The Infected, a PODs Novel

by Michelle K. Pickett

  Juan and Roy helped me into the house. Judy led me to the bedroom and helped me peel off my wet jeans. She grabbed a pair of sweat pants and held them out to me. I shook my head and grabbed David’s sweats from the room next door, slipping into them. I pulled off my sweater and picked up David’s shirt, pulling it over my head. It was big on me; the sleeves hung past my hands. It covered me like a blanket and I wrapped my arms around my middle, snuggling in the soft fabric, breathing in his familiar scent. It was faint, wearing off from the days of travelling, but I could still smell it—patchouli and citrus.

  I sat on the edge of the bed and stared straight ahead, seeing nothing. I just wanted to sit and pretend it wasn’t happening. That David wasn’t in a strange house in the middle of nowhere with Devlin… and his gun. That we weren’t waiting to see if David turned into a living zombie—that we weren’t waiting to know if Devlin had to end David’s life.

  I just wanted to sit. And that’s what I did. All night, I didn’t budge from the edge of the bed.

  “Evangelina.” I looked up and saw David crouched beside me.

  “David?”

  He smiled.

  I reached out to touch him. I cupped his cheek. It was cold and I frowned. “David?” I watched in horror as he dissolved in front of me.

  I jerked awake, still sitting on the edge of the bed.

  Just a dream. A cruel dream.

  I watched the shadows move across the wood floor, as the sun rose. I sat alone in the room. My mind numb.

  My heart split in two.

  “Eva,” Judy said quietly. I jumped at the sound of her voice. “You need to eat some breakfast.”

  I don’t think I answered. I turned my head away and looked out the small, dingy window. I heard her footsteps as she left the room and was glad. I just wanted to be alone.

  In the quiet of the bedroom, whispers in the house carried through the thin walls.

  They don’t seem to realize how their voices carry. I can hear everything they’re saying.

  “Poor Eva,” Tiffany said.

  “Poor David,” Juan said.

  “How long do you think it will take?” Judy whispered.

  “How will we know for sure?” George’s voice.

  I walked to the door and slammed it closed so hard the pictures on the walls jumped.

  I don’t want or need their pity. I need David. He’s coming back to me. He is. It isn’t a bite.

  I started to cry. Or maybe I never stopped.

  By dinner Rebecca and Judy both came into the bedroom. “Eva, you need to eat,” Rebecca said.

  I didn’t answer.

  “David needs you to be strong.”

  “David,” I breathed.

  “Yes. You need to eat.” Rebecca pulled me from the bed and led me into the living area. She guided me to a chair in front of the small kitchen table. A bowl of steaming soup sat in front of me, and I forced myself to eat it.

  “Good girl,” Judy said. “Eat up.”

  When I’d finished eating I went back into the bedroom and lay on the bed, my knees pressed to my chest. Tears streamed down my face creating puddles on the pillow. I lay there until the small house grew dark, and snores filtered through the walls.

  I don’t know when I fell asleep. I jerked awake and the sun was streaming through the dirty windows. The smell of coffee filled the house.

  I ran from the bedroom and out the front door, heaving the soup I had for dinner the night before onto the ground. When my stomach was empty I stood, wiped my mouth on the back of my hand, rinsed out my mouth with some water from the kitchen, and made my way back to my self-imposed isolation cell, closing the door behind me.

  I curled up on the bed pulling the musty smelling quilt over me. With the bedroom door shut I didn’t get any of the warmth from the fireplace. But I didn’t have to listen to the others whisper about David and what might be happening. I was thinking about it enough on my own. I didn’t need to hear it from them, too.

  A shadow crossed in front of the window, and I scrambled off the bed. My feet tangled in the quilt and I stumbled forward, catching myself on an old recliner sitting next to the window. I rubbed the dirty glass and peered out hoping to see David, my heart raced and breathing came in shallow gasps.

  It’s Roy.

