The Infected, a PODs Novel

by Michelle K. Pickett

  But nothing is ever that easy. At least I’ve never found it to be. From the devastating virus, to leaving my parents to go to the PODs, to fighting the Infected, to my relationship with David, and now fighting the Infected a second time… why I thought that night would be any different I don’t know. But I’d hoped it would be.

  “It’s a bear.” Devlin whispered.

  “It’s a bear.” I whispered on to David.

  “No, it’s two. There’s one over here.”

  “Oh. Well, crap.” I turned my head toward Devlin’s tent and told him in a loud whisper, “David says there are two bears. There’s one over there.”

  “Damn. There are three. Two on this side,” Devlin answered.

  “David?” I held my breath waiting for him to answer.

  “Hmm?”

  “Still just one?”

  “Yes,” he whispered.

  “We’ve got two over here.” I bit my lip waiting for his response. “David?”

  “I heard you.”

  Well, then say so. He’s maddening.

  We listened to them rummage through the campsite, and waited for them to attack. Surely they knew we were there. They could smell us… right? I had no idea. I didn’t know much about bears, except I didn’t want to be that close to them, especially when they might be infected.

  A shot rang out pulling me from my thoughts. I jumped and a small scream escaped my lips. A second shot was fired. I looked through the opening of my zipper and Seth held his hand up, motioning for me to stay put.

  The bears turned their attention to the tents. First Juan and Rebecca’s tent was attacked. A big paw sliced through the side. Rebecca screamed. A shot rang out close to me—Devlin.

  The second bear attacked Seth’s tent. I watched as it barreled right over it, trampling him in the process. David shot once, hitting the bear in the side and pissing it off. It turned and started toward David.

  Devlin’s gun fired beside me and Juan’s quickly afterward. The bear went down, and Devlin walked toward it. Down, but far from dead, the bear batted at Devlin with its giant paw. Its claws left gashes across his legs where they cut through the denim and into his flesh. Without so much as a flinch, Devlin raised his gun and put a bullet between its eyes.

  David was fighting the third and final bear—we hoped—it was nearly on top of him, which made getting a shot off difficult. I unzipped my tent the rest of the way, and climbed out.

  “Get back in your tent!” Devlin shouted.

  “You!” I shouted back.

  “Eva—” he put his hands in a circle and shook them back and forth like he was strangling me.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off.

  As soon as the bear was on all fours and wasn’t paying any attention to anyone but David, I ran up beside it, put my gun to its head and fired. For a few seconds it stood there.

  I let out a huge breath when it finally fell sideways, hitting the ground with a large thud.

  “Dammit, Eva, do you have any sense in that thick skull of yours or what?” Devlin shouted.

  “Well, I didn’t see you getting the job done.” I flicked on my gun’s safety.

  “Oh, wow, she did not just say that,” Seth said with a laugh.

  “Hell’s bells, Evangelina, what were you thinking?” David yelled, stomping over to where I stood.

  I sighed and flung my arm in the air. “That none of you had killed the damned thing yet.”

  “Roy, have you hunted bear before?” Devlin glared at me before turning to Roy.

  “Yes’um.” He nodded.

  “Tell me if I’m wrong, but aren’t they usually loners?”

  “Yes. Ain’t never seen me a pack of bear hunting together like that.”

  “Look at their eyes and gums.” I grabbed my gear out of my tent and started taking it down.

  “They’re infected, no doubt.” David stepped back and looked at them. “What are you doing, Eva?”

  “I’m packing up so I can get moving. All this blood? No thanks.”

  “She’s right. Scavengers will be circling us in no time.” Devlin started helping me with my tent. I looked up and smiled at him. “You’re crazy, Eva,” he murmured.

  I shrugged a shoulder. “I did it without thinking.”

  He nodded. “Then you’re dangerous and crazy.”

  “Let me see your leg.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “I didn’t ask if it was fine. I said I wanted to see it.” Devlin rolled his eyes but pulled up his pant leg. “Sexy.” I grinned when he laughed.

