The 40th Day (After the Cure Book 5) by Deirdre Gould

it. He set the barrow as far from the waste buckets as he could. A large crabapple tree grew just outside the fence, its old crooked limbs hanging over it and over Vincent. It would be a quiet spot, that much he could give them. It would smell sweet in the spring with plenty of blossoms and again in the fall as ripe fruit spilled onto the ground.
    Nonsense, Vincent thought. Just bodies. The mother and boy are gone. They don’t care what happens now. Just lumps waiting to turn back into dirt. Get it done. He chopped into the grass with a shovel and it released a gentle scent of growing and green. The ground was hard and stiff with years of unchecked grass growth, but soon Vincent broke through to softer earth and soon had a pit large enough. He carried them gently, mother first, then son, into the grave and then sat down on the edge to rest. Vincent looked up at the dark silo that towered over the Colony’s wall. He knew someone was watching the road from there, even if he couldn’t see them. He wondered who it was. He pulled the walkie-talkie from his pocket and turned it on. The click and sharp static startled him, even though he’d kept the volume low.
    “Anyone home?” he said quietly.
    “Vincent, is that you?” Henry’s voice crackled through the small speaker and Vincent smiled with relief.
    “Yeah, it’s me. I just needed someone to talk to.”
    “Are you okay? Have— have you noticed anything?”
    “I’m not sick. Not yet.” Vincent could almost feel the sigh of relief traveling through the small radio, though Henry didn’t transmit. “But the first one finally turned.”
    There was a long silence. “I know you wanted to believe he could do what he said, but— this isn’t a shock is it Vincent?”
    “No. I’ve been dreading it. It finally came.”
    “Does he realize what he’s done now? Is he ready to cooperate?”
    “No. He couldn’t face it. Days and days, he tried to cure them. He wouldn’t give up, I’ll give him that. He was exhausted at the end. He just collapsed. I— I took care of it.”
    “I’m so sorry.” Vincent swiped the back of his hand over his good eye. The radio crackled again. “I’m not supposed to tell you this. I don’t know who else can hear us, but I want you to know for sure that you did the right thing. We found a Cure dart. Someone cured the others, someone from the City. Some part of him knows it wasn’t a miracle. He and Gray both knew. He couldn’t do what you did, Vincent, because he’s a coward.”
    “It doesn’t make what I’ve done any better. The cardinal law, Henry. The one unforgivable thing. I’m damned.”
    “No, what you did was mercy.”
    “It was murder. It’s for God to decide life and death, not me.”
    “Maybe God did decide. Maybe he just used you to do it. Maybe He’s decided for all of us, but we can’t know. If you are damned, then we all are. There was no choice. There’s no return this time. Just madness and suffering and infecting others. Think of it as self-preservation. That’s allowed, right?”
    “I’m an evil person. It doesn’t matter how I justify it. I’ve done a terrible thing. And I can’t even repent, because I mean to go on doing it, when necessary.”
    “I’m coming down there. I can’t ask you to do this. We didn’t really think far enough ahead about what we were asking.”
    “No, Henry, I’ve accepted my role. There is no reason for you to become ill too or to share this burden. I just needed someone to talk to. I was just lonely.”
    “We’re missing you here too. I feel like I’ve lost my conscience. Like you were the voice of our better selves. I hate that you are there without a friend. Isn’t there anything I can do to help you? Sitting up here is driving me crazy.”
    Vincent took a deep shuddering breath and stood up on the edge of the pit. “I know you aren’t religious Henry, but knowing someone was praying for me, that my name still reached His ear, even after I turned away,