The Cured

by Deirdre Gould

  “Where are you going to go? It’s a disease, if it’s out it will spread everywhere.”

  Rickey shook his head, the burning red eye of the cigarette making tiny trails in the dark. “Not anymore. I’ll go as far west as I can, to the coast if I have to. There aren’t many people left, it can’t travel if it doesn’t have people to infect. Maybe I’ll live in the Great Empty, wherever I can find it. Maybe find another city, just as isolated. Where there aren’t insane scientists trying to murder us all.”

  “What about bandits or wild animals or other Infected?”

  “Sorry to break it to you, Father, but I’m pretty sure we’re the last survivors of the Infected. Everyone else starved or killed each other a long time ago. Sure, there’ll be the odd camp like Phil’s or someone nursing along an Infected hoping for a cure and never hearing of it, but most of them are gone. Alone, or with Henry, we’ll be able to avoid most big camps and we can stick to rural areas, places no one wants. There’s probably enough stuff out there that a man could live out all his days never needing to go near another person for help or to trade.”

  “You’ve seen what’s out there. There’s nothing left. Nothing. You’ll starve.”

  “I’ve seen what’s a few miles from here, Vincent. That’s it. There’s a whole big world out there–”

  “It’s a dead world!” cried Vincent.

  Rickey sucked on the cigarette.

  “Maybe,” Henry said, “but even if you’re right, I’d rather starve than go back to what I was. It wasn’t so bad. The starving, I mean. It didn’t hurt so much after a while. But waking up was the worst thing that’s ever happened to us. We have to relive the eating every day. Forever. I don’t want anymore of it.”

  The three of them began walking toward the Barrier.

  “You could come with us Vincent,” said Henry quietly.

  “And abandon the people who took us in, fed us, healed us? I can’t Henry. You shouldn’t either.”

  “Is it better to turn back into what we were?”

  “We don’t know that’s what will happen. Maybe we’ll be resistant to it, since it’s already happened to us once. Maybe it’s our turn to take care of others.”

  Rickey snorted. “You mean like Phil ‘took care’ of us? Feed them to each other, cage them, beat them? No thanks.”

  “Henry’s friends cared for him when he was sick. They made a choice to protect him even when they knew what was likely to happen.”

  “But they didn’t!” Rickey was shouting and waving his arms for emphasis. “They turned him over to a thug. They turned us all over to him. They were cowards. So was everyone here,” he turned around pointing to the dark houses with his glowing cigarette. “They sat behind this wall and let the world tear itself apart. And now, when they are set up nicely, they can’t even be bothered to clean up the mess that’s left. Can they Henry?”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Vincent.

  “The Military Governor said he couldn’t spare the men or the resources to go after Phil’s camp. He won’t even give me a weapon so I can go myself.”

  “Well, at least someone here has some sense,” grumbled Vincent.

  They could see the lights of the Barrier now, could hear a bustle from its direction.

  “We’re not the only ones who are leaving,” said Henry, pointing to the big gate where a small crowd milled around.

  “Henry, you asked me if you were damned for what you had done while you were ill. But you are not ill now. You know what is right. And the man who knows the right thing and does not do it– that is sin. A good man would not leave.”

  Henry stopped and turned to face Vincent. “I’m not a good man any longer. I don’t know if I even want to be a good man any longer.”

  Vincent shook his head. “Then you are truly lost. Is there anything I can say to persuade either of you to stay and do your duty to these people?”

  “I’m sorry Father,” said Rickey, “I can’t do this all over again.” He shook Vincent’s hand. “Coming Henry?”

  Henry nodded and began to walk after Rickey into the lighted street in front of the Barrier.

  “Henry,” called Vincent, “if you want to find the girl, you have to stay.”

  Henry stopped. “Her name is Marnie,” he said over his shoulder.

  “Fine. The only way you’re going to find Marnie is if you stay.”

  He turned around. “How do you figure?”

  Vincent sighed and his shoulders sagged. “Because Phil is in the City.”

