We’re alive. We made it.
A radio crackles, and a man at the rear of the truck lifts a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “This is Michaels. Over.”
“You find them? Over.”
“Affirmative. Over.”
“Are they infected? Over.”
The man’s eyes move to Angus. There are three bites visible, but with the way he’s slumped against the wall, there have to be more. His tan shirt is so spotted with red that it looks like he was in the middle of a paintball fight.
“We’ll have to check them all over, but one of them is for sure. Over.”
The radio crackles again. “You know what to do. Over.”
The soldier puts the walkie down, and when his hand comes back up, he’s holding a pair of handcuffs.
“No need for those,” Angus says as the man shuffles forward.
“We have protocol. Sorry, but you need to be monitored and put in isolation.”
Angus spits, then heaves himself off the side of the truck so he can pull the neck of his shirt aside, revealing the first bite. It’s healed, but the scar is so obviously teeth marks that it couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.
“No need for all that. This ain’t the first time I been bit, and it ain’t gonna kill me.” He releases the neck of his shirt and shoots the soldier a weak grin. “Name’s Angus James, and I’m you’re only hope.”
26
WE CAN’T SEE much from the back of the truck as we pull into Atlanta, but once we’re inside, we are able to get a glimpse of the massive gate they’ve constructed. As well as the men standing armed and ready to stop any zombies that might get through. None do, and the second our truck is all the way inside, the soldiers hurry to close the gate.
The truck moves deeper into the walled city, bumping over the street. From where I’m sitting, I have to strain to get a glimpse of the city. Sharpshooters sit on top of nearby buildings, poised and ready just in case, and armed guards are everywhere. Every person we pass is loaded down with weapons, too. Which makes sense and means whoever is in charge of this place is smart.
Megan continues to cry no matter how much I try to soothe her, so I’m eventually forced to untie the sling. My shoulder screams when Parv helps me free Megan, but I ignore the pain and cradle the baby in my arms so I can look her over. There doesn’t seem to be any permanent damage, but she hasn’t stopped crying.
“She okay?” Axl asks. He’s still at Angus’s side, who doesn’t look all that great at the moment, but his eyes are on me and the baby—our baby.
“I think so. It will probably take a few minutes for her to calm down after the shock of what just happened. When we get to the CDC, I can change her. She’ll be okay,” I say with more confidence than I feel.
Joshua scoots closer to the back of the truck as it barrels down the street, trying to get a good look. Even though Megan is still crying and my shoulder has started to throb and I’m concerned about Angus, I can’t help trying to see the city as well. The farther we go, the more amazed I am at how much they’ve done here. People walk up and down the streets like everything is normal. The sidewalks and streets are clean and clear of bodies and debris and abandoned cars. It seems like it’s even cleaner than it was before all this, because there isn’t even a single piece of trash on the sidewalks.
“You guys really got this place cleaned up,” I say to the solider at my side.
He nods. “It took a lot of hard work, but we pulled it off by working together.”
“You did an amazing job.”
When we pull to a stop, the soldiers all pile out. Joshua and Parv move forward, and I follow, trying to disturb both Megan and my shoulder as little as possible. It isn’t easy, and even though one of the soldiers offers to take the baby, I refuse.
I manage to make it down, and Axl climbs after me. But when Angus gets out, he stumbles. A couple of the bites are deep, and the blood pouring from them has completely saturated his shirt. He’s also looking a few shades whiter than he was just a little bit ago.
“You okay, brother?” Axl asks, pulling Angus’s arm around his shoulders.
“Ain’t nothin’.” Angus tries to put on a brave face, but it’s overshadowed by the wince of pain.
Joshua rushes to Angus’s side, grabbing his wrist so he can check his pulse. After a second, he turns his gaze on the nearest solider. “We need to get him inside now!”
“Let’s move!” a soldier barks as he heads toward the CDC. He’s only taken one step when he lifts the walkie to his mouth. “We need a doctor to meet us in the lobby! Over.”
Parv, who is more than a little beat up after falling to the ground, takes her place on Angus’s other side. He grunts, saying something about Rambo, but it isn’t loud enough for me to hear. Joshua trots along on Parv’s other side as we hurry toward the CDC.
