Chapter Forty

A day had passed. They’d spent most of it eating and sleeping, making love. Periodically checking the tests Eli had set up. It wasn’t such a bad way to spend the last days of your life.

Though it appeared he was responding to the antiretrovirals.

Before they’d fallen asleep the night before, he’d started feeling the symptoms, a vague headache, dizziness upon rising, nothing that really interfered with his functioning. This morning they had dissipated, and his viral count was actually decreasing.

Unfortunately, the drugs appeared to be having no effect on Riley’s viral count. Maybe they needed to catch it early enough before the viral loads reached some sort of critical level, which was hopeful, but they didn’t have the stocks to treat everyone. How did they select who to treat and who to let die?

Riley was lying half on top of him, half beside him—there wasn’t a lot of room in the cot bed. Her skin felt cool to the touch, no fever. She’d entered the middle phase. She said she was feeling pretty good. He knew she was on edge, waiting. He guessed she had maybe twelve hours. The thought caused an ache in his chest.

What a fuckup of a time to start caring for someone.

He’d been keeping in touch with Amber until yesterday, when he’d tried to call and was given an out-of-service answer. It was bound to happen sooner rather than later. The infrastructure was breaking down. Too many people out sick or just staying locked up in their houses. That was the government recommendation unless you worked in certain organizations. Mainly services, communication, electricity, water…

They’d switched over to using the hospital’s emergency satellite system for communication. Good as long as you were calling someone else with satellite, touch-and-go for anything else. At least he could keep in touch with the team and share information. For now.

He slid out of bed so as not to wake Riley. He had work to do.

The blood test results from Ferndale were starting to come in. The gene sequencing was being done on-site and then forwarded to his lab for analysis on the university servers. It was quicker than the original sequencing, as they knew what they were looking for and already they’d identified three people with fragments of the viral DNA embedded in their own DNA strands. One of them was his new friend Tony. Nick’s sample had also included the viral DNA. He was betting if they looked far enough back in his family history, he would have some tie to the area.

Blood and other samples were on their way. In the meantime, he’d instructed the team to run tests to see if they were actually immune to the virus by introducing the virus to various cell types. He’d get those results hopefully later this morning. He hated to admit it, but he was actually praying that all three would show signs of immunity. He hadn’t prayed since he was eight years old.

He wasn’t doing nothing while he waited for those results, though. Now he had the job of scanning every genome in minute detail, looking for something, anything that might give some sort of immunity to the virus. He’d started with a comparison test, matching the test subject’s DNA against people who clearly had no immunity—himself and Riley—looking for any variations. He just hoped they’d find something. Then he’d have to dig deeper, work out what the variations meant, whether they could result in immunity, and then see if he could somehow adapt that to create something that could actually fight the virus.

He rubbed his forehead. It was mind-blowing. Just thinking how much there was to do, and how little time, made his brain stutter. So he tried not to think, just to keep going. Until he got the next results, he couldn’t move forward, so he blocked his mind by making love to Riley.

The city’s electricity supply had failed the previous night. Luckily the university had backup generators and their systems were still functioning. But for how long?

His phone beeped. He picked it up and glanced at the caller ID. It was Adam.

He nudged Riley, but when he looked at her, she was already awake, her eyes open. She sat up, running a hand through her hair, a frown on her face, which cleared after a moment.

He put the phone on speaker. “Adam?”

“Yeah. How are you two?”

“We’re fine.” No doubt Adam must have guessed they were infected, but he’d never asked outright. “How’s Shelly?”

“Not good. Entered stage three. She’s out of the picture. Leo is the same. I’m sorry.”

He hadn’t heard about Leo. Damn. “So am I. What’s happening?”

“We have confirmations of cases in every major city across the continent. The morgues are already full. Disposing of the bodies is going to become our most pressing issue very quickly.”

Then the cities would turn into charnel houses. “It was what we expected.”

“Yes, but this time, it would have been good to be wrong. They’re widening the sampling in Alaska. They’ve covered your town and are now working outward. Hopefully we’ll get you some more positive samples today. The good news is—we’ve found our third tourist.”

“Jesus. That’s…wonderful.” He’d given up hope they would ever find the last tourist from Mexico. The other two were dead. He’d begun to believe that was the case with the third as well. What did it mean?

