Authors: Christine Dougherty
Evans dropped to his knees next to Promise, bunting Peter aside. Peter fell backward onto his butt.
“Are you all right, Promise?” Evans asked, pulling her up by her shoulders. He took in her face, awash with tears, and his heart squeezed with rage and hurt. He looked up at Billet, who had just joined them. “Get her a shirt or something from her bag,” he said, and Billet turned to dig in the saddlebag at Ash’s side. “Did he hurt you?” Evans asked, his voice quiet but no less intense. “Did Peter hurt you, Promise?”
Miller and Lu ran up just as Peter was getting to his feet, brushing the road gravel from his hands.
Promise shook her head, wiping the T-shirt across her face and under her nose. “No,” she said and hitched in a breath. “No, Peter didn’t hurt me. You’ve got it wrong…he would never hurt me.” Exhaustion pulled her shoulders down around her chest, and when she tried to stand, her knees gave out again. Her eyes rolled up as she swayed unsteadily.
Evans lifted her into his arms in one easy movement. “She’s burning up. I think she has a fever. I’m putting her in with me…Billet, you ride Ash.” He was halfway to the Humvee when Promise stirred.
“No, wait,” she said and swung her legs back down to the ground. Evans kept his arm around her shoulders to steady her. “I’m okay, I was just dizzy for a sec. I’m better now.”
Evans put a hand to her forehead. “You’ve got a fever. You must have picked up a bug.”
“Well, it explains a lot,” Promise said. She glanced to where Peter stood uncertainly nearby, hands in his pockets. “I’m not usually prone to breakdowns. Not since I was about six.” She smiled wanly and shivered again.
“Hey, Lu, get over here with the first aid kit, would you?” Miller said. She put her hand on Promise’s forehead. “You’re a little warm, I guess.” She shrugged. “What do you think, Lu?”
Lu asked Promise to open her mouth, and he looked down her throat. “Do you have a sore throat? Headache?”
She shook her head no, and Lu put a thermometer in her mouth as Evans draped a blanket around her shoulders. Promise began to feel foolish. Babied. Lu took the thermometer from her mouth and squinted at the tiny numbers.
“Ninety-nine…not too bad. You probably have a low-grade virus,” Lu said. He gripped her wrist. “Your heart is fine. You still feel light-headed?”
She shook her head no.
He dug into the kit and came out with three aspirin. “These’ll knock down the fever,” he said and turned to Miller. “Nothing to be worried about. It just has to run its course. She should probably ride in one of the Humvees, though. Being out in the elements will just prolong it.”
“Thanks, Lu,” Promise said and rose to her feet. She tossed the aspirin into her mouth and washed it down with the water Miller handed her. “But I’m not going in the Humvee. I’m staying with Ash. And Peter.”
Lu shrugged and then dug in his coat pocket. “Your choice,” he said and handed her two bars. “Eat these, though, as you’re riding. You want to keep food in your system. That will keep you warmer and keep your blood sugar steady; keep you from feeling faint again.”
Evans and Peter spoke at the same time.
Evans started to say, “Promise, you have to go in the Humvee–”
Just as Peter said, “Promise, you better ride in the Humvee–”
They glanced at each other with caution. Miller snorted. “Well, at least you two can agree on something,” she said, and Billet laughed.
Evans shot him a warning look, and Billet’s laugh died in his throat.
Then Evans turned to Promise. He looked at her a long time, and she looked back, steady-eyed and calm. Finally, she smiled, her head tilted. “Hey, what’s your first name? I don’t want to call you ‘Evans’ all the time.”
He remained grave as he studied her. Then he cupped her face in his hands. “I can’t make you ride in the Humvee, and neither can Peter. But I
can
tell you that I think you
should
. Even though I know you’re not going to.” His face was soft and open, but his eyes were still intense. “And I want you to remember something else. If you need anything,
ever
…you think of me first. Promise?”
She smiled again and nodded. Her hands came up to his. “I promise.”
He continued to study her, and after a long moment, he kissed her forehead. He sensed/heard Peter shift from foot to foot behind them.
As Evans pulled back, a fleeting pain ran across his features. But Promise didn’t see it. “My name is Cory, but I hate it,” he said, and his lips turned up on one side. “You can call me Ev, okay? Friends call me Ev.”
