Divided (23 page)

On the way home from loading up Dev's parents' things, I stared out the window, biting my bottom lip. Gabriel glanced at me a few times, but I was lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" He finally asked.

"It's too easy. Doesn't it feel too easy—or not easy, but smooth?"

He was quiet for a few moments as we drove past the building that would become the new high school. The steel beams were all in place, and it was starting to look like the skeletons of a building, but there was no way they would be done by August.

"They're watching the internet and phones because it's really easy to do that. But they don't have a reason to have us followed, and I really don't think they have the spare manpower to tail us either. Unless they caught Devlin on the phone with you, they have no reason to suspect what we're doing at this point."

I thought about that for a few minutes. With the infection spreading rapidly and the difficulties they were having in keeping it as quiet as possible, I guess it made sense that we weren't a priority beyond a simple phone tapping and internet surveillance.

He continued. "I think it'll get plenty rough when we go after Devlin and the others, but right now, just try to enjoy the calm before the storm."

He reached over and patted my hand. I nodded, but didn't comment any further. He was right; I needed to relax while I could.

With everything packed in duffel bags and all the preparations made, there was nothing to do but sit around and wait to hear from Dev. It had been nine days since I'd talked to him, and I was starting to get antsy. Maybe something had happened to him. Maybe they couldn't come up with a viable plan. Maybe—I tried to cut my thoughts off. I knew I was making myself insane.

It was late in the evening when I got up and checked on my websites. There had been sightings of the team in Sacramento, but I was more concerned about Pueblo. Infected activity was on the rise there again. I felt awful for the survivors from the first round who were now facing another wave of danger. Someone from the Pueblo area boasted that he had enough ammunition to blow up every Infected that dared to come by. While I doubted that, it left me thinking about our own ammunition. The back of Gabriel's truck had a stock of shotguns, rifles, handguns, even some grenades and small explosives Brian had used for digging drainage ditches in rocky soil. It was a compilation of all of the families' inventories of weapons.

Sonya got up and shuffled out of our room and down the hallway to the bathroom. It was after midnight, but I knew all this waiting was taking its toll on everyone. I insisted that we all be ready to leave at a moment's notice. We all agreed that the best plan was for everyone to pick up and leave at the exact same time. Gary's dad and little sister would take the van, Elizabeth would drive a trailer with their horses and other belongings, Evelyn would drive Gary's parents' truck and a small trailer for supplies, and Sonya was driving Evelyn's SUV with a small trailer as well. It was going to be a serious caravan, and it would take them nineteen hours of driving. I didn't envy them.

I didn't envy the rest of us either. Gabriel, Gary, Brian, and I were heading out in two vehicles—my SUV and Gabriel's truck—to try to break the others free. I didn't have a specific plan for doing this because I still didn't know exactly where they were or how well they were guarded. But I knew that Harm knew what I was up to and hoped he had a plan on his end.

There were so many things to worry about, but I felt like we had most of our bases covered. We had weapons, medical supplies, food, water, seven walkie talkies, and everyone had prepaid phones that were purchased with cash. We were really as prepared as we could be—I just hoped it was enough.

"Evie, Sonya!" Gabriel's loud voice made me almost fall out of bed. "Wake up and get dressed. Come on, we need to hurry!"

I nearly threw my laptop across the room, not realizing I had fallen asleep with it on my stomach. Feeling my heart accelerate, I closed the lid and tried to stand up quickly. "Is it time? Did he call? Are we—"

"No." He put up his hands and shook his head. "No, not that." He looked guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you think—but we have to hurry. We need something else." He glanced down at his watch. "I don't know how long it'll take, so we have to get moving. Just hurry."

I nodded and pulled on some clothes as quickly as I could. I brushed my teeth and ran a comb through my hair, but didn't bother with anything else. Rushing out of the bathroom, I saw Sonya coming down the hallway in a similar state with her hair haphazardly pulled into a bun.

She looked at me with foggy eyes. "What's going on?"

I shrugged and jerked my head in the direction of the living room. We pulled ourselves down the hallway to find Evelyn and Gabriel standing at the door looking completely composed. Sonya put her hands on her hips.

