I was yelling now. "I will not leave without you! San Jose, Dev. Get to San Jose with Harm. Meet me at our old house. Harm knows where it's at. You can do it, Dev. Get to San Jose. Please?"
"I don't know if—"
I hated manipulating him, but dire circumstances were certainly presenting themselves. "I'm going there whether you like it or not. Either you can leave me there to wait for you and get attacked, or you can fight like you've never fought before and meet me there! It's your choice, damn it."
He groaned, but it was barely audible with all the yelling in the background. "Okay, baby. I'll be there." He sounded a little relieved. "You're really three hours away?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Three hours. We'll be there. If I don't—"
I growled. "Then I'll wait there until I die."
"Damn it, Evie."
"I'm not giving you a fucking choice, Devlin!"
He was quiet for a few seconds before he quietly answered, "Okay, baby. I'll be there. I love you."
"I love you too." The phone beeped, telling me he'd hung up.
I wanted to tell Brian what he'd said. I wanted to get on the walkie talkie and share it with Gabriel and Gary. Instead, I cried and shook. I was vaguely aware of Brian patting my shoulder, and it helped me calm down. He had to make it, he just had to. I didn't want to imagine a future without him and Harm. They had to be okay.
I quickly calmed myself down—crying didn't help a situation, but it had allowed me to let go of some of the tension. I picked up the walkie talkie and cleared my throat, trying to make my voice a little stronger. "Dev just called. It's really bad there. He's afraid he won't make it. I think I should go get them alone. I don't want to put any of you at risk. Please consider this. He says it's the worst he's ever seen."
Gabriel spoke first. "You go, I go, kid."
Gary's clear tone came through the walkie talkie next. "Same here. He's my friend, too, and so is Harm."
I turned to Brian and raised my eyebrows at him. He shook his head. "He's my child, Evie. I'm the one who should be saying I'll go in alone. Clearly, that's pointless where you're concerned. I think we suffer from the same problem of not wanting to be without him."
I nodded and stared down at the walkie talkie for a moment, wanting to cry again. I couldn't, though. I needed to go back into strong-girl mode. I sat up straighter and pulled my chin up, speaking clearly into the walkie talkie. "Okay. We're meeting in San Jose. We need to move as fast as we can. It sounds like it's spreading from San Francisco down to Sunnyvale, which means it hasn't hit inland. We'll stop in Manteca and leave the trailer. We can move faster without it and stop back on the way out of California to pick it up. We'll split up the weapons then too. Copy that?"
"Got it, Evie." Gary's voice was hard as steel, but I wasn't surprised by that. Gary was always solid, and we'd been through this before, just not on this large of a scale.
The next few hours were excruciating. At the last gas fill-up, I took over driving since I knew the area better than Brian. We were only two hours away, but already, the traffic heading out of the Bay Area was getting heavier. I wasn't sure how we would get back out, but I couldn't think about that yet.
On the road, I switched back to local radio. Most stations were playing the emergency broadcast I'd heard in Bishop telling everyone about the conditions of the quarantine. Brian scanned the stations, and eventually landed on one that was reporting. The female voice was calm, but she was speaking very quickly.
"Every major freeway is congested as residents flee from the area. The National Guard requests that everyone stay inside their homes, barricade their doors and windows, and wait until they can regain control of the area.
"The fires in San Francisco are still burning uncontrollably as the group of Infecteds have attacked and killed several firefighters who attempted to put out the flames.
"Meanwhile, farther south, reports of gangs of Infecteds raiding houses and killing at random have increased. The National Guard encourages everyone in the areas of Los Altos, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara, to evacuate immediately as the threat of several rapidly spreading fires increases. Those in the area of Palo Alto and Redwood City, while currently safe from fire, have seen a concentrated outbreak of the infection. Residents are warned to be on the lookout for symptoms of aggression and violent behavior from anyone in your household. The National Guard encourages citizens who suspect a family member of being infected to stay away from them at all costs.
