He loved the analogy and tried to beat Katie to it whenever I made a mess.
When the popcorn was finished, we settled into a vicious game of Monopoly.
Toby caught Mom cheating twice and gleefully brought the accusation against her. Both times she was forced to pay a five hundred dollar fine.
In a magical moment, the passage of time ceased and knowledge of what was happening around us melted away. Time did not begin its onward march until Toby emerged as the undisputed winner. I looked at my watch and realized three hours had passed since we began. I looked from Katie to Toby. Toby was still all smiles. His high pitched laughter filled the room as he bragged about his uncanny ability to catch Mom cheating.
She took the teasing and dished it back to him. While I enjoyed the interaction between the two of them, I realized it was pushing six hours since I had first been exposed to the infection. It was nearly four hours since Katie and Toby were exposed.
I should be dead. They should be well on their way.
“Toby, come here and let me look at your face.” He quickly scurried on all fours, barking like a dog, all the way across the room to where I was sitting on the floor. I looked at the left side of his cheek and noted five scabs. The one just below his eye was about a quarter of an inch long. It was shallow, but there was no question that it was big enough to permit entrance of the infection into his body. The infection had failed to take hold.
“Katie, tell me again about your interaction with Claire.” She recounted the story for the second time. Between the coughing and saliva flying in her face, there was enough exposure that Katie should have been sick.
I thought back to Doc Baker’s description of the infection and tried to remember what he had said about the case of immunity. The only way a child could be immune was if both parents were immune. If both parents were immune, all their offspring would be immune. If I understood him right, and Toby was immune, it meant that both Katie and I were immune, too. My exposure was complete as was Toby’s. Katie’s description of her incident with Claire didn’t leave any hope, either. I hardly dared to voice my discovery for fear it would be proved wrong, but my mounting excitement was too much for me to keep to myself. “We’re immune to the disease! We aren’t going to die!” I blurted out, eclipsing whatever Toby had been rattling about to Katie.
Katie turned toward me with raised eyebrows, her mouth slightly open. “What are you talking about?”
I quickly rehashed Doc Baker’s description of the genetics of immunity to the disease. At the completion, her mouth was wide open. She stared at me for a couple seconds and let out a sudden whoop. She dove on me, nearly knocking me over, and kissed me on the mouth. It was a long kiss. She pulled back and looked into my eyes with tears welling up in hers.
“Are we really going to be okay?” A tear rolled out of her right eye. She quickly brought up her right index finger, mopped the residual moisture from her cheek, and then rubbed the saline liquid from both eyes.
Chapter 12
“I said we aren’t going to die from the disease. I didn’t say we are in the clear. There are fifteen hundred people in town and at least that many more in the surrounding areas. If the disease isn’t contained, all of these people are going to become infected.” I described the blood lust of the infected I had come in contact with and how difficult it had been to kill them. We needed to fortify our house if we were going to have a chance of surviving.
“Toby, I’m going to need your help. We’re going to take the lumber we bought to build the shed and use it to cover up all the windows.”
As I walked to the gun safe in the corner of the living room, I addressed Katie. “From now on, whenever
When the popcorn was finished, we settled into a vicious game of Monopoly.
Toby caught Mom cheating twice and gleefully brought the accusation against her. Both times she was forced to pay a five hundred dollar fine.
In a magical moment, the passage of time ceased and knowledge of what was happening around us melted away. Time did not begin its onward march until Toby emerged as the undisputed winner. I looked at my watch and realized three hours had passed since we began. I looked from Katie to Toby. Toby was still all smiles. His high pitched laughter filled the room as he bragged about his uncanny ability to catch Mom cheating.
She took the teasing and dished it back to him. While I enjoyed the interaction between the two of them, I realized it was pushing six hours since I had first been exposed to the infection. It was nearly four hours since Katie and Toby were exposed.
I should be dead. They should be well on their way.
“Toby, come here and let me look at your face.” He quickly scurried on all fours, barking like a dog, all the way across the room to where I was sitting on the floor. I looked at the left side of his cheek and noted five scabs. The one just below his eye was about a quarter of an inch long. It was shallow, but there was no question that it was big enough to permit entrance of the infection into his body. The infection had failed to take hold.
“Katie, tell me again about your interaction with Claire.” She recounted the story for the second time. Between the coughing and saliva flying in her face, there was enough exposure that Katie should have been sick.
I thought back to Doc Baker’s description of the infection and tried to remember what he had said about the case of immunity. The only way a child could be immune was if both parents were immune. If both parents were immune, all their offspring would be immune. If I understood him right, and Toby was immune, it meant that both Katie and I were immune, too. My exposure was complete as was Toby’s. Katie’s description of her incident with Claire didn’t leave any hope, either. I hardly dared to voice my discovery for fear it would be proved wrong, but my mounting excitement was too much for me to keep to myself. “We’re immune to the disease! We aren’t going to die!” I blurted out, eclipsing whatever Toby had been rattling about to Katie.
Katie turned toward me with raised eyebrows, her mouth slightly open. “What are you talking about?”
I quickly rehashed Doc Baker’s description of the genetics of immunity to the disease. At the completion, her mouth was wide open. She stared at me for a couple seconds and let out a sudden whoop. She dove on me, nearly knocking me over, and kissed me on the mouth. It was a long kiss. She pulled back and looked into my eyes with tears welling up in hers.
“Are we really going to be okay?” A tear rolled out of her right eye. She quickly brought up her right index finger, mopped the residual moisture from her cheek, and then rubbed the saline liquid from both eyes.
Chapter 12
“I said we aren’t going to die from the disease. I didn’t say we are in the clear. There are fifteen hundred people in town and at least that many more in the surrounding areas. If the disease isn’t contained, all of these people are going to become infected.” I described the blood lust of the infected I had come in contact with and how difficult it had been to kill them. We needed to fortify our house if we were going to have a chance of surviving.
“Toby, I’m going to need your help. We’re going to take the lumber we bought to build the shed and use it to cover up all the windows.”
As I walked to the gun safe in the corner of the living room, I addressed Katie. “From now on, whenever
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