“I was sure he must be dead, but we finally traced him. It was Leo, actually. He built a model tracking the known progress of the virus, then cross-referenced with hotels, flights, every fucking thing we could think of. And there he was in the middle of it all. Jason Burton. A twenty-year-old engineering student.”

“Where is he? Do you have him?”

“Not yet. He’s in Kansas City. He flew in from Barcelona two days ago. We put out a media alert last night, in the hope that he’ll see it and come forward. I’m not sure how productive that will be—the media systems are breaking down.”

“So what are you doing?”

“I’m heading out there, but we’ve already gotten the military working on it. They’re doing a building-to-building search.”

“Christ, that’s a huge job.”

“The boy’s from San Francisco, never been to Kansas City in his life, so chances are he’s in a hotel or motel. They’re starting with those.”

“Why the hell would he go to Kansas City?”

“It was one of the last airports to close—probably the only flight he could get. Don’t worry, we’ll find him if we have to tear the city apart.”

“Will you bring him back here?”

Adam was silent for a moment. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

Eli knew what he was asking, and maybe now was the time for the truth. “I had the first symptoms last night, but I’m responding to the antiretrovirals. And even without that, I’d have two or three days before it won’t be a good idea. I should be able to hold out as long as I’m responding to the drugs. By the way, if you’re not already taking them, I suggest you do. I’m pretty sure they’re effective in the earlier stages.”

“I’m already on them. Shelly sent them to me. She’s come to the same conclusion. She’s rolling out production, but it’s not going to be fast enough to make a dent.”

When he didn’t say anything else, Eli pushed on. “You know I’m the best person for this, Adam. No one else knows this virus as well as I do. If we had longer, then someone else might do it, but in the time we’ve got, I’m your only chance. And look at it this way—if we don’t do something in the next two days, chances are there won’t be a lot left to save.”

“Okay. When we find him, we’ll bring him straight to you. Be ready. In the meantime, I’ll send you all the background information we have on him.”

“I’ll be waiting.” He ended the call, then reached for his jelly bean dispenser—it was almost empty—and tossed a few in his mouth.

“You’ll get fat,” Riley murmured.

He put his arm around her, squeezed, then gave her his best leer. “Not if I do enough exercise.”

She snorted. “So what does it all mean?”

He ran a hand through his hair, then got out of bed and pulled on his pants. He thought better with his pants on. Riley sat cross-legged on the bed and watched him.

“I don’t know,” he said. “This boy was there at the start in Mexico. We’re now sure that one of the three was our patient zero. The other two are dead, yet Jason is still alive.”

“Could he be a carrier?”

“I think he must be. The question is: why, all of a sudden, did he start infecting people? He’s twenty. Why nothing before Mexico? What happened?”

His phone beeped—it was the background file on Jason Burton. He crossed to his desk and switched on his laptop so he could read easier, brought it back, and sat on the cot next to Riley.

There was a photograph. A tall, good-looking boy with sun-streaked blond hair and tanned skin. He looked perfectly healthy. Eli skimmed through to the medical records—he’d never had a day of illness in his life.

They needed to check his DNA, his blood, hell, everything. How long until they found him?

He picked up his phone and tapped in a text to Adam. Ask him what happened immediately before Mexico.

He was sure it would be on Adam’s list, but it didn’t hurt.

The phone rang almost immediately. It was Adam. “We’ve found him. Someone saw his picture on the news channels and called in. He’s in a downtown motel. Our caller said he doesn’t look good.”

“How long?”

“We’re suiting up now. We should have him in minutes.”

Thank God.

For the first time, Eli allowed himself to hope. He tossed the phone on the bed, wrapped an arm around Riley. “I’ve never said this in my life before, but right now might be a good time to pray.”

…

Amber awoke to absolute stillness. Her heart was hammering, and for a moment she couldn’t recall why.

How had she even slept?

All around her, there was nothing but silence.

She didn’t want to move. Every cell filled with dread. She’d felt so alone, hadn’t seen anyone for days after Eli had left her here. It had been okay at first; she’d talked to him regularly, got reports on what was going on via the internet. She suspected they were playing it down. Then two days ago, one by one, her lifelines to the outside world went dead, cutting her off. First her phone had died. Then her laptop had gone offline—no connection available. Finally, the TV had refused to show anything but a blank screen. She’d left the cabin, climbed to the nearest high ground, and still no signal.

For the first time in her life, she was truly alone.

How long was she supposed to stay here?

