The Peeling: Book 1 (Jeremy's Choice) (5 page)

It
looked as though Kara wanted to speak but was unable to.  Instead she
nodded solemnly and reached a hand up to her long, brown hair.  She
scooped it away from her neck and exposed the skin.  Beneath her right ear
was a blistering patch of skin.

Jeremy
bit at his bottom lip and almost drew blood.  “How long?”

“I
noticed this morning.  I came straight here to wait for you.  I was hoping
you’d know how to help me, that you would have gotten answers at the news
station.”

“How
did you even get here?  The military have the roads blocked up.”

“I
walked.  I kept away from the main roads.”

“You
walked four miles through that hell out there?”

“It
was better than being alone.  I thought if I came here, you’d look after
me.”

“I
will,” Jeremy said.  “Of course I will.”

“You’ve
changed your tune.”

Jeremy
huffed.  It suddenly felt like he hadn’t slept in weeks.  “I care
about you, Kara.  You’re Carol’s sister.”

“
Carol’s
sister. 
Is that all I am to you now?  A fucking obligation?”

Jeremy
sat back down on the sofa and rubbed at his face.  “Kara, if you want me
to look after you, I will, but that’s all.  I’m not going to argue with
you, not now.”

“You
mean
now that I’m dying
?”

Jeremy
wasn’t going to lie, so he nodded.

“There’s
really not going to be a cure?” she asked.

“No. 
No, I don’t think so.  The Government haven’t even worked out how it
spreads, let alone how to beat it.”

Kara
slumped down on the sofa beside him and seemed defeated, all the energy gone
from her voice.  “How did I get it?  When you came over last week and
warned me that people were getting sick, I stayed away, kept indoors.  I
never went near anyone infected, but I still got it.  How does that make
sense?”

“I
don’t know.  It doesn’t.  Truth is nobody really knows anything about
the peeling – where it came from or how it works.”

“But
it’s bad, isn’t it?  I mean, really really bad.”

Jeremy
nodded.  “At the rate it’s going, half the world is going to die. 
Half the people get it while the other half don’t.”

“Guess
you’re one of the lucky ones.”

Jeremy
laughed, but didn’t find anything funny.  “Doesn’t feel that way.”

Kara
pulled her legs onto the sofa and laid herself across his lap.  He let
her.  Together they watched the television in silence, trying to clear
their minds of horror.  Ironically, Never Stop News was on.  Sarah
and Tom were continuing to give the news with as much pluck as they could
muster, but Jeremy could tell the toll was becoming too much for them. 
Sarah’s face was pasty, and wiry strands of hair clumped against her damp
forehead.

“They
look as lost as everyone else is,” Kara said.

Jeremy
stroked her hair and was shocked by the heat coming off her head.  “That’s
because they are.  They’re as frightened and as lost as we are. 
They’re just trying to help by making us think that things are still normal. 
They’re brave.  The news makes people feel like there’s still someone in
charge.”

“And
is there?”

“I
guess so.  The military are everywhere, ever since that General took over
after Lloyd Collins.

“Jerry?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m
scared.”

“I
know you are.”

***

Six hours later and The Peeling
had taken all of the skin from Kara’s neck; so much that her windpipe was now
exposed.  Jeremy wasn’t repulsed, though.  The sight of rotting flesh
had become commonplace.

On the
television, Sarah and Tom were still reporting about the disease.  They
would both have usually left the station by now and Jeremy was confused to see
them still on air.  By the weary looks on their faces, Jeremy had a grim
feeling that, behind the cameras, the military had become the directors. 
Their promises of staying out of the station had obviously been overridden as
things continued to deteriorate.

“While
we are yet to receive full confirmation, rumours have begun to circulate that
researchers at the National Institute for Medical Research in London have made
a breakthrough concerning the transmission method of the virus.  We are
persistent in our attempts to get more information on this matter, so please
bear with us.”

