The Infected, a PODs Novel

by Michelle K. Pickett

  We didn’t bother with the houses closest to town. They would’ve been cleaned out already. We hiked to the small neighborhoods tucked away. The farther from the center of town, the better.

  “Anyone else hungry? We might as well eat while we’re stopped,” Judy said.

  “I can eat,” I answered.

  “You can always eat,” Devlin said with a laugh. I kicked some snow at him.

  We found some noodles and spaghetti sauce when we raided the next house’s cupboards. We didn’t bother to look at expiration dates. The packages were sealed. As long as there wasn’t a funky smell and the color was good, we weren’t too picky. That’s how it was after the virus. You learned to live on things you would’ve thrown out before. Value took on a whole new meaning.

  I scooped up some snow and put it in a pot, hanging it over the fire on a metal tripod contraption Roy made. We all sat around the fire holding our hands out to the flames while we waited for the snow to melt and the water to boil. Water dripped from the bottom of the pot, sizzling when it hit the fire below.

  “Has anyone given any thought to what they are going to tell people when we get back? People are going to ask where we’ve been.” I glanced at the group, huddled around the fire.

  Juan shrugged. “Nope, haven’t really thought about it.”

  “Has anyone thought about what you’re going do if we can’t get back in?”

  “Eva—” David sighed.

  “Are you going to camp outside the fence indefinitely? Fighting off Infected animals and humans until Area-One decides to help?”

  “It won’t be much different than what we were doing before,” Juan said. “We were already stuck outside.”

  “Exactly. You couldn’t get back in. What makes everyone think we’re gonna be able to?”

  “So what about it?” Roy asked. “What do you think we should do if we can’t get in?”

  I looked across the fire at Roy. “I’m going to the PODs.”

  Devlin jammed a hand through his hair and sighed loudly. “There are no PODs. They’re gone, Eva. Destroyed.”

  “Says a patient you don’t even know! I’m not camping outside the fence for months doing nothing. At least going to the PODs is doing something. If they aren’t there, we turn around and come back. If they are, we wait out the virus there like we did before. The PODs are self-sufficient. We’ll have electricity from the solar and wind generated power, and we’ll have the greenhouse for the gardens, running water, everything we need to wait out the virus as long as it takes.”

  “Eva…” David frowned and shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, David, but I’m going back. If we can’t get back into Rosewood I’m going to the PODs.”

  Day Forty—One

  “Ugh, look at it out there,” I said, wiping the condensation from the window to look out at the blowing snow.

  “Yep, we ain’t gettin’ nowhere today.” Judy looked over my shoulder.

  “Nope.”

  The rest of the morning and afternoon we played cards. Canasta. Seth, David, and I’d played while we lived in the PODs. Judy was from Michigan like David, and knew how to play. Roy was a quick learner, although he bemoaned the fact that no one would play poker with him. Juan and Rebecca took turns playing when someone needed a break. Devlin didn’t know how to play, and said it was too confusing to learn. He wanted to play poker with Roy.

  The house was warm and stuffy. It smelled of dirty clothes and sweaty bodies. Other than me and Devlin while we were in Area-One, no one had showered in weeks. There was only so much washing you could do in freezing temperatures. But we did a lot of sweating under the layers of clothing we wore, which didn’t smell too good when those clothes came off at the end of the day.

  I needed some air. Devlin and Seth had gone to get more firewood, so I thought I’d go outside to clear my head.

  I slipped on David’s boots, grabbed my hat and gloves, and slipped through the door, inhaling deeply. The air was cold and crisp. Clean and fresh compared to the stench in the house. Immediately my head cleared.

  I rubbed my gloved hands up and down my arms, glancing around. It was beautiful. The snow still fell, blowing diagonally and swirling around the house. Thick snow weighed down the branches of the evergreen trees in the yard, bright white and sparkly next to the deep, green needles.

  I broke off an icicle hanging from the eaves, twirling it in my hand I watched it glitter like glass, my distorted image moving in the rolling ice.

