I wait outside for a moment and look toward the bunkhouse. The light is on in the window. A silhouette moves behind the curtain. Clara.
I want to go over there. I want to knock on the door and ask if she’s okay. I want to tell her about the calf. I want to warn her.
But I can’t. I’m covered in death. I smell like it.
I go inside.
Seth is in the kitchen. He opens the fridge and pulls out three beers. He twists the caps off and hands one to Billy, then holds one out to me.
“Drink,” he says.
“We’re not supposed to,” Jasper says from the doorway. His voice is small. “The doctors said no alcohol. It might interfere with the incubation.”
Seth looks at the beer in his hand. He looks at Jasper.
“We just watched a calf die a horrific death,” Seth says. “We’re under quarantine. Our ranch is being destroyed. If I want a damn beer, I’m having a damn beer.”
He takes a long swallow. He doesn’t offer one to Jasper.
I take the beer. The cold condensation feels good in my palm. I drink. The bitter hops wash away the taste of dirt and fear.
Billy stands by the sink. He’s staring out the window into the dark. He hasn’t touched his beer.
“You okay, man?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer. He’s rigid. His spine is a straight line.
“It’s like COVID,” Jasper says. He’s trying to fill the silence. “My cousin in the city said it was like this. People dying alone. No one knowing what to do. Just… waiting.”
“This isn’t a virus, Jasper,” Seth says wearily. “It’s a parasite.”
“It feels the same,” Jasper insists. “The fear. The suits. The tape.”
He’s right. It does feel the same. That helpless, suffocating feeling of the world closing in.
Billy turns around. He sets his beer on the counter. It makes a sharpclinksound.
“Something is wrong,” he says, and his voice is rough.
“What do you mean?” Seth asks.
“With Sedona.”
My stomach drops. I grip my beer bottle tighter.
“What do you mean?” I repeat.
Billy looks at me. His eyes are dark, troubled. He sniffs the air. It’s a subtle gesture, an instinctual one.
“I can smell her,” he says. “From here. Even through the sickness.”
“And?” Seth prompts.
Billy shakes his head. He looks confused. He looks… scared.
“It’s changing,” he says. “Her scent.”
“Changing how?” I ask and step closer.
