Duality (The Hitchhiker Strain) (15 page)

“
Not entirely. It’s been four days since you were given phase one. It will be another few weeks before you’re entirely in the clear,” she says. “The fact that you’ve come this far this quickly is really remarkable. You’re one of a kind.”

“
And now you need to figure out why?”

“
Ideally,” Doctor Silvers says. “If we can recreate whatever it is about you that made you susceptible to Veritas and reproduce it, we could change the world.”

Suddenly, a yawn forces its way up my throat. I feel my mouth opening defiantly before I can stop it.

"You must be exhausted," Doctor Nickleby says. Am I? I hadn’t noticed. This time I let her pat my hand when she reaches over. I nod and add a groggy blink. The truth is that even though my body is getting tired, I've never felt more awake. But I could use a little time to digest all of this.

"Okay. We'll let you go. Tomorrow will be a busy day for everyone, s
o I'm sure some sleep would do us all some good."

“
There’s a few more questions to go through,” Doctor Silvers argues.

Doctor Nickleby pats him gently on the shoulder, almost patronizingly. “
It can wait. This has been a big day for all of us and I think we would all benefit from some time to take everything in.” A knowing look passes between us. I thought I’d been doing well, but I guess she noticed that I was getting a little over whelmed.

"We'll have to lock you back in your cell for the night," Mr. Harri
s says. "I'm optimistic that you won't be a danger to yourself or others, but these regulations are in place for a reason. We can’t risk it."

"A cure to the infection, and now Dorian Harris is admitting to optimism. I really have seen it all." Doctor Silve
rs chuckles. It's a nice sound. When is the last time I've heard someone laugh? When will I stop trying to remember all of my last times for everything?

"Don't get to used to it."

"Never." The two men smirk at each other and I get the distinct impression that it's not something that happens often.

"We've got someone waiting outside to take you back for the night. We'll see about getting you somewhere more comfortable to stay in the morning." Doctor Silvers stands and the others follow suit.

"Zack?" I ask, doing the same. He should be back from checking up on his friend by now. As long as it wasn’t bad news, I’d hope he’d be coming back.

"No, he's not actually one of our group. We had him running errands for us before we knew you would be an exceptional case.
He was lucky enough to stumble into your transformation.

I try not to visibly pout but I can feel my cheeks puckering in wards. "Maybe we should keep him involved for now." Doctor Nickleby suggests. "She'll likely be more comfortable with someone her own
age."

"Cole's her age," Doctor Silvers counters. The other doctor tilts her head patiently. "No, no, you're right. We should keep things as constant as possible. We'll adapt from there once we know more."

With a sigh of relief I let Gregor lead me out of the office and back to my cell. As crazy as it was, this has been one of the best days of my life and I’m more than ready to curl up—in an actual bed this time—and relive the entire thing, picking apart every moment to make that I never forget a single detail.

Chapter 20 – Savannah

My brain is barely functioning as I follow Alex back down to the main floor. All I can think about is how we're leaving Pierce behind. A big part of me refuses to believe he
’s really gone.

Mrs.
Applegate is in the living room when we get there, having completely ignored my instructions to wait in the locked bathroom. She has pulled herself together enough to fill up a large purse with bottles of water and supplies from her kitchen, so I don't complain. She doesn't ask where Pierce is or comment on the tears still flowing freely down my face. Instead, she takes charge.

In a daze, Alex and I let her lead us from her house and out into the backyard, announcing that there's no way we'll make it out t
he front. Getting her up and over each fence isn't easy, but we manage. I don't notice exactly when I stop crying—it’s impossible to sob uncontrollably and hoist a bullheaded older woman over a full-sized fence simultaneously—but by the time we make it back to where we started, I have myself mostly under control, at least externally. Unfortunately, that does nothing to help the fact that we've been left behind. The only car left that I can see is the one that has been parked diagonally in the back driveway, the final obstacle to help ensure that the Zs don't follow us in our escape. Our only choice is to go on foot.

