INFECtIOUS Read Online Free

sister, Theo. I don't know too many details, but I know
the zombies got his wife. Maybe even ate her. When he stumbled into Toccoa , still looking for his sister-in-law, he looked like
a man broken beyond repair. He didn't find Theo among us; but, as soon as he
set eyes on Aunty Coe at a U.R. meeting, he seemed to come back to life
overnight. Like I said, she is very pretty for her age.

 
    "I'm glad
that young man has found something to involve himself with."

 
    Oh yeah, mission
accomplished. She is miffed and on the defensive. Our positions reversed,
feeling triumphant, I push my case further.

 
    "He's not
young, Aunty." She has tried this argument on me before. "He's almost
as old as you are!" I swipe my long curly hair over my shoulder in front
of my face to hide my grin. I have what it takes to win this.

 
    "I don't
like your implication, Ivy. I'm not old."

 
    I risk another
sideways glance and get caught in her brilliant blue stare. I feign innocence
and chirp with my voice syrupy sweet, "Well then I don't see why you and young Chuck Fox won't get along
perfectly."

 
    "Ivy!"

 
    Lots of men have
tried to catch her attention but she never seems interested. When she first
took me in, I was a little kid and I thought old person romance was disgusting.
I remember cringing in embarrassment when men from the U.R. would flirt with
her or ask her to dinner. It's not that I don't want her to find someone—though
it does seem pretty pointless. Chuck seems to hope he has a chance. He has
settled down with our community and is helping with the children's program.
Good luck to him. She won't go easy.
     
    I hope I've won
myself a reprieve from the dating subject for the day. Aunty is as ready to
change the subject as I am. I think it's kind of weird that she keeps pushing
me towards a boy. Don't most parents want their teenage girls to hate boys? I'm
like the ideal teenager in that department. She should be thrilled, not trying
to fix me up.

 
    For the rest of
the drive we chat with an ease I thought we had lost and I find myself enjoying
our time together. We discuss the spring cleaning that needs to be done at the
Inn and Aunty offers to help with a lot of it. I suspect that she's trying to
make up for the Tim conversation by buttering me up and offering to help with
more than her share, but I'll take it. We chitchat with typical feminine
anticipation about what we hope to find in the stores today. We will both be
picking up extra things for the other women and girls of our community. We'll
grab some things for the guys too, if we have room and a little luck. Aunty is
hoping to bring home a lot of "sensible shoes." Sensible is almost
always synonymous with ugly. All of a sudden, I'm glad I came. I'll get to pick
out my own new tennis shoes. The less sensible the better. It's all starting to feel worth the risks.

 
    I look out the
window as we talk and take in the scenery that I so rarely get to see. We are
driving windy back roads in old farm country. Though the grass is brown and the
woods are bare, the countryside is still pretty and refreshing. Aunty and I
exclaim with delight and she slows to a crawl when we see herds of deer peeking
at us from overgrown fields. They don't dart away in fear, so unaccustomed to
human beings now, but instead stand regally and look back at us as we drift by.

 
    The sun is
climbing over the distant hills of the Appalachian mountains and we ride in comfortable silence as we enjoy the beauty of God's creation.
People may have gotten messed up, but the sky and the mountains and the bare
winter trees that will soon burst with spring blooms still display the glory of
their Creator.

 
    We don't pass
any other cars this morning as we head towards Commerce, Georgia—half an hour
Southeast of Toccoa . Though Commerce was once a
thriving destination with an outlet mall, it is now an abandoned ghost town. No
shipments, no zombies. That's why it's always been a pretty safe