Martina’s grip on the woman’s shoulder slipped as every cell in her body went numb. “You’re lying,” she managed, her voice cracking.
“I’m not,” the woman said quickly. “He’s dead. I’m sorry, but he didn’t need the Jeep anymore.” She nodded back toward the vehicle. “You want it? Take it. I don’t care.”
Martina continued to stare at the woman. “He can’t be dead. He can’t be. How…how did—”
“The flu. Everybody’s dying from the flu. Don’t you know?”
“But that’s not possible. If it didn’t take me, it shouldn’t have taken him.”
The woman crossed her arms. “I don’t know what to tell you. He’s dead. Can I go now?”
Martina’s mind reeled as she tried to think of an alternative answer, something that would make what the woman said not true.
“His body,” she said, grabbing on to a sliver of light. “Did you actually see it? Do you even know Ben?”
“Of course I know him. I…I went to school with him in Santa Cruz. So, yeah, I saw his body.”
Martina’s peripheral vision began to dim. She swayed and half fell, half sat on the freeway.
“You’re wrong,” she whispered. “You’ve got to be wrong.”
She repeated it over and over.
When she finally looked up, wanting to ask the woman where his body was, the woman was gone.
Martina jumped up and ran back to her bike. “Hey! Hey, where did you go?
She had to find the woman. She needed to know where Ben’s body was. She had to see it for herself.
She started the engine and drove slowly away, her eyes searching both sides of the road.
“Hey! Come back! Where is he? You’ve got to tell me where he is!”
Her mind was so focused on the woman and Ben that she didn’t realize her friends had yet to show up.
“Everyone quiet, please,” Robert said, his hands raised high in front of him. “We can’t all talk at the same time.”
“Do we even know if this shot they gave us works?” someone shouted.
“Who are these people? I mean, it sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me,” another said.
“What if they’re right? What if there is no UN?”
“Please,” Robert said again, raising his voice. “Quiet down!”
All one hundred and twenty-nine Isabella Island survivors were gathered in the restaurant dining room at the very top of the hotel, the same room where Dominic had told them all about the outbreak, what seemed like years ago to Robert.
When the roar subsided to a rumble, Robert said, “I realize this isn’t what you expected to hear, but I felt it important to tell you exactly what we were told. Before you go forming too many judgments, though, let’s consider some facts. We all saw the shipping containers on TV. We saw the boxes releasing Sage Flu. We saw people dying, and governments going into emergency mode before the news finally went off the air. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say things only got worse after that.
“The thing is, we know this wasn’t a natural occurrence. Someone did this. Someone with a huge, well-organized operation. So you’ve got to think whoever these people are, they’ve planned on still being around. To me, it makes sense that they would want to run whatever was left.”
“Sounds like you’ve already made up your mind to believe this guy,” a guest named Phil Gatner said. “What if they’re the ones who put the virus out there? What if they’re the ones who want to kill us?”
“I guess it’s possible,” Robert admitted. “But it’s been hours since we received our shots, and if they wanted us dead, we would be already.”
Several people shouted questions and comments.
Robert raised his hands again. “Please! One at a time.”
Pax hovered outside the restaurant door for the first several minutes of the meeting. He had offered to speak to everyone himself, but both he and Robert agreed it would be better coming from someone the people of Isabella Island knew.
Pax did, however, decide to stay on the island while the medical team moved on to help others. Since this was the largest single group the Resistance had found so far, making sure they did everything they could to stay safe was a priority. He hoped the fact that he was willing to remain here by himself would convince them to take his warning seriously.
When it was clear the meeting was going to last awhile, he wandered out to the deck.
Pax loved the mountains. He couldn’t get enough of the Rockies, felt at home anytime he saw them, whether in Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, or Colorado. But the view here of the palm trees and the beaches and the sparkling sea did give the scenery up north a run for its money. He felt he could probably get used to it. It was hot here, too. That was a bonus that would take no getting used to at all.
He leaned against the railing, a gentle breeze blowing across his shoulders, and wondered if there might be other islands like this one, where groups had survived because of their isolation. The more he considered it, the more he thought there had to be. The Project Eden assholes had missed this place. They were bound to have missed others.
He hoped he was right.
For several more minutes, he watched the waves break near the shore and the water lap against the tan beach. He was starting to push himself up, thinking he should go back and check how the meeting was going, when something on the horizon caught his attention.
“There’s not enough information,” Maureen Johnston said. “How are we supposed to decide what to believe without all the facts?”
“Exactly how are you expecting us to get all those facts?” Kim Sutter countered.
“I don’t know. I’m just saying we need to make the correct decision.”
“What are you, an idiot?” Kim said. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Hey!” Robert said. “Let’s try to keep it civil, okay?”
“I’m sorry,” Kim said. “But, Robert, you know there’s no way to know all the facts.”
“We’re only hearing people out right now,” Robert said. “Who was next?”
Several dozen hands shot up. Robert pointed at a German guy named Herman Wolfe.
“In my opinion, we are missing a very important point,” Wolfe said. “If there is no United Nations, then what will take—”
The door at the back of the room flew open and Pax ran in.
“Robert, may I see you for a moment?” he said.
“We’re still in the middle—”
“Please.”
Pax looked distressed, so Robert nodded and said to the group, “You all have plenty to talk about amongst yourselves. We can pick this up when I come back.”
Loud conversations immediately broke out all over.
When Robert reached Pax, he said, “What’s going on?”
Pax put a hand on his back and started leading him to the door. “Not here.”
They walked out of the dining room and into the open-air lobby.
“Where do you keep the radio?” Pax asked.
“Downstairs, behind the bar.”
“Are all your food supplies up here in the restaurant?”
Robert shook his head. “No, in the kitchen by the bar.”
“Okay, then we’re going to need a few people.”
“Will you tell me what’s going on?”
“I will, but first grab four or five folks you trust, and let’s get down to the bar.”
Robert returned to the dining room and rounded up Enrique, Chuck, Estella, and Manny Aguilar.
“What’s going on?” Renee asked as he was leaving again.
“I’m not sure. Just keep everyone occupied. I won’t be long.”