Looking around, I see the hut she’s referring to. It’s just a few feet away, and I motion for Bruno, Cole, and Grace to follow me.
When we arrive, I grab the thin fabric covering the door, pulling it to the side. It feels as thin as tissue paper. Bruno ducks his head and carries the woman inside. Grace and Cole follow. There’s nothing but a yellow sheet covering the dirt floor, and it has holes everywhere. We barely all fit inside, and suddenly I feel claustrophobic.
“Just put me down on the floor,” she says, a soft, nearly toothless smile lighting up her face. Slowly, Bruno lowers her to the floor, and she moans.
“Are you hurt?” Cole asks. He joins Bruno in helping the woman move.
“I always hurt; I’m in constant pain.” She looks around her home, as if checking to be sure everything is still there.
“Why? What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I wish I knew,” she says.
“If you’re sick, why haven’t they been treating you?” Grace asks.
“Because that costs money, and Wilson stopped all medical treatment, except for the guards, after the revolt. I guess he feels it’s a waste of his precious dollars.”
My stomach gets caught in my throat.
“Do you know how you got sick?” I ask, while bending forward, and all of a sudden, the room’s spinning around me.
“Some say the vaccine we received wasn’t effective. That we didn’t receive it in time, and so the ones who were already exposed have fallen ill.”
“A vaccine for what?”
“The virus,” she says. “A lot of people are getting sick. More and more every day.”
“Have we been exposed?”
“Don’t worry, they said it only spreads through blood.” She rubs her neck, and I feel guilty for being grateful that it was Bruno who carried her and not Cole.
That’s when I notice she’s branded with lust, just like me, and I wonder what she did to get here. Is she innocent too?
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I wish we could do something for you.”
“Oh, honey, you already have. You showed me kindness and got my bag back. That’s more than anyone has ever done for me.”
On cue, Cole hands over the bag he took from the man he killed.
“Thank you,” the woman says. She opens it and pulls out a piece of stale, moldy bread and a small vial.
“What is that?” I ask. “In the vial?”
“Our water for the day.”
“That’s all they give you to drink?” Grace asks.
“Yes. Enough to keep us alive.”
We are all silent. I don’t think any of us know what to say.
“Please don’t feel sorry for me,” she says. “Honestly, I don’t want to live anymore, not like this. I know this might sound crazy, but at least dying … will set me free.”
Her words crush my soul.
You can overcome anything short of death, I tell myself.
“We better go,” Bruno says. “Is there anything you need before we leave?”
“No, I’m fine.” She pauses and looks as if she is about to say something. She smiles and says, “Thank you again.”
“It would really be great if you didn’t tell anyone we were here,” Bruno says in a stern voice.
“Don’t worry. I know how to keep my mouth shut.” The woman winks, and I realize we have no idea what her name is. There’s a part of me that wants to stay with her and comfort her somehow, but I know it’s not possible. It kills me to have to leave her here all alone. But we aren’t here to make friends.
We say our good-byes and make our way out of her hut. We walk in silence, alert but pensive. We take turns searching for a place to settle.
Cole gives me a strange look. Bruno shakes his head and begins pushing into the next hut. Two blankets lie on the ground. There’s no furniture. There’s no water or eating utensils. He moves on.
It’s like a city of huts, tents, and cement blocks. Every avenue is filled with something, whether it’s trash or cement blocks or bodies. There’s no grid of streets, just zigzag alleyways and narrow paths between propped-up shelters. In the darkness, it feels haunted.
I can almost sense the lost souls inhabiting the black pits of every crevice. I glance upward. The moon hangs in the sky with its white body illuminating the corrugated metal roofing of some of the houses. My mouth feels like sandpaper. My body shakes as my adrenaline slows down.
Pretty soon, it’s hard to pick up my feet. My boots weigh them down, and it’s like I’m walking through quicksand. I can barely hold my eyes open. Even Zeus stumbles along beside me. His tongue dangles from his mouth, and his tail droops.
“Let’s stop,” Cole says. Bruno turns around. In the pale light, his usually smooth skin looks wrinkled and tired. “I think we’re in far enough, and I’m about to fall over.”
Bruno’s broad shoulders disappear into a hut and then he re-emerges. “Found a vacant one,” he says.
Zeus sniffs the cloth of the curtain before taking off into our temporary new home. Inside, I hear him sneeze twice. No, three times.