“How do you train for cannibals?” another man blurts out. “And the panic and fear of not trusting your neighbors? Are you saying the government had a tip-off that this was coming?”
Andrea’s calm expression falters, her lip twitching just a bit. “No, of course not—”
“I lost my baby girl out there. Not from the cannibals, but from the bastards that hoarded and stole all the food in my town.” He nods to the boy next to him, he looks young, maybe ten or eleven. “My son had to see things he never should. Every day I wondered if we’d be better off dead. If I found out the government had a hand in this—”
“Sir, I know you’re upset and we have many resources for you and your son—”
“Thank you, Andrea,” a controlled voice says from off stage. Hamilton moves from his spot at the door and walks calmly across the front of the platform into the seating area. Andrea is doing her best to stay calm but the man is right; finding out now that a safe place like this exists is a little too late for most of us.
It also hammers home that people do not know about my sister and the real cause of the E-TR virus. I worry in a whole new way about her safety.
Hamilton does something surprising. He walks among the attendees and stops before the man. He’s wearing more casual clothing today, a V-neck sweater and olive green pants. Nothing about him reveals the deadly executioner we met last night.
“What’s your name?” he asks the man.
“Richard.” He nods at his son. “This is Liam.”
Hamilton offers his hand to the son first and they shake, then to the man. Wyatt hasn’t moved an inch, watching the scene unfold.
“The fact you are coming to New Hope this long after the crisis began is proof of how strong you are. Did you know that when we first started the orientations for new citizens, these rooms were packed with survivors?” He looks around the large room, compelling us to look ourselves. “Many were from the original city and suburbs, but for months we had a large influx of people rolling in, happy to be out of the Death Fields.”
“We didn’t know you existed,” Richard says.
“I know, and it was not widely advertised outside this area. It took months to get the city up and running. We welcomed in all the healthy people that came to the gates but we weren’t in a position to travel outside ourselves until very recently. Most of the other Safe Cities still aren’t.”
“That’s not fair,” Liam says. “Leaving people out there—with the monsters and bad people.”
“No, son, it isn’t.” Hamilton sounds sympathetic, his voice warm and welcoming. I can’t shake the feeling of watching something scripted, like a reality TV show or something. “But we’re doing the best we can and as a unified community, determined to eradicate the infected and dangerous, we’ll return as a country, stronger than before.”
He pats Liam on the head, who actually does look appeased, and walks up to the podium. He adjusts the microphone to his height and says, “Now that we’ve stabilized and have eliminated much of the threat from down south, we will continue the cleanup of the countryside until we are free to come and go from the safe barriers of the city. It will take time and perseverance, but we’ll get there with the help of capable soldiers and fighters.” He glances in our direction. “We have a plan and a mission—both for the greater good. Rest, heal, and figure out the way you want to be part of the future of New Hope.”
Richard jumps to his feet and starts to clap. I’m startled by the act but he’s followed by others in the room, many with a look of relief on their faces. Jude nudges my arm and stands with the others. I move to my feet and as a group we cheer on our new leader with the most recent citizens of New Hope.
I feel pressure on my elbow and Wyatt leans close. “Where have I heard a speech like that before?” he asks.
I keep my eyes fixated on Hamilton, who’s waving back at the small group, many who have left their seats to go greet him personally.
“In a room like this, back at PharmaCorp,” I reply. “From my sister.”
Chapter Three
Three days of rest. That’s what we’re given before our official assign
ment begins. The four of us are housed in a small apartment a block away from the processing offices. It’s a nice place with big windows. We all ignore the blood stain in the hallway just outside our door. I don’t know if it’s because we’re desensitized or it’s too hard to acknowledge. I’m pretty sure I fall into the former.
I wake on the third day while it’s still dark outside with Wyatt’s warm arm clutching my waist. The door of our room opens slowly and I instinctively reach for my weapon—okay, not my weapon, that will be given back to me when we leave—but the knife from the kitchen that I keep on the bedside table. A face comes into view and I blink, recognizing the familiar gray eyes and dark hair of my sister. I frown and remove my hand from the weapon.
She waves me over and I glance back, thinking I’m being quiet, but it’s no surprise Wyatt is already alert and aware. He probably heard her minutes before I did. Sighing, I squeeze his hand before walking out and closing the door behind me.
When we’re both in the living room I pull my sister into a tight hug. She wraps her arms around me and it’s just the two of us for a moment. “Are you okay?” I ask. “I figured they tucked you into a lab or something.”
“I’m fine and yeah, that was their plan, until I told them we had to go get Dad and the others in hiding.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yes, they’re all fine. They were in an abandoned evacuation shelter just outside the town lines.”
“So he’s here?” I ask.