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A long minute passed while we all absorbed his new reality, then Varesh’s shoulders shook, and he raked a hand through his hair. “You were bitten saving me.”
Tim’s features tightened. “Don’t.”
“If you hadn’t—”
“There is no hadn’t, love. It was a reflex, not a decision, so you can stop before you even get started.”
Varesh’s composure faltered, and he slipped his arms around Tim, careful to avoid the bite. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he said, hugging him. “I’m so sorry.”
Tim pulled back and cleared his throat, blinking away the dampness in his eyes. “It might not mean the end. It happened yesterday, and I’m still me. I’m holding on longer than anyone else we’ve seen.”
We’d sat around talking about how long it took for the virus to kill someone, and none of us had a clue it was already wreaking havoc inside Tim.
Ava’s grip on my thigh loosened. “Maybe,” she said. “I haven’t seen anyone with just one bite turn.”
I hadn’t witnessed it either. All the people who’d died at the airport had serious injuries, and we hadn’t hung around long enough to see what happened to the people with single bites.
No one seemed in a hurry to speak. Varesh stayed close to Tim, his hand resting on his leg, while Ava stared at the floor beside me.
Now and then, a moan floated in from the street.
Every idea I came up with ended with the same realisation. We needed a car.
Ava eventually rose from the floor, the blanket pooling at her feet. “I can’t sit still anymore.” She took the tie from her wrist and combed her fingers through her hair, dragging it back into a ponytail. “We’re getting you to the farm,” she said, pulling it tight with both hands.
“How?” he asked.
“I’m going back outside to find a car. We’re not just sitting around here crying all day.”
Tim barked out a laugh that turned into a hacking cough. “I want some tears,” he said when he’d recovered.
Ava tried to smile, but it didn’t last. “We’ll cry on the way.”
“The queue coming from the other direction,” Varesh said, scrubbing his hands down his face. “I saw some of them abandon their cars when the fighting spread.”
“Maybe they left their keys behind.” Ava sent me a hopeful look as I rose from the floor.
Even if we had to move a couple of cars to get to one with keys, the two of us could manage while Varesh stayed here with Tim. “We’ll take care of it and be back as soon as we find something.”
Tim threw the blankets off his lap. “I’ll come.”
“No, you will not,” Varesh said, pulling the blankets straight back over him. “If they’re clearing infected to get to a car, you need to conserve every bit of energy.” Tim opened his mouth to argue, but Varesh rested a hand on his knee. “Let them do it.”
Tim sighed. “I hate this. I literally hate this.”
“I know,” Ava said, “but we’ll find something that runs, then we’ll be back before you’ve even had a chance to miss us.”
She was already reaching for her axe.
“We can do this,” she said as I grabbed my weapon. “We’re all going to see Sadie today.”
Thirty-One
ava
Less than a day ago, the road had been a mass of noise and confusion, and now there was only peace. Or silence, at least.
Luke stepped through the gap in the chain-link first and held it open for me. With one hand on the ground for balance, I stayed clear of the jagged metal as I followed him through.
