Red Plague Boxed Set

by Anna Abner

  “What?”

  He gazed at me with an inscrutable expression. It was like he’d erected a wall around himself, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on behind it. “Pollard’s here.” It was no longer a question.

  “Not in the apartment. No, of course not.”

  His expression relaxed a few notches. “I had a lot of time to think while I was walking. And you told me,” his voice lowered as he averted his gaze, “you want to be by yourself. Is that still true?”

  He knew me so well. Yes, for a long time I’d dreamed of making the trip home alone. There were days when I couldn’t wait to cut and run from Hunny and Pollard. I had imagined turning around and hiking home alone. Living on Cherry Blossom Court alone. Spending the rest of my life in a panic room. Alone.

  Isolation had been an ingrained need not that long ago. But no longer. “I don’t want to be by myself anymore.”

  “You don’t want to go back to your hometown?” Ben asked.

  I pictured my house the way it had looked when I’d opened the bunker door. Leaves and debris blowing through the living room. Doors and windows smashed.

  “There’s nothing there for me. Everyone I care about is here.” I smiled sadly.

  “That’s good. You deserve to be part of a family,” he said.

  Family. The word was so complicated and barbed. Yes, I wanted a family. But the family I’d been born into had done nothing but cause pain and agony and loss. I wasn’t sure I could handle being a part of another family. And at the same time I longed to be part of a family more than anything I’d ever wanted. Wanted so badly I ached inside.

  But Ben was dead wrong. Pollard wasn’t the person I yearned to spend my life with.

  “I like this place,” I said. “It’s different from Camp Carson. These people are smart and kind. I think I want to stay. But I wouldn’t be happy here or anywhere,” I told him, “without you. Because you’re my family now.”

  “A family.” The word seemed to affect him as much as it did me. He frowned as if he couldn’t make sense of my words. So, I boiled it down for him.

  “If you leave, I’m going with you. Wherever you go, I’m going, too.” My hands crawled tentatively up the front of his shirt, two nervous spiders. “Because I love you.”

  He shook his head slightly, a confused expression on his handsome face and in his beautiful ruby eyes. “No. You can’t love someone like me.” His voice broke, and my heart crumbled.

  I laid a palm on his upper arm, feeling the ridges of his bicep, my fingers curling into him. “I do.” I stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

  For a moment he remained frozen in surprise and then he wound his arms around my waist and lifted me clean off the ground. His kiss was gentle, but hot as a brand against my mouth. He was claiming me, making me his. But it was too late. I was already his. I always had been.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I wanted to get your things back,” Ben said, handing over my pack, which I knew held my iPad and diary. “I thought I’d be gone an hour, tops, but I couldn’t find a car for miles. I walked most of the way.”

  My emotions were so raw, so near the surface, I got choked up even thinking of him traveling highways alone. “Why would you risk it?”

  He scowled. “Isn’t it obvious, Maya? You saved my life. I mean, you treated me like a man even when I was infected. Do you know how many other people would’ve done that? None.” His frown eased a little. “You’re so special, Maya, and I’m in love with you. I have been for a long time.”

  “Me, too,” I whispered. And then, “You weren’t chased by any packs, were you?” I didn’t want to think of him fighting on his own.

  “Yeah, but I just outran them. Something I learned from you.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was teasing or not, but I didn’t care. I smiled.

  “I’m tired,” he said, raising both arms and stretching the muscles in his back and shoulders.

  The bed we’d slept in the night before was occupied. “Hunny’s sleeping in the master bedroom.”

  His arms dropped to his sides. “The doctor has two bedrooms, doesn’t she?”

  “Yes.” I waited for him to say more. I wanted to sleep beside him, had gotten used to the comfort of sharing a bed, but if he was exhausted and in pain maybe it was better that he sleep alone.

  He started for the hallway, but then paused at the spare bedroom’s threshold. “You coming?” he asked.

  * * *

  So used to waking with the sun, I was disoriented when I opened my eyes and the watch on the bedside table read quarter after eight.

