The Infected, a PODs Novel

by Michelle K. Pickett

  Devlin put a finger to my lips. “Shh. I’ve always been straight with you, yeah?” I nodded and he skated his fingers over my jaw. “You’re fine. I promise.” He kissed my forehead. “I’d kiss you on the mouth and prove it to you if David wasn’t armed.”

  I could feel his lips tip in a grin and I pulled back. My gaze found his and I smiled. “Yeah, I wouldn’t chance it if I were you. But I really could use some comforting, and you are damn good at the kissing stuff.”

  Devlin laughed and grabbed my hand. “Come on. Let’s go find David and the others.”

  We ran through the throngs of people, stopping to shoot the infected animals as we went.

  They just keep coming and coming. How many can there possibly be?

  “I see Roy.” Devlin pointed.

  “Yeah. How could you miss that butt crack? It shines brighter than the moon.”

  Devlin chuckled. “I’m getting him a pair of suspenders for Christmas.”

  “I don’t see David.” I stood on my toes looking around.

  “Eva! Right!”

  I dropped from my toes and turned to my right, aimed and shot the javelina running at me. I stood motionless for a few seconds making sure it was the only one. When I was reasonably sure there weren’t anymore, I stood on my toes and looked around. “Those things are ugly. Do you see David?”

  “Geez, you have a one track mind.”

  I shot a wild dog. “Devlin?”

  He huffed, “What?”

  “Are you a virgin?” I fired another two rounds.

  He coughed to cover a laugh. “What?”

  I glanced at him. “Are you?”

  “I think you know I’m not.” He fired five shots in succession.

  “Well,” I fired and missed a cougar. Devlin turned and took aim, hitting it between the eyes. It fell with a small splash in the water covering the ground. A mini-stream of blood snaked by my feet. “I am. And I’m not planning on dying that way. And keeping David alive plays an integral part in my plan. So, do you see David?”

  “We’re fighting infected animals in the dead of night, during a downpour, with no way to see where they’re coming from or how many there are, and you are worried about your sex life?”

  “Well… yeah.”

  “David’s on your left and coyotes straight ahead.”

  “I see.” I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger and… nothing. “Damn!” I flipped the lever and let the magazine drop. I grabbed another from my pocket and pushed it in and chambered a round, aimed and fired just as the coyote jumped at me. The force of my shot jerked it backward and it dropped to the ground, too close for my liking. Much too close.

  “Count ‘em. You have to count your shots.”

  “It’s been kind of hectic.”

  “Better hectic than dead.”

  “Yeah, yeah. On your right.”

  “Thanks.”

  I made it to the little group of people where we’d last seen David. “Roy? Where’s David?”

  “Dunno. He was here just a minute ago. I think they’re letting up.”

  “Yeah,” Devlin agreed.

  I don’t know why I turned. There were gunshots ringing throughout the camp that night. That shot shouldn’t have been different. Shouldn’t have sounded louder than the rest, deadlier than the rest, but it did. And I turned toward it.

  Lightning arced across the sky and I saw the bullet make contact with his body. It wasn’t like in movies. He didn’t just stumble a little from the hit. He was shoved forward from the force of the bullet traveling hundreds of miles per second slamming into him.

  “David!” I screamed and shoved my way through people to get to him. I fell on my knees in the mud beside him. The rain pelted us. David lay on his back in the mud. His red blood swirled, mixing with the brown water he lay in.

  “Eva. I told you it was a bad idea to give guns to girls.” He tried to laugh but the sound came out a wet cough. “Tell her I said it’s okay.”

  I shook my head. “No, no, you’re going to tell her yourself.”

  “I don’t think so,” he whispered.

  “Where’s he hit? Eva! Where’s he hit?” Devlin yelled over the rain.

  “I… I… don’t know… maybe his side? There’s blood everywhere. I don’t know. I don’t know!”

  I smoothed the wet hair out of David’s eyes, thankful for the rain trailing down mine to hide my tears. “Devlin’s here. He’s going to take care of this. You’re just being a baby, always the drama queen.” I tried to smile.

