TWO; coca cola

The cold seemed to creep under Rosita's jacket. Goosebumps formed along her arms.

Her muscles ached from sitting on the hard metal seat for nearly an hour. But the darkness seemed sooth her. It allowed her to concentrate.

She didn't dare say a word to Michael, or the two people in the passenger seat; one of them being the nurse.

She felt the vehicle stop under her feet, and heard the two of them get out the van. The door slid open, allowing light to rush into the space.

The short nurse stood next to the open door with a policeman, pressing her lips pressed together tightly.

They both got out and followed the nurse and the officer through the car park towards a large warehouse.

Michael was the first to say anything.

"What is this place?"

The nurse did not answer Michael's question.

A large, red and white Coca•Cola sign was plastered along the side of the building.

Now she knew exactly where they had taken her. The cola factory on the edge of town had closed down two years ago; before her father had passed away.

"There's no need to worry. If you truly are sick, there are several doctors here to treat you." The nurse assured them, her tone was sweet and stern.

Her words did not convince Rosita. She had heard on the news; there is no known cure for the virus. It left no survivors.

"And what if we aren't sick?" She challenged the nurse.

The nurse didn't look up at her.

"We'll decide whether or not you're safe enough to leave the compound." She told her sternly.

___________

The old factory smelt rotten. Rosita had to cover her nose to block the stench. There were no windows, only lights that lined the high ceiling.

Inside were thousands of people, separated by chain link that acted as transparent walls. Some looked sickly pale, and others looked perfectly healthy.

The smell of vomit and urine made her feel sick, as they walked down a narrow, sectioned off pathway through the quarantine.

Surely this is illegal, she thought to herself; but she doubted it, remembering that they were driven there by a cop.

The nurse, who Rosita found out was called Michelle, unlocked one of the chain link doors for them to go in.

"There's pillows, blankets and chairs. Meals are twice a day." Michelle told them, shutting the door, turning the key, and leaving.

A woman sat in the corner of their cell, pale as a ghost. She had dark rings around her sunken, bloodshot eyes. Her dark brown hair sat wildly around her head. She leaned her chin on her knees and shivered.

"Are you sick?" Asked a man, probably not much older than Rosita; though it was hard to tell.

Apart from the rings that circled his large round eyes from sleep deprivation, he looked well. He didn't not look faint, or pale, or fatigued, or sweaty. Not even the slightest.

He was tall and thin with short curly black hair, and stubble.

"No, are you?" Michael replied, while Rosita just shook her head.

"Nope. Just in the wrong place, wrong time... and now I'm here." He exclaimed.

"Do you know what this place is?" Michael found himself asking, again.

"Prison for the innocent." He answered. "I'm Campbell, she's Wendy," he introduced the girl crouched in the corner.

Rosita asked quietly, "is she alright?"

"Wendy doesn't talk much. She's seen a lot before she came here... and God knows how long she's been trapped here. Weeks before I got here." He exclaimed.

Wendy didn't seem to hear, she didn't even look up. Her arms shivered, and her lips moved, as if she was whispering something.

How did you get here?" Rosita asked, partly because she was curious, and partly because she needed to know that her and Michael weren't the only ones.

"My whole street was infected, most of them died. The rest of us ended up here... I didn't get any names?"

"Oh, I'm Michael, and this is my sister, Rosita."

___________

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking with Campbell, since that seemed to distract them from their current situation.

Dinner was a small bowl of puréed vegetables. It was an orange-brown goop, so mashed that she couldn't pick what vegetables were actually in it. She hated it.

"You hate it now... but after two, three days; it'll be the best thing you've ever tasted." Campbell had told her, and he was right.

The only time Wendy got up, was to get a pillow and a sleeping bag for bed. And trying to sleep was the worst part.

Every bright light in the warehouse had been turned out, except for one at the very end. Rosita straightened out her sleeping bag, and shuffled into it, still in her normal clothes. The pillow was thin, and her bones pressed on the concrete floor.

When she closed her eyes, she saw Danielle, creeping through the hallway to bite and scratch at her skin; so she decided it was best not to sleep.

"Did you see it too?" A small voice asked.

Rosita turned her head on her pillow, to see Wendy, still crouched in the corner with a blanket over her legs and a pillow against her head and neck.

"See what?"

"The monsters." Wendy whispered.

"Yes... I did." she sighed, quietly.

___________

When she opened her eyes, the room was still dark, to her disappointment.

Wendy, Campbell and Michael were all fast asleep; like most people in the factory.

Her muscles and bones ached, from lying on the hard floor for hours. She turned over onto her other side for comfort.

Michael lay next to her in his sleeping bag, and Campbell in the corner opposite Wendy.

Something hard pressed painfully between the ground and her hip. She sat up to see what was there. Nothing.

She felt her hip, something was in the pocket of her jacket. She unzipped it, and found a small flip phone. Our ticket out of here.

The fluorescent screen flashed immediately after she opened it, causing her to squint her eyes, since they were not accustomed to such light. She covered the light with her sleeping bag, so she didn't draw any attention.

2:17am, Monday. 43%battery.
Rosita had a plan. She knew exactly who to call, and by morning, she would wake up in her own bed, in her own home.

"Michael." She shook him awake.

"Yeah-"

"Shh" she put her finger to her mouth and showed him the phone.

He blinked, adjusting from his slumber.

"I left it in my pocket by accident." She whispered so quietly that words barely came out her mouth. "We'll leave this place together. I just need Daniel's phone number. You remember it don't you?"

"Um... yeah." He took the phone from her and began dialling their brother's number. "You talk to him." Michael said, handing it back to her.

"Hello? Who is this?" He answered on the other side, after a while of ringing.

"It's Rosita. Michael and I are at the quarantine." She told him.

"No... are you infected?"

"We're fine" she assured.

"If you stay in that place any longer you won't be. I'm comin' get you both."

_