FOR AFTER: BOOK TWO

Patient Zero

Seven days before the first confirmed outbreak in Orlando, Six days before Camila and Ethan arrive to Walt Disney World.

Chapter 1: What Dreams Are Made Of

3:23 AM – Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Little Mermaid Building

Derek Carter woke to the taste of copper in his mouth.

The room spun as he sat up, his skull feeling like it was wrapped in barbed wire. Every joint in his body screamed—knees, elbows, even his fingers felt like they'd been taken apart and reassembled wrong.

Just jet lag, he told himself, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Four days isn't enough to recover from India’s time difference.

But even as he thought it, Derek knew this felt different from travel fatigue. This felt like something was rewiring him from the inside out.

In the bathroom mirror, a stranger stared back. His eyes were bloodshot, pupils dilated despite the bright vanity lights. His skin had a gray pallor that made him look like he hadn't slept in weeks. When he gripped the sink, his hands shook so violently he had to clench his fists to make it stop.

Mumbi. Must have been something I ate in Mumbi.

The words whispered through his mind unbidden. Four days ago, he'd been in that sweltering Indian textile factory, negotiating shipping contracts for the company he worked for. The local contact had insisted on dinner at some hole-in-the-wall place where Derek was pretty sure the chicken hadn't been cooked properly. He'd been sick on the flight home, chalked it up to food poisoning.

But this wasn't food poisoning.

"Baby?" Rebecca's sleepy voice drifted from the bedroom. "You okay in there?"

Derek splashed cold water on his face, forced his expression into something resembling normal. "Yeah, just... bathroom. Go back to sleep love."

He stared at himself one more time. Today was supposed to be perfect. He'd planned this surprise for months—the Disney safari Rebecca had dreamed about since childhood but never experienced because she was too scared to travel to actual Africa. This was their honeymoon, the one they'd postponed when his company demanded he fly to India three days after their wedding.

She deserves this, he thought. She deserves everything.

Something twisted in his brain and stomach—not nausea, but something deeper. More disturbing.

4:23 AM – Art of Animation Suite

Rebecca was already awake when he emerged from his half sleep, practically vibrating with excitement as she laid out her safari outfit on the bed. Khaki shorts, hiking boots, the expensive camera he'd bought her for Christmas. Her dark hair was pulled back in a practical ponytail, but she'd still put on just enough makeup to look perfect in photos.

"I can't believe you did this," she said, throwing her arms around his neck. "A private sunrise safari! Derek, this is—"

Her kiss tasted like mint toothpaste and pure joy. Derek held her close, fighting the urge to grip too tightly as a spasm shot through his shoulders. She felt so warm, so alive against him. He breathed in her scent—vanilla shampoo and the faint sweetness of her skin.

For a moment, the sickness receded. This was what mattered. Rebecca's happiness. Her dreams coming true.

"You've been talking about seeing giraffes since our second date," he murmured against her hair. "Figured Disney was safer than Kenya."

She pulled back, studying his face with those perceptive brown eyes that had made him fall in love with her. "You look tired. That India trip really took it out of you, huh?"

"Just travel fatigue," Derek lied smoothly. "I'll be fine once I get some coffee in me."

But even as he said it, another wave of heat rolled through his body. His vision blurred for just a second, and when it cleared, Rebecca looked... different. Not less beautiful, but somehow more fragile. More vulnerable.

Like prey.

The thought came from nowhere, alien and wrong. Derek shook his head violently.

"Headache?" Rebecca asked, concerned.

"Yeah. Just need some Tylenol."

She was already digging through her purse. "Here, take two. And drink some water—you're probably dehydrated."

Derek dry-swallowed the pills, watching his wife fuss over him with the same maternal instinct that made her perfect with kids, that would make her an amazing mother someday. The tenderness in her touch, the worry in her eyes—it should have made him feel loved.

Instead, it made him feel... raged.

Book Two Inspiration

Fathers Day Inspiration