I exhale hard. I want to keep sparring.
Priorities, Tim. Priorities.
“Alright, man, whatever. Let’s get the supplies.” And then I’m taking what I need and getting the fuck out of here.
I reach for the door handle.
Ruiz jogs around the table and claps a hand down on my shoulder. “One more thing, kid.”
Damn it!
“I see that you and Katia are getting pretty close.” His grip is firm. Not violent, but, insistent.
I let go of the handle and he lets go of me. “Yeah, we...uh, well, we’re just, you know, getting to know each other, she’s a great girl.”
He wraps a hand around the back of my neck and lays his forehead against mine. “Chill homie, chill. Like I said, we’re family. You treat my little sister right, we got no problem.”
His breath is hot against my face. I don’t believe I’ve ever been this close to another man, barring my dad of course. “Yeah, sure...well, cool. I’ll treat her right.”
“That’s good, Tim. That’s good.” He slides his hand down to my shoulder. “Cause, if you don’t, I’ll cut your fucking head off.”
13
Dinner is fried Spam and powdered mashed potatoes.
I grab a clear plastic plate from a counter in the clubhouse and work my way through the line. Francisco is still behind the spatula. He recognizes me, I think. He slaps my plate full with both courses and then urges me on with a jerk of his head. There’s an older woman serving water in small paper cups. She’s much kinder. Much more inviting. The, sit down and stay awhile, type.
“Would you like an ice cube, dear?” She’s missing most of her front teeth on the top and the bottom, but she smiles none the less, big and genuine.
“No ma’am, I’ll take it as is.”
She holds the cup out shakily. “Such a well-mannered young man.”
“Blame my momma,” I say, accepting the cup from her.
She makes a noise that sounds like approval and then turns her attention to the gal behind me.
Outside, members of the community surround the pool. They sit in circles on the pavement, spread out across the lounge chairs and beneath the shroud of the picnic tables outfitted with folding umbrellas. The dull hum of conversation fills the air. I spot Katia and Bethany sitting together near the attached hot tub at the southern end of the pool. They signal for me. I weave my way towards them, dodging elbows, shoulders, and rambunctious kids running laps around the perimeter of the pool. They laugh and swing at one another as they pass me. I lift my plate and drink to avoid making contact with their heads.
“Took you long enough,” Bethany says, scooting out to make room for me.
“That line,” I cross my legs and drop down between them, balancing my plate across the top of my right thigh, “is it always like this?”
Katia nods. “Yeah, keeps the people together. Gives everyone a sense of family.” She finishes off a final forkful of potato and sets her plate aside. “It’s good for morale. Breakfast and lunch, we all tend to miss each other. Everyone is working their shifts in different areas of the complex. We stagger breaks. Dinner is the time where everyone comes together and catches up.”
“It’s cool,” I say, starting with a mouthful of water before cutting at the greasy slab of meat on my plate with the edge of my plastic fork.
A mother is yelling at one of the children running laps around the pool. She snatches him by the back of his arm and jerks him away from the undisciplined tribe as he kicks and screams in protest. I’ve told you a dozen times about running, haven’t I? You fall down, you break your neck, and then what? It’s not like we can rush you to the emergency room. You’re done for the night, mister.
“Ah, kids,” Katia muses.
“It’s gotta be hard being a parent these days.” I’m just talking. What the hell do I know about being a parent? It’s hard being anything these days.
“Yep,” Katia agrees, “don’t want em’.”
“So, no kids for you, ever?”
“I mean, I don’t know. I’m still a teenager, technically. I’m not thinking about all that. I suppose if the world somehow gets better between now and when I’m in my prime birthing years, then yeah, I’d consider it. But, right now, it’s hard enough just keeping myself alive. Never mind dragging a kid through this chaos.”
The mother and her boy disappear through the pool access gate and the child’s wailing is quickly drowned out by the murmur of the crowd.
