Schism by Holewinski Britt

Author:Holewinski, Britt [Holewinski, Britt]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: post-apocolyptic, young adult, fiction
Publisher: Delirious Pixie
Published: 2016-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter XVIII

Andy woke just as the sun emerged above the horizon. Her sleep had been restless; dreams of people she didn’t know chasing her through dense forests that transformed into the busy streets of a large metropolitan city. She always managed to escape her pursuers just in time.

She tiptoed through the house as everyone slept and stepped outside. As she crossed the vacant road, she saw the outline of someone sitting on the front steps of the house across the street. Startled, she took a few stumbling steps backward as the figure stood up.

“Andy, it’s me.” It was Ben’s voice. When Andy’s eyes finally adjusted to the dawning light, she approached and took a seat beside him as he sat back down.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“When did you guys get back?”

“A few hours ago.”

“Did they tell you anything, like how many others are after you?”

“No, they didn’t say a word. We left ‘em on the side of a road about ten miles west of Route 84. They’ll have to walk for miles before they get to another town.”

“Do you think they’ll try to come back here? Should we leave?”

He bobbed his head once. “We’ll have to. I don’t think they’ll ever come back here, but if they somehow make it back to New York, they’ll tell Sean where we are.”

The idea of leaving Santa Rosa wasn’t especially upsetting, for she held no great attachment to the place. “When should we leave?” she asked as she glanced back at her house.

“As soon as possible. Though I don’t know how we’ll be able to go anywhere at all. We’re almost out of gas, and I don’t know what the alternative is.”

“We’ll figure it out.” There was so much more Andy wanted to say but she had no idea where to begin. Instead she asked, “Did you sleep at all?”

“A couple of hours.”

“It’s impressive what you and Jim did. Destroying that lab. Destroying the virus. That took guts.”

Ben shrugged off the compliment and looked down at his hands. “We just did what needed to be done.” He dropped his head down in frustration. “It wasn’t enough, though.”

“Did the Fixers ever tell you why the virus was so deadly?”

“They said it was designed to be a ‘rapid killing agent,’ which meant that from the moment one person is infected, either by injection or through the air, that person can then infect someone else within a minute or two.”

“So, if I was injected right now with the virus, and then a minute later you came and sat next to me like you are now, I’d infect you immediately?”

“Right. But people were also supposed to die within minutes and not walk around for days infecting innocent people, which we all know isn’t the way it worked out.”

“And you think he still has the virus?”

Ben cracked his knuckles before answering. “He must’ve stashed some vials somewhere away from the lab. And now he’s probably got some Fixer in another lab working to replicate it.”

“But those

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