Distinct

by Hamill, Ike

  “Then the Pilgrim said that he could show us,” Terry said. “He took us to the storage house. The first people on the scene had tried to douse the fire with water. It’s a terrible way to attack a battery fire, which they soon found out. Fortunately, only one person was injured, and they’re doing okay now.”

  “But the Pilgrim had been there when they had brought the fire truck to the scene. He had stayed back, and he saw the water that spilled when they disconnected the hoses,” Mike said. “He got a big jug and showed us what he saw.”

  Carrie waited for the big reveal. Mike looked at Terry.

  She continued. “When he poured water on the sidewalk outside of the battery house, there were footprints.”

  “Footprints?”

  “You could see them when the concrete was wet,” Mike said. “Bare footprints.”

  “I don’t understand,” Carrie said. “Did you take a picture?”

  “We can’t,” Mike said. “You’ll have to come see.”

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  Terry’s bucket sloshed with water. Mike led the way with his flashlight. They stopped on a section of sidewalk that was pretty close to the burned out house where the batteries had been stored. Mike took a stake out of the ground and tossed it on the grass. Taking a wide stance over the concrete, Terry started to tip her bucket.

  Mike crouched down.

  Carrie crouched next to him while he pointed his light at the sidewalk.

  The water flowed over the concrete, washing away a pebble and a stray blade of grass. Terry shuffled up the walk, wetting down a big section of sidewalk before her bucket was empty. It took a second. Mike pointed to a spot and Carrie pushed his hand away so she could get a better look.

  As the water soaked into the concrete, patches darkened even more quickly. Carrie saw the curve of an arch and the five dimples made by toes. As she followed the direction of the print, she saw a line of them, trailing up the walk.

  Terry had saved a little water in the bucket. With what was left, she doused one of the flagstones that led up towards the burned house. Carrie stood and rushed to watch.

  The effect was even more dramatic on the rock.

  There was only a partial print. The person had put most of their weight on the ball of their foot.

  “Okay,” Carrie said. She stood with her hands on her hips. “I get it, but I don’t get it. They’re big prints—probably a man—and it looks like he stepped in something that left a trail on this sidewalk. What would you call it? Hydrophilic? Whatever he tracked up the walk makes the concrete soak in water faster.”

  Terry and Mike looked at each other.

  “This is stage one. We have to take the truck to get to stage two,” Mike said.

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  At the next site, there was no dog and pony show with a bucket of water. They pulled up in front of the greenhouse where the seedlings had been sprouted in the spring. Beyond it, the field of cucumbers and squash stretched all the way through the park.

  “We came here a couple of hours ago to make sure everything was still okay. As you can see, it is, but Terry noticed this.”

  Mike pointed down at a puddle near the greenhouse. Under the surface of the water, in the mud, Carrie saw another bare footprint.

  “You see how the impression of the little toe is light?” Terry asked. “This man probably has knee trouble. He doesn’t spread his weight evenly across his whole foot.”

  Carrie looked up from the print. “I’ll take your word for it. What’s newsworthy about the same shoeless person visiting two places?”

  Again, Terry and Mike looked at each other.

  “One of you is going to have to tell me,” Carrie said. “I promise that I won’t think less of you.”

  “We watched this print being made,” Mike said. “The person or thing that made this print was invisible, but we saw the impression being formed in the mud. It’s still here, and it’s going to ruin these crops.”

  Carrie exhaled slowly. She was still trying to conceal her skepticism, but she could tell from their faces that she wasn’t doing a good job.

  “It’s a lot to ask for people to come out and guard at night,” Carrie said. “You’ve probably done it before, right? It’s thankless work. And to cover the larders and the fields, we would have to get together a big group of people in a short period of time. I don’t know that some footprints are really…”

  Terry cut her off. “Wait. Before you make up your mind. You have to see one more thing.”

  Terry pointed her light at the greenhouse.

  Mike shut his light off.

  Carrie’s hand went protectively to her navel.

  Although the summer had been heating up, Carrie had taken to wearing more and more clothes. She didn’t want anyone to learn her secret before she knew if it was really true. Before they came down to Northam, lots of the men and women had visited Dr. Matthew and undergone treatment. Tons of couples were trying to get knocked up, but so far Dr. Matthew’s techniques had only worked on dogs and horses.

  As far as she knew, Carrie was the only woman alive who was pregnant. So the dread she was feeling might be hers alone. Something was telling her that there was a threat to the baby she was carrying. And the dread had come instantly, right when Terry had pointed the light at the greenhouse.

  “I have to go home,” Carrie said.

  “Give us a chance to explain,” Mike said.

  “I have to go home. I’ll help you convince Abe to assign guards, but I have to go home.”

  Again, Terry and Mike looked at each other. Their unspoken communication was becoming unsettling.

  Mike took a step towards Carrie and put out his hand.

  “Let us show you,” Mike said.

  “Get away from me.”

  CHAPTER 11: NEW YORK CITY

  THE TWO OF THEM stared down at the pile of dog shit.

  Gordie turned his nose to the air and sniffed. He walked a few paces to pee on a bush.

