PODs (38 page)

“What’s holding you back from California?” Devlin asked behind us.

The sound of his voice startled me and I jumped. “Don’t sneak up on people like that, Devlin. I don’t have anything against California. I’m just not sure what you’ve been told is entirely true. I lived in a compound. They didn’t let topsiders in. In fact, David is a POD survivor and they wouldn’t even let him back in once he’d left.”

“But the government compounds are in the east.”

“Yes, that’s what we’ve been told. Do you trust everything the government tells you?”

He didn’t answer. He nodded his head and brushed past David and me, following Jessica into the sub-POD.

We gathered for dinner that evening in the main POD’s cafeteria, where we found canned meats and vegetables. I helped the others open the cans, and the overpowering smell made my stomach turn. The little sausages felt spongy when I lifted them from the can. I put my hand over my mouth to keep from gagging.

I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t want to see or smell the food. I was worried about the vote after our meal. With people’s emotions running so high, it was probably going to get ugly.

After a strangely silent meal, Devlin stood up. “I couldn’t find enough pens to go around, so, one by one, everyone needs to walk to the front, write down your vote, and place the paper in the box.”

He went first. The pen scratching against the paper was the only sound in the room—no one even seemed to breathe. He ripped the paper from the tablet, folded it neatly, and placed it in the box.

Jessica stood to vote. “Sit down,” Devlin ordered. “My vote goes for you, too.”

“The hell it does!”

“Jessica, sit down. And don’t curse.”

“I’ll stop cursing when you stop being a horse’s ass,” she said through clenched teeth. She shoved her way past Devlin and wrote down her vote, tossing it in the box with a defiant stare.

I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing out loud.

One by one, each member of the group silently walked to the front and cast a vote. Chairs squealed against the floor as each person stood, making me cringe. The pen scratching against the paper, and the sound when they ripped their page off the tablet, seemed too loud in the quiet room.

A knot twisted in my stomach. With each vote, it grew tighter and tighter until it became painful.

David and I were the last to vote. I stood and walked slowly to the front of the room. I still didn’t know what my vote was going to be. I was hoping I’d have some great epiphany on my way to the voting box. I didn’t.

“What’s your vote?” David had asked on our way to dinner
.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know, or you won’t tell me?”

“I don’t know.”

And standing in front of the box filled with the other members’ votes, looking down at the pen placed neatly next to the tablet, I still didn’t know.

I picked up the pen. It felt heavy in my hand. I bent forward and wrote one word across the sheet. Laying the pen on the table, I ripped the page from the tablet, giving myself a paper cut. A drop of blood formed on the side of my index finger. “Damn. That’s never a good sign,” I murmured, placing my vote into the box.

David stood and walked to me. His hand grabbed mine. “What’d you write, Evangelina?” I looked in his gray eyes and realized how deeply I loved him. More than anything, I wanted his vote to match mine, but I didn’t tell him what I’d written. He needed to vote his way. I needed to vote mine. I shook my head and kept walking, our fingers gently falling away from each other’s.

David was the last to enter his ballot. Devlin shook the box, mixing up the papers. Then he began reading them.

“Stay. Stay. Stay. Stay.”

Murmurs filled the room. Some people smiled. Others grew frustrated. It was easy to pick out who had voted what.

“Leave. Stay. Leave. Leave. Leave.” The murmurs grew louder. Some people’s faces turned red as each dissenting vote was called. Others were wide-eyed with worry.

It’s too close
.

I looked at Jessica. She stared at Devlin, biting her fingernails. Juan sat next to her, his knee bouncing up and down.

“Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave.” Juan’s knee bounced. Jessica chewed.

So far there were five stays and eight leaves. It was going to be close.

When all the votes were read and counted—twice—twenty-one had voted to stay. Sixteen had voted to leave.

A large fist banged against a tabletop. I jumped, inhaling sharply. David lay his hand on my knee.

“You can’t make us stay.” A thick-necked man named Jacob banged the table again. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what the majority voted. If I want to leave, I’m gonna.” His voice shook with anger.

“Yeah, what are you gonna do? Put guards at the hatch? Keep us here like prisoners?” Margie yelled.

David stood up. “Obviously, no one is going to stop anyone who wants to leave. But no one is going to force someone to leave if they want to stay. If the sixteen want to leave…then they should go.”

“And what was your vote, David? I want to see a show of hands. Who voted to leave?” a kid in a Yankees t-shirt demanded.

“That defeats the purpose of a secret ballot, Dan.”

“Screw the secret ballot. Who voted to leave?”

A sprinkling of hands rose—Margie, Dan, Jacob and his girlfriend, and a few others. The rest of the group sat silently, their hands in their lap.

“Cowards,” Jacob yelled.

