The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (4 page)

I stood and hugged my best friend.

“Oh my God. You have no idea how much we were
worried! And shut up, I know I always worry but this time was
worse!” Raeya said.

I turned my head down and blinked back the
emotion that my best friend was always able to bring out of me.
There was so much I wanted to tell her. “I know. We’re back—all of
us. And we brought more people with us.”

“I heard!” She released me and stepped back,
fixing the towel. “I had the A3s in the guard tower radio me when
you guys came home. And I heard about the horse! Now I have to hear
that story!”

“Me too!” Lisa said. “Sonja and Olivia will
want to too!” She jumped off the bed.

“Hey,” I started, “why don’t you go find
them? Tell them I’ll be in the cafeteria for breakfast soon.”

“Ok! I can do that.” She smiled and raced out
of the room.

Raeya closed the room, knowing that I only
had Lisa leave so we could talk in private. She picked up her
shower bag and put it away in the top drawer of her dresser. We sat
on her bed, angled toward each other.

Leaving the compound seemed so long ago, but
a lot had happened in just days. I took a deep breath. “We found
Hayden’s sister, Hayden got bitten again, I killed Eric Sutton,
Hayden asked me to marry him, I killed a bunch of uninfected people
at that mental hospital, Fuller wants Hayden to take over running
the compound, and the virus was released on purpose.” The last part
of my sentence slipped from my mouth before I had time to think
about it. I had to tell someone, and I wasn’t used to keeping
secrets from Raeya.

Raeya’s mouth fell open. She blinked. “You’re
engaged?” She grabbed my left hand, pulling it toward her so she
could look for a ring.

“That’s what you took out of all of
this?”

She let my hand go. “How’d he ask?”

I smiled and shook my head. “It’s kinda
funny, really.” I didn’t realize that my heart was racing. Thinking
about the mission…all the blood and fire at Eastmoore. I shuddered.
So much had changed that day.

“Wait,” Raeya said. “Let’s start from the
beginning. How in the world did you find Hayden’s sister?”

“We were in Texas.” I blinked and remembered
crawling through the woods. “We ran into another group. And Hannah
just happened to be in it.”

“Oh my God,” she said slowly. “What are the
odds? No really, there are how many people in the world? And then
how many of those are infected or dead?” She tensed and grabbed my
arm. “You did find her alive, right? I just assumed.”

“Yes, she’s alive and well. Sorta, not
completely well. Her arm is broken from a car accident.”

“Car accident?”

“Yep. She was driving and swerved to avoid
hitting the horse. He was in the road. I brought him back with
us.”

Raeya stared at me for a few seconds before
shaking her head. “I bet Hayden was ecstatic to see her.”

“Yeah, they both were pretty happy. He was
kinda in shock for a while.”

“That’s great, though. She’s lucky to have
him as a brother.”

“I know, right?”

Raeya frowned. “And you said he got bitten
again?”

I sighed. “Ugh, yes.”

“How?”

“Being stupid by trying to protect me.”

“That’s not stupid, Riss.” She took the towel
off her head and rubbed her hair. “What else did you say
happened?”

I quickly recapped everything that happened
on that mission. “Ok,” I started and glanced at the door. “Hayden
doesn’t want me to tell anyone so
don’t
say anything.
Promise?”

“Promise,” she said and clasped her hands
together.

“Fuller left Hayden a file that explained
everything he knew about the virus. It still leaves a lot of
questions of course. But…” I launched into the detail of everything
I knew. When I was done, Raeya stared at me, her brown eyes wide
and unblinking.

“I-I…really…oh my God,” she stumbled over her
words. She leaned back and shook her head. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah and it makes sense if you think about
it. Why else would Fuller—holy shit!”

“What, Rissy?”

“The greenhouses.” I stood, curling my
fingers into my palms. “The motherfucking greenhouses!”

Raeya nervously folded and smoothed her
towel. “Not following you, Riss.”

I turned to the door my heart pounding. I
wanted to race upstairs and find Hayden, get in the truck and drive
like crazy to the greenhouses. “We found that greenhouse farm,
remember?”

“Of course I remember. You guys brought back
a ton of—holy shit!” She jumped up. “You really think so?”