Out there in the real world, civilization was collapsing. Had Eli failed? That must be pissing him off. She really hoped he wasn’t taking it too personally. She knew about his sister. She’d asked him once, when she was fifteen, why he kept his distance, and, always honest, he’d told her. He couldn’t save his sister, and that had left an indelible scar on his soul. He didn’t want to care about someone and then lose them. Yet he did care about her. She knew that.

Then the night before last, just after midnight, a quiet, almost timid knock had sounded on the door. Amber had been sitting on the sofa, unable to face going to bed. She’d gone instantly still, not even breathing. What was she supposed to do? Eli had said no contact. She sat, not moving, her fingers gripping the cushions. Had it been her imagination?

Then the knock came again.

She forced herself to her feet and crossed the room to the window. Pulling the curtain back slightly, she’d peered out into the darkness. A little light from the room spilled out onto the porch, and she could make out a small figure, standing in front of the door, hand upraised. Maybe six or seven years old, her face streaked with tears.

She knocked again. “Please let me in. I’m scared.”

Amber knew she had a choice. She could bolt the doors, go hide until the girl gave up and went away—or lay down on the porch and died. Though she looked healthy enough. Or she could—

The girl knocked again. “Please let me in. I’m hungry. I don’t want to be on my own.”

It was those words that made her move. How could she leave a small child in the darkness? To die all alone. No one should have to do that. She took a deep breath and took the last steps to the front door. She turned the key and opened it.

The little girl sniffed, stared up at her out of huge blue eyes. “I don’t feel very well.”

She knew then that she’d very likely signed her own death warrant. But what else could she do?

She’d made her a bed on the sofa. The girl’s name was Sarah, she was six and a half, and her parents were…gone. She wouldn’t say any more, and Amber assumed they were dead. Sarah told her she’d been sick yesterday, then got better. She’d gotten frightened when she couldn’t wake her mother, ran away looking for help. Got lost. Now her head hurt, and her eyes ached, and she was scared.

Amber had read Eli’s notes. She knew Sarah was likely infected and just going into the final stage. Still, she’d hugged the little girl as she’d cried. Held her until she’d fallen into a restless sleep. She’d remembered then about the gloves and masks but knew it was too late. She’d cared for Sarah during the day that followed, when she didn’t appear too bad. Maybe it wasn’t Eli’s sickness. Maybe it was something else and she’d get better.

Then in the evening, she’d become restless, started screaming, scratching at her skin. She didn’t recognize Amber, fought when she tried to help her. She’d had to strap her down with a belt across her chest. Then she’d sat on the chair opposite and watched as the girl’s mind slowly disintegrated.

She’d been sobbing as she searched through the box Eli had left her. For the pills. In a quiet moment, she’d managed to get Sarah to swallow one, and then she’d held the little girl’s hand as she quieted, the madness clearing from her eyes, her lashes fluttering closed, her breaths slowing. Until finally she was at peace.

Amber had never seen anyone die before. Certainly not someone whose death she had caused. Even if she had only anticipated the inevitable end.

She’d left her then. Gone to bed as though everything was normal. She hadn’t seen her bed in more than thirty-six hours. She shut her eyes, closed her mind, and slept.

Now she couldn’t put it off any longer. She had to face what she had done and decide how to move on. She dragged herself out of bed and staggered into the other room.

Sarah lay on the sofa, the belt still around her middle and through the back of the sofa. Her face was at peace, but she seemed so small.

It wasn’t fair.

That had been something she’d said through her childhood, and Eli had always answered that life wasn’t fair—get used to it. Clearly, she never had. Eli’s cynicism had only made her want to believe in a better world just to prove him wrong.

Should she bury her? Would it make a difference? Eli had brought her up as an atheist, so she had no faith to fall back on. For the first time in her life, she wished she believed in…something. Anything that would make sense of this. She was still staring down at the small body when a sharp pain jabbed her in the back of her skull. She stepped away, swayed as a wave of dizziness washed over her.

She couldn’t even pretend she didn’t know what it meant, though she wished fervently that she could. Maybe she should go back to bed, take a bottle of something—the cupboards were well stocked—and drink herself to oblivion.

She took another step back and sank into the chair, picked up her phone, and stabbed the keys.

Nothing. Dead. As she would be soon.

Well, she wasn’t going to wait around for it to happen.

She had no doubt Eli would call her an idiot for letting the child in. She should have ignored her. Remained strong. Sarah had died anyway. But at least not alone.