  “Why thank you.” He batted his long black eyelashes at me, giving me his half grin and for a minute I forgot what I was supposed to be doing. “Are you going to stare, or was there something you wanted to do?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself.” I couldn’t help the stupid grin that spread across my face. “Stay there. I have some antiseptic in my pack.” I grabbed my first aid kit and knelt in front of Devlin. I wiped the gashes on his leg with an antiseptic wipe, then taped gauze over the cuts. “There. Now if you’ll just stay outta the way next time, you should be okay.” I looked up at him. He watched me, a serious look on his face. “What?”

  “You’re amazing.”

  “I thought I was crazy and dangerous?” I teased.

  “Oh, you are.” He smiled at me. “But I still think you’re pretty amazing.”

  I could feel the blood warm in my veins. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

  “Don’t do something like that again.”

  Sighing, I stood up. “Devlin—”

  “It was dangerous.”

  “Everything about this is dangerous,” I whispered.

  We worked quickly to take down camp. Devlin started gathering supplies. I reached for a tarp, and he grabbed my hand, pointing at a pool of blood on the vinyl.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  He caressed the underside of my wrist with his thumb, looking into my eyes. His lips lifted in a ghost of a grin, and he let go of my hand.

  Their blood stung when it came in contact with a person’s skin, but the virus wasn’t transferred by touching it, unless you had an open wound. At least that was true for the strain before it. We weren’t sure about the new strain, and I didn’t particularly want to find out, so I left the tarp where it was.

  Twenty minutes later, the camp had been dismantled, and we walked down the highway. “I’ve been thinking—”

  “Uh-oh, that’s never a good thing.” David looked over at me and grinned.

  “Funny.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Well, after we get the feed and the researchers at Rosewood replicate the formula, why don’t we make our way back to the PODs and wait out the virus like we did before. We aren’t going to be allowed back into the village anyway. At least the PODs give us some protection.” I looked over at David to gauge his reaction.

  “Yeah, if they aren’t crawling with Infected.”

  “Can’t do it,” Devlin said behind us.

  “Why not?” I asked over my shoulder.

  Devlin threw a piece of stick he’d been breaking apart. “The PODs are gone.”

  “What are you talking about?” I turned to look at Devlin.

  “The government decided they were contaminated and destroyed them. I had a patient at the clinic that came from there. Said all that was left was ripped and battered army tents blowing in the breeze.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yup.”

  “What if your patient is wrong?” I asked.

  “What if he’s right? You travel all that way, fighting Infected the entire time, just to get there and find out there’s nothing left? Doesn’t sound like a good plan to me.”

  “Well, what’s your master plan, Devlin?” I arched a brow at him.

  “I’m going back to the village. I’m going in the same way I left,” he said.

  “And if the fence is guarded?”

  “They can’t watch every square inch
of that fence all the time, Eva. I just have to wait them out.”

  “David?”

  “I don’t know. We gotta go back to the village and give them the feed. If we can get back inside, I think that’s the best thing to do,” David said.

  I blew the hair out of my eyes. “I agree, but what are we going to do if we can’t?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to deal with that when the time comes.”

  Excellent plan. Deal with it later.

  We came across a town just before sunset. We turned off the highway, making our way down the main street. Just like the town before it, it had already been cleaned out. But we did find a small motel to spend the night.

  “A real bed,” I sighed, flopping backward on the lumpy mattress. Dust and mildew particles billowed under me, tickling my nose.

  “I’m next door if you need anything.” Devlin opened the adjoining doors.

  “Yeah,” David said slowly, narrowing his eyes at Devlin, “I’m here, too.”

  “Ok, thanks.” I stretched across the bed.

  A loud crash echoed through the room. Pieces of glass clinked together like chunks of ice as they fell over the floor. I jumped off the bed. David picked up a brick that’d been thrown through the window.

  “What the hell?” He dropped the brick and looked outside.

