Shadows Have Gone (32 page)

Justin heard shouts and boots crunching on the gravel. He’d expected they wouldn’t be far behind. He’d taken their leader hostage, after all.

He met them at the door.

“Stay back,” he shouted to keep them from getting too close. “Stay back.”

They stopped about twenty yards away, fanning in a semicircle, their rifles all pointed at him. Young faces peered over the stocks, eyes wide and scared. Justin doubted their training had prepared them for a scenario like this.

“Stay back, goddammit.” Justin started coughing again, but he held the gun steady.

Craig was the one who spoke, and he used a soothing tone. He put away his own gun and stepped forward with his hands spread. “Justin, look around. There are ten people with guns pointed at you right now. As soon as I step back, they’re going to shoot. I don’t wanna kill you.”

Justin held up the grenade. Slowly, he pulled the pin and threw it as hard as he could. It sailed over their heads to land somewhere in the scrub growing along the outside of the fence.

There was a collective intake of breath as they stared at the grenade, then at the propane tanks, and back at the grenade. Justin held the spoon in a tight grip.

“As soon as I let go, you have five seconds,” Justin said. “You shoot me, and it drops. And you wouldn’t make it over here in time to pick it up and throw it a safe distance. This whole place is going to blow, and you need to be as far away as you can get before it happens.”

“Justin, Jesus Christ. You’ll destroy everything for miles!”

“Yes. That’s the plan. Everything we’ve touched, every room we’ve been in for the last few hours, at least. So you’d better get your troops as far from here as possible.”

“What in the ever-lovin’
fuck
?” Craig shouted. “Why would you do this?”

“We’re Infected. Both of us. Lewis and me.”

Justin heard a collective intake of breath. A young man dropped his gun, and it clattered on the blacktop of the parking lot. The girl beside him instinctively jumped back, but she was the only one who appeared to have noticed. Everyone else was staring at Justin, their faces drawn in expressions of horror and terror.

“This makes no sense.” Craig dropped his voice, and his face stretched in a strained smile. “Come on, Justin. The Infection is over. I don’t know what’s going on, but we can talk about this. Just . . . just don’t do anything crazy.”

“There isn’t anything to talk about.” Justin fought back a cough and swallowed against the tickle in his throat. “It’s true. That’s the way this virus is. It lurks in your system. Did Lewis tell you about Colby? About the people who used to live there?”

Justin could tell by Craig’s expression that he did know, but Justin continued. “They’d sealed themselves away during the Crisis, cut themselves off from the outside world. That’s how they survived. And almost a year later, Carly and I came to their gates. They thought it was safe. They thought it was over, too. And we Infected all of them.”

He coughed into the hand that held the grenade. “Don’t you see? It lurks in our bodies. We’re all carriers. It just hasn’t figured out a way to overcome our immunity. Well, in Lewis or me, it finally did. And now we’ll pass this new version on to anyone we come into contact with, and chances are you’ll be susceptible, too.”

“Justin, please think about this,” Claire called. “All this fuel . . . your family could benefit from having propane engines.”

“Not if they get Infected,” Justin said. “And if I let you in here, you’ll all be exposed. This is the only way I can keep you away and ensure the virus doesn’t spread. This whole facility will be incinerated, and hopefully any of the Infection will go with it.”

“Are you
sure
it’s the Infection?” Julie asked.

“I’m sure. I’ve seen it too many times. I know what it’s like. We’ve both already got the fever.” Justin had to blink sweat out of his eyes. He coughed into his elbow. Some of the troops edged back, terror in their eyes. He didn’t blame them. “I don’t know how long the incubation period is on this thing. Not long, judging by how quick both of us got sick, so I think you’re all okay. But you need to get out of here. We’re going to die anyway, but maybe this way, we can stop this thing before it spreads again.”