  Rickey spat a stray thread of tobacco. “Lying now, Father? I don’t think that’s allowed,” he said. But something in Vincent’s manner made Henry’s heart hiccup.

  “It’s not a lie,” Vincent said, his voice weary and cracking, “He’s a gravedigger for the City. I saw him when I went to help with some church repairs this morning.”

  “Shit.” Rickey spat on the pavement again.

  “Does he know we’re here?” asked Henry, his skin tingling and sparking with adrenaline.

  “I don’t think so. I mean, I barely recognize myself and he never paid attention to any of us particularly. You maybe, but I doubt you look the same. I wasn’t even sure I recognized him, but Melissa saw him too, on one of her deliveries.”

  “You weren’t going to tell me.”

  “No, I wasn’t.”

  “Why are you telling him now? Why are you so desperate for him to stay? Why couldn’t he have come with me? What’s it to you?” Rickey walked quickly toward the priest. It looked like he was going to start a fight. Henry wasn’t sure he wanted to stop him. But Vincent grabbed Rickey’s shoulder before he could swing.

  “Because Rickey, as tough as you think you are, as bad as you think you’ve been, I’m confident you’re good at heart, that you’ll do the right thing eventually. And that you’re lonelier than you say. If Henry refuses to leave, then you won’t go. But Henry– I’m not sure he’ll come out right in the end. He’s far too concerned with damnation to deny that he feels himself already headed there.”

  Henry shifted uncomfortably and felt anger heat the center of his belly. Vincent glanced past Rickey at him. “I know it’s a risk telling him that Phil is here. But if he ever wants to see Marnie again, he’ll have to restrain his taste for revenge. And if he stays, it will give me– us more time to convince him to stay a good man.”

  Henry walked off into the dark in the direction of his house without speaking to either of him. A small part of him regretted not saying goodbye to Rickey, but Vincent was probably right. Rickey wouldn’t leave alone. The greater part of him raged. He was angry with Vincent for not telling him immediately about Phil. He was angry that Vincent had seen Phil but not Marnie, even though he knew it was irrational. He was angry that he was being manipulated. He was angry with himself for not just walking out the City gate and never looking back, for not forgetting Marnie or the past decade of his life.

  What was he supposed to do now? Vincent would know if Phil died who had killed him. And he probably knew where Marnie was. Henry struggled with himself, trying to convince himself that he cared more about where Marnie was than about revenge. He didn’t quite succeed. But as he tripped over the dark stoop outside his door, he suddenly grinned. Grave digging wasn’t essential. Phil was going to be at the All-Work Station in the morning. And somehow, no matter what he had to do, Henry was going to get himself assigned to the same job. He flicked on the living room light and looked around. He had to get the house ready. In a few days, he was sure, Marnie would be living with him and he wanted to have her room ready.

  Henry collapsed on the couch, falling asleep without even considering whether Phil would see him coming or not.

  Thirty-two

  The sun was barely leaking into the horizon when Henry arrived at the All-Work Station. The work bell wouldn’t ring for another hour, but there were still a group of people milling around the station. A few of them belonged there, the few who had taken a vacation during the slack
time instead of attending the trial. Most of them were new people who’d been too nervous to sleep. Henry wondered absently whether many had fled the City overnight, or if most everyone had friends in quarantine to keep them. There was a little lonely chime in the back of his head as the Barrier passed through his thoughts. He wished he knew what Rickey had decided. The small crowd was silent, not even a whispered conversation or greeting as other people drifted in. Normally, it would have sent a chill through Henry, but now he was too absorbed in trying to recognize Phil among them to even notice.

  Stephanie arrived a few minutes later and herded them all into the warehouse. He wasn’t there. Henry fought an irrational rage. It’s still early. Calm down, he told himself, It’s been eight years. Wait just a little longer. Just a little while. Have to do it right. Have to do it so I don’t get caught, so I can take care of Marnie.

  He helped Stephanie sort tool bundles, all the while watching the door for a sign of Phil. The warehouse was soon crammed with people and the work bell was still ten minutes away. “We have to get these people moving. There are a lot more coming. Hank, can you take most of this group to Electric?” Stephanie asked one of the men helping them. He nodded and moved off, bringing people bundles and directing them out the door.

