Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

They fell into the familiar rhythm of travel quickly, as though they had never stopped. Each night, they pitched their tent by the wagon. Sam slept beneath it, and the two horses remained nearby, as though recognizing his protection. In the morning, Justin would cook them breakfast over the campfire, and they stopped for lunch whenever Sam brought them a rabbit or a squirrel. Carly disliked squirrel meat and always gave the whole thing to Justin, who seemed to relish it.

They paused to forage as they passed houses. More often than not, Justin found little, either because the families hadn't stocked up before the Crisis, or because looters had been there before them. Once, Justin became enraged to find looters had smashed the glass jars of everything they hadn't taken. He was infuriated. As scornful as he was of human society, he seemed to feel the senseless destruction violated some code of survival, some unwritten rule of wasteland courtesy everyone should obey.

As a group, they gave the towns a wide berth. Justin would hide the wagon, Carly, and the baby as best he could and head off alone into the towns to see what he could find. It was seldom worth his effort. Even most of the houses in the towns had been looted.

Were there that many survivors? Or had they somehow managed to find the only area in the country that had been picked clean in such a fashion? They met a few people on the road during their first month of travel, and there was always a mutual wariness. Most didn't want to trade away their food.

Carly knew Justin was worried when he found a house with a small barn behind it and told her he was heading out alone for a day or so, headed east to see if maybe their route was too well-traveled and another one might have more supplies available.

As with many of the houses they'd stayed in during their travels, it appeared as though the residents had just stepped out. It was a comfortable little home, decorated in warm earth tones, and Carly would have ordinarily liked it, but being without Justin made everything seem drab and dour.

Carly hated being left behind, but they had Dagny to think of. She tried to hold back the tears to avoid making Justin feel bad. She knew he had to do it. They couldn't live solely off the small game Sam brought them, not with Carly nursing a baby.

Sam was on high alert all night, and every time he jerked awake at a sound, Carly woke, too. She had a gun on the nightstand and a rifle stored under the bed. Sam went into the kitchen and pawed at the door to be let out. She finally opened it for him and he disappeared into the darkness. She sat at the kitchen table and waited for him, the rifle clutched between her trembling hands. But he was calm when he returned, and he checked on his cat, who was curled up in a soft basket Justin had found at a pet store. Dagny was sleeping in a dresser drawer that was serving as a makeshift cradle. Sam sniffed her and was apparently satisfied with the data he gleaned. He hopped back up on the foot of the bed and curled up in a ball. Carly got back into bed, but her sleep was light and unsatisfying.

The next morning, she nursed Dagny before she got out of bed. Thankfully, they both seemed to have figured it out and Carly hadn't had any trouble since they started on their journey. It was a big relief because she'd worried about sterilizing the bottles properly on the road.

The house had an electric stove, so Carly had to build a little fire in the yard the next morning to make some coffee and breakfast. She saw the remnants of a fire ring in the side yard, likely built by other travelers who had stayed here before. She fried some Spam, but just picked at it, though she knew she should eat for Dagny's sake. She looked down at her baby, sound asleep in the baby sling, but she couldn't force down another bite. Sam and Tigger watched her with intent stares until she gave up on eating and put the Spam into the wolf's bowl. Sam had a passionate love for Spam, but since Justin loved it too, Sam seldom got a nice, big meal of it. He shared with Tigger grudgingly.

Carly went out to the barn and checked on the horses. They had already gone out into the yard, found the flower bed at the side of the house, and were in horse heaven. She sat outside for a while with them under the shade of a nearby tree. Dagny woke while she was lounging there, and Carly enjoyed a pleasant morning of playing and cuddling with her. Storm would stop eating every now and then and trot over to Carly for a pat on the nose. She grinned because Storm was becoming more like Sam every day.

She waited. Justin should be back any time now. Any time now. After Dagny's midday feeding, she put her in her makeshift cradle in the bedroom and sat down at the kitchen table. Every time she glanced at the stopped clock over the sink, it reminded her Justin was late.

