Quickly and efficiently, they poked his arm and filled another vial.
“That’s it,” Dr. Lawrence said, placing a bandage over the puncture wound. She turned to the guards. “All yours.”
“Up,” one of the guards said to Ben.
They led him back onto the field, but instead of heading to his holding area, they took him to the left along the outside of the fence. When they reached the corner out in left field, they veered right toward the tarp-covered enclosure.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked.
“You’re being relocated.”
“Why?”
“I don’t have that information.”
As much as Ben wanted to see who was inside the mysterious pen, he couldn’t help feeling nervous as he approached it.
“What’s this area for?” he asked.
The guards said nothing as they took him around to the side that faced the center-field wall. There, as he’d already guessed, was the gate. After it was unlocked and opened, Ben was pushed firmly, but not unkindly, inside.
The gate closed behind him and the lock clicked into place.
What the hell just happened?
He turned in a circle, assessing his new surroundings.
Like in the other areas, there was a building here, though it was only about a third the size of the dorm he’d been in, leaving an outside area that wasn’t much bigger than his parents’ yard in San Mateo. The tarp was attached to the outside of the fence and blocked some of the stadium lights, creating areas of shadow here and there.
As he turned to look at the building, he saw a woman looking out one of the windows at him. He headed over and pulled the door open.
“Hello,” he said, stepping inside. “Didn’t mean to scare anyone. Guess I’ve been assigned here.”
There were bunks here, too, but they were only two high. As he came around the set nearest the door, he saw at least a dozen people sitting on chairs in a small open area at the far end, all staring at him. They were men and women ranging anywhere from late teens to probably mid-fifties.
As he started walking toward them, a teenage girl rose out of her chair. “Is Martina with you?”
Ben jammed to a halt, his breath gone. “Martina?”
The girl took a few steps toward him. “You’re Ben, Martina’s boyfriend, right? I remember you.”
“From where?”
“Cryer’s Corner. You…you were there with us.”
Cryer’s Corner? That was where he’d met Martina, where they had both been exposed to the—
He took a hard look at the girl. “You were on the softball team with her.”
“Yeah. I’m Jilly.”
“Right. Jilly. I remember.”
Out of habit, he held out his hand to shake, but instead of taking it, Jilly threw her arms around his neck.
“You’re alive! She said you would be!”
He pushed her back. “Why did you think she’d be with me? Isn’t she here?”
“No, of course not,” Jilly said, looking confused. “She went looking for you. Didn’t she find you? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
“I haven’t seen her since before the flu hit.”
“Oh,” Jilly said, concern creeping into her voice. “But…oh, no.”
“Do you know where she went to look?” he asked.
“She didn’t say. I assumed she was going up north. That’s where you’re from, right?”
He could feel the blood draining from his face, as he realized they must have crossed paths and missed each other. She was still out there somewhere, looking for him. He should have never come here. He should have known she’d look until she found him.
“When did you see her last?” he asked.
“New Year’s Eve.”
Five days ago. Five whole days!
Someone — Jilly probably, but in his daze he wasn’t sure — led him to the seating area and eased him into one of the chairs. He didn’t know how long he was lost in thought, but when he finally regained some sense of his surroundings, he saw that everyone was gathered around, watching him.
“You all right?” a man of about forty said. “You’re not going to throw up or anything, are you?”
“No,” Ben said, his voice low. “I’m not going to throw up.”
Jilly knelt next to him and put a hand on his arm. “I’m sure she’s all right. Martina’s pretty good at taking care of herself.”
“But she’s still out there. How am I ever going to find her?”
“You don’t have to. She’ll come here eventually. That’s what she said she’d do after she found you. When she doesn’t, she and the others will probably show up.”
“Others?”
“Noreen and Riley and Craig went with her.”
Ben didn’t know who Riley or Craig were, but he knew Noreen. She was one of Martina’s best friends. At least Martina wasn’t out there alone.
All right, he told himself, she’ll be okay. Jilly’s right. Martina can take care of herself.
His panic subsiding a bit, he allowed himself to take a good look at the others in the room. “I recognize some of you from the softball team,” he said, “but the rest of you weren’t at Cryer’s Corner.”
“No,” a woman said. “I’m from Sage Springs. So’s AJ over there.” She nodded toward another woman.
“I’m from Victorville,” said the man who’d asked if Ben would throw up. “In fact, we’re all from the high desert.”
“You’re all from the desert?” Ben said. “Nowhere else?”
“Well, you’re not,” Jilly said.
“You’re right. I’m not.” Ben fell silent for a moment before it hit him. “But I was there during the first outbreak. I caught the flu before. So did you girls.” He looked at those who hadn’t been at Cryer’s Corner. “Did you all get it, too, last spring? You were all sick?”
Nods and a few uh-huhs.
Everyone.
Holy shit. “Were there others?”
“What do you mean, others?” another man asked.
“In here with you guys when you were first brought in,” Ben said.
One of Martina’s old teammates snorted a laugh. “This place wasn’t here before us. One morning there was nothing but grass, and by the end of the day, our new home. That evening they moved us all in.”
“And no one else,” he said.
“No one,” Jilly said.
Ben did not like where this was going. “Did any of you tell them that you had the flu before?”
Most of the people who hadn’t been on the Burroughs High School softball team answered yes.
“We didn’t,” Jilly said. “We were afraid they wouldn’t give us the vaccine if they knew.”
“Apparently they figured it out anyway,” Ben said. “You all had your blood tested, right?”
They all had.
“I don’t understand why the UN would put us by ourselves,” a girl said.
“Maybe so they can use our blood to make more vaccine,” someone suggested.
One of the members of Martina’s softball team — Valerie, if Ben remembered correctly — rolled her eyes and said, “They already have a vaccine, remember? That’s why we came.”
“If you ask me, these people aren’t with the UN,” a ponytailed girl said.
“What makes you say that?” Ben asked. Though he’d been thinking the same thing, he hadn’t been here as long as the others so he’d thought he might be overreacting.
“Well, for starters, that message we saw on TV said that everyone who showed up would get the vaccine. When we were still in the other area, not one of the people in there had been given it.”
Ben said, “The people I talked to who are in there right now told me there was a two-day waiting period, and then after you were inoculated, you were sent to a safe zone where everyone’s being gathered.”