"Evacuation via 101 South and 680 North is next to impossible as traffic is at a standstill. Several accidents are blocking on-ramps and areas of the freeways. The National Guard encourages citizens trapped on these freeways to remain inside their locked vehicles until help can arrive."
Brian turned off the radio. "I just can't hear any more of that."
I nodded. I knew exactly how he felt. I knew the cities she had mentioned, could see them in my mind's eye. I just couldn't believe it all. At this rate, it would be across all of the Bay Area before we could get there. I just had to hope we weren't too late. I had to pray Harm and Dev were still alive and could make it to our meeting location.
When we got closer to San Jose, I was thankful there was still a little light out because I really had to put my memory to the test. People were using both sides of the freeways trying to get out of there. I had to take side-streets to get anywhere. Again, I had no idea how we would get back out of the mess. It had been three and a half hours since I'd talked to Dev. I only hoped we weren't too late. Several times, we encountered accidents or fires and had to find another route, but eventually, we made it into my old neighborhood.
It was like something out of my nightmares. It had always been a lively neighborhood with kids playing in the streets or people out running. Now, it was a ghost town. Everyone's blinds were drawn, a lot of doors and windows were boarded up, and no one was on the streets. I quickly navigated to my old house—the one I'd shared with my parents for several years before they were taken from me. Seeing it again made me miss them so terribly and wish for my daddy to be right behind that door where he could make everything better. But I couldn't afford to lose my strength to grief, so I focused again on the street, hoping for Dev and Harm to appear.
Brian had his shotgun ready with a handgun in his waistband. I still preferred a shotgun and had it across my lap with the car doors locked. I parked in the middle of the street and felt a little guilty about it. But really, it wasn't like someone was going to come along and tell me not to block their driveway.
I anxiously watched the minutes on the clock pass by. Finally, after ten minutes, a black vehicle came down the street. Brian and I got our shotguns ready, just in case. My heart started hammering in my chest as I watched for signs of Dev or Harm. When the car pulled into the driveway across the street, I nearly jumped from the SUV, but then I saw a female get out of the car. I was so disappointed, but I just kept staring at her hoping she might turn into Dev and Harm or someone with their group. She looked directly at me, and I noticed her eyes were not green. I also recognized her as someone who had been a good friend, which eased away the disappointment I was feeling. She smiled and waved.
"Do you know her?" Brian asked as she signaled for me to come to her.
"She's a good friend."
"I don't think you should leave the car, Evie." He was shaking his head and looking far too much like Dev with his eyebrows pulled tight together and his sharp jaw clenched. It sent a small stab of pain to my heart and pushed me out of the vehicle all the more.
"Maybe she can give me information about what's going on nearby. I'll just be a minute."
He stared at me for a long moment then nodded. "Here, take the walkie talkie, and tell them what you're doing."
I grabbed my shotgun, and got out of the SUV. Putting the walkie talkie to my mouth, I explained, "She's a good friend. I just want to see if she has any information for us."
Gabriel's voice was stern. "Be careful."
Pl
acing two fingers to my forehead, I swept them away quickly in salute to Gabriel and walked across the street.
She was speaking at a normal volume, but I knew that for Vicki, it was as close as she could get to whispering. "Piper? I can't believe it. What are you doing here—and now of all times?"
I kept my voice low. "Have you seen Harm?"
She was still smiling, but it didn't really reach her voice or her eyes. "Not since you guys moved away. Why?"
I figured there was really no point to lying now, not with the infection hitting them. "He's part of the team fighting the Infecteds. He's meeting me here."
She seemed to understand; after all, every girl in the neighborhood had drooled over Harm in uniform at one time or another. "I haven't seen him, but they've been showing pictures of the soldiers fighting on TV." She jerked her chin-length blonde hair toward her front door. "Come in, and you can look and see if he's in any of the pictures."
I nodded and quickly told the others what I was doing by way of walkie talkie. Turning back to Vicki, my curiosity got the best of me. "Where were you going, Vicki?"