  “Yeah, that’s me.” David’s eyes fluttered closed. “I love you, Evangelina. Always.”

  “David… David? David!”

  “Dammit, he’s losing too much blood,” Devlin shouted, pulling his T-shirt off and pressing it to David’s wound.

  “C’mon, Eva.” Judy took my arm and tried to move me away.

  “No! I’m not leaving him.” I jerked away from her and laid my head on David’s chest.

  David, don’t leave me alone, not after everything we’ve been through. Please. I can’t do life without you. This isn’t happening. No… I’m dreaming. I just need to wake-up. Wake-up. Wake-up, dammit!

  “Eva,” Devlin said softly. I looked up into his face. His eyebrows were pulled in a tight line over his eyes. The corners of his mouth turned down.

  “No, no, no, no.” I shook my head. Devlin opened his mouth to say something, but his words were drowned out by the rain and the blood rushing behind my ears.

  The world began to spin around me. Where I sat was solid, unmoving. But the world around me spun like a tilt-a-whirl. Around and around, people flew, the colors of their clothes melded into one long line until all I saw was a line of color.

  And then I saw nothing at all.

  I liked the blackness. I didn’t have to see the pale, bloodless face of the man I loved lying on the muddy ground, his blood seeping out around him. I let it suck me in. Soon it wasn’t just blackness I saw, but that’s all I heard and felt, as well.

  Complete nothingness.

  If I couldn’t have David in the other world, I’d stay in the world of nothingness, where the pain couldn’t touch me and memories were just fuzzy images that I couldn’t quite grasp.

  So I gave in to the nothingness. The last thing I remember was Devlin calling my name and the feel of the mud squishing under my cheek where my head hit the ground, and then, nothing.

  I liked it there. I decided I’d stay.

  Blood seeped into the murky puddles created by the rain, turning the water a putrid mixture of brown and red. People ran and screamed around us, gunshots boomed. Infected animals were relentless in their attack.

  I. Didn’t. Care.

  I wanted to curl up next to David and slip into oblivion. So that’s what I did. I let the blackness wash over my body. The sights and sounds of the fight slowly slipped away, and nothingness took their place. And that’s where I wanted to stay.

  But an irritating beeping pulled me from my peaceful cocoon. Bright light shone through my eyelids, and I could see the small capillaries running through my skin. Somewhere people spoke in hushed voices. I didn’t open my eyes.

  “What’s wrong with her?” A man asked.

  “How long will she stay like this? Unconscious?”

  Wait, is that Tiffany’s voice?

  “She’s battling shock, dehydration, malnutrition, the effects of the long, difficult journey to Area-One, during which I understand she became quite ill, and then the journey here to the PODs. Inclement weather, shock from the attack… these are all things her body and mind are struggling with. Our brains and body handle things differently. She’ll wake up when she’s ready.”

  A woman’s voice. It’s familiar. Soothing. She said I’m in shock. Shock from what? I’ve battled infected. I’ve had brain and guts all over me, what’s worse than that? I don’t think there’s much left that would shock me.

  A weight fell on my chest, pressing me into the bed. I braced myself against the sight
that flashed in front of my eyes. The memory I struggled to forget. I wanted to un-see it. Erase it.

  David lying in the mud. Blood. So much blood. David. David’s gone.

  I let the blackness take me again.

  “It’s been three days.” Tiff’s voice again. Has she been here every day? She should go home to her family.

  “I know.” Devlin’s voice.

  “He’s doing better than she is.”

  He? He who? David? No, David’s dead. Shot.

  I switched my mind off. I didn’t want to listen to them talk.

  There isn’t anything they can say that will make things okay again. David is gone and I wish I was dead, too.

  Ah! The damn beeping! It’s driving me insane. Beep, beep, beep… I just want it to shut the hell up. It’s keeping me awake and I don’t want to be awake. I want to sleep. To forget.

