Eighteen
sadie
“My phone’s dead,” I said from my reclined position on the couch. I’d been out of it for days, so it shouldn’t have surprised me, but I still hadn’t wrapped my mind around losing that much time. “Is my charger here?”
“No,” Theo said as he approached, “but it wouldn’t have made a difference, anyway.”
I tucked my phone beside me and shimmied into an upright position, taking the fork and steaming bowl of pasta he handed to me. “Thanks,” I said, frowning. “Why? What happened?”
“Phone lines are down.” He sank into the armchair facing me and relaxed against the backrest. “Coverage has been dropping in and out, staying off for longer each time,” he said. “Electricity, too. The power only came back on an hour before you woke up.”
When Theo was cooking, the aromas filling his apartment had my stomach growling, but my appetite hadn’t returned yet, and I had to force myself to take a bite.
“I don’t know what to do,” I said, my pulse quickening as I swallowed.
“My sister's supposed to be on a flight in a couple of days. She might've found out where she's touching down by now, but—” I drew a long breath, releasing it slowly. It wouldn’t help anyone if I started spiralling. “I can’t find out where or when without my phone.”
Theo rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “Sydney,” he said, his voice low.
I licked a smear of sauce from my lip. “Sorry?”
“She's landing in Sydney in two days,” he said. “A message came through, I saw it was her and unlocked your phone with Face ID.”
My fork froze in the process of scooping up more pasta. “Wait—you talked to her? With my face?”
He’d seen me naked and bathed me, and this was the part that bothered me.
Theo ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. “More texted than talked,” he said. “I wasn’t sure you’d get another chance, so I took it while I could. I didn’t look at anything. Just texted enough to get the details you needed.”
Relief warred with unease. In normal times, having him access my phone with my sleeping face would have been cause for alarm, but none of the old rules applied anymore—and if he hadn’t done it, I’d never have known Ava’s location.
After a long silence, I rolled my shoulders and loosened the tension vibrating through me. “Thanks. At least I know she’s alive, and where she'll end up.”
She’d be an eight-hour drive from home, though. Domestic flights were reserved for government officials, and I doubted rental cars were an option anymore. I couldn’t begin to think how she’d make it back here.
“How did she sound in her messages?” I asked. “Was she stressed?”
“Hard to tell. We didn’t text for long.”
“Did you mention I was sick?”
He nodded, keeping close watch on me.
“Did you tell her I was getting better? Please tell me she's not going to board a flight thinking I'm dying.”
Theo paused and stared at the rain-drenched living room window. “I didn’t want to lie to her,” he said, locking eyes with me again. “I just told her you were hanging in there.”
I nibbled on my lower lip, torn between wishing he’d lied and being thankful he hadn’t given her false hope.
My fingers clutched the fork handle tight, and I heard my mum’s voice telling me to breathe and reset.
I’d made it through the illness. My sister would be back in the country soon, and we’d be reunited in a matter of days. If anyone could find their way home when options were limited, it was Ava—especially if she thought I was on the verge of dying.
“It’s okay,” I said, my voice breaking. I dropped the fork and steadied the bowl with both hands. “You’ve done so much for me. I’m just… this is hard. I don’t feel like myself, and I think I should just go home.”
“Here, I’ll take that.” Theo pushed off the armchair and relieved me of my food, setting it on the coffee table out of danger. He crouched beside me, resting his hand on my forearm. “Do you want to go home?”
The pressure of his hand anchored me, his warmth penetrating my sleeve. My attention bounced from his eyes to his mouth and back again. His presence brought me comfort, and I’d grown so used to his company that the idea of solitude had lost its appeal.
Instead of nodding like I originally intended, I surprised myself by shaking my head.
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “I don’t want you to go either.”
He rose and lifted the edge of the blanket, encouraging me to lie down again. Without a word of protest, I resumed my previous position and let him tuck me in.
“If you’re staying overnight,” he said, “I’ll take the couch from now on. Do you want to try eating more now or later?”
He’d spoon-feed me if necessary. There were no limits with this man.
“Later.” I reached around him and grabbed the remote from the coffee table. “I want to catch up on the news. You haven’t said a word about the virus, or anything else that’s happened in the building. I’m finding the silence suspicious.”
Theo took the remote off me and wandered to the other end of the couch, lifting my ankles as he sank down onto the cushion.
“I didn’t want to dump everything on you the second you opened your eyes.
” He rested my feet in his lap and turned on the TV, wrapping his hand around my foot.
“Seemed like enough just bringing you up to date on your sister.”
“I can handle more. Did you find anything good in the empty apartments?”
He slid me a sidelong glance and pressed his thumb into my arch. I gasped, and a small smile played on his lips. “We haven't been through them yet,” he said. “It slipped by the wayside with everything else going on.”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s been happening?”
He started off with Dustin, carefully explaining the surveillance and stolen underwear, as if he didn’t want to upset me. My blood chilled, and my eyes darted around the room, searching for more hidden cameras even after he’d assured me we were safe.
When he mentioned the articles about missing or murdered women taped on Dustin’s bedroom wall, I shuddered and remembered all the times I’d gone up to the rooftop only to have him appear minutes later.
He’d been watching me. Waiting for me to leave my apartment.
“Who knows what could have happened if you hadn’t got hold of the keys,” I said.
Theo regarded me, his expression serious. “We still don’t know what he’s capable of. We only found out what he’s done, not what he’s planning.”
A shiver stole down my spine. What if he tried something? I was in no condition to defend myself. “Where is he?”