Between the baby and my shoulder, I can’t really do much to help, so I hurry along after them, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart. Megan continues to cry, and I cradle her against my chest, her diaper bag slung over my good shoulder. She’s okay. She’s going to be okay. I promised Ginny I’d take care of her.
“The baby is okay?” the soldier at my side asks.
“She’s fine,” I say. “At least I think so.”
The soldier moves faster, and when he gets to the front door, he rips it open and starts yelling. People rush toward us, and there’s so much chaos that I don’t know here to look. Men and women in white coats come running from the back, carrying medical equipment. Angus collapses, and Axl falls at his side as the doctors surround them. Joshua is spouting off medical information and everyone is yelling at once, but I can’t make out a single word. In the middle of it all, Megan starts crying harder.
I find a set of chairs off to the side and gingerly sit down, trying not to move my arm a whole lot as I look Megan over a little better. Parv extracts herself from the crowd surrounding Angus and comes over to join me. Megan squirms as she screams, and together Parv and I inspect every last inch of her, but there isn’t a mark on her perfect little body. The full diaper is the only real concern.
“How early was she?” A woman kneels at Parv’s side, pulling out a stethoscope that’s three times smaller than average.
“She was six weeks early.”
The woman—who I can only assume is a doctor—puts the stethoscope to Megan’s chest, listening for a few seconds before moving it. I have no idea how she can hear a thing in the middle of all this chaos.
“She was born out there?”
“Yes. Our friend is a doctor,” I say, nodding toward the crowd surrounding Angus. “He delivered her.”
The CDC doctor nods and listens a little more, then looks up. “I’m going to take her back and check her over. Make sure everything is good. I can only assume this is a post-apocalypse baby?”
“It is,” I say.
“It’s still a miracle she’s alive. We’ve managed to keep a few babies alive thanks to some new antibiotics, but it’s been rough. After several days of being in the open, I’d say this one is in the clear, but we’ll check her over anyway.”
I start to stand with the doctor but wince when pain pulses through my shoulder.
She shakes her head as she takes the baby from me, holding Megan close to her chest. “She is yours. We won’t take her from you, but I want to get her checked out, and you need help as well.”
“I can go with her,” Parv says.
“You both need to be looked over.” The doctor says firmly. “We typically do this at the gate, but we were in too much of a hurry to get your friend inside. We don’t let anyone in unless they’ve been checked over for bites.” The doctor waves to someone, who runs over. “This is Patty, she’ll take care of you. Okay?”
“I don’t want to be away from Megan for long,” I say, feeling torn.
I understand what the doctor is saying: they need to be sure we aren’t infected. Not only does it make sense, but I agree with them. They have to be careful. Still, I don’t see why I can’t go with Megan to get checked over.
“I’ll bring her back as soon as I’m sure she’s good,” the doctor assures me. “I promise.”
“Okay,” I say, giving her permission to take my baby even though it hurts more than my shoulder.
Parv meets my gaze as the doctor heads off, but neither one of us speaks. I’m not sure if I did the right thing or not, but the sinking feeling in my chest says I may have just let Ginny down.
My eyes are focused on the doctor as she walks away, and I don’t even glance Patty’s way when she grabs my injured arm. She moves it, and pain shoots through my shoulder and I cry out, jerking my arm away, but even then, I only look away from Megan for a second.
“Let me check you over,” Patty says. “What happened?”
“She fell,” Parv replies for me.
The doctor carrying Megan disappears, and I realize too late that I didn’t get her name. I feel slightly dazed when my gaze moves from the now-closed door to the people surrounding Angus. Just like that, my stomach drops to the ground. There are so many doctors around him. It’s not that bad. Is it?
“Is our friend going to be okay?” I ask, finally focusing on the woman in front of me. She looks impossibly young. She can’t be a doctor.
“He’s too important to let die. They’re going to help him,” she says. “But he’s lost a lot of blood, and there are other things we have to worry about. Something about this virus has made regular infections more powerful. They set in faster. Stronger. He’s been bitten a lot.”
I glance toward Angus, suddenly worried about the number of bites he endured. He’s going to be okay, though. The CDC has new antibiotics. They’ve saved babies. They can save Angus, too.