She pulled her gaze away from it to the sideboard. A pile of mail still sat atop it, bills that would never be paid. The corner of an envelope caught her eye and she pulled it out of the stack. Cederna Pharmaceuticals. Carly blinked and tore it open. It was a form to be sent to the insurance company of the residents. Both of them had gotten a flu shot at the local pharmacy. A flu shot made by Cederna.

She heard the door open and looked up, relief and joy flooding through her. "Justin! Oh, thank—"

It wasn't Justin.

A ginger-haired man stood there, looking just as surprised as Carly felt. Someone else was behind him, but Carly didn't get a good look as she scrambled to her feet and bolted into the bedroom. Carly grabbed her gun off the top of the dresser and darted to the doorway, which looked out into the kitchen, across the small hallway. Where is Sam? she wondered and blinked hard to suppress tears of fear.

"You stay right there!" Carly shouted at the man, who hadn't moved since he stepped through the door. His eyes were wide.

"Please, lady," he said and held his hands up. "You can have whatever you want. Me and my wife are going to leave now, okay?"

"Where's my wolf? Did you hurt him? I swear to God, if you hurt him—"

"A wolf?"

"A wolf with a cat!" Carly shouted.

The man lowered his eyes, and he cast a quick look back at the woman behind him. Carly realized how crazy what she'd said must have sounded to him. "I didn't see a wolf with a cat," he said, and his voice was soft and soothing. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere. I'll help you look."

At that moment Sam came in through the open door and trotted past the couple in the doorway, Tigger dangling from his mouth as usual. The man's jaw dropped as Sam went into the bedroom behind Carly and hopped up on the bed, depositing Tigger beside him.

Carly was bewildered, to say the least. Sam didn't like strangers, but there he was, treating the ginger-haired man and the person still hiding behind him with familiar indifference, as though they were members of the family.

Dagny let out a little whimper and a halfhearted cry. She was spoiled rotten for affection and her mother's presence. When she woke up alone, it was odd, and she didn't like it.

"My God, Stan, is that a baby?" the woman whispered, awed.

"You stay the fuck away from my baby," Carly snarled and waved the gun at them.

The woman poked her head around the man's back. She was almost as short as Carly but stout, with a sweetly rounded face. "I just wanted to see her. I haven't seen a baby since the Crisis. I didn't know if the babies would be immune..."

Carly lowered her gun to her side, but kept her finger curled around the trigger. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, we... We actually live here," the man said in an apologetic tone. "But that's okay. You can have it. You can have whatever you want. Just, please, don't hurt my wife."

"I'm not going to hurt her unless you try to hurt me. Or my baby. Or my animals. You didn't scare my horses, did you?"

"You have horses?"

Carly felt relief wash through her. Shadowfax and Storm must be in the barn. Maybe they had been smart enough to hide from these strangers. Not Sam, though. He was napping, his feet twitching in his dreams. The only way such a thing was possible must have been that Sam didn't see them as a threat. "Yes, I have two horses. One is just a baby."

"A baby. A wolf. A cat. And two horses. Am I missing anything?" A smile played around the corners of his lips.

"A man. My husband. You didn't see anyone coming this way, did you?"

The man shook his head. "Listen, if you aren't going to shoot us right now, could you put the gun away? I'm very nervous around guns."

Carly put on the safety and stuck it in her back pocket. "I can draw it really fast," she said. "So don't try anything."

"Wouldn't dream of it. May I ask your name?"

"Carly."

"Hello, Carly. I'm Stan. And this is my wife, Mindy." Mindy poked her head around Stan's body again. "Hello." She gave a little wave and then ducked back to her hiding place.

"This is Sam," Carly said and pointed to her wolf. "He's... uh... really protective of me and the baby."

Sam rolled over and used Tigger as a pillow. The long-suffering cat just let out a sound that seemed to be the equivalent of a feline sigh. "Tigger is the cat."

"And the baby?" Mindy sounded eager.

"Dagny." Carly backed up until she was standing by the open drawer.

