Tommy Nightmare(19)

“You think they’ll tell the government that?” Jenny asked.

“Who knows? This is a batshit crazy town.” Seth chewed his lip. “And that’s something else I’ve been needing to talk to you about.”

“That Fallen Oak is crazy? I figured it out a long time ago, thanks.”

“I mean in the fall,” Seth said. “My dad wants me to go to College of Charleston now, because he donated a bunch of money to some new international business school there. It’s not so far from here, an hour or two. That’s close enough to visit your dad. Or come have Christmas with my parents.”

“Why are you even worrying about college right now?”

“Because I have to move to the city,” Seth said. “And I want you to come with me.”

“Seth, I can’t even go out in public in my own town.”

“But we can start over in Charleston,” Seth said. “Nobody knows us there.”

“That’s not what I meant. It’s a big city, Seth.” Jenny pulled her arms tight around herself, as if walking through a crowded store, trying to avoid touching anyone. “All those people. There must be a million people.”

“A million?” Seth rolled his eyes. “In Charleston? Are you kidding?”

“A lot, anyway.”

“Come on, it’ll be great. We can go pick out an apartment this summer. We’ll get a place near the ocean. With a balcony. And your own room just for your pottery stuff. And we can—”

“Stop it,” Jenny said. “I can’t think about it right now. We have real problems, you know?”

“Think about it later.” Seth pulled her close, and she looked up into his blue eyes. They were almost the same color as her own, she thought. “Think about it when you’re thinking about turning yourself in. We could have a life together. We could have a future. And all you have to do is let everybody think you’re dead, until this blows over.”

Seth kissed her. Jenny was tense, but she relaxed after a moment, and kissed him back.





The school gym was transformed into a makeshift clinic, divided into little cubes by dark green curtain walls. Heather worked one of the cubes, taking mouth swabs along with hair and blood samples from those who responded to the flyers. She also carried out basic physicals to look for anything anomalous. She could have excused herself from this part of the work, but it was the easiest way to talk with locals about the event, and she was desperate for any kind of input at this point.

The first several people she tested were extremely tight-lipped, though, and offered no real information. Nobody seemed to know what had happened at the courthouse, or at least they didn’t want to admit knowing anything. Heather also had to structure her questions in a way that didn’t give out information to people, which made things difficult.

Then a chubby teenage girl with mousey hair and thick glasses came into Heather’s cube. She was very full around the middle, under her loose sundress.

“Hi,” Heather said. “I’m Dr. Reynard. What’s your name?”

“Darcy Metcalf,” the girl said.

Heather looked her up on the laptop. Homeland Security had provided a database of all residents and their addresses. Heather and the other medical staff noted each person they examined on the shared database, along with any observations.

She found Darcy’s listing. A nurse had pre-examined her, entering Darcy’s height, weight, and age: eighteen. The file also noted that she had elevated blood pressure. And she was pregnant.

“Okay,” Heather said. She took a tongue depressor from a jar. “Open up and say ‘ah.’” She liked to start with this because it gave people the sense that it was a regular visit to the doctor’s office.

The girl did as she was told, her eyes rolling nervously while Heather looked into her throat. No swelling, no pustules, no symptoms matching those of the outbreak. This girl was pale and sweating, clearly scared.

She asked if Darcy had experienced specific symptoms, and listed the symptoms associated with the bodies on the green, without mentioning the event itself. Darcy shook her head to all symptoms.

“Do you have any special medical conditions?” Heather asked.

“I’m pregnant.”

“How far along?”

“Sixteen weeks.”

“You know,” Heather said, “You’re the fourth pregnant girl I’ve met today, your age and younger. I see a lot of others in line out there. Doesn’t it seem like a lot to you?”

Darcy shrugged. “I don’t know. Yeah.” She looked around, as if expecting somebody else to be watching them.