Isolation (Book 1): Shut In Page 9

  Her little group of four actually had a minor advantage in the crowd, since they were willing to clump together practically rubbing shoulders; aside from the parents clutching children and a few couples, not many others were doing that. On top of that Ellie was slightly emboldened by the mask and gloves Hannah had given her, and more so by the fear of the people in the infected part of the airport breaking through before she could get safely away.

  So while everyone else was shying away from each other, she led her group forward like a wedge through bubbles. She tried not to actually touch anyone, of course, she wasn't crazy, but to get outside she was willing to nudge aside rolling luggage and take advantage of the fact that the people around her would make a space for her if she got too close, as long as they had space to move away into.

  At the doors themselves not even people's fear of infection could keep them from pressing together in a squirming mass, which sort of made all their previous caution kind of pointless. Ellie struggled through the press, jostled so hard she nearly lost her suitcase, and only Hal at her side kept her from being pushed to the ground at one point.

  With every body that pressed against her, every hand that shoved her away, she felt an irrational fear that Zolos was crawling all over them and now over her. Hannah was huddled against her back, practically sobbing as she shoved her forward with greater haste. It got to the point where Ellie was nearly tripping over her own feet, getting uncomfortably friendly with the backs of the people in front of her as her traveling companion nearly tackled her forward.

  She didn't know why the woman was using her as a human shield instead of her husband; in fact, Brock didn't seem to be helping them get through the press much at all. Aside from snarling surprisingly dire threats at the people around them, who couldn't have complied with his demands even if they'd wanted to.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the press of bodies ahead thinned enough that she could go back into her own bubble with her little group, grateful to no longer be getting jostled and shoved. A thrown elbow had connected with her right breast hard enough to potentially leave a bruise, and she would probably have more on her lower thighs from flying knees.

  The crowd around them dispersed rapidly as everyone fled in different directions, giving Ellie an opening to rush into as she led the way forward. “You okay?” Hal asked, speeding up to walk beside her.

  She wasn't sure she was; that entire ordeal had left her shaken more than she liked to admit. But now wasn't the time to fall apart. “I think so. That could've been worse than it was.” She glanced at him, eyes widening when she saw a small bruise forming on his cheek. “Are you?”

  He grimaced. “Meh. I shoved away some guy who was about to trample you flat, and the nutjob clocked me. It's nothing.”

  She felt oddly gratified at knowing he'd had her back. The only one of her companions who had, truth be told. “Thanks.” She grimaced and glanced back at the doors. “Next time I'm heading into a mosh pit, I'll be sure to bring you along.”

  The teenager laughed. “Deal.” He glanced around to make sure they were out of immediate danger, then juggled his luggage into one hand so he could pull out his phone. He fiddled with it for half a minute as they continued across the oddly deserted airport parking lot, then pointed with it. “We need to head that way.”

  Hal helped her finalize the arrangements for buying the car as they walked the five or six blocks to its owners' house. Ellie usually would've spent a while double checking details and verifying everything was on the up and up, but in this situation she just wanted it to be done by the time they got there, so they could hop in and be on their way.

  To where her kids were waiting, needing their mom.

  Los Angeles looked eerily deserted as they made their way along streets that should've been busy. Even the homeless were mysteriously absent, either fled to shelters or maybe to this quarantine camp. Or maybe the city had arranged for emergency aid for them, recognizing that a Zolos outbreak among that population would spread like wildfire.

  Ellie probably should've been grateful that there was no one around to potentially infect her. But the idea of so many people hiding indoors from an invisible peril, while she was out walking through the world they were so afraid of stepping into, unnerved her more than she'd expected.

  It was a relief when Hal finally veered them towards a red car parked out on the street, in front of a house with a small yard and a closed garage that the vehicle was likely usually parked in. The teenager looked between the car and his phone, frowning.

  “Yeah, definitely looks like it,” he finally said. He sped up to reach it, squinting. “I think that's the title sitting on the passenger seat. Let's see if they left the keys, too.” He started to reach for the driver's side door handle as he closed the remaining distance.

  “Wait!” Hannah screeched, with such an alarmed tone that the teenager stumbled while coming to a swift halt. He turned to the woman with a questioning look as she fumbled inside the bag Brock was holding. “We have no idea who had this car before us,” she continued, taking out a container of chemical wipes.

  As the rest of them watched blankly, Hannah briskly stepped up to Hal and yanked him back a few steps, gesturing with the container. “We need to wipe this thing down, inside and out, to make sure it's safe. We shouldn't even touch it before that.”

  Hal wore an expression of pure consternation as their traveling companion opened the wipes and shoved a few into his hands. “The entire outside? That's a bit much, isn't it?”

  “Right up until the moment you accidentally lean against it and infect us all with Zolos,” Hannah shot back. She got to work handing out the wipes.

  “She's right,” Brock said, reaching into his bag to grab another container of wipes.

  Ellie wasn't sure about that, but she supposed it would only take a few minutes. She just hoped the people they'd bought the car from didn't think they were nuts, going to such excessive lengths cleaning the car they used to own. Hopefully it wouldn't insult them.

