Point Of Profusion: A Post-Apocalyptic Epidemic Survival (The Morgan Strain Series Book 5)

by Max Lockwood

Will stood up from his chair and stretched his arms out with a groan. Wordlessly, he started walking toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Alec asked.

  “Oh, I wasn’t planning on staying here,” he said, as if he were surprised by their confusion. “No, I was just in the area and thought I should warn you—if you were still alive, of course. I’m glad to see that you are.”

  Melissa snorted, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “But now that I know you’re all safe and sound, it’s time for me to go. I did exactly what I came here for. Good luck to you all. Perhaps I’ll see you again.”

  With that, he was gone, just as quickly and mysteriously as he’d arrived. The three sat on the couch, contemplating what he had told them.

  “What if it’s all bullshit and he’s just trying to mess with our minds?” Melissa asked. “He said himself that he’s not right in the head.”

  “I think he was referring to the effect the virus had on his memory and behavior,” Alec replied. “You’re right, though. He seems different. He seems calmer now.”

  “He seems like he’s given up,” Elaina corrected. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to ignore what he told us.”

  Melissa squirmed in her seat. She looked around the room at all of her inherited possessions. It would be devastating to leave the house, especially if she knew evil forces would be desecrating it with their presence.

  “I think this goes without saying, but the three of us should stick together,” Alec said, looking at the two women. “If Bethany doesn’t want to join us, that fine. But I think our best shot of survival is sticking together. Either we all go, or we all stay.”

  “Can we at least stay one more day?” Melissa asked. “I really don’t want to leave this place, but I think we might have to. I hate to even say it, but Will might be right about this. I wouldn’t be surprised if the militia took over this place. After all, that other small organization found us last night. It just makes sense that everyone is sweeping over to this side of the country. If they don’t come for us now, then they’ll come eventually. We don’t really have other options.”

  “Yeah, I think we could stay another day,” Alec said. “That’s reasonable. We can rest up and work on collecting supplies. We can try to find a car, too. That motorcycle can’t really hold all three of us.”

  “Will you be ready in just a day?” Elaina asked Alec. “Your arm—”

  “It’s fine,” he said, dismissing her. “It hurts, but otherwise, I feel fine.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Then, where do we want to go?” Elaina asked. “I think we should avoid New York. It looked bad when I was there. It can only have gotten worse since then.”

  “Maybe we try another rural area,” Alec suggested. “I wonder if the more remote areas of the Appalachian Mountains would be a good place to try. It might not be great for getting the supplies we need, but we’re probably less likely to run into anyone with military affiliations of any kind.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t head to any one location,” she said. “The deeper we root ourselves to a place, the harder it is to leave. I think the secret to not getting caught is to keep moving. We can become nomads and pick up and move every week or so. If we need supplies, we don’t have to send someone out on their own—we can pack up and move together. If nowhere is safe, then we shouldn’t aim for one particular location. If we get a big enough vehicle, we can just live out of it.”

  Elaina frowned. “It’s hard to get work done on the road,” she said. “I know it hasn’t been first priority for a while, but I’d still like to do some research on the cure.”

  Alec shrugged. “We can give a nomadic lifestyle a try. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll attempt to find something more permanent. We won’t really know what we’re dealing with until we travel out that way.”

  “Worth a shot,” Elaina said wearily. “I think I’m ready for a nap. We can have a meal in a few hours and discuss logistics and see if Bethany would like to join us. We’ll pack, have a good night of sleep, then head out.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Alec said, getting up from the couch.

  “Sounds fine,” Melissa agreed, relieved that she was finally going to be able to wash up and have some alone time to process all the changes. In one horrible night, she’d lost both her closest companion and her home.

  After lugging buckets of tepid water from outside to her bathtub, she had a long soak, letting the blood and grime dissolve into the water. She mournfully looked at the sink, where Bobby Dean’s toothbrush rested right next to hers.

  She thought about tossing it into the wicker trashcan. After all, there was no use for it anymore. But there were few relics of his existence anymore. So, she left it right where it was, next to hers, as if to preserve a little piece of history, no matter how insignificant it seemed in the grand scheme of things. They’d shared a life at the old farmhouse, and a rather good one at that. She wanted the universe to always remember the young woman and her crazy companion and how they’d tried to survive the impossible together.

  Just as it was for countless individuals who’d perished during the epidemic, there would be no headstone to commemorate the life and death of Bobby Dean. All that was left of him were small tokens and memories.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Staring up at the wooden slats in the loft of the barn, Bethany took long, measured breaths. She tried to imagine herself on a desert island, then on the top of a mountain, anywhere but on a family farm in rural Oklahoma.

  “It’s fine,” she whispered to herself, creating a mantra to focus on. She repeated the phrase until the words lost meaning and felt like gibberish in her mouth.

  She lay on an old, weathered mattress, an artifact from Melissa’s childhood. Yellowed papers stuck to the walls with poorly-drawn pictures of farm animals. In contrast, an unopened box of condoms sat a few feet from the bed, as if they were thrown down in haste. Bethany rolled off the mattress and onto the thin layer of hay beside it. She covered her eyes with one hand, shielding herself from the ray of sunshine peeking through the gaps in the barn.

