Chapter 1

The government car finally bumped onto the familiar dirt track leading to Havenwood, Alex Miller' s hometown.

Three years.

Three years since he' d last seen this place, since he' d volunteered for the front lines against the Crimson Flu.

He remembered the chaos, the fear, the endless shifts as a National Guard medic.

Then the research labs, his blood, the impossible hope turning real.

A vaccine.

He' d helped make it. Now, Dr. Peterson from HHS, sitting beside him, said a medal was waiting. The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Alex just wanted to see Sarah, his wife.

Hold her.

Tell her he was alive, that the nightmare was ending.

The car stopped. Home.

He stepped out, his heart pounding a strange rhythm against his ribs.

Sarah stood on the porch.

Her eyes widened, not with joy, but with something that looked like pure terror.

"Alex?" she whispered, her voice a thin, reedy sound.

He smiled, relief washing over him, "Sarah, it's me."

He started forward.

"Stay back!"

The shout came from the doorway. His older brother, Mark, stepped out, a hunting rifle cradled in his arms.

His parents, John and Mary, appeared behind Mark, their faces pale, eyes wide with the same fear he saw in Sarah's.

"Mark, what are you doing?" Alex asked, confused.

"You can't be here," his father, John, said, his voice trembling. "You're infected."

"Infected? Dad, I'm immune. That's why I'm here. My antibodies..."

"Lies!" Mark spat. "We heard what happened to people in the hot zones. You' ve been gone three years. You' re not Alex, not anymore."

Sarah backed away further, one hand protectively on her stomach.

Alex' s gaze fixed on her.

Her stomach. Visibly round. Pregnant.

His mind, still reeling from the hostile welcome, struggled to process. Three years. He' d been gone three years.

That wasn't his child.