Read Chapter 13: — BEN COMES BACK

Ben did not leave Lakeshore.

His father’s flight was cancelled after the airport closure advanced by two hours. For the first time in his life, money failed to move fast enough.

At first he treated the shutdown as an inconvenience. He stocked wine, food, bottled water, and enough entertainment to survive a month. His friends created a group chat full of jokes about the apocalypse.

Three days later, Claire Palmer developed a fever.

Then two men from the birthday party did.

Then Ben woke at four in the morning shivering hard enough to rattle his teeth.

He did not tell Lena.

Pride lasted until breathing became difficult.

By the time he reached the fever clinic, alone and frightened, he was moving slowly and trying not to look frightened.

Lena saw his name on the chart before she saw him.

For several seconds she simply stared.

Then she became his doctor.

“How long have you had fever?”

“Five days.”

“Cough?”

“Four.”

“Shortness of breath?”

“Since yesterday.”

“Anyone with you?”

He laughed once without humour.

“My friends stopped answering when I told them I was sick.”

Something softened in her, but not into love.

His CT showed bilateral ground-glass opacities. His first molecular test was negative.

“This can still be the virus,” Lena explained. “Testing is not perfect, especially depending on timing and sample quality.”

“So I’m sick enough to look infected but not infected enough to be official?”

“That is one way to say it.”

He looked at her over the top of his mask.

“You warned me.”

Lena did not answer.

“You told me not to hold the party.”

“I’m not interested in winning that argument.”

“I am.”

His eyes filled.

“I was an idiot.”

“We’ll worry about character development after we get your oxygen up.”

He gave a weak laugh.

For the first time, Ben understood that her calm had never meant indifference. It was discipline.