Elixir (Red Plague #1) (Red Plague Trilogy) by Anna Abner

tested my knee. It was starting to hurt again, but the scrapes on my arms and ankles felt much better. I pushed my leggings down and shook blood back into my feet.
    I hadn’t arrived at the truck stop with much. I unzipped my bag and double-checked its contents. Before I left I needed to re-pack. Out there on the road a first aid kit would be crucial. And I could use a hat or a pair of nice sunglasses. Plus a couple lighters to make fire. A can opener. Lip balm…
    But I had to have water. As much clean water as I could carry.
    I swung my backpack off the ground, slipped it onto my shoulders, and hooked my sword through a belt loop. My worldly possessions had been reduced to what I could carry in my hands, and the thought devastated me. Maybe Hunny wasn’t so crazy after all. I wanted all the things that had once made me happy, too.
    I found a slit in the tabletop over the front window and stared at the eerily still parking lot beyond.
    Not that long ago the commercial property had been a noisy, crowded stop for tourists and truckers. If I concentrated I could pick up faint remnants of bacon grease, grilled ground beef, and barbeque sauce. The truck stop’s managers had probably played music, too. Popular, catchy songs with upbeat melodies. The gas pumps would’ve been running nonstop, and the clerk would’ve been swiping credit cards all day through the cash register while truckers and tourists ambled along the aisles.
    Now the unrelenting humid heat of late spring made everything smell stale and slightly rotten. With no background noise except the wind and the birds, every sound, from a footstep to an insect crossing the floor, was amplified. And everything that had been so important a couple months ago lay abandoned and quiet and forgotten.
    I had to start over. With my dad’s elixir, I had to create a new world for the living. For people like Ben and the countless other lost souls wandering the earth. Because I might be the only person left who could.
    “Going somewhere?”

Chapter Nine
    I spun from the boarded up window and found Pollard, flanked by Russell and Simone, waiting expectantly for an answer. Hunny ran over, shoved a bottle of warm Sprite into my hands, and—opportunist that she was—flung her arms around Pollard’s waist. He patted her back once, and then forced her off. She didn’t wander far, though.
    Going somewhere? Absolutely . As quickly as possible. “Yes. Raleigh.” If I didn’t leave soon I was afraid I never would.
    “Bad idea,” Russell said, slouching into a booth. “It’s crawling with Reds.”
    “We’re safer here,” Simone said. “We’re protected.”
    “I know, but—”
    Pollard spoke over me. “You’re hurt. Wait a day or two until you’re stronger. If you go out there now you’ll be like a wounded kitten in front of a pack of wild dogs.”
    “Nice imagery.” I put weight on my right knee and winced. I didn’t want to stay and get stuck, but I wasn’t suicidal, either.
    “You can sleep here tonight,” Pollard continued. “Eat. Rest. Take whatever you need.”
    The truth was I was hungry and dehydrated. The cuts on my arms and legs stung. My sprained knee throbbed. And Hunny still hadn’t brushed her hair. A decent meal and a good night’s sleep could make the difference between reaching my dad’s lab and failing.
    “Okay,” I conceded. “One night.”
    “Good.” Pollard exhaled. “Then let me show you around. Maybe I can convince you to stay longer.”
    Unless he had a 212R antiserum of his own tucked behind the cookie display, I couldn’t stay.
    He stretched out a hand, and it was on the tip of my tongue to say, No, thank you . I didn’t know anything about him except he was a wannabe soldier, a crap shot, and he grew up in Durham.
    But he stood there staring at me with soft blue eyes, looking young and kind. Normal. Safe. He’d kept his gun holstered. He’d fixed my cuts. He’d welcomed us into his makeshift fortress.
    “Sure.” I accepted