PODs (18 page)

“You ever think of what things would be like without the virus?” he asked.

“A lot. Why?”

“If the virus hadn’t hit we might never have met.”

“I know,” I said, running my fingers through his hair.

“If there’s one good thing that comes from this whole thing, it’s that I met you, Eva.”

I rose on my elbow and kissed him. “I feel the same way.”

“I’m glad we’re together.”

“Me, too.” I kissed him again.
Will I ever get my fill of his kisses? Each one feels like the first, curls my toes, and makes my insides melt
.

The lights went out. From the living area, we heard Katie scream. George, Aidan and Seth talked over each other, their voices growing more and more frantic as the seconds ticked by.

Cold fear stabbed through me, and I gasped.
They’re cutting us off!
“David?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

We got up and felt our way out of the laundry room. Without any windows the inside of the POD was pitch-black. I wasn’t particularly claustrophobic, but the dark felt like it was bearing down on me, making it hard to breathe.

We’d lost electricity in the entire POD.
Buried alive
. I clutched David’s hand tighter, feeling him squeeze back.

The baby cried from somewhere in the POD. I could hear Tiffany trying to soothe her.

“George?” Tiffany called.

“Stay there, Tiff.” He bumped into me trying to find his way through the blackness. “Sorry.”

The baby and Katie kept crying—I wanted to join them.

Katie was hysterical. “They’re cutting us off!”

“No—” I started, feeling my way around the furniture to where I heard her voice. With every hesitant step, I listened for the sound we all dreaded, the crunch that sealed the passage…

“Yes! They are! This is what happened to Cam! The lights went out, and then he was gone. We’re gonna die!”

“No, Katie.” She jumped when my hand found her arm. I leaned down to put my face somewhere near hers. “Listen! There are no sounds outside. If they were cutting us off, we’d hear it. Remember how loud it was? We’d hear it. They aren’t cutting us off. There’s just a problem with the electricity.”

“There wasn’t anything like this scheduled,” David whispered in my ear.

I held Katie’s hand as we made our way to our bedroom. I grabbed my laptop off my bed. Seeing the light cast by the screen made it a little easier to breathe.

“I have two flashlights in my bunk,” I said.

After aiming my laptop at my headboard cabinet, we found my flashlights and the stash of batteries.

Thank you, Dad! You’ll never know how much we needed these flashlights
.

We found two more flashlights in the storage closet. We set one of the lights up in the living area, where we gathered close and cast anxious glances at the sealed door, still listening for the sound that would mean our deaths.

We heard nothing.

“So, what’s going on? Did we blow a fuse?” Tiffany asked.

“There’s no fuse box in here,” Josh said.

David put his arm around me.

Josh gave the arm a pointed look, and then rolled his eyes.

“Then what?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” he snapped.

“Don’t start right now. We don’t need you being… snappish.” Tiffany said.

“Maybe I can find the electrical panel.” Josh grabbed the flashlight off the table. I snapped another one on to take its place.

“It must be behind the cupboards. That’s where the conduit enters the POD,” Seth pointed into the dark toward the kitchen.

Josh scoffed. “No kidding.”

Seth groaned. “Can I punch him now?”

David chuckled. “He’s the electronics whiz. Let him fix the electricity first, and then have at it.”

“You know, you two idiots can do this yourselves,” Josh said, climbing on a chair to peer into the upper cabinets.

“Yeah, because we’re the only ones who use the electricity. You don’t use any. Ass.”

“David…” I shook my head.

A metallic bang from the kitchen made us all jump. “Found it. I need something I can use as a screwdriver.”

“What about a screwdriver?” Aidan asked with a grin. He held up a small toolbox. “This was in the storage room.”

Aidan opened the box, lifting out a hammer, plumber’s putty, and a small container filled with a variety of nails and screws as he rummaged. “Flathead or Phillips?” he asked.

“Flat.”

Josh snatched the tool from his hand without so much as a
thank you
. We all seemed to stop breathing as he undid what he assumed was the box where the electricity came into the POD. Hmm—maybe he’ll electrocute himself and we won’t have to deal with him anymore.

Shame on you, Eva
.

“Eva,” Josh called, and I winced.

“What?” David answered for me.

“I need someone to look in the toolbox and see if there are any wire caps and electrical tape.”

“Here,” David said, passing the items to Josh.

He worked for what seemed like an eternity. Drops of sweat slithered down my back. I jumped at every little noise, waiting for the crunching sound. The longer we waited, the more convinced I became Katie was right, that our POD had been cut off. My stomach twisted and I had to take deep, cleansing breaths to keep from becoming as hysterical as Katie.

I moved to the sink and turned on the tap, taking a shuddering breath when the water came out.
The air supply is still flowing. The water system is still on. They didn’t cut us off; it’s just a glitch in one part of the system, a fluke
.

As long as the water and air flow remained, I could convince myself we were safe—that we weren’t going to die a horrible, agonizing death.

