The Silent Invasion: The Change Trilogy Book 1

Part 4

'No,' she said, starting toward William and Gracie. 'Gracie!'

Tim grabbed her arm. 'Vanessa! Stop!' Still clutching Caspar to her chest, Vanessa let Tim draw her back. Lizzie placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in, saying something I couldn't hear. At first Vanessa shook her head, but then Lizzie put an arm around her and with a small nod Vanessa allowed herself to be ushered back into the house.

'We've got to get her inside until Quarantine arrive,' William said. 'It's not safe out here.'

Tim didn't answer immediately, just stood, staring at Gracie.

'Tim?' William said.

'Are you certain?' Tim asked. 'It's not a mistake?'

'No,' William said. 'And even if it is, Quarantine can sort it out. For now we need to get her somewhere safe.'

Tim nodded. 'Bring her inside and put her in her room.'

Above us Lizzie had reappeared at the door. 'Take Callie to our place,' he said as she came toward us. 'She can wait there.'

'No,' I said. 'I want to be with Gracie.'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' William said.

'Please,' I said, my voice rising. 'I have to!'

Lizzie took my arm, her grip firm. 'Stop this, Callie,' she said. 'There's nothing you can do.'

'No,' I said, shaking my head. 'They can't take her. It's not fair! It's not fair.' But even as I said it something in me yielded to Lizzie's grip, to her attempt to pull me away. The last thing I saw was William watching me, his face not hard, or angry, but sad.

***

Lizzie sat me down on the couch. I hadn't been in her and William's house before and I couldn't help but notice how temporary it seemed, furniture strewn here and there, boxes in the corners. I suppose it shouldn't have surprised me: after all, so many people were on the move, running from the Change or trying to forget people they had lost.

Lizzie disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. 'Here,' she said, handing it to me, careful to keep her distance. There was no reason to think I was infected as well, and even if I was I wouldn't be infectious, but that didn't change how jumpy people got whenever there was an outbreak. I took the glass without speaking. She looked down at me with what I suppose was compassion.

'I need to know I can trust you not to do anything stupid if I leave you here.'

I nodded. 'Okay.'

'Are you certain? We've got trouble outside and I need to be there.'

'Whatever you say,' I said, more sharply this time.

Lizzie stood watching me. 'Good,' she said, then turned back to the door.

'And Callie?'

'What?'

'I can't imagine what you're going through.'

Once she was gone I sat on the couch for a long time. I'd known since I saw the signs of the Change yesterday afternoon that this was how it would end, but now I was here it seemed impossible to bear. Nobody liked to talk about it but we all knew what happened to the people Quarantine took. When it wasn't us, when it wasn't somebody we knew, somebody we loved, it was possible not to think about it, or to tell ourselves it was what we needed to do to survive, but now it was Gracie I wasn't sure I believed that any more.

Outside somebody shouted William's name, the sound jolting me back into the moment. Because we were a little way out of the city we didn't tend to get too much trouble, but most weeks there was some kind of break-in or incident. Usually they were just people from up north looking for somewhere to sleep or something to eat, but sometimes they got ugly. I knew Tim thought we needed to be harder about it all, that a few shots in the air never hurt, so I was glad he wasn't out there tonight. After a while I realised I was still holding my glass; leaning over I put it down, but as I did I received a call. I picked up and Vanessa started speaking without even drawing breath.

'When did it happen, Callie? When did you notice?'

'Yesterday,' I said.

'And you let her stay here? With Caspar?'

I didn't answer.

'He could have caught it.'

'It's not contagious, not like that. You know that.'

'Perhaps not in adults, but who knows with babies. And anyway, what if Quarantine found out? We could have been arrested.' She paused.

'Is she still there?' I asked abruptly. 'Is she okay?'

'Yes,' Vanessa said, her voice faltering. 'Yes. Oh God, Callie, they're going to take her away.'

I nodded, tears coming again. 'I want to see her.'

She sniffed. 'No,' she said. 'It's not safe.'

'Please. I have to,' I said, but before I could continue Tim's voice appeared on the line. 'Just stay there, Callie,' he said.

'There's nothing to be done.'

Then the line went dead and I was alone.

***

The thing they don't tell you about grief is that no matter how bad the shock is, the part that comes afterwards, when you face the idea of life without the person you have lost, is worse, because it's then that you're most alone. Sometimes I think that time never ends, that you're never without that empty space inside you, but either way, I'm not sure I could have made it through the weeks and months after Dad Changed if it hadn't been for Claire.

Claire was my father's oldest friend. They had met when he first came to Australia from Nigeria to do his doctorate, and at first both had simply been pleased to discover somebody with similar interests, and a shared fascination with speculative biology. But over the years they had become friends, then colleagues, and even, for a year or two when I was five or six, lovers. That hadn't worked out but they had, perhaps surprisingly, remained close, even after he met Vanessa. Losing Dad must have been hard for Claire as well, but she never showed it. Right from the beginning she kept dropping in, helping me get to school, doing what needed to be done.

What was great about Claire was the fact she didn't seem to think I was crazy for being so angry, or for not wanting to accept he was gone. 'It isn't fair,' she said. 'Any of it. Not for you, not for him, not for anyone.'

One day I asked her something. We'd been somewhere together – the park, I think – and we were walking back to Vanessa's apartment. 'Why couldn't we have just gone somewhere and hidden?' I asked.

Claire touched my head, smoothing down my hair.

'Because they'd find you,' she said.

'No matter where we went?'

She nodded, and then she looked away. One of the other things I liked about Claire was the way she treated me like an equal instead of a kid.

Sensing her hesitation I looked up. 'So there is somewhere we could have gone?'

She looked at me. 'Some people run, Callie, try to make it to the Zone.'

It wasn't the first time I'd heard of people running, heading north toward the Exclusion Zone that lay beyond what was once the Queensland border in an attempt to escape capture. It made sense, after all; although the exclusion zones that circled the world's equatorial and sub-tropical regions had been established to keep the rest of us safe by containing the Change, isolating its biology from the rest of the planet, they also offered a place of potential refuge.

'Would he have been safe there?'

Claire shook her head. 'I don't know.'

'Then why do it?'

She shrugged. 'Because Quarantine won't follow you there. Because it's better than being dead. Because when you've got no other options even the worst option begins to look good.'

Seated there on William and Lizzie's couch I found myself remembering Claire's words. And as I did I knew what I had to do.

[MORE TO COME]