  Disappointment grabbed my throat and squeezed. Pulling the quilt from the bed and wrapping it around me, I dropped onto the old rocker. It creaked in protest. I curled one foot under me, and used the toe of the other to rock the chair gently. I sat there all morning, until I heard a knock on the bedroom door.

  “Eva?” Rebecca called. I looked over at the door. “Come eat some lunch.”

  “David?”

  She frowned and shook her head. I turned back to the window.

  “She won’t come…” I heard Rebecca tell someone in the hall before she shut the door behind her.

  I felt numb. And cold. So very cold. Did that mean anything? Was it shock? Or maybe an omen? I tried not to think about it too much. I tried not to think at all.

  It seemed like only minutes had passed when Tiffany stuck her head in the bedroom and said, “Eva, get up and come eat dinner.” I looked over at her and shook my head before staring out the window again. “David wouldn’t want you acting like this.”

  I glared at her.

  Who are you to talk? George is here with you. Don’t tell me what David would want.

  I sat in the recliner wrapped in the quilt all night looking out the window.

  It’s so bright outside. Must be a full moon.

  I watched the side yard, and what little I could see of the street, for any movement, but there were only shadows of trees as the wind rippled the branches.

  David. Come back to me. I love you—only you. Why has it taken me until now to realize it?

  I started to cry. Again. My heart hurt. I didn’t think that was possible, but I felt physical pain. My chest burned inside.

  David.

  I looked around the room. A small smile played on my lips, still wet from my tears.

  I wish you were here to see this, David. This room is truly heinous. You’d love it

  I sat in the recliner having a conversation with him for most of the night and wondered if I was going crazy for doing so.

  The sun began to rise. It was the third sunrise I’d watched since my life was torn apart. Since David had left.

  Will I start referring to my life as before David died and after?

  That thought made me sob, fat, ugly tears mixed with snot and hiccupped breaths. It was the first time the word die had entered my thoughts.

  I heard the bedroom door opened, and I turned away, covering my face with my hands.

  “Eva?” Tiffany’s voice was barely audible over my cries.

  I shook my head. I wasn’t even sure what the question was. It could have been if I was alright or if I wanted something to eat or a million other things. Whatever it was I knew the answer was no, so I shook my head.

  The door clicked shut.

  When Judy came to get me for lunch I realized my stomach was growling. I followed her into the kitchen and let her shovel some soup down me. I tried not to look at anyone. I hated seeing their looks of pity. They tried to hide them, but they were there.

  When I’d finished eating, I stood and started toward the bedroom.

  “Don’t you want to stay out here with us?” Rebecca asked softly.

  “No, but thank you.” I did leave the bedroom door open, though. The warmth from the fire felt so good in the kitchen. I wanted it to fill the bedroom.

  “She shouldn’t be in there alone,” Rebecca said.

  “She’s fine. She ate and spoke. That’s better than yesterday,” Judy answered.

  Really? I don’t feel any better.

  I slept in the rocker-recliner for part of the afternoon. The warm air filtering in from the fire made me drowsy and my eyelids heavy. I fought to keep them open, afraid David would come back while I was asleep, but I drifted of
f anyway.

  I hadn’t been awake very long when I heard it.

  “He’s coming,” someone whispered.

  David!

  I shot out of the chair, ran through the house, and out the door before anyone could stop me. Devlin came into view. He cut through the yards of two houses diagonal from the house we were staying in. I searched the yards where Devlin exited.

  No one was behind him.

  I screamed. It wasn’t a word, just a guttural sound of anguish.

  Roy ran outside and caught me just as I sagged to the ground.

  I didn’t think I had anymore tears left, but they wet my face. Devlin ran to me. He said something, but I couldn’t understand him. His voice was too far away, distorted.

  Then, there was nothing at all.

  When I opened my eyes I saw a familiar sight. Silvery, gray eyes stared back at me. I blinked.

  It’s a dream. A horrible dream.

  I squeezed my eyes closed, and opened them again. They were still there, beautiful, silver, and full of worry.

  “Evangelina? Can you hear me?”