“Did Bethany tell you that she knows how to sharpen her blade now?” Katia leans back on the palms of her hands looking pleased with herself.
“She did not,” I say, rubbing my mouth with the back of my hand. “Surprised she still has hands.”
Bethany smacks her lips, lifts the katana from the ground beside her, and holds it up against the waning sunlight. “You’re just jealous because I know how to use power tools now and you don’t.”
“Power tools?” I choke, patting my chest.
“It’s a low powered belt sander,” Katia says, mimicking the motion for me. “Cheap hand held Black & Decker, does razor sharp convex edges like you wouldn’t believe.”
I take notice of how sharp the blade appears. The thing looks like it’d go through a tree. “You’ve got my little sister using power tools and swinging swords. Who needs Rabid when we’ve got Katia?”
“Untwist your panties, Tim.” Bethany twirls the sword over her head with one hand. I grit my teeth and duck my head. “How many times did you hand me a loaded gun?”
I can’t really argue with her logic. I try anyway. “Yeah...but, the gun has the safety...”
“What is it Bo said?” She brings the sword back to earth with a swoop and a twist before placing an empty palm in front of my face. “This is my safety.”
I look at Katia and shake my head.
She just grins and squints her eyes.
“You’ve created a monster.”
“Swords are so much cooler than guns.” There is an airy tone to Bethany’s voice as she stares down at her shiny new toy all gooey-eyed.
“But half as useful.”
Katia throws her head back and sighs. “Oh God, here we go, Ruiz has taken on a different form.”
“Someone call for me?” Ruiz comes up behind Katia, squeezes her shoulders, and kisses her on the forehead before offering Bethany and I a quick handshake. He’s all smiles. I’d seen him mingling his way through the crowd earlier like a politician seeking reelection.
“Timmy was about to give us another tired speech about how guns trump swords; blah, blah, blah.”
“Don’t be hatin’ on my man just because he’s preaching truth.” Ruiz crouches between us, his knees cracking loudly.
Katia looks to Bethany and rolls her eyes. “Boys.”
“So,” Ruiz folds his arms across his thighs, “anyway, we’re going to move out tomorrow, early. Make sure ya’ll get some good rest tonight.”
“So, who else is coming with?” Katia asks.
“Tyrell.”
“That’s it? Just four of us?”
“Yeah. We’ll move faster. Quieter.”
“I don’t like it,” Katia says after considering his logic for a few seconds. “I’ll take firepower over stealth any day.”
“Think of it like the Seals...”
“Yeah, you always make that comparison bro, and guess what, we’re not Seals.”
He puts a hand on the side of her face and pouts sympathetically. “Sis, have I steered us wrong yet?”
“There’s a first time for everything,” she says, undeterred by his expression.
He pinches her cheek gently and stands, stifling a yawn. “Yeah, well, it’s not gonna be tomorrow. You kids enjoy your evening. I’ll see ya bright and early.”
“If I didn’t know better I’d almost say he seems excited about tomorrow,” I say, once Ruiz is out of earshot.
Katia nods. “He is.” She sits up and drops her elbows to her knees, yawning an
d rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hands.
“Well, at least he’s confident.”
“Yeah, that makes one of us.”
14
“So, lemme guess, you’re going to see Katia?” Bethany is leaning against the bathroom door, watching me with an amused grin as I fuss with my hat in the mirror.
I feel a little flush of embarrassment. “We’re gonna chill for a bit, yeah. Maybe walk around the lake.” I give her quick glance. “If that’s okay with you, ma’am?”
She shrugs. “I’m not your keeper. I got my own friends.”
“Oh, do you?” I run my hands across the front of my V-neck tee. I need an ironing board and some starch. My jeans are shameful. At least my belt buckle hasn’t lost its shine.
Bethany nods, twirling from the doorway and back into the bedroom, her voice bouncing off the walls of the empty apartment. “Yep, Lilly and Elise.”
At least they’re girls. Playmates rather than love interests. “Cool, where’d you meet them?”
