“Uh, there’s no quarantine.” Devlin shrugged a shoulder.
“So?”
“Crap,” I said quietly.
“So?” Roy asked again.
“I’m going. Anyone is welcome to come with me.”
David pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Eva, we just need to be patient.”
“They aren’t letting people in. There’s no quarantine, Roy. That means they aren’t letting people in. Am I right, Devlin? That’s what you’re trying to say.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Roy said.
“We just need to wait for our chance to slip through the fence-”
“And then what, David? What are you going to tell people to explain a forty—seven day disappearance?”
“I don’t know.”
“Eva’s right,” Judy said. “We’re screwed.”
“There’s more,” Devlin said.
“What else could there be?” Rebecca asked with an almost hysterical laugh.
“There hasn’t been any help from Area-One. Food shortages. Rioting. The feed for the animals to keep them from becoming infected hasn’t been delivered. Hunters aren’t allowed outside the village to hunt, and even if they were, the test kits haven’t been distributed to them to test their kills for the virus. There’s been no supplies coming into the village. The village is still completely cut-off.”
“I’m going.”
“Eva, you’re talking a thousand miles to New Mexico and you don’t even know if the PODs are still there.” Devlin ran his hand through his hair, his other rested low on his hip.
“I can’t sit around here and do nothing. And I don’t want to live in there and starve while we wait for Area-One to decide to help. If they help at all!”
“We’re going, too,” Roy said.
“We are?” Judy turned to Roy, surprise coloring her features.
“I am, woman. You can come or you can stay, but I’m goin’. I’d just soon you come.”
“I’m going. I just have to get Jessica out first,” Devlin said.
“Good. We’ll get Jessica and see if Jai Li wants to come. I want to ask George and Tiff and try to get word to the others—Aidan, Katie, and the rest.”
“Wait. We don’t have supplies for many more people,” Judy warned.
“Like we’ll have supplies either way?”
Judy shrugged in answer.
David sighed. “Eva—”
“What? What is here that you want to stay?”
David looked at me for a minute, his eyes searching mine. “Nothing.”
“Then why not go to the PODs?”
He shook his head slowly. “It’s not safe to travel that far.”
“It’s not safe to stay here!” I held my arms out wide, gesturing around us.
“Fine. We’ll go to the PODs. There’s nothing here for us anymore.”
“We stay a week? Give us a chance to get word to everyone, and them a chance to decide if they want to go or stay?” Devlin suggested.
We all agreed.
“I want to get inside.” I handed David a plate of dinner before sitting next to him on a fallen log by the fire.
“Why?” he asked around a bite of stew. “I thought you said there wasn’t anything keeping you here.”
Okay, he’s upset and is going to make this an issue. Great. This ought to be a fun week.
“There isn’t any thing keeping me here, but there are people that I’d like to see before we leave. I’d like to ask them to come with us. If they don’t, I’d at least like to say goodbye before I leave. I want to see Tiff.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking. If the doctors knew about the vaccine and where it came from, maybe we’d catch a break and they’d let us back into the village. We’d be quarantined, but we’d be home again.” David took another bite of stew, looking sideways at me.
Drawing in the thin layer of snow with a twig, I shrugged a shoulder. “Give it a shot, David. If they let you back in that’s great.” I started to stand when he grabbed my arm, pulling me down next to him.
“What do you mean if they let me back in?”
“I’m not staying. It doesn’t matter if they’ll let us in or not. I’m sorry.” I walked away, my heart hurting, and heavy in my chest at the thought of David staying behind.
“Eva, wait. Evangelina!” He caught up to me and grabbed my arm, twirling me around to face him. “What do you mean you’re sorry?”
“I mean I’m not staying, and I’m sorry if you want to.”
David let out an exasperated breath and looked at the sky before his gaze found mine. “You aren’t even going to try?”
“No. People are starving, David. That’s where you want to live? Where people are dying of starvation because their government has deserted them? While they sit up there eating hot meals, getting top-notch medical care, hunting and living life like nothing’s wrong. The people in the smaller villages have to deal with rioting, the military roaming the streets, and watch each other slowly die, either from starvation, the elements, the virus, or God knows what else!" I let out a bitter laugh and shook my head. "No thanks.”
“And you’d risk your life for a place that might not even be there anymore? You’d risk fighting with the Infected?” He jammed his hand through his hair. “You’re that sure?”
Geez, does he think I’d make a decision like this on a whim? It’s not like I flipped a coin—heads I stay and starve, tails I walk a thousand miles to the PODs that may be a pile a junk.
I smiled. “Sorta.”
He laughed. “Well, good. As long as you’re sure.”
“I don’t think anyone is completely sure about anything. We can only go with what our gut tells us, and mine is telling me that staying here is not the right thing.”
He rubbed his face with his hands and let out a breath. “Okay. The PODs it is.”
“Wait, what is your gut instinct telling you, David? Why do you want to stay?”
“Actually, my instincts are silent on the subject so yours are gonna have to do the talking for both of us, which shouldn’t be a problem since your mouth usually does the talking for both of us anyway.” He grinned.
