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pharmacy?”
    That seemed like an odd question.
    Rachel answered, “We got everything we needed at the pharmacy.”
    Tension seemed to disappear instantly on the other boat. Rifles lowered and the engine revved to bring it toward us.
    Rachel looked up at me, “A code phrase.”
    Bill hissed, “Don’t tell them that!”
    “Bill, be quiet.”
    “We can’t trust them.”
    Rachel nodded her head toward Murphy. “What part of ‘he’s my brother’ don’t you get?”
    Murphy grinned, “Yeah, hillbilly.”
    Bill shot Murphy a dirty look. The other boat floated up beside us. The people on board saw mine and Murphy’s white skin. That made them nervous. Rachel stood up. “Gretchen.”
    Gretchen, an Amazonian goddess of a woman stood up, taller than any of her men. “We saw that you were coming back with more people than you left with. That’s why we came out to meet you.”
    “Of course,” Rachel answered.
    Bill stood up, unable to contain his anger over the situation anymore. “They’re infected. They’re both infected.”
    “Shut up, Bill.” Rachel, nearly as tall as Murphy and muscular for a woman, looked ready to make sure that he did.
    Bill looked back at Rachel.
    Rachel said, “Bill, I’m in charge. You know how we do things. Now stop being a stupid ass.”
    Bill dropped to his seat, muttering, “They’re going to infect us all.”
    The guys on the other boat were getting a little nervous with their rifles.
    I called across, “We’re Slow Burns. We got the virus, but we’re okay. We got better. We’re normal.”
    “Normal?” Gretchen smiled broadly. “Were you always an albino?”
    “Mostly normal,” I answered.
    Rachel looked at me with an expression that made it clear that she was indeed in charge and that I should let her do the talking. After that, Rachel conveyed the story about what transpired in the cove, emphasizing that Murphy was indeed her brother.
    When Rachel finished her story, Gretchen thanked both Murphy and me for what we’d done. “Here’s the way it works here. I’m in charge. I’ve got some people who help me. Rachel is one of them.”
    Murphy laughed out loud. “The women are taking over the world.”
    Gretchen looked at him with a stern face. “Is that a problem?”
    With a big grin, Murphy shook his head. “No ma’am. I’m cool with it. I’m just sayin’, is all.”
    Gretchen pointed at a lone houseboat anchored a good distance from the row I’d spotted a few minutes before. “When people come back from scavenging, we quarantine them there for twenty-four hours to make sure they don’t bring the infection onto the island. When new people come, we quarantine them a little longer while we’re deciding whether to let them join us.”
    I looked at Freitag. I didn’t mean to. It just kind of happened. I asked, “Are you picky about who you let in?”
    Freitag scratched her nose with her middle finger while she looked at me.
    I suppressed a laugh.
    Gretchen said, “We’re not trying to build an exclusive country club, if that’s what you’re asking. We’ve taken in everybody who has come so far. We’re trying to do our part.”
    Murphy said, “Cool.”
    Gretchen looked at Murphy. “Don’t get too excited. You guys are the first—what did you call them—Slow Burns?”
    “Yes,” I confirmed.
    “Only normal people have come so far. We’ll all talk about it. I’m not going to make any promises about whether you’ll be accepted to come onto the island.”
    “We’re not contagious,” I protested.
    “We’re not staying, anyway.” Murphy told them.
    Rachel was taken aback. “What?”
    Gretchen said, “The quarantine boat is over there, if you want to get on it.”
    Bill was back on his feet and pointing at Murphy. “I’m not getting on that boat with Them. If I’m not infected already, I don’t want to get that way.”
    Gretchen was clearly disappointed. “Don’t then, Bill. You can stay in a ski boat anchored over there as close as you