"Please, may I? I just want to look at her." Mindy's eyes were bright with excitement, and in her Carly could see something she recognized in herself: hope. Carly glanced down at the snoozing Sam and decided to trust his judgment. "I'm taking my gun back out. Don't you dare touch her, or I'll shoot you."

Mindy nodded. She walked slowly around Stan and then into the bedroom, her hands held up like a bank robbery victim. She peered down into the drawer and gasped.

"Oh, Carly, she's so beautiful!"

Dagny was dressed in a light pink cotton smock with matching socks. She had fallen back to sleep and lay on her back with her head turned to the side, her only movement the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

Mindy had tears in her eyes. "She gives me hope."

Carly put away her gun. She could not have explained it if asked, but she felt a strange kinship with Mindy. Maybe it was the same sort of instinct Sam had about the couple, and Carly almost laughed aloud, picturing the expression on Justin's face if she tried to tell him that. She said, "That's why I named her ‘Dagny.' It means ‘a new day.' "

"I didn't have my pills," Mindy murmured. "But I haven't gotten pregnant. I thought, maybe exposure to the Infection made us sterile."

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."

Thatgot 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."

"You kept it. All these years, you kept it." Carly didn't have the words to express what she meant, the symbolism embodied in that little plastic green man.

"I was going to give it to Dagny when she's a little older," Justin said, and a touch of wistfulness lingered in his eyes. "A baby who will never grow up without love."

She didn't know what to say, and her throat was too tight for words anyway, so she simply hugged him like she'd never let go.

They set out the following morning, heading west, much to Justin's displeasure. The women rode in the wagon while the men walked alongside, each with a rifle slung over their back and a pistol on each hip. Carly thought it was rather sexist, but she didn't argue about it. Pick and choose your battles, her father had always said.

Carly was the one who held the reins, though Shadowfax didn't need her guidance. She stopped whenever Justin stopped and followed him around turns without needing to be told.

Mindy was a talker. Justin had teased Carly for being a chatterbox, but she had nothing on Mindy. At least she was an interesting conversationalist, so it never became irritating.

Mindy had been a dental hygienist, something that interested Justin when he heard it. It was a valuable skill to have, which led to a long conversation about the feasibility of the barter system for services and how much one would "charge" for something like cleaning teeth.

Stan ruefully admitted he had no useful skills whatsoever. He'd been a loan officer and had never so much as gone camping before the Crisis.

"If I can learn this stuff, you can," Carly said with an encouraging smile. "Justin is a good teacher."

They moved along at little more than a walking pace. Carly could tell Justin was irritated by the slow speed of their travel, and they were going in the opposite direction than he wanted to go. It took them three days to reach their destination—a drive that would have taken an hour and a half back in the old days.

Carly eyed the glass-fronted building with some trepidation. Having arrived, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Maybe Justin had been right. If she found out the Infection had been deliberate, she would have no outlet for the anger that would result.

"Stay here and let us check it out first," Justin said.

By that time, Carly knew the futility of arguing. In their new world, the men were the explorers, the defenders, and the women waited for them. It was a situation which made Carly grit her teeth, but someone had to stay behind with the baby, and Justin had, very practically, pointed out he was the better shot and couldn't feed Dagny if something happened to Carly. "Please be careful."

Justin kissed her. "I always am, honey. Sam, stay here."

Sam lay down with a huff, obviously of the opinion he should be one of the exploratory team. Carly sympathized.

Justin and Stan walked around to the side of the building, and Carly heard the smash of glass as they broke open the door. After that, they just had to wait. Mindy was uncharacteristically quiet. She chewed on her nails while they waited.

A shot rang out. Mindy reached behind the seat for one of the handguns, jumped out of the wagon, and ran for the building, with Sam charging ahead of her, already snarling. Carly was torn. She couldn't leave Dagny there alone, but she couldn't carry her baby into what could be a dangerous situation, no matter how terrible it was to have to sit and wait for answers. Dagny slept in her crib, unaware of her mother's torment.