  “I’m fine,” she said to the footsteps that crunched through the grit on the lower level. “I’m just going to hang out here a little longer until I calm down.”

  The footsteps ignored her request and began to climb the creaky wooden steps.

  She groaned, sitting up straight and pulling hay out of her hair so she would look presentable for her guest. Save for Melissa, this group had problems with leaving people alone. Though Bethany assumed they acted out of a place of kindness, they were always checking up on each other and giving them comforts no one ever asked for. It wasn’t something Bethany was used to.

  “Elaina?” she called, as the visitor had yet to announce him or herself. A brief flash of worry filled her—what if Melissa had come to kick her out of the group?

  It wouldn’t be a big deal if she did. She didn’t quite fit in, and everyone knew it. Still, they’d offered her a meal and a place to stay at a time where resources were scarce and trust was low. It wouldn’t hurt to continue to take advantage of what they were willing to offer her.

  “No, it’s me,” Will said, taking a seat on the mattress and kicking up his feet. “I was just about to leave. I thought I’d say goodbye to you first.”

  “You’re leaving?” she asked, a perplexed look on her face. “You just got here. I’m sure Elaina would make you something to eat if you stuck around a little longer. Don’t you want to rest up here before you go?”

  He shook his head. “I know when I’m not welcome. I didn’t expect them to be overjoyed to see me, but I also didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition.”

  “That bad?”

  Will shrugged. “I get it. I’ve screwed them over a few times. They’ve changed a little since I last saw them. They’re not as trusting as they used to be. Before, they would do anything to save a healthy person. Now, they seem really concerned about self-preservation.”

 
“Isn’t that to be expected, though?” Bethany asked. “They’d be stupid to try to rescue all the strays out here.”

  “I was one of those strays.” Will smiled. “I almost killed Alec—on accident, of course—but he still saved my life.”

  “I guess they took me in, too, though that was short-lived,” she said. “”I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “What are your ideas?” he asked.

  She sighed, resting her head back on the mattress. “I don’t really have any. I figured I’d see what the others are doing, but I can’t imagine sticking around them forever. At some point, I’ll probably branch out on my own. You know how I am.”

  He nodded. “The lone wolf is already trying to stretch her legs?”

  Bethany rolled her eyes at Will. “I don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s hardships. I’m pretty sure they already blame me for the death of their other friend. To be fair, he wasn’t very smart. I don’t think he would have lasted much longer. He was noble and in love with Melissa. He would have jumped in front of a bullet or taken an Infected attack for her.”

  “How precious. She seemed a little salty when she saw me, but no more than usual. I guess if you want to stick around with those three, it’s your funeral.”

  She frowned. While she didn’t seem to mesh with the others very well, there were no negative qualities that she couldn’t see past. From Bethany’s experience, Alec, Elaina, and even Melissa were the decent people that Will made them out to be.

  “What else do you suggest I do, then?” she asked, feeling frustrated again.

  “Well,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “you can leave here with me.”

  She snorted. “We already tried that, didn’t we? We decided that it was best to part ways.”

  “We did, but I regretted it,” he said morosely. “I figured I’d be captured again, so it didn’t really matter. As it turned out, I wasn’t.”

  “Well, I was!” Bethany exclaimed. “It would have been nice to have a little backup around that time,” she growled. “I was nearly slaughtered. I think I might be better off with people who don’t want me around. They seem to be better at planning.”

  “Plan?” Will scoffed. “They don’t have a plan. I bet you they’re in there right now, just spinning their wheels. No one really has a plan anymore. I’m sure Elaina wants to find a nice little laboratory to work in. Unfortunately, I doubt a safe one exists. If you go with them, you’ll forever be searching for places that tend to be filled with infected. That’s how it works with them.”

  Bethany frowned. She liked the prospect of having intelligent, rational people around for protection, but she didn’t want to focus on anything other than survival. If they were going to put her in harm’s way for some futile mission, she didn’t want to be a part of it.

  “They’ll watch out for me,” she said with a twinge of uncertainty.

  “Ha,” he choked. “I really hate to break this to you, but they don’t really care about anyone else. Before, they might have been concerned for your wellbeing and would listen to your suggestions, but that time has passed. They are a tight-knit clique and you’re just tagging along for the ride. They will watch out for each other, but they will not rescue you if it puts them in danger.”

  Bethany couldn’t help but chuckle at his attempt to tarnish his former friends’ reputation. He seemed to have a vendetta against them and she didn’t understand why.

  “What did they ever do to you?” she asked accusingly. “Is there something I don’t know?”

  Will shook his head. “Not really. I was far worse to them than they were toward me. I’m just talking about people in general. Is there anyone you would put above your own wellbeing?”

  She was slow to admit it but eventually confirmed what Will knew to be true. Before the virus, she would have never described herself as a selfish person. Now, it was one of her defining traits.

  “Exactly,” Will said smugly. “Come with me, and we’ll always know exactly what to expect out of each other.”

  Bethany squinted her eyes at Will. “This argument makes no sense. If I’m prepared to be abandoned by others when times get tough, regardless of who I travel with, why would you be any better than them?”