Gabriel was smiling like he'd won the lottery. "Girls, we're buying a trailer."

Sonya and I looked at each other. We shared a similar what-the look before she took a step forward. "Guys," she began gently. "We, uh, just rented a trailer. Remember? A few days ago?"

They laughed at her, and Gabriel opened the door.

"Let's go, girls," he said, still smiling. "You'll see."

I shrugged and followed, grabbing my purse and shoving both of my cell phones into it. Out front, Sonya and I exchanged glances yet again as we saw the truck parked in the driveway. Gabriel walked over to the driver's side.

I followed him, but before he could get in, I tapped him on his shoulder and kept my voice low. "What about the guns in the back? Shouldn't we take my SUV?"

He smiled mischievously. "We moved them to your SUV this morning, get in."

There are times when you think your parents are far too normal and times when they behave so weird that you wonder if they're on drugs. This was certainly one of those times where I was wondering what they'd taken. Gabriel laughed, Evelyn giggled, and I just rolled my eyes and got in. I figured it was better to humor them than waste time asking questions.

While we drove through town, I tried to memorize everything. I wanted to remember Maggie McGilla Cow's Froyo Feast and the way our one little movie theater looked. I had a feeling I'd never be back in Bishop again, and that made me more than a little sad. When we reached the edge of town, Gabriel slowed down and turned into the parking lot of Big Dan T's Sporting Goods. Nothing made sense though, until we drove around back to find the RV center Big Dan ran.

"You meant an RV," I said loudly. Sonya nodded and smiled at me.

Gabriel looked up at me in the rearview mirror. "No, actually they're called travel trailers. I think it'll come in handy in case we can't stay in Montana."

I nodded and thought it might come in handy in case we have someone injured, but I refused to say that possibility out loud.

Gabriel already had the exact one he wanted picked out. It was pretty incredible, really. Big Dan had all the compartments open for us to see it in its full glory. Outside the trailer, a canopy extended to offer shade. Underneath the canopy, cabinets opened to expose an outdoor kitchen with wooden cabinets, a countertop, and a gas grill. Inside, the floor looked like tile, but felt warm like linoleum. The kitchen, which took up most of one side of the trailer, had warm maple cabinets and stone countertops. There was a large U-shaped table that looked like it could seat seven people and a comfy sofa next to it. There were three doors off the main area. Behind one door was a large bed in a small room. On the other end, I could see two bunk beds in another small room, and the third door led to a surprisingly spacious bathroom. It wasn't the size of a master bathroom or anything like that, but there was a decent-sized shower, and I was able to move around in there without bumping into walls.

The only thing I wasn't impressed with was the price. On a large card in the window, it was marked $48,000.

I pulled Sonya aside and whispered in her ear. "This is too expensive. Do they really need this?"

She shook her head and whispered back. "They sold the house. They're not buying a new one, so they have the money to buy this home on wheels in case we all need it." She smiled at me and patted me on the head. "Stop worrying, Evie."

I nodded and listened to Gabriel haggle with Big Dan. In no time at all, we were loaded up and driving away with our new travel trailer at the price of $37,000—Big Dan really needed to make the sale.

Back at home, Sonya and I helped unpack supplies that were in the small trailer attached to Evelyn's SUV and move them into the travel trailer. We were fully stocked on medical supplies, food, and water. We even had a cabinet completely dedicated to ammunition.

The next day, I was far too anxious. I just had a feeling something bad was going to happen. I convinced everyone that we should remove everything from the house and sleep in the trailer in case we had to move quickly. As we hung out in the trailer that morning, we worked on organizing everything. Evelyn sat at the table holding Gabriel's hands and looking worried. I could imagine how difficult it would be for her to be separated from him.

While Sonya and I organized, we listened to
Friends
reruns on the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall at the end of the trailer. Of course, we had to stop what were doing to watch Ross and Rachel kiss for the first time—our favorite episode. We were just getting to the truly aww-worthy moment when the screen went blank. When it came back, a newscaster appeared. I turned up the volume and Gabriel and Evelyn stopped talking.

