Twenty
sadie
“Did you see it?” Theo ripped off his mask and jacket the second he got through the door, sparing the TV a glance as he strode toward me.
I nodded from my position on the edge of the couch. My hands hadn’t stopped trembling, and the weight on my chest made it hard to draw a deep breath.
He tossed his jacket over the back of the armchair, his eyes a little wild as he pulled me to my feet. Then he dragged me against him and wrapped his arms around me in the longest, tightest embrace.
One minute I was troubleshooting how to find Ava with no idea where to look, and the next, I had a solid, dependable man slowing my chaotic mind.
I clutched his waist and rested my cheek on his chest, the cotton of his shirt brushing my skin. “It’s exploding all over the world,” I said with a tremor in my voice.
“I stuck around upstairs long enough to catch a report out of America.” He cradled the back of my head and rubbed histhumb over my scalp. “They cut to a tank rolling down a street in Chicago. Atank. Soldiers were picking off the infected one by one. Just shooting them where they were standing.”
“I saw it, too.” The thought of culling people went beyond anything I could have imagined. “But I don’t think it’s basic rage anymore,” I said. “I think they’re reanimating after they've died. They only stopped moving when they were shot in the head. Did you see that?”
Theo’s cheek moved against my hair as if he were nodding. I waited for him to laugh, but he pulled back and met my eyes, cupping the side of my face briefly. “Laura thinks so, too. It’s the first time I’ve seen her rattled.”
Great. If Laura was losing it, we were all in trouble.
Everything that used to make sense had been shattered, and people were turning into monsters right before our eyes. I couldn’t even let myself entertain the thought that my sister might become one of them. I’d rather never set eyes on her again and make up some alternate life for her in my mind than see her like that.
“No doubt we’ll find out more by the end of the day.” Theo’s hold on me loosened, and I caught the tic in his jaw as he stepped away. He paced the room a couple of times, flicking glances at the mayhem on TV. A beat of silence passed, then he said, “We should have acted faster. Made better decisions.”
“How? We didn’t know anything.” Our shopping spree was a spontaneous decision based on the shortage of supplies, not because we thought people wouldcome back from the dead. Every step we’d taken made sense at the time. “What would you have done differently if you knew this was coming?” I asked. “Would you have left sooner?”
Theo took a moment to answer, which was an answer in itself. He sighed and looked away. “Maybe.”
My throat ached, my fingers clenching into fists at my sides. “Are you annoyed with yourself for staying and taking care of me?”
Please say no. Don’t break me into pieces when I was just starting to feel whole again.
His attention snapped to me. “Never,” he said, his gaze clashing with mine. “When you got sick, leaving wasn’t even an option. You know that. Nothing's changed.”
My fingers uncurled, the queasiness in my stomach settling a little. “What do you regret then?” I asked, catching sight of a mob on television attacking an infected person on the street in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“Not leaving sooner—with you. Before you got sick. We should have taken off for the farm. The city was already a shitshow. Imagine how bad it’s going to get now.”
“I’m trying not to think about it,” I said, running my hands down my face. “Ava's going to be right in the middle of it in a matter of hours.”
We stared at each other as a reporter’s frenzied voice drifted from the television, the information spilling from her so fast, she stumbled over her words. I faced the TV, my mind whirring.
“Paris appears to be ground zero… rage occurrences are multiplying beyond our ability to track numbers… stay inside… do not approach…”
We’d seen the beginning.
How would it end?
And would we live long enough to find out?
The two of us stood together in silence, taking in the images for the longest time. We must have been rooted to the spot for half an hour absorbing our new reality. Violence and rampages were occurring on every part of the planet, the reports coming in thick and fast. People were fleeing major cities everywhere,including Melbourne, causing congestion on highways and freeways.
“Shit.” Theo’s ominous tone caught my attention, and he cupped my shoulders from behind.
The anchor crossed to an urgent press conference headed by the Minister for Emergency Services and the acting Police Commissioner.
Whenever we watched members of the State Government gather to deliver updates, fewer officials stood behind the speaker. Today, there was no one.
