Contagion

by Contagion (retail) (epub)

  The soldier moves his gun away from Kai and points it at me. “Just in time!” he says.

  I stand there, hands over my head. Dying isn’t so difficult; I’ve seen many people do it. But every cell, tissue, organ inside me screams to move, to fight—to live.

  But there is nothing I can do to stop this now.

  Kai opens his eyes. The soldier isn’t looking at him. He stands alongside the bench and is enjoying this moment, taking his time to aim his gun at me.

  Kai’s feet swing out and kick the soldier hard in the gut. The gun goes off but the shot is wild, over my head. I run toward them.

  The momentum from Kai swinging his body to kick is so great that the bench his hands are tied to topples over. He and the bench knock the soldier from his feet, half land on top of him.

  The soldier is struggling, tangled up with Kai under the bench. There is another shot, and my heart almost stops, but it’s wild again and pings into a tree.

  Callie is screaming. Hurry!

  The soldier is half sitting up and pushing the bench away when I reach them. I yank the bench back hard to slam it into his head. I kick his gun away. He falls back and lies still.

  “Kai! Are you all right?”

  “Shay!”

  I move the bench up on its side and wrap myself around Kai. He’s shaking and kissing me, even with his hands tied behind him. “I’ve never been so scared,” he says, and I know he doesn’t mean for himself.

  Shay! Behind you! Callie screams.

  I whip around, and the soldier is half up, his hand behind him, and then he has another gun, a pistol, in his hand.

  This time the wave and the anger rise inside me in an instant: they slam into the soldier, hard and fast. He convulses and falls to the ground.

  “Shay? Did you do that?” Kai asks. His eyes are wide and full of alarm and fear, but not fear of the soldier. He’s looking at me.

  CHAPTER 25

  CALLIE

  “WHAT’S THAT NOISE?” Shay tilts her head to one side, listening. Callie, can you check?

  I rush past the house and to the road, then stream back even faster.

  There’s an army truck heading this way, going fast, I call down, staying up above them so I can see over the trees and the house.

  Shay rushes to undo the rope that ties Kai’s hands to the bench. She curses. “I can’t get the knot.”

  It’s on the lane now. Hurry!

  Shay runs for the house and seconds later comes back with a knife. She hacks at the rope until finally Kai’s hands are free. He struggles to his feet, looking at the body on the ground.

  “Is he all right?”

  Shay turns to face him. “I don’t know. But he was going to kill me.”

  They’re just standing there, looking at each other, when they should be running.

  The truck squeals to a stop in front of the house, and they both turn to the sound.

  Run!

  They dash down the hill, into the trees, crashing into the undergrowth.

  Then Shay takes Kai’s hand and pulls him toward some bushes. They crouch down behind them.

  “Shhh,” she whispers.

  Callie, what’s happening?

  There are two of them; one of them is that lieutenant. They’ve just found their friend in the yard. I think he’s dead. They look unhappy; the lieutenant kicked the bench. The other one has funny binocular things and is using them to look all around.

  Are they saying anything?

  I go to listen. The one with the binoculars is still sweeping the woods below and to the sides.

  Finally he stops and curses. “There’s no sign.”

  “They couldn’t have gotten far. Larson only radioed the sighting minutes ago.”

  “Reinforcements will be here soon with the dogs. We’ll find them.”

  CHAPTER 26

  SHAY

  WE WALK IN DARKNESS, in silence, down to the water, as fast as we can without making too much noise. I whisper to Kai that there are reinforcements coming, and dogs—that we need to get to the pier and out on the water as fast as we can.

  Kai must wonder how I know these things, but he doesn’t ask. I shy away from his thoughts. They are disturbed and want to be left to themselves. I don’t want to think about why, or the way he looked at me when he knew that somehow I’d done something to that soldier. But I block that out: I can’t think about what I did and keep putting one foot in front of the other at the same time.

  I’m dizzy. All I’ve eaten today is toast and peanut butter, in a morning that seems long ago. Kai must be hungry—and thirsty—too.

  The stars aren’t out tonight; they’re hidden behind clouds. Let’s hope it stays that way when we’re on the water. But for now it makes finding our footing difficult.

  We’ve just reached the shore of the loch when Callie reappears in a blur. Hurry! Another truck has arrived, and—

  She doesn’t finish the sentence before the baying of dogs fills the quiet night.

  “Run!” Kai says. “In the water.”

  Will that stop the dogs from being able to follow us? I gasp at the icy coldness as we splash along up to our ankles. I hope the dogs are making enough noise to cover ours. Finally we see the dim shape in the dark that is the pier. Our boat is still across the loch. If our neighbor’s rowboat isn’t here, I don’t know what we’re going to do. Swim?

  There is crashing through the trees above us; barking, shouts. A light flickers and bobs in the night.

  They’re getting closer.

  We scramble down the pier. I almost cry with relief when I see the rowboat. “Get in!” I say to Kai, and fumble to undo the rope. I follow him into the boat and push against the pier with an oar as hard as I can.

  “Let me,” Kai says of the one set of oars. He takes them and starts rowing hard.

