Every ten miles.
“Cobb Corner, come in, are you there. Come in.”
Finally, with twenty-two miles to go we made contact.
“This is Cobb Corner, is that you, Nila?” Westin’s voice called out.
I brought the transceiver to my mouth. “Yes, yes, it is. Westin?”
“My God, you’re alive. Hold on.”
I looked at Lev. “Did he just tell me to hold on?”
Lev smiled. A tired smile, he looked worn down.
After a few minutes, the radio crackled. “Hey, what the heck is taking you guys so long?”
I wanted to scream with excitement. “Fleck!”
“Yep. Here waiting on you. Thought maybe you and the big guy said screw it and went to the cabin.”
Lev took the radio. “I wanted to. Hey, Fleck. We couldn’t find Ben and Sawyer.”
“That’s because they’re here. I got here first, they got here yesterday. I’ll tell you all about our great escape when you get here.”
“I look forward to it,” Lev said. “See you soon.”
Instantly, a renewed energy hit the car. Especially for Lev, Katie and me. They made it. We didn’t lose them. Soon enough, all of us would be together. I couldn’t wait to see them and more so Bella and Christian.
Invigored by the knowledge that we hadn’t failed, that we had all survived, the remaining miles to Cobb Corner were good ones. We couldn’t get there fast enough.
When we rounded the bend into Cobb Corner, I had forgotten that it was a subsidiary of sorts for The Colony. More than likely that was how Fleck and Ben ended up there. I remembered Clare telling me they were going to send people there.
They hadn’t erected a safety fence, but there was a checkpoint just at the edge of town. It wasn’t as scary as before: the armed guards only wore facial masks instead of hazmat suits.
Ben, Sawyer, Fleck, Bella, the baby, and Westin were all waiting for us. A welcoming committee that was a sight for sore eyes.
We stopped right at the checkpoint. Katie jumped from the car and raced toward the group.
The guard stopped her. “Hold on little one, let me scan you.”
He did and gave her the all clear, and Katie ran to Fleck. I didn’t think she liked him that much. Yet, she hugged him so tight.
“Go on,” I told Meg. “Please. You’ll like it here. I’ll introduce you.”
Meg held her daughter’s hand and walked toward the guard. I looked back to see Lev at the hatch of the wagon.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Leave it. We can get our stuff later.”
“Okay.” He shut the hatch.
I waited for him and together we walked to the guard.
He stopped me first with his scanner. First my face, head to the left, head to the right, then my hands…clear.
Lev stepped forward. I waited, inching my way forward to greet our friends, happy to see that they were fine.
I can only imagine how big the smile was on my face. My cheeks hurt.
I heard the guard with Lev. “Face forward.”
Beep.
“Head to the left.”
Beep.
“Head to the right.”
Beep.
Then the scary sound.
The sound of engaging weapons.
I spun around to see the rifles aimed at Lev.
“No!” I screamed out, racing forward. “Don’t shoot. Don’t you shoot him!” I lunged with everything I had, bodily blocking him. “What the fuck?” I spat, out of breath and confused with emotions. “What the fuck are you doing?” I pulled out my pistol and aimed it directly at the guard’s head. “Don’t you fucking shoot.”
Within a second, Fleck was blocking Lev and Ben joined in.
“Ma’am, step back. The scan showed…”
“I don’t care what the scan showed. You’re gonna shoot him?”
“Nila,” Lev spoke calmly. “Put the gun down.”
“I will do no such thing,” I argued.
“Soldier,” Ben stepped forward. “I’m a doctor. Scan him again.”
“But it showed…”
Then Ben blasted, “Scan him again!”
I held my aim steady as he lifted the scanner again.
Ben walked forward standing beside the man as he scanned Lev.
He scanned his face.
Head to the left.
Head to the right.
And I saw Ben’s eyes.
My world crumbled.
There was no mistake.
Somehow, someway, the virus hit home again.
Lev…was infected.
TWENTY-FIVE
FROM LEV’S SIDE
Nila always had the ability to bring out every emotion in me. Standing in that street, the guard in front of me, the scanner in his hand, Nila brought forth a feeling of utter devastation. I didn’t feel it for myself, I felt it for her.
I never in my entire life wanted to hurt her. Ever. But I did. I saw it. I instantly broke her heart.
Nila was strong. The strongest person I knew.
Yet, she lost it. She physically crumbled, dropped to her knees crying out, “No, do it again. Do it again.”
“Nila, please.” I reached for her. “Nila.”
She slowly swung her head my way. Her eyes glossed over and she grabbed my hand.
“Not you, Lev, please not you.”
“It’s okay.” I pulled on her hand to get her to stand. “It’s okay.” Then I brought her into my arms.
It wasn’t just her.
Ben’s head lowered, he stared at the ground. He wouldn’t even look at me. I could hear Fleck behind me repeatedly saying, “Oh my God. Oh my God.’
And Katie.
She rushed over and clung to my legs.
Did she even understand? I wasn’t sure I did.
How?
How was I even infected? Was I near someone? I could think about it all I wanted, but it didn’t matter; though I felt fine, I wouldn’t for long.
