- - End of All Things, The (42 page)

Carly considered telling her how Dagny had stubbornly persisted in being born—a broken condom and a dose of the morning-after pill—and decided against it. But Mindy’s remark about the Infection made her remember the envelope on the table.

“You both had flu shots? Made by Cederna Pharmaceuticals?”

Mindy blinked in confusion at what must have seemed like a
non sequitur
to her. “I’m not sure who made them, but yes, we both got a flu shot. On the same day. We went to the drug store to pick up a case of soda and thought ‘Why not?’ when we saw the nurse at the table.”

“Justin and I both had flu shots from Cederna.” Carly’s heartbeat accelerated with excitement. Maybe there really was something to her idea after all.

Stan scratched his head. His expression was slightly skeptical but interested. “Do you think that has some kind of connection?”

“I can’t say for sure. But it’s a pretty big coincidence.” 

“
CARLY
!” It was Justin’s voice, and he sounded panicked.

“Did you leave a vehicle outside?” Carly asked quickly.

“Our bicycles, but we—”

Carly snatched her sleeping baby out of her makeshift cradle and dashed past them to the door. It banged behind her as she flew through it into Justin’s arms. He checked her and the baby. Dagny gave a little disgruntled sound at being shaken around when she was having a really nice nap.

“It’s okay,” Carly said. “They’re nice.”

Justin was almost running as he hurried toward the house, Carly right at his heels. He drew his gun as he charged through the door, and Stan grabbed Mindy and stepped in front of her before he threw up his hands in instant surrender. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Justin demanded.

“Stan and Mindy. We live here.” Stan gave Justin a small, rueful smile. “And might I add, I really don’t enjoy being on the business end of a gun. That makes twice today.”

Mindy poked her head around him. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi.” Justin didn’t lower the gun. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion. “Where were you, if this is your house?”

“Out foraging for food. We were gone for three days. I didn’t want to leave Mindy alone, so she came with me.”

Sam hopped down off the bed and trotted over to Justin, his tail swishing in the air, side to side. His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. Justin stared at him for a moment and then put his gun away.

“Is anyone hungry?” Mindy asked. “I’ll make brunch.” She went over to the bag that lay beside the kitchen door and withdrew cans. Carly was touched; Stan and Mindy obviously didn’t have much, but they were willing to share with the strangers who had invaded their home and held them at gunpoint.

“I could eat,” Justin replied, though a hint of wariness lingered around his narrowed eyes. He pulled Carly against his side, and he glanced down at his baby once more, as if reassuring himself again that both were safe and sound.

Mindy had a little camp stove she set up over the sink, heated by chafing dish burners, which she said she’d gotten from a friend’s catering business. She made a stir-fry of canned vegetables, and Carly contributed a pot of white rice to eat with it. While Mindy cooked, she excused herself to feed Dagny and change her diaper and returned to lay her down in the laundry basket-bed beside her chair. She gave Dagny a set of plastic keys, and Dagny gnawed on them happily.

The vegetables Mindy was cooking reminded her, and Carly shuffled uncomfortably. “Um, my horses have probably wrecked your garden. I know they ate your flowers. Sorry.”

Mindy chuckled. “It’s worth it to see a horse again.”

“We saw some wild ones up in Canada,” Carly said. “So, I guess the ones that were closest to humans got the Infection, and maybe the wild ones were safe because they kept their distance. Maybe they had some level of natural immunity humans didn’t have.”

“Tell me about this flu-shot theory of yours,” Stan said. “The only survivors you’ve met were people who had Cederna flu shots?”

Carly accepted a plate from Mindy and thanked her. “It’s not really a theory. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about.”

“Go on.”

“Well, Justin and I got the shot and we’re immune, and so did you guys. I haven’t been taking a poll or anything, but I’m really curious if the rest of the survivors got one, or if anyone who got a shot from Cederna got sick and died anyway.” Carly twirled her fork between her fingers and bit her lip. “I’m not, like, a scientist or anything. It just seems to me if we want to figure out why we survived, we need to look at things we have in common.”

Justin picked up his fork. “Carly, if your theory was correct, every active-duty man and woman in the armed forces would have survived. They’re required to get flu shots.”

She hadn’t thought of that. “You weren’t required?”

“No, but I got one anyway. I get the flu every damned year if I don’t.”

“No more vaccines,” Mindy said. She glanced down at the laundry basket where Dagny lay, sound asleep again.

They were all silent for a moment, pondering the implications of that truth. At that moment, while humanity was still scattered to the winds, the danger was small, but once communities began to form again, the risk of disease would increase.

“Sanitation is going to be essential to preventing outbreaks.” Justin didn’t say it, but Carly knew it was one reason he was hesitant to live with other people.

“Well, you could find out about Cederna if you wanted,” Stan said and forked in a huge bite of vegetables.

“How?” Carly had to wait for him to finish chewing. 

“Their executive headquarters isn’t very far from here.”

“Really? Oh, Justin, we’ve got to go there!”

“Why, Carly? What are you hoping to find out?” Justin tossed his fork on his plate. Carly knew he didn’t feel the compulsion she did to find some answers for what had happened. He had a point; the knowledge wouldn’t improve their lives in any way, and he was probably a bit exasperated at her for wanting to go on what he saw as a wild goose chase.

