The Infected, a PODs Novel

by Michelle K. Pickett

  “What’s that shining up there?” Jessica pointed at an area ahead, and to the right, of us.

  “I can’t believe it,” I whispered. Laughing, I turned and gave Jessica a huge hug before I ran to David, my backpack bouncing around on my back. “They’re over there,” I yelled, stopping in front of him, out of breath, and still laughing.

  “What’s up with you?” He looked me up and down, like he was sure I’d finally gone insane.

  “I’m getting a shower tonight that’s what. Look! They’re over there. Jessica was going on and on about the kid in the green hoodie over there and how she thinks he’s so hot, when all of a sudden she stopped and asked what that was shining up there. It’s the PODs, David. It has to be. What else would be shining in the middle of the New Mexican desert?”

  “What kid in the hoodie?” Devlin looked around the group. “I need to have a talk with this hoodie kid.”

  “Our noses will appreciate you saving the birds and the bees discussion for after your shower, Devlin.”

  “Let’s go check it out.” David smiled, his silver eyes twinkling.

  “Where are the tents?” I looked over the expanse of land that held the underground PODs.

  We couldn’t see all of the POD hatches. From the first hatch to the last was a two day hike. The POD David, George, Aidan, Tiffany and I lived in was number seventy-eight. It was also the POD the group lived in after the virus reemerged.

  We planned to setup our community in any POD but number seventy-eight. It’d been about a year since the last time David and I were in that POD, and we’d locked more than a dozen Infected inside. They were probably starting to look real pretty, not to mention smelling nice. No, we were ready to move on to another POD, there were a hundred to choose from, after all. Surely we could find one we’d like without the added decoration of Infected brain matter splayed across the main entry.

  There was only one problem—the tents, or lack of. All but a few were gone.

  When the PODs were opened, we were taken to a tent according to the area we were assigned to live. There were hundreds of tents around the POD openings, one for each area, at each POD. Now, except for the few to the side of the POD opening, they had disappeared.

  Where are all the tents? Who would take them all down… hundreds of them? Unless the military really was here, and destroyed the PODS.

  “Good question.” David pulled his gun from his pack. Devlin did the same. When the other men in the group saw them, I heard guns sliding out of packs all through the group.

  “Maybe other travelers came through and took them,” I said, trying to shrug it off.

  “They weren’t the kind of tents a person takes on a hike across the country,” Devlin said.

  “Not everyone reads Field and Stream magazine on the toilet everyday like you, Devlin. They may not have realized they’d be too bulky to carry,” I snapped.

  Devlin pursed his lips to hide a grin. “Now I know why I kissed you all the time. It was the only time your mouth wasn’t running.”

  “You kissed me all the time because you’re a—”

  You kissed me all the time because we both liked it and were damned good at it.

  “Evangelina!” David jammed his hand through his hair.

  “What?” I yelled.

  “Let’s concentrate on the PODs and not you and Devlin kissing. I’d like to forget that particular part of history, if possible,” David said with a heavy sigh.

  Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.

  I nodded. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  Everyone talked at once, the sound like the hum of a small airplane droning. The air sizzled with excitement. We congregated around POD eighty, circling the hatch. The group had taken a vote and decided that POD eighty sounded like a good place to set-up our new village. We’d finally made it. Our new home.

  “We did it. I never thought I’d be happy to see this place again,” Tiffany said with a smile. Her straight white teeth gleamed against her sweaty, dirty face.

  “I know. Me either. I’ve been counting people and I think we’re all going to fit comfortably in one POD.” I looked around the group. “If everyone agrees, families can have the sub-PODs with the two bedrooms and couples and singles can have the bunks in the main POD.”

  “I get my own room if there are enough,” Jessica squealed, running toward me.

  “Really?” I took a step backward when she plowed into me.

  “Yup. Devlin said I could have one of the rooms in the main POD right next to his. He said you and David would be staying there, too.”

  “Yes we will.”

