The Virulent Chronicles Box Set

by Shelbi Wescott

  “Save your energy. I’ve already told you that it’s going to work out.”

  She leaned back away from him and narrowed her eyes. “Sometimes I really dislike your optimism.”

  Grant looked at her apologetically. “I’m not always positive—”

  “You believe everything is going to turn out okay in the end, right?”

  He shrugged. “With us? I do.”

  “Okay,” Lucy said and she snuggled back in close. “What if...what if I just have a bad feeling?”

  “I don’t know,” Grant answered. “Look...you don’t know what the Islands are going to be yet. They could be awesome! I mean you know they are going to be awesome. You know I’ll follow you anywhere, Lula. You know it. Only—”

  “You want it to be okay.” She said it softly, the realization creeping over her that Grant was going to try to make the most of any place he ended up. She wanted him to be her co-conspirator, her partner against the people who had hurt her. That wasn’t Grant. It would never be Grant. “I understand,” she said and kissed him on the cheek.

  “But hey,” Grant said with a shrug. “I’ll do whatever you say. You want to take on the most powerful man in the world...who has an army and chemical weapons at his disposal? Why not! Just another Tuesday, right?”

  Lucy broke into a huge grin and she couldn’t help but laugh. “I feel like that’s even better than a marriage proposal. How do you know your boyfriend loves you? He’s willing to have a showdown with a ruthless dictator or plot an escape off a giant metal island in the middle of the ocean.”

  “Technically, it’s nowhere near the middle of the ocean. And...I never said anything about love.”

  Instantly Lucy’s face bloomed a deep crimson and she fell over on to the stripped mattress and buried her head. She mock-whimpered into the blue and white floral pattern. A button pushed into her cheek. “You ruined it,” she lamented. “You ruined my first time saying that word to anyone.”

  Grant put his hand on her back and she turned to him. Her eyes twinkled.

  “Technically,” he said again, “you declared that I loved you. Not the other way around.” He tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. “But you’re right.” He smiled. That dimple. She melted. “I love you very much, but I’ve known it for a long time.”

  “A long time?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “I’ve known for a long time, yeah,” Grant said.

  “Before we kissed?” Lucy whispered, smiling, her eyes welling with tears.

  “Way before.”

  “Before Wyoming?”

  “Eh...around Wyoming.”

  Her memory went back to the stillness of the Jackson Lake Mountain Lodge.

  “We should go back to those cabins sometime. It was nice there. Peaceful and untouched...it was easy to pretend that the darkness didn’t exist.” Lucy sat up on her elbows and smiled.

  “Then we’ll go back,” Grant declared with a nod. “That will be our place. If we ever get separated—”

  “Don’t even say it,” Lucy said quickly. She shot up on the bed and clasped a hand over Grant’s mouth. He stared at her wide-eyed. “It’s bad luck. You can’t even say it...promise?” He nodded and she removed her hand. “We will go back to Wyoming sometime. Together. Promise?”

  “Okay, okay. I promise,” he said.

  The door to the room banged open again and Harper traipsed in holding her stuffed giraffe by the neck. “Mom says that you need to finish up!” she announced with a hand on her hip, full of six year-old attitude. Without budging, Harper stood front and center, watching and waiting for a reply.

  “Tell mom I’ll be there in a second,” Lucy said to her younger sister, and she shooed her away. Harper stuck out her lower lip and then turned back around and rushed into the main living area, leaving the door wide open.

  “She says she needs a second!” her little sister yelled to the entire house.

  “You should go,” Grant said, and he gave her a nudge.

  Lucy reached around her neck and felt for the tiny metal clasp to Salem’s necklace. Unhooking it, Lucy slid it into her hand and pushed it forward into Grant’s chest. He wrapped his own hand around hers and tried to push her hand back, but she didn’t budge.

  “Keep it safe,” she said. “I know you’ll come back to me soon if you have this, because you know how much it means to me.”

  “Faulty logic,” Grant replied. He stared at her closed palm; the chain dangled in the air. “You keep it,” he told her. “I don’t need that necklace to hurry back to you.”

