Twice Shy (27 page)

"Ani," her mom said. She looked up. "Bleach. Now. And get my medical bag." She turned to Mike. "Close your eyes and your mouth and turn your head to the side."

Ani ran into the house as Mr. Washington came out onto the porch. "I called 911!" he yelled. Ani bolted through the door, grabbed the bleach from under the kitchen sink and her mom's bag from next to her desk. Sharp pain stabbed through her hip as she ran, but she ignored it. In the distance she heard the fire-house siren wail to life.

She tossed the bag to her mom and tore the cap off the bleach. Mike's eyes and mouth were closed as tight as he could make them. Her mom jerked her head toward him. "Cover him with bleach. Make sure to get his eyes, nose, and mouth, then his finger."

Mike whimpered as Ani poured the bleach onto his face. He breathed out violently as it went in his nose. "Sorry," she said. Her mom knelt next to her and injected him in the neck. "What's that?" Ani asked, pouring bleach on his hand. He writhed beneath her and she put her hand on his chest. "Shhh. Lie still. As still as you can."

"It's a sedative and a paralytic." She pulled out the needle and dabbed at the stump of his finger, then wrapped it in a bandage. She rolled Mike onto his side as his face went slack. "For horses."

"What's going to happen to him?" Ani asked as her mom inspected him for other wounds.

They locked eyes. "They're going to quarantine the block and triage everyone. Anyone who has so much as the smallest cut or infection will be further quarantined and tested for ZV. Anyone positive will be shot in the head and incinerated."

Ani looked down at her hand. The skin was raw and shiny, but it had scarred very little. "I think I'm okay," she said. She looked at Mike.
Please be okay. Please.

"Go inside and shower," her mom said. "I'll inspect you in a minute." She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

A shadow loomed over Ani, and she turned around. Mr. Washington stood behind her, his hand over his mouth against the stench. "Is that...? Is he...?" Behind him a crowd gathered, their friends and neighbors interrupting their dinners to see what the commotion was. Fey stood in the back, mouth open in shock.

"We don't know," her mom said. "But it looks like it." She looked at Ani. "Go." She stepped to the side and hit speed dial.

Ani went inside, into the bathroom, and took off her clothes. She couldn't see anything in the mirror aside from old, healed wounds. The scar from the pacemaker, the little pucker from the branch that had run her through... Nothing new. She showered, scrubbing every trace of blood from her skin. Toweling off, she heard sirens.

By the time her mom finished inspecting her, there were police everywhere. They'd strapped Mike to a stretcher, loaded him into an ambulance, and carted him off to the hospital under heavy escort. Someone had covered Dylan's body with a sheet, the red soaking into the white fabric in pools of infection and death.

Her mom hugged her tight and whispered in her ear. "We're in trouble, but it's going to be okay. Whatever you do, don't panic, don't say anything, and don't act surprised."

*  *  *

Police in riot gear blocked off the street, and bullhorns warned everyone back to their homes. The black helicopters arrived less than a half-hour later, their backwash shaking the trees. Everyone was rounded up by armed military personnel and herded into hastily-erected individual cells, like chain-link Have-a-Heart traps for people.

Stern-looking men and women in white hazmat suits started at the end of the block, inspecting people for dings, cuts, bites, or other signs of trauma. Most were left in their cells, but some were carted off in black vans emblazoned with neon green biohazard symbols.

In the cell next to Ani's, Mr. Washington took out his cell phone and dialed. He put it to his ear, listened for a moment, and frowned. He pulled it away from his face and held it out, squinting down his nose at the screen. He looked at Ani's mom. "No bars."

Her mom checked her own phone and shook her head. She winked at Ani when no one was looking. Her mom looked confident, but it was hard to stay calm.

Ani sat and worried as the sun went down, glad to not be hungry, thirsty, or cold like everyone else stuck in their cages. Soldiers in rubber suits gave out water, passing the bottles through the cage. An incineration team immolated their front yard, charring Dylan's corpse, both trees, and all of the grass into white ash in a matter of minutes. They didn't leave, but sat waiting, still dressed in full gear, eyeing the cages as nervously as those inside eyed the flame throwers.