  Jessica smiled and skipped over to Green-Hoodie-Boy.

  I looked at Devlin, who’d walked up behind her. He shrugged. “It’s no different than her having a tent to herself. Except a room in the POD is going to be much safer than sleeping out where Infected are roaming.”

  “No, in the POD you’ll just have boys in green hoodies roaming around.” I smiled and winked.

  Devlin groaned and walked away.

  He’s so clueless. It must be hard raising Jessica alone.

  “He loves her.” Tiffany watched Devlin follow Jessica.

  “Yeah. I’ve never heard him complain for a second about having to raise her alone.”

  “He’s a nice guy. I can see how your head got screwed up around him.” She bumped me on the hip.

  I smiled, but didn’t say anything. Instead my gaze searched out David. He stood talking to Juan. He laughed at something Juan said, and my heart melted a little at the sight. They looked relaxed for the first time in almost two months.

  My eyes roamed over David. He stood at the hatch, one foot on the metal door, the other on the ground, his thumbs hooked in the belt loops of his jeans. His laughter carried on the breeze. If I listened closely, I could hear it, mingled in with the others talking. My heart fluttered in response to what my eyes soaked in. His smile, the way the corner of his eyes crinkled, how he tipped his head back when he laughed hard… it was these things I was focused on when they came.

  I heard them before I saw them. The unmistakable sound of a round being chambered filled the air. Not just one, either. There were several. They must have been hiding in the few tents left behind.

  Only those of us standing on the edge of the camp heard the men. The rest of our group still joked and talked too loud to hear them. Excited that we’d finally reached our destination, we hadn’t paid attention to anything but the POD—a big mistake.

  I dropped my pack and held my arms out to my sides and slowly turned around. Tiffany dropped her pack and held one arm out to her side. She cradled the baby close to her with the other.

  “You’d best put both arms out now, missy.” A man with a long braided beard said quietly.

  “I can’t,” Tiff’s voiced wavered. “I’m holding a baby.”

  “Then turn around slowly.”

  She turned and sucked in a sharp breath.

  There were at least twenty men with shotguns aimed at our group. Others took notice and, gathered around, guns in their hands

  “Eva!” David rushed forward.

  “Hold it,” the man with the braided beard said, aiming his gun at David. “You and your group need to gather your gear and move on. We don’t like visitors here.”

  “There’s one problem, mister. We ain’t leaving,” Roy called. “We’ve traveled a long way to get back to these PODs, and we’re sitting our butts down and staying a while.”

  “The PODs are occupied,” Braided-Beard-Man said.

  “I wasn’t askin’ for permission,” Roy drawled. He spat on the brown, packed dirt.

  “What do you mean the PODs are occupied?” I looked from the bearded man to the others standing around him.

  “Just what I said. We’ve made our home here. You take your group, and move along. We aren’t looking for any neighbors.”

  “Well, sorry, but you just got some. I don’t see anyone living in POD eighty here.” David pointed to the hat
ch. “And that’s the POD we’re claiming.”

  The men raised their guns. It was a domino effect. They raised their guns, and everyone in our group did the same. I could hear them yanking the levers back, chambering their rounds. We went from a semi-civil conversation, to a hostile stand-off in a matter of seconds.

  “Wait, wait!” I put my hands out in front of me. They shook so badly it looked like I was waving. “We don’t want any trouble. We’re from the PODs. We’re just coming back. If you want to live in the others, that’s great; we won’t bother you. We just want to stay in this one.”

  “Look lady,” a man from the back called. “We’ve got a community set-up here. It isn’t about one POD. We have over a thousand people living here. We don’t need no more.”

  A thousand people? Who? Top-siders?

  “Are you Topsiders?” Someone in our group called.

  “Yeah. What of it?”

  “Nothing. I’m a Topsider, too. Most of us are.”

  Braided-Beard Man looked at me and jabbed the tip of his gun in my direction. “Not you though. You’re a Chosen.”