  The room seemed dark. There were no bright lights shining through my eyelids. I opened one eye—just a crack. The room was lit by small lights running along the floor. It looked familiar, but I didn’t have the energy to care. I closed my eyes and tried to block out the beeping.

  I thought of David. His smile, his eyes, his laugh, the way it felt when he touched me—then the awful memory broke through and I saw him lying in the mud bleeding. I was glad the room was dark. No one saw the tears run down my face. The beeping faded and I slipped back into a deep sleep. A sleep where there were no memories to haunt me.

  The beeping was back and the light was shining in my eyes. I moaned and threw my arm over my eyes. Something pinched and I pulled back to look at it.

  What the heck?

  I sat up and looked around. I had an IV in one arm and some kind of machine hooked up to me that wouldn’t stop its incessant beeping. I was in a sub-POD, but it was… different. The walls were removed. Beds lined the perimeter of the large room separated by sheets used as curtains.

  “Well, hello, Eva,” a dark-skinned woman, with the most beautiful smile, said. She sat behind a desk where the kitchen should have been. Looking to the woman next to her, she said, “Go tell them she’s awake.”

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re in POD eighty-five, the medical POD. You were brought here three nights ago.

  “The guy…” I swallowed hard. My voice was gravelly, hoarse. But that’s not why I could barely bring myself to say his name. I had to ask about him, but I didn’t know if I wanted to know the answer. If she told me he was… well, whatever she told me it would make it real. If I ignored it I could pretend nothing happened, that David was okay. “Do you know anything about the guy I was with?” I forced myself to ask.

  “Who? Did you replace me already?”

  “David!” I launched myself out of bed. The wires attached to the machine popped off my skin. The IV ripped out of my arm, blood dribbled down and dripped from my fingertips to the floor.

  He was dressed in a hospital gown and pajama pants. Devlin pushed him in a wheelchair. He was pale and winced when I hugged him, but otherwise looked like my David.

  “How? You were… there was so much blood and I thought…” My lip quivered and tears filled my eyes. I cupped his face with my hands. “It was… bad… and you looked like…” I buried my head in the curve of his neck.

  He moved his hand up and down my spine. “I was lucky. The bullet didn’t hit any major organs. It went in one side and came out the other. Lots of blood, but no real damage.”

  I nodded and tried to smile. The tears came faster. I don’t know why I was crying. I was happy. David was alive. But the tears wouldn’t stop, and I couldn’t get the image of him lying in the muddy water out of my mind.

  David pulled my face to his. “I love you.”

  “I’m so mad at you,” I whispered back.

  He pulled his head back and looked at me. “What?”

  “This is twice now. You’ve made me think you’ve died twice. I’m getting sick of it, David. If we’re gonna get married you’ve got to cut this out. First you get bitten and now you get shot! No more. I can’t take the stress. I’m sure I have gray hairs over this and I’m not even twenty yet!”

  David laughed. I didn’t see what there was to laugh about, but he laughed a deep, throaty laugh. A real laugh. I tried to glare at him, but failed. His laugh warmed me, and I ran my hands over his chest and shoulders, trying to assure myself he was alive and okay. “I promise to do everything in my power not to make you worry that I’ve been killed again.” David vowed, still laughing.

  “How long have I been here? The nurse said three nights?”

  “Yeah, three nights. Today is the fourth day. You were starting to make me worry.”

  “Eh, I just needed some beauty sleep, that’s all.”

  David smiled. “You couldn’t be more beautiful. But you could use a shower. I have a surprise for you afterward.”

  “Yeah? What?”

  “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.” David rolled his eyes. “Go take a shower. I’ll be in the main room. Wait until you see it. They’ve made it into a waiting room. This place is wicked cool. They’ve raided every furniture store in the state, I think. And you can tell they’ve found a few hospitals, too.”

  “The shower’s right there, Eva.” The nurse—I guess that’s what she was—pointed to the only portion of the wall that hadn’t been removed. “There are clean clothes in a locker with your name on it.”

  “Thank you.”

