ABANDONED. Fiction - Dystopia - Initially sick character and companion return to entire town dead - on the run - concludes in seaside cabin

[Zach]

The book starts with either the main character sick in a hut that is isolated from town ( I want to say uphill). The main character is cared for by the second main character ( I can't remember if the male or female character was the one sick). The main character eventually gets better and they both return to the town to find everyone in it dead. They know they have to leave (will be chased?) and start their journey by crossing some sort of a bridge, that they then have to knock down, leaving their old life behind. They are on the run and eventually come to some sort of a junkyard type place with old airplanes and machines that they are hiding in. They don't feel safe there. This is where they encounter bad people that were chasing them and one of them is captured and they are split apart. The story goes on and eventually they end up in some sort of convent together that is safe, but they are forced to work. I think this is the place they eventually are reunited.

The story ends in a seaside shack that they find after they manage to leave the convent type place.

Please help! Thanks!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

When did you read this?
What age group is it aimed at--children's picture, children's chapter, tweenies, YA, NA, adult?
What genre is it?
How did you find it--friend recommended it, it was on the "our staff suggest" shelf at library/bookstore, review, scanning covers at the bookstore?
Any memory of the cover?
When did it take place--you mention a plane graveyard, is this in the future when science is no longer used, the present, past?
Do you remember if the author was male or female?
What killed everyone in the town--gas, poison, guns, fire? And why were the bad guys chasing them?

(I know it seems like a lot of questions, most of which you probably don't remember, but sometimes having someone ask jogs a few more memories loose.)

[Andy Phillips]

I don't remember the junk yard but the ill female character being cared for by the male main character and the town where everyone is killed (by some sort of gas cloud from the nearby lake) feature in The Pesthouse. I think they also end up at a monastery or similar place where they have an aversion to metal, but I might be mixing that up with another story. I remember something about the ill character being healed by having a live pigeon strapped to her feet (as it's thought to 'suck out' the poison and kill the pigeon instead of the person). Does that sound familiar?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Zach, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No response, moving to Abandoned.