"Trying to get out of here, but you can't even get on the freeway. Jax told me I was a damn moron and refused to go with me, but I had to try."
As we walked into her house, the continued feeling that this was unreal overwhelmed me. Her house was exactly as it had been when I'd lived across the street from her. The entryway still had the same small circular table with a blue vase in the middle. The living room still had a beige leather sofa, and the same shaggy light blue rug was spread out on the floor. It had only been a couple years since I'd been in her house, but so much had changed for me that it seemed like things should have changed for everyone else too. It was a little eerie, really.
Vicki wriggled her shoulders as she looked nervously at my shotgun. "Could you put that by the door? They still make me really nervous."
I felt awful for not remembering Juan, but it had been like five years since he'd passed away. Juan was one of the sweetest kids you could meet. He was always a little slow to think things through, if he thought at all. I swear he had no impulse control whatsoever, but he was a sweetheart. He was only twelve when Vicki and Jax had been down the street at his house hanging out with a few other neighbors. He was showing off his dad's shotgun to Vicki and Jax and didn't realize it was loaded. You can imagine the rest. It's pretty much every public service announcement you've ever heard about having a gun in the house. It made me really uncomfortable to set down the shotgun, but I respected Vicki and understood her issues, so I leaned it against the door.
We walked into the living room, and she turned on the TV really low, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, the noise bothers Jax. He's had a headache for a few days. He's such a jerk when he's in pain."
I stood there watching the images of San Francisco burning, the Infecteds attacking the firefighters—it was so gruesome and horrific.
Vicki's voice was sad as she looked at the floor. "It's horrible, isn't it? I can't believe they show the pictures."
"Who the hell are you talking to!" The vicious yelling made me jump and stare at the hallway where Jax stood, looking about the same as he had when I'd left—tall, sort of on the thin side with blond hair like Vicki's. "And why the hell do you have that damn TV on when you know I have a headache!"
Vicki rushed toward him, her voice super-sweet. "Jax, it's Piper. You remember Piper?" Vicki was blocking my view of him as he stood behind her in the hallway, but he seemed to take up the entire space with the anger radiating off him.
His voice was so mean—so unlike what I remembered. "I want to talk to you."
He and Vicki had never gotten along together, so his anger toward her wasn't too much of a surprise. She followed him back to his room. I went back to studying the pictures on the TV, but turned the volume down all the way. To see so much of the area in ruins was awful. I couldn't believe how quickly they'd destroyed everything. I didn't see any images of Dev or Harm, and after a few minutes, they went back and cycled through the images I had already seen. I reached out and turned off the TV, feeling physically ill as the pictures continued to haunt my mind.
When I turned around, I jumped back, almost bumping into the TV. Two feet in front of me was Jax. I smiled, but knew my voice was shaky. "Geez, Jax, you scared the crap out of me."
He didn't say anything, which made me look up into his—green eyes. My heart slammed in my chest, and my eyes darted to the shotgun. Why did I leave it at the stupid door? I inched to the side, but he followed me, leering. "So how have you been, Jax? You look good."
He still didn't say anything, but his hands clenched into fists. I took a deep breath and made my legs move as fast as they could toward the gun. I wasn't fast enough. He grabbed me and threw me against the wall. My head slammed against it, and my vision blurred for a moment. I tried to block out the pain and claw my way to the gun, but he was in front of me, smiling in a grotesque way.
His voice was so cold and ruthless. "Always wanted you, Piper." He picked me up and threw me onto the couch.
I tried to get up, but I was so disoriented that I fell back again. He climbed on top of me and tore my shirt open. I started to scream, but he clamped his hand over my mouth. I tried to squirm for the walkie talkie, but it was on the floor where I fell after bouncing off the wall.
He licked his lips and stared down at my chest. "Looks like I finally get to have you."
