Contagious (43 page)

Raeya practically bounced with excitement during lunch. All of the noobs made it through the quarantine. After their allotted time to rest, they would be tested to find out in what ways could they best benefit the shelter. She had come up with a new (and better, as she reminded me twenty times) test.

“
You need to bring more people,” she said, forcing a forkful of canned beans into her mouth.

“
Oh yeah, I will, just so you can put them through your tests.”

She laughed. “You know what I mean. But yes, I’m very happy with this test. It really will showcase everyone’s strengths.”

After lunch, I pretended to take Argos out, wanting to run to the truck and bring in our stuff. Padraic caught me on the way out. He motioned for me to follow him. We went down to the B level, through a hall and into his room. Like the Cs’, the room had colorless walls and harsh tile floors, but was twice as big. And—this would really make Raeya mad—he had the room to himself.

“
Who else knows that Hayden is resistant to the virus?” he asked.

“
I’m not sure. I assumed some of the A1s and you guys.”

“
He wasn’t supposed to tell you.”

“
I kinda saw him get bitten,” I reminded Padraic.

“
I know that. We talked. He told me that he told you that he was immune.”

“
Yeah, he did. And I know about the vaccine. And,” I said quickly so he wouldn’t interrupt me. “I know not to say anything.”

“
Good.” Padraic nodded. He sighed, dropped his professional air and sat on a small sofa. “It’s not looking too promising,” he confessed.

I joined him on the couch. “Why not?”

“
Well for starters, we only have one person who we know for sure is resistant. I’m assuming most of us here are, but I’m not willing to test that.”

“
Remind me again why you think we are resistant.”

“
Everyone was exposed to the virus at around the same time. It was a pandemic, sweeping across the country in days. I find it hard to believe that we, meaning everyone here, didn’t come into contact with it at one point or another. And I don’t think everyone is. It’s more of a hope than a real theory.”

“
It makes sense,” I told him. “Though I wish we knew how the virus got out in the first place.”

“
Me too. And if it’s worldwide,” he added quietly.

“
Oh,” I whispered. I felt like an ass for never thinking about it before. I was so concerned with myself and saving the people I wanted to save that I never even thought about anyone else. Padraic’s family still lived in Ireland. He had no idea if they were alive or dead…or undead.

“
I think it is,” he speculated. “If it wasn’t, I believe some other country would come in on a rescue mission.”

“
My mom and my stepdad are in Papua, New Guinea,” I said, my voice coming out in a harsh whisper.

“
What were they doing there?”

“
Forcing their religion down the throats of people who clearly didn’t want it. And feeding hungry children or something like that.”

“
Oh,” he said shortly, not knowing what to say to my mini rant. “Well, that’s a pretty secluded area; maybe they’re still alive.”

“
Let’s just say they are and the virus didn’t hit over there. They would have no idea what was happening here. They can keep going on pretending to be all high and mighty while we’re here barely making it, starving and scared and dodging death every freaking minute.”

“
I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any resentment in that statement,” he said with a smile.

I leaned back. “If—no
when
this ends, what is the first thing you are going to do?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Really?”

“
No. Probably still be a doctor,” he said logically.

“
You are so lame!” I joked.

“
What about you?”

“
I am going to a beach—any beach—with a drink in my hand and soak up the sun. I’m not going to move, except to roll over to tan my ass, or do anything for anyone.”

“
That does seem nice.”

“
Ugh! It’s better than nice! Imagine the warm ocean air, the smell of salt and sand and coconut, the sun shining down on you, the crashing of the waves…” I closed my eyes.

“
Birds chirping, tropical birds of course,” Padraic added.

“
The feel of sand between your toes, the way the refreshing breeze blows your hair.”

“
Sunburn.”

I opened my eyes. “You suck at this game.”

“
Well, you didn’t mention sunscreen.”

“
Fine. I’m slathering it on myself now, ok?”

“
Ok. I am a doctor, I’m just watching out for your health,” he teased. “I better check on my patients. It was nice talking to you, Orissa. I’ve missed you.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, sorry, busy doing A1 stuff.”

He stood. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“
I won’t,” I promised. Following Padraic into the hospital ward, I smiled and waved at Hayden, who was sitting up in bed reading.

“
Orissa,” he breathed, a smile forming.

“
Hey, Hayden. How are you feeling?”

“
A little better. I’m so freaking bored.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “I bet. You don’t even have a TV.”

“
Tell me about it. Have you talked to any of the civilians?”

“
No. They all made it through, in case you didn’t know.”

“
Good. I was curious.”

“
How much longer do you think you’ll be down here?” I asked him.

“
Hopefully not long,” he said, angling his body to face mine. “You know I’m stuck here for two reasons, right?” he asked quietly. When I shook my head he went on. “I have fresh zombie virus floating around in my blood. Cara took a lot, like enough to classify me as anemic.”

Immediately I was upset. “No! She shouldn’t do that! That’s not—”

“
Orissa, it’s fine. If I wasn’t ok with it, she wouldn’t take any. I’m not being forced, remember?”

“
Right. I-I just don’t like seeing you…not like yourself.”

His hand settled on top of mine. “I don’t like not being myself.” He blinked several times, making me think he was tired.

“
Want me to leave so you can sleep?”

“
No. But you can do something illegal for me.”

“
Illegal?” I asked incredulously. “There are no laws anymore, dummy.”

“
Ok, not illegal. But you need to be sneaky.”

“
That I can do.”

“
Great. Bring me something from my stash.”

“
Stash?”

“
Of junk food.”

“
Oh, right. Your stash of junk food, not drugs. I’ll be right back.” In less than five minutes I sat back on his bed, opening a bag of Cheetos.