  Lucy shook her head. “I want you to take it.”

  “Now, Lucy. It’s time,” Maxine said from the doorway.

  When she turned, she saw her mother standing with her arms crossed. While her body language and tone conveyed frustration, her mother’s face was soft and forgiving, and Lucy thought maybe even a bit sad. She understood.

  “We have to go, Grant,” Maxine said. “I’m sorry...”

  Grant looked at Lucy and then slid his hand into her outstretched palm and collected the necklace. He took it and clasped it around his own neck; he held the cross between his thumb and index finger and spun it on the chain. Lucy smiled and he shrugged.

  “Be safe,” he said to Lucy in an almost-whisper. With his free hand he reached into the waistband of his pants and pulled out an envelope. “For tonight. Before you go to bed.”

  “Mom—” Lucy turned to send her mother away, but she noticed that Maxine had already slipped from the door to give them one last moment together, alone. The place where she had been standing was empty. She turned back to Grant, took the letter from his hand, and wiped away a tear. She felt like her heart was breaking into two pieces. Her stomach ached, her brain went foggy; her entire nervous system responded to this one moment. “I love you,” she said, emboldened.

  All the air went out of the room. For a second, all Lucy could hear was her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. It had to be perfect this time; it wasn’t a joke.

  “Well,” Grant answered with a smile. “I loved you first.” Then he leaned over and kissed her cheek, just as another tear rolled down. He licked the saltiness off his lips and pressed his forehead into hers. “Seeing you right now just makes it so clear...I have to do whatever it takes to get back to you. You’re everything I have. You’re my entire family.”

  “It wasn’t clear before?” Lucy asked, confused. She started to pull away, but Grant put his hand on the back of her head and kept her forehead pressed to his.

  “Don’t read into things,” he whispered. “Nothing has ever been as clear as us.” Then he kissed her one last time. Without saying a formal goodbye, he exited the apartment, walking briskly past the waiting King family and their bags, packed and ready for their journey to Kymberlin.

  Cass gave Lucy’s hand a squeeze. The girls walked hand-in-hand together through the gray hallways in silence; they both carried single bags filled with the entirety of their earthly possessions. While there was excitement in the air and anticipation for the journey ahead, their last march through the hallways of the System felt somber. The path to the single elevator to the surface led them through a network of long, door-less hallways. Lucy had imagined the remaining occupants lining up to bid them goodbye, cheering for them as they walked past, like they were soldiers marching off to war or astronauts journeying into space. Instead, the halls were quiet and abandoned, and those bound for the Islands walked in relative isolation.

  They would ride the elevator in small groups of six, which would plop them back into the middle of the Brixton library. From there, they would board a passenger plane for the East Coast. Kymberlin was located off the coast of Maine.

  From one Portland to another, Lucy thought. She shifted, moved forward, and shuffled along. The line slowed as people began to ascend to the surface.

  Behind her, Lucy heard the distinct clap-clap-clap of high-heels against the tile flooring. She turned to see Blair rushing forward, weaving between
the line of people, while holding Teddy in her arms. A short woman with a poorly executed A-line haircut and holding three bursting bags tried to follow Blair. She huffed and puffed behind her.

  “Ethan! Wait!” they heard Blair call, and the line stopped to watch the spectacle. Lucy watched her brother as he turned, his eyes narrowed and suspicious.

  Blair was crying. She wiped big tears from her cheeks. When she reached Ethan’s place in line, she stopped to catch her breath, and then she held her head up high and cleared her throat. Even with splotchy cheeks and red eyes, Blair tried to maintain her air of superiority.

  “My father...well...he has,” she stammered and shook her head. “He ordered me to stay behind and work. I’m not to embark to Kymberlin until after the Copia residents have been dispatched.”

  Ethan raised his eyebrows.

  “I’m not happy about it either. There’s only so much yelling I can do before I’ve realized I’ve lost an argument. Look,” she said. “This is Allison.” She pointed behind her and the woman with the bags waved. “The boy’s nanny. But I thought...”