  Slowly, I sat up. My heart raced. My hand shook when I reached out to touch him. I cradled his cheek in my palm. It was warm and… alive.

  “David?”

  He smiled. “Yeah, I’m here.” He gathered me onto his lap and smoothed the hair out of my face. “I’m here,” he whispered and kissed my forehead.

  I sobbed with relief and buried my head in the curve of his neck. I breathed in his scent—campfire and pine needles. He rocked me back and forth, squeezing me to him.

  “You’re here? You’re alright?”

  “I’m here. Everything is fine.”

  I laughed through my tears, kissing him. I planted kisses all over his face and ran my hands over him, checking that he was okay.

  “I was so scared,” I said between kisses. “Don’t ever leave me again. Promise me.”

  “I promise I’ll never leave you willingly.”

  “David, I’m so sorry. I’ve been so selfish. I love you. More than anything. Only you. It’s always been you, will always be you. I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid that it took almost losing you for me to realize it.” I stopped to take a deep breath, wiping the tears from my eyes.

  “I was convinced that because I loved you, somehow you’d be ripped away from me just like everyone else the virus has stolen. So, that day… in quarantine? When you pushed me to marry you? I used that as an excuse. I wanted to say yes. I wanted… want to be with you. Marry you. But, I was scared. I still am.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. My tears fell faster and David wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs. He didn’t speak, just watched and listened.

  “But love doesn’t just go away. At least, mine for you hasn’t.” I whispered, opening my eyes. My gaze locked on his. “And I don’t care if we get five minutes, five weeks or fifty years, I want to spend them with you. I’ve been such a fool. I’m so sorry. So very, very sorry. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. Hell, I don’t deserve you. But I’m asking, David. I’m asking for you to forgive me. To love me.”

  David looked down at the floor. I waited for him to answer, biting my lip so hard it hurt. My stomach had thousands of butterflies swirling inside it; my heart was wedged in my throat holding them all in, like a cork in a wine bottle.

  “Eva, I…” he sighed and looked at me. I tried to read the emotion in his eyes, but there was something new in them. I held my breath waiting for him to finish, praying it was what I wanted to hear. “I’ve waited a long time for you to finally figure it out.” He grinned.

  I let out the breath I was holding in a whoosh. Wrapping my arms around his neck, squeezed him to me. “I’m sorry I’m such a slow learner.” I kissed the side of his neck.

  “At the risk of history repeating itself…” David moved me off his lap and stood. He fished something from his wallet and knelt in front of me. “I love you more than anything. You’re my world. I was meant for you and you for me. You are why I exist. I was put on this earth, in this life, to love you. Just you. Will you marry me, Evangelina Mae Evans?”

  “David, are you sure?”

  He looked at me, his brows furrowed. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because I’ve hurt you so much,” I started crying harder.

  “When I made you choose in quarantine, I was too stubborn to back down. My damn ego, pride, whatever got in the way. I hurt you. And I’m sorry, Eva.”

  He slipped the ring on my finger and grazed his lips over my knuckles before sliding next to me on the bed and kissing me until my toes curled, and other parts of my body tingled.

  “I guess I’m officially the ball and chain.” I said when he ended the kiss. I smiled through my tears—happy tears, just then.

  “Or my old lady.”

  “Let’s wait until after my twentieth birthday to call me your old lady,” I said, holding my hand out so I could admire my ring. “Where in the world did you get this ring? Geez, David, it’s obscene!”

  “I picked it up on one of my shopping trips.” He winked at me. “I thought it was a little small, but would do in a pinch. I wanted to have something on hand in case I needed it… like now.” He took my hand and stretched my arm out to look at the ring. “It is a nice size chip of ice, huh?”

  It practically weighs my hand down.

  “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

  “Eva, one of us has to talk to Devlin.”

  “I know. I want to do it.” I twirled the ring around my finger and gave David a small smile.

  I found Devlin sitting on the front steps of the porch, and sat next to him. “Hey.”