“At the playground yesterday. We’re probably going to meet up there tonight.”
I stop fidgeting with my appearance, reaching a happy place somewhere between reluctant acceptance and satisfaction. “Alright.” I give her a quick hug. “Don’t break your neck in the dark,” I call back over my shoulder as I head for the front door.
***
Katia looks beautiful standing in the moonlight. She is leaning on the top of the gate, looking out over the surface of the sparkling lake. She’s wrapped loosely in a black shawl. She’s wearing her usual cropped black top that ends just below her ribcage and a pair of dark hip hugger blue jeans that end at the middle of her ankles. The black pumps and the odd absence of her swords are the real surprise.
She turns at my approach, her hair falling across one side of her face and concealing her features as if we’re about to partner for a dance at some midnight masquerade ball.
“You look...beautiful.” My nerves still tingle a bit at the sight of her.
She skips forward a step and drapes her arms around my neck. “You’re pretty fuckin’ hot yourself. Still prefer your hair over the hat though.”
“Ah, well, you know, compromises.”
She smiles and wiggles her head as if she’s juggling the idea. “Oh, alright, I suppose.” She kisses me full on without inhibition, her grip around my neck tightening.
I’ve never known a feeling like this. How strange that I had to come to the end of the world to find it. What a twisted fate, while everything is ending I feel that, somehow, my life is just beginning.
“Let us walk,” she says, falling in beside me and intertwining her fingers with mine.
There aren’t many people out. There’s a noticeable chill in the air. Everyone is inside, wrapped up in their blankets, trying to get used to their new normal. If they’re lucky they’ve got someone beside them to help them smooth the transition. Cast off light from kerosene lanterns and undulating candlelight streams out through curtains and floor to ceiling blinds, framing the movement beyond in long dramatic shadows.
“Ya’ll ever get any snow here?” I ask as we move up a small incline and around our first bend.
“Yeah, sometimes. It’s always pretty weak though, you know? It’s usually a layer of dust, at best. But the way the city shuts down, and the schools close their doors, you’d think it was a full blown blizzard.”
“Sounds like Georgia,” I say, my heart suddenly torn; one half aching for the comforts of home, while the other half dances a jig over all that is Katia. “A little ice on the ground and everything comes to a screaming halt.”
She laughs. “Oh boy, your people would not last in Indiana.”
“My people?”
“You Georgia folk,” she says, giving the down home Georgia twang I’d come to know so well her best shot.
“Not quite there yet.” I pull her into me and kiss the top her head.
I feel her shrug beneath me. “What can I say, I tried.”
“So what’s in Indiana?”
“Family,” she answers flatly, “I stayed with them one winter break, this was like, two or three years ago, I think.” Something KERPLUNKS in the water to our right. Katia freezes for a moment and stands on the tips of her toes, gazing out over the sparkling blackness as if the culprit might reveal itself. It doesn’t. “Probably a turtle,” she mumbles to herself, “anyway, so when I’m there, we get this crazy ass blizzard. I’m talking snow drifts up to your crotch.” She demonstrates crotch level on herself using the blade of one hand as a measuring stick. “So I’m thinking, everything is going to come to a standstill, but, nope, it doesn’t. Everyone still had to go to work. The city was still rocking and rolling. They’d just push that powdery shit aside. It was scenery to them. Fuckin’ miserable for me though.”
“That sucks though, at least when you’re in school. I always got excited whenever it’d start snowing because that meant school was cancelled.”
“Oh, no, I agree. Come December and January, I lived for the annual Texas winter freakouts.”
“But, I guess, if you’re somewhere up north, you can’t really afford to shut everything down whenever a snowflake falls.”
“Yep,” she says, sighs, and drops her head against me, using me as a sort of crutch as we make our way around the lake.
The world grows silent around us. We don’t speak. I don’t feel the need. It’s a perfect silence. The kind where you already know what the other person is thinking and there’s no reason for you to ruin it by trying to put it into words.