  “Stop,” Robby said. “Stay close this time.”

  Gordie returned to his side.

  “What are we going to do about this?” Robby asked. “Do you know where the dog went? Can you follow a scent or something?”

  Gordie just looked up. About some things, he was a smart dog, but he seemed to have no idea what Robby was asking.

  “You remember when you tracked down that rabbit? Rabbit, Gordie, rabbit?”

  The dog’s nose instantly went to the grass. Robby had kept the rabbit pelt for a week, trying to use it as a training aid to get Gordie to learn to track. Gordie had only learned that if he sniffed around after the word “rabbit,” he usually got a treat.

  Robby scanned the horizon. He had no idea how long the pile had been there, or if the dog lived nearby or had been passing through. He had made himself a promise—if he saw another dog, he would do whatever he could to try to befriend it and bring it back to the community. They had gotten lucky with Gordie’s parents, Cedric and Wickett. But without more genes for the pool, the species would die out pretty fast.

  “A pile of poop is not a dog,” Robby said. “It implies a dog, but I don’t think we can let it slow us down.”

  Gordie sat down and swished his tail in the grass.

  “Come on,” Robby said. “The Polaris is back this way. We’re going to have to take the tunnel. I don’t want to drive all the way up to the George Washington Bridge just to find out that a tornado took it out.”

  Robby led the way.

  They didn’t make it far.

  Gordie turned and stiffened. The dog’s every muscle was tensed and perfectly still.

  Then Robby heard it too. Somewhere north and east, they heard a dog barking.

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  “Stay with me,” Robby yelled.

  Gordie was running just ahead of him, but he was pulling away. At the command, Gordie actually slowed and fell in alongside Robby. He was beginning to remember his training.

  They reached a
n intersection and stopped next to a brick building. Robby turned his head slowly, listening for any more signs. He only heard the wind of a sudden breeze.

  Fairly close, they heard another bark. Gordie took a couple of steps into the street.

  “Wait,” Robby said. He pointed up. There was a pedestrian walkway across the street. Near the brick building, a set of winding ramps led up to it. “I think it’s up there.”

  Gordie fell in behind him as Robby started up the ramp. As they turned the first corner, Robby heard a new sound. It was the echoey laugh of a child.

  Robby and Gordie started running.

  As they sprinted across the pedestrian walkway, they heard even more sounds. Some slapping noise was followed by another excited bark. The child laughed again.

  Robby put a hand down to slow Gordie as they reached the other side. There was a parking garage ahead of them. To the left, the walkway went through glass doors to the inside of a building.

  Robby crept towards the parking garage, waiting for another sound.

  When he didn’t hear anything for several seconds, he took a deep breath and crouched next to the dog. Robby put an arm around Gordie to make sure that the dog stayed put.

  “Hello?” Robby called. His voice echoed in the parking garage, the same way that the kid’s had.

  “Hello?” Robby called again. His own echo was the only reply.

  Still hugging the dog tight, Robby whispered a command into Gordie’s ear.

  “Speak, Gordo.”

  The dog obliged immediately. He seemed to be waiting for permission.

  “WOOF.”

  The bark was loud and strong.

  In response, they heard feet slapping on the smooth deck of the parking garage. Robby peered into the shadows, trying to locate the source.

  “Don’t move,” a voice said from behind them.

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  Despite the command, Robby and Gordie both turned.

  “I said don’t move,” she said.

  As he stood up, Robby tried to guess her age. She was taller than he was, but she couldn’t have been much older than him. Robby put his hands up. She wasn’t holding any weapons except the sheath strapped to her back. She commanded authority. She was decorated in diamonds. Her necklace and earrings caught the light and split it into a million rainbows. Her fingers were decked with rings.

  “Gordie heard another dog,” Robby said, pointing down.

  At the sound of his name, Gordie sat down and turned his head up. His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth as he smiled proudly.

  “Prince is very protective. He’ll bite you and your dog. Get lost,” she said.

  From the shadows, the other dog barked. It was impossible to know for sure, but Robby thought that the sound was playful, rather than threatening. Bolstering Robby’s interpretation, Gordie started wagging his tail even harder.

  The other dog—Robby assumed that his name was Prince—barked once more and they heard someone shush him.

  Robby smiled.

  “Are you sure? Can we just see if Prince and Gordie want to meet?”

  “That’s a really dumb idea,” she said. “Prince is twice his size.”

  Maybe because he was fed up, or maybe because he heard his name yet again, they heard Prince’s scrabbling toenails on the concrete as he broke free of whatever had been restraining him. Gordie stood, wagged his tail and glanced up at Robby.

  “Be careful,” Robby said.

  Gordie took that as permission. He bounded forward as the other dog ran from the shadows. Robby’s heart nearly stopped when he saw the monster that emerged from the dark. Prince was tall, shaggy, and built like a dump truck.

  Gordie dropped his chest to ground and wagged his tail in the air. Prince barked and wagged his own tail as the dogs met. They circled each other, tails high. Their enthusiasm turned serious for a moment as they inspected each other carefully. The stiff posture didn’t last long. A moment later, Prince ran off, looking back over his shoulder to make sure that Gordie was following.

