“Oh hell,” Boden whispered.
“What?” I whispered back, wondering what his problem was.
Then he pointed, and I saw it right away. When Bishop lifted up her arms to reach for Stella, her shirt had ridden up in the back. There on her side, a few inches above her hip, was a large bite mark. The edges were ragged and bloody, fresh from her fight. A zombie had bitten her. She was infected.
“Shit,” I said.
22.
Daniels and Serg must’ve have seen the same thing, because they both let out large sighs. Bishop was too busy coaxing Stella out of the tree to notice us, and it seemed to be working, so we let her keep going.
“Come on, honey.” Bishop’s hands were outstretched, and Stella was tentatively letting go of the tree. She moved closer to Bishop but hadn’t made an official move to get down yet. “I’ll catch you, sweetie.”
“You promise you’ll catch me?” Stella asked.
“I promise, honey,” Bishop said.
“And you promise you won’t let the zombies get me?” Stella sniffled.
“I cross my heart and hope to die,” Bishop said, and I grimaced.
Stella finally relented. She sat down and dangled her legs over the branch. Then she slid off the edge and fell into Bishop’s waiting arms.
“I’ve got you, sweetie,” Bishop said, cradling the little girl and comforting her. “Everything is going to be okay.”
She whispered soothing words into Stella’s hair, then turned around toward us. She was rocking the child gently in her arms until she saw our faces. Daniels, Serg, Boden, and I were all standing in a line, staring at her grimly.
“What?” Bishop asked. She paled, and her gray eyes were scared, but she honestly didn’t seem to understand what would be wrong. “What’s going on?”
“Bishop, you’ve been bitten,” Boden said matter-of-factly.
“What?” She shook her head. “No, I wasn’t.”
“We saw it,” Boden said.
“You saw it?” Her eyes furrowed in confusion. “Where?”
“It’s on your back.” Daniels pointed at her, as if that would clarify the spot. “When your shirt rose up, we all saw it.”
“No, I didn’t get bit.” She shook her head again and turned, lifting up her shirt and trying to see it. “I was scratched. That’s all. I never got bitten.”
“Bishop, we know the difference between a scratch and a bite,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“But…” She’d started backing up, still holding Stella in her arms, and that’s when it first occurred to me that we might have a problem. “I might be immune. You’re immune. I could be like that.”
I was a little stunned to hear Bishop say that. I’m not sure how she knew I was immune, except that Bishop seemed like the kind of person that knew things. She was in charge at the quarantine. Or maybe she’d just overheard me talking with Daniels.
“You might be immune,” Boden agreed. “But you probably aren’t. We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, though, and we’ll let you go off alone. But you can’t stay with us anymore.”
“You can’t!” Bishop insisted, and her eyes had gotten a wild glint to them. “You can’t separate me from the children! I’m the only one Stella trusts!”
“Please don’t make it harder than it is,” I said. “Just put Stella down.”
Stella, sensing the tension, had begun to cry again. She clung tighter to Bishop, which did not help the situation at all.
“What’s going on?” Max asked, sounding frightened. I’m sure he understood what was happening – at least the part about Bishop being infected. I think he’d asked more because he was afraid of what was going to happen.
“Just stay back, Max,” I said and stepped closer to Bishop. “Just put Stella down, and we’ll talk about it.”
“No.” Bishop shook her head fiercely. “I’m not letting her go. I’m not infected, and she needs me.”
“Bishop, be reasonable.” Boden stepped closer to her, so we were starting to circle her.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Serg stepping away. But Bishop didn’t notice. She was too focused on Boden and me, who were closing in on her.
“You were a good leader,” Boden went on. “You always did what was best for the people. And what’s best for the people is putting the little girl down.”
“I am a good leader, but you’re not,” Bishop said, and tears were fresh in her eyes. “Remy, you shouldn’t be listening to him. He’s wrong about this. I can take care of your brother and Stella. You can’t listen to him.”
“He’s right, Bishop,” I said. “And you know it.”
She backed away from us, but she wasn’t looking where she was going. Her eyes were fixed on Boden and me, and she didn’t see Serg coming up behind her.