My head moved up and down. “It would have to
be for them, right?”

Raeya wrapped her arms around her torso. “Who
else could it be for? It has to be for the protected people on the
east coast. You said it was set up and running like it would have
been before the virus hit, right?”

“Yeah. It was completely functional.” I
thought back of the industrial-sized greenhouses. The constant
supply and low prices put traditional farmers out of business fast.
It was one of the main reasons that the small farming communities
turned into ghost towns.

We had discovered the greenhouse farm on
accident during one of our missions. The road that lead to the farm
hadn’t even been marked on the map we were using. When I happened
to see a fresh set of footprints leading into one of the houses,
Hayden and I went in on a whim and discovered the farm to be fully
functional with a shit ton of fresh fruit and vegetables. We knew
someone was taking care of them, but we didn’t know who. Now I was
pretty certain I knew.

Raeya sank down on the bed and put her head
in her hands. “This…this is just too much, Rissy. Knowing that our
own government abandoned its people when we needed them most…” she
trailed off and shook her head.

I sat next to her and put my hand on her
shoulder. “I know. It’s awful.”

“Tell me about it,” Raeya agreed. Someone
knocked on the door. I jumped up and opened it, smiling right away
when a set of blue eyes locked with mine.

“Hey, Orissa,” Padraic said with a broad
smile. He stepped into the room and opened his arms. I hugged him.
“Glad you’re back in one piece.” His hands slid down my arms. “When
I was told someone had a broken arm, I thought it was you.”

“Have a little faith, Padraic,” I said. “I
stayed relatively unharmed this time around. Wade and Jason on the
other hand…” I shook my head. “They did come see you, right?”

“No, why?”

“Wade had heat stroke and Jason got
shot.”

Raeya stood, her arms out to her side. “Jason
got shot!”

“Grazed,” I said and turned around. “He was
lucky. I assumed he would go to the hospital ward just to make sure
everything was healing ok.” And Hayden needed to go as well to have
his bite checked out. I made a mental note to drag him down to the
B level once I found him. “How is Hannah, anyway?”

“Without being able to see the breaks with an
X-ray, it’s hard to say how good or bad something is, but I don’t
doubt she will be fine.” He raised his eyebrows. “She sure is
talkative.”

“Try being in the car with her for eight
hours. If she wasn’t Hayden’s sister I would have gagged her.”

“I can’t believe you guys found someone you
not only knew, but who was family.” Padraic ran his hand over his
dark hair. “It’s very hopeful.”

“It is,” Raeya agreed. “Who knows who else is
out there, right?”

I internally cringed.
Good
question
,
Ray
.
Just
exactly
who
was
lucky
enough
to
get
picked
for
the
ultimate
protection
against
the
zombies
?

* * *

I sat with Raeya and Padraic at their usual
table in the cafeteria, digging into a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal.
Halfway through our meal, Hannah’s group entered the cafeteria.
They were being given a tour of the compound, lead by an older
woman named Esther.

Hannah said something to Esther and she
looked a bit nervous to be around so many people. Her eyes met mine
and I stood, meeting her halfway.

“Is Hayden with you?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No,” I said; it was pretty
obvious that Hayden wasn’t with me since she couldn’t see him.

“He said he’s come see me in the morning. So
typical of him,” she huffed and cradled her arm to her chest.
Padraic had done a good job rewrapping it, making it look like an
actual cast instead of the crappy cardboard contraption I had come
up with.

“He never came?” Nerves prickled along my
spine.

She shook her head. “No. Why do you look so
surprised?”

I took a breath, not caring that my carefully
practiced poker face gave way to my emotions. It didn’t matter.
What mattered was finding out where the hell Hayden had disappeared
to. “I don’t,” I flatly lied.

“Then do you know where he is?”

“Not at the moment.” I flicked my eyes to
Esther. “I’ll tell him to see you when I find him. Go back to the
tour.”

“Yes ma’am,” she said under her breath and
turned around, leaving the cafeteria. I went back to my seat,
slowly letting out a breath to hide my nerves.

“Hannah?” Raeya asked.

“Yep,” I answered.