We have to hop one final fence to get out on to the main road. From there, Mrs. Applegate insists that we go one block in the opposite direction
of where we're headed to ensure that we can cross the street without being seen by the Zs that have already managed to wander out onto the road from the housing block. It takes almost ten minutes before we're confident enough to stop and evaluate our options, choosing a small convenience store to shield us from view.

Mrs. Applegate mutters to herself as she fishes around in her purse. "Here." She hands me a resealed bottle of water. "Drink up. You
’ll need it." She turns and hands Alex an identical bottle. He tries to wave it away, keeping his head tilted up toward the sky. He's probably trying to hide that his eyes are welling up all over again. I know how he feels. Mrs. Applegate shoves the bottle against his chest, staying silent but persistent until he takes hold of the small container and drinks. She uses her own bottle to wet down a cloth, which she presses back against her face. She's lost a fair bit of blood but hasn't complained once.

"Did you have any extra cars stashed anywhere? In case of emergenc
ies?" I ask once I've polished off my portion of water.

"They were supposed to be here!" Alex says, jerking his head toward the parking lot. "Right across the street, hidden in plain sight. Gassed up and ready to go."

"The others must have needed them," Mrs. Applegate suggests. "They likely didn’t have time to worry about if they’d be stranding us here in the process." I bite my lip to stop myself from swearing in front of the older woman, but she continues, seemingly unaffected by our situation. "We're going to have to come up with a new plan. I know you both probably want to sit down and have a good cry right now, but that isn't an option."

I'm not sure whether I should be insulted or impressed. I settle for impressed with a growing side of hopelessness. I
'm not convinced I have it in me to keep moving my feet after everything I've seen today. If it were just me, I might be tempted to hide for the rest of the day, but that really isn't an option. We don’t have any options. We have things to do and people we need to find. Alex looks less than convinced, but I know he'll come around.

"So we go on foot then?" It's the only
plan I can come up with. We can’t exactly wait around for someone to offer us a lift.

"What if there are still people in there?" Alex mumble
s. I get the feeling he hadn't meant to say it out loud, but now we're all faced with the uncomfortable reality of the situation. He must already know there's no way we can go back.

"If there's anyone stuck in there, they'll have to..." I was about to say
“wait it out” but my voice cuts out as soon as I realize how futile that could be. Unless the Militia comes through to try and start moving the Zs again, it will be days or even weeks before it's safe to come back to Tilton. Even then, I can't imagine that anyone would want to go back to living here. Mrs. Applegate's house can't be the only one that was stained with blood today.

My statement hangs in the air, but there's nothing to fill the void with. If anyone is still in there, then their only
choice is to fight their way out. Something I wouldn't wish on anyone. But I have to believe they have at least some chance.

"It's getting late," I say finally. It will soon be too dark to make any progress safely. "Is there anywhere nearby we can hole up?"

"Probably," Alex says. "But we have a little time left and I'd rather put at least some distance between us and that herd... Just in case."

Fine by me. Alex
’s being able to make decisions at all is a good sign in my books. "Sounds good. What do you think, Mrs. Applegate? Can you manage to walk for a little while? Until it gets dark."

"My legs are still working fine." She takes a second to steady herself and begins putting her things back in her bag. "We walk!" It doesn't take any more prompting to get her moving.

Step by step, we start to put the new New Ravencrest behind us.

With Mrs. Applegate as part of the group, our progress is far too slow. I know she's trying, and even after almost an hour of walking, she hasn't asked for a break even once, but there's only
so fast she can go. At the rate we're moving, we'll never make it to the Park-N-Eat before everyone else has already moved on. By the time we find a car we can actually use, it's nearly dark.

"I'm thinking we should wait until morning to join the others,"
Alex says as soon as the three of us have piled into the white hatchback. "If we show up at night when no one can see us, we run a real risk of getting shot."

"You don't think they'll be expecting others to be a little late getting to the meet-up spot? I
doubt they'll shoot without asking any questions first," I counter.

"Probably not. But they're also in the middle of Militia territory. They might be feeling a little jumpy. Why risk it?"