  “Is it really that late?” I murmured, rolling over and slipping an arm across Ben’s warm belly. “We slept so long.”

  “Did we miss breakfast?” he asked. “’Cause I’m starving.”

  “I don’t think so.” I tried to remember what Pollard had told me about breakfast, but it was sort of hazy. Then I remembered the doctor’s late night visit. “Dr. Lutan invited us to stay here with her for as long as we want,” I said. “What do you think?”

  He didn’t answer right away, but stroked my arm thoughtfully. “She’s kind of bossy, but nice.”

  Exactly. “I like her. She reminds me of my mom.”

  “Really?” He chuckled low, and I felt the rumble in my bones. “Okay. Let’s stay for a while. You deserve a safe place like this.”

  “What about you?” I asked. “What do you want? What kind of home do you dream about?”

  “Wherever you are,” he said into my hair. “You have been my dream for so long, Maya, everything good that happened in my life is because of you. I want to be wherever you are.” He kissed the top of my head. “But right now I’m going outside to wash up.”

  I walked him to the front door and, after saying goodbye, something on the wall caught my eye. At some point the night before Ben had slipped my wallet-sized school picture, the one he’d carried in his pocket for weeks, into the corner of a framed photo collage in the foyer.

  He’d unpacked.

  Humming under my breath, I gathered the personal belongings Ben had recovered and carried them into the second bedroom. First, I made the bed and laid the guitar across it. Then I unpacked the bag and set my one change of clothes in the dresser. The food and water went into the sink for later. I slipped my father’s short sword into the umbrella stand beside the front door. All our carefully gathered medical supplies got stowed under the hall bathroom sink.

  Finally, I pulled out my iPad and small, black diary and held them in my hands for a moment before setting them in the dresser next to my clothes. I hung the empty pack on a hook in the tiny guest room closet.

  “You really do like it here,” Ben observed, sauntering in.

  “I do.”

  The front door opened while we were getting dressed for breakfast. Dr. Lutan strolled in without knocking, her face breaking into a bright smile at the sight of Ben on her living room sofa tying on his boots.

  “You’re back.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “We were going to mount a search party for you this morning.”

  “Sorry if I scared you.” He stood and shook her hand. “We left some important gear down the highway, and I wanted to find it.”

  “Hey, doc,” Hunny greeted from the kitchen.

  “Hello, sweetheart,” she answered. Then, to Ben she said, “Well, I’m really glad you’re here. How are you feeling? Any headaches or dizziness?”

  “No, I feel much better.”

  “Good.”

  “Doc?” Two tall young men with holstered handguns marched inside and stood nervously in the foyer. “You still need us?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I certainly do.” She quickly introduced us to Nathaniel and Ty.

  Ben shook hands with each of them.

  “Wow,” Nathaniel marveled. “When she said red eyes, she wasn’t kidding, was she?”

  “Never mind that.” Dr. Lutan looked excitedly from Ben to me to Hunny. “I have really good news. Phenomenal news.�
�� She bounced a little in her sensible taupe flats. The same kind my mom used to wear. “I believe I have reproduced the antiserum.”

  My eyes popped wide. “That fast?”

  “Don’t be too impressed,” she said, but her excitement didn’t wane a bit. “It’s easy to take someone else’s hard work and copy it. That’s all I did. Basically. I used your father’s formula.”

  “Does it work?” Ben asked.

  “That’s why I came to get you.” Her smile wavered for the first time. “We need a test subject. And I wanted you to be there when I administer the antiserum.”

  “Do you have a test subject?” Ben asked.

  “Not yet. That’s why I brought Nathaniel and Ty.”

  I didn’t know whether to be thrilled my dad’s hard work would finally pay off or terrified I’d have to capture a human being and jab him with a hypodermic. I guess a little of both.

  “We’ll help,” he said, glancing at me. “Right?”

  “Of course. Just let us drop Hunny off with Pollard.”

  But Pollard and Juliet weren’t upstairs in their apartment, so we all walked to the hospital’s cafeteria to find them.

