Gabriel stared out through the drifting rain, running through the details of his phone conversation.
First case reported forty-eight hours ago.
He had been inside the Citadel much more recently than that, after the blight had already taken hold.
He remembered the chilling cry that had risen up from the depths of the mountain and how Athanasius had hurried away to tend to it.
He wondered now if his bone-deep tiredness and aching body might be the result of something more sinister than fatigue, and all that he touched might be tainted too.
He looked back at the main building and pictured Liv inside, lying on the examination table: fragile and vulnerable.
Was he infected? Had he infected her?
Every part of him wanted to go back in there and sit by her bed, hold her hand until she woke, but he knew he could not. He had to put her safety first – he had to put everyone else’s safety before his own.
We have attempted to contain it through quarantine, Athanasius had said, an infected subject only becomes infectious after the first symptoms have manifested … a strong smell of oranges followed by a sudden and violent nosebleed.
He wiped the back of his hand across his nose. There was no blood, but the smell of oranges was almost overwhelming. But he had only just started smelling them. The symptom was fresh, so there was still a chance of containment.
Without pause for thought, Gabriel walked directly to the transport shed, giving everyone he saw a wide clearance. He grabbed a couple of canteens of water and a ration pack from the cab of a truck, and headed back out to the holding lagoon.
The horse looked up as he approached. He held out his hand and stroked it, talking softly as he loaded his few supplies into the saddlebag and fitted Hyde’s M4 into a saddle holster. He thought of his father, lying on the bed next to Liv in the sick bay, and finally understood the sacrifice he had made. He hoped one day Liv would forgive him too for what he was about to do, just as he now whispered his own belated forgiveness to his father.
The horse splashed through the mud and pools of water until the dry earth began.
Gabriel fixed his eyes on the horizon. He did not look back.
He did not trust himself.
He kept riding north, the smell of oranges following him, until he disappeared into the desert.