“Funny. Ha freakin’ ha.”
The next night, David and I waited in the tree line until it was clear to slip through the fence. Once inside the village, we made our way through the darkened yards to the Medical District. David rapped once on the back door. It opened almost immediately.
“We wondered when we’d see you. Hey, Eva.” George wrapped me in a hug.
“Eva?”
“Tiff!” I nearly plowed through George trying to get to Tiffany. “You look horrible.” I smiled and hugged her tightly. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her hair looked like she’d forgotten to comb it.
“This,” She waved her hands up and down her body, “is what happens when you have a newborn in the house.”
“Can I see him?”
“Sure, but you best not wake him up. I just got him asleep.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
We stood over John Francis’s crib and I smiled. “He’s gorgeous,” I whispered before I turned and hurried out of the room, Tiffany following close behind me.
“Eva?” She touched my shoulder lightly. “What’s wrong?”
“I had to leave.” I worked really hard to keep my voice from shaking.
“Why? Are you upset?”
“No. I didn’t want to burst out laughing in the baby’s room and wake him up.” I slapped a hand over my mouth.
Stupid, Eva. It’s probably not a good thing to tell a new mom that you wanted to laugh when you saw her newborn.
Tiffany pulled her hand away from my shoulder and glared at me.
“I’m sorry, Tiff. He’s beautiful, it’s not him. It’s just… he reminds me of a miniature George. Put little baby tattoos on him and he’s a miniature George!” I couldn’t stop laughing. “They even
have the same blonde crew-cut.”
Tiffany smiled. “That’s what I think, too.”
I laughed harder. “Then you won’t mind if I get him some of those temporary tattoos to wear?”
“Well, maybe we won’t go that far.”
We had dinner with Tiffany and George and, for a little while, it was just like old times—before David and I were homeless. We told them all the funny things about our trip, like the snow ball fight and Roy shooting the squirrel over my head sending snow raining down on me.
“We’re going to have to leave soon, Eva.” David looked at me, his elbow on the table, and his chin resting on his fist. He looked relaxed for the first time in weeks.
“Listen, there’s something David and I need to talk with you about. We aren’t staying in Rosewood.”
“What?” George set down the cup he was taking a drink from so hard the water slopped over the side and onto his hand. He flung it off, never looking away from me.
“We are never going to be allowed back into the compound legally. You know that. And even if we were, we don’t want to sit around and wait for the government to decide to open the compound again before we starve.”
“So what are you planning to do, Eva?” Tiffany grabbed George’s hand, threading their fingers together.
“David and I, and a group of others, are going to the PODs.”
“The PODs? I didn’t see that coming,” George whispered.
“We wanted to tell you in person and let you know that we leave six days from now. If you want to come,” David said.
“Go with you?” Tiffany looked at George. “That’s a long walk with a newborn.”
“Just think about it, Tiff. You and George don’t have to make a decision tonight. In fact, you shouldn’t. You should talk about it. Like David said, we don’t leave for almost a week. You have time. Just remember what you have here… or rather, what you don’t have.”
“Let’s go, Eva. It’s good seeing you two.” David smiled and gave Tiffany a quick hug, bumped fists with George and stepped outside.
“Whatever you decide, I’ll see you before we leave.” I gave Tiffany a hug, and kissed George on the cheek, before following David outside.
We were silent until we cut through the yards and through the hole in the fence. “What do you think they’ll do?” I asked, as we got closer to camp.
“I doubt they’ll go. Not with the baby so young,” he said.
“A baby they need to feed.”
“We’ll see what they decide.”
“They’d be fools to stay.”
“They’re probably saying the same about us leaving. Everyone doesn’t share the same opinion as you, Eva, believe it or not.”
I pulled back and looked at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
“You know, if you don’t want to go to the PODs then stay, but cut the attitude. I’ve had it up to here.” I flicked my hand across the top of my head. Brushing past, I walked ahead of him.
“Eva!”
I turned when I heard the high pitched voice calling from across the camp. I smiled when I saw Jessica skipping toward me. She barreled right into me.
“Dammit, Jessica, I told you to be quiet,” Devlin complained behind her.
“Where’s David?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” I bit out.
“Uh-oh,” Devlin said under his breath, grinning at me.
“Is this your tent? Cuz I’ll put mine next to it so we can talk.” She dropped her pack on the ground and started unclipping her tent.
“Yes, this is mine. Listen, don’t put yours here. You can just sleep in mine with me.”
“Really? Good! We can have a slumber party and do our make-up and hair. It’ll be fun. Almost like we’re home.”
I heard Devlin chuckle above me, I looked up and glared at him. “I didn’t bring much make-up, Jessica—”
“Oh, that’s okay. I brought tons! We can even do our nails.”
“How fortunate,” I mumbled. I pulled off a glove and looked at my nails. “I guess I could use a manicure.”
Devlin laughed out loud and walked by.
I stood outside the tent David and Devlin were sharing. “David? Are you awake?”
