Chapter Seventeen

AIRIK

I rolled my eyes. Of course she was. No wonder she had activated her defense system. She knew we were coming.

"If you just want a new life, why do you have all this weaponry?" I said.

She looked down at her hands. "I was afraid that we were still carriers even though we made it through customs. I foresaw a group of people coming and attacking us. That's when I installed the defense system. It took the last of my credits, but it was worth it."

"We didn't come to fight you," I said.

"Seems like I'm under attack right now," she said. When I thought about it, I had to admit that she was right. I would have thought we were attacking her, too.

"We have the antidote. Where is your daughter? We can save her."

"I'm sorry. I can't let you do that," Dorelle said, lifting her gun. She had never set it down. Now it was pointing straight at us.

"Why not?" Quinn said. "It will neutralize the virus and prevent it from spreading. If your daughter dies, the virus will infect everyone that has come within twenty feet of her. They'll quarantine us, but the epidemic will still happen."

I looked at her sharply. "How do you know that?"

"I had another vision on the way here," she explained.

"I couldn't tell."

"I know. I can have them without any interruptions in my activities now." She looked at me like it was commonplace, but I don't think she fully understood how unusual it was. I had never heard of anyone who didn't go into a trance when having a vision.

"Koccoran already has population issues," she said to Dorelle. "If this virus is allowed to spread, it will wipe out many women of childbearing age. It will mean a death sentence for their entire race. Please think about what you're doing."

"I am thinking. I knew you were coming, and I read up on your antidote."

"How?" I said. "I thought you didn't have any technology here."

"I got a connection and the defense system. I got what I need," she said. "I can learn. Your cure could make her deaf or blind. Maybe both."

"The chances of that happening are less than 10 percent," I said.

"She's not your child. I'd rather she died. We'll be careful and burn her body."

"You want her to die?" Quinn said. "Are you crazy?"

"Where I come from, if you're deaf or blind, you might as well be dead. You can't take care of yourself."

"We've made advances since those days."

"Yeah, yeah. Technology. You all believe gadgets are wonderful. But it couldn't figure out we had that damn virus in our blood, could it? If it can't help with the most important things, what good is it?"

I didn't have an answer to that.

"Dorelle, look at all you've gone through to protect your daughter. You can't stop now. We're her best shot."

"You won't convince me. I won't have her live to be a cripple."

"What about Koccoran? They took you in when you had nowhere to go. Don't you owe them? How can you unleash an epidemic on an entire planet?" Quinn said.

The woman sniffed and rubbed her nose. "I have to take care of my own. I can't worry about an entire world."

"You can do both," Quinn said.

"Just because I can doesn't mean I will. You have to leave now," Dorelle said, gesturing with her gun towards the direction of the door.

Quinn's eyes flicked to mine and then to Golda, who was tossing and turning feverishly on the couch. I nodded my head.

"Sure," Quinn said. "We'll leave. But before we go, can we have a drink of water?"

Dorelle made a face but turned to the kitchen. Quinn tackled her in an instant. The woman fought back, punching and hitting Quinn. The gun went off. I ignored the fight and moved towards the girl.

I had my syringe out and pulled off the cap. I pulled off the bedcovers and slightly pushed up her nightdress, jabbing my needle into her thigh and injecting the contents into her body.

The little girl whined and started crying. I held it until I counted to twenty.

"It's done." I sat back and ran a medical scanner over her body to confirm the antidote had worked.

Just like that, we had saved the planet.

QUINN

The little girl's fever had broken already. Dorelle, although furious initially, wasn't upset any longer. She saw her daughter getting better every minute, and she didn't appear to have any lasting injuries.

I didn't have anything to do. Dark thoughts were starting to infect my mind again. I glanced at Airik. He was busy sterilizing the cabin with Rob, making sure they disinfected everything. He wouldn't even notice I was gone. I just needed some air. I would go for a walk, come back, and help with whatever else needed to be cleaned up.

The door was open. When I let myself out, I was glad to see there was only a mild snowfall. After a few minutes, I had my first misgivings. The snow was becoming thicker. I decided to turn around and go back. But when I turned to follow my tracks, I saw that they were already disappearing beneath the fresh powder.

I had to get used to being on my own and doing my own thing. In a couple of weeks, we would be divorced, and I wouldn't be able to depend on him to save me. I was a grown woman now. It was time to pull up my big girl panties and take care of myself.

The cabin should be directly behind me, so I tried to turn around and go back the way I came. As I walked, the trees and brush became denser. Was I going in the right direction? I didn't remember all these obstacles on the way out. I had to fight my way through the vegetation several times. Occasionally I had to go all the way around some plants because there was no way through except on my stomach.

