No Easy Hope - 01 by James Cook

out for her. Everything Gabriel had told me a year ago, and everything he told me that day. I left out the part about the two hidden shelters, not to mention all the illegal weapons I bought. When I finished, she nodded slowly and didn’t say anything for a while. She turned her head and stared out the kitchen window.
    “You know, if I hadn’t spent most of today watching what’s going on in Atlanta, I would have told you that Gabriel is a fucking lunatic. I would have told you that you should stop talking to that guy, and ask him to stay away from you. After what I’ve seen today...I don’t know. Maybe he’s on to something. It would certainly explain why he went up into the mountains to live by himself.”
    She drummed her fingernails on the tabletop and stared thoughtfully out the window, her delicate chin resting on one hand. She stood up from the chair, walked over to me, and gave me a peck on the cheek.
    “I’m going to go home and call my parents. I’ll tell them what you told me, and see if I can get them to believe it. Give me a call tomorrow, okay?” she said.
    “Vanessa, I think it would be better if you stayed here with me. If Gabe is right, then this thing is going to spread fast. It could reach Charlotte in a couple of days. You’d be a lot safer here with me.”
    Vanessa looked down for a moment. When she turned her face back up to me, her beautiful green eyes were sad. She laid one cool hand against the side of my face.
    “Eric, you are a really, really nice guy, and I like you a lot. If this thing is everything that you and Gabriel seem to think it is, then I should probably go and be with my family right now.”
    She took her hand from my face and walked back to the living room. I followed her until she stopped by the foyer table to pick up her purse. She opened the door turned around to me.
    “Don’t forget to call me tomorrow, okay?” she said.
    “I won’t.” I replied.
    She walked out the door and got into her car. If I had known then that it was the last time I would ever see her alive, I might have tried to come up with something more thoughtful to say. Instead, I just stood there and watched her back out of the driveway. I shut the door behind me as I went inside.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
     
    Watching, Waiting, and Worrying
     
     
     
     
     
    After Vanessa left, I went back in the house and sat down on the living room couch. The room smelled like vomit and all-purpose cleaner. I picked up the phone and called Gabriel.
    “How’d it go?” he asked.
    “Shitty.” I replied. “She left a few seconds ago. Said she needed to be with her family.”
    “How much did you tell her?”
    “All of it, pretty much. Except the part about the shelter.”
    “Good. I don’t think it would be a good idea to tell her about that.”
    “You know, I’m starting to think you might have been right about her. The way she reacted to what I told her, and the way she said goodbye...It was weird. It was like she became a different person, like flipping a switch or something.”
    “She doesn’t care about you, Eric, not like you deserve. I know she’s a looker, but looks ain’t everything, friend. Besides, we got more important things to worry about right now. What do you plan on doing next?”
    “I’m going to take a few laps around the house and see if there is anything that I missed. I haven’t decided if I’m staying in the house or the shelter tonight.”
    “My vote is for the shelter,” Gabe said, “better safe than sorry. That’s what I’ll be doing.”
    “Yeah, not a bad idea.” I replied. “I’m going to watch the news and try to keep track of what’s going on down in Georgia. Hopefully the authorities can get a handle on this thing before it gets out of control.”
    “It’s already out of control. There are too many infected to contain as it is, and I have a feeling that what we’re seeing now is only the beginning. If you get the chance