  “Who’s out there?” I whispered.

  David squinted to see through the darkness. “I don’t see anyone.”

  There was another loud crash followed by Devlin’s voice, “son of a bitch!” He rapped once on the door adjoining our rooms, and walked in. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” David said.

  “See anyone outside?”

  “Nope.”

  Seconds later Seth, Roy and Juan were standing in my bedroom, with Rebecca and Judy in tow. It wasn’t exactly how I imagined my night playing out.

  “What’s goin’ on out there?” Roy drawled.

  David stood at the side of the window, looking out. He shrugged a shoulder. “Don’t know. I can’t see anyone—”

  A loud crack sounded, and the door flew open. Two men with guns pushed their way inside.

  “Whoa, whoa!” David said, raising his hands out in front of him.

  My heart jumped into my throat.

  “Who are you?” One of the men yelled. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’re just passing through. We needed a place to get a good night’s sleep,” Devlin said.

  “Put your hands up!” the second man shouted.

  Our hands shot up. I studied the men. They weren’t infected. They looked us over, trying to decide if we were.

  “We aren’t infected.” My voice cracked slightly.

  “Shut-up! Get your shit and move along,” The first man said.

  “Man, we can’t go nowhere now. It’s pitch black out there,” Roy said.

  “I don’t give a rat’s tail what it’s like outside. This is our place, and you weren’t invited.”

  Devlin dropped his hands and stepped toward the man. “Look—”

  The man shoved him backward with the tip of his rifle. I reached out and grabbed Devlin’s arm, pulling him to me.

  “Whoa! We don’t want any trouble,” David said. “We just need a place to stay for the night. We’ll be out of here before first light.”

  “Nope. You’re leaving now.” The men poked at us with their guns. We grabbed our gear as quickly as we could.

  When we walked outside there were more men waiting. About a dozen, all armed, watched as we walked by.

  “C’mon man, we aren’t hurtin’ anyone by bunking here tonight. Let us stay. We’ve got women to care for,” Juan said.

  “Not my women; not my problem. Get moving.”

  “Let’s go.” David walked past the men and into the street.

  Devlin and Juan grabbed flashlights out of their packs. The light bounced across the road as they walked. I followed close behind Devlin, my finger hooked around a cord on his pack.

  “I saw a house or two just before we got into town. Let’s check on it,” Roy said quietly.

  “Sounds good. Lead the way.” Devlin handed Roy his flashlight.

  We followed the bouncing beams of light ahead of us. Devlin reached behind him and grabbed my hand, keeping me close to him.

  It didn’t take us long to reach the house. Roy turned off the flashlight, and we stood in the black night and waited, listened, watched for any sign of life. When we were relatively sure the house was empty, Roy tried the doorknob. Of course it was locked. He slammed his shoulder against the wooden door; it gave way with a crack, hinges creaking.

  We waited outside while Juan and Roy looked around the house. It seemed like forever before Roy stuck his head out the door and said it was all clear.

  I walked through the house. “There are three bedrooms and a couch.”

  “Flip you two for the couch.” I heard Seth say as I made my way to one of the bedrooms.

  “That’s okay. You two flip for it.” Devlin waved them off.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  David won the coin toss and unrolled his sleeping bag on the couch. Seth put his in front of the small fireplace.

  “Where are you sleeping?” David asked Devlin.

  “In the recliner.”

  “There’s a recliner?” Seth sat up from the floor.

  “Yes, and, no, I’m not flippin’ you for it.”

  “Where is it?” David watched Devlin grab his pack and make his way toward the hall.

  “Eva’s room.”

  Some very colorful words came out of David’s mouth. Devlin chuckled and walked toward my room whistling.

  My stomach twisted in knots at the thought of Devlin sleeping next to my bed—all six-foot, four-inches of pure, sculpted muscle, jet black hair and piercing emerald eyes—and I was sure there was no way I was going to get any sleep with him in the same room.