I tried to call a vision, but I was so scared that I couldn't activate one. There was too much stress. The adrenaline in my system would block my ability.

The forest suddenly didn't seem as friendly as it had seemed back at camp. I kept walking. Instead of getting brighter, the atmosphere seemed dark and oppressive. It worried me. I knew the trees would block out the light, but I felt like the sun was disappearing around me. Incredibly, the snow began to fall more and more thickly. Soon I could barely see anything more than a few feet in front of me.

Was I caught in a blizzard?

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, the wind picked up. It blew hard and wailed through the trees. I knew my walk had been a bad idea at this point, but there was nothing I could do but keep moving. There wouldn't be a shelter for me. There was no point in going back. I had to find the cabin.

An hour later, as I lifted my aching legs and took another step through the deep snow, I wasn't sure I would ever find the cabin. Who knew walking could be so difficult when there was a foot and a half of snow on the ground? I felt exhausted.

I wished that Airik was here, but I knew it was impossible for him to appear out of nowhere. He had been busy when I left. Who knew when he would notice I was gone? Even if he did, he would still have to find me.

I wondered if it made sense for me to sit down and take a nap. I was tired and could use the energy boost. I considered the idea for a minute, but then I remembered Airik telling me never to stop moving when you were out in the cold. I didn't want to fall asleep because I would freeze to death and never wake up.

But having a rest was tempting.

I kept walking and then I felt my boot catch on something I couldn't see. I pulled, but I was stuck. What was it? I started to dig through the snow. After a minute, I got down to the ground. The boot and my foot were caught under a root. I had managed to get myself wedged in tightly. I tried pulling myself out until I became sweaty and frustrated. I thought about slipping my foot out of the boot, but I couldn't even do that. I would have to wait for someone to find me.

The trees around me were enormous. It would take two people joining hands to encircle a trunk. The trees had been still all the times I had been out for picnics and hikes in the woods. Right now, the trees were whipping back and forth, the wind lashing them into a swift motion.

I was surprised at how afraid the trees made me feel. If one of them came crashing down, it would be incredibly dangerous. I had never been scared of trees before. The thought seemed ridiculous until I looked up at them again and saw the first one fall.

The wind moved it back and forth. There was a sickening crack and the sound of a massive object falling. The branches swished against the other trees. I watched it in fascination until I realized it was heading directly toward me. I tried to move and remembered my foot was caught.

I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do.

AIRIK

It took me a few minutes to notice that Quinn was gone. But when I did, I lost my mind. Rob had to calm me down.

"Rob, I have to find her immediately. I never got to do an intervention. The future must have changed when I came to her. She's out in the forest with a blizzard approaching."

"Airik, calm down." Rob said, putting his hands on my shoulders. "You can't help her if you're panicking."

I took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm going to get her. I'll stay calm. I promise."

"Take your snowshoes. It will be faster," he said.

I dressed and moved out the door in minutes. I attached the snowshoes to my boots and then I was running into the forest following a trail that was quickly disappearing. Soon I had to use my minimal tracking skills to follow her. Her trail was vanishing.

As I crossed a small clearing, I spotted her red coat ahead of me. I could barely see it through the falling snow. When the wind blew strongly, I could see a flash of red. I hoped she was still alive. The coat wasn't moving.

What was going on? I started to run, feeling the events of the vision drawing closer to the present.

When I approached her, I saw she was struggling and pulling on her right leg. She appeared to be stuck in the ground.

There was a cracking noise, and I looked up. One of the giant trees had broken and was coming down. As my eyes projected its trajectory, I knew this was the moment. It was going to fall on her unless I stopped it.

Time seemed to slow down for me. She was no longer pulling on her boot and looked up as the huge tree fell towards her. It caught on another tree and stopped falling. I reached her at the same time.

"Quinn," I yelled. "Come on."

"My foot's stuck. Get out of here," she said, her face afraid and desperate. "We don't have to die together."

That was when I realized I loved her.

I felt something snap inside me. The feelings I had trapped behind my walls and refused to acknowledge came rushing out. I smiled at her, then glanced up at the tree precariously balanced on a tiny branch of another tree.

I took her hands and leaned toward her. I knew my life was about to end. It didn't matter. Before I died, I would have the chance to tell her.

"Yes, Quinn. We do both have to die. I love you, and I can't live without you."

"What?" she said, not believing what I was saying.

"I love you," I said again. I leaned in and kissed her.

When the tree hit us, it was over quickly. I barely felt a thing.