Isolation

Chapter 24

"Ah..."

Addison groaned. The outbreak was flaring up again. In the past twenty-four hours, it had resurfaced twice. Her skin was covered in sweat, which shouldn't be happening. She knew she had a fever, and it hadn't broken. Austin looked at her and wished he could do something to comfort her.

"Hang in there," he said. "The results should be finished soon."

"What the hell is taking it so long?"

"It might be a new species or something. We haven't been on Earth for centuries. We don't know what kind of animals, or bacteria, it has now."

"I wish I was getting hazard pay for this," she said. "This is awful."

Austin looked at her.

"What did you do on Canis?"

"Now isn't a good time for small talk," she whimpered.

"A distraction will be good for you. Come on, talk to me. What did you do on the colony?"

"Pre- or Post-lockup?"

"Pre-."

"I was a tattoo artist," she said. "People seemed to love them. When I got locked up, I didn't stop. You would be amazed at the different ways of making tattoos."

Austin looked away.

"What did you... get locked up for?"

"I stole some food that I wanted. It was funny. I didn't even think about it. I just swiped some candy for my dad because it was his favorite. I should have known I would get caught."

"You were locked up for stealing candy?"

"It's not the cheapest commodity in the colony. It's super expensive. It was his birthday, and I didn't have enough to buy it, so... I took a risk. It was dumb."

"Maybe Aiden was right about one thing," he said. "We don't have to deal with their ridiculous laws anymore."

"Until we rejoin with the other survivors. If there are any."

Austin looked at Dominic. His breathing was getting more shallow, but he was hanging in there.

"What if we ran away?"

"Huh? Are you pulling my good leg?"

"No, I'm serious. If we ever get in contact with other ships, we should just run away. Survive in the forest on our own. Hunt. Gather. Build. Live."

"I don't know," she said. "That sounds dangerous. We've only just scratched the surface. What if there's nothing any further out there?"

"There's a whole valley at the bottom of the waterfall," he said. "It's not an impossible idea. We could run away and disappear. Live how we want to live."

"What if one of us gets hurt?"

"We'll find a way to make it work. Humans are resilient creatures."

She looked at him and smiled.

"That's true. If we ever get out of this alive, I think a vacation would be nice."

"Deal."

The sound of footsteps cut their conversation short. They carried Rocco inside. Vera followed behind. Austin swiveled his head.

"What's going on?"

"Rocco's got it," someone said.

They put him on the bed. Austin almost wanted to barf. There were scratch marks all over his body.