“Okay…Ev,” she said and squeezed his fingers.
“Jesus,” Miller said and rolled her eyes, breaking the moment. She turned back to the lead Humvee. “Let’s roll,” she said, and her eyes grazed Peter’s as she spoke. “Hillsborough isn’t getting any closer.”
Peter helped Promise find her seat on Ash, steadying her until she had both feet firmly in the stirrups. “You’re okay?” he asked, his hand squeezing her calf.
She nodded, and he noticed that her face was warm with color. “Promise, are you sure you’re okay? If you want to ride in one of the Humvees–”
“No. I want to ride with you. I’m just…I feel embarrassed. I–” She gathered the reins, bunching them nervously in her fingers. Peter waited. “You were the one who should have been upset. I should have been listening to you, but instead I turned it into a big mess, and then with Ev…Evans coming over like that, and…” She shook her head, her hair swaying like heavy velvet curtains over her face, hiding her dismay.
“Promise,” he said. “It’s my fault for what I’ve been putting you through. I should have been paying more attention. I didn’t realize you were getting sick, and I really didn’t understand how confusing it was–everything I was telling you about Trisha. Or maybe I did realize. But I’m confused, too.” He smiled sadly. “It’s a strange time, and everything seems broken and unbelievable. Nothing is the way it should be. You should be thinking about your prom, and I should be pushing a stroller through the mall.” He looked at the Humvees rolling away. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” he said and sighed. “But when I saw how much you wanted to help Chance, how it meant everything to you, it made me think about the baby. If she’d been a toddler, if she’d been turned, I’d do the same thing. That’s why I wanted to help.” He squeezed her calf. “That and, also, I really like you; right from the first time I saw you, I liked you. In Wereburg, we decided to start off as friends, remember?”
She nodded, her eyes finally meeting his.
“We’re more than friends. But it will just take time to get things figured out. With this new world the way it is, we have to come up with new rules for…everything.”
She nodded her understanding. And she
did
understand. As much as she still felt, at times, like her old self–Destiny Riser: sister, daughter, schoolgirl–she had changed, and there was no way to deny her new self or the new rules she had chosen to live by. Once she’d adopted the name ‘Promise’ and decided to embrace everything her new name implied…
She’d changed forever.
Chapter 6
Princeton was beautiful, more beautiful than Promise could have imagined. Even uninhabited, run down, and left to the elements, the buildings, the trees, the little shops, and ornate old houses…it was like a dream of what American should be. The only thing that spoiled the scene was the occasional, desiccated carcass and the pervading feeling of loneliness. This had once been a busy, exciting place, you could tell just by looking at it. But now the cold wind hooted and whooped down the empty alleyways, and glass littered the sidewalks, glittering in the winter sun. The sound of the Humvee engines and horses’ hooves bounced back hollowly from the old stone and brick facades, making it seem as though their small contingent was trailed by a retinue of unhappy ghosts.
They’d been uncomfortable at Hillsborough the night before because they’d had to cram into a small house on the outskirts of the town. The bales of messages and instructions the Guard was responsible for delivering had had to be left outside the doors of the warehouse that had been colonized by the people of the Hillsborough outpost. They were battling a strain of the flu so virulent that they’d already lost six people–four elderly and two children–and expected more fatalities in the days to come. They couldn’t let the Guardsmen into the building.
As Billet, Lu, and Evans had scrambled to make the house on the outskirts safe for the night, Miller had explained to Peter and Promise that the warehouse had been a bad choice for colonization. And the Hillsborough people had never bothered to set up safe houses, so now most of them were stuck in the warehouse, breathing each other’s germs, getting sicker and sicker by the day.
Promise had asked if they couldn’t get some medication back to Hillsborough, and Miller had explained that it could be done, that it most certainly
would
be done, but time was not on Hillsborough’s side. They would lose a quarter of their population–and most of their heart–before the Guard could come back this way.
Between the tight quarters and the shock of seeing the drained, ethereal faces of the residents, no one–save the horses–had slept well that night. It seemed their trip was becoming unluckier the further they went.
Seeing Princeton that next day had raised Promise’s spirits, but only by a fraction. She still battled her own virus and had to keep taking aspirin to keep the fever in check. But at least what she had was not the flu. She would survive a headache and cough.