  There’s splashing as the dogs find our scent at the water’s edge, more splashing as they follow it along the shore. So much for that putting them off—it doesn’t work as well as it does in the movies. I’m sure they can’t follow our scent as we move away from the shore, but they’re so close now that they’re lit up by the flashlights of those following. They’ll follow the dogs to the pier, shine their flashlights out on the loch, and have us in the sights of their guns, won’t they?

  We’re pulling away, stroke by stroke. Kai’s arms are straining with effort.

  The dogs are getting closer. The pier is in the light now; the dogs are on the pier. They run to the end, barking.

  Light shines out on the water, to one side, then the other, but it doesn’t quite reach us.

  You can’t see us, you can’t see us, you can’t see us…

  I’m chanting the words in my head, willing it to be true.

  Then shots sound around us in the water, and I almost scream. We both drop down in the boat.

  But the shots are wild, all around. They can’t see us; they’re just taking potshots in the dark. And they soon stop.

  I touch Kai’s hands, motion that I’ll take the oars now. I row slowly, slipping them in and out of the water as quietly as I can.

  You can’t see us, you can’t see us, you can’t see us…

  “How did you know they were bringing dogs?” Kai whispers, so quiet it’s a barest breath.

  Callie is next to him, arms crossed. I told you about the dogs. Tell him I’m here!

  “We’ll talk later,” I whisper back to Kai.

  But how can I tell him about Callie, after everything he’s been through? All the stuff I have to tell him about me is hard enough. How can I tell him his adored sister has died, that her ghost has been with us all this time and I’ve said nothing about it until now?

  I can’t.

  CHAPTER 27

  CALLIE

  I GLARE AT SHAY, but she’s ignoring me again, something she said she wouldn’t do anymore.

  “We’re nearly across to the other side of the loch now,” Shay says softly.

  “Where should we go?”

 
“They might take the dogs around the shore to try to find us. I wonder if we can put them off?”

  “How?”

  “We left our boat not far from here. How about we go there, pull up the rowboat. Run up to the road, then back again the same way. Get into our boat.”

  “So if the dogs find the rowboat and follow our trail up to the road and then our trail ends, they’ll think we’ve somehow driven off? Good thinking.”

  Shay is warm at Kai’s praise.

  You said you’ll talk later, I remind her. What will you say?

  Her warmth falls away.

  Shay maneuvers the rowboat to the shore. Kai stands in the water to pull it up, into the trees, by Shay’s boat.

  “Fancy a jog?” she says.

  “Not really. But I don’t think we should take our time.”

  They run, not worrying about being quiet now, crashing through the trees, up the slope to the mining road. They pause there, gasping. “Easier back down,” Kai says.

  “Yeah, right.”

  They run back down to the boat and pull it into the water. They get in.

  Shay is still gasping, holding the side of the boat, as Kai pulls away from the shore.

  “Now I know you like to bike up steep hills, so I’m guessing that run isn’t the problem,” he says. “Are you seasick?”

  “No. Hungry sick, I think. And thirsty.”

  “So am I. Do you think it’d be safe to drink from the loch?”

  “I don’t know. But if we don’t have some water soon, we’re going to be sick anyway. I think we should risk it.” She dips a hand into the cool water and drinks, again and again. Kai watches, then he does too.

  “Time will tell, but it’s made me feel better for now,” he says. “You’re the local: where to next?”

  “Maybe we need to rest before we can work that out. There’s a place we can try. Stay near this shore and keep heading away from Killin.”

  Shay gets her breath back and takes the oars when they are near where she wants to go: a sort of house on the loch. She maneuvers the boat up to a ladder that reaches down.

  “What is this place?” Kai asks her.

  “A crannog—a house on stilts in the water. Used centuries ago by Scots as homes. They’re meant to be good for defense.”

  I don’t think much of it.

  The sun is just starting to lighten the sky enough to see a sort of wooden structure. Calling it a house is too much; it’s more like a floating round shack on stilts. It’s big enough, but looks like a good push would knock the whole thing over.

  It’s sturdier than it looks, Shay thinks at me.

  Kai ties the boat on a long rope. Then Shay goes up the ladder to the top while Kai perches on the lower rungs and pushes the boat with an oar until it is out of sight under the crannog.

  Kai climbs up. Shay gestures, and he follows her inside. She takes out her phone, puts on the light, and shielding it a little with her hand, shines it around. There’s a circular seating area in the center with low benches, and they sink down on one—next to each other, but not touching.

  “How’d you know about this place?” Kai asks.

  “We had to come here with our history class. It’s like a museum. But I knew you could get into it from the loch because I heard some teenagers meet up here to, you know…” Even in the dim morning light her face visibly reddens.

  Shay is shivering. Kai sighs, shuffles closer, and wraps an arm around her shoulders. She droops against him.

  “Time to talk?” he says.

  “Yes,” she whispers.

  “So. What the hell is going on?”

  “You think I know? The army seems to want to kill me.”

  He shakes his head. “None of this makes any sense.”

  “Tell me what happened to you.”

  “I got to the roadblock and was stopped. Told to wait. Then two soldiers in a truck—not ones I’d seen in Killin before, though they came from that way—told me to get in their truck. They said you’d shot and killed Duncan.”