  I flinched at the term. That’s what the raffle winners were called when the virus first hit. The Chosen. That’s what I was. Like I wore a scarlet letter across my chest. Some Topsiders were still resentful of us, believing the raffle system had been fixed.

  “What of it?” I didn’t move when the tip of his gun swung in my direction. “I was, and these are my PODs.” I pointed at the hatch behind me. “I lived in them for fifteen months, and then again when the virus hit the second time. I’m back to claim what’s mine. We’re all here to claim what’s ours, and we’re not leaving. We’ve traveled over a thousand miles to get to here and we’re damn sure not leaving!” I yelled the last few words.

  The man barked a laugh. “You got spunk, I’ll give you that. You’ve seen Infected?”

  “It’s been nearly two weeks,” David answered.

  “Animal or human?”

  “Human.”

  “When’s the last time you’ve seen animal infected?” The man with the braided beard asked.

  David rubbed his forehead with the side of his hand. “Two nights, maybe three. They all run together when you’re traveling as far as we have.”

  The man nodded, consulted with a man beside him, and turned to us once more. “The rule of our community is that all newcomers go through quarantine. It’s mandatory. Everyone does it. If you refuse, you’re assumed to be Infected and treated as such. If you fail quarantine, you’re disposed of like any other Infected. If you come out of the POD clean, you’re allowed to join our community, or you can keep to yourselves out here. Makes no difference to us. But whatever you decide, you still have to go through three weeks of quarantine. We’ll see to it that you have food and supplies. You have five minutes to decide.”

  “Or?” Devlin asked, his gun still aimed at the men.

  The man shrugged. “Five minutes to either get in the POD and start your quarantine, or get your gear and start hiking back the way you came. Or we’ll be forced to defend our community. You understand?” He raised an eyebrow, glaring at Devlin.

  “Perfectly. C’mon, Jessica.” Devlin held his arm out to his sister, and lowered his gun.

  “Eva,” David murmured, slipping his hand along the small of my back.

  I turned and walked along side David. Jessica and I stood at the hatch while David and Devlin opened it. The metal hinges creaked and groaned when they lifted it. It hit the ground with a hard thud, sending sand and grit billowing around us.

  The men never moved. They watched us closely, their guns tracking our movements.

  Devlin climbed down the ladder first. Jessica followed. David helped me into the hatch and onto the ladder. Our gazes locked for a few beats before I stepped down into the dark POD.

  This feels wrong, wrong, wrong. Trusting people we don’t know to lock us up in a tin can for three weeks. Underground! They’re burying us alive.

  People began to climb down the ladder after me. David helped them from the top, and Devlin helped them at the bottom. It didn’t take long for the people in our group to make their way into the POD. David was the last in.

  “Listen…” A bald man in the welcome gang started.

  “David.”

  The man nodded. “David. The video surveillance systems are on board now. The Infected had done a number on them,” the bald man said.

  “Yeah, I know. They knocked them offline when we were here last.”

  “Well we’ve got them running, so when we deliver your rations each day you can watch us on the monitors. We’ll open the hatch and set your supplies on the ramp. Wait until the hatch is closed—and locked—before you come for them. If anyone approaches the hatch while it’s open they’ll be shot. We don’t play around. We haven’t seen an Infected in over four months and we’re gonna do everything we can to make sure we keep it that way. We got a good thing going here, and we ain’t about to let no strangers screw it out from under us.”

  “Understood.” David started to duck into the POD, but the man stopped him a second time.

  “How many are in your group?”

  “Sixty-four, no, sixty-one” David said quietly.

  “We’re real sorry for those you lost.”

  “Thanks.” David lowered himself into the POD and the man closed the hatch and braced it with something to keep the wheel from turning—locking us in. I immediately felt like something had squeezed the air out from my lungs. My breathing came in quick shallow gasps, and spots of lights danced in front of my eyes.

  “Breathe, Eva,” Devlin said. “Take a deep breath.” I inhaled until my lungs stretched so far it hurt. “Good girl. It’s fine, feel that?” He held my hand up to one of the vents in the large circular tubes running along the ceiling of the main POD.

