Chapter 2

 Evey set an alarm so that she would wake up early. Bailey and Steven were in the kitchen making French toast when she came downstairs. Bailey’s tablet was propped up on the kitchen island, and she pointed at the screen.

“You’ll be interested in this,” she said. “What you saw at the gas station is happening worldwide.”

“What are you talking about?” Evey asked.

She sat down on the stool and turned the tablet to face her. A newsreel was playing on the screen. A headline was in bold red lettering and ran along the bottom.

Cannibalistic Virus Showing in Multiple Countries

Security footage and shaky cellphone videos showed scenes similar to what Evey had witnessed at the gas station. People with frothing mouths and blood leaking from their eyes were attacking innocent people on the street. There were interviews with shaken witnesses.

“What do you think it is?” Evey asked.

“Some kind of drug must be going around,” Bailey said.

“It seems like more than that. The reporters calling it a virus.”

Bailey reached over and turned down the volume on the tablet, but the news was still playing. Lila dragged her feet into the kitchen and dug the heel of her hand into her eye. She was in her pajamas, and her hair was a matted mess.

“Good morning, Kiddo,” Evey said.

Lila yawned as she sat down next to Evey. She tried to run her fingers through Lila’s knotted hair. Bailey set a plate of French toast in front of Lila, and Evey helped Lila pour the syrup.

The doorbell rang, and they all looked at each other. Evey raised a brow.

“Is Uncle John coming over?” she asked.

“It’s early,” Bailey said. “We’re not expecting anyone.”

Someone pounded on the front door. Bailey stepped forward, but Steven placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Let me get it,” he said.

The knocking continued as Steven walked toward the door. Evey and Bailey shared a confused look, but Lila was too busy eating to care about who was here this early in the morning.

“How many people are in the house?” a male voice asked.

“Three of us live here,” Steven said. “But my stepdaughter is visiting.”

Evey’s eyes widened, and her heart pounded when she watched two soldiers enter the kitchen. They were in full uniform with radios attached to their chests and had large guns in their hands. Lila stopped eating when she saw them and crawled onto Evey’s lap. Evey tightened her arms around her sister.

One soldier, the shorter one, pulled something out of his pocket. Evey craned her neck to see it looked like the glucose meter she used at work, but the only difference was it was larger and made of metal.

“I need a blood sample from each of you,” the shorter soldier said.

“Why?” Steven asked.

“We need to test you all.”

“For what?”

The taller soldier tightened his grip on the gun in his hands.

“Just do it,” he snapped. “Or we’ll kill all of you.”

“This is Canada. We have rights-” Steven started.

“We’re in a state of emergency,” he said. “What’s it going to be?”

Bailey put her hand on Steven’s arm and stepped forward.

“What do you need us to do?” she asked.

“It’s just a finger prick,” the shorter soldier said.

Bailey held out her hand. Evey squinted to see the name Johnson embroidered across the shorter soldier’s chest. She looked over at the taller one who had the name Ford on his uniform. Johnson wiped Bailey’s finger before pricking it and placing a drop of blood on the strip coming out of the machine.

It beeped.

“Next,” Johnson said.

Steven stuck out a finger. His blood dropped onto the machine, and it made the same beep. Johnson came over to Evey and Lila. Lila turned and buried her face in Evey’s chest. Shockingly, Johnson gave them a small smile.

“It’s okay,” he said. “It barely hurts.”

Lila shook her head, and Evey pushed her back. She had no clue why they were here, but Ford made it clear: do the test or die. She did not want anything to happen to them.

“Lila, you have to,” Evey said. “It’s quick.”

“No!” she shouted. Tears were falling down her cheeks.

Evey knew that Lila was not going to do the blood test voluntarily. She turned Lila around on her lap so that she was facing Johnson. Lila thrashed in Evey’s grasp as Evey wrapped an arm around her. She held Lila’s finger out toward Johnson. Lila screamed and cried as he wiped her finger with disinfectant. Ford rolled his eyes.

Johnson took a sample of Lila’s blood, and the machine beeped. Lila cradled her hand to her chest as she cried. Evey held out her hand. There was a sharp sting when he pricked her finger. Johnson dropped the blood onto the strip.

The machine let out two high-pitched beeps. It was a different sound than the other tests, and Johnson glanced at Ford.

“You have to come with us,” Johnson said to Evey.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

Her mouth had gone dry, and she was going to be sick.

“I need you to come with us,” Johnson said.

“I think we deserve an explanation,” Steven said.

“We promise we’ll do this as quickly as possible.”

