And Then You Die Read Free Page B

what it is. There are all kinds of new viruses springing up, and, for all I know, it could be some contaminant in the drinking water. Maybe cholera. Outbreaks are still too frequent here in Mexico.” She shook her head. “But I've never heard of it attacking with this kind of totality and swiftness, and I don't see signs of vomiting or diarrhea. I just don't know.” She went behind the counter and picked up the receiver of the telephone on the wall. “Whatever it is, we need help. I'm not qualified to diagnose––” She hung up. “No dial tone. Great. We'll have to try the next house.”
    In the next house they found no dead, but the telephone there didn't work either. “I want you to leave Tenajo,” Emily told Bess.
    “Go to hell.”
    “I didn't think you'd go, but I had to try.” Emily shrugged. “We've probably already been exposed anyway. Let's go see if we can find any survivors.”
    During the next three hours they found forty-three dead. A good many were in their own homes. In their beds, in their kitchens, in their bathrooms.
    And they found Rico's mother.
    She lay on a faded sofa and Rico knelt on the floor beside her, holding her hand.
    “Oh, damn,” Bess whispered.
    “There wasn't any use bringing her to you,” Rico said numbly. “She's dead. My mother's dead.”
    “You shouldn't be touching her,” Emily said gently. “We don't know what killed her.”
    “Father Juan killed her. He made her stay here.”
    Emily opened her bag and pulled out a mask and gloves. “Put them on.”
    He ignored her.
    “Rico, you need to––”
    “He killed her. If she'd been in the city, I could have taken her to the hospital.” He stood up and moved toward the door. “It was the priest.”
    Bess stepped in front of him. “Rico, it's not––”
    He knocked her aside and ran out of the house.
    “You keep looking,” Bess tossed over her shoulder to Emily as she started after Rico. “I'll go after him.”
    Why was she even bothering? she wondered. The priest was probably dead too. Like everyone else in Tenajo.
    God, she wished those dogs would stop howling.
     
    Rico was standing over the priest when she burst into the church.
    “Get away from him, Rico.”
    Rico didn't move.
    She pushed him aside and knelt by the priest. He was gasping for breath but was still alive, she saw with relief.
    “Did you hit him?”
    Rico shook his head.
    “Get me some water.”
    Rico didn't move.
    “Get it,” she said fiercely.
    He turned reluctantly and moved toward the holy water by the door.
    She didn't think the water would do any good, but it got Rico temporarily away from the priest. “Father Juan, can you speak? We need to know what happened here. Do you know if anyone else is still alive?”
    The priest's eyes opened. “The root . . . the root . . .”
    Was he saying they had been poisoned? Perhaps Emily's guess about the contaminant was right.
    “What happened here? What killed those people?”
    “The root . . .”
    “Let him die.” Rico was back beside her.
    “Where's the water?”
    His gaze was fixed on the priest's face. “It doesn't matter. He doesn't need it now.”
    Bess looked at the priest.
    Rico was right. The priest was dead.
    “What's the closest village to Tenajo?”
    “Besamaro. Forty miles.”
    “I want you to drive to Besamaro and phone the public health officials. Tell them there's a problem here. Try to stay away from everyone as much as possible in case you're contaminated.”
    Rico was still glaring down at the priest, his face twisted with rage. “He killed my mother. Him and all his talk of the glory of poverty and humility.” He kicked viciously at the poor box lying next to Father Juan and sent it skidding across the floor to lodge beneath a pew. “I'm glad he's dead.”
    “You may be dead too if you don't get help,” she said. “You're young. Do you want to die, Rico?”
    That broke through to him. “No, I'll go to Besamaro.” He walked out of the church, and a moment