  Snow crunched behind me, and I dropped the icicle and turned, sucking in a breath when I saw it.

  It watched me and I did the mental calculations of the odds I’d get back inside the house safely.

  Not likely.

  I was wearing David’s boots that were four sizes too big, in snow almost to my knees. And I’d have to stop to open the door… with gloves on. I didn’t even have a coat on to block a bite. I was screwed. Thankfully, there was only one. For now.

  It advanced on me. Snarling, saliva dripped from its mouth.

  “Eva, back up slowly,” David whispered.

  It growled low in its throat, and crouched low to the ground.

  “Keep coming. Don’t look in its eyes.”

  “It’s going to attack,” I whispered, keeping my head bowed. My hair fell forward like a curtain covering my face.

  “Keep backing up. You’re almost to me.”

  The wolf took a step forward. The fur on its back stood on end. Its top lip curled, showing yellow fangs and blue gums, and pus oozed from the animal’s eyes. There was no doubt, it was infected. And if it bit me…

  “Eva, please, keep coming.”

  I took a step, my foot hit a rock, and I lost my balance. With a small squeal, I fell backward.

  Everything happened in a blur. I fell. The wolf jumped. It growled and snapped its teeth. David lunged forward and swung a cast iron frying pan. The pan bounced off the wolf’s head, knocking it off course.

  David grabbed me by the collar and pulled me up roughly. “Run!”

  Grabbing my hand David ran toward the door. We could hear it growl behind us. The frying pan only pissed it off.

  David pulled me up the stairs of the small porch, and shoved me through the door. I fell on the dusty floor with a grunt, tasting blood in my mouth. He followed me inside, slamming the door just seconds before the wolf hit it.

  “Hell’s bells, Evangelina!” David shouted at me.

  “I’m sorry… I’m sorry, but I had to get some air.”

  “Then open a damn window! Don’t go outside by yourself unarmed!”

  “I didn’t. Devlin and Seth are outside.”

  “No we aren’t,” Seth said from the kitchen.

  I looked from David to Seth my mouth opening and closing. “I thought…”

  David jammed his hand through his hair, shaking his head. “Come here,” He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the floor and into his arms. “You have to stop scaring me like that, Eva. I swear you take ten years off my life every time you do. Don’t do something like that again.”

  “No worries.” I lay my head on his shoulder. “Why didn’t you just shoot it, anyway?”

  “I didn’t want the blood to attract more.”

  “Oh. Good call.” I lifted my head and looked at him, dabbing the corner of my mouth with the hem of my T-shirt.

  “You’re bleeding. Why are you bleeding?”

  “That’s what happens when you bite your lip, David. You bleed.”

  “How’d you bite your lip?”

  “You shoved me onto the freakin’ floor!”

  “Well, you went outside alone!” he yelled.

  “I said I was sorry!” I yelled back.

  David jammed his hand through his hair and reached for me with the other.

  Day Forty—Two

  We lost him.

  We were up and moving the next morning before dawn. That was our first mistake. Snow covered our landmarks and we got turned around and ended up on a back r
oad rather than a highway.

  “This might actually be a good thing.” Devlin held the map out so we all could see. “We’re here. I think.” He rubbed his chin with his gloved hand before pointing at the map again. “There’s a small town here. It’s far enough off the highway that it may be untouched. We might find some supplies there.”

  “Sounds good.” I smiled at him. “I vote we check it out since we’re so close.”

  Everyone agreed. Devlin folded the map and grabbed my hand. He folded it in his and brought the back of my gloved hand to his lips. A chill ran down my spine and I shivered.

  Someone cleared their throat. When I looked to my side I saw David roll his eyes. “Are we going?” he snapped.

  I pulled my hand from Devlin’s and walked ahead, my face burning.

  We came to the town about an hour later. It was another ghost town, like we figured it’d be. It was an eerie feeling walking through an empty town. It was like everyone just woke up one morning and walked away, leaving everything they owned behind. But it felt as if their spirits still lingered, watching us.

