Haven (22 page)

His eyebrows dipped as he focused in on the paper. Appearing confused, he took a step toward me and stopped abruptly. And then his face went white.

~ 8 ~

H
ARRISON DIDN’T SEEM TO HEAR ME
calling his name, even though I was standing directly in front of him.

He had taken just two long strides before reaching me and pulling the paper from my fingertips. He reviewed it carefully and I saw his body growing more rigid with each passing second. My view of his forehead gave me no indication of his thoughts but the pulsing of his muscles as he clenched and unclenched his jaw did. Finally, he looked up, but it was past me so that his gaze settled on the ceiling. I saw his shoulders begin to rise and fall from the effort, when his breathing became audible.

I gave him a few more seconds to clear his thoughts and settle his emotions before asking, “So I take it these
aren’t
the people you worked with to determine what makes you invincible?”

He shifted his intense gaze to me. “I’m not invincible, Kennedy.”

He was being humble, of course, because all evidence could be weighed and found to be in my favor.

“No, the ones who took my blood…they were scientists, private industry scientists. The CDC…the National Guard, they’re both government-run.” He sighed heavily. “This makes no sense.” After several anxious seconds, he muttered, “Why…Why would they be looking for me? Why would they think I’m connected to this virus?”

Those were the questions that overwhelmed both of us since seeing the military briefing memo. Unfortunately, he seemed as daunted by it as me.

“So you have no idea who Marion Kremil is?”

“None. I’ve never heard the name.”

I felt sick to my stomach.

Holding up the memo, he exhaled sharply in frustration and asked, “Where’d you find this?”

“A National Guard truck.” While he began to process this information, I added, “There were no guardsmen present.”

“Was anybody else there?” he asked before realizing his unintentional reference to the Infected. “Don’t answer that.”

He managed a weak smile before falling back into deep contemplation. Slowly, he made his way to the bleachers and sank down to them, holding up the briefing to reread it. Wanting to be close to him as well as show my support, I sat next to him, though I’m not sure it did much good. We stared absentmindedly across the gymnasium, each of us trying to put together the puzzle despite the missing pieces.

“I asked my aunt once about what happened to me…,” Harrison said, his head remaining down.

“Your aunt who you lived…” I said and caught myself. “Live with?”

“Eve,” he said. “I thought maybe she could give me an explanation. She was a molecular biologist…and she was there when I was born.”

My heart stopped for a second, only restarting after I persuaded it by taking a long, drawn out breath. This was because it was clear to me that Harrison was hinting that his birth and his impermeability wasn’t pure coincidence. My eyes darted to him, but he continued staring at the floor. Apparently, he noticed my reaction anyways because he went on to explain.

“I was delivered early because of a…” he paused and glanced at me, “…because of a virus, the same one that took my mom’s life and the same one that…enhanced my cellular functions. Being the scientist she was, when I asked Eve if she could explain it to me, she took my blood. When she came back with the results, she told me something I’ll never forget. She said, ‘Harrison, your blood is fine, you are fine. You’re more than fine and as you grow you’ll know what I mean. But you can never…ever…show what you can do to anyone…
ever
.’ So I asked, ‘What can I do?’ and she said, ‘Anything you want, Harrison. Anything you want.’ Of course, you hear that a lot when you’re a kid. It’s supposed to apply to your career choices, like becoming an astronaut or an arctic researcher, and at the time I just wanted to be a cowboy.” I chuckled at his confession and he gave me a subtle grin. “So I ignored it, until I no longer could. When others start to become aware that you’re different, you’re kind of forced to deal with it. Especially when it’s your dad. When he learned I was different, and exactly how different, he sent me to live with Cro on the west Texas ranch. By then, I was five and I hadn’t slept a single night my entire life. I was actively seeking out raw meat,” he paused and glanced at me uncomfortably before continuing, “and I had more strength and a higher pain tolerance than even my dad. Of course, that wasn’t
legitimately
proven until just before I left to come here, when he told me that it was now time to serve the family.” The way he said this led me to believe this had been tested in one way or another. “By then, he’d found a reason for me to actually be a part of it, but I wasn’t interested.”

“How did he want you to serve?”

“By disappearing. My dad….He has political aspirations and I…I was a liability. So he sent me here, to live with Eve.”

My chest tightened with his confession. To be cast away by your own father because he thought of you as a burden…Harrison deserved better, far better.

He drew in a deep breath, raising his head until he was looking out the windows lining the wall above the opposing bleachers. The sky was now lit up and a beautiful clear blue could be seen through the glass. “How much sleep did you get last night?” he asked.

“None.”

“And you haven’t had anything to eat,” he inferred.

“No.”

Slowly he began nodding his head, waiting for me to figure out the direction of his questioning. I did, of course. He was reluctant to have me around if I didn’t have the strength to defend myself.

“I’m fine.”

“The Infected move fast,” he warned.

“Then it’s a good thing no one here is infected,” I countered, smiling.

He sighed in annoyance before trying again. “I’ll feel better knowing you’re physically prepared to handle me if I am.”

“I really am fine.”

“Kennedy,” he said, lowering his voice as if he were going to tell me a secret. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

After making his point, I felt silly. Of course he would. He agreed with the quarantine. I was the only one who didn’t.

“Go get some breakfast,” he urged.

So I stood up, albeit reluctantly.

“Do you want anything?”

He paused and desire flickered across his face before he answered, “No…I’m okay.”

I nodded. I didn’t believe him and reminded myself to grab a bag of meat while in the kitchen.