“
I had a dream about you last night,” Hayden told me.

“
Really? What kind of dream?”

“
Oh, you know,” he trailed off, raising his eyebrows. “Not really. Well, not last night at least,” he joked. “We were just killing zombies.”

“
That’s a nightmare,” I corrected.

“
I guess so. We were awesome in the dream.”

“
We are awesome in real life.”

“
Hell yeah,” he said and we both laughed. We chatted for awhile longer, eating the entire bag of Cheetos. I was licking the cheesy powder from my fingers when two teenage girls came in; one was carrying a plate of cookies and the other had a large glass of milk.

Milk Girl scowled at me for a millisecond before turning her pouty lips into a broad smile. “Hi Hayden,” she spoke with practiced charm. “We brought you cookies.”

Cookie Girl held up the plate and smiled, her cheeks turning beet red. “They’re still warm,” she said quietly.

“
Awesome, thanks. They smell wonderful,” Hayden praised. Milk walked around the bed, her blue eyes flicking to me and set the glass down. Cookie held out the plate. Unable to reach out since his arm was tethered to an IV, Hayden couldn’t take it from her. I extended my hand and she jerked back, not wanting me to take the cookies. Once she realized what I was doing, she blushed and gave me the plate. I picked up a cookie, which was still warm, and held it up for Hayden to bite into.

“
Mmh,” he said with his mouth full. “They are good. Thanks, ladies.”

The girls practically squealed with delight.

“
I’m so glad you like them,” Milk cooed. “Did you get my card?”

“
Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks for that too.”

I could tell Hayden didn’t know who these girls were. His eyes scanned the cards, looking for clues. “I’m Orissa,” I said to get them to introduce themselves.

“
We know who you are,” Cookie giggled. “Everyone knows who you are.”

“
Is that good?” I asked.

“
I guess,” Milk said with a nonchalant shrug.

“
Joni told us that you saved everyone,” Cookie added.

“
Yeah,” I admitted. Looking at Hayden I said, “I couldn’t have done it alone though.”

Hayden finished the cookie and put his hand on mine. “She’s amazing. You should have seen her.”

“
Ok, now I know you’re hopped up on drugs.”

“
No, I’m not. What I am is honest.” He grinned at me.

“
Is it true you climbed fifty feet up the tree?” Cookie asked.

It was more like twenty—at the highest. “Pretty close to it,” I lied.

“
I’m glad there are more female As,” she said, earning an elbowing from her friend.

“
Me too,” I agreed. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around much, what’s your name?”

“
Oh, I’m Megan and this is Felicity.”

“
Nice to meet you both. So I take it you talked to the people we found.”

“
Yeah. Joni and Jane are in the room across from ours,” Megan informed us.

Hayden asked, “How are they settling in?”

“
Pretty good, considering,” Megan told us. I reached across Hayden and picked up the glass of milk, offering it to him. He took it from me with a slight smile. After he took a drink, I set it back down. I grabbed two cookies, gave one to Hayden and ate the other myself.

“
Is there anything I can get you?” Felicity asked, batting her eyelashes.

“
Uh, no. I’m good. Thanks though,” Hayden said awkwardly. The girls didn’t take the hint and leave. Hayden looked at the milk, annoyed he couldn’t get it himself. I leaned over him again, my body brushing closely against his. He offered it to me after taking a long drink.

“
Thanks,” I told him. Cookies are better with milk. They just are. Hayden yawned and leaned his head against the pillows. “Well, thanks for bringing Hayden cookies,” I started. “He needs to rest though.”

“
Yeah,” Hayden agreed. “Thanks. I’ll see you girls later.”

Felicity shot me a look as if to question why I wasn’t leaving but kept her mouth shut and left, only after telling Hayden to let them know if they can do anything for him. I put the milk and cookies on the table next to the bed.

“
I can go too, if you want to sleep,” I reminded him.

“
You can stay.”

“
You won’t hurt my feelings. Tell me to leave if you want me to.”

“
I will. When I want you to. I kinda miss you. You know, since I’m used to being with you all the time.” He ran his fingers over my left hand. “Are the cuts healed?”

I opened my palm to show him the scabs. “Almost.”

“
You do heal fast.”

“
I suppose. It seems normal to me.”

“
I guess it would.” His eyes closed.

I stretched my legs out on the bed. Hayden’s fingers closed around mine. The words he spoke to Parker echoed in my head. I debated saying something to him. I had known for this long and didn’t bring it up, would he be upset? I decided to let him bring it up himself again.

I woke up the next morning with a sore throat. A headache had formed by the time I was done with training. Drained of energy, I showered and got back into bed. Austin turned out to be a great person to rescue: he had the know how to fix our heater. Warm and comfortable, I fell asleep.

The mattress sunk down. I knew someone was sitting on the bed but didn’t care. When his voice spoke my name, I opened my eyes.

“
What are you doing?” I asked him, looking into his hazel eyes.

“
Sitting.”

“
No shit, Sherlock. That’s not what I meant.”

“
I know, but it’s what you asked.”

“
Very funny, Hayden.”

“
They let me out early on good behavior. I’m still on bed rest, though at least now I can watch TV.”

“
Hmm,” I mumbled and pulled the blankets over my head.

“
What’s wrong with you?”

“
I think I caught what you have,” I grumbled.

“
Shit, I feel bad. Sorry, Orissa.”

“
It’s not your fault. Ok, it is. You should feel horrible and do everything it takes to make it up to me.”

“
And how can I do that?” he asked, trying to sound coy, which utterly failed considering he had a sore throat and scratchy voice.

“
Let me sleep.”