  I strolled into the large, noisy room and spotted Pollard immediately. He stood behind the serving station in a white apron, hair net, and latex gloves passing out pancakes. At last he was exactly where he was meant to be.

  “Hey,” I greeted, bypassing several people, but not caring. I was way too anxious to eat anything, anyway. I felt Ben right beside me. “You must be so happy to be working in a kitchen.”

  He smiled, sort of shy. “Yeah.” And then, as if deciding on something, he removed his right glove and offered his hand for Ben to shake. “Good to see you, man. You had me scared the last time I saw you.”

  They clasped hands. “Thanks for coming to find us.”

  “Anytime,” Pollard said, putting the glove back on.

  “Can I leave Hunny here with you?” I asked. “We’re going to test a new antiserum beyond the fence.”

  “Seriously?” He frowned. “Be careful out there. Do you need backup?”

  “We’ll be okay.” I wasn’t the same scared girl he’d met outside Raleigh. I could take care of myself.

  “Okay, yeah, no problem. Hunny, grab some breakfast and go see Juliet. She’s over there.” He pointed across the room.

  “Thanks,” I said, and we met up with Dr. Lutan and her security team in the hospital’s ambulance bay.

  “I have to confess,” she said, “I have very little experience with the infected in their present condition. I’ve been here, inside the fence, since before the fence was finished.”

  “We’ll help,” Ben assured.

  We drove the white van down the long walled lane and then through the gate. There weren’t any signs of Reds outside the compound.

  “They’re attracted to neighborhoods,” I said. “At least as far as I’ve seen.”

  The doctor drove north until we passed the government buildings and monuments and started to see the peaked roofs of historic homes. She rolled down a quiet street that turned out to not be so quiet after all.

  Two Reds knelt in the gutter, fighting over a fresh body. I couldn’t tell from our position whether it was another Red or not, but my stomach soured either way.

  “Let’s do this fast,” Ben said, climbing out of the vehicle, followed closely by Nathaniel and Ty. I picked up the police-grade Taser and fresh cartridges we’d brought with us, and lingered in the open vehicle door.

  “Watch for any surprises,” Ben said to me. “This’ll be over in a minute.”

  I waved the Taser, faking bravado. “No problem.”

  A male and a female, so filthy with blood and dirt they were difficult to distinguish, growled at us over the body.

  “We’ll take out the man first,” Ty whispered, his eyes pinned on the pair. “Then the female. Ready?”

  “Wait. Take these. They’re short-term sedatives.” Dr. Lutan said, handing Ben a pair of hypodermic needles. “Inject them into the fleshy part of the upper arm. Good luck.” She got back in the van and let the engine idle.

  Nathanial lunged for the male, knocking him flat on his back. The Red snapped at him with his black-stained teeth. His female companion roared and forgot about feeding as she glared at Ben. Ty tackled her to the ground and Ben injected each of them with sedatives.

  I stood near the van, jumpy and fearful. Nothing ever went as planned when we encountered Reds. They weren’t like us anymore. They were faster, stronger, more desperate.

  A scraping footstep. I looked up as a third zombie came around the street corner and spotted us. Not us, exactly. Ben. He saw Ben and he started running.

  Nathaniel and Ty were busy securing the first two Reds with zip ties, and Ben was crouched beside the female. My heart pounding in my ears, I ran toward the zombie, pointed the Taser gun at his emaciated chest, and squeezed the trigger. He collapsed onto his side, and stayed there, stunned.

  “You okay?” Ben shouted. “Maya?”

  “So-so.” The male climbed unsteadily to his feet, but instead of staring at Ben like he wanted to chew on his bones, he was giving me the murder glare. Quickly, I popped out the used cartridge and wires, loaded a second cartridge, sent him a silent sorry and shot him again. He went down hard, and by the volume of his groans he wouldn’t stand up anytime soon.

  “Nice shot.” Nathaniel jogged over and bound the infected man’s wrists and ankles.

  Ben hoisted the unconscious female over his shoulder, grabbed my hand, and we hurried for the van.

  It was a short, bumpy drive back to the gate, inside the fence, and all the way to the hospital’s ambulance bay.