Rules were rules and because Westin and Cobb Corner agreed to be part of the Colonies, all infected, no matter what stage would be eliminated.
I was to be like those people on the street in the small town.
Executed without trial.
I got it. I did. I carried the virus and I was a threat to anyone who wasn’t immune. Thank God, the person I loved most in the world wouldn’t catch it from me. I always suspected she had some sort of immunity. When her daughter Addy was dying, Nila never left her side. Never stopped touching or holding her.
I suppose the soldier didn’t want to shoot me with a child clinging to my legs and while I held Nila in my arms.
Then again, he wasn’t quite happy that Nila put a gun to his head.
Not that the shock wore off, but it lessened some enough for Nila to turn from my hold and face the soldier.
“Please don’t shoot him,” she said softly.
“Ma’am, I am sorry. I’m not a killer, this is not what I want to do. I don’t enjoy it,” he said. “But he is under Colony Law in Cobb Corner.”
Westin’s voice cut through as he spoke up. “But he’s not in Cobb Corner. Not yet.” He stepped forward. “Cobb Corner starts at Mack’s Pharmacy. I made that agreement. The pharmacy is right there.” Westin pointed a half a block from us. “So you’re off the hook.”
The soldier stepped back.
“Lev.” Ben approached me. “We can fight this. We can. I’ll do what I did for Corbin. I’ll blast you with anti-viral medication, every kind I can find at that pharmacy.”
I nodded, but I knew better. Corbin was a special breed. He was like Katie.
“Is the pharmacy still stocked?” Ben asked Westin.
Westin nodded. “Yeah, so is Bilkos in the next town. We haven’t had a doctor.”
“Good. Good. I’ll be right back.” Ben walked up to Westin. They exchanged some words but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. When they walked off, they didn’t go to the pharmacy.
“I’m sorry, Nila,” I told her.
“What? Don’t apologize. Please.” She drew in a breath and I could hear it shiver as she did. After staring at me for a few seconds, she wiped her hand over her face, sniffed hard and pulled her shoulders back. “Okay. Alright.” She exhaled in a huff. “Give me a second.” She stepped back, hands on hips and pivoted left to right, looking up and down. While someone that didn’t know her would think she was insane or losing it, I knew Nila. She was pulling it together.
It was only a couple minutes of standing there in silence, absorbing the reality, when Ben returned.
“I wanted to talk to you before I went to the pharmacy,” Ben said. “Westin connected me with The Colony. I don’t have a lot of experience with the illness form of this thing. Only the form from bites. So they told me, as you’re not symptomatic, only scan confirmed, it’ll be another two days before your symptoms hit. Progression with this illness is four days to phase. Or—”
“I know,” I cut him off. “I know what that means.”
“So we hit you now with everything we can,” Ben said.
Nila turned to him. “Do it now, please. And get everything we need. Everything.” She then walked to Fleck. “Can you check the wagon for me? Check the oil, everything, tires. Make sure it’s good.”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
Nila walked to the wagon, I could tell by the way she moved she was in some sort of survival mode. She opened the passenger door, reached in for something, stepped back, and closed the door again. She spread a map on the hood.
Fleck leaned in joining her. Holding Katie’s hand, I walked over.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
She rambled quickly as if in an out loud thinking mode. “This thing got us about four hundred miles per tank on the way back here. Three hundred first trip. Of course that was all back roads. Highway’s pretty clear now. Almost a straight shot. We just saw that. Eighteen-gallon tank. Got a quarter tank left. One canister on the luggage rack.” She spun to Fleck.
“So you only need maybe another canister? Two to be safe?” Fleck asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“We’ll get it.”
“Mommy?” Katie called her. “What are you talking about?”
Nila faced me. She smiled at Katie then glanced to me. “We’re only about four hundred or so miles. Not that far, not that long.” She looked at her watch. “It’s ten now. If we go straight through, only stop to gas up, we’ll get there before dark.”
“Where are we going, Nila?” I asked.
“Where do you think, Lev? To the cabin,” she said. “We’re going home.”
TWENTY-SIX
RETREAT
When we left home, even the first time in search of The Green, Lev had said he never wanted to leave. He had repeatedly said he wanted to go back, that it was the place to be. How unfair it would be if we didn’t return to the cabin one last time.
I saw it in his face when I told him. He was happy.
It took everything I had to be strong. To not crumble into a million pieces. My heart was broken. I could already feel the ache in my chest when I thought about losing him. I dreaded if that day actually came.
I saw what the infection looked like. I saw it was there when I watched the soldier scan Lev again. The veins at the bottom of his neck were black, but only with the special light of the scanner.
It sickened me.
Leaving Cobb Corner was the best choice I could make for us. It was the right choice, even if he were allowed in Cobb.
So, Lev, Katie, and I packed up for yet another road trip. But we had an additional passenger this time.
Bella had made a friend in Cobb Corner and suggested we bring him for Katie. To keep her occupied and her mind busy. Nothing would be better for Katie while she faced the prospect of losing Lev.