I tried to shake my head, but he kept his hand so hard on my mouth that I couldn't even move it. I pushed and kicked and scraped and scratched, but nothing worked. He held up his palm to me, wiggling his fingers and smiling with excitement. Then he held up his index finger and brought it slowly to my chin, dragging it down to my upper chest, caressing the skin above my breasts. He slid his fingers back and forth from one side of my chest to the other. I could feel myself shaking.
"Ready?" he asked as I felt the point of his fingertip shove into my skin just above my left breast.
When it pierced my skin, I screamed out in pain, but he kept his hand on my mouth. I kicked and flailed pointlessly. He was too strong. So slowly that I really wanted to die, he cut a curved line from one side of my chest to the other. The pain was unbearable. He leaned over the incision and when I felt his teeth bite into the skin there, I thankfully passed out.
Infected
I couldn't have been out for long or the others would have come looking for me, but Jax managed to turn me onto my side, gag me and tie my hands behind my back. On the floor next to me was Vicki, and I tried to get to her, but the pain in my chest was so incapacitating that I could barely breathe.
Jax came back into my line of sight. "Awake again? Good. I was getting bored." There was blood all over his face, and I strained to see what he had in his hand, but then wished I hadn't. I wanted to throw up or scream, or just cry and cry as I realized it was Vicki's foot. He grinned at me as the tears ran down my face.
"Evie?" The walkie talkie spoke. "Time to go. Hurry up."
I stopped crying, and my eyes widened, but Jax threw Vicki's foot to the floor and straddled me again.
"Who's that?" He grabbed my shoulders and shook me.
I wasn't sure what hurt more, being slammed around or having the open wound on my chest disturbed.
"Who is that?" He smacked me across the face, and everything blurred again to where I couldn't keep my eyes open. He was too strong, and I knew my head could only take so many blows.
He was still shaking me as I heard the door fly open, and he growled this unearthly, evil snarl. Several shots rang out, but I still couldn't open my eyes. When Jax's weight was lifted off me, I started crying again. Was it Gary or Gabriel or Brian? It didn't matter. Someone was saving me. The seconds dragged by as I heard fighting. I opened my eyes, but everything was still spinning.
"Evie? It's Gabriel." His voice was shaking, and I felt someone untying my hands and even more hands untying the gag at my mouth. "You're okay now. I can't believe I let you—I'm so
sorry, kid. This is all my fault."
I stretched my jaw, and someone tried to help me up, but I pushed them away when the pain in my chest was too much. "Stop." My voice was croaky and weak. "It hurts! Please—I'm so dizzy."
Gabriel squeezed my hand. "Listen to me, Evie. What day is it?"
I cried and screamed, grabbing at my chest, but Gabriel grabbed my hands. "It hurts!"
"Evie!" Gabriel's voice was insistent. "What day is it? Answer me."
I was crying so hard that I could barely get the word out. "Wednesday."
"What month is it, Evie?" He shook my hands to get my attention.
I closed my eyes and tried to get my brain to answer him. "June. Please, Gabriel. It hurts."
"Where are we, Evie? Where are we right now?"
I sobbed uncontrollably. "My old street. San Jose. Vicki's house." I tried to clutch at my chest again, but Gabriel held my hands.
Gabriel's voice sounded relieved, but I was still so dizzy and out of it that I couldn't open my eyes. "This'll pinch for a second then it'll feel better."
I didn't feel the pinch, but my chest felt like someone had used a blow torch on it. I was still crying when my mind and body just sort of floated away to the happy land of numbness.
***
When I started waking up, I took a very slow inventory of my body. My jaw throbbed, my head felt fuzzy, my back was sore, and my chest burned like someone had poured hot lava across it. Voices floated around me—Gabriel's I recognized, but a female voice I didn't know made comments. As my brain functions returned, I was able to focus on listening to Gabriel.
"I'm telling you, you taught her better than you should have. Not only did she have it all figured out, but she picked up on the whole San Francisco thing faster than I did. It wasn't until I saw the look on her face that I started putting two and two together."
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