The Last Town on Earth. Thomas Mullen

And when his new family had moved to Commonwealth two years ago to start this bold experiment, he had quickly befriended Graham, who hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his own younger brothers until he met Philip.

      Graham, like many millworkers, had run away from his home too young, chased off by a drunk father with whom he had violently clashed one time too many. He had been about Philip’s age when he’d left his home in Kansas, and sometimes when he looked at Philip, he was amazed that he himself had been so headstrong, so foolish, to venture out into the world at such an overwhelmed age. Somehow he had survived, survived bloody strikes and stints in jail and fights with cops, and here he was, a foreman at a respectable mill. Though he had his own family to care for now, he liked teaching Philip the things he’d learned from his older brother, to hunt his first deer, catch his first fish, navigate the trails that cut through the endless forest.

      In truth, Graham didn’t feel so certain that the man in the automobile wouldn’t return, but the mere sound of his own calm voice was reassuring. This was why Graham had missed having younger brothers, he realized—they made you feel almost as strong as the image they looked up to.

      Philip and Graham’s first stint as guards, four days earlier, had been uneventful. They had stood there for the ten long hours, silent for stretches and chatting when the boredom became too great. Wondering aloud how long the flu would last, swapping stories of past illnesses and ailments. Philip had even proposed a small wager as to how long the quarantine would last, but Graham had lightly chastised him for being indelicate. Philip regretted the comment, felt young and stupid. But other than that the time had passed slowly, the sky gradually darkening, the mists descending from the formless clouds above, leaving the two watchmen damp and tired and longing for their warm homes, where they would have nothing interesting to share with their families over the supper table.

      “So how’s ‘class’ coming?” Graham asked, minutes or hours later.

      “Class is fine. Ask me anything you’d like to know about interest payments.”

      “I would like to know nothing at all, thank you very much.”

      Philip was Charles Worthy’s apprentice, being trained in the business side of the mill, bred for the same job that Charles himself had held in his father’s mill, the one he had disgustedly turned his back on only two years ago.

      “You honestly like sittin’ in a chair all day?” Graham asked.

      “Wouldn’t know what else to compare it to.”

      Philip wondered if Graham looked down on his desk work, but with his damaged body, Philip was a bad candidate for labor of a more physical nature. He gave a surreptitious glance at Graham’s missing finger, the one he’d lost in a mill accident some years ago, and figured his wasn’t such a bad lot to draw.

      Just the other day, Philip had helped calculate what the mill would save if it switched over from gang saws to band saws, whose thinner blades would mean losing less of the lumber to sawdust. It had been challenging work, but when he was finished, he felt he’d contributed something of value to the mill, and his father’s soft-spoken compliment was still ringing in his ears.

      “How’s your little girl doing?” Philip asked.

      “She’s great,” Graham said with a slight smile. “Been crawlin’ all over the house lately. Amelia’s gotta keep her eyes on her all the time now.”

      “How long till she talks?”

      “A few months yet, at least.”

      “How long till she chops down trees like her old man?”

      “Till hell freezes over.”

      “I don’t know,” Philip said, “she does look like a logger.”

      “How’s that?”

      Philip shrugged. “She drools a lot. Burps. Kinda smells sometimes.”

      Graham nodded, smirking.

      “So you get any sleep, or is she still up all night?”

      “I sleep when I can.”

      “Like when you’re out here standing guard.”

      “I was not asleep last time. I was resting my eyes and ignoring you. It’s an important skill a man develops after he has a wife and kid. Trust me on this.

      “Speaking of which,” Graham continued after a brief pause, looking at Philip from the corner of his eye, “I keep seeing you talking with that Metzger girl.”

      Philip shrugged unconvincingly. “She’s my sister’s friend.”

      “So how come I keep seeing you and her and no sister?”

      It took an extra second for Philip to come up with a retort. “What, a guy can’t talk to a girl?”

      Graham smiled. “Boy, I hope you’re less obvious with her than you are with me.”

      Minutes of silence had passed before they saw someone at the base of the hill.

      They saw him through the tree trunks first, hints of light brown and tan flashing every other second through that tangle of bark. Each of them stiffened, breath held, as they waited to see if a figure would emerge or if they had imagined it, if it was some trick of light.

      The figure turned the corner and looked up the hill, saw the town in the distance. Between him and the town stood Philip and Graham, though he seemed not to notice them.

      “You see that, too, right?” Philip asked.

      “I see it.”

      The figure started walking toward them.

      “Read the sign,” Graham quietly commanded the stranger. “Read the sign.”

      Indeed, after a couple of seconds, the figure reached the sign and stopped. Stopped for an unusually long time, as if he could barely read and there were one too many big words written there. Then the man looked up at them. Graham made sure his rifle was visible, standing up beside him, his hand under the barrel so that it was pointing away from him.

      Philip hadn’t looked at the sign in days yet he had memorized what it said.

      QUARANTINE ABSOLUTELY NO ENTRY ALLOWED! On Account of the Outbreak of INFLUENZA This Town Under Strict QUARANTINE. This Area Under Constant Watch of ARMED Guards. Neither STRANGER Nor FRIEND May Pass Beyond This Marker. May God Protect You.

      After reading the sign the man had some sort of brief spasm, one of his hands reaching to his face. Then he stepped up to the fallen tree and started climbing over it. It was an impressive tree, and it took him a moment to ascend its thick trunk. Then he was past it and walking toward them again.

      “He’s still coming,” Philip said helplessly, trying not to panic. He hurriedly rolled up the sleeves of Graham’s coat, wondering why he felt fidgety and nervous when Graham seemed to become even more still than usual.

      The man walked with a slight limp, wincing when he moved his right leg. It made his progress slower but somehow more definite. His clothes suggested a uniform of some kind, with stripes on one sleeve. As the man approached, Philip and Graham saw the back end of a rifle poking up over his right shoulder.

      He’s a soldier, Philip thought, confused.

      He was nearly halfway to them. No more than eighty yards away.

      “Stop right there!” Graham shouted. “This town is under quarantine! You can’t come any closer!”

      The man did as he was told. He had dark and uncombed hair that appeared somewhat longer than a typical soldier’s. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, and there was a piece of cloth tied around his right thigh, colored black from what might have been dried blood. His uniform was dirty all over the legs and was smeared with mud across parts of the chest.

      Then the soldier sneezed.

      “Please!”