Pestilence

32

Katherine sat up in the hospital bed and pressed the call button for the nurse. The nurse took almost five minutes to get back.

“What do you need, dear?”

“Did you call the police?”

The nurse took a few steps around the room, checking the equipment. “None of the phones are working. We’re having some sort of blackout or something, dear. I don’t even know how they found out about you, because none of our phones have been working for a while.”

“So you don’t have any police here?”

“’Fraid not. But relax. You can stay here until we figure something out.”

The nurse checked her IV, which was empty, and then removed the bag and replaced it with a new saline solution before pressing a few buttons on a machine and leaving the room. Katherine leaned her head back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. She wondered where her dad was and imagined the panic that must have gripped him when she hadn’t shown up at the airport or answered her phone.

Suddenly, she became aware that someone had walked into her room though she hadn’t heard anything. Ian was standing at the doorway. He grinned and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

Unable to say anything, she sobbed.

“You didn’t miss me?” he asked.

“Please just kill me,” she cried, covering her face with her hands.

“I don’t want to kill you.”

“Why are you doing this? Who are these people? What have they done that they have to die?”

Ian put his foot on the bed and pushed himself back, balancing on two legs of the chair. “It’s not what they’ve done. It’s what they’re likely to do. They are trying to stop something that my employers don’t want stopped. They’ll become leaders in a movement to stop it. An army of sheep led by a lion is more powerful than an army of lions led by a sheep.”

She wiped at the tears, shaking her head. “I don’t understand.”

“The world’s changing, Katherine. A new one is on the way. And certain people aren’t welcoming of the new.”

“Please leave me alone, please.”

“I promise that I won’t harm you.”

“I’m at the hospital. You’ve already harmed me.”

He was silent.

“They told me one of the boys is in critical condition. Why did you do that? Why would you hurt people if you don’t have to?”

Ian grew visibly uncomfortable and then licked his lips. Katherine noticed that a small strand of drool was coming off his lower lip, and he suctioned it up with his tongue.

“Who knows why we do what we do? Are you well enough to walk on your own, or should I get a wheelchair?”

“Why me? Why did you choose me?”

He rose. “Let’s go.”

A red Audi of the same model as her car was out front. Ian held open the door for her, and she got inside. He went to the driver’s side, got in, and pulled away from the hospital.

He wiped his mouth again, making sure no more drool was leaking out of him-a side effect of the medication he had been taking, as was occasionally slurred speech. He would have to watch himself more closely.

“It’s your car now,” he said. “One year newer.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want something that you killed to get.”

“Who said anything about killed? I bought this for you. Look at the licensing on the back window. It was purchased today. Cost me forty grand. Plus an extra five to get the dealer to come in at this hour.”

She glanced back and saw the yellow tag with the date. “Why would you buy me a car?”

“Because I ruined your last one. It’s only fair.”

She shook her head, staring out the window at the passing homes and trees that swayed in the darkness like shadows. “I don’t understand this. I don’t know why I’m here.”

“There’s only three more names on the list. After that, I’ll let you go. I promise.”

“Who are the three people?”

“No one you’d know. The next one is a man that works for the National Security Administration. He’s thinking about leaking information about the imprisonments.”

“What imprisonments?”

“Oh, that’s right,” he said with a grin. “You don’t know. They’re rounding everyone up. Anyone displaying symptoms of a certain disease is taken to various hospitals for personal quarantine. Everyone else not displaying symptoms are taken to cages set up in fields and on beaches, in the middle of streets…”

Her stomach dropped. “What about my dad?”

“What about him?”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. If he had arrived in LA before they shut flights down, he’d be in a cage. But I’m guessing he never made it out here.”

For a long time, she was quiet, staring out the window. In college, the school had had an earthquake scare once, and everyone had panicked and run out of the building. Going outside was the last thing you were supposed to do, and everyone had known better, but they’d done it anyway.

Under stress, people’s reasoning broke. Their calm broke. They did what their reptilian brains told them to do. She had known this her entire life. But something was different about the man sitting next to her. He wasn’t like that. Even when he was murdering people, he was completely calm, without a trace of emotion.

His eyes were forward, concentrating on the road. She was embarrassed of the thought, but it crossed her mind that he was extraordinarily good looking. She wondered why someone with his talent, intelligence, and looks would choose to do what he did. Murderers were supposed to be the monsters that hid under our beds, not someone who could be in a J. Crew catalogue.

“What’s really going on?” she asked softly.

He glanced at her and then back out at the road. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”