  “You feeling better?” He looked at me and smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Yeah.” I rubbed my sweaty palms up and down my thighs.

  “Ah. I see that you are.” His eyes followed my left hand, trained on my ring. I folded my right hand over it.

  “Devlin—”

  “It’s okay. I always knew it was him. It was just a matter of time before you realized it, too. But, you can’t blame me for trying, huh?” He rubbed his hands up and down his face.

  “I don’t want to hurt you. That’s the last thing I wanted—”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “I know.” He leaned over and kissed the tip of my nose before resting his forehead against mine.

  I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and held him to me, a few seconds longer than I probably should have.

  “I love you, Devlin. And I know it sounds cliché to say it, but I’m not in love with you. That doesn’t mean I don’t care deeply about you. I want to see you happy. I’m just not the person who’ll make you happy. We might think so now, but once the lust is gone what’ll we have? Just two people really, really good at the fun stuff. The kissing, and the touching, and the kissing… and, oh yeah, the kissing. Man, whoever taught you how to kiss did an awesome job, because, wow, you know how to use your lips.”

  He smiled and tugged on a piece of my hair before he placed it behind my ear. “Yeah, we are good at that. I’ll miss that.”

  “Me, too.” I twisted my ring around my finger absently. “I think you and I fit so well together because we were both lonely. And since we knew each other, we didn’t have to work at it. All the hard stuff was done, you know? And, at least for me, attraction wasn’t an issue. How can it be when you’re kissing a freakin’ Adonis?”

  Devlin belted out a laugh. “That’s a new one. As far as break-ups go, this is one of my better ones. And just so you know, the attraction thing went both ways. There isn’t a Greek goddess beautiful enough to compare to you.” His eyes locked on mine. They were intense and full of emotion, the many shades of green swirling together.

  I looked down at the ground. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. And thanks for coming and telling me yourself. You could’ve had David do it.”

  “Nah, David wasn’t the one kissing you, and copping a feel every time he got you alone.�
�

  Devlin threw his head back and laughed. I smiled at the sound. It was a genuine laugh, not faked or forced.

  Maybe this mess I’ve made will work out okay.

  “I love you. I’m so sorry.” I touched Devlin’s arm before I remembered touching was probably off limits, and pulled my hand back.

  “I love you, too. And you have nothing to be sorry about. I knew this was coming. It was only a matter of time. But I had to try, you know? I had to try.” He rubbed a hand up and down the back of his head, then to the top, where he let it rest.

  I cleared my throat, twisting my fingers in my lap. “You and David—”

  “Yeah, that’s, well, that just is. I love him like a brother. He is my brother as far as I’m concerned, but I screwed up to Hell and back. I knew you were off limits. The guy code thing, you know?”

  “Yeah. But we both—”

  Devlin let his hand drop from his head and fall against his thigh. Looking at the toe of his boot, he shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. That’s not how it works between guys, Eva. I broke a trust. Anyway, David and I talked when we were alone the past few nights. So, we’ll see what happens. I hope we can move past this.” He shrugged a shoulder. “But whatever happens, I’ll be happy if you guys are.”

  Devlin turned to face me, leaning in. His lips were so close to mine our breath mingled, but he didn’t touch me. “One last kiss?” My eyes dropped to his lips, and even though I couldn’t see it, I pictured the small dimple under his full bottom lip, remembering how it felt to run my tongue along it. Devlin shifted closer, but he still didn’t touch me. Except with his eyes. His green eyes that seemed to see straight to my soul, and the secrets I hid there.

  I cupped his face and pulled him to me. It was a sweet kiss. Slow and soft. It brought tears to my eyes, and my heart ached. But our ending was the beginning for us to find our bliss in life. Our one true love. Mine was David. And Devlin’s was waiting for him.

  When Devlin pulled away, he gave me a crooked grin, and my heart stuttered against my ribs. “You’re amazing. I hope David knows how lucky he is.” Devlin wiped my tears away. “Don’t cry. I want you to be happy, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”