Tonight, they would make Hightstown and then tomorrow…the military base and hopefully, the cure for her little brother. Of course they would have a cure and of course she would carry it triumphantly back to Chance. It would be her reward for taking this difficult journey in the first place. That’s how it worked in books, anyway.
After eight days on the road, it seemed unbelievable that it was coming to an end. Unimaginable that her end goal was finally in sight. She knew she should have been excited, nervous with anticipation…but that night, bedded down in a barn just past Hightstown, curled in the warm circle of Peter’s arms, she’d slept more deeply than she had since she’d started her journey. The sense of something ending, the feeling of relief it brought, calmed her mind into neutral.
She didn’t even dream. Not that she remembered, anyway.
In the night, her fever broke.
Chapter 7
The Humvees kept speeding up, like children unable to control themselves the nearer they got to the gates of Disney. It was late afternoon, and the woods closed in tightly on both sides of the thin ribbon of blacktop that would take them to the base. They’d already passed the sign that read:
WELCOME TO THE FORT REAGAN MILITARY BASE, NEW JERSEY • THIS IS GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AND TRESPASSING IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE • I.D. CHECK 100% NO EXCEPTIONS • LIVE ROUNDS IN USE
The sign was half rotted, the painted letters faded, yet it still conveyed a sense of stern reproach. The guardhouse was empty. As she and Peter rode past, Promise looked past the door that hung from one hinge and into the small building. Yellowed, cotton batting had been pulled from the seat of a chair and piled in a corner. Rats or maybe an opossum had made a comfortable home there. Even the nest looked deserted, though.
Finally, the trees opened up, and they came upon row after row of what looked like barracks buildings. These, too, looked deserted. A twist of nerves began to tighten Promise’s stomach. She shivered, and Ash threw his head up and down in agitation. She realized she was squeezing him while simultaneously pulling back on the rein. She relaxed and patted his neck.
“Sorry, big guy,” she said. “My fault.” She realized she was whispering.
“What’s wrong?” Peter asked. His voice, too, was low.
“Nothing, I guess,” Promise said and tried to smile. “It just looks deserted. You don’t think…” she trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.
He shook his head and smiled. “No, we’re fine. This is what it looks like here. These barracks used to house soldiers when this was a true military base. See that one there, the fifth one? It has the fluorescent X’s all over it…just like you guys put on safe houses in Wereburg. They do the same thing here. I didn’t realize it when I was here before, but they must have gotten the idea from Mr. West.”
Promise was comforted by the X’s and their evidence of close-by habitation. But she still felt uneasy. It seemed so desolate here.
The woods closed in again, and the sun skated over the tops of the leafless trees and scrub pines, beginning its tumble to the horizon. The light was leaving the day.
The road curved west. The woods opened up again, and the setting sun shone down on a large, three-story building that sprawled the length of a football field or better. The red crosses gave away its former life: this had been the base hospital.
The Humvees gathered speed, and Promise and Peter had to kick the horses into a canter, but even then, they couldn’t keep up. As the Humvees neared the turnaround at the front entrance of the hospital, six soldiers emerged from the building. They fanned out, running, and formed a line between the riders and the Humvees.
They had crossbows trained on Promise and Peter.
Promise drew Ash up short fifteen yards from the soldiers, and Snow snorted to a halt under Peter. Miller jumped from the first Humvee and spoke to one of the line soldiers, gesturing to the riders. A muffled order was given, and the crossbows dropped in unison. The soldiers relaxed and turned to the Humvees. Miller turned and waved her arm in a ‘come on’ gesture to Peter and Promise.
Promise looked askance at Peter, and he nodded. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “They just didn’t know what we were all about.” He pulled Snow around in a circle and smiled at Promise. “You’re going to like it here. It’s a lot like the way things used to be.”
She tilted her head at him, confused. His smile widened, and he kicked Snow into a trot. “Come on,” he said. “You’ll see what I mean.”
Promise hesitated, unsure, watching the soldiers she knew from the trip mingling with the ones from the base who she didn’t. More people had emerged from the building: some soldiers, some civilians. Initial smiles turned to grim faces as the news of the deaths of Riker and Shields was passed around. As Peter rode up and dismounted, one of the civilians detached from the group and walked to where Peter stood. Even from a distance, Promise read the tension in their meeting.