The lights flickered on and we all sighed, only for them to go out again. That happened two more times before the lights came on and stayed on. Josh eased himself down from the cupboard and jumped off the chair.

“It was just some loose wiring. Probably made in China or wherever she’s from,” he said, jerking his thumb toward Jai Li.

“You’re a jerk,” I said.

“Probably made in America,” Jai Li said with an evil grin. Everyone laughed—except Josh.

Josh sneered. “Well, I’d say you guys all owe me. I’ll take everyone’s allotted microwave popcorn this week.”

“Wait! We
owe
you?” Aidan asked. “How do you figure?”

Josh shrugged. “You’d be sitting in the dark if it wasn’t for me.”

“No one owes you squat,” Seth said. “If you hadn’t fixed it, you’d be sitting in the dark with the rest of us. I’d say fixing it benefitted you as much as it did us. Get over yourself.”

“And you’re not getting my popcorn,” Katie said, walking into the bedroom.

“Brat,” Josh called after her. She flipped him the bird. I had to cover my mouth to stifle a laugh.

Month Ten

My eyelids felt heavy, like someone was pressing them down, and gritty sand was rough behind my eyes. But I didn’t want to go to sleep, not yet. I wanted to talk to David. We stayed up as late as we could and talked every night. We sometimes fell asleep together in the living area. Of course, “sleeping together” meant actual sleeping. It wasn’t a cute euphemism for something else—we weren’t alone in the POD.

Some nights we talked about silly things.

“Favorite color?”

“Red, you?”

“Black.”

“David, black isn’t a color.”

“Technically—”

“Okay, sorry I said anything. Um, favorite movie?”

“The
Exorcist
. Spinning heads get me every time. You?”

“I don’t think I have one.”

“You have to have a favorite movie—”

“If black can be your favorite color, then I don’t have a favorite movie. First kiss?”

He grinned. “Ah, a gentleman would never kiss and tell.”

“You don’t remember her name, do you?”

“Okay, I don’t remember her name. It was the fourth grade! You?”

“You don’t really want to know who my first kiss was. You just want me to tell you you’re the best I’ve had.”

“Of course.”

And other nights we talked about serious things, some sad and some happy.

“What did you plan to do after graduation, before the virus?”

“College. I was hoping to figure out the next step while I was there,” I admitted. “You?”

“Veterinarian.”

“David? Do you think anyone survived?”

“I don’t know. But if my family survived, I can’t wait for them to meet you. They’ll love you.”

“Mine, too.”

We never ran out of things to ask or tell each other. It was my favorite time of day—the only time David and I had any semblance of “alone time.”

When we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer, we’d fall asleep, usually with me on the couch and David on the floor next to me.

“I didn’t think you’d ever wake up!” Katie squealed when I opened my eyes one morning.

“What’s wrong?” I asked around a yawn.

“Nothing. It’s all right. Look!”

She pointed to the wall to the left of the couch, which held one of the few remaining white spots left in the POD. Since the day we’d first started filling them with paintings and pastel drawings we had added a little at a time, and the walls were almost covered.

Someone had added another picture on the wall to the left of the sofa. I looked at it. Then I looked some more. It was done in red and black—flowers and hearts intertwined in a circle, with words in the center. My gaze locked on the words. Did he really draw that? Does he really feel so strongly that he’d put it there for everyone to see?

“He did it while you were sleeping. When I got up he was painting it.” Katie bounced with excitement.

“Where is he?”

“Shower. Isn’t the painting wonderful? I hope I find someone as romantic as he is. You’re lucky, Eva.”

“I know.” I smiled, still looking at the newest artwork on the POD wall.

“You like it?” he asked quietly from the doorway.

“Yes.”

“It isn’t too much?”

“Well, I guess some might think it’s a little over the top. I happen to think it’s just what the wall needed.” I stood and walked to him. I threaded my fingers through his hair, still wet from the shower. Our lips touched, just grazing each other’s. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, Eva.”

“And if I said I wanted you?”

“I’d say
‘silly Evangelina, you already have me,’”
he answered, tickling my lips when his moved against them.

“Oh. My. Gosh. Get a room, would ya?” Seth headed into the kitchen, smirking.

Josh brushed past us, filling the room with the scent of the unwashed. “You’ve got to be kidding me! ‘
David loves Eva.’
Who wrote that crap on the wall? We know, we know—you’re in love. We don’t need to read about it. Now that’s all I’m gonna see when I eat.”

“Then find somewhere else to eat,” I snapped.

David chuckled. “You wanted her—I got her.”

Josh glowered.

“Whatever.” He shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

“You
got
me?” I whispered in David’s ear.

He tightened his arm around my waist. “Yup.”

I shook my head, smiling. “Actually, I think I had a little bit of a say in the whole thing.”

David laughed. “Whatever you want to believe. Bottom line, you love me.” He quickly kissed the tip of my nose before smiling at me. His smile dared me to disagree.

The thing was…he was right.