Mindy came out with Stan, her arm around his waist. Only a moment later—though that moment seemed to last an eternity—Justin emerged. Carly ran over to him and threw her arms around him. "What happened?"

"Goddam raccoon," Stan muttered. "Must have had a nest nearby or something because the fucker charged at me. I fired a shot but stumbled backward and fell down the stairs."

"What happened to the raccoon?"

"Yes, thank you, Carly, I'm fine after my terrifying and very painful fall down the stairs," Stan said with exaggerated politeness.

"Well, I can see you're okay," Carly said impatiently. "Did you shoot the raccoon?"

"No, I missed. Blame your dog for what happened to the raccoon."

Carly gave Sam an accusing look. "You killed it?"

Sam ducked his head.

"Give him a break, Carly. He thought it was a threat."

Carly sighed. "Did you find the nest?"

"Oh, Jesus, no..." Justin moaned.

"I don't know for sure there was a nest. Just my theory as to why the little bastard attacked me."

"We have to search for it," Carly said. "If there are babies, they'll starve without our help."

Justin pointed a finger at Stan. "If she comes out of that building with an armful of those damn things, you're gonna wish the raccoon had gotten you."

But no nest was found. Justin even caved from Carly's cajoling and climbed on top of desks to shine his flashlight in ducts. "The things I do for you, woman ..."

"I know," Carly said. "That's why I love you so much."

He smiled at her. "Because I climb on desks?"

"Because you'll do it if it makes me happy."

They reached the top floor and the executive offices. They were huge and plush. The President—as his doorplate referred to him—had half the floor to himself, with rich wood paneled walls, thick carpet, and leather furniture. Sam hopped up on one of the sofas and settled down for a nap.

Behind the desk was a pile of papers someone had tried to burn. Paper isn't as flammable as most people think, and only part of the top layer had burned. Carly sat down beside it. She took off her baby sling and laid Dagny down beside her. The baby grinned and stuck a foot in her mouth.

"You all right here for a while?" Justin asked.

"Yes, fine. What are you doing?"

"I'm going to bring the horses and wagon inside. There's a gymnasium on the ground floor."

"Won't their hooves slip?"

Justin shook his head. "It's got one those rubber tile floors. I'll put out a couple of buckets of water and a can of feed, and they'll be perfectly happy."

"Hurry back," she said, and he bent to press a kiss to her lips.

"Always."

She began to sort through the pile of unburned papers. Most were financial records. Stan might be able to make sense of why someone had thought they needed to be burned during the apocalypse, but she could not.

At the bottom of the pile, she found an internal memo marked "Confidential." It stated a "mistake" was made when Cederna assured the military they would have enough flu vaccine to fulfill their contract. As a result, they planned to buy vaccine from Baker-Lewis Pharmaceuticals to make up for their shortage. Purchasing the Baker-Lewis vaccine was cheaper than manufacturing their own, so there was some discussion of curtailing production in the future and buying the vaccine to resell to their contracts.

That explained why everyone in the military hadn't been immune. But what was the difference between the vaccines themselves?

Another memo. There had been some severe allergic reactions to the vaccine made by Cederna by people who were allergic to eggs. The Baker-Lewis vaccine had lower egg protein content, but both vaccines had shipped out under the Cederna label, so there was no way of differentiating the two at the point of delivery. The memo addressed the proposal that Cederna could announce the lower-egg-content vaccine as an alternative line, but the writer was concerned that calling attention to two different methods of manufacture might reveal the purchase from Baker-Lewis, and their contract could be terminated the following year.

She handed the papers to Justin when he returned. He closed one eye, moved the paper closer, and then shook his head. "I can't right now. The words are jumping all over the page."

Carly took it and read it to him. "Do you think the eggs could have had anything to do with it?"

"Lower bioavailability in one or the other, perhaps. I can't say."

"Bio what?"

"Some drugs are easier for the body to absorb and process," Justin said. "And some types of vaccines trigger a stronger immune system response. It could be the higher protein content vaccine was more effective. It could be the Infection resembled the viruses in the flu vaccine closely enough so the people who got that shot were able to fight it off."