  He felt his way through the darkness to the bed, his hand landing on my belly. I sucked in a breath. His fingers slowly pulled the hem of my shirt up, grazing my bare skin underneath. Leaning down, his mouth found mine, parting my lips with his tongue. He kissed across my jaw, his fingers still grazing my stomach. Reaching my ear, his tongue followed the shape, before sucking softly on the lobe.

  “Sweet dreams, Eva,” he murmured. I felt, more than saw, him move away, hearing him ease into the recliner seconds later.

  Well, damn. I’ll never get any sleep now.

  But even after Devlin’s fan-freakin’-tastic kiss goodnight, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep almost immediately, sleeping soundly until the morning sun was shining through the dingy windows.

  The farther northeast we travelled, the colder the weather. In my rush to pack, I forgot to include enough warm clothing. I shivered as we walked along the highway, watching the white puffs of my breath.

  “Is that jacket all you brought?” Devlin asked, rubbing my freezing hands between his to warm them.

  “Yes. I was in a hurry. I didn’t think about how cold it would be,” I said through chattering teeth.

  Devlin pulled me to a stop. “Drop your pack.”

  I let it fall to the ground, groaning when the weight fell away. He unrolled his bedroll and placed a heavy quilt over my shoulders. “Here, hold this around you.” He placed my pack over the quilt. It was bulky and awkward, but oh so warm.

  “Thank you.” I smiled up at him.

  “Anything for you, Eva,” he said quietly as he adjusted the straps of my pack, letting his fingers graze the sides of my neck. A shiver ran through me that had nothing to do with the cold. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. He finished adjusting my pack, and started walking again, as though nothing had happened between us.

  We walked for three hours. The cold winds whipped around us, my hair smacked into my face, stinging it.

  “I think my toes are frozen,” I said, laughing.

  Rosewood had been getting colder, the nights especially.
But the farther east we travelled, the colder it became. The sun was covered by thick, gray clouds. It offered very little warmth. The sting of cold bit into our face and hands.

  “I think I see a town,” David yelled over the whooshing wind.

  Buildings materialized, but it wasn’t a town. It was better—a subdivision. Devlin pointed and we turned in the direction of the houses.

  “Let’s hope no one’s home,” David said with a chuckle.

  We jumped the fence separating the highway from the neighborhood and climbed the porch stairs of the closest house. David turned the doorknob and the door creaked open. He walked tentatively inside, Devlin right behind him. I could hear the faint sound of their footsteps as they walked room to room, looking for other squatters or, God forbid, Infected.

  “It’s clear,” Devlin called, and we filed inside.

  “I saw some firewood out back. I’m gonna get some.” Juan came back with an armful of wood, dropping it on the small hearth in the living room. Within minutes, I heard the crackling of a fire, the yellow glow lighting the room.

  From the outside, the house looked tiny, but it was surprisingly spacious on the inside. There was a large, open space that held the kitchen, living and dining room. A two-sided stone fireplace sat in the middle of the room. To the left, a hallway led to three bedrooms and a bathroom. Perfect for us to crash for the night.

  “What time is it?” I asked no one in particular.

  “Four,” Seth said, putting more logs on the fire.

  “That’s all? It’s so dark outside.”

  “Yup. Them there are snow clouds. I expect we’ll be seeing some snow soon.” Roy looked at the sky through the grimy windowpanes.

  “Great,” I muttered. I walked down the hallway and found an empty bedroom.

  “You here for the night?” I looked up and saw David leaning in the doorway watching me.

  “Yeah, I guess so.

  “The bed looks comfy and warm.” He walked in and sat down on the edge.

  “Looks good to me.” I smiled and let my backpack fall to the floor with a thud. Dust billowed around it. I looked around the room. A house robe lay on the foot of the bed and slippers sat on the floor in front of it. Make-up was strewn across a low dresser in front of a mirror. Perfume bottles lay askew. “It’s like someone just got up and walked out.” I lifted a compact and looked at the lipstick tube beneath.