Induction

Goddamn fucking automatic door locks. I fumbled with the buttons on the door and finally heard the locks pop open. Alicia yanked open the door and climbed into the backseat, sobbing as she closed the door behind her. I didn’t need to hear the story to know that she had lost her family. She was only seventeen, still a baby, and she lived with her parents and two brothers. My heart ached for her. I reached back for her hand and squeezed.

“I’m sorry, Alicia,” was all I could think of to say. Jake drove forward and exited the neighborhood we had all called home.

* * *

Without a destination, we drove slowly through the winding streets until Jake spotted a baseball field. He turned off the road and parked in the middle of the diamond. “Why are we stopping?”

“There’s nothing here, and we can see anyone coming at the car from every angle.” He turned in his seat and faced a still-crying Alicia. “Alicia, I need to ask you something. It’s important.” I stared at him quizzically. “Have you been bitten?”

Alicia’s head shot up and she stammered. “Wh-Why?”

“Whatever is happening out there is spread through bites. Just answer me. Did one of them bite you?”

“And what if they did? Would you leave me here to die? Would you watch them tear me to shreds like I had to watch them do to my parents?” She spit out the words like they were venom, and I saw Jake flinch from their impact.

“Yes, I would leave you here. If you’ve been bitten, then you’re a danger to me and my wife. I can’t have that.”

Alicia looked as if she’d been slapped in the face by Jakes words. “NO, okay? I haven’t been bitten. Happy now?”

His face scrunched up like he had to go to the bathroom. “No, I’m not. Emma, check her for bites.”

“What the fuck, Jake? Leave her alone.”

“Or what, Emma? Do you know what the consequences will be? Death! Our deaths.”

I sat there dumbly, staring at him in shock.

“If she says she wasn’t bitten, then she wasn’t. Why would she lie about it?”

“Just do it!” He bellowed.

“Whatever.” Alicia pulled her shirt over her head and turned to give me a view of her back. She unzipped her jeans and pulled them down past her knees and yanked the legs up as high as the snug denim would allow, leaving only a thin strip of fabric.

“Satisfied?” she asked, after some fancy backseat contortions. Without waiting for an answer, she turned away, leaning her head against the window and closing her eyes.

My eyes bore holes through Jake as he focused intently on the road. Daphne had finally stopped barking and had settled down on my lap snoozing fitfully. I wondered if she was having nightmares about what had happened today or if she was chasing after an elusive bone. I stroked her soft fur and leaned my head against the seat.

I withdrew inside myself. The more I thought about it, the more I realized Jake was right. We couldn’t afford to take any risks. Even the smallest mistake could mean death.

“It was so bad,” I heard Alicia whisper from the back seat after a few minutes passed. Her voice was thick with congestion, and she sniffled into the sleeve of her shirt. I pivoted in my seat to find her upturned face looking at me in abject misery. Her features wrinkled and her chin wobbled as her mouth screwed up and let out a cry of anguish. Burying her head in her hands, her body shook and convulsed as if she no longer had command of it. She struggled to breathe with each desperate gasp of air she took, only to release it again in another forceful sob.

Chapter 07 A Mother’s Love

The shrill ring of my phone startled me and Daphne bounced in the air when I jumped in surprise. I took one more forlorn look at Alicia and dug into my pocket, chastising myself for forgetting it was there. It took what seemed like forever to get to the phone, and I feared the caller would hang up before I answered. Kat’s number flashed across the screen, a photo of her and her two little girls smiled back at me without a care in the world. Hitting send, I gasped into the phone, “Kat, Kat I’m here. Thank God you’re okay. Where are you?”

Kat sobbed into the phone, “Emma, I need help.” She took a few deep breaths and continued on. “Last night, at the grocery store, someone bit Sara. The store was in chaos. We barely made it out of the car before a guy covered in blood rushed us. I tried to hit him with the car door when he came at us and he fell, but then… then.” A fresh wave of sobs echoed out of the speaker.

“I was turning to get the girls back in the car, he grabbed Sara’s ankle and bit it. I tried to get her to the hospital for a tetanus shot or something, but all the entrances were cordoned off and I couldn’t get through. I went straight home and disinfected it as best I could and didn’t know what else to do. So I gave her some Motrin and put her and Lilly to bed.”