End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle by Lara Frater Page B

voice low and shaky. “But maybe I should go in the spring.” I knew Keith was terrified. We couldn’t let him go out on his own.
                  “I ain’t gonna stop you from going but I don’t want you to think we drove you out. You can stay but there are rules. Ain’t no facebook or internet to check you out. Easy to hide your identity now. Make up a story and stick to it. You make sure you memorize your new life. You don’t slip up. You don’t come with us when we look for Aisha. Beside I don’t like innocent people getting’ killed. Kind of pisses me off.”
                  Keith didn’t say anything.
                  “You got it, Keith. You always careful. Don’t fuck up. If you fuck up, the hunters will be the least of your problems.”
                  “Okay.”
                  “Just so you know, your special status means you gotta do those universal precautions.” She said sounding out the words. “You can’t have sex. I won’t even recommend it with a condom. Rachel passed it no problem. Right now only us three will know. I trust my people and I hate keeping secrets from them, but the more people know the more of a chance it gets out. Got it?”
                  Keith didn’t say anything. He looked at me then back to Tanya.
                  “Got it, Keith? I ain’t playing.”
                  “I got it,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. 
                  “Another thing, someone figures you’re a carrier and they hurt my people, it’s their fault. You do something to hurt my crew, open your mouth and the wrong person finds out, it’s your fault,” she looked at me. “Same thing for you, Annemarie. Open your mouth, there will be consequences.”
                  I didn’t ask what those consequences would be.
     
    On Christmas Eve the air had turned ice cold but stayed dry, no white Christmas. We stuck to our rationed heat and bathing water. It hadn’t rained enough for washing and showers got cut to two a week for two minutes. The ship began to stink of body odor but after a while I got used to the smell.
    Christmas Eve came with no fanfare, no parties, no music, no services. On Christmas Eve after dinner of spam, rice, and beans, Dave, Jim and I sat at the table reminiscing about Abe. It hadn’t been planned but it was anniversary of his death and we all wondered if things would have been different if Abe was still alive.
    Tanya got up and left when Abe’s name came up. Mike left claiming the kids wanted to play monopoly.
    Dave and I were the only ones still around from the first group at Costking. Everyone but Ashley had died and I strongly suspected Ashley never made it out to California, though I hoped she did.
                  Dave made Abe a martyr. I had mixed feelings. He wasn’t perfect. He saved Mindy, but he made that rule about the old folks that I hated. It wasn’t like we could do anything in case of life threatening diseases except to let them die with some peace.
                  “I never knew why he did it,” Jim said. He had a hot cocoa in front of him. I also had cocoa. Both Jim and I had a shot of brandy in it, but Dave refused. I had never seen him drink which was weird because I could see him as the beer kind of guy. Instead he drank black coffee. I had two snorts before putting some more in the cocoa. Getting drunk was my plan for the evening. Second Christmas without parents or boyfriend.
                  “He couldn’t deal,” Dave said. “It was too much of a burden. We should have tried to lift it from him.”
                  No one could deal. What made Abe so special?
                  I heard someone coming from downstairs and saw that it was Grace. She looked dressed to go out.              
                  “Hi, Grace,” I said. She