A tiny droplet of water plops against the side of my neck, followed by another, then a few more on my face. It’s not long before the rain is falling heavy on every side of us. Katia screeches and starts pulling me rapidly up the path with her, causing me to fall into a clumsy run, as my boot heels struggle to keep traction against the slick pavement. I’m amazed she’s able to move with such sure-footedness in those pumps. The girl is a natural. She leads us behind the clubhouse and beneath low hanging branches bearing dark red berries in clusters that are now dripping with rainwater.
“Here,” Katia announces, guiding us up a small set of steps and beneath the shelter of a small gazebo.
She is laughing as we stumble inside. She throws her head back and wipes the water from her face with both hands.
I take my hat off and begin shaking the excess water loose against the slatted floor.
Katia grabs my arm when I go to place it back on my head. “Leave that shit off,” she takes it from my hands and tosses it onto the built-in bench running a half circle against the lattice wall.
We stand there, facing each other in the darkness. The rain pitter-patters against the roof and drowns out the distant conversation of the perimeter guards. It’s just us. Here and now. Time has come to a halt. There’s no past. No future. The sun will not rise. The moon will remain. This night is forever ours.
She pulls something from her pocket.
“What’s that?”
“An iPod I found on one of our outings. They let me charge it off cigarette lighters over in mechanical sometimes.” The screen illuminates her face as she shuffles through the available songs. She quickly finds what she is looking for and sets the device down next to my hat. “It’s not exactly the library of tunes I’d have chosen. A lot of it sucks ass if I’m being honest, but there’s some good stuff.”
An airy ballad with soaring strings fills the space around us as Katia closes in on me, tilting her head, and draping her hands up around my neck.
She kisses me, once.
Softly.
Slowly.
I lose myself in her eyes. They glow like the embers in a desert fire, signaling me towards shelter and safety. I wrap my arms around her lower back and hold her to me.
“Dance with me?” She stares up at me with an uncommon insecurity, her chin on my chest, her voice cracking.
“Of course.” I smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”
; She steps up onto my feet and sets her cheek against my chest, her head just beneath my chin, and we dance. We turn slow circles around the center of the gazebo as the sound of the rain and the music pushes us closer together.
“It’s crazy isn’t it?” Her breath is hot against my neck.
“What?”
“Us, this...finding each other. Where the hell have you been?”
“You wouldn’t have given me the time of day.”
She’s quiet for a moment as she adjusts her feet and strengthens her grip. “I don’t know, maybe not with that ugly ass hat.” She smiles up at me. “Maybe I would have, you never know. Dealing with the bad boys gets old. You get cheated on enough, pushed around enough...”
“So it’s a last resort thing, huh?”
She bops me lightly on the back of the head. “Stop it with that shit, you know that’s not what I meant.”
I kiss her forehead. “I know, I’m just teasing you.”
“Don’t hurt me, Tim.” She holds onto me, tightly, almost desperately, as if she’s drifting and I’m her lifeline. “Please, that’s all I ask.”
“Katia, I’ll never let anything happen to you. I promise.”
I’ve really got to stop making promises I know I can’t keep.
15
The perimeter guards wave us through the gate and quickly slam it home at our bumper. The sun is just breaking the horizon as we set out. Just the four of us: Ruiz, Katia, myself, and Tyrell on the .50.
The scouts had come through. They’d found a checkpoint five miles out. They even got close enough to do a bit of head counting.
Our opponents?
Five men. Two on foot with high caliber rifles, one man covering the angles on a tripod mounted LMG, and two snipers; one on the roof of a nearby gas station and the other on a hotel balcony, both aiming down into the camp.
A regular kill zone.
I recognize the tactic. They are slicing the pie. Just the way Bo had taught.
The scouts couldn’t get close enough to see any potential supplies. All they saw were two Humvees and a couple of tents and boxes.
The Rabid: Rise Page 9