He pulled the key ring from his waist and held it out to me. “Lock the door behind you.”

“I’m not-”

“Kennedy,” he said, clenching his jaw. “Lock the door.”

It was his firm insistence that unnerved me. He truly did believe he might turn any time. And because, and only because, it would be on his conscience, I took the keys and left. It was an awful feeling to turn the lock and hear the bolt slide into place. The sound reminded me of a guard locking a prisoner in his cell, which only drove home the congruity between that analogy and the truth to our situation. My pace to the kitchen was nearly a sprint. I didn’t want to leave him there alone for any longer than was necessary. It would have been a full-fledged race if it weren’t for the sharp corners and tile floor.

I had expected to dart in, grab some food and get back, but Doc’s voice slowed me down a bit.

“I looked up your name,” he was saying as I came through the door. “Mei means beautiful.”

Beverly was hardly impressed. “It also means plum,” she muttered. “So who’s going to do the rounds at night now?”

She and Mei turned to Doc, who shrugged. “Me, I guess,” he said without enthusiasm.

When the door shut, the noise drew their attention to me.

“How’s he doing?” Doc asked.

“Still talking,” I said, striding confidently toward the pantry.

In the awkward silence that followed, I pulled out a jug of water, which Doc and Mei had the foresight of preparing before the water went off, a few slices of the bread they had made in the solar oven the day before, and a container of the remaining jam. After dropping everything into a metal tub, I went toward the freezer. The electricity had gone out weeks ago and most of the food had spoiled and been thrown out. So the smell that came from the freezer originated from a single source…the meat Harrison had brought from his apartment. He’d been preserving it, taking pieces here and there, and had stopped Doc and Mei from throwing it in the dumpster. There was a very good reason for all this. Harrison needed it to survive.

Beverly immediately stood up, clapped a hand over her nose and mouth, and hurried for the farthest corner of the room. I picked up a previously opened bag that now only held a pound or two of meat and slung it into the tub.

Gawking at me from across the room, Beverly tilted her hand away from her mouth enough to shout out, “What
happened
to you? You used to be this normal, pretty girl and now…now you’re…this…” She made a swooping gesture with her hands from my feet to my head. Whatever that motion meant, it wasn’t intended as a compliment. “You used to like shopping, going to the mall, coloring your hair…
brushing
your hair. Now you go around in camouflage, which granted used to be ‘in’ but it isn’t anymore, girlfriend. You carry around weapons…and
raw meat
. I mean…
What happened to you
?”

“I grew a heart,” I said, referring to her obvious lack of one.

She continued gawking at me for a second, rolled her eyes and muttered, “Whatever…”

On my way back to the door, Beverly deftly avoided the raw meat I carried by circling the room’s boundary and landing back with the others. By then, Mei had caught on to what I was doing and stopped me. “Where are you going? You’re not going back, are you?”

“Yes, I’m not leaving him alone.”

I turned to find each of them dumbstruck.

“He could hurt you,” Mei said briskly, trying to influence me to stay. While I appreciated her concern, I was offended by the assumption.

“He won’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I know him.”

“No better than the rest of us,” Beverly replied.

I swung around, marched back, and stood over them. They didn’t deserve an explanation. It was no skin off their back if he bit and infected me. They’d simply lock the two of us in the gym and we’d wander around inside aimlessly, like larva trapped inside a Mexican jumping bean, until, well, until death caught up with us again. So when I began to shed light on my decision, it wasn’t for them.
Harrison
deserved to be defended.

“Beverly asked me once if Harrison and I have a history. We do,” I answered her, finally. “When my dad died I was left with no one, not a single person on this earth who understood and truly cared for me. Not a single one. I was completely alone. So Mr. Packard took me in, as you know, as the entire school knew. He was a nice man. He did the best he could to make me as comfortable as possible. But his home wasn’t
my
home. There were no memories of me growing up there, no memories of family traditions during the holidays. His house felt foreign to me. So after school I’d go to the only place I felt comfortable…my dad’s grave.”

“Well that explains a lot,” Beverly grumbled.

“Shut up, Beverly,” Doc snapped, never taking his eyes off me.

“And I’d sit there…until dark, delaying the inevitable trip back to Mr. Packard’s house. And one night something happened. I…I broke down and cried, just let it all go. That unavoidable realization that no one in the world was there for me hit hard, so hard that I got lost in it. And I lay there, watching the stars, trying to motivate myself to get up, to move, to get back to Mr. Packard’s. But I was so exhausted, so completely drained, that I couldn’t…I couldn’t move. I couldn’t function. I was prepared, resigned actually to stay there all night, and let whatever might happen to me…happen to me. But sometime after sunset I felt someone pick me up and carry me away. He hailed a cab and he held me until we got to Mr. Packard’s house. And when I was being passed into Mr. Packard’s arms, I looked up and I saw Harrison staring back at me.”

I assessed each of their faces and saw understanding dawn on them. “I figure he saw me from the street and had waited until he was sure I couldn’t…wouldn’t be getting back on my own. So you’re asking how do I know he won’t hurt me? When a complete stranger who’s never said a word to you, picks you up and carries you to safety, proving to you that someone out there really does care…” I paused, trying to contain my anger, and still my summation came out furious. “You don’t abandon him in
his
time of need.”

With that, I spun on my heel and strode back down the hall in the direction of the gym.

Beverly in her inane way, shrugged off the importance of what I’d just told her to ask, “Why the gym?”

Overhearing it made my stomach churn.

“I don’t know,” Doc mumbled irritably.