  I had to wash my hair twice to get all the mud and gunk out of it. When I was done showering I changed into clean clothes. I was surprised to find a pair of black skinny jeans and a new pheasant blouse in the locker, and not a hospital gown. Tiffany must have picked them out for me, because everything matched, right down to the ballerina flats that coordinated with the colors in the paisley shirt. David wouldn’t have been that thorough.

  I found a hair dryer on the counter and dried my hair, leaving it loose, how David liked it. Tiffany included a tube of lip gloss and mascara with my things—both luxuries saved for very special occasions. I applied a little and put everything back in my bag.

  When I returned to the main room, David was gone.

  “He’s in the main POD,” the nurse said with a smile. “Do you know how to get there?”

  “Yes.” I nodded, already walking toward the door. “Thank you.”

  I forced myself to walk the hallway connecting the sub-POD to the main. I wanted to run, but my legs were weak from lying in bed so long. The hallway seemed to go on forever. Finally, I came to the main POD.

  David was right, it was cool. There were chairs and couches set up in the room. Plants were sitting on tables and lamps gave a soft glow instead of the room’s normal harsh lighting. If it wasn’t for the metal walls and grated metal floor, it would look like a hospital waiting room. It was all very beautiful, but it wasn’t the sight I wanted—what my eyes craved.

  I saw David across the room. He’d ditched the wheelchair and was standing with a group of people. When our gazes met, he immediately came to me.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in a wheelchair?” I ran my hands through his hair, across his shoulders, down his arms, up his chest and cupped his face, grazing my lips over his. I couldn’t stop touching him, making sure he was really okay.

  “Nah, I feel fine,” he said with a smile.

  “So what’s the big surprise?”

  “You’re about to find out, but first, look at me.”

  I looked into his eyes and sucked in a breath when I saw the emotion in them. “What’s wrong?” I threaded my fingers with his and kissed him, his lips moved over mine and I sighed. “You taste so good,” I whispered against his lips. He pulled away and grinned. He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed the inside of my wrist, sending goose bumps up my arm.

  “I need you to know I love you. This is going to change everything, Evangelina. And I don’t know how I’ll fit in.” He fingered the engagement ring on my finger, rolling it back and forth.

  “
David.” I kissed him again, longer, deeper. I didn’t care who was in the waiting room, I didn’t care who was watching, or what they thought. I loved him, and something—something big—was bothering him. “You’ll always fit into my life. That’ll never change.”

  He nodded. A small frown pulled on his lips. “We’ll see.”

  I don’t like this. I don’t think this is a surprise I want. Not if it bothers David so much.

  “I don’t want it,” I said.

  His brows furrowed. “What?”

  “Whatever it is, I don’t want it. It’s bothering you. You’re upset, David, and I don’t want anything that upsets you. Let’s just go home to our POD.”

  “Eva?” A soft, familiar voice called to me.

  My hand tightened around David’s and my breath stalled in my chest.

  It can’t be. My mind is playing tricks on me. It can’t be.

  “Turn around, Eva,” David whispered. “It’s a surprise you want.”

  Slowly, I turned. I let out a half sob, half laugh when I saw them.

  It can’t be.

  I was engulfed by four arms.

  “But how?” I whispered.

  I remembered our conversation just before I left for the PODs. It felt like a lifetime ago…

  “Dad, remember our trips to Perch Lake? Remember the little cabin on the lake we rented from the old couple?”

  “Yes. It was wonderful there.”

  “Let’s go back. We could fish, and hunt for food. The cabin is isolated. We’d be far from people—we could wait out the virus together. We’d be safe from the violence. Why are you shaking your head? We can pick berries, and grow a garden. It’ll work, Dad. Stop shaking your head!”

  “Eva, you’re going into the PODs. It’s the only safe place there is, and that’s where I want you.”

  “What about what I want? I want to stay with you.” I’d felt like stomping my foot, but forced it to stay still, reminding myself I wasn’t two.

  “I know you do, but that isn’t how this works. You go into the PODs, and we stay here. That’s the deal, Evangelina.”