Divided (20 page)

I still carried my prepaid phone with me everywhere I went, but my hopes of hearing from Dev seemed to be fading. My worry, on the other hand, had strengthened with each passing day. The message boards were talking about how the infection was spreading up into Wichita, and I was dreading the report of a quarantine there. The Infection had stayed mostly true to its movement east along the major highways with the exception of Pueblo, but if it started spreading north again—I didn't want to think about that.

I was seriously ready to pick up and head east just to be closer to Dev, but I didn't have enough information. The last sightings of the Special Team had been in Pueblo and Oklahoma City, which led me to think it would spread to Tulsa next. But then there was talk of Wichita and even more talk of Memphis. As anxious as I was to get to Dev, I just didn't have enough to go on. The area was too huge.

My frustration at having all this information and it still not being enough started to take a toll on me. I went running a lot to try to calm myself down or tire myself out enough to sleep. If I didn't run at least two miles a day, I would just lie in bed and stare at the ceiling for hours. The day I'd been angry enough to push for three miles made me realize I needed a better coping strategy for the seriously hot days of summer. Shaking, I slowly got myself through a bottle of water and a sports drink, but I was so exhausted, I thought I'd lie down for a while. The second my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

The annoying sound of an alarm clock siren woke me up, and I cursed Gabriel for his practical jokes. Unfortunately, I had no option but to get up, which is when I realized it wasn't an alarm clock. Sitting next to me on the bed was my prepaid phone ringing as loud as it could.

I could hardly pick up the phone I was so shaky with adrenaline. "H—Hello?"

"You don't know how good it is to hear your voice, baby."

My knees shook. His voice was incredible. Goosebumps erupted across my skin, butterflies attacked my stomach, and tears started a mutiny in my eyes. I couldn't get my voice to work.

"I don't know how long I have," he continued. "I'm on a stolen cell phone. They think I'm unconscious right now, but the fighting is so bad that no one will come for me for a while."

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. "I miss you so much, Dev." My voice shook.

He sighed loudly. "I can't get through an hour without thinking about you; it's obsessive, baby. If I could just kiss you, just hold you for one more minute—"

My courage and strength had returned. "Where are you? I'm coming after you—right now." I stood up, ready to move toward a car, a plane, whatever I needed.

"Come after me? You can't, Evie. It's too dangerous. I don't want you anywhere near here."

"You can't stop me. I'm done waiting around to hear that they've finally thrown you into a fight the Special Team can't get out of. You nearly died in Amarillo. With or without your information, I can find you."

"No, Evie. I'm serious."

"So—am—I," I cried before taking a deep breath to calm myself. I could hear gunfire in the background, but it sounded distant. "What area of Memphis are you in right now? Or are you in Wichita?"

He was silent for a moment, telling me I'd guessed correctly. I just didn't know which guess had been the one I should move on.

"Evie," his voice was softer, but more panicked. "I can't have you out looking for me. You'll get me killed worrying every girl is you. We have a plan—Harm and I—you just have to be patient and wait for us to make it work."

"And how long will that take?"

"I don't know. There are more sympathizers now—they see that we're just getting picked off one-by-one and want to help us get out of this. Maybe a month or two?"

"Are you serious? You'll be dead in that amount of time, and you know it. Tell me where you're at right now," I begged.

"By the time you get here, we'll have moved on again. Besides, you need to focus on getting out of there. Get everyone out of there. Projections show it'll sweep through Northern California and down to hit Bishop again in the next month. Get my parents out of there. Please, baby. Focus on that, not on trying to find me."

"Are you in Tennessee?" I demanded.

"I'll tell you where I am if you promise not to come here."

I took in a deep breath and tried to steady my voice. "Okay, I promise not to go there." It wasn't a complete lie. I had no intention of going where he was at that moment because, like he said, he'd be moving on.

"We're in Memphis, you're right about that. But we're not heading to Wichita. That's all I'm saying. How did you figure it out, anyway?"

I couldn't believe he was surprised that I'd find a way to hunt him down. "Message boards online, and it's pretty predictable—following the major highways. I'll get everyone to leave Bishop, but I don't know where we'll go. We—"

"Montana. Go to Montana. Harm says it has the lowest population by density. Infecteds are drawn to other people. They only seem to want violence and to kill people. But don't be too obvious about leaving. You're all being watched. Please don't come after me. I can't imagine you in one of these cities, baby."