Patty cuts my shirt away and examines my shoulder, saying something about needing to get a cold compress to reduce the swelling. I’m barely listening, and when Axl and Joshua are pushed through the crowd, Parv gets up without a word and crosses the room to them. I stay where I am, trapped by the non-doctor looking me over.
Parv and Joshua and Axl talk, looking back and forth between the people surrounding Angus and me. I squirm, and the non-doctor at my side asks me to hold still. Even though it hurts me worse than the throbbing in my shoulder, I obey. The sooner she can get me patched up, the sooner I can find out what’s happening with Angus.
Finally, my friends head my way.
“What’s going?” I ask when they stop in front of me.
“Heart stopped.” Axl swipes his hand through his hair. “Damn. This ain’t supposed to be what happens. Angus is stronger than this.”
“They won’t let him die,” Joshua says. “He’s too important to the human race.”
Parv nods, and Axl looks back toward his brother. The woman at my side says something about a dislocated shoulder and hurries away. Where, I don’t know. I’m too lost in my thoughts about Angus and Megan and what’s happening here to listen to her words.
I stand, and Axl slips his arm around me. Even though my shoulder throbs, I lean into him. Resting my head on his shoulder. Joshua and Parv say nothing, and the four of us just stand there, staring at the doctors still working on Angus.
“He’s stable,” someone shouts. “Let’s get him back to the lab. And be sure we keep him that way!”
Suddenly Angus is on a stretcher, and he’s being rushed away. Axl moves, pulling me with him, and the others follow. We’ve only made it a few steps when a couple soldiers rush forward, blocking our way. Even though Axl swears, he doesn’t argue or fight or try to move past. They’re armed and we aren’t.
“We need you to come with us,” one of the men says.
“Where are you taking us?” I ask, trying to see over his shoulder so I can see what they do with Angus.
“Quarantine.”
My eyes snap back to the solider.
“Excuse me?” Joshua says.
“We don’t know if you’ve been infected. Standard procedure.”
“Fuck that,” Axl says. “We ain’t got no bites or scratches, and she needs a doctor!”
“Can’t you just look us over?” Joshua asks.
“We will once you’ve been taken to quarantine. You’ll receive medical attention and food, clean clothes. Everything you need. We just need to be sure.”
Parv shakes her head, and Joshua shoves his hand through his dark hair. At my side, Axl stiffens when a couple more soldiers head our way. He looks at me, and I shrug.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Parv says. “We don’t have a choice.”
The men at our backs nudge us forward, and we don’t fight them. There’s no point.
“What about my brother?” Axl asks as the soldiers corral us through the lobby.
“And my baby?” I pipe in.
“We’ll let you know what happens, but for now we don’t know anything yet.” The soldier stops in front of a door and holds it open, motioning for us to enter. “That’s the doctor’s department anyway. My orders are to get you folks to quarantine.”
“They have a point,” Joshua says. “I know it sounds harsh, but this virus is so unpredictable.”
The soldier waiting for us to walk through the door frowns when Axl hesitates. I give his hand a squeeze, and even though he sighs, he walks through. The rest of us follow, staying close together as the armed guards take us down a sterile hallway with white walls and floors. We stop in front of a closed door, and the soldier in the lead punches a number into a keypad. The door clicks open.
The soldier opens it and jerks his head toward Parv and me. “The women go here.”
“You can’t separate us!” I say.
I take a step back, but before I can do anything else, Parv is shoved inside, and I’m ripped away from Axl. The soldier who has me pushes me forward while two others restrain Axl. I stumble into the room, and pain moves across my shoulder, causing a scream that is half-pain, half-frustration to rip its way out of me.
I’m cradling my throbbing shoulder when the door slams behind me.
“Shit,” I mutter, sinking to the floor.
Tears sting at my eyes, and I blink them away, trying to get ahold of myself. This doesn’t mean anything. Not really. They’re just playing it safe. Being careful. Things could still be okay.
“What do you think?” Parv asks, drawing my attention her way.
“I don’t know what to think right now,” I say, studying the room.
It’s small and totally white. Two twin beds and two nightstands. A table with two chairs around it. Off to the side through an open door, a tiny bathroom is visible. Towels and what appear to be a couple pairs of blue scrubs are stacked on a shelf. Presumably so we can put on clean clothes.