"Maybe there's a paper in here that says which version went to retail stores. You got yours from a doctor, though, right?"

He nodded. "Yearly physical."

"Hmm. Maybe they shipped to doctors' offices like retail outlets. Who knows?" Carly continued to sort through the papers while Justin picked up Dagny and engaged her in a rousing game of peek-a-boo. The baby squealed with laughter.

There were more memos about shipments and egg allergies and the legalities involved in sub-contracts but nothing about the Infection. Even for the short period after the Infection began to spread, there was no acknowledgement that Cederna's shots were providing immunity. Carly sat back in disappointment, and Justin rubbed her back.

"You okay?" Justin's voice was soft with concern.

"I just thought I'd find something, you know?"

"You did find something. And I'll help you look through the file cabinets."

Carly shook her head. "It's no use. If there was anything important, it would have probably been piled here. Maybe those papers were the ones on top that burned."

"Perhaps." From the slight hesitation before he spoke, Carly knew he still didn't think she'd find a smoking gun or that it would matter, even if she did. But he was willing to help her because he could see it meant something to her. "Maybe it was just a coincidence, honey. Maybe the shots did provide immunity, but they never made the connection. Or maybe they did know but were still afraid to admit they hadn't made part of the shots, all the way up to the very end."

"So, they let people die, knowing they had a shot that could keep people from getting Infected?" Were there really people who were that evil or that shortsighted? She guessed the pile of half-burned papers was the answer to that. Someone thought there was a secret that had to be preserved, even when it looked like humanity itself was at an end.

It made her think about what her dad had said while they were watching the news. Was the president still alive? Was he still down there in that bunker, still the president, though there were no armies or cabinet members to carry out his orders? Which version of the shot had he been given?

They stayed the night in the building, pitching their tents for privacy's sake in the gymnasium with the horses. Carly thought it must have been a nice place to work. Besides the gym, there was an exercise room next door with a large array of elaborate workout machines, half of which Carly had never seen in her hometown gym and had no idea how to operate.

Justin was delighted by the giant cans of food they found in the cafeteria's pantry and the haul from the building's snack machines. She hadn't realized how stressed he was over their dwindling supplies until she saw his relief after finding the food.

Carly didn't sleep well that night. Her mind was occupied by various theories and scenarios about the vaccine. She remained as still as she could, but Justin eventually sighed and pulled her snug against his body.

"You need to sleep, honey," he whispered into her ear.

"I know. I just can't stop thinking."

"Carly, you're probably never going to know what happened. None of us will." Justin kept his voice pitched low so as not to disturb Mindy and Stan. His dark eyes glittered with intensity in the low light. "The people responsible for this plague are likely dead themselves, and we'll never know who or why."

Emotion tightened Carly's throat. She knew that was true, but a small part of her had held out hope, had believed there were answers out there somewhere. "If this were a movie, a hidden box of documents would come crashing through the ceiling right about now."

"Sorry, honey, but real life rarely gives us all the answers we seek." Justin brushed a caramel curl behind Carly's ear and smiled at her, his eyes tender. "Maybe someday, college students will write papers on the Infection the way they did about the Black Death, and maybe archaeologists will uncover important clues about how it spread, which can narrow down its origin. Maybe they'll even uncover a letter claiming responsibility sent to a newsroom somewhere. But that's for future generations to find. Right now, we need to find a home in a place where we can settle down and build a good life for our daughter."

She bit her lip. "I'm sorry I dragged you all this way for nothing."

"It wasn't for nothing. You needed answers, and we got a few."

She leaned forward and kissed him. "I love you, Justin."

He cupped her cheek. "And I love you, Carly, more than I can say."