And she realized she didn’t want to die alone, either. Hell, she didn’t want to die at all. She didn’t want to give up and accept her fate. She would fight it to the end.

And the only way she knew how to fight was to find Eli. He was in Baltimore. Surely that couldn’t be so hard to get to. There must be some public transport still functioning. If not, maybe she could hire a car, or steal one, or…

Somehow, she would get there.

The nearest town was ten miles away. She’d head there first. Keep away from people in case they weren’t infected. According to Eli’s notes, she was already infectious. It was in there, using her own body against her, multiplying, searching for ways to spread. To survive. Not so different from humans, really.

Amber was on autopilot as she gathered some things together, a couple of changes of underwear and T-shirts. A spare pair of jeans in case she got wet. As she was going to have to carry anything she took, she would keep it to a minimum. Enough food for a couple of days. A bottle of water. Some purifying tablets so she could make more. Then the pills Eli had left her. She took one of the painkillers. She’d been trying to ignore the headache, but it was a constant throb in her skull. And the other pills, the ones that would stop the pain forever. Just not yet.

The trip into town wasn’t difficult. It was mostly downhill, though the sun was hot. She’d read up about the town. It had a population of approximately five thousand, many of whom commuted into the city for work. Very middle-class. She hit the highway and immediately saw a sign to town. A mile away. She stood for a moment trying to work out what was wrong. There was no noise of traffic. The highway was clear; not a single vehicle passed her. She’d been walking for another ten minutes when she came upon the first car. It was wrecked, had run into the barricade and overturned.

Her feet slowed as she moved closer.

She could see the bodies in the front, a man half hanging out of the window.

She went still. A bullet hole in the center of his forehead.

She backed away. Then whirled around and crashed to her knees, head hanging low.

Had they tried to leave? Eli had said that martial law was being instigated. Was this a result? When she passed the next car, she steered herself away, giving it a wide berth, averting her eyes from the carnage.

Up ahead, she could hear the rumble of an engine. She slowed. An image of the dead man filled her mind. She looked around—the road was edged by thick forest, and she slipped into the trees and made her way parallel to the road. The sound grew louder. As she turned a corner, she saw the barricade. The road was blocked. A group of people milled around, at least four in army uniforms with full face masks, gloves, rifles. The others looked like ordinary people. A military truck stood on this side of the barricade, and the civilians were being loaded into the back. At the last moment, a young woman in a pink dress tried to pull free, and the soldier jabbed her in the stomach with his rifle. She doubled over, dropped to her knees, and two more soldiers grabbed her arms and almost threw her into the back of the vehicle.

As she watched the last man hustled inside, the doors closed, and the vehicle pulled away, heading in her direction. Amber stepped back into the cover of the trees. She didn’t want to be seen. She had no doubt she would end up in the back of that truck with the others. Going God knows where. Probably some quarantine facility, and she would never get out again.

Never see Eli again.

She wanted to see him so badly, it was a physical pain.

After the truck had disappeared and she could no longer hear the sound of the engine, she gave herself a little shake. She had to decide what to do next. Clearly, going into town wasn’t an option. So she would go around it.

She checked her map. There was a highway that bypassed the town. She would take that. She stayed off the actual road, though kept it within sight, and once or twice, she saw bodies or crashed cars. They had been pulled to the side to allow vehicles through, though no attempt had been made to clear the bodies.

At one point, she climbed a small hill, which had a vantage point over the town, and stared down onto the empty streets. No one moved. It was like a ghost town.

Was this the end?

She kept walking until her feet dragged and the sun was disappearing. There was no shelter, and she didn’t dare approach any of the houses she saw along the way. Instead she curled up at the base of a huge tree. Leaned her head back against the rough bark and watched as the stars came out. She had never seen the sky filled with so many.

The lights had gone out, leaving the stars the only things shining in the dark sky.

When dawn came, she forced herself up. At least the headache was gone. Her mind was clear. She was entering phase two of the illness. Maybe she’d been a fool to leave. But she hadn’t known how bad things were out here. She’d thought there would still be some remnants of civilization working. How could things have fallen apart so quickly?

She nibbled on a cereal bar as she stared off into the distance, then back the way she had come. She was never going to make it to Baltimore.

There was only one place to go. Back to the cabin and just hope that Eli would come for her. Save them all.

If she could make it that far.