  “Let’s split up and get what we need and get out of here.” David was already walking toward the grocery store. “Seth, Judy, Eva, Rebecca, you’re with me. The rest of you go to the sporting goods and get ammo and the things we need there.”

  “Yes, sir.” Devlin snapped before he turned and stalked toward the sporting goods store.

  I helped find canned goods that would still be edible, filling our packs as full as we dared without weighing us down too much.

  “So, Devlin, huh?” David said behind me.

  I looked over my shoulder at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I didn’t see that coming. What is it about him?”

  “David, we’re just friends—”

  “Friends don’t kiss each other on the hand, or look at each other like he looks at you.” David shoved a can of pears in his pack.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I don’t want to get into this. You and I aren’t—”

  “Whatever.” He jerked his pack closed and walked away.

  We finished gathering what supplies we could and started out of town. “If we continue on this road it winds around and connects with the highway.” Seth folded a map and stuck it inside his coat pocket. We walked for another hour before the road ended.

  “Now what?” I looked at the lake in front of us.

  Seth’s eyebrows furrowed as he studied the map. “I have no idea. The lake isn’t on the map.”

  David looked over Seth’s shoulder. “You’re following this road, right?”

  “No. This one.”

  “That’s the wrong road, Seth. We’re here, in front of this lake.” David flicked the map with is thumb and finger, and let out a breath.

  “Oh.” Seth cringed. “Yeah. Sorry, guys.”

  “Not a big deal. We just cross the lake and pick back up on the other side. The road leads to the highway just the same.” David walked out on the ice covering the lake. “It’s thick enough, I think.”

  “We’re still far enough east that it’s frozen through. I used to ice skate on the lake near my house all the time when I was a kid.” Seth walked out on the ice.

  I don’t like it. I don’t like this idea at all.

  “Hey, let’s just go around,” I said. “We don’t know if the ice can hold all of us.”

  “I’m with Eva. I vote we go around.” Rebecca looked at the lake and then at Juan, apprehension in her eyes.

  “The lake’s too big to go around. We’ll lose too much time,” Seth said. “It’s fine.” He walked further out on the ice. “See, it’s clear. That’s the strongest ice. If it were milky I’d be more leery because it’s formed by melted and refrozen ice, making it porous and weak. Ice covered by snow is bad news, too. But this just has a dusting of snow; it’s fine.” He turned and looked over the lake, his hands on his hips. “I can almost see my dad and uncle in their ice shanty ice fishing. Of course, they spent more time drinking Budweiser than fishing, but they still caught enough for dinner.” Seth shook his head like he was trying to erase the memory. It was funny how we always seemed to do that—shake our heads to get rid of a memory, like our brains were damned etch-a-sketches or something.

  Ugh, Seth, don’t go out so far.

  “Let’s go.” Devlin started toward the lake. “We don’t have all day. We need to keep moving.”

  “Devlin?” I grabbed his coat sleeve. “Let’s go around. Please.”

  He gave me one of his half grins. “It’s alright. C’mon.”

  “Don’t walk single-file. Spread out. Listen for hollow ice when you step on it. If it sounds hollow, move,” David called. “Don’t panic if you see black ice with cracks running through it. That’s good. Um, black ice with no cracks, move to a different area.”

  Black ice with cracks—good. Clear ice—good. Everything else, kiss my ass goodbye.

  “David, I know I grew up in the south and I don’t know anything about this, but aren’t you supposed to, I don’t know, check the ice with some kind of tool? I mean, I saw a show on television about a hockey team that played on a frozen lake and they had this thing they twisted down into the ice…” I waved my hands in the air to show him what I meant.

  David smiled and pushed my hands down. “The ice will hold.”

  “But ice don’t freeze all the same,” Judy spoke up for the first time. “It may be thick here, but we get to the middle and we might just find ourselves looking at a bunch of mush. We need to check it and we need to keep checkin’ it as we cross.”

  “Are we doing this or what?” Seth stood about twenty feet from the shore.

  “Let’s go.” Roy pushed past Judy and walked onto the lake.