"I'm not gonna let them get you killed, Dev. I need you too much. I'll give you two weeks to come up with a plan, but that's all. Then I'm coming after you whether you like it or not."

He groaned. "Evie, I need you too, but you can't—" The sound of gunfire got much louder, making my heart beat frantically with worry. "Shit. Have to go. I love you."

"Dev, wait—" I was left staring longingly at the "call ended" screen once again.

I allowed myself ten minutes to really lose it and cry my eyes out before I put my big girl pants on and pulled it together. There was so much to do.

I picked up my phone and called Gary. He picked up on the first ring. "Well if it isn't my favorite best friend."

"Speaking of your
best friends
, can you come take me for a ride on Boomerang? I could use some air."

"My—yeah, on my way," he said quickly, not even pausing to add a goodbye. Gary always understood what I was thinking or trying to say, so it really wasn't a surprise that he picked up on my mention of his best friend, Dev. I loved him for the urgency in his voice.

Ten minutes later, he knocked on the door. "Where are the others?" he asked as he looked around the living room.

"Sonya and Evelyn are at the grocery store. Gabriel's still at work. You want something to drink or can we go?"

"No, I'm good—let's go."

On the back of Boomerang, I felt safe enough to tell him everything. "Dev called. He's in Memphis. It's bad, Gary. He says we have to get out of here. It's gonna sweep through Northern California in the next month and back down through Bishop. We need to leave, but he said we're all being watched. I don't know what they're watching, but I didn't want to take any chances."

He put his hand on top of my hands, which were wrapped around his chest. "Hold on, we need to get back to my house fast."

As he helped me off Boomerang, he spoke quickly. "Call Gabriel and tell him we're throwing a congratulations party for you guys for selling the house. Tell him to come over when he gets back. I'll call Sonya."

With our phone calls made, he pulled me into the kitchen where his mom was doing the dishes. "Hey, Mom. So I thought Evie could come over early and help with the party tonight."

Her wide eyes at Gary almost made me laugh since I knew she made that face way too often at the crazy things Gary said and did. But when she looked at my face, and I pointed to the prepaid phone in my hand, she nodded. "Walter!" she shouted, but kept eye contact with me.

Gary's dad came running into the kitchen. "What is it? Is everything o—"

Gary's mom put her finger to her lip. "Evie's here to help with the party tonight. Gabriel and Evelyn will be here soon, can you grab the steaks from the freezer?"

He looked confused, a thin line formed between his eyebrows just like Gary when he was confused. I held up my prepaid phone and pointed to it. His eyes widened for just a moment. "Steaks, I'm on it. Gary, did you take the horses for a run today? You neglected them yesterday, and I've told you about that."

"I just picked up Evie on Boomerang, but I haven't taken Lady out."

Gary's mom put her hand on Gary's shoulder. "We've got everything under control here, why don't you take Evie out on Lady. Take her down past the Vaughn's stream. You know how Lady loves that area."

Gary's eyes lit up, and he nodded. "Sure thing. Come on, Evie."

I took his hand, and we were off again. He pulled the saddle off Boomerang and started getting Lady ready while I followed his instructions for brushing down Boomerang. It didn't take us long before we were riding toward Dev's house.

"I hope Brian's out in the stable," Gary said loudly so he could be heard over the pounding of Lady's hooves. "It'd be pretty obvious if I knock on the door."

"Do you think they've tapped our houses? Do you think they've gone that far?"

His shoulders lifted in a shrug. "There's no way of knowing really. Better to be safe than sorry, I guess."

I nodded as we rode slowly past Dev's barn. Thankfully, the other horses noticed us, which sent Brian out from the stables to see what the commotion was about. Gary signaled him away from the building.

"Gary? I didn't expect to see you here. Evie? It's good to see you again."

I waved and smiled.

"She heard from Vaughn. He said we're all being watched, and we need to get out of here. The infection will spread through here again in a month. If you aren't busy, could you and Elizabeth ride over for dinner? We're calling it a celebration for The Cadenas, who sold their house recently."