“What
difference doessss it make?”  Kara’s voice had taken on a serpentine hiss
as her throat rotted away.  “Unlessssss it’sssss a cure, it’sssss no good
to anyone.”

Jeremy
sucked in a breath and listened to it whistle between his teeth.  His
stomach felt empty and nauseous.  While Kara was correct in her pessimism,
it was still welcome news to hear that someone had possibly discovered
something about the nature of The Peeling.  Knowledge made the virus seem
more natural and less like the flesh-consuming monster that it currently
was.  If people knew how it was passed on then the fight to contain it
could finally begin.  Not that Jeremy would have anything left in his life
to fight
for
, even if mankind succeeded in destroying the beast.

“How
do you feel?” he asked Kara.

She
tried to laugh, but her tattered vocal chords seemed to lack the ability
now.  “I feel like my head’s going to fall off into my lap any minute. 
My neck feels numb, like it’s not even there anymore.”

Jeremy
was about to tell her he was sorry, but then decided it would be a pointless
gesture.  Apologies would provide her no solace.  Besides, she seemed
to be getting more angry than brooding.

“This
is probably what I deserve, you know?”

“What
do you mean?”

“I
mean, I’ve been fucking my sister’s husband – among my many other sins – and
this is probably my punishment.”

Jeremy
shook his head.  “She forgives us.”

“What? 
She knows?”

“Yes. 
She told me earlier.  She loves us both and forgives us.”

Kara
hitched forward and tears were instant in their arrival.  As they fell
down her face, they gathered flakes of skin and a film of blood from her
cheeks; so fragile was her flesh.  “I’ll go to hell for what I’ve
done.  Carol can forgive – she’s a better person than us – but I doubt God
will be so compassionate.”

“Don’t
talk nonsense, Kara.  We all do things we regret.  Carol isn’t
holding it against you, so you shouldn’t hold it against yourself, either.”

“Fuck
you!”  The outburst was sudden and vicious.  “You’re the one that
should be melting away, not my sister.  You’re the one that’s spent your
whole marriage fucking around.  What did you ever do for her? 
Nothing!  Yet she’s the one dying while you’re perfectly fine.”

Jeremy
sighed and tried to keep his focus on the television.  He had a feeling
that she would strike at him if he made eye contact.  “If I could take her
place, I would.”

“You’re
a liar.  They have a cure at that news station.  Look at them.
 They’re fine, just like you.”

Jeremy
looked at Sarah’s tired face on the screen and shook his head.  “Actually,
one of the reporters has the disease.  She showed me earlier.”

“Bullshit!” 
Kara sprung up from the couch.  You have a cure, but you won’t share
it.  With me and Carol out of the way, you can carry on screwing
around.  Probably already got a new fancy-woman.”

Jeremy
stood up and backed away.  He could sense violence coming off of Kara and
he wasn’t interested in stoking that particular fire.  Nonetheless, she
came at him, withered fingers outstretched like talons.

He
stepped aside and shoved out, sending her sprawling back onto the couch. 
As she fell, her legs shot forward and upended the coffee table. 
Immediately her ankle began to bleed.  She clutched at it and sobbed.

“I’m
fucking melting!” she screamed.  “What did I do to deserve this?  I’m
not a bad woman, not really.  I don’t deserve this.  I don’t.  I
don’t.”

Jeremy
left while she was distracted.  A madness seemed to have overtaken her and
his presence seemed to make it worse.  He felt endangered; an enemy inside
his own home.  He wanted to see Carol.  He wanted to be with his
wife.

At the
top of the stairs, the noise of the television faded away and Jeremy was again
met with the eerie silence of the landing.  There was every chance that
Carol was already dead; part of him wanted that peace for her.  If she had
passed on then he would just sit with her awhile and hope that, somewhere,
someplace, she was still with him.  But when he opened the door, he saw
that the mercy of death had not yet visited his wife.