The triage team got to Mrs. Washington, and Ani got a better look at what they were doing. They took the old woman out of her cell and allowed her to undress behind a portable privacy screen. Ani could see her feet, and her wrinkled face from the nose up, but nothing else. The shielded face of the quarantine officers hovered over the nylon curtain. A white-gloved hand came up and touched something to her forehead.

Ani gasped.
Is that a gun?

Mr. Washington cried out.

The device beeped three times. The triage man's voice was muffled, but Ani heard "fever."
No no no no no.
They dressed her in a hospital gown, then escorted her to a van and loaded her into the back.
They can't take my temperature.
Mr. Washington started to cry.

Ani looked at her mom, trying not to panic.
I can get out. These cages aren't that strong. If I can destroy a locker, I can get out of these things. Right?

"It's okay," her mom said.
Trust me
, she mouthed.

Ani forced herself to breathe to the pacemaker's beat, in for four, out for four. In for four, out for four. Her eyes kept flashing to the incineration team, lurking by the ashy remains of her front yard.

Mr. Washington was next. He was inspected and then put back in his cage. The same with her mom. Finally, it was Ani's turn.

They were gentle, as gentle as they could be under the circumstances. She was ordered out of the cage, stripped naked behind the makeshift curtain, and examined. She shook uncontrollably.
Please think I'm cold. Please.
They prodded the terrible scar on her ribs, examined the cuts on her wrists and thighs, inspected her damaged knuckles. Whatever they thought they kept to themselves. They removed her wig and ran gloved hands over her scalp.

A dark-skinned man gave her the wig back, then held the IR thermometer up to her forehead. As he did so his thumb flipped a switch and the red LED on the front died. He looked her in the eyes, pulled the trigger, then thumbed the switch again. The light came back on. He turned to his partner and nodded. "No fever," he said.

She got dressed and was escorted back into the cage. Her mom breathed a sigh of relief, and Ani collapsed to the ground, mentally exhausted.
I'm alive. Alive! Well... Sort of.

*  *  *

ZV was easy to diagnose because it killed and reanimated so fast. Six hours later no one was symptomatic, so they were released. The military personnel loaded up and left. Aside from the ashy remains of their landscaping, at three in the morning it was hard to tell that much of anything had happened.

They canceled school, of course. Ohneka Falls was under general quarantine for the next eighteen hours just to be safe.

Chapter 29

Ani rushed into the hospital room, her left foot dragging worse than ever—her mom hadn't had the opportunity to assess the damage from the night before. Mike lay on the bed, wrapped like a mummy over his hospital gown. Off-white canvas straps cinched his biceps, thighs, wrists, ankles, chest, and head to the mattress. Gauze covered his right hand, and a wire bite guard encased the lower half of his face.

She let out a low whistle. "You're way past the danger window. Not taking any chances, are they?"

Mike's eyes—one of the few body parts he could move—turned toward her, and a smile lit up his face. "Ani, hey, it's good to see you."

She stepped forward to hug him and heard a throat clear. She looked up to find a camouflaged guard standing in the corner, an assault rifle slung on his back. "Sorry, miss, no physical contact until the all clear."

Ani smirked and took a step back. "Really not taking chances."
I can't blame them.

Mike's hand twitched. "Neither was your mom."

Ani clenched her teeth. "Yeah, that sucks."
But I can't blame her for saving your life.

"It could have been a lot worse," he said. "That was quick thinking."
And years of experience.

"Yeah, Mom's pretty sharp."
And ruthless. Maybe psychotic.

"She bring you here? I want to thank her."

Ani nodded. "Yeah, she'll be up in a few minutes."
Delayed at my request, if only for a few minutes.

Mike chuckled. "I never thought I'd want to thank someone for lopping off a body part."

"I never thought I'd be glad my mom mutilated you."
Holy crap you need to change the subject.
"Hey, I never got a chance to thank you for the rose."

Mike smiled, then schooled his face to a careful blank.

"What rose?" Devon said from behind her.
Speaking of psychotics....

Ani widened her eyes at Mike, then stepped to the side so that she could face them both. She opened her mouth, but before she could think of a reply, Mike spoke.