“So . . . it’s over,” Craig said. His shoulders hunched, and his rifle butt dropped to the ground. He still held the barrel but only as though it were caught on his fingers. His voice rang hollow. “This is really the end, then. We were . . . we were only in remission all this time, and now it’s finally found a way to kill us. Even if we don’t catch it from you, it’s gonna get us sooner or later.”

“I—I don’t know,” Justin said. He raked his free hand through his hair. “It didn’t kill all of us the first time, even though some people who were immune weren’t vaccinated. Maybe—”

“Maybe a small portion of us will survive?” Craig barked out an ugly laugh. “Jesus Christ, son.”

“Has anyone else had symptoms?” Justin glanced around at the group, checking for sweat and flushed cheeks.

A woman’s voice rang out, sudden, sharp and accusatory. “Cassandra!”

They all turned to look at a middle-aged woman standing near the end of the line. She raised an arm and pointed at the young woman with the Hello Kitty earrings, the one who had led Justin into the camp. “Cassandra has been sick. Nearly two days, she’s been sniveling and hacking.”

People knocked into each other in the scramble to get away, clearing a wide circle around Cassandra. Her mouth fell open and her eyes were wide.

“I—I’m not sick!” she said, looking around at them. She held up her hands in a mute appeal.

“Yes you are!” the man who had dropped his gun yelled. He looked terrified. “Don’t lie. I’ve heard you coughing.”

Cassandra gave a strained little laugh, but she looked as though she might burst into tears. “Really, guys . . . it’s just a cold.”

They edged farther away.

Cassandra gave a nervous little laugh. “Really, everyone, stop. I’m fine. Julie?” She stepped toward the middle-aged woman who had shouted out her name. Julie lifted her rifle at Cassandra, jabbing it toward her like it was a bayonet.

Cassandra laughed again, but the sound was thin and sharp. “I’m not sick! It’s just a cold! I’ve had it since the last scouting run, but it’s just a cold. Please!”

“Get in there with them,” Craig said. “I’m sorry, Sandra, but we can’t risk it.”

“Risk it? You idiot, you’ve all already been exposed if I’ve been around you.”

She was right. The cold, rational thing to do would be to herd all of them in here with him and Lewis and blow the facility, eliminating any possibility the Infection might get out again. Scorched earth in its most literal sense.

Those young faces staring back at him, their eyes wide with fear. It was back again, a second Crisis. The first had destroyed the world they had known, had killed everyone they loved, and now, if they walked out that gate, they could be sending it into the world at large again.

Or Cassandra could be right— she just had a cold.

Justin and Lewis could be the only ones who had it . . . or they could all be exposed.

Cassandra coughed again, and he could see a thin sheen of sweat on her neck. Nerves or fever?

Thirty lives hung in the balance at that instant, maybe the lives of all humanity. Was he willing to risk the fate of the world on it? The lives of his wife and daughter?

Could he murder all of these people just in case?

“Get out of here,” Justin rasped.

“Not her,” Craig said quietly. “Cassandra stays. At least until we’re gone.”

Cassandra let out a shuddering sob. “Don’t do this. Please don’t do this.”

“You ain’t coming with us.” Julie jabbed her rifle toward Cassandra. “You stay here until we’re gone, at least. I’m sorry, Sandra, but I can’t go through that again. I just can’t.”

“But I’m not sick! I don’t have a fever. Check me!”

But no one would touch her. They darted back when she stepped forward, and Cassandra seemed to lose the will to move forward. Her hands dropped to her side as she looked from face to face. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she lifted a hand to cover her mouth as she stared around at the people who had been her friends, as they steadily backed away from her.

Lewis appeared behind Justin’s shoulder. “Listen to him,” he said. “Get out. Now. Check everyone over, and those that are healthy, get as far away as possible. Craig, you know the next destination. Continue the mission.”

“Yes, sir.” Craig had tears on his face as he saluted Lewis one last time.

Justin turned to him. “Thank you.”