  “You want me to do the farm today, Steph?” asked a lean, tanned woman. But Stephanie shook her head.

  “I think Henry and I will take people to the farm. Why don’t you get a security team together. The Barrier is short because of the hospital barricade. And Gwen, try to find people who at least know how to hold a weapon without shooting themselves.”

  The woman grinned and lost herself in the crowd. Henry was becoming anxious. It didn’t get any better when Vincent and Melissa walked up to him. “Let it go,” hissed Melissa.

  “I can’t. Simple as that. Is Rickey gone?”

  Vincent shook his head, “At the power plant. Can we be on your crew?”

  Henry shrugged, but Stephanie overheard. “What’s your normal assignment?” she asked.

  “Postal service,” said Melissa.

  “Perfect, we need someone to head up food delivery to the hospital. You won’t have to go inside or anything, just deliver a truck of prepped meals to the soldiers at the barricade. You interested?”

  “Sure, how many people do I need?”

  “You better grab ten or so, there are a lot of people in there and some of them may make requests for items from relatives or their homes. Again, don’t go into the hospital, just give it to the soldiers.”

  “Can I keep the same crew until this is over?”

  Stephanie sighed with relief. “That will make things much easier. Tell them to meet up with you instead of here.”

  Melissa pinched Henry’s elbow before scouting the crowd. “You have to let it go,” she whispered, “you think he’s going to tell you where the kid is if you threaten him? He’s protected here. You have to play nice to get what you want.” Henry shook his head but she was gone. Vincent was being swept away by a flood of kids whose school had been forgotten in the crisis. Henry panicked for a moment looking quickly at each small face, but of course Marnie wasn’t there. She was a big girl now. Vincent herded them toward the door with another adult.

  “There’s the bell,” said Stephanie, “Want to help me get these tool bundles to everyone that’s left? We’ll head to the Farm a little late in case there are any stragglers.”

  Henry leapt at the chance to get a closer look at the remaining crowd without Melissa or Vincent watching him. He pulled the heavy bundles over, one after the other, faster than seemed possible for his wasted frame. He paused to look at every face as he handed out a bundle. Is this him? Have I forgotten his face? Flashed through him each time, until dozens of faces later, he determined that yes, he had forgotten. His memories all ran together with the faces he saw now, muddied the waters. Henry felt a pang of despair. Phil could have walked right by him without being noticed. He could have been in one of the other crews. He could still be assigned to the graveyard. Maybe they were expecting that job to be in demand shortly. Henry shivered at the thought. Or Vincent could have been lying to keep him in the City.

  “You want to stay here and wait for anyone that’s late?” Stephanie asked, “Just hang out for ten minutes and then come over to the Farm. Anyone later than that will just have to fend for themselves.”

  Henry nodded dumbly, still circling the thought of Phil escaping him. The warehouse emptied around him. The air cooled in the vacant building and there was no shuffling or coughing. Finally, when Henry was shouldering his bundle, already weary now that the adrenaline had worn off, he heard the door to the office open.

  “Sorry I’m late. Took forever to find the place. Hello?” Rumbled a voice from the office.

  “In here,” called Henry irritably, picking up another bundle. He looked up as boots clomped into the warehouse doorway. And there stood Phil. Henry had expected him to be diminished somehow. Wounded maybe, from Marnie’s attack. Or sunken from losing power over others. Or just smaller, weaker in the face of Henry’s recovery. But Henry knew he’d never be the man he had been before the Plague, and neither would Phil. Phil seemed to grow larger, be more threatening, filled with a creepy jolliness the worse things got. Henry had withered over eight years, not just because of the deprivation he’d been forced to undergo.

  Phil’s bulky work clothes filled the frame of the doorway and he looked as healthy and spoiling for a fight as he always had. The only sign that anything had changed was a deep purple scar that twisted across his thick jaw. But it was like a tar seam on a patched road, it belonged there, only made him seem more dangerous than he had before. And for the first time, Henry began to feel a little frightened that things were not going to go exactly as he had planned.