Carol
lay on the bed, looking more like a puddle than a human being.  Her skin
clung to her now only in patches and in many places her bones were showing clearly. 
But her eyes…her eyes were still flawless.  Beautiful.

He sat
down on the bed and went to touch her, but then realised there was nowhere he
could do so without causing her pain.  “I love you, Carol.  I wanted
to tell you that one more time.”

It was
an obvious effort for Carol to form words, but she seemed eager to do so all
the same.  “I…love…you…too.”

“I
wish I had more time with you.  I wish there was time to make it all
okay.  I’m going to miss you every minute till the time I join you. 
I just hope that when I get there, you’ll be waiting for me.  If not,
though…I’d understand.”

Carol’s
eyes flickered as if fighting away sleep – or death.  Jeremy wasn’t sure
if she’d heard the words he’d just spoken, but he hoped so.  Eventually
she came back to him and managed to speak again.  “Please, Jerry…please…”

“What,
sweetheart?  What do you want?”  But she didn’t need to answer. 
He knew what she was asking for. 
Release.
  He nodded, felt tears well
up behind his eyes.  “Okay,” he finally said.

Jeremy
leant forward and kissed his wife’s forehead.  His lips came away moist
and sticky, but he did not care.  Trying to be as gentle as possible, he
pulled loose one of the pillows beneath his wife’s head.  Her eyes stared
at him intently and he knew that if she could, she would have been
smiling.  By doing what he was about to do, Jeremy could show his wife the
kindness in death that he could not give her in life.

Jeremy
put the pillow to his wife’s face and pressed down.  It took only a minute
for her to die.

***

Jeremy sat with Carol for
almost a full hour before he left her.  He knew that once he exited the
bedroom, she would truly be gone forever.  Part of him had also been
curious to see whether her body would continue to rot away after death. 
It had not.  If he’d obeyed her requests earlier then her body would have
been more intact as it was lying here now.  It was just one more regret to
add to his list.

Downstairs,
Kara had gone missing.  The television was still switched on and, if he
wasn’t mistaken, the volume had been increased.  Sarah and Tom were still
reporting and there was an urgency about them now that he’d never seen
before.  He looked around the living room, but found only shadows.

“It
has now been categorically proven,” Sarah said on the television, “that the
virus is passed on through carriers.  While only fifty-percent of those
exposed to the infection become symptomatic, it has been discovered that the
other fifty-percent are not immune as originally thought.  The seemingly
unaffected are in fact passing on the virus by becoming highly-infectious
carriers.  While half of the population is dying, it is the other half
that is infecting them.  It is for this reason that a nationwide
quarantine is now in effect.  Healthy or infected – all will be restrained
if found outside their homes at any times.  Lethal force will be used if
necessary.  Through isolation, it is hoped that the infection will reach a
saturation point and that none-symptomatic sufferers will remain healthy. 
There is still hope for us, Great Britain, but we must stay calm, and we must
stay indoors.  Never Stop News
is now the official channel for the
British Government alongside the BBC, so please leave your television on at all
times for further updates.  We will be interspersing our regular newsfeed
with episodes of
Friends,
The Simpsons,
and
Only Fools and
Horses
, so sit back and enjoy as that’s coming up next.”

“You
did this.”

Jeremy
turned his head away from the television and saw Kara moving out from one of
the room’s shadowy corners.  Her face had peeled away from her skull and
her snarling mouth made her look like a vengeful demon.

“I did
what?”  Jeremy asked her.

“You
infected Carol and you infected me.  You are the one that should be dead.”

“You
don’t know that I have it.  You don’t know anything.”

“Yes,
I do.  I haven’t been around anyone since the whole thing started – no
one, except for you.”

Jeremy
thought about earlier in the week when he’d popped round to see Kara at her
home – popped round for his weekly shag.  “I’m sorry,” he said, worrying
that she could be right; that he could be responsible for his wife’s death, and
others.