“Sedona?” Alistair’s voice is sharp, concerned.
“I… I’ve had some symptoms,” I manage, my voice a choked whisper. “A fever. Nausea.”
“What about your friend? You mentioned that she helped you collect the samples?”
“Um… she’s fine. She hasn’t been having any symptoms so far.”
“Okay,” he says, his tone shifting immediately to that of a doctor reassuring a patient. “Okay. Don’t panic. We need more data. More samples. Not just from the cattle. We need samples from everyone involved. You, your friend, and anyone else who was in direct contact with those cattle. The authorities will be sending a team out to collect them, to make sure it’s all done correctly.”
I can barely process what he’s saying.
“And Sedona,” he continues, his voice grave. “Because the transmission vector is still unknown but suspected to be oral-fecal… everyone who came in contact with the cows needs to be quarantined. Immediately. It’s just a precaution, but a necessary one. We can’t risk this spreading.”
The phone feels like a lead weight in my hand. I thank him, my voice robotic, and hang up.
I stand there in the kitchen, the scent of coffee and oatmeal suddenly nauseating. I turn around and walk back into the living room.
Clara is still on the sofa, happily munching on a carrot she must have gotten from the fridge. She looks so normal, so blissfully unaware.
I have to tell her. I have to deliver the bad news.
“Clara,” I say, my voice flat.
She looks up, her smile fading when she sees my face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
I sit down on the edge of the coffee table, my hands clasped in my lap.
“That was Alistair. The test results are back. It’s a parasite. A weird, mutating one they’ve never seen before.”
“Okay,” she says slowly, setting her carrot down. “So they can make a cure, right?”
“They don’t know how,” I say, the words tasting like ash. “They need more samples. Not just from the cattle. From us. Everyone who was at the ranch the other night.”
Her brow furrows in confusion. “Us? Why?”
“Because we came into contact with the parasite, so we have to be quarantined. They aren’t sure how, but I suspect the dinner we shared with the guys might have been contaminated too. Do you have any symptoms?”
“No… wait. Fuck! What are you saying?”
“We’ll be fine, I promise. We’ll just be quarantined for a few days as they monitor the situation. But I’m right here with you. I’ll take care of you.”
Clara just stares at me, her mouth slightly agape, the carrot forgotten on the table. “Quarantined?” she whispers. “Like… locked in our house, quarantined?”
I nod, unable to speak.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know. Until they figure it out.”
She processes this for a moment, her expression shifting from confusion to disbelief, then to a kind of dazed horror. Finally, she lets out a short, hysterical laugh.
“Are you kidding me?” she says, her voice cracking. “Why couldn’t we have just gotten food poisoning like normal people?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Seth
The sun is a relentless,white-hot hammer in the sky, beating down on the practice arena. Dust hangs in the air, a fine, golden haze that catches the light and makes it hard to see, turning the world into a dreamlike blur.