  Then again, not being infected with a deadly virus was more important than worrying about being polite.

  Sure enough, as they got to work a few subtle glances confirmed that the family inside the house was peeking through the blinds and from behind curtains, watching them. Probably hoping they'd just go away already, taking any threat of infection with them.

  What Ellie was wrong about, it turned out, was how long it would take. Hannah insisted on a thorough job, starting with the entire outside before moving to the inside of the doors, then carefully going over every square inch of the vehicle's interior within reach through them. She made sure they didn't clean deeper into the car until there wasn't the slightest chance of them brushing any surface that hadn't already been cleaned, and if their chemical wipes came even close to drying out, she insisted they throw them away and get a new one.

  It took over a half hour, even with all four of them working together. A half hour while Tallie and Ricky were half the country away in who knew what danger, frightened and needing their mother. At least during that time Ellie was able to confirm the keys were in the ignition, and that the car started and the engine seemed to run smoothly. Also, as soon as she could get to it without Hannah blowing a gasket she was able to grab the title and confirm it had been signed over to her.

  After her traveling companion made her wipe it down thoroughly, of course, leaving damp stains across the important document and slightly smudging the ink.

  Finally, though, even Hannah admitted they'd done all they could. “We should take our gloves and masks off before getting in,” she said as they all groaned with relief and knuckled their backs. She suited her words by peeling the thin latex off her hands, tossing them aside on the sidewalk without a second thought about littering as she prepared to enter the car.

  The normally laborious process of removing the gloves had been surprisingly easy for the woman, and at a closer look Ellie realized it was because her hands were covered
with a thin coating of what looked like soap. She gave her new traveling companion a baffled look. “Why are your hands all soapy?”

  Hannah gave her a blank one in return. “To kill any Zolos that got underneath the gloves.” Her tone had a definite “duh” in it.

  “That's not how soap works,” Ellie said, doing her best to hide her amusement. “It doesn't kill anything, it just makes the stuff on your skin slippery so it can wash off, including dangerous microbes. Leaving a clean surface.”

  The younger woman's expression turned suspicious. “That's not true,” she snapped. “You're making that up, trying to make me look stupid.”

  “I'm not,” Ellie said as gently as possible. “It's an easy mistake to make, because nobody ever bothers to teach people how soap works.”

  “I think she's right,” Hal said. “Otherwise there wouldn't be any difference between regular soap and antibacterial soap.”

  Hannah abruptly brightened, scrabbling in her bag of precautionary items until she found and withdrew the bottle of soap she must've used. “This is antibacterial, though!” she said, brandishing it triumphantly until it nearly slipped out of her soapy fingers. “Look!”

  “Zolos is a virus,” Ellie pointed out. Hal snickered.

  The other woman floundered, face reddening as she hurriedly began reading the label on the back of the bottle. “It probably works for those, too.”

  “I'm pretty sure they'd be advertising that if it did,” Hal said, grinning.

  Whatever their traveling companion found on the bottle either confirmed that, or at least didn't refute it. She scowled. “You are trying to make me look stupid,” she snapped.

  Brock put a supportive hand on his wife's shoulder. “It's good to know, so we don't make a mistake that could get us killed,” he said. She turned her scowl at him and sullenly shook free of his hand, acting betrayed, and he looked disproportionately devastated as he continued in a wheedling tone. “Hey, it's fine, honey, I didn't know either.” He reached for her shoulder again. “Let's go ahead and get that soap wiped off. We need to get going.”

  That, at last, Hannah couldn't seem to refute. She allowed her husband to help her get her hands cleaned up as Ellie and Hal loaded all the luggage into the trunk, making it fit, and prepared to go.

  Finally, finally, Ellie climbed behind the wheel, with Hal settling into the passenger seat and the newlyweds climbing into the back. The chemical reek of the cleaning wipes made her eyes burn, but the moment they were inside Hannah insisted they close the windows to prevent the chance of airborne Zolos coming in.

  That was a ludicrous demand considering they'd just been outside for over an hour, but apparently now that they'd taken off their masks the woman wasn't taking any chances. “You know, the masks are intended more to help prevent people from infecting others with sneezes and coughs and things like that, or getting germs on their hands by touching their mouth and nose, than they are to keep you completely safe from airborne pathogens,” Ellie pointed out.

  Hannah gave her an exasperated look. “Oh, so now those don't work like that either?”

  She shrugged. “It's not like they form a tight seal around the mouth and nose and have a filter rated for stopping microbes. They help, but stuff can still get through.”

  The younger woman crossed her arms stubbornly. “Close the window, or we're not coming.” Brock made an alarmed noise of protest at that, although he quickly subsided when his wife glared at him.

  Ellie was tempted to take her less-than-delightful traveling companion up on the offer. But aggravating as this couple could be, she didn't want to leave them stranded in the middle of LA with a dangerous virus potentially breaking free of containment a mile or so away.

  So she grudgingly nodded her agreement, and they all rolled up their windows and immediately began stewing in the stink of drying chemicals.

  That seemed to be the last objection to finally leaving, so she started up the car and pulled out onto the street.