Lewis didn’t reply. He just shuffled back into the dim storage room.

The troops lowered their guns and hurried away toward the other buildings, likely to gather their belongings. Cassandra stood there, staring after them, still crying silently, her hand pressed over her mouth.

“Do you want to come inside?” Justin asked. “It’s a little warmer.”

“No, I’ll wait out here.” She pulled her jacket more tightly around herself. “Until they’re all gone.”

He considered. He knew the first version of the Infection had varied incubation times, though the second wave that hit Colby had been very fast. Who knew with this one? All he could go by was how bad he felt, and he didn’t imagine he’d be on his feet in a few hours, let alone a few days. Odds were, she didn’t have this thing. “Listen, head out and get as many miles from here as you can. Give it a few days, then head south to Colby. But promise me you’ll wait for a few days to be sure.”

“I will.” She glanced toward the shadowy outlines darting into the buildings. “If I go. I’m not sure I really want to be part of a community again.”

“You need to be.” Justin turned away and coughed again. He coughed so hard he thought he might puke, but the urge mercifully subsided. Dizzy, he straightened up, clutching at the door frame. “I don’t really have the energy to give you the speech my wife would probably give if she was here, but community is everything that is good about humans. Love, compassion, sharing. All that shit. You just saw the bad side of people in getting ejected like that, but you’ll see a lot of the good side in Colby. I promise.”

Cassandra nodded and strolled away a few feet to sit down on a concrete parking bumper.

“Cassandra? When you see my wife, tell her I love her. She’s Carly. She has brown eyes and hair like the late afternoon sunshine. She’s so beautiful. She’s—”

She frowned at him. “Are you okay?”

Justin blinked and shook his head. His knees felt wobbly. “No, I guess I’m not. Take care.”

He turned and went back inside the dark building, locking the door behind him with the thumb latch before he made himself as comfortable as he could, slouching down against the wall under the window. He used his shoulders to wipe his cheeks, not giving a shit if Lewis saw the tears, but not wanting them to obstruct his vision. Not while the bastard was still ambulatory.

There was a long silence as Lewis eyed him, but Justin was used to that. Lewis himself had taught him the technique of causing uncomfortable silences.

“I never thought it would end this way.”

Justin snorted. “I imagine just about every human being has that thought right before they cash it in.”

“I thought you might be the one to take me out.”

Justin blinked. “Why would you think that?”

Lewis shrugged. “You were the only one who could. I would—let’s say—outlive my usefulness at one point or another.”

“Lucky for you the world ended. And I chose to retire instead of staying on as an instructor.”

“You cannot know how disappointing that was for me.”

“You tried to talk me out of it. Which surprised me, because you always said any man who wanted to go
should
go.”

“I kept hoping you would fulfill your true potential. I could see it in you, Justin. I still can.”

“It’s the part of me I fight.”

“I know. More’s the pity. You could have been magnificent.”

“I’m happier the way I am now.”

Lewis snorted. “Happy? As a family man and mayor?”

“Yes, actually.” It surprised him, too, because he never would have imagined he was a man destined to be happy. He’d seen too much, done too much, had too many invisible burdens he carried with him. But he was happy.

Was
. Now all that was over. He mourned it, mourned his life with Carly and his daughter. He was glad he wouldn’t have to live with that pain long, because it was the worst thing he’d ever experienced.

He saw Dagny’s bright smile, and he wished he’d had one last chance to tell her how much he loved her. And even though she couldn’t understand it, he’d tell her how proud he was and that he knew she was going to be amazing. He hoped the Reverend was right about that afterlife thing and he’d be able to watch her as she grew up.

And Carly . . . this was going to devastate her. His throat grew tight, and he started coughing again. He sat up, hoping Lewis would think the tears on his cheeks were from the force of the coughs, but not really giving a damn at this point if he didn’t.

“You and Carl.” Lewis shook his head. “Both of you felled by the same weakness.”