A three-year-old Beagle named Caesar. He wasn’t a big dog, nor small, he was the perfect size. And Bella was right, he was what we needed. He had survived the outbreak even when his owner turned. He handled the car ride better than me.
When we left The Colony we had taken Interstate 81. We knew The Colony was pulling out and the one fuel place that was still there was far passed the turn we made to jump on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
We looped around the city of Pittsburgh; it had been the easiest road trip yet. It was a blessing and a gift, and we were back at the cabin long before the sun even set.
Lev had driven the last leg of the trip. We had secured the fence when we left. It hadn’t been that long and nothing had changed except the grass was long.
He had a huge peaceful smile on his face when we stopped the car in the driveway.
Katie excitedly jumped out. “Come on, Caesar.” After a single bark, the dog followed.
Katie immediately ran through the high grass, playing with her new friend.
“See?” Lev said. “She wanted to come back too.”
<><><><>
I don’t know why, but Lev felt the need to mow the grass immediately after we’d unpacked. I guess a part of me attributed the virus to a bed-ridden person. He wasn’t sick, not yet. Ben estimated that he didn’t get it at The Colony—he caught it somewhere, somehow, on the way back to Cobb Corner. The timing would suggest that.
He loaded Lev up with anti-viral medication, pain medication, and then one final dose. The syringe that contained enough medication that Lev would go in peace, if that time came.
I couldn’t chance Lev turning. I would never want that for him and there was no way I could handle him if he did turn.
I prayed, every second and every moment I got, I prayed that he wouldn’t get sick.
Please God, let it work.
The first night home, after Katie was tucked in bed, Caesar beside her, Lev and I sat on the porch. That wide top step that I loved to share with him.
We drank warm beer and sipped on shots.
“Thank you for this,” Lev said. “This is perfect.”
“Yeah, it is.”
He grabbed my hand and held it between both of his. “It’s hard to believe, you know, that this is real.”
“I don’t believe it yet. I refuse.”
“We can always hope, right?”
I nodded.
“But…”
“Lev, please don’t.”
“No, Nila listen to me. If I do get sick. I don’t want to do it in some bed. I don’t want you or Katie to see me like that.”
“You sound like my father,” I said.
“He was wise man. A good man.”
I looked at him. “He passed away in that recliner.”
“He passed where he wanted to go and did so on his terms,” Lev said. “Before he got too sick.”
“Are you saying that’s what you want?”
Lev bit his bottom lip in hesitation. “It is.”
“So you want me to give up on you before we see if Ben’s treatment is going to work?”
“Corbin was immune, we know that. I’m not.”
“You don’t know…”
“I do know,” Lev said strongly. “And if the time comes, I will choose how and where.”
“You want to go to Big Bear,” I said.
“What? No. Right here. Right here. Like this.”
“You want to die on our front porch?”
“If it’s not too much for you. I want it just like this. With you.”
“I won’t leave your side, Lev.” I blocked out my emotions and coughed them away. “But, you know, it’s not gonna happen. You’re fine. You’ll be fine.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
FIRST STEP, LAST STEP
June 24
I was wrong. I didn’t see it so I refused to believe it, but sooner than we thought, it hit him. After the first night in the cabin, Lev woke up fevered. He fought it, pretended he was fine, but his face was so pale, and those black spiderweb veins crept up the right side of his neck. He lacked energy, but he pushed forward.
By the third da
y of being home, he couldn’t push forward any longer. He couldn’t keep anything down, not even water, but he tried.
We sat all morning and afternoon on the porch watching Katie play with Caesar.
He was so sick. I just wanted to hold him, take it all away, but I couldn’t.
“You know,” Lev said. “You hated dogs.”
“No, I did not. I hated taking care of them,” I said. “Remember. Bobby would ask for a pet and I got stuck cleaning up after him.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s true. I’m glad you brought the dog.”
“Me too.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I won’t be here much…”
“Lev, stop.”
“I need to know, Nila,” Lev said. “I need to know. Okay?”
“I’m staying. Right here. Me and Katie for the time being.”
“Alone. You won’t be afraid?”
“Not at all. We have enough wood for the winter. I can hunt. We’ll be good. I can take care of us.” I lifted my head to the sound of a motor.
Lev started to stand.
“Stay put.” I pulled out my pistol as a car pulled up. Caesar started barking out of control. “Katie, come back to the cabin.”
The car stopped at the gate and the driver’s side opened.
Ben stepped out and unlocked the gate. He waved.
I could feel it on my face, the muscles tensing fighting back any tears.
When they pulled in and unloaded, it took everything I had not to break down with gratefulness.
Fleck, Bella, the baby, Sawyer and the new woman Meg, and her daughter.
They all unloaded.
I set down the pistol on the step and raced to Ben, hugging him. “You came. Thank you.”
“We couldn’t stay away.” Ben pulled back and placed his hand on my face. “Something about his place. How is he?”
I shook my head. “It’s fast. Too fast. It’s almost time.”
His hand slid from my face and he walked toward Lev. Fleck gave my hand a squeeze as he passed me and Bella wrapped her arms around me.
I stood back watching as they approached Lev.
He would never admit it, but Lev needed them.
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