  ◆◆◆

  The drive through the city went smoothly, the streets mostly only filled with emergency vehicles.

  Ellie wondered if many people had even gone to work, let alone were out running errands. She did see lots of cars in the lots of the stores they passed, people snapping up supplies while they were available, and gas stations and places like that were similarly crowded.

  Speaking of gas, looking at the gauge the people she'd bought this car from had left it with a quarter tank at best. She was going to need to fill up, probably several times over the trip, but decided it would be a good idea to get out of the city before looking for a place.

  That decision was reinforced as they followed I-10 east towards I-15, planning to take it up into Utah to I-70 which ran all the way to Kansas City, because not far outside Las Angeles proper traffic slowed to a crawl.

  Craning to look ahead around the vehicles blocking her view, Ellie could see a roadblock set up a mile or so up the road. Along with police vehicles she saw ambulances and buses. More concerning than that, however, was the fact that rather than being allowed to continue along the Interstate, cars were being redirected north.

  Towards the quarantine camp? There did seem to be a few patrol cars scattered along that road to keep vehicles moving in the desired direction.

  Whatever the purpose of the roadblock, even if it was just to redirect traffic to another road, Ellie wasn't about to risk being trapped in LA with her movement directed, or even restricted, by officials with their own goals. Luckily, if she could get off 10 she was fairly confident she'd be able to take smaller streets all the way to I-15. And since it was impossible for the city to block off every single street between here and there, she was confident that being stuck in this traffic jam was the only obstacle between her and continuing on home to her waiting children.

  So she immediately began searching for a way off the highway, even if it meant driving off the road for a bit.

  If she really wanted to just go, she could drive on the shoulder. Several cars were already doing that, although it seemed kind of pointless since that would just take them right to the roadblock, and probably tick off the law enforcement there for the fact that they'd cut in line.

  On the other hand . . . the roadblock was redirecting traffic from both directions, which meant across the median the Interstate was incongruously empty, considering the major traffic jam on this side.

  Was Ellie desperate enough to cross the median and head back the way she'd come?

  In normal circumstances, especially with patrol cars in view, that was the last thing she'd ever consider doing. But with public services completely bogged down managing the Zolos crisis, she'd be incredibly surprised if the police even bothered to chase her down. In fact, she was kind of surprised no one else had thought of it first.

  Maybe they were still adjusting to the scope of this disaster, studiously following the traffic laws as if a citation or even arrest was still the worst thing that could happen to them. Ellie had no intention of resorting to undue lawlessness, but if it was a question of making choices like this so she could be with her kids, well . . .

  “Hang on,” she said, putting the car in reverse.

  As her traveling companions stared at her in bafflement, she backed the car until she was nearly hitting the bumper of the car behind her, turning the wheel as she did so. “Um, Ellie?” Hal asked nervously as she shifted into drive again.

  Ellie ignored him and wedged her car into the narrow space between the car to her left and the one in front of it, just as it opened up as the other car began pulling forward. She heard outraged honking and felt a shuddering lurch as the sides of her new car scraped against bumpers, while Hannah began screaming practically in her ear and Brock shouted in alarm.

  At least Hal was keeping quiet, although he had a white-knuckled grip on the dashboard.

  Concentrating in the face all the noise was tough, but luckily adrenaline was surging through Ellie's veins. She was able to keep control of
the car as she forced it through the gap, across the left shoulder, and onto the median.

  Behind her more cars began honking, and she heard the whooping siren of what could've been a firetruck or ambulance start up. But as she skittered her car onto the other side of the Interstate and stepped on the gas, taking her away from the roadblock, a glance at the rearview mirror reassured her that no patrol cars were hot on her tail.

  In fact, it looked as if other cars were following her lead, crunching across the median themselves to head the opposite direction.

  Ellie took the first off ramp she reached, then turned onto the bridge leading back across to the other side and began searching for a smaller road to take her in the direction she wanted to go. With the tense moment over she felt her thundering heartbeat begin to slow, and thankfully her passengers in the backseat had finally quieted down.

  She glanced back to ask how they were doing, then noticed Hal staring at her. “What?”

  He didn't look away, although she saw his cheeks start to redden. “Nothing. It's just I think that was the sexiest thing I've ever seen.”

  In the backseat Brock and Hannah let out twin heartfelt groans. Ellie, still coming off the rush of what they'd just escaped, couldn't help but roll her eyes and laugh as she turned her attention back to the road. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously!” the teenager said, voice perfectly fervent. “You just pulled some seriously awesome driving moves and yanked all our bacon out of the fire. Haven't met many girls that gutsy.”

  “Hey, thanks,” Hannah said sarcastically.

  Ellie felt her face flushing at the praise, then felt silly for it. “Driving through KC's rush hour traffic while kids scream in your ear is good practice.” She wryly gave her passengers in the backseat a pointed look in the rearview mirror. “Not all that different, really.” Hal snickered and she saw the couple begin to stiffen in affront, especially Hannah, and Ellie decided to kill two birds with one stone. “Although in this case the kid's in the front seat.”