PODs (42 page)

“No.”

David nodded and Juan released the lever on the winch, loosening the hatch enough for the men to climb through. The table creaked under their weight. I climbed down the ladder. Roy and the other hunter followed me down to the main POD floor, David and Juan close behind.

Once down, David looked at the two men. “Strip.”

I averted my eyes. I tried to leave, but the men were blocking the way to my sub-POD. I tried to push through, but all four men ignored me. So I stood with my back to the stripping hunters and looked at David instead. I didn’t like what I saw. His face was hard, menacing. “Turn around slowly.”

I could hear their feet shuffle against the floor as they turned. “Lift one foot. The other. Raise both arms and show me your hands. Do you know of any scratches, cuts, or bites that I can’t see?”

“No,” the men said in unison.

“Okay, get dressed and meet us in the cafeteria.” David grabbed my hand and gently pulled me to his side.

“What’s up?” Devlin asked when we entered the cafeteria.

“The hunting party was attacked.” David ran his hand down his face and blew out a breath.

“Everyone get back okay?”

“No.”

Devlin nodded his head, running his fingers through his dark hair. “Who?”

“Roy and Tommy made it back.”

“That’s all?” Devlin asked, dropping his hand.

“Yeah.”

Devlin looked over David’s shoulder. The men had followed us into the cafeteria, their faces grim.

“Where’s everyone else?” Devlin asked.

“Dead.” Tommy sounded almost as if he was in a trance.

“How?”

“There was a group of infected waiting between the tents when we came back from the hunt. We weren’t expecting them…I mean, we haven’t seen Jacob in almost two days…we were sure it was clear. They picked us off one by one.”

“Jacob?” Juan asked. I jumped at the sound of his voice behind me.

“No, Jacob and the others weren’t with them. This was a new group.” Roy’s face remained tomato-red from the run to the POD.

“C’mon, Roy. Let’s get you something cold to drink.” I took his hand, pulling him with me.

David held my other hand. I pulled away, but he didn’t let go. I looked up at him and smiled. “It’s okay,” I whispered. He drew me to him, kissing me softly on the lips before letting go, our threaded fingers falling away slowly. Roy followed close behind me, still holding my hand.

“If it wasn’t Jacob’s group, then who was it?” Devlin asked behind me.

“I don’t know,” Tommy said.

“A group of nomads moving through that Jacob and the others attacked, or maybe an entirely new group of infected moving through looking for food. What difference does it make?” David asked.

“We aren’t safe here,” Judy whispered. She handed Roy a cup of cold water.

“We’re as safe as we can get,” I answered.

“I don’t want to,” Jessica whined.

Her voice carried up the walkway as I was coming back to the sub-POD from the gardens.

“Too bad,” Devlin said, his voice hard. “I’ve made up my mind.”

“So? I have a mind, too. And my mind’s made up. I’m not leaving.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’ll stay with the others,” she said.

“The others are leaving.”

“Everyone?”

“I think so.” I could hear the lie in Devlin’s voice and wondered if Jessica could, too.

“What’dya mean,
you think so?”

“We haven’t talked to Eva and David yet.”

“Why? You all had a meeting without them? Without me? You made decisions that will affect us all without letting everyone have their say?”

“It doesn’t matter what your say is. You’re my sister and you’re staying with me. As for Eva and David, they think the PODs are the answer. I don’t think they’ll want to leave.”

“We would’ve liked a say, Devlin,” I said quietly, stepping into the living area.

“Ah, Eva, you weren’t supposed to—”

My hands tightened into fists. “What? I wasn’t supposed to find out?”

His cheeks colored. “No, we were all going to tell you together. You weren’t supposed to find out this way.”

“When were you gonna tell us? When you were packing to leave?”

“Um…”

“Don’t bother.” I turned to leave and ran into David’s chest. I looked up at him. A vein throbbed in the side of his neck, the tendons tight along his jaw. “David, you scared me.”

He didn’t speak. At first I didn’t think he’d acknowledge me. Then he looked down and smiled. “Sorry. C’mon. I think we need to talk.”

He took my hand and pulled me behind him. I had to jog to keep up with his long strides. “Is the greenhouse empty?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” We made our way through the metal corridors, our feet clanging against the grates. We passed through the main portion of the POD and I could hear people in the cafeteria talking. I looked at them as we passed. They averted their eyes. David didn’t stop. He kept walking straight to the gardens, pulling me behind him.

The hot, humid air overwhelmed me. Sweat broke out across my face. The hiss of sprinklers came from somewhere deeper in the greenhouse. The sun streamed through the glass ceiling, giving David’s hair a shining hint of red.

I sat on the damp walkway. The trees loomed over me like a green umbrella, shielding me from the drops of water falling around us. David stood with his back to me, one hand in his hip pocket, the other rubbing the spot between his eyes.

“You knew,” I said.

“I guessed.”

“Guessed?”

