“The ‘infectious dose’ defines how many living viral cells are absorbed before it can reliably proliferate in the body. Even the most contagious disease will need dozens, if not hundreds of active cells to infect.”
“And what of this ‘HBRS-15.21’?”
“It needs no more than a single one.”
–Dr Ava Sherman. Geneva, Switzerland. 10 Days After.
----------------------------------------
“We have to go back home.”
Liam frowned. “We are home, Nelly.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not. Not anymore.”
“Sure, it’s small, but we can make it work. Nothing a little expansion can’t fix, yeah?”
Their cabin wasn’t much, but it had done the job. About five hundred square feet of living space, they had enough space for everything they needed, from the bed to wood stove to kitchenette to the cabinet, all of which they had crafted by hand. They had room for clothes, tools, and a supply cache for processed food. What more could they need?
Nelly said nothing, only watched Liam with those cold, blue eyes from between the tangles of blonde hair. Oh, how he loved her. Even now. Even when she was trying to force this on them.
“Come on,” Liam said. “We’ve talked about this before. Why would you want to go back there?”
It had been more than three years since they had finally left civilization behind and moved to the mountains of Alaska to live a naturalist lifestyle, just as the two of them had been saying since high school. It was why he had married her.
Nelly crossed her arms. “We don’t have a choice, Liam.”
“Don’t we?”
Her cheeks reddened. “This is our child we’re talking about! What are you going to do? Have the delivery right on the bunk? Airdrop some more painkillers? We’re only going to see Dale once in the next five months, and it’ll be winter after that. What the hell are we going to do?”
“I don’t know!” Liam shouted. “I’ll think of something. I just need more time, okay!?”
Getting pregnant was always a reality. They were two grown adults with nothing but each other to keep them company as they took on the wilderness together. It was their choice, their dream, their lives. It was only natural that another life would come from that experience.
And yet, this change was still unreal. When Nelly had missed her period, the two had cracked jokes. When she started to feel sick, they talked about her diet instead. Time pressed on, and for longer than he had the right, Liam deflected, even as Nelly’s stomach swelled. Somewhere along the way, the truth was impossible to deny, lack of testing or not.
They were going to have a child, and that was that.
“This isn’t good enough,” Nelly said. “We can’t just wing it.”
“I forgot to check the snares,” Liam said before crawling out of their cabin. The fresh air would be a welcome change, and he was tired of having this daily argument.
God, this view would never get old. Shrubbery stretched off into the distance, their stalks a mix of bronze, gold, and emerald. Pine trees rose from their ranks, lanky and rugged like the landscape they inhabited. A sapphire slate engraved their environment where a nearby lake had formed, and off on the horizon, great grey ridges soared into the sky, their peaks flecked in white.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
How could they leave this? How could any human prefer a world detached from such beauty? Civilization was the antithesis of everything here. It was the ugly constructions that man threw up against the kingdom they had marred with their presence, a guileless rejection of where they had originated. To join their ranks yet again, all because they had done the very act that nature instilled in them? He’d rather die!
But what choice did they have, really? Liam hated to think it. He hated to hear it. He hated to let that parasitic worm of acknowledgment get into his brain and fester, but there was no way out of it.
Liam turned around. Nelly was watching from the door, the tears running down her soft cheeks. She wasn’t alone. His heart was racing, and his vision was blurring. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“We have to go back,” Nelly repeated.
“I know,” he said, his throat choked.
“My mother was thinking of buying another house last we talked. We could take her place in Lakewood. I know she’d let us.”
Lakewood. Right outside Los Angeles. The epicenter of urban living, the very contradiction of their worldview.
“If you think that will be best,” Liam said.
Nelly closed in. “This is going to be okay for us, right?”
He smiled meekly. “Of course.”
But that was not the truth.
* * *
“Home, sweet home,” Liam said.
Lakewood had seen better days. Like everywhere else in Los Angeles County, the buildings were aged and crumbling, the streets were cracked and filled with grass, and the cars were rusted and ruined. What had once been a grid of endless suburbia, with its well-trimmed lawns and pedicured trees, was now reduced to a web of vine-encrusted wrecks, with nature claiming dominion yet again.
Liam yawned. After making his leave from that chaotic mess of a city the undead called their home, he’d found an abandoned two-story home with a king sized bed to sleep in, miles and miles away. Though the mattress was rotted beyond recognition, it must have been the best sleep he’d had in a decade.
Until morning, anyway, when the moan of a hollow outside disturbed his rest, and Liam had no choice but to leg it out of there. With a backpack of supplies and a walking stick at the ready, he made the long, long trek across the ruins of Los Angeles and out to Lakewood. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon before he finally made it home.
Haven’t thought of this place as home for a while. There had been a time when he hated this building. It was right at the intersection of two busy streets, and between the nearby elementary school and the freeway, there wasn’t a time of day where he couldn’t hear a child screaming or car horn blaring. How Liam would have loved nothing more than to relive those moments, as ironic as it was that he had once done everything in his power to be as far away from this place as humanly possible.
He walked up the landing to the redbrick veneer that led through the front door.
“Did I ever tell you what it was like moving in here?” Liam asked, giving Thirsty a pat. Thirsty’s smile beamed back. “Nelly’s mum had really let the place go. The shingles were worn where they hadn’t fallen out, and the latches on the windows and doors were all rusted over…” he gave the door a shove. It snapped open with a hiss. “Just like that. Luckily, when you get used to doing all home maintenance on your own with nothing more than twigs and recycled nails, repairing a modern home in the middle of a city is an exercise in leisure.” He crossed through the living room, with a layer of dust covering the couch and antiques. “Of course, once the Survive In Wild money started rolling in, it was all just gravy from there. Didn’t have to spend any time at home. None at all. I could just buy everything, yeah?” He sighed. “I didn’t have a damn reason to be here.”
It was like taking a step outside time. The white plaster walls were cracked, and a film of soot covered everything in sight, but their home was otherwise untouched. The UHD television he’d bought for Nelly sat where it always had, the souvenirs he’d collected from around countries abroad stayed where they’d been, the appliances were all stationary and unused, the curtains were drawn in, and the beds were made. The kitchen was empty, and the pillows on the couch were set.
Only some of their things were missing. Their prepper closet had been cleared out, and the lockbox with their old hunting rifle was now empty where it had once been dead-bolted to keep Lilith out. If any luggage had been taken, it had been small and light. Otherwise, the house was near untouched.
“Seems they did the smart thing and moved on, eh Thirsty?” Liam said. “Doesn’t surprise me. A metropolitan location like this one is the worst place you want to be amid a pandemic. Better to find some shelter in the country where it’s safe, yeah?” His throat cracked. “I suppose we’re going to have our work cut out for us. No telling just how far they’ve g–”
Liam leaned into a wall and gasped. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. It wasn’t like Nelly would just be waiting here with Lilith by her side, sitting in the dining room, her arms folded together, asking why he’d taken so long. He’d prepared himself for this reality over the long walk here.
So why did it hurt so much?
“There you are!” Leah yelled.