“Still here. He’s been told not to come upstairs—and the others have broken his door, so he can’t lock us out anymore.”
“That’s something. He deserves so much more.”
Theo stared at the TV, lost somewhere in his thoughts. “We’re working on it.”
“What else don’t I know?”
“Ultimus symptoms are changing again,” he said quietly. “Rage is the latest one. The rioting you saw before you got sick reached other areas. Not just here, but all over the world.”
I closed my eyes and digested the information, remembering how calm Brynn had been just before she died. That was less than a week ago. My pulse thundered, and a strange feeling swirled in the pit of my stomach.
“Look.” Theo squeezed my foot and nodded at the TV.
I opened my eyes just as another Breaking News banner stretched across the bottom of the screen, the anchor crossing to a man in full PPE standing outside the newly established Australian CDC in Canberra. The reporter spoke in a solemn tone as he dropped one bomb after another.
Infection rates skyrocketing. Incubation period shortening to what amounted to half a day. Symptoms so ferocious they could take victims within hours.
“Did I just scrape through before it took a turn?” I asked, my chest suddenly tight.
“Try not to think about it.”
Theo’s foot massage did little to take the edge off my tension. The report switched to infection rates from around the world, but the virus was moving too fast to accurately track numbers.
The relief of knowing Ava was almost back on home soil hit me, followed by the realisation that she’d have to dodge riots and more and more sick people on her way south.
Another thought occurred to me, and my gaze snapped in Theo’s direction. “What about the roadblocks? Are they still in place?”
“Some of them are holding, but they’re fighting a losing battle,” he said. “People are losing their shit and going wherever they want now—and before you say it, don’t. I’m not leaving. Not yet.”
I wouldn’t waste my time arguing with him. He’d made his stance clear more than once. “Did you talk to your dad or sister before the phones died? Is the Internet down, too?”
“There’s no Wi-Fi,” he confirmed. “Last I heard, Mia was heading to the farm with Ruby. They’re holing up together until all this blows over—however long that takes.”
It could be years. A chill swept over me when I let myself feel the truth. We might never come back from the devastation.
“You’ll be less worried about them knowing they’re all in one place,” I said, coughing into the crook of my elbow.
He nodded thoughtfully, his thumb tracing slow circles over my sock. The silence stretched on as we stared mindlessly at the television, and when he finally spoke again, his voice was softer, more intimate. “When I leave… what are my chances of convincing you to come with me?”
His question had the impact of a physical blow, and I almost shot upright, wondering if I’d heard him correctly. “Me?”
He gave me a sideways glance and a vague smile. “Why so surprised?”
Because his tone may have come off casual, but his question was anything but.
He’d invited me into his life—to stay there indefinitely.
My skin flooded with heat, and I scrambled for an answer.
“I can’t leave,” I said as a thousand thoughts crowded my mind.
Travel, sleeping arrangements, what it would mean for us as friends, or more. “You know why.”
Theo went back to watching TV. “That’s not why your face is turning red.”
My stomach dipped, and I draped an arm over my forehead. Going from near death to feeling more alive than I had in a decade left my head spinning. “It’s the fever.”
“Your fever broke overnight,” he said without looking at me.
So calm and composed. Just a harmless conversation with a friend… only it didn’t feel that way at all. My face throbbed, and a reckless feeling sped through me. Not trusting myself to speak, I lay still and waited for my pulse to slow.
He squeezed my foot and smiled a little, keeping his attention on the news. “Why don’t I check in with you again when your sister’s home and you’re feeling better?”
A long breath left me. Theo must have heard the way it trembled because he bit into his lower lip to contain a bigger smile.
My whole body sparked to life with a rush of energy, and I shifted against the cushions, restless and confused. “I don’t know what you’re doing,” I said, unsure if I was frustrated or aroused, “but stop it right now.”
He tipped his head back against the couch and let out a low laugh. “I’m not doing anything.”
The sound of his deep male laughter made my skin prickle. “My defences are down. I’m not equipped to deal with the likes of you.” I let the silence hover for a moment, and as soon as it felt safe to speak again, I said, “When you asked me to leave, you just meant me, right?”
Theo nodded. “Unless the others want to come with us. If they do, we’ll make room.”
I rubbed my hands down my face as fatigue washed over me again. I hadn’t been awake for this long in days. “Laura has a sister with some type of farm set-up. Horses, I think. She was considering going there.”
Theo trailed his fingertips along the top of my foot. “What about Tim and Varesh?”
We hadn’t talked about where they’d go—or if they’d leave at all. Varesh’s entire family lived in India. Tim’s loved ones were thousands of kilometres away in Queensland. “They might come with us, but like I said, I’m stuck here indefinitely.”
I wouldn’t go anywhere until I had confirmation Ava was safe, which meant seeing her with my own eyes.
“I’ll wait a few more days.”
I coughed again as tiredness came for me. “You could always leave me directions to your dad’s farm, and I’ll follow once Ava gets back.”
It wasn’t the craziest idea. My car was undriveable, but I could easily take one of the vehicles left behind by a resident who’d passed.
Theo watched me struggle with exhaustion, running his palm up and down my shin. “You’re tired," he said. "We’ll talk more later.”
I let out a heavy sigh. Just a few hours, and I'd feel stronger. “Okay. I’ll take a short nap.”
Theo patted the top of my foot and slipped out from under my legs. “See you soon.”
As sleep took hold of me, my last thoughts were of the challenges Ava might encounter on her way home… and the intensity in Theo’s eyes promising a different type of danger.