Leak

Chapter Two

"Punch bug 1-2-3!"

"Ouch!" Val yelped.

I ignored their roughhousing. Anything to distract them, to prolong their childhood, was fine with me. It would end the moment they realized everything they knew was coming to an end.

Wrenching the knob on the radio, I turned it louder and listened for a news report. I needed to know what was going on in the world. I'd heard nothing but the inane gossip about celebrities that wouldn't matter, and political races that would never be won.

"Where are we going?" Jake asked, his voice low in a struggle to be heard over the chatter, but not loud enough for the girls to hear.

"Florida. I've got Cedric prepping the sailboat for us."

"You told Cedric?" His lips pulled down in a frown. "I guess that makes sense. If anyone would believe you and be willing to help, it would be him."

Cedric was a doomsday prepper. He was convinced that society was on the verge of collapse and would soon crumble into chaos and disaster. A product of the cold war era, he'd been planning and stockpiling for fifty years at least.

He ran a small marina in the Florida Keys where we moored our sailboat. We vacationed there at least three or four times a year.

"I feel like I should say something. Warn people," I blurted.

"Would anyone believe you?"

"Do you?"

The silence stretched between us, the only sounds the hypnotic drone of the tires on the road and the buzz of preteen chatter.

"Besides Evelyn's disconnected call, how do you know what's really happening?" His words, while logical, felt like a stab to the chest. I rubbed the dull ache they left behind.

"There's a protocol for a leak or exposure. It's strict and we have drills." I turned to look out the window and stared at the green foliage as it whipped by. "There are fail-safes and warning systems. I can't confirm that any of them have been activated."

"Why would Evelyn call and warn you, but not activate the protocol?" he reasoned.

"We were already on the phone when the virus leaked. One minute she was talking," I swallowed thickly and ran a hand along the tight muscles of my neck, "the next she yelled about the leak, screamed for me to run, and we were disconnected." The whole thing replayed in my mind in slow motion.

Make sure they don't add any green peppers, they give me gas.

That's all we need. I blew raspberries into the phone. Our laughter was light and carefree.

Lydia. Evelyn's voice took on a distracted note, as if she was looking at something in the lab. This virus doesn't look right... Oh, God! No! Lydia! Lydia, it leaked. Run—

The call ended in a rush of fabric and shouts.

"Couldn't the phones just be down?" His question threw me back into the present, the screams still echoing in my ears.

"And the cell towers? And the internet?"

"What if they are under orders not to respond?"

"There would still be a coded message activated."

"Couldn't someone just not be following protocol?"

"But not several someones, not with this." I dragged my fingers through my hair. My wedding rings caught in the strands. I jerked it free, ripping out several hairs by the roots. "You don't understand—"