  “Yes.” I nodded, and licked my lips.

  “Roy has the air flowing. You’re fine.”

  David jumped down from the ladder and wrapped me in his arms. He gave Devlin a hard glare.

  “She started to hyperventilate.” Devlin held his hands up. “That’s all.”

  “Hey.” David put his finger under my chin and lifted my face to his. “You should be used to this place by now. What’s up?”

  “It’s not being here. It’s being locked in here by a bunch of men with guns that has me a tiny bit worried.”

  “Well, what else did you want us to do, Eva? Go back where we came from? Plow our way through the Infected all the way back to Rosewood where we’d slowly starve to death? This was your idea remember?”

  “Gee, thanks for throwing that in my face.” I felt hot tears fill my eyes. “Yes! I remember it was my idea. But the last time we were here there wasn’t a welcome wagon full of armed guards locking people underground. I thought we’d be alone.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry.” David scrubbed his hand up and down his face and blew out a breath. “I know. C’mon, let’s find a couple of rooms and stow our things.”

  I found some rooms closest to the sub-POD corridor where George and Tiff were staying. I tossed my junk in one and turned, plowing into David. “Oh! Don’t sneak up on people, David.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I want to check out the gardens and see how bad they are. Maybe we can figure out how to get a message to our jailers and ask for some plant seeds, and I can start to get things in order while we’re locked down here. What are you doing?”

  “I came to check on my neighbor.” He reached out and tugged on a piece of hair that had fallen out of my pony tail. “I wanted to make sure she didn’t need any help unpacking.” David walked forward; I stepped backward into my room. “She might need help reaching the top shelf in the closet…” he backed me further into the room and pushed the door closed with one arm and reached for me with the other.

  “So you’re just being neighborly?”

  “Exactly.” He put his hands on my hips. “I would be obligated as a good neighbor to help her
out with things like that. Or, say, checking the bed’s softness.” The backs of my knees hit the side of the bed and I fell backward with a surprised giggle. David eased himself down onto the bed and pulled me to him. “Yeah, see, this bed definitely needed to be checked out.”

  “Did it?” My voice came out breathy, hardly a sound. My heart hammering against my ribs was probably easier to hear.

  “Yes, it’s much too cold. It needs to be warmed up…” his lips touched mine. They were soft and moist, and his breath smelled of spearmint candy. I wanted to grab handfuls of his hair and hold his head tightly to me until I got my fill of his kisses—but I’d never get my fill. His tongue dipped into my mouth. It felt cool, and I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped me.

  My stomach turned over and over on itself, and my head swam from the feel and taste of David. My toes curled so tightly in my boots they ached.

  My hands pushed up his soft knit pull-over and I raked my fingernails over his chest. He ground out a curse. I raised an eyebrow and tried to hide my grin when he broke our kiss to pull his shirt over his head and toss it across the room.

  Leaning over me, he ran his hands under my sweatshirt, pushing it up. His fingers skimmed over my belly. My muscles tightened, and goose bumps covered me. His fingers moved from my belly to my sides, trailing up the sensitive skin. I arched my back. He took our kiss deeper—the kind of kiss that made my heart fall into my stomach, and my stomach to my toes.

  A knock sounded at the door followed by Devlin’s voice. “They just left the first of our supplies,” he called.

  “Dammit.” David clenched his teeth. He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me lightly before grabbing my shirt and handing it to me with a grin. “You’re gonna need this.”

  “Unless we declare POD eighty a nudist POD, but I really don’t want to see Roy in the nude. I’ve seen enough of his butt crack to get my fill.”

  David laughed. “Good to know.” He pulled his shirt over his head.

  “Come here.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “It looks like you’ve been standing on your head.” I fixed the unruly strands. “There. Much better.” I smiled at him, but he didn’t return it. His eyes were gray, streaked with silver, like the sky during a lightning storm. “What?”