Read Chapter 12: — MESSAGES FROM HOME

Helen Ward called her daughter eleven times on the first day of the city shutdown.

On the twelfth call, Lena answered.

“You turned around.”

It was not a question.

“Yes.”

“You were already at the highway.”

“Yes.”

“Your department did not order you back.”

“No.”

There was a long silence.

Then Helen exploded.

“You volunteered to stay in a locked city during a respiratory outbreak that you yourself told me was dangerous?”

Lena closed her eyes.

“Mom—”

“Do not ‘Mom’ me in that voice. I have been a dentist for thirty-seven years. I understand infection. I also understand my only child has apparently lost the survival instinct.”

Lena let her rage burn itself down.

Finally Helen’s voice changed.

“I am scared.”

That was worse than shouting.

“So am I,” Lena admitted.

The confession silenced them both.

“I don’t know how long this will last. I don’t know if I’ll get sick. I don’t know if we’re doing enough. But I know what it would feel like to sit at home watching everyone else do my job.”

Helen cried quietly.

“You sound like your father.”

Lena almost laughed.

“That is the cruelest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know.”

The next day a courier left three containers of soup at the hospital staff entrance, labelled for Respiratory Medicine.

No sender.

Lena recognized her mother’s handwriting on the masking tape.

Helen had found a transport company still delivering medical supplies between cities and bribed a driver with enough food to feed his family too.

The soup tasted like childhood.

Lena ate it sitting on the floor of a staff room beside Adrian.

“My mother is furious with me,” she said.

“She sent soup.”

“That is how she weaponizes love.”

“Effective.”

He took another spoonful.

“Very effective.”