Free The Cured by Deirdre Gould Page A

here. At least, I hope she was infected.”
    Dave exchanged a worried glance with Elizabeth. “We’ll figure out the Phil thing when he’s healthy enough to be a threat. But why would you take him with you? Where are you going?”
    “I’ve got it. I’m infected.” He braced himself as Dave backed up a few steps. Elizabeth just shook her head.
    “No, Henry. You can’t be sick, there’s nothing wrong with you,” she said.
    “There is. I’ve tried not to feel it, but I know.”
    “You’re just wiped out,” said Dave with a nervous chuckle. “You just hiked six miles dragging a few hundred pounds behind you. Anyone would be tired. Just get some rest, you’ll feel fine tomorrow.”
    But Henry shook his head. “No, this is more than that. It’s been coming for days. Weeks maybe. This trip just highlighted it. It should have taken less than a day. I can’t keep ideas in my head, they just seem to slip away, like I’m on the edge of sleep all the time. I can’t walk straight, I’ve been trying all day. You can look in the morning. The trail just zig zags all over, even though I kept trying to go straight. I get angry at nothing and I have to calm myself down. You know me Dave, I don’t lose my temper. But I keep getting closer to it.”
    “You’re just nervous, not getting enough sleep—” said Elizabeth, patting his arm.
    “No, I have to go. It’s not safe for you and Marnie. I’m just going to go down to another cabin, just a mile away. Wait until I beat this flu and then I’m sure things will get back to normal. I think the owners are gone for the winter, they’ll understand.”
    Elizabeth fell back beside her husband and clasped his hand. Dave looked at her and then at Henry. He pushed his glasses up again. “We can’t let you do that Henry. You can’t leave while you’re sick.”
    “I have to. Don’t you understand? In a few days, maybe less, I’ll be one of those— those things. I’ll attack anything. You, Elizabeth, Marnie— I have to lock myself away so I can’t hurt anyone. And so no one will have to shoot me, either.”
    “Maybe you won’t get as sick as others. Maybe you just have a mild case,” said Elizabeth.
    “Do you want to take that chance? You want to risk your daughter?”
    Elizabeth glanced back at the lodge’s bright windows. She was little more than a shadow in front of them now. And Dave was wholly lost in darkness except where the light sparked on the lenses of his glasses.
    “We’ll figure it out. Maybe we can put you in the basement until you get better,” said Dave.
    “I don’t know if I will get better. Has anyone recovered yet? Besides, there is no basement here, remember? It’s a summer house.”
    “Give me tonight to figure it out. I’ll find a way. If you are alone you might— you might hurt yourself. People were doing that on the news.”
    “If I’m not alone, I will hurt you.”
    “Henry, we’ve been friends for over fifteen years. Since we were kids. I can’t let you just walk out into the snow to freeze. Just give me tonight to think of something.”
    “What if that’s too long?”
    “An hour then. Just an hour. Go in the house, get warm, have something to eat,” Dave pleaded, “I’ll figure it out. And if I don’t, I won’t stop you. Just an hour Henry.”
    Henry nodded. “Okay, an hour.”
     

Eleven
    Henry sank into a chair near the stove. Everything ached. He watched Elizabeth bringing in boxes of supplies and Dave running through the house in an unusual fit of activity, but he didn’t offer to help. He’d already expended more energy than he could spare. The stove pulsed with warmth against his side and he could smell something cooking. Marnie sat at the table coloring in the lantern light. Henry couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything. The room puddled and merged into a dull sense of comfort. He felt himself sliding into a doze, but fought against it. Something kept telling him not to fall asleep. If he fell asleep