  Will looked bashfully at the floor. “It’s the end of the world—why not have a little bit of fun?”

  “What are you suggesting?” she asked in feigned surprise.

  “Hey,” he said defensively, a grin on his face. “You’re the one whose mind went there, not me. I like to think I’m more fun than the wet blankets in the house.”

  “They don’t seem that bad,” she said. “They’re nice, at least.”

  “Nice?” Will laughed. “Oh, man, you’ve lost your mind. Alec is a good dude, and Elaina is a sweetheart once you get past her weird robot vibe. Let me ask you one thing—has Melissa been nice to you?”

  “Not particularly,” she replied. “But from what I gathered, that might have something to do with my interactions with you. What happened between you guys?”

  Will looked at the ground, suddenly interested in his shoelaces.

  “You weren’t, like, together?” Bethany asked, lowering her voice an octave.

  “Ew, no,” he replied. “You knew about Natalia. For as far as I’m concerned, my heart died with her.”

  He cleared his throat, embarrassed by how much emotion he was letting slip through the cracks.

  “She shot Natalia. Sure, she had been injected with one of her dad’s experiments, but I still think she could have been fixed. I’ve been injected, too, and I feel fine.”

  Bethany looked out the window. She had momentarily forgotten the rage she’d witnessed from Will. Though he professed his good health, it was impossible to make those kinds of promises.

  “If you’re worried about that,” he said, seeing the concern on her face, “then I’ll promise you I’ll self-destruct before it becomes dangerous.”

  Having witnessed Bobby Dean do just that, she relaxed a little. The more he talked about Alec, Elaina, and Melissa as travel companions, the less appealing it sounded. But she couldn’t decide if it was better to travel alone or with others. She was tired and overwhelmed, making it hard to think clearly.

  “I just don’t know, Will,” she said, looking at the boy with mournful eyes. “I need a little time to think about it. I can’t make a decision right this second.”

  “I understand,” he said, standing up from the mattress. He brushed the dust and hay from his pants. “I can’t stick around forever, waiting for you to decide. I also can’t stay at this house. I’m going to head into the closest town, just up the road from here,” he said, pointing east. If you decide to join me, you know where to find me. If not, I’ll just move on without you. How does that sound?”

  Bethany sighed. One day didn’t seem like a long enough period to rest up and make a decision that could impact her safety and security.

  Then again, it was impossible to know how each choice could affect her life. She had traveled alone and been captured and had traveled with others and been captured. Perhaps Will was right about one thing—she should try to make her journey a little more enjoyable.

  Will was surly and a little immature, but there was something about him that Bethany liked. She hated being surrounded by innocent, doe-eyed people like Thomas, who was too trusting and polite. These types were the first to fall for any suggestions made by evil organizations. She also disliked the pure and righteous types whose main focus was to save the world from complete destruction. These were the people whose good intentions were easily warped into something malevolent.

  Will had an edge to him that had been sharpened through struggle. Instead of trying to fake optimism, he could see circumstances for what they really were—bullshit. He didn’t pretend to care about people just because it was polite. He certainly wasn’t one to mince words. He was a bit of a bastard, Bethany thought, but he seemed genuine. His darkness was something her darkness could mesh with. S
ometimes, it was too exhausting for Bethany to put on a happy face in the midst of disaster. Sometimes, she just wanted to wallow in self-pity. Will could commiserate with her.

  “How do you expect me to find you?” she asked.

  “I’ll leave a trail of breadcrumbs,” he joked, climbing back down the ladder.

  She watched him as he strutted his way to the road, kicking over a sunflower stalk as he went. Bethany saw him reach for something in his pocket and pop it in his mouth—another one of Melissa’s precious chocolate bars.

  Bethany slumped back down on the tired mattress. She just wanted to disappear, to vanish into thin air so she wouldn’t have to worry about choosing whom to move on with.

  Her stomach growled. She had no appetite. Watching people be slaughtered in gruesome ways had that effect on one’s constitution. But she couldn’t refuse her physical needs for much longer. She hated asking things from people, but she had to take whatever was available to her. Bethany dragged herself off the floor and reluctantly shuffled her way back to the house.

  Taking a deep, steeling breath, she put on a brave face and walked back through the front door, as if she hadn’t stormed out hours ago on the verge of a panic attack.

  She found Alec and Elaina in the kitchen, dropping cans of food into backpacks, debating over how much food would be necessary for their evacuation. Alec argued that too much food would be difficult to carry, while Elaina wanted to ensure that they would always be well-fed.

  “Feeling better?” Alec asked as Bethany entered the kitchen. He handed her a plate and gestured to the pan of vegetarian stir-fry on the table.

  “Yeah,” she answered meekly, helping herself to the meal.

  “That’s good,” Elaina replied. “Have you considered how you would like to move forward? You’re welcome to travel with us,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Bethany replied. “I think I’ll do that.”

  “Cool,” Alec replied. “We’ll pack a few extra cans of food, then. The plan is to leave in the morning.”

  “Do you know where you want to go?” Bethany asked between bites.