  “Hello?” asked Phil.

  “Uh, hello, sorry, I was just closing up to go to the Farm.” Henry had no idea what he was doing. He hadn’t planned this far ahead and now he was floundering. And you didn’t flounder in front of Phil. Not if you wanted to live. He handed Phil a bundle of tools and tried to catch up.

  “Name’s Phil. I don’t recognize you, but then I don’t come over to the Cured side of town much,” Phil grinned as if he’d said something funny. Henry was strangely encouraged by the sight of Phil’s patchwork of missing teeth. “Are you new?”

  “Yeah, got here a few days ago.”

  “You Cured?”

  Henry began walking toward the door. He hadn’t considered what he would say about himself. It was no good lying, he guessed. Other people knew who he was and would tip his hand for him. It was easier to tell the truth and hope he was changed enough that Phil couldn’t recognize him.

  “Yeah, I’m Cured.”

  “I thought everyone from the Cure camps came to the City months ago.”

  “Yeah, well, I wasn’t ready yet.”

  Phil laughed behind Henry as he closed the door. It hit Henry like a roll of thunder. “I hear you. Had a sweet setup until recently myself, decided to come to the City this winter though. Times are tough out there. What’d you say your name was?”

  He turned around and stuck out his hand as if he were greeting a friend. “Henry.”

  Phil shook his hand and gave him a greasy grin again. “Henry. Kind of old-fashioned isn’t it? Don’t meet too many Henrys anymore–” Phil interrupted himself with a snort of laughter, “well, I guess you don’t meet too many of anyone these days, but you know what I mean.”

  “Family name,” Henry said dryly as he turned back toward the Farm.

  “I knew a Henry once. You know, Before.”

  Henry nodded and chewed on his nerves, ready to swing the heavy bundle of tools at Phil if he had to. “Where is he now?”

  “Eh, you know how these things are. Dead most likely. He got sick. I tried to take care of him but he was out of his head. Ran off one day in the middle of winter. He must have frozen.”

  “That’s too bad,” Henry said through his teeth. H
is knuckles gleamed around the dirty canvas. He focused on the iron gate of the Farm.

  Phil trotted to catch up with him. “Yeah, I looked for him, you know, he was my buddy. I owed him. But he was long gone.”

  “He give you that scar?” Henry asked. There was a vicious little thrill in his core as Phil reached up to touch it gently.

  “Nah, that was someone else.” Henry flinched as Phil clapped a heavy hand down on his shoulder. “I’ll give you some free advice. World’s changed since you bought your seat at the long pig buffet. Can’t be kind anymore. Got to look out for yourself. You find yourself extending a helping hand to someone, you just remember the scar on my old mug and pull it back. People are ingrates. They’ll take what you’ll give em and then kill you to climb over your corpse and find whatever else you got.”

  Henry longed to ask him if this was about the Lodge, desperate to find Marnie, but they had reached the gates of the Farm. Amos waved to him, and Henry felt the balance of power shift without Phil even realizing it. They parted ways, leaving Henry with mixed feelings of relief and urgency. He had to find out about Marnie, but he’d have to be more collected next time. He’d already given away too much.

  “That guy giving you trouble Henry?” Amos asked, pulling him over to the seed sorting table, “I can tell Stephanie to assign him to Electric if you want.”

  The thought of Rickey’s big mouth made Henry answer too quickly. “No, no. I don’t want to cause any trouble. It’s an old thing, not worth worrying about.” He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way.

  Amos looked at him for a few seconds. “It sure looked like you wanted to cause trouble. You’re new here. I won’t say whatever he did isn’t worth it; chances are it probably was. But they take fights very seriously here. You can get thrown out or worse for things like that. And with everyone being on edge now, the punishment’s likely to be stiffer if you get caught. Things don’t work in here like they do out there.” he said, jerking his head toward the Barrier.

  Henry stared hard at Phil. “Things don’t work out there at all. I’m not even sure they work so well in here either.”