Immune-ish

Chapter Fifteen

EVA:

This is so romantic. It's too romantic, and not just because it's Xander. I almost killed him.

And now he's up to something.

After we've sat in silence just staring at the sky for forever, Xander asks, "Why aren't I a corpse? Or even like you?" The anger has vanished from his voice.

This takes me by surprise. I'm just as confused by it as he is. How would I know the answers? "I don't know," I say.

"And why are you like that?"

"I don't know."

"I guess you're immune," he says.

"-ish," I add without thinking.

He chuckles without irritation. "Yep. Immune-ish."

I wait for him to say something, but he doesn't so I take the chance. "I'm really sorry, Xander. I had no clue that would happen. I didn't mean to put you in danger."

He sighs and stares at me. "It's okay," he says with a tight smile. "I'm not dead."

I want to cry again, but every time I do, Xander acts weird about it. It's like he doesn't know how to deal with emotions. "But your leg."

"It's fine. I'll heal."

"But what if you don't?"

"But I will." He looks away from the forest. "It's going to be okay." He seems to be growing impatient with me.

"But-"

"Just let it go, Eva!" he shouts, cutting me off. "Can we please just stop talking about it?! I get that you're sorry, but just shut up!" He looks at me with wildly sad eyes. "Please?"

"Okay," I whisper, scared. "I'll shut up about it."

Xander looks at me again and his eyes soften. "I'm sorry." He sounds uncertain. "I just really don't want to be a corpse."

I can't stand how secretive he has been for the day I've known him. I like to know about people. "Why not?" I ask. "I get that you have Chloe to keep . . . not dead, but what's keeping you from being a 'corpse'? Why do you want to live so badly when everyone else has lost hope?" Even me, I want to add, but there's a time and place for everything.

He seems torn. Something's bugging him and I really hope he's going to tell me. "Look," he begins with a sigh, "I'm going to tell you something that I haven't told anyone before." He sighs again. "And please just let me tell the story without any interruptions. If I stop, I don't think I'll be able to continue."

I nod, too nervous and intrigued to speak.

"Okay." He takes a deep breath. "Our town knew exactly when the plague began. And somehow, we were prepared. We had our fences up within two days, our defenses ready within a week. We didn't know exactly what we were facing, but that didn't matter. We stood a fighting chance.

"For four years, we fought and never lost a battle. In four years, there had only been one infection. We were beating it! Those corpses had never stood a chance! They came with all they had. And although that was true, we were successfully beating it!"