  Robby looked back to the girl with all the diamonds.

  “I’m Robby. He’s Gordie.”

  As Robby pointed, he saw what Prince was running towards. The shape of a little kid came out from the shadows and Prince circled him. The kid threw his ball and Prince sprinted after it. Gordie was more interested in greeting the kid. He stayed on course.

  “Liam, watch out!” the girl said.

  It was too late. Liam grabbed Gordie around the neck. The girl sucked in a terrified gasp. The kid squealed as the girl ran towards him and the dog. Prince arrived at the scene at the same time as she grabbed Liam and hoisted him up away from Gordie.

  “He was just licking me,” Liam said.

  “He’s very friendly,” Robby said.

  “We don’t touch others,” the girl said.

  “Ow!” Liam yelled. He squirmed in her arms. The kid was much too big for her to be holding him. She set him down reluctantly. Liam rubbed his arm and pulled it around so he could look at it.

  “Your jewry scraped me,” Liam said.

  “Jewelry.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  The dogs broke into play. Gordie chased Prince and then the bigger dog turned the tables. Liam forgot about his scrape. He pointed and laughed as one of the dogs accidentally kicked a ball and both tore after it.

  Robby walked towards Liam and the girl. She moved between him and the kid.

  “Listen,” Robby said. “My friends have a community upstate and they have dogs. If Prince is capable of being a father, you should take him up there. They need more dogs to make sure the puppies will be healthy.”

  The girl just stared at him.

  “I have a map,” Robby said. He took off his backpack. The girl watched him closely as he unzipped the back pouch and took out the map. Robby had marked the location of Dr. Matthew’s house and highlighted the roads that were passable.

  He held it out for her, but she folded her arms.

  Robby set it on the parking deck on one of the painted white lines.

  “This is for Prince,” he said, putting a dog treat on top of the map. “Gordie loves them.”

  Behind the girl, Liam leaned to the side to get a look at what Robby had left.

  “Can you tell me if the Holland Tunnel is passable? We’re headed through so we can go south.”

  “Nope,” Liam said. “Dead there.”

  “In Jersey? I thought the burned area didn’t start until much farther south.” Robby asked.

  Liam hid behind the girl.

  “Dead there,” the kid whispered.

  Robby stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Robby whistled and Gordie came running. He put his hand on the dog’s back and told him not to take the treat that sat atop the map.

  “Please tell me if there’s something dangerous on the other side of that tunnel. If not for me, then for Gordie here.”

  The girl stared at him. Liam slipped around her and grabbed the treat for Prince. The dog inhaled it into his pendulous jowls.

  “Okay,” Robby said. “We’re headed south.”

  It took some coaxing to get Gordie headed in the right direction. Robby saw that someone had spray-painted symbols onto one of the concrete walls. He recognized some of the symbols and he recognized the paint as well.

  “By the way,” he called over his shoulder. “If you’re wondering why the plaque outside the World Trade Center is wrong, I could tell you.”

  He didn’t slow down to see if she took the bait.

  CHAPTER 12: GLADSTONE

  THEY HAD BEEN UP most of the night.

  “Don’t just sit there and pretend like you didn’t just think of something,” Romie said. “We need everything out on the table. Come on. No more secrets.”

  “Why don’t you start by telling us exactly what you’ve been promising to Northam?” Lisa asked.

  Romie turned to her.

  “What are you implying?” Romie
asked.

  “Nothing. You’ve been speaking on behalf of the four of us. I just want to know what you’ve been saying.”

  Romie threw up her hands. “We all agreed on this. We wanted to be friendly but not get sucked into their community, in case something went wrong. I’ve been offering them the tips and information from Robby and Brad and I’ve been bringing back news of their progress. That’s all.”

  “Fine,” Lisa said. “Maybe you should take a break from being the liaison then.”

  “That sounds like a great idea,” Romie said, her voice rising. “I think you should take over.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I meant that maybe we shouldn’t have a liaison at all.”

  “Then Brad is going to be spending every waking moment setting up generators, pumps, and landlines. Is that what you want?” Romie asked.

  They both looked at Brad when he sighed.

  He finally said what was bothering him.

  “I think Robby knew about the sabotage. He knew it was coming,” Brad said.

  “What? How? He hasn’t been to Northam in ages,” Romie said.

  “He knew about it here,” Brad said. “It sounds like we didn’t get it as bad as Northam, but Robby made sure that we took lots of extra precautions with our setup. He has a very complex sprinkler system set up in the hydroponic house. I kept asking him why we needed it. The whole place is mostly water anyway, I couldn’t understand why he thought a fire would break out. But he set up sprinklers in there and a gas system in our power storage banks. He even had me rig up silent alarms on the ladders to all the solar arrays, and we have water alarms everywhere in case any of the tanks develop leaks.”

  “He’s just careful,” Lisa said.

  “No,” Brad said. “Based on what Romie just said, it seems like he was protecting us from the exact types of attacks that they just suffered.”

  “He has always been stupid-good at predicting stuff,” Romie said.