I want to argue that he's being paranoid and remind him that there are people who are probably worried sick about where he is, but Mrs. Applegate adds her consent to Alex's new plan and I'm officially out voted.

"Okay, so where do we spend the night?"

Alex shrugs and starts the car. "We'll find something."

It doesn't take long before we come across a small movie theater that has probably been out of commission for years rather than only the months since the infection took hold. The front doors have been removed, so we won
’t have to worry about breaking in, but it does make me a little wary about safety. Still, it's bound to be a more comfortable spot to spend the night than in the car.

Alex and Mrs. Applegate are asleep long before I am, and the sounds of their steady breathing do little to soothe me. It
’s hard not to be jealous that they're able to shut off their minds long enough to push everything that happened today away and fall asleep. Now that I'm essentially alone in the room, I can't stop myself from reliving the whole thing.

Again and again and again.

I would give up anything, even Cole, if it means I could bring Pierce back.
The thought enters my mind before I can force it back. That’s an awful thing to think. But I’m not sure that makes it any less true.

A new kind of guilt begins to blend with ever
ything I’m already feeling. I haven’t thought about Cole all day. He must be wondering where I am by now. Even if Eduardo and Dooley have made it back and filled everyone in on what's happened, he'll have no way of knowing if I’m okay. If I were in his position, I'd probably be going absolutely crazy.

Except…
would I? Would I be any more worried for Cole than I would be for anybody else?

I have to stop this. After the day I
’ve had, it’s normal that my thoughts are all over the place. Cole can take care of himself. I wouldn’t worry about him because I wouldn’t want him worrying about me.

The more I try to rationalize my feelings, the more lost I feel. My final thoughts as I drift off bounce around from Cole to home to Pierce to my parents and back again, and
I know I won’t be sleeping well tonight.

When I wake up the next morning, stiff from sleeping on a pile of musty coats, it's hopelessness that still permeates my thoughts. My parents are gone, our town is gone, and Pierce is gone. Even the cure seems poi
ntless—it can only do so much good, limited to helping those who have recently been bitten. We need a vaccine or a way to restore some of the people we've lost, and instead we have a band aid.

The one small
victory of our morning is that the manager’s office in the theatre still had a dusty old first aid kit hidden away in the back of a closet. Though it has finally stopped bleeding, I still take a few minutes to clean and wrap Mrs. Applegate’s face while Alex ducks out to the thrift shop next door to try and find us all extra layers to protect against the damp spring air.

The older woman
’s hands are shaking slightly, but her gaze is unwavering and burning with anger—and impossible for me to meet. Every time I look at her, I'm reminded that she's the last person who saw Pierce alive. I'm desperate to ask her for details on what happened, but I am far too much of a coward to form the words. Instead I convince myself that I'm making it easier on myself, on both of us. Today has to be about getting back to our friends and convincing them to come back to the Initiative with me and Liam. Everything else—grief, hunger, and unwanted memories—will have to wait.

“
It’s such a waste,” Mrs. Applegate says with a sigh as the two of us make our way back to the front doors to wait for Alex. I don’t have to ask what—or who—she’s talking about. I stay quiet, but she’s undeterred. “He came back to make sure I was okay and lost his life for it. I’d already been bitten and he stayed to protect me anyway. He sacrificed himself, for what? To give me a few more days.”

It didn
’t even occur to me that Mrs. Applegate had spent all of last night thinking she was dying, but of course she thinks that. The bite on her face is impossible to miss, and as far as she knows, it’s still a death sentence.

“
Don’t worry about me though,” she says in a way that tells me she isn’t following her own advice. “I knew my time would come. If I’m honest with myself, I’ve already lived longer than I’d any right to. I wasn’t cut out for this world. It was made for people like you, Savannah. It won’t be easy, but I know you’re going to be okay.”

I don
’t know where any of this is coming from, but the weight on my shoulders seems a little lighter as we make it outside and step into the early morning light. I want to tell her that she’s exactly the type of person this world needs and thank her for getting Alex and me this far, but just then Alex pulls up with the car so I stay quiet. Hopefully there will be time later, though I know there are no guarantees.