"We apologize for the interruption, but we have breaking news from San Francisco, California where the Setenid Blight outbreak has taken a turn for the worst. The Center for Disease Control has ordered a complete quarantine of San Francisco and has placed the surrounding areas on alert. While we've seen quarantines before, the reports coming from this area are disturbing. Let's go live to Matt Bryant who is down at Fisherman's Wharf not far from where the riots occurred. Matt?"

"Yes, Kathleen. I'm down here at Fisherman's Wharf where just an hour ago rioters were on the loose. As you can see from what's left behind me, they've looted the stores and done untold damage to the businesses up and down the wharf. Police were on hand to stop these rioters, but they seemed to have no effect on them. The footage we're about to play is quite disturbing."

I recognized the area they were showing, but the group of forty Infecteds was completely frightening. They were ripping doors off buildings, carrying piles of merchandise from stores, and attacking each other and innocent people who were trying to run from them.

"The motivation behind this looting is still unknown, but they certainly appeared to be infected with the Setenid Blight virus only this was nothing like we'd been told to expect."

In the images being shown, the police arrived and tried to subdue them. They had SWAT team gear on and were throwing tear gas at the crowd of Infecteds, but it wasn't working. Finally, they started firing shots at them, but it only made the Infecteds turn on the thirty or so officers around them.

"It's now believed that this group was on some sort of drug, perhaps PCP, and that altered or made the infection stronger. As you can see, bullets have no effect on them." My hands were shaking as the image returned to the reporter. "The video following that is just too gruesome. The police officers were all killed in the fight. It was just awful, Kathleen."

"How were they stopped, Matt?"

"The National Guard came in immediately with heavier weaponry and were able to stop them all. All of San Francisco is on lockdown as of fifteen minutes ago. We've been told not to broadcast this, but the people have a right to know what's coming their way. This is—it's just nothing like what we've been told to expect, Kathleen."

"I see, Matt. Thank you so much for sharing this information with us and good luck."

I turned to Sonya. Her eyes were as wide as mine were. Gabriel was staring at me and Evelyn had her hand to her mouth. I hugged Sonya so tightly I thought I might be cutting off her circulation. When I let go, I looked her in the eye. "Be safe, I love you, you know that?"

She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "Love you too, sis. Come back to me in one piece, huh?"

I nodded and turned to Evelyn. "You're the best second mom in the world. Be careful."

"Don't do anything stupid, sweetie. I love you too much to lose you. And take care of Gabriel, you know he needs it." She squeezed me tight and let go.

I moved to Gabriel, and he pulled me into a hug. "We have to go now, Gabriel."

"I know, kid." He let go of me. "Go call the others."

I nodded and ran to grab my bag from the room in the back of the trailer, giving him some time with Sonya and Evelyn.

As I ran out to my SUV, my hands were shaking so badly. The adrenaline was too much. I had to calm down. I dialed Gary, and he picked up on the first ring. I tried to keep my voice even, but I failed horribly. "We go now, Gary. I'll be there in five."

"Got it," were his only words before he hung up. We had this planned. He would call Elizabeth, who would drop Brian off at Gary's house. She would also leave immediately for the meet-up point in Laws where Sonya and Evelyn were heading. I made eye contact with Gabriel as he locked the trailer door and jogged to the cab of his truck. He nodded at me as I climbed in my SUV, and we were off.

I was glad I knew the way to Gary's house so well because I was still so shaky that it was hard to concentrate. Dev hadn't called. What if I was wrong? What if his team wasn't in the Bay Area yet? No. I had to be right. The Bay Area was far more populated than any other area the infection had spread to. They would definitely keep the team in California.

I kept my phone underneath my thigh so I would feel it vibrate, but I had to turn on some music, or I knew I would drive myself insane. Every radio station was talking about San Francisco. It took every ounce of self-control for me to keep near the speed limit. They reported similar riots in Chinatown and the Mission district in San Francisco. I hadn't been there enough to know those areas, but I'd heard them mentioned plenty of times. I hadn't lived in San Francisco, but I hadn't been that far from it, either. It was surreal to have it hit another home of mine.