  “That’s not true! They shot at me when I ran away. Duncan pushed me out of the way, and they shot him instead.”

  He touches a hand to her cheek. “I never believed it could be true; I thought it must be some terrible mistake. Then they took me to your house. By this time I’d worked out they weren’t the good guys, and tried to get away—not very successfully. They beat me up pretty good. When I came to, I was tied to your bench.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Shay’s eyes have tears in them. “It’s all my fault.”

  “You’re not the one who beat me.” His hand absently strokes the side of his head. “But the pain is gone now. What’s going on, Shay? I thought that I felt you in my mind, like I did on the street in Killin. That time it was like you stopped me from doing what I wanted to. Today, it was like you…made me feel better, sent me to sleep. Later you woke me up, showed me what was happening in time for me to kick that soldier who was going to shoot you. Am I imagining these things? And…and what you did to that soldier? You just looked at him, and he fell over. Did you do something to him?”

  “I don’t know how or what, but I think I must have.”

  “Lizzie said survivors can control people, and a load of other crazy stuff.”

  “Something in me has changed since I was sick. There are ways in which I’m different—both the way I think and things that I can do. Like talking in your mind. I can reach out to the world around me; I see things differently.”

  “Can you read my mind?”

  “No. Well, sort of—more your feelings, and your thoughts when you project them at me.”

  “Don’t.” Kai’s voice is sharp.

  “Okay. I won’t, I promise.” I’ll try not to leaks into Shay’s thoughts.

  “And don’t ever tell me to do stuff I don’t want to do.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Though if you want to help me get rid of a headache again, I guess that’s okay.”

  “Sure. But I’ll ask first?”

  “Yeah. That’s it. Unless I’m unconscious and tied to a bench. Then you can use your judgment.” Kai half smiles; Shay tentatively smiles back.

  “What happened to that soldier…I don’t understand,” she says. “I thought he was about to kill me, and something in me just kind of snapped and lashed out.”

  “That is on the side of freaky.”

  “Yeah. I’m pretty freaked out by it myself.” Shay slips her hand into his. “But I’m still me.”

  Kai hesitates, kisses her forehead lightly, then her lips. “You kiss the same. At least I think you do; I might have to check some more to be sure. But is that everything? Is there anything else I should know?”

  Tell him about me!

  Callie, I can’t.

  You said you’re my friend.

  I am, but—

  But what? I’m furious. How can you be my friend and not tell my brother that I’m here?

  Think what it would do to him; really think. Then if you still want me to, I will.

  No amount of thinking will change my mind. Tell him!

  CHAPTER 28

  SHAY

  “THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE I haven’t told you. This is really hard to talk about and will be even harder for you to hear.” I swallow. “We’re not alone right now.”

  Kai looks quickly around us, as if someone has crept in without him noticing.

  “No, not like that. You can’t see them.”

  “But you can?” Kai has a look on his face like he’s trying to listen to what I have to say, but he thinks I’ve gone coconuts.

  “Yes. See and hear too. You remember you asked me how I knew the army was bringing dogs? She went and listened to them and told me what they said.”

  “She?”

  “She. Without her, I’d be dead. She saved my life; she got me to duck when they were shooting at me. It’s—I’m so sorry to tell you this, Kai. It’s your sister.”

  He recoils. “What?”

 
; “She’s here, right now. Sitting next to you on the bench.”

  He turns and looks at Callie, but what does he see?

  Nothing.

  “This isn’t funny.”

  “No. But it’s true.”

  “Lizzie said survivors can talk to dead people. Are you saying Calista’s ghost”—he shudders—“is here, right now?”

  “Yes.”

  “No. You’ve gone too far. What is with you?” He’s angry. He stands up, walks away toward the door, as if he can’t stand being so close to me a second longer.

  “But Kai—”

  “No! I don’t want to hear it. You must have some sick need for attention or something. All this stuff is made up. It has to be.”

  “It isn’t, I promise!” Callie, help me.

  How?

  Tell me something I shouldn’t know.

  He’s at the door now.

  I had a glass teddy bear—it was my favorite.

  “She says she had a glass teddy bear—that it was her favorite.” He stops walking, turns, face stricken. “It broke. It fell off the dresser and broke.”

  It doesn’t matter.

  “She says it doesn’t matter.”

  “Calista? Are you really here?” He’s looking around the room, as if by looking hard enough he’ll be able to see her.

  I’m really here.

  “She is.”

  He shakes his head. “No, no; this is too much. It can’t be true.” He’s distressed, and without thinking I reach out to him, to comfort him—

  “No! Keep out of my mind, Shay. I warned you.” His speech is more clipped, the German accent I normally can’t really hear coming through.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

  Tell him! How I used to go to his soccer games with a book on my knees. Tell him! And how he has models hanging from his ceiling of bikes. That he made them.

  And I repeat everything Callie said.

  “I told you all that!” he says, anger in his words. “When you asked about my sister, were you just storing up details to parrot back?”

  I step back as if I’d been slapped. I shake my head. “No, of course not! And you never told me anything about stuff in your room.”