  Teddy clamored forward and launched himself into Ethan’s arms. Ethan stumbled backward a bit and everyone watching the conversation held his or her breath. He balanced himself, and the people in the hallway sighed collectively with relief.

  “What?” Ethan asked to Blair, placing his hands over Teddy’s ears; his tone sharp with disapproval. “You want me to be some glorified babysitter?”

  “Absolutely not,” Blair said quickly. “Allison is the nanny. I only thought. Goodness, you’ll make me regret even coming to you. I thought you’d enjoy having some time with him. He’s been asking and—”

  “What?” Ethan said again, leaning closer to Blair to make her feel uncomfortable. He lowered his voice. “Is this some kind of token offering? Watch your new kid on a plane ride. Get him settled into his new home. And then you’ll swoop back in and be the hero with your piles of toys.”

  Blair cleared her throat. Lucy took a step toward the conversation, but she felt Cass’s hand tug her back.

  “No, no, no, mon chéri. He’s fine,” Cass whispered to Lucy. “Come on. Let’s keep going.”

  Blair turned to Allison. “The plane ride only. Then no more contact until I’m back. You understand?” Allison nodded and pulled a bag up on her shoulder. Blair looked back at Ethan. “I’ve been working hard to settle my little Theo...”

  “His mom called him Teddy,” Ethan said loudly. “Teddy.”

  “This was a mistake,” Blair said. She reached for Teddy, but he clung to Ethan and dug his heels into his back. “Fine. Just. Help him feel...calm.” She walked around so she could see Teddy’s face. “Th—Teddy? I’ll be back soon, okay? I just need to work for a little bit. Papa Huck will come see you and Allison will be there. Okay?”

  Teddy nodded against Ethan’s shoulder.

  “This is stupid,” she said to no one in particular. “I didn’t want to leave him. I told my dad—” Blair looked up at Ethan. “I don’t want him to think I’m not coming back for him.” She blinked and bit back another wave of emotion. “I’m coming back.”

  She looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead, she lowered her head and worked her way against the current, back through the throngs of the Kymberlin residents, her sniffles carrying down the hallway in short, meaningful bursts.

  Cass clicked her tongue. “That girl,” she sighed.

  “You feel sorry for her,” Lucy said.

  It took a long time for Cass to reply. She gave Lucy’s hand a long squeeze and shook her head. “No, friend. Not really. I feel sorry for the child.”

  Lucy heard her mother and father whispering, and Harper and Teddy jabbering in hushed tones; she could hear the steady clunk of Ethan’s prosthetic foot propelling him forward unevenly. He had yet to perfect his own movements and he jerked and bobbed, putting his metal leg, dressed in a tennis shoe, out in front and sliding his whole leg up to meet it. Sometimes he dragged the prosthetic forward. The effect was always jarring and Ethan’s face was frozen in a mixture of pain and anger. The quiet march of the hallway only drew attention to the awkwardness.

  Lucy watched Cass steal a look behind her to watch Ethan move along behind them. He had his hand flat against the wall for support, and sweat beads accumulated at his brow. Cass hesitated for a moment. She let her hand drop from Lucy’s, and made a move like she was going to go to him, but then she turned forward again and kept moving.

  “We should help him,” Lucy said, pulling her bag up over her shoulder.

  “It would embarrass him,” Cass replied. She smiled sadly. “We’ll be at the elevator soon.”

  “You don’t know my brother,” Lucy said. “He’s stubborn, but he’s not prideful. I should go—”

  Cass put out her hand and gave Lucy’s shoulder a supportive pat. “I don’t know, of course. But I think you might just want to give him space. He’ll come to you when he needs you and when he’s ready. Sometimes people need to process their loss before they’re ready to address it.”

  Coldness swept over Lucy and she bristled at Cass’s interpretation of her brother’s feelings. Cass didn’t know Ethan the way she knew Ethan. Her new friend didn’t know what he needed. Or did she? More than anything, she didn’t want to admit that maybe Cass was right—maybe her brother needed space from her, and that realization hurt more than anything. “He lost us, too,” Lucy said, but even as the words left her mouth, she realized how selfish it made her sound.

