Trapped Read Free Page A

hiding.
    Satisfied the area had remained clear, he returned to the vehicle.
    He saw that Serena was still picking through the food, but she seemed sated enough to actually take in her options. Finally, she found a bag of Cheetos and opened it. He noticed her movements had slowed down tremendously.
    She picked at the junk food almost distractedly, her eyes looking off to the side.
    “How did this whole thing happen?” she asked, but as if to herself.
    Still, he felt a need to answer.
    “Chimera virus,” he said. “Some combination of rabies and a few others. It was developed as a weapon of war but...something went wrong.”
    Her eyes snapped to him, widened, her face contorted in horror.
    “You guys didn’t seriously think you could make something like that and be able to control it, did you? And who the hell were you going to use it on? What was it supposed to do?”
    Steven felt a bit offended that she had lumped him in with the group who had been behind the project.
    “Serena, I’m not exactly at liberty to tell you everything, but I will tell you this: a village of diseased people is easier to stomach blowing to smithereens, easier for the world to comprehend, even though people generally don’t think or care about civilian casualties anyway, no matter where we are. But too much attention was starting to be paid to them recently. Listen, the public will accept a heck of a lot if it means their world, their family is safe. It’s always easy to annihilate something you don’t think is like you, and possibly a danger to you.”
    He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He’d been deliberately vague, and she was again looking off to the side, but instead of looking lost in a daydream, her eyes looked intelligent, alert.
    “And there’s no cure, obviously,” he continued. “It’s a virus, and as such, it must take its own course. The only current treatment for its host is annihilation.”
    Serena silently finished off the last of the Cheetos and licked her fingers, the act appearing to be mindless, but taking his brain back to a place he had been wrestling it from.
    As she crushed the empty bag in her fist, it appeared her binge was finally over.
    She looked at him with sad eyes.
    Guilt gnawed at him again, and the reality of their situation returned to him easily, redirecting his wayward thoughts.
    “He’s dead, isn’t he?” she said, somewhat lugubriously.
    Steven looked down and nodded, trying to push back his own sorrow at the thought and the horrible memory of Gregory’s transformed face.
    Steven felt an inquisition on the way and prepared himself for the onslaught of questions, blocking out emotional attachments to events and people as he had done many times before.
    He felt nothing the whole time they spoke.
    “What about your mom and grandma?” she began, just as he expected.
    “My grandma probably had a heart attack at the first sight of those things; she died a normal human. My mom...turned. I had to put her down.”
    Serena looked away, failing to mask a quick look of horror. He was proud it didn’t affect him.
    “I’m so sorry,” she said. Then a few moments later, she looked back up at him. “What about Derek?”
    Again, Steven felt no emotional tug and answered her flatly:
    “My brother...he’s out there somewhere. Not sure if he’s turned or not—can’t find a trace of him. If he manages to make it, he’ll find the compound; he’ll know where to go.”
    “And where exactly are we going?”
    Steven realized in that moment Serena was letting go of their location and the thought of her husband’s possible return.
    It seemed the food had taken immediate effect, logic and practicality returning to her.
    She had finally figured out why he hadn’t bothered looking for Gregory, why he had planned for them to leave as soon as possible, as if no one was left to wait for.
    “Nevada,” he said, and he again saw an intelligent look in her eye—as if understanding.
    She did not