“The broken arm gave it away.” She smiled.
“What did she want?”

“She was looking for Hayden,” I said and
pushed my spoon into my oatmeal. I was so incredibly sick of
oatmeal. It was going on my list of things I never wanted to eat
again once this was over. “He wasn’t in the quarantine room when I
got up this morning.”

“You don’t know where he is?” Raeya
asked.

I shook my head.

“Maybe he’s in Fuller’s office,” Padraic
suggested. My blank stare prompted him to continue. “I know that
Fuller wanted him to take over.” His blue eyes clouded. “I was with
him when he died.”

My heart skipped a beat when I thought about
Fuller. “Oh, I didn’t know that.”

Padraic sighed. “He told me he left Hayden a
letter. Even I thought it was bad taste to tell him something so
important that way.”

“Yeah,” I agreed and was surprised at how
relieved I felt that Padriac knew. I was more than used to keeping
things to myself. I just hadn’t realized how tiring it was.

* * *

I finished breakfast and checked out Fuller’s
office. The door was locked. I knocked and got no answer. I pressed
my ear to the wood and heard nothing. Hayden wasn’t in there. I
turned, ready to go upstairs and see if maybe he had crashed in our
room. He hadn’t slept well last night so I was sure he was
tired.

“Orissa!” someone called. Her voice was high
pitched and annoying. Great, it was Scarlet Procter. “Hey,
Orissa!”

Damn
it
. I hesitated. I
couldn’t pretend that I didn’t see her now. I dropped my hand and
turned to her. “Scarlet, hi.”

She had been one of the first people to
arrive at the compound. Hayden rescued her and her family right
when shit hit the fan. She had no idea what it was really like out
there. Her heels clacked against the hard tile floor as she hurried
to me. She was wearing a gray pencil skirt and a white blouse,
looking ridiculously out of place.

“I heard you all made it back,” she said and
pushed her blonde hair back into place. A string of pearls slid
down her arm when she put her hand at her side. “I’m sure you heard
about my idea for a paper.”

“Uh, no. I haven’t.”

“Oh, my. Well, it was
all
my idea.”
She smiled.

“Ok.” I impatiently shifted my weight. I had
important things to do, lady.
Hurry
the
fuck
up
.

“I’m putting together a little newspaper for
everyone! It will have updates on the construction, crops, little
tidbits of info on some of our interesting residents, and
interviews with the A1s. Brilliant, I know!”

I gave her a blank stare. “Sure.”

“Speaking of interesting people,” she
started, “you’re one of them. You should know everyone is curious
about you.” She leaned in, as if she was telling me a juicy secret.
“We don’t know you, Orissa. Not a darn thing.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason for that.” I put my
hand on the key pad.

“Of course there is.” She waved her hand in
the air. “Want to tell me about the latest mission?”

“Not now,” I stated and punched in the code.
“I have something important to do,” I rolled my eyes and rushed
through the door, closing it behind me and started my search for
Hayden.

Hayden wasn’t in our room, and his bed was
untouched.

Something was wrong…

I felt stupid for not thinking of it before
since Hayden loved his truck almost as much as he loved me. I
jogged down the stairs and walked through the first level of the
old brick house.

I nodded and said hello to the A3 who stood
guard by the back door. It had to be so boring standing there all
day. I would end up wishing for zombies to attack just to give me
something to freaking do.

Once outside, I held my hand up to my face,
shielding my eyes from the bright sun. The air was hot and humid
and smelled wonderfully like clover. The scent brought back an
unwelcome memory of a summer spent on my grandparent’s farm. I
shook my head. Thinking about my grandpa teaching me how to shoot a
bow and arrows wouldn’t do me any good. I had no time for nostalgia
now.

I walked through the overgrown front lawn,
swatting a swarm of gnats and stepped over a clump of dandelions. I
abruptly stopped and scanned the line of cars.

Hayden’s truck wasn’t there. I pushed my hair
out of my face and continued walking. Maybe he had taken it around
back by the quarantine barn so he could hose off the muck.
Squinting in the sun, I cast my eyes down to avoid getting a
headache. The tall grass itched my exposed legs, which was one of
the reasons I always wore pants when out on missions.