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Justin shrugged. “I’d imagine so, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I grew up in the foster care system and enlisted as soon as I was old enough to sign the papers.”
Carly didn’t know if she should she offer sympathy, or if she should—
“What about your family?”
“They’re... gone.” Carly’s throat tightened.
“I’m sorry. Were you close?”
“Very. My mom and dad... they were wonderful. But you knew my dad, at least a little bit, right?”
“He was my Arabic teacher for a few months, until he retired.”
That must have been the language her dad had been speaking in his fevered delirium the night he died. She pushed the thought away and blinked hard to combat the stinging in her eyes. Justin gave her a pat on the shoulder, his eyes compassionate. She felt a little closer to Justin, knowing he had a connection to her father, no matter how slight.
“How old are you, Carly?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Did you still live at home?”
“No, I had my own apartment upstairs. Mom and Dad were on the ground floor. So I still saw them every day and went downstairs for dinner all the time since I’m not much of a cook.” Carly gave a little laugh even as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “My mom worried I wasn’t eating enough vegetables and healthy stuff.”
Justin was quiet for a moment. “The men spoke highly of your father. He left the field around the time you were born and became an instructor, but his reputation as a brave man and loyal friend remained.”
“He never said much about his army days. Just that he was in the Middle East for a while.”
Justin nodded. “He couldn’t tell you, Carly. And you wouldn’t have wanted to hear it anyway.”
“How old are you, Justin?” Her dad had retired before her tenth birthday, so he had to be at least—
“Thirty-four,” he said.
She peered at him closely. Under that scruffy beard, his features still had a youthful cast, but that might have been because he usually had a mischievous grin and a wicked twinkle in his eye. Knowing him a little better, he didn’t look so scary. “Wow, you look younger.”
Justin cast her an amused glance. “You say that like you think I should have wrinkles and a cane.”
“No... you just look... young,” Carly said lamely.
“The virtues of healthy living.”
Carly giggled, though the sound of it was still unusual enough to give her a little start of surprise. “Nobody who gets that excited about Lucky Charms can claim to be a health nut.”
“Come on. I get to have one guilty pleasure, don’t I?”
“Don’t ask me. The only healthy thing I did was go to the gym to use the Stairmaster twice a week.”
“If your jeans weren’t so baggy, I could tell you if it had paid off or not.” Justin gave her an exaggerated leer, but she didn’t smile.
“They weren’t always baggy on me,” Carly said. Even if there had been plenty of food, her appetite had been virtually nonexistent for a while.
Justin shook his head. “You poor girl. I had no idea you had been hungry for so long.”
“I was afraid to go outside. It wasn’t just the quarantine. At first there were lots of... crazy people on the street. The Infected. Healthy people would try to walk past them quickly, and sometimes the Infected would just attack them without warning. I didn’t start going outside until I didn’t see anyone. And then it was scary that I didn’t see anyone, you know? I started thinking the government may have evacuated all of the healthy people out of Juneau, and I just wasn’t informed because they didn’t know I was in my apartment. I started wondering...” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat before she continued. “... I started wondering if I was the only one left. I read this book once, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Have you ever read it?”
Justin thought for a moment. “I saw the movie.”
“The book is different.” Carly felt a stinging pain in her hands and realized she had both fists clenched tightly, her nails digging into her palms. “The main character, that’s what happens to him. He’s the only normal person left in the world. I kept telling myself there had to be other people, and things would go back to normal, but until I saw you, I—” Carly had to stop. Her throat was too tight to speak any further, but from Justin’s expression, he understood what she was trying to say.