Their days soon fell into a comfortable pattern as they headed south. Stan and Mindy turned out to be excellent traveling companions. Once Justin had shown him a few of the essentials, such as how to build a fire and purify drinking water, Stan turned out to be very helpful. He was also excellent with the horses. Storm liked him almost as much as she liked Justin and would follow him through the woods while he picked up firewood. She even followed him into houses a few times when he went in to scavenge for supplies. After Storm climbed the stairs to the second floor of one of the houses—and was then too afraid to walk back down them—she had to be dragged and pushed by Stan and Justin, while she squealed in terror. After that, she decided human dwellings weren't all that interesting after all. She stayed outside with her mother, where there might be flower beds to pillage. They were both indignant the humans had begun to take all of the yummy treats from the vegetable gardens for themselves.

Finding food was becoming a real problem the further south they got. The houses on the back roads were often empty before their group reached them. Carly remembered what Justin had told her about dog food the day they met, and she began to feel a vague stirring of unease.

Sam brought them rabbits every day, sometimes more than one, depending on what crossed their path. They weren't at the point of actual hunger, but seeing the supplies dwindle in the back of the wagon made all of them nervous, especially as they began to encounter people who wanted to trade valuables like ammunition for food.

One afternoon, they came across a pair of bodies lying in the road, dead for less than a day, beside an overturned wagon. Every bit of the food was gone, but other valuables, such as seeds, medicine, batteries, and even a few bottles of lamp oil, lay abandoned in the dust by the road. Carly cried for them; she couldn't help it. It seemed so wrong that they had survived the Infection and the harsh winter just to be gunned down by thieves. They buried them beside the road, a pair of stick crosses their only memorial.

"No one will ever know their names," Carly said.

After that, Justin and Stan became much more vigilant. Justin scouted ahead, though Carly hated having him gone. But he alone could move silently through the underbrush and ambush raiders before they could ambush them. And maybe it was due to his efforts they didn't run into trouble. Carly never asked, and he never volunteered.

It was Dagny who drew the most attention from the people they encountered along the way, and that troubled Carly on some visceral level she couldn't articulate, even to herself. Babies shouldn't be something so rare people wept when they saw one. One man offered them a cartload of food and weapons in exchange for Dagny. His wife's heart had been broken by the death of their own baby during the Infection, and he would have given anything, done anything, to have a baby to give to her. He was convinced that would restore her to her old self. He sobbed as they drove away, and Carly clutched Dagny close to her and kept one hand on the gun beneath the seat. She began to try to hide the baby whenever they saw people, and Sam picked up on her anxiety. He would hop up in the wagon and lay down next to wherever Carly had concealed Dagny as if to assure Carly he would defend the baby with his very life if necessary.

Was it possible the Infection had made people sterile? What else could be the explanation for the lack of other babies or pregnant women on their journey? Why was Carly an exception? Or was it Justin who was the exception?

One evening, she noticed Justin studying the map and making small notations. He had insisted on a very precise route, and she noticed he had drawn circles in red, with wavy arrows. "What are those?"

"Nuclear plants." Justin accepted the water bottle she'd brought him and gave her a smile of thanks.

Carly sat down heavily. She'd never thought about it, but all the nuclear facilities had to have gone into meltdown when there was no one left to run them.

"I've kept us from coming within a one hundred mile radius," Justin said. "It's enough distance, so we should be safe, but I'm monitoring the wind patterns. That's these wavy lines."

Carly saw how their route dodged between circles, with a narrower path as the route neared Florida. They would be squeezing between three circles on the way to the area he'd marked with an X.

"Justin, are you sure it's safe?"

"Wind comes in off the coast. It should drive any fallout away from us."

"I really don't like this. The margin seems so small." She stared at the number of circles overlapping all over the east coast.

Justin put an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. "As I told you before, we don't have to make it all the way to Florida if we find a nice place to settle before we get there."

She'd be looking harder now that she knew about the nuclear plants. What would happen to all of those people along the coast, where the red rings overlapped so much the state lines weren't even visible? Would they even realize what was killing them? Could the radiation have something to do with the sudden fertility problems? She and Justin had been up north when Carly became pregnant.

She pressed a kiss to her baby's head and wondered, not for the first time, what sort of future lay in store for her.