  Judy let out a loud sigh. “Damn men.”

  One by one we stepped onto the ice. Everyone made their way slowly across the slippery surface, except for Seth. He slipped across the surface laughing and playing like a kid. We were all almost across, Seth brought up the rear.

  Everything was going fine. But the ice had grown milkier the closer we came to the shore. I didn’t worry too much because we were almost across. But a small sound caught my ear and I looked at Devlin. From the wrinkle between his brows I could tell he’d heard it too.

  It was faint. The sound almost lost in the winter wind and the shuffling of our parkas. But when I heard it again, I knew.

  At first, it sounded like the crumpling of a piece of paper. Then, it became louder. The cracking sounded more like twigs breaking, and then branches breaking.

  For a moment no one said anything. We all watched the ice. Then everyone started talking at once.

  “Lay down, Seth! Lay flat against the surface of the ice,” David shouted.

  But it was already too late. As Seth crouched to lie down, the ice shattered beneath him. He fell like a person on a carnival water dunking game. One second he was staring at us with a look of shock, and the next he was gone.

  “Seth!” I screamed, lunging toward the hole in the ice. Devlin’s arm snaked out and wrapped around my waist keeping me from getting too close to the frigid water.

  “Roy, hold my leg.” David dropped his pack and stretched out along the ice, Roy behind him holding his ankles. He walked on his elbows until he reached the hole Seth had disappeared into. We held our breath waiting for him to resurface so David could grab him, and help him to shore. Seconds ticked by. Ten. Fifteen. Thirty.

  I slipped from Devlin’s grasp, dropped my pack and moved toward the hole, sliding on my stomach. I wiped away the snow as I moved across the ice.

  “Eva, be careful,” Judy called from shore, where she stood with Rebecca.

  “Devlin!” I was about ten feet from the hole Seth fell through. “He’s here! Break the ice, break the ice!” I pounded on the ice below me. Devlin grabbed a hatchet from his pack and started cutting away the ice. “Use a gun.”

  “He’s floating around too much to start shooting. David, get your hatchet
and start chipping away at this ice!” Devlin tried to make a crevice deep enough in the ice that he could punch through and grab Seth. “Of course this has to be where the ice is thick,” he said, out of breath.

  “He’s floating away!” I followed Seth on my hands and knees, wiping away the thin layer of snow to keep him in view. “David!” David started cutting the ice on the other side of Seth from Devlin.

  Devlin broke through. Reaching into the hole, he felt around, but he couldn’t reach Seth. He ran to where David was working and helped him, but when they’d made a hole big enough to reach through, the current had pulled Seth by.

  “David, move about five feet in front of where he is now. By the time you get the hole made he’ll have floated right to you. I’ll start next to him,” Devlin shouted.

  David moved out and started a hole. Devlin started one right next to Seth’s head. I sat on my knees staring at Seth’s lifeless body, feeling powerless to help. I looked at Devlin when he rocked back on his heels.

  “He’s floated by,” he said softly.

  “I know.” I crawled on all fours looking for Seth, swiping the snow away and looking for him through the ice. I was almost to David when I started to panic. I couldn’t find him.

  “Seth, Seth! Seth!” I shouted, my voice rising each time I called his name. I used both my gloved hands to move the snow away, like they were windshield wipers on a car. Still, I couldn’t find him.

  David came to me. “It’s been over ten minutes. Seth’s gone.”

  “No, no. We just need to find him. He could have found an air bubble or something. This water is cold. You know, hypothermia? I’ve heard of people surviving for minutes—”

  “Eva, it’s done.”

  “No! We can’t just give up.” I crawled on the ice, moving the snow out of the way so I could look for Seth, but minutes ticked by and I still hadn’t found him.

  Oh, Seth. I’m so sorry.

  I dropped back on my butt and covered my face with my hands. My body shook with silent sobs. When my lungs screamed for air I gasped in giant lungsful, and a wail ripped from my chest. Tears filled my eyes and spilled out onto my cheeks. Their heat unnaturally warm against my cold skin.