  “Where do you want her?” Ben asked, carrying the Red up the ramp and through the double doors where Beatrice waited for us. Nathaniel and Ty, carrying the other two zombies, chased him inside.

  “First beds you see,” the doctor called after them. “It doesn’t matter.”

  Dr. Lutan was nervous. Or excited. Or both. She talked fast and messed with supplies in a cupboard, dropping several kits on the ground.

  “You said you injected how much?” she asked. “Ben?”

  “The whole syringe,” he said.

  “And what happened as an immediate result?” She emerged with three sets of soft restraints and tossed them to me as if I was supposed to know what to do with them.

  I worked it out, though. It wasn’t that complicated. I secured each zombie’s wrists and ankles to their gurney’s rails. The female was starting to wake up, tossing her head back and forth and clenching her fists. The two men, however, remained sedated.

  “I don’t know,” Ben said. He edged farther and farther away until he was just a shape in the doorway. “I don’t remember what happened right after.”

  I answered for him. “He spoke. He said my name.” Smiling reassuringly at him, I added, “And then he passed out.”

  “Did the syringe look like this?” She held up a hypodermic.

  “Yes.”

  “And he filled it before he injected it?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Ten cc’s,” she mumbled, filling a needle from a glass vial of clear fluid.

  Then she just stood there brandishing a syringe as the female Red gnashed her teeth.

  “Everything okay?” I asked. What was the plan if she chickened out?

  “I don’t think this is going to work,” she said in a monotone. “We captured these poor people, drugged them, restrained them, and I’m going to inject them with chemicals and antibodies that could poison them.”

  “Uh.” I glanced at Ben. “If you don’t think it’s ready, we probably shouldn’t do this.”

  “No, no. It’s as ready as it’s ever going to be.” She took a deep breath. And then another. “Okay. Here we go.”

  She tied the woman’s upper arm with a plastic strip and then injected the antiserum into her vein.

  I held my breath, watching. Waiting.

  The
woman thrashed and then stared directly at Dr. Lutan with wide, red eyes. “Hhhhh,” she growled. We all leaned closer to hear better. “Hhheelp. Mmmee.”

  “Oh, my God,” Dr. Lutan whispered, and then snapped into doctor mode. “Just breathe. We’re here to help you. I’m going to examine you now, but there’s nothing to be frightened of.”

  I reached for Ben, and he pulled me into his arms. “You did that,” I whispered. “You helped her.”

  “So did you.”

  He led me out the front doors, across a patient drop-off lane, and all the way to a strip of grass and skinny trees. He slid an arm around my waist, and I leaned into him.

  “Everything’s going to be different,” I marveled.

  I looked up as a whole lot of footsteps approached. A group of survivors streamed around us, headed for the hospital entrance.

  “Maya!” Pollard jogged up, out of breath. “I’m sorry. I told someone, and I guess he told someone else, and well…” He gestured to the crowd gathering. “Did it work?”

  “Maybe,” I answered. “Probably. The first test subject spoke. That’s a good sign.”

  Pollard’s eyebrows shot up. “You got another zombie to talk?” He grinned. “How do you do that?”

  “It wasn’t me,” I assured. “Dr. Lutan did all the hard work.”

  “All right.” He stood on tiptoe to see around us. “I’m going to see how they’re doing. Good job, you two. You may have just saved the entire human race. How does that feel?” Chuckling, he ran off.

  Hunny and Juliet were a few steps behind him. The little girl twined her arms around my waist and refused to let go.

  “Is it true?” Juliet asked.

  I gestured to the hospital behind us. “It’s looking good.”

  Juliet followed Pollard through the hospital’s front doors, and I tipped my head back to see into Ben’s eyes. The question Dr. Lutan had asked came tripping back into my mind.

  “Why did you do it, Ben?” I asked. “Why did you take the elixir?”

  He tightened his arm around me and then placed a hand between Hunny’s shoulder blades, drawing us in even closer. “For you,” he said into my hair. “Maya, I did it for you.”