“Hmm?”
I nudged his foot with mine. “I need to go home.”
He rose up on his elbow. I could barely see his outline in the blinding darkness. “Why?”
“There are some things I want to take with me. And before you say anything, I know I said there was nothing here I wanted, but I was wrong.”
He sighed. “What?”
“I’d like to get the photo of my parents. I’d also like to get the scrapbook of your drawings. That’s all I want. I thought you might want to get the photo of your sisters.”
“Okay, let’s go.” He flipped on a flashlight and looked around for his jeans. I watched his back muscles flex when he turned to grab his jeans in the dim light. He stood and pulled them on and I had to stifle a groan. He was in nothing but his boxer briefs and, damn, did he look fine. He pushed his arms through his sweatshirt and held it out, ready to pull it over his head. My eyes were drawn to the rippled muscles of his abs and the tapering of his obliques where they disappeared into his waistband. My heart rolled in my chest and I had a fluttering low in my belly. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. “Are you coming or not?”
“Yeah, I’m coming. I’m just enjoying the view first.”
He grinned.
Good Lord, I’m a horrible person. I’m making out with Devlin one minute, and then I’m ogling a shirtless David the next. I can’t keep doing this. I don’t want to keep doing this. I wish my feelings would just disappear for both of them and we could go back to the way it was… before I totally screwed everything up.
David and I made our way through the meadow and weaved through the yards of the houses on Primrose Avenue. When we came to my house we walked across the back deck, avoiding the boards that squeaked.
Inside the house, I maneuvered by memory. We couldn’t use a flashlight. That would be like a neon sign over the house that said: Intruders.
I got the photo of my parents, and swiped the scrapbook of David’s drawings from the coffee table. Then I grabbed a few clean changes of clothes. I would have really liked a shower, but we couldn't be there that long.
“Are you sure this is all you want?”
I thought for a minute. I couldn’t think of anything else that held any sentimental value for me. “I think so. Is there something I’m forgetting?”
“Nope.”
I sifted through my memory. “Okay. Let’s get out of here.”
Everything was going fine. We left my house and weaved through the backyards of our neighbors, dodging bikes, pools, and swing sets until we got to David’s. He went in and grabbed the photo of his sisters and some clean clothes.
Quickly, we made our way back to the meadow. We waited at the edge until we were sure there were no guards lurking around the fence. Then we started across to the hole in the fence.
We were halfway across the meadow when I heard, “Eva! Run!” If a person could whisper and yell at the same time, that’s what David did. “Go now!”
I broke into a run. It wasn’t until the spotlight shone on David that I realized he wasn’t behind me. I slipped through the hole in the fence and turned. Two men in hazmat gear push David to his knees, a third held a gun to his head.
No!
They bound his hands behind him before jerking him up and pushing him toward the waiting Humvee. David stumbled. The man jerked him up by the collar of his jacket. My insides shook, beginning with a little spot inside my chest, and radiating out from there, until my entire body was trembling. Like a stone thrown into a pond, it rippled through me. Blood rushed behind my ears in time to my heartbeat, and adrenaline burned through my veins with every contraction. I had only one thought.
I’m not leaving without David.
&n
bsp; I was just slipping through the hole of the fence—I have no idea what I would have done—when someone grabbed me by the arm. I turned and punched the person as hard as I could.
“Dammit, that hurt.”
“Devlin! David… we have to go—”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“I have to go back for him!” I tried to yank my arm free of Devlin’s grasp.
“They aren’t going to just let him go.”
“Where’s your gun? We’ll make them let him go. Devlin! They’re leaving; we have to do something!” Tears filled my eyes as I watched the Humvee drive away with David inside.
I grabbed the fence and slipped through before Devlin could stop me. I didn’t go anywhere, though. I just watched the Humvee’s tail lights get smaller and smaller, blurred by my tears.
“Let’s go.” Devlin took my hand and gently pulled me through the slit in the fence, and back to camp.
“How’d you know?” I whispered.
Devlin was silent for a few moments. I didn’t think he was going to answer me. Finally he said, “I was awake when you asked David to take you inside. I thought it’d be a good idea if you had someone to watch your backs, but I didn’t see them until it was too late to warn you.”
“Why didn’t he run?”
He scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed. “He knew you both couldn’t get out.”
“Oh.” I dropped down on a log next to the fire and stared into the gold flames dancing over the blackened logs.
“It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out. We know people in the village, people who’ll help.” Devlin ran his hands up and down my arms, then to my face, cradling it.
“There’s no quarantine,” I whispered.
“What?” Devlin rubbed his thumb over my cheek.
“You said they weren’t quarantining people.”
“That’s right.”
“So what are they doing to them, then?”
I sat on the log, staring into the fire. The same place I’d been all night. I hadn’t moved since I returned to the camp after David was taken.
“Eva?”
“Hmm?” Looking up, I saw Judy holding a plate of breakfast out to me. I smiled and took it. “Thank you.”
“Try to eat some.”
The Infected, a PODs Novel Page 19