Chapter 3: Reality Check

Iñaki and Valentina find themselves eating on the couch. Reports of human rabies cases continue to appear, as do reports of overflowing hospitals and security forces parading through the streets. In New York, they are no longer accepting patients in their hospitals, and in the Netherlands, they have already declared a curfew.

Germany, like France and Canada, closed its borders, and, ironically, Italy mobilized much of its army to its border with Switzerland...more security forces to the north (border with Europe) than to the south (an area continually plagued by terrorism and African immigration).

<<Is the war coming?- Iñaki asks himself as he watches the soldiers- Is the world divided again?>>

"I'm scared," Valentina says as if she could read Iñaki's thoughts.

Looking at her, Iñaki checks that the food on her plate is almost intact. He brushes a strand of hair from her forehead and is about to give her a few words of encouragement when someone knocks on the door.

TOC. Iñaki looks at the door as a foreign object. Valentina looks in the direction of the sound and then looks for an explanation in Iñaki's pupils. Willing to find it, Iñaki stands up and walks to the entrance.

Iñaki looks through the peephole of the door. The lens shows only the shaded silhouette of the neighbor's door. BOOM another hit. Whoever's out there must be glued to the door, under the peephole. Iñaki turns around and goes to find his phone to notify the police.

CLAC. The light switch resonates in the hallway. Iñaki looks at Valentina confused; she looks through the peephole and turns instantly.

"It's Jose," she says, mentioning the old man who lives on the same floor.

"Ask him what..." Iñaki begins to say but his words are lost behind the sound of the lock... Valentina opens the door.

"José?"

"Close the door!"

Jose detects her presence and his arm gets between the door and the frame by grabbing Valentina's wrist.

Adrenaline runs through Iñaki's veins and he decides to kick the area between the old man's kneecap and tibia.

The door opens. The old man buries his face in Valentina's forearm.

Iñaki's foot strikes a second later with José's leg which bends with a pop and drags the man to the ground.

Amidst the screams of Iñaki and Valentina, one of the two closes the door leaving the old man on the other side.

"Are you OK?" Iñaki asks as he listens to José rejoining in the corridor.

"I don't know."

"Sit down. I'll call the police."

After a whole minute, Iñaki is still glued to the phone waiting. Valentina is sitting on the couch, her right hand holding her left forearm with her gaze in infinity.

Finally someone answers and without wasting time Iñaki asks them to send an ambulance. The operator informs him that two agents are reporting shortly but that they will not be able to send an ambulance. The entire medical staff was summoned to the different hospitals in the community.<< It is most convenient for you to take your partner to the nearest hospital >>, says the woman.

Jose wants to enter...boom.

Iñaki ignores the sound, sits next to Valentina, and hugs her. Her eyes are still fixed on nothing.

"Police!" Iñaki hears the muffled scream through the door.

The blows give way to an animal roar that freezes his blood.

"Stop where you are!"

A dry sound explodes in the hallway. The steps persist. Another explosion. More Steps Third shot...Something hits the ground.

Three rhythmic knocks on the door are then accompanied by the authoritarian voice of a man,

"It's the police."

"See?" Iñaki tells Valentina. "We are already safe."

Iñaki goes to the entrance and as he opens the door he meets a young man with a thick physique and a solemn expression. Behind him, another policeman squats and examines José's body, which is now lying next to the elevator door.

"The situation is under control. Please stay at home."

"My wife," says Iñaki even though he and Valentina are not married, "She was attacked by…the man bit her…she has a wound on her arm. I need to get her to a hospital."

"Gentleman, that's the last thing you should do. Hospitals seem to be spreading the disease rather than curing it. We hear that even hospital workers are succumbing to the virus; if you can call it that."

"But a doctor has to see her," Iñaki steps forward, "she could be infected too."

"Gentleman, believe me, the best thing for your partner is that you stay at home. For starters, there are no ambulances available at this time that can transfer her to a healthcare facility. Besides, I tell you no one, and believe me when I tell you no one, has left a hospital after being admitted with a case of rabies."

"But, there must be something that..."

"I'm sorry, sir. Stay at home, disinfect the wound and if you consider it necessary, give medication to calm the pain." He concludes and looks away from his partner. "Go back to your house, please."

Iñaki closes the door and returns to the living room. His shoulders sink into his chest; physical fatigue spreads to the mental and his spirit descend in free fall.

"Valentina?" unanswered question.

Iñaki drags his feet to the bathroom in search of the first aid kit.

"I'm fine now," Valentina's words surprise him as he grabs the alcohol and gauze.

"Right now we heal that wound."

Iñaki sits next to her on the couch. He puts Valentina's hand on his leg and checks the wound. Checks that the area near the wrist began to swell and that it will be necessary to stitch the wound. In a split second the mind of iñaki projects an image of Black sweatshirt with his hand swollen and blackened. He applies a damp cloth with alcohol on the wound and gently presses the cloth against Valentina's arm, causing her to wake up completely.

"Be careful."

"It's going to be necessary to sew up the wound," he says, observing how the skin around the wound begins to darken.

"Go ahead."

Iñaki grabs thread and a needle from the medicine cabinet and sits next to her again.

The needle pierces the skin which has turned the color of the oil. << Black sweatshirt...bite...inflammation... skin discoloration...INFECTION >>

The needle pierces the wound again and the thread binds it together in a vain attempt to heal her. Valentina keeps her eyes closed, while Iñaki cannot hold back his tears.

Valentina opens her eyes and suddenly meets Iñaki's face.

"What is it?" Valentina asks with beautiful naivety.

Iñaki does not respond and just continues to sew.

"What is it?" She insists.

"You are infected," Iñaki replies, suppressing the wave of emotions that rises through his chest.

"What?"

"The subway man and José had wounds like yours."

"It can't be..." Valentina replies, observing the bite.

Thread and needle fall to the ground at the same time that Iñaki's arms surround Valentina. Tears, just tears.

"I love you."

Iñaki's body trembles next to his girlfriend's while outside the world dies without anyone to rescue it.

"Are you sure?" Valentina asks intuiting the answer.

Iñaki only manages to nod.

"How long?"

"I don't know...my love."

Valentina joins her lips to his and stays there for a long time.

Then she stands up and tells Iñaki that she would like to make a call to her family. After a few minutes, Valentina returns with tears in her eyes.

"I don't want you to share my fate, Iñaki. I want you to live on, my love."

There are no words in Iñaki's throat. Valentina turns her back on him and watches as she raises her arm. Immediately Iñaki hears a gurgle and the tinkling of a knife on the ground. Valentina's body slumps to the ground with her throat open.

"Valentina!" Iñaki shouts trying to stop the bleeding without success and seeing life disappear from her eyes.

A few hours later...