"I went to Ani's house yesterday to apologize."

Devon's mouth twisted in distaste. "Is that why?"

"Yes," Mike said. "That's why."

"What would you possibly have to apologize for?" Devon flicked her fingers at Ani. "Be someplace else, Cutter. You're not wanted here."

Mike scowled. "I want her here."

Devon turned crimson. "Do you want her here, or me here, lover?" She stepped toward him, hand stretched out to touch his face, and the guard cleared his throat again. She dropped her hand but didn't step back. She lowered her voice. "And if you want this later, you'll choose your next words very carefully."

Mike closed his eyes. "Okay, Devon. Okay."

Ani wanted to tear the triumphant smile off Devon's face. And eat it. Anger and hurt boiled in her gut, and she lost her breath.

"Ani," Mike said.

No, Mike, don't do this.

"Would you please..."

No.

"...please... "

NO!

"...punch me in the face if I ever talk to that stupid bitch ever, ever again?"

A laugh escaped before she could stop it. Devon's face darkened to purple, and she started to shake. Incoherent syllables escaped from her lips. Ani laughed harder, catching herself against the wall. Devon growled in rage and stormed out of the room, grinding her teeth.

Mike's smile vanished. "Ani, you've always been there for me, for as long as I can remember. Even when I didn't deserve it. Especially when I didn't deserve it." Ani's heart soared even as her laughter died. "When I thought that maybe I'd die, I lay here, thinking about what I'd miss most, and I thought of you."

Ani's mouth opened. Nothing came out.

"I love you, Ani. I always have. When you changed, I was all mixed up in my head. My priorities sucked. I don't care what other people think. I don't care how you dress, who your friends are. I care what you think. I want—"

"Ani," her mother said from the doorway. "It's time to go."

"Hi, Mrs. Romero," Mike said.

"Michael." She didn't smile but grabbed Ani's arm.

"I wanted to thank you for—"

"You're welcome," she said, dragging Ani to the door. "I'd hope you'd do the same for me." Ani walked backward until her mom spun her by the shoulders and pushed her out the door.

"Bye, Mike!" she called out behind her. Her feet barely touched the ground. She couldn't stop smiling.

"I know that look," her mom said, propelling her down the hallway. "Every girl on the planet gets that look when she's gone boy-stupid. You know the rules. You will follow them, for your safety and his."

"Yeah, Mom, I will."
He loves me. He said it, he meant it.
"Of course I will."
He loves me.

*  *  *

The spring concert had been delayed a day for the zombie quarantine. They packed the gym; the town turned out in droves in a celebration of life and rebirth.
And love. And severed fingers.

*  *  *

The next day Ani floated through school. Alone in the crowd, she wasn't lonely for the first time since she'd died. Devon lunged at her in the hallway, but Rose restrained her until Mrs. Slocombe intervened and escorted her to the office. Ani laughed. She'd probably just realized that she didn't have a date for the prom on Saturday.

The school buzzed with rumor, but this time the story mirrored the truth. Most people left Ani well enough alone, but she threw a bone to Jake by giving him a few details. She ignored Fey, who returned the favor with a sullen pout. Keegan approached her after Trig, acknowledging her with a tiny lift of his chin. "Mike's out," he said.

"Oh, good," Ani said. "Is he home already?"

"On his way. They left the hospital about twenty minutes ago. He wants you to stop by after school."

Ani beamed. "Thanks!"

He looked at her a moment, his lips twitching in the barest hint of a smile. "Sure." He walked away.

She took the bus home, but when she got off, she turned around and crossed the street. She glanced at the empty windows in her house.
Stay in the basement, Mom, just for a while.

She rang the doorbell. As the door opened her stomach lurched.
Devon, fastening her bra.
She shook away the image and smiled at Mike's mom. "Hi, Mrs. Brown. Is Mike available?"

"Hey, Ani!" he called from the kitchen. He came around the corner and his dazzling smile weakened her knees. "Thanks for coming over." He scratched the side of his face with the back of his hand, the bandage abrading the skin raw and red, then sat on the couch. "It's going to take some getting used to." He patted the seat next to him as his mom made herself scarce.