Pestilence

12

Samantha sat on top of that hill for several minutes. She could just go about her life as if nothing were wrong and wait for her sister to contact her. That would probably be best. She had her mother to look after, and the nurses could only do so much. But it wasn’t like Jane to not contact her; whatever the government planned to do had already begun.

She bit her thumbnail as she stood up. She paced for a moment before pulling out her phone.

She tried to book a flight to LAX or John Wayne in Orange County, but no airline would allow her credit card payment to go through. She kept getting an error message and being redirected to the main site. Flights must have been cut off. She checked the clock on her phone, then dialed Duncan’s number.

“Hey,” he said, out of breath.

“Hey. What’re you doing?”

“Elliptical. What’s up?”

“Sorry. I know you hate people interrupting your workout.”

“No biggie.”

“So, you get access to military flights, don’t you?”

“Sure, all military employees do.”

“Could you book passage for someone else?”

“Only if I went with them. Why?” A pause. “Oh. Oh no, you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“She’s in trouble, Duncan. I know it.”

“Sam, it’s not going to be like that. At least, I don’t think. She should be fine. They just want to make sure people are safe. And besides, you haven’t heard anything on the news yet, right?”

“It won’t be on the news this time. In Oahu, they made it public, and the virus still made it to the mainland. They’re going to keep it as quiet as possible.”

“Well, I haven’t heard anything, and there’re at least twenty high-ranking army guys in my building.”

“Duncan, I know she’s in trouble.”

“Well, look, we’ll book a flight out there on Southwest or something, and-”

“You can’t book a flight. You can’t call anyone. All the communication lines are down.”

“What? Hold on a sec.” He paused again, much longer this time. “That’s weird,” he finally said when he got back on.

“I have to get out there.”

“Why? What could you even do?”

“I don’t know. I’ve dealt with this virus before, and-”

“And it almost got you killed.”

Flashes entered her mind of a man inside her home-flashes of pain, motion, and blood. The trauma hadn’t fully settled in yet, and it still stung as if it had happened just the day before. She suddenly grew uneasy, and her finger traced the outline of the mace in her pocket.

“I know. But I need to get out there.”

Duncan mumbled something under his breath and then said, “Fine. I’ll get us passage tomorrow on the next plane going out.”

“I’d like to go tonight. Right now.”

“Why?”

“It’s going to be chaotic at first, and there won’t be any precedents. It’d be good just in case we need to pull some strings to get back out.”

“Get back out? What do you think’s happening there, Sam?”

“I don’t know. But I have a bad feeling about it.”