“It doesn’t make a difference what anyone voted.” Juan stood up so fast his chair fell backward on the floor. “If you want to leave, Jacob, then get out. Go now. But stop your bullying. Some people want to abide by the majority vote. That takes more courage than having a temper tantrum like a toddler.”

Jacob fisted his hands at his side. His face was red; a vein throbbed in the side of his neck. I drew back, afraid he was going to make the argument physical, but he slowly sat back down in his chair. A muscle in his jaw jumped as he glared at the group.

Later that evening, Jacob, his girlfriend, and three others grabbed their gear and left. I said a prayer that they’d be okay. I knew they probably wouldn’t be. They’d be no match against a group of infected.

The next morning I woke to an empty bedroom. I walked down the hall to the kitchen for a drink of water, peeking in David’s room when I walked by. He was lying in bed on his stomach, one arm curled above his head, the other hanging off the bed. His face was turned from me, but I could tell by his breathing he was asleep. I looked around the bedroom; Devlin was gone. David and I were the only people in the sub-POD. I felt a stirring in my stomach. I didn’t know if it was good or bad to be alone with David.

I had just gotten dressed after my shower when I heard David moving around. I sat at the small bathroom vanity, brushing my hair.

“Love that smell.”

“What smell?”

“Your hair. I love how it smells after you shower. Peaches.”

I smiled at him. “I found some of the shampoo I left behind.”

He didn’t smile back. His eyes roamed over my face, landing on my lips. He walked to me, gently pulling me up so I was standing in front of him.

“David, I…”

His lips covered mine. He kissed me gently at first, quickly growing insistent, fevered. He wanted more, and I wanted to give it to him.

His hands slipped under my shirt, caressing my skin. I moaned with pleasure, making him more brazen in his exploration. Our lips never left each other’s as we stumbled backward into the girls’ bedroom. We fell across the first bed we found.

Our hands explored each other, roaming over each other’s body. Our kisses moved from our lips downward as David kissed my neck, pushing my t-shirt up and over my head. I pulled at his; he reached over his shoulder and yanked it off. My hands moved over his bare skin. I kissed his neck, across his shoulders and down his chest. He groaned, grabbing my hands and pinning them above my head.

His mouth covered mine, our tongues gliding against each other. His touch warmed my skin, my breathing increased, and warmth built in my stomach.

David kissed up one side of my neck, to my mouth and down the other side. He laid soft, feathery kisses across my collarbone, down to my bra, following the fabric’s outline with his mouth. I arched my back, reaching for him, wanting more.

He let go of my hands and ran his fingertips down my naked side. I shivered, goosebumps covering my body. His hands became bolder in response, his mouth following his hands. He kissed everywhere he touched. I threaded my fingers through his hair.

His fingers shook as he reached for the zipper of my jeans, and that’s when it happened. The rational side of my brain screamed at me, damn it to Hades and back.

“David,” I whispered.

“Hmm?” His lips never stopped moving over my skin, leaving trails of heat wherever he touched.

“Do you have something?”

He froze. Slowly he lifted his head and looked at me. “Eva…I can’t…I thought you…”

“I should’ve had another shot over a month ago—we can’t risk it.”

He bowed his head and cursed violently under his breath. He looked at me. “No.”

“We have to stop.”

He cupped my face with his hand and kissed me gently. He ran his fingers through my hair, his lips moving over mine, his tongue dipping between my lips. I had to concentrate to form a coherent thought.

“David. We can’t.”

He rolled over and sat on the side of the bed. His feet spread, elbows on his knees, he rested his head in his hands.

I pulled my t-shirt back over my head. Moving behind him, I kissed across his bare shoulders, moving up to his ear. “I want to.”

“I know,” he murmured. “But we can’t take the chance.”

“A baby wouldn’t be a good thing right now. As much as I want to…”

“I want you, too, Eva. But you’re right. You’re right,” he repeated, as if to make himself believe it.

I handed him his shirt and he slipped it on. “I need to, um, I’m going to take a walk around the POD. Make sure everything is working okay.” He moved toward the door.

“Okay.”

“I gotta go. I’ll be back.”

“It’s okay, David.”

He made a face. I think it was supposed to be a smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

I watched him leave. “Crap, Eva,” I muttered.
Why’d I have to open my big mouth? I could be in David’s arms right now—where it feels like Heaven and there is no one else, just David and the way his hands feel on my body.

I
t’d been a week since we’d arrived at the PODs—a blissful, almost carefree week. Each person fell into a routine. Jessica and I worked in the gardens every morning. David and Devlin did minor repairs around the main and sub-PODs. A few people took turns cooking, and some cleaned and did laundry for the camp. Some of the men—and a couple of the women—went hunting every day. Everything was working fine…until that day.

The hunting party was coming in for the day. They climbed down the long ladder, their boots raining red dirt on the floor below.

“What’dya get today?” Judy, who was serving as one of the cooks, asked. “Rabbit? Maybe a stray cow?”