“I want to know what was so special about that shot and if they
knew
—”

“You think Cederna planned the outbreak?”

“No, not exactly.” Carly prodded at her food with her fork. “I don’t know anything for sure, but it seems like a good place to start looking for answers.”

Justin reached across the table and took her hand in his. “Carly, ultimately, it doesn’t
matter
. What good would it do you to know? We can’t punish the culprits.”

“People deserve to know what happened,” she said firmly. “I want to know why I lost my parents. I want to know if it was an accident somehow, or if it was intentional. And I want to know—” Her voice cracked and she faltered to a halt.

“Maybe, if we knew, we could keep it from happening again someday,” Mindy said. “I think Carly is right. I think people deserve to know if there are answers to these questions.” She gave Carly a timid smile and Carly grinned back at her, delighted to have someone in her corner.

Justin rubbed his forehead. “If it means that much to you, Carly, we’ll go.”

“Thank you, Justin.”

“Where is it, Stan?”

Stan cleared his throat. “That’s something we need to discuss.”

“Why?”

“Because, I won’t show you unless you take us with you when you go.”

“I’m not sure about this, Carly,” Justin said as they pulled down the blankets to climb into bed. It was very late, close to sunrise if Carly’s internal clock was correct, and they’d been discussing the possibility of Stan and Mindy traveling with them for hours.

Carly thought Stan had a very good point; they would all be safer in a group than on their own. A lone person might be willing to take on a couple, but a group of four—and Mindy was a crack shot—would be something entirely different. They would also provide extra sets of eyes to spot danger. The more she thought about it, the more Carly liked the idea. She thought Stan and Mindy were the kind of people to whom Justin had been referring when he talked about building a community of their own. While she acknowledged she didn’t know them that well, she had an almost instinctive reaction which told her Stan and Mindy would be assets on their travels.

“Sam likes them,” Carly said, as they curled up together. Stan and Mindy had insisted they keep the bedroom and had gone into the living room to sleep on the sofa bed. “He didn’t even growl at them when they came into the house.”

That
got his attention. “Really? That’s interesting. Maybe their scent told him they belonged in this house.”

“Or maybe he knew they were good people.”

“They may be good people, but that doesn’t mean they’ll make good traveling companions. I’m having trouble finding food for the three of us already, let alone feeding Stan and Mindy.”

“He promised they’d get their own supplies.”

“Sure, and I’m convinced he’s sincere, but when they can’t find anything, are we going to sit at the campfire and eat our dinner in front of them? Do you want to share some of our medications with them if one of them gets sick?”

Carly knew that Justin was aware of the answer to that question; of course she would want to share. It would torment her to see their hunger. The eyes of that child near White Pass, who had peeked from behind the curtains while his father tried to barter worthless metal, still haunted her. While she knew Justin was right that they couldn’t feed everyone they encountered, it was still hard for her.

But it wasn’t only Justin and herself that Carly needed to think of. Dagny depended on her, and if Carly went hungry, so would Dagny. Her baby had to be her first priority.

But wouldn’t Stan and Mindy help to protect Dagny? Or help in getting her what she needed? Carly didn’t know Mindy well, but she seemed to see Dagny as something incredibly precious. Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have more people looking out for her?

A thought occurred to her. “I could have used their help when you were injured,” Carly said. “If there had been someone to help me . . . Wouldn’t their help defending us be worth some supplies? If it helps to keep Dagny safe, wouldn’t it be worth it?”

He gave her a rueful smile. “Somehow, I knew you were going to bring the baby into this.”

“It’s something that deserves consideration. And if something happens to us, I’d like to know there are people who would take care of her.”

“You trust them that much?”

“No, but it’s not like we have a lot of options.” Carly had a nightmare vision of Dagny wailing alone in the wagon, beside a deserted highway, with no one to take care of her, or, worse, falling into the hands of people like Jeanie and Mikey.

Justin rubbed his temples. “All right, honey. I’m all argued out. I suppose if it doesn’t work out later, we can always part company.”

Carly kissed his cheek. “Have I told you today I love you?”

“And I love you, too, Carly. I should have known once you started running out of animals to add to our menagerie, you’d graduate up to humans.”

As it turned out, Stan did have something valuable to contribute. The storm cellar beneath the garage was filled with ammunition Stan had taken from the local gun store, so much of it, in fact, they couldn’t fit all of it into the wagon.

Carly took on the task of repacking their possessions to try to save room. It was the first time she’d ever gone through the contents of Justin’s bag. At the bottom, she found something wrapped in a piece of cloth. She unwrapped it, and a small toy fell into her hand. An Incredible Hulk action figure. And then she heard his voice in her memory . . . A little boy abandoned in front of a fire station with an Incredible Hulk toy in his hands. 

Justin had kept it all these years. He had somehow managed not to lose it in all of those moves he’d been subjected to in the foster care system, moving around the world in the military, and wandering like a nomad afterward. The last thing his mother ever gave him. Tears pooled in Carly’s eyes, tears for the little boy who never had the love of a mother or a family.

“Hey.” Justin stood in the doorway.

“Hi. I, uh, I’m sorry. I found this while I was—” 

Justin nodded. “It’s not a secret, Carly. I wouldn’t have given you the bag to sort if I were worried about you finding it.”