CONTAGION by McBride Michael

Author:McBride, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Preternatural Press
Published: 2022-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

18

Binghamton, New York

Sakeva rested his forehead against the passenger window and watched the world blur past. He couldn’t remember ever having been this tired, but he didn’t want to close his eyes for fear of missing a single second of his travels. His entire life had been spent on the Hopi Reservation, confined by arbitrarily drawn boundaries and unchanging horizons. He loved his land and the sacred mesas, and yet now that he saw the outside world with his own eyes, he wished he’d allowed himself to explore it sooner, to see the sights and hear the sounds he’d denied himself as a traditionalist and caretaker of his people, whether they believed in his mission or not. It was one thing to willingly devote his life to Taiowa’s cause when he knew nothing else, while it was another thing entirely to do so when presented with other options.

He was glad Billy had come with him and not just to spell him at the wheel when his body started to fail him. His grandson stared out over the rusted hood of the old Chevy with an expression of wonder on his face, not merely at the enormous houses or the skyscrapers with windows that appeared to burn with the fire of the sun, but at the forests filled with trees that couldn’t grow from the red sands back home, at animals that would never tolerate the harsh climate, at lush marshlands and towering blue mountains and lakes and streams and even the ocean, into which they’d watched the sun set from a bluff in Rhode Island, the grainy sensation of salt on their cheeks, the restless waves materializing as if from the horizon itself. If the purification were to commence today, it was that image to which he would cling as the light faded from the world.

It had begun, of course. There was no longer any hope of denying it. He’d seen the dawning sickness in the faces of several people in Times Square during the night, walking dead with bloodshot eyes and foreheads beaded with sweat. He’d always thought that the end would come with a thunderous crash that would shake the earth and raise great clouds of ash and dust, spreading invisible waves of radiation and decimating humanity in the blink of an eye. Only during the dark of night did he consider the possibility that it would arrive in the form of a lingering sickness that promised such suffering, although he supposed humankind deserved no less. They’d strayed from the true path and, in doing so, thumbed their noses at the Creator, who’d already shown he had no qualms about wiping the slate clean and starting over again.

Billy pulled to the side of the highway, offering Sakeva a view of the murky Chenango River through the shimmering leaves of the deciduous trees. The road was gray and ugly, with its fading paint, patchwork pavement, and trash drifting against the concrete barriers. Cars roared past with the buzzing of tires and the cloying scent of exhaust fumes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.