  “But he didn’t,” Cass said, and then she turned her attention away from Lucy and dropped her hand, closing the conversation.

  Teddy walked hand-in-hand with Ethan and they trudged along together; the boy talked in short bursts and asked questions as they meandered forward. Lucy strained to listen.

  “Mama Maxine says that Mama Blair made me a Star Wars room. A real Star Wars room,” Teddy told Ethan. “Is that true?”

  “I don’t know, Teddy. It could be,” Ethan answered in a soft voice. He looked to Allison for confirmation, but the nanny merely shrugged. She hadn’t said a word since Blair deposited her and the bags in front of them in the hallway.

  “I don’t want to fall into the ocean.” Teddy looked up at Ethan with wide eyes.

  “Why would you fall into the ocean?” Ethan asked.

  “Because Mama Blair says that our new house floats on the ocean,” Teddy stated, as if Ethan should already know this fact.

  “I’m sure you won’t fall. I’m sure it’s very safe.”

  Lucy looked at Cass and realized that she had been eavesdropping, too. She looked away before Cass made the connection, too. Lucy kept her eyes trained on the ground; her mind focused only on the conversation happening behind them. If they had not been part of a moving line, Lucy would have stopped and wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck and just hugged him until he told her to quit or pushed her away. She wanted to take responsibility for her part in his unhappiness. They had shared something back in Oregon: a desire to survive, a feeling of abandonment, clarity of the magnitude of Huck’s actions. They had that. They would always have that. She would not let his anger take that camaraderie away.

  “Ethan?” Teddy asked. “Is my mommy waiting on the Islands?”

  The question took Ethan by surprise. He stopped walking. He took his hand and put it squarely on Teddy’s head and brought the boy into him; his head hit Ethan’s hip. Lucy and Cass couldn’t help but stop and turn, too. The whole King family watched as Ethan grabbed Teddy and swung him upward. The child wrapped his legs around Ethan’s waist and in return, Ethan grabbed hold tightly across Teddy’s back. With great purpose, he began to stalk forward: big, heavy strides, wearing the boy against his chest.

  “I’m praying that she will be, little man,” Ethan said to him. This time he said it loudly, punctuating each word. Ethan marched between Lucy and Cass, and he shot a glare in Lucy’s direction. Without looking away, he added, “No one had any right to take you away f
rom her. She’s coming for you, Teddy. You hear me? She’s never gonna stop looking for you. Do you believe that?”

  The child nodded.

  “Good,” Ethan said. He started to gain ground, sliding past his sister with an air of stubborn determination. “I believe that, too.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The captain warned them it would be an intense landing. He said it as a throwaway comment, with the same intonation he had used to declare the cruising altitude. Yet when he brought the plane down on to the stretch of Maine coastline, the crazy, bumpy descent made her confident that her fate was sealed. Every movie or TV show with a plane crash ran on repeat in her head. This was how those scenes looked: overhead compartments popping open, people bracing for impact, excessive bouncing and shaking.

  Lucy would never have a chance to live out her actions in Cass’s tarot cards. She would die right here in a fiery ball of twisted metal and burning flesh. Everything in her line of vision blurred as the plane shook and rattled and approached the long stretch of beach and the short stretch of a temporary runway with acceleration, not a decrease of speed.

  “He trained for this,” her father reminded her. “You’re okay.”

  But Lucy was not okay.

  The wheels touched down, but only briefly before the plane shot up again, and then jerked back down. Lucy held on to the seat in front of her and braced for impact. An intense whoosh passed through the cabin and Lucy looked out the window to her right—she realized the ocean was right outside, swirling by in a blur.

  When the plane came to a stop, those sitting in the emergency rows yanked open the doors and deployed the bright yellow slides. With her anxiety climbing, Lucy felt like she wanted to hit something, but she had spent the entire plane ride sitting next to a snoring Galen, and hitting him seemed mean-spirited.