“I’ve heard some people rumbling about going to California to look for their families. I figured it was only a matter of time before some of them left.”

“Some.”

“Yeah.” He dropped his hand and turned. Crouching down in front of me, his gray eyes looked into mine. “What do you want to do, Eva? Stay or go?”

“I don’t know. Who’s planning to stay?”

“I think they’re all going.”

“All? Are you kidding?” He shook his head. “Oh. I wasn’t expecting that.” I drummed my fingers on my lower lip, looking around. The trees were heavy with fruit. The vegetable plants were growing, leafing out nicely. The sound of water dripping from the rain chains played like gentle percussion throughout the large room.

With the gardens providing food and water, and the wind and solar power, why would people want to risk leaving the POD for a compound that most likely didn’t exist? And even if it
did
exist, they probably wouldn’t be allowed to enter.

“Do you think we could keep this place up by ourselves?” I asked him.

“I think we’d have as good a shot keeping it up alone as we would out there running from infected every day and night.”

“I guess.”

“What, Eva?”

“What if they’re right? What if there’s a compound out there for topsiders?”

“If you want to go with them, you just have to say the word and I’ll start packing.”

“What do you want?” I asked, holding my breath.

“I want what you want, Eva.”

“I hate that.”

“Well, it’s true.” He gave a humorless laugh.

I glared at him. “I hate it when you leave the decision to me! It involves both of us. We should decide together.”

“We are. You’re deciding what you want to do. I’ve already made my decision.”

“Lemme guess, you’ve decided to do whatever I want to do,” I said.

“Yep.”

“Fine. Let’s go get dinner over with so we can get this figured out.”

I stood and took one last look at the gardens I’d toiled over for weeks. It was beautiful there, peaceful. Everything the outside world wasn’t.

What was I supposed to decide? Maybe there
was
a compound in California and maybe we’d be allowed inside. Maybe. There definitely were infected and we’d definitely run into some. Definitely.

Should David and I leave the safety of the PODs for a chance at a normal life in California, or stay in the PODs for a chance at a life at all?

I knew my decision.

Dinner was tense, the conversations strained by the many things not being said. The clattering of silverware sounded garish in the room that was usually filled with friendly banter. The potato soup, normally one of my favorites, stuck in my throat no matter how hard I tried to swallow it down. No one met my eyes.

I threw down my spoon. It clanged across the table, bouncing onto the tiled floor. I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Let’s just get it over with. Who’s staying?” I called out, waiting for a show of hands. None came. “No one, huh? No one is staying where you know you’ll have fresh food, water, and warm beds to sleep in every night? You’d give that up for a place that may not even exist?”

“And you’d stay here and give up the chance at seeing your family again?” Robbie asked from across the room.

I looked into Devlin’s face, seeing a flash of shame in his eyes. “My family is dead,” I said quietly. “And it’s likely yours are, too. If the first wave of the virus didn’t kill them, the mutated strain did. If they lived through that, the infected have probably killed them by now. Either way, it isn’t likely that you’ll see them again. Wouldn’t they want you to stay in a place where you’re safe? Where you could build a life?”

“I have to know, Eva. Even if it means getting to California and finding there’s no compound after all. I have to know,” Devlin murmured, “Winter is almost over. When the spring and summer hit it’ll be too hot for us to travel through the desert. We either leave now or wait a year. I can’t wait that long.”

“And you’d risk Jessica?” David asked.

Devlin shrugged.

“Are you…are you coming, Eva?” Jessica’s voice quivered.

“No.”

They left the next morning.

D
avid and I waited two weeks—giving time for the infected to leave or die—before we attempted to leave the POD on our own.

“How are we gonna know if they’re in the POD when we come back?” I asked David.

“This.” He held up a toothpick before inserting it in the small gap between the unlocked hatch door and the frame of the POD. “If this is gone, we know someone, or something, has been here. It’s small enough not to draw attention. No one should see it. If it’s still here when we get back, we can be reasonably sure no one has disturbed the hatch.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

“That’s it?”

“What?”

“It
‘sounds good’ is
all you have to say?” he asked.

“Oh, okay, how’s this? David, your plan is genius. You’re a genius. I’m in awe of your problem-solving skills. Better?”

“A simple ‘that’s a great plan, David’ would’ve been enough,” he muttered.

I laughed and kissed his cheek.

We started our hunt. We were looking for rabbits, but David said if we found a rattlesnake or two we’d take them. I didn’t agree to that.

The sun was brutal. Even in the early morning hours it beat down on us with an oppressive heat. We walked for two hours and never saw another living thing—except for some bugs and a few scorpions, none of which I was putting in my mouth. I’d live on the fruit and vegetables the gardens provided before I ate a scorpion.

David wasn’t an experienced hunter. That made two of us. When the sun was directly above us and the wind blew the sand in our eyes and mouths, we decided to call it quits and go back to the POD.