Before Steven could speak, Ford raised his gun and fired. Steven’s blood and brains splattered across Bailey’s face, and she could only let out a short scream before Ford shot her too.

Evey was too shocked to scream and stared at her parents. Lila was wailing. Blood was pooling underneath their bodies, and their eyes were wide, staring at the ceiling.

Evey came back to reality when Johnson pulled Lila off her lap.

“No!” Evey screamed.

“Evey!” Lila cried.

She held her hands out toward Evey. Johnson lifted her, and she thrashed in his grip. Evey jumped off the stool and tried to pull Lila free. Johnson turned his body so that she could not reach her sister. Evey balled her fist and punched him.

“Ford, I could use some help,” Johnson said.

“The kid is all you,” Ford said. “I got the other two.”

“Get her to the truck.”

Ford grabbed Evey’s arm. Evey tried to yank her arm free, but Ford tightened his grip. She let out a cry and punched him in the chest. Her knuckles ached from hitting his bulletproof vest. He snatched her wrist when she brought her hand back to slap him across the face. She tried to dig her heels into the floor as he dragged her out of the house.

“No!” Evey cried. “You can’t hurt her.”

“We need to kill her,” Ford said.

“She’s just a child!”

“She’s infected.”

Through Evey’s blurry vision, she could see soldiers entering and leaving her neighbour’s homes. There was a series of gunshots and screams.

A large truck sat in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Ford opened the back door and shoved Evey into the truck. She sat on the bench. Burying her head in her hands, she grabbed fistfuls of her hair while crying. She rocked back and forth as she tried to breathe.

This was a nightmare.

It had to be.

There was no way that her family was just murdered in front of her.

“Ford,” Johnson said. Evey raised her head. “You could have at least grabbed her a pair of shoes.”

Evey looked down at the mismatched pair of socks on her feet. Johnson held out her shoes, and she slipped them on. Johnson pulled a notepad out of the front of his uniform. Ford walked away.

“What’s your name?” Johnson asked.

“Everett Jacobi,” she said.

“Age?”

“What is going on?”

Johnson let out a deep breath. He clicked his pen multiple times as he tried to think.

“We’ll talk about this when we get to the safe zone,” he said. “Age?”

“You murdered my entire family,” she said.

“If we didn’t, they would have murdered you,” he said, not looking up from the notepad. “Now, age?”

Evey curled her fingers into the flesh of her arms. It enraged her that Johnson could not even look up at her, but she knew he wouldn’t leave until his questions were answered.

“Twenty-five,” she said.

Johnson nodded as he scribbled down her age. Evey pushed herself so that she was on the edge of the bench.

“Sit tight,” Johnson said. “We’ll be heading to the safe zone soon.”

He tucked the notepad and pen back into his pocket before leaving the truck. Once Johnson was out of sight, Evey stepped to the edge. Soldiers ran in and out of multiple houses, and the odd person was dragged to a truck.

Evey knew that she could not sit and wait. She was the next to be killed in whatever mass murder occurred. She knew that she needed to hide somewhere.

Looking at her home, she saw the front door was wide open. Every house was being searched, and every family was being tested. Her house had already fallen victim, so she was sure she could hide there until the soldiers left. They would not recheck her home.

Evey hopped out of the truck and looked around to see no one paying attention to her. She was thankful that Johnson had returned her shoes once she started running. She pushed herself to go as fast as she could. Her heart was pounding, and her chest burned. She had made it to the lawn before being grabbed by her waist and thrown to the ground.

Evey cried out as a weight was on top of her body. Ford pinned her to the ground. His jaw was hard as he was scowling.

“Get off me!” Evey screamed.

“Be happy you’re on the grass, not the concrete,” Ford said.

Evey rolled her head back to look at her home. It seemed so mundane, but she knew that innocent bodies lay inside. Three bodies she loved and who were her whole world. She was alone now.

“Just kill me,” Evey said. “Like you killed them.”

Ford reached for his gun strapped to his hip. Evey raised her hands to pound on his chest. She held her breath as she waited for her death.

Ford grabbed her wrist. He turned her arm so that he could see her tattoo of a heartbeat running through a heart with a stethoscope wrapped around it.

“What’s this?” he asked.

Evey let go of the breath she held onto and furrowed her brows together.

“It’s a tattoo,” she said.

“Why do you have it?” he asked. “What does it mean?”

“I’m a nurse.”

Ford removed his hand from his gun.

“Goddammit,” he said. “You’re too valuable.”

Ford stood and pulled Evey up onto her feet. He dragged her back to the truck and forced her in.