Mortality

Chapter 20: Zarah

March 30th

I’ve been chasing sleep for hours and can’t seem to get any closer. For once it has nothing to do with fearing for my life, although nights like those usually end in my falling asleep in an exhausted heap when my brain just can’t take anymore. I haven’t had a night like this since Liam told me he loves me, but on that night he stayed up with me. Despite the good news, he was just too exhausted tonight. I’m grateful for how hard he’s been working. We wouldn’t be here without him, on the verge of starting a new life together.

I sit up and pull my tired feet over the side of the bed. Letting my toes curl in the carpet, I let out a happy sigh. I used to do this every day in the shag carpet at my house. It was my favorite form of stress relief. And I’d forgotten all about it, but I guess that’s not surprising.

I look over at Liam, who is still snoring on his side of the mattress. We left a small battery powered lamp on by the side of the bed which adds a dim glow to the otherwise eerie bedroom. Three small Gothic looking portraits hang over the bed, and it feels as though each one is watching me.

You don’t really appreciate how many different kinds of people there are in the world until you start poking around in their homes. I guess there aren’t that many anymore. There are survivors, and there is everyone else. Or everything else, depending on who you ask. I still can’t help but think of them as people.

I get out of bed and pick up the lantern. Maybe if I stretch my legs a little I’ll be able to settle my mind.

As I walk down the hallway, I smile politely at the dark-haired man leaning against the wall, reading the Bible by candlelight. We’re lucky to have a room to ourselves, even if it is creepy. There are almost two thousand people in this one compound. People say there are nearly ten thousand at the Indiana Complex. That’s more than enough to be considered a real town, and we’ll be on our way there by tomorrow.

Liam and I have been working here for nearly two months now, trying to save up enough credits. I do things like cooking or harvesting from the various greenhouses, but Liam’s doing the real work. He was able to get on the team that’s expanding the production plant where they make the vaccines, but I barely see him. He works at least fourteen hours every day, hauling building material and demolishing the worn out parts of the building.

He had enough credits for one vaccine and a single set of admission papers weeks ago because he earns so much faster than I can. I was pretty pissed when he insisted I take the shot instead of him, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He said it didn’t matter anyway, since we were leaving together, and that he’d feel better knowing I was safe.

Not that the vaccine actually makes you any safer than it did the first time around. If I’m infected, I’ll still turn. But so long as I’m not, I now have the paperwork I need to enter the Indiana Complex and start a life there. He made me swear that if anything happens to him, I’ll go there anyway. I don’t know if I’d actually be able to follow though, should anything happen to him.

Thankfully nothing has, and after four hours of work tomorrow, we’ll have enough for his set of papers and vaccine. We’ll be on our way to a new life.

I wake up feeling groggy the next morning. The sun hasn’t even come up yet, but Liam is already gone. I’ve already transferred the remainder of everything I’ve earned over to him, and all that’s left to do is pack up our meager belongings and wait for Liam to get home.

When I get down to the dining room, I see Daisy Hendricks waiting in line, her small hands clutching her family’s ration purse. Her mom has been on bed rest for a week now and she isn’t getting any better. It’s pneumonia, but there won’t be any antibiotics going her way.