The Hole — Chapter 3

A Novel of Supernatural Apocalypse

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“Why’d she do that?” Evajean asked.

Elliot drove at a good clip. The freeway was clearer than the local roads. Nobody traveled sick. Nobody traveled dead.

Elliot didn’t look at her. He didn’t respond. He saw the club in his hands and the woman’s blood.

“That woman.” must not have thought he knew who she was talking about. “The one who…” She fingered her ear. They’d patched it up, cleaning the wound with alcohol and Q-tips. It would heal fine. She didn’t need to worry about getting sick: the plague didn’t spread through fluids. Nobody knew how the plague spread.

“She was infected,” Elliot said.

“But they don’t get violent. At least not like that,” Evajean said. She paused. “Henry didn’t.”

“I don’t know,” Elliot said. “They did all kinds of other strange things. Maybe the infection causes different symptoms if they live a long time with it. Everyone I know died quickly. And they got pretty weird at the end.” Evajean nodded. Elliot said, “The way she moved. It was like Clarine before I — I had to tie her to a chair at the end, did you know that?”