Shocked Read Free Page A

but eventually I get the water to the right temperature.
    It’s so worth it. Even if I ignore the fact that I feel gross (from not having taken a proper shower in months) it’s heavenly to stand under the stream of hot water—and oddly normal all things considered. It’s funny how we take something as little as a hot shower for granted. In this new world it’s now a luxury. Just one more thing that’s changed…
    When I’m as clean as I can possibly be, I towel off and get dressed into the clean clothes. I feel slightly more human and much more like myself. I go in search of Lucas so he can have his go and find him in the living room. He sits in front of the fire he must’ve built in the fireplace.
    “Feel better?” He asks.
    “Much, thanks. Nice fire.” I point to the fireplace.
    “The heats working but I figured we could do with the extra warmth.” He looks at me oddly. “You’re surprisingly non-whiney for a girl, you know that?”
    “Um, thanks, I guess?” I can’t tell whether or not this is a compliment.
    Lucas hops up from the couch and heads towards the stairs. “I won’t be long.” He says before he disappears.
    I look around and this place is fully technologically tricked out. With nothing better to do (and no real idea what’s going on out there) I start with the television. I’m surprised when a channel comes to life. Score two for satellite TV—just like at Jack’s… only then I have the knowledge that the people I care most about are safe.
    Before I can fall too deeply into that abyss I raise the volume and quickly become absorbed in the news program. Yeah, things are bad. A lot worse actually.
    O ver three quarters of the country is now under some form of the infection. The southwest seems to be the safest area and that’s where we’re headed. Something tells me that even with me on our side it won’t be easy. Images flash through my mind—of scurvy men holding my friends at gun-point, then laying in a charred mass on the ground. An entire battalion of soldiers at a research facility are not even a challenge…and the shards of my soul I lose each time.
    The hand that appears on my shoulder scares me enough to snap me out of my reverie. “Sorry,” Lucas says. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Cool about the TV. I wonder if the internet works too?”
    “Wait, say that again?”
    He peers at me with a questioning look on his face. “Sorry?”
    “No, the other thing.” I shake my head.
    “Um, I wonder if the internet works.”
    Smacking my hand to my head, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it soo ner. Duh! If the internet works maybe I can reach Dr. Ford! Oh, please, please, please! I jump up and race to the computer tucked in the corner of the room and turn it on. My fingers drum impatiently on the small table where it sits. The computer fires up, but that’s no reason to get excited.
    I hold my breath and click open the browser. When the home screen loads I exhale loudly. Wi th a slightly hysterical giggle I quickly get to my email and log in. There are no important new messages (though oddly enough the nanobots didn’t seem to impede the delivery of weight-loss and dating site emails.) I delete them as I go and find the one I’ve been looking for: the last correspondence between me and Dr. Ford. Once that email’s sent I open another search engine in hopes to locate an email address for Captain Jennings or even at this point General West.
    Of course the government directory is a hot mess of broken links and run-arounds. Heaven forbid a citizen can actually access someone’s contact information in the military. With a resounding sigh I push away from the desk. Lucas looks at me.
    “No luck?” He asks.
    I shrug. “Some luck. Maybe. I don’t know. I sent an email to Dr. Ford, but I have no way of knowing if it’ll even reach him. I was hoping to maybe find a way to reach Captain Jennings—hell, even General West, but no such luck.”
    Lucas frowns. “If you want, I