"Yeah, we'll head over as soon as we can. Dev—is he okay?"

I nodded. "He's sick of fighting, but he's okay."

The relief on his face made me want to hug him and made me so angry at the same time. The military had no right to keep Dev from me and from his family. It just wasn't fair.

Gary steered us back to the house. By the time we finished seeing to the horse's needs for the night, Sonya came running into the stables.

She threw herself into Gary's arms. "What's going on?" she asked, panic clear in her voice.

Gary held her away from him and gave her an incredibly stern head shake before putting his finger to his lips.

"What's going on is that Gary's learned to keep a secret." I gave a forced laugh. "Can you believe he was able to keep this surprise congratulations party from us for a whole week? He'd really matured, Sonya."

She nodded at me and let out a completely fake laugh. "I never thought I'd see the day."

We headed outside to the fire pit. Gary pointed around where we were standing and looked at me questioningly.

I shrugged. "I think this is okay." In truth, I had no idea whether anything was tapped, so I looked to Gabriel, who was standing with Gary's dad at the grill. "Gabriel!" I called and waved him over.

"Yes, child," he called back as he slowly walked to us.

When he reached my side, he put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed. "What did he say, Evie?" he whispered.

"He just said we're all being watched and we needed to be careful. I don't know if that means everything's tapped—I don't know."

He was quiet for a minute as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I think we can't be too careful. Gary, how often do you sit out here?"

He scrunched his face up and looked at Sonya. "Maybe once a month."

"I think you're safe out here, just keep your voices low."

I nodded and sat down on the bench beside Sonya. Gabriel stared toward Dev's house as Brian and Elizabeth rode over to us. Evelyn and Gary's parents came out just a minute later with folding camp chairs for everyone. When we were all seated, they looked to me.

I stared at my lap and took a deep breath. "Okay, well I had him tracked to either Memphis or Wichita, but—"

"Whoa." Brian put his hand up and scooted forward. "What do you mean you had him 'tracked?'" The disapproval in his voice made me want to hide. He turned to look at Gabriel like he'd grown a second head. "You can't tell me you're letting her track him down!"

"'Letting her' isn't exactly how I would put it, but yes, she wants to go after him—"

"No! Are you insane? She'll get herself killed." His anger and frustration and fear made me cringe. "My boy would never agree to this."

Gary looked at me before jumping into the fight. "With all due respect, Brian. He's not here to tell her no."

"Well I am," he shouted at Gary before turning to me. "No. You will not go after him. He would kill me if I let you do this. And you can't possibly think you'll just walk in there and save him. No."

I'd heard enough. Disapproval was tough for me to deal with, but being told what to do never sat well with me, especially when I knew that what I was doing was right. I stood up, and if fireballs could shoot from my eyes, they would have. No one was going to stop me from getting Dev away from the military. "I will do
whatever
I choose to do. I'm not some lovesick teenager who thinks she's gonna run off and save the day. I know more about this damn Infection than any three of you put together. I've breathed it the last several months. I will
not
leave him and my brother there to die like slaves sent out to be slaughtered." I pulled in a deep breath and tried to let go of the vicious tone my voice had taken on.

When I felt a tiny bit more in control, I looked back at Brian. "I respect you." I glanced at everyone in the circle. "I respect all of you. But I am fully capable of making my own decisions. You can try to protect me and pretend I'm some little girl in need of shelter, but it's ultimately
my life
and
my call
."

Brian got up and paced behind the circle of chairs shaking his head. A moment later, he stopped and faced me again. "You
are
a young girl. Dev would never allow this." He looked angrily at Gabriel again. "I can't believe you're letting her—"

"Why do you keep talking to him like he has some control over me? Why do you think
you
have some control over me?" I shook my head and looked back at Sonya and Gary. "In fact, why am I continuing this conversation at all?" Gary shrugged and gave me a small smile. Sonya pursed her lips and shook her head. They were clearly wondering the same thing. I turned back to Brian, my voice even, but as firm as I could make it. "I make my own decisions, Brian. I'd like to keep you informed of my plans, but if you challenge me on this again, I won't include you at all."