and sat down in the middle of the floor. “He wants to talk to you,” was all she said. She put her head in between her knees and began rocking back and forth.
Jacob’s mind raced, was this what life came down to? A last chat with a buddy and then it’s over? He took the gun, took a long look at Julia, and walked into the bedroom silently.
“I don’t have much time now,” Abe said as Jacob walked in, “I can feel it Jake. It’s taking over, it’s getting harder to think, to talk.”
“How’d this happen?” was all that Jacob could muster.
“I don’t know, I got careless and scraped my arm against an open car door. That’s it. I don’t know, man, I really don’t. Seems pretty fucking stupid, huh?”
“Yeah it does.”
“Look, Jake, you’ve been a good friend. I’ve told you a lot of things in confidence. Don’t tell my wife, don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t tell anyone anything.”
“Jake, you gotta end me. And you gotta do it now…rrrr. I don’t want to become a science experiment for those assholes in city hall. They keep people like me alive. They'd dissect me. I just want peace,” Abe’s body bucked against the ropes, they held fast, “...They do tests on them, Jake. I don’t want to put my wife…ahh…through that. You gotta do it now. Right in the head, make sure it’s done. Our one last pact,” Abe’s face contorted in pain.
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“You can do it…and you have to. Mmm…please. At least you know, your secrets are safe with me. ”
“I always knew that. That’s why I told them to you.”
“DO IT. Fucking do it!” He started to shake again.
Jacob watched, passive, uncomprehending, as Abe changed. It was a subtle change, but there it was. The ropes grew taut against his arms and legs as he struggled and he looked at Jacob. His eyes grew dead, empty. All Jacob could see was the hunger. That wasn't Abe anymore.
Jacob made the sign of the cross. He brought up the gun and put a bullet into Abe’s skull.
Only then did he hear sobs from outside the door.
When the doctor came back he brought two men with him. Jacob explained how Abe had been on the verge of breaking free of his ropes and the only option was to shoot him. The men looked disappointed. They took the body anyway despite Jacob’s refusals and Julia’s wailing and threats.
