letâs hope thereâs still something there for us to rebuild.â
âWell,â Mac said briskly, âweâre working really hard on that. Jonââhe switched his gaze to the man standing beside herââweâre monitoring all radio bands. The civilian Internet is down. Ours is still working of course but that doesnât help people outside our network. But weâre finding pockets of uninfected almost hourly and some of them have radios. Lucius has been advising them on how to make their homes as secure as possible. Weâve got a map of everyone and weâre scheduling pickups. The more people arriving here, the more people can go out in secure vehicles to rescue them.â
âYou have enough food for everyone?â
âYeah. And Snyder and his men are going to go back down to their gated community and make it impregnable, so that can be a staging area for the refugees. They have stocks.â Macâs eyes went back to hers. âSo, Dr. Danielsââ
âSophie, please,â she murmured.
He dipped his head. âSo, Sophie. You bring us that case so we can start manufacturing the vaccine and weâll start a mass-immunization campaign. Letâs see if we can save the world.â
Save the world. Sounded good. âYes, sir.â
âWe have projections that the swarm should hit your area around fifteen hundred hours tomorrow. There are still lots of infected in your area and we think they will join the swarm. Once itâs past, you should have a clean shot at getting to the helo. Everything will be waiting for you when you arrive.â
âBossâis the infection spreading to other states?â Jon asked.
All of a sudden, Sophie realized that she had no idea whatsoever what was happening outside California.
âUnclear. Marines are stationed all along the border. Our drones show us theyâre stringing barbed wire along the border too. Theyâre going to contain the disease at the cost of writing California off.â
âWhatâs the rest of the country saying about that?â
Mac gave a huge sigh. âNot much. Thereâs been a massive news blackout. No reporters are allowed near the borders, and the governors of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona have instituted a curfew. Also, residents within a fifty-mile radius of the border are being evacuated.â
âWhat about boats? Californiaâs coastline is 840 miles long,â Sophie asked.
âFrom what we can see, there are Coast Guard cutters from one to three miles out along the coast. All boats are being turned back.â
Anger flashed in her. âIf people are operating boats they are not infected!â Sophie said angrily. âThey are turning back people fleeing from a massive pandemic! Thatâs cruel.â
âYes, maâam,â Mac and Nick said at the same time.
âWeâre being abandoned to our own devices.â The truth sank into Sophie. Her entire country was deserting her.
Elle huffed out a breath. âWell, it looks like weâre not going to have any help. Weâre on our own here. Weâre going to keep locating uninfected and bringing them up to Haven, just as quickly as we can. And you, Jon, youâre going to bring us what we need to make a vaccine.â
Elleâs eyes brimmed as she looked at Jon. She reached out a hand and Sophie ached to take it though they were separated by hundreds of miles. âAnd Sophie. We need her. Sheâs a brilliant virologist.â Two silver tears tracked down her pale face. âAnd my best friend. Bring Sophie back to me, Jon.â
Jonâs hand cupped Sophieâs shoulder. He was holding her so tightly it almostâbut not quiteâhurt. âCount on it, Elle. Weâll make it, I promise.â
That was crazy. It was going to be almost impossible to make their way out of the city. Sophie doubted whether they could make it across the street. Jon