Campbell

by C. S. Starr

  “It’s fine. Fine,” Lucy croaked, crossing her arms over her chest. “Sorry.”

  “I guess personal space doesn’t matter when you’re supposed to be keeping an eye out. Not that either of us did a very good job of that.”

  “Well, we made it,” she mumbled. “So I guess it’s good we both got a good night’s sleep.”

  “Right,” Tal nodded, and Lucy could tell he was trying not to look at her breasts, which had been released from their bra after she was certain he’d fallen asleep the night before. She crossed her arms to cover them, but it was cold and she knew he’d already had them shoved up against him in the closet, so there wasn’t much point of pretending they weren’t there.

  “I’m going to go see if there are any cans,” she stammered, awkwardly pulling her long hair back in a ponytail so she could busy her hands. “Or anything that can be salvaged. I’m fucking starving.”

  “Yeah. Me too. There’s bread. We have bread left.” Tal moved to get out of the bed, but instead stayed in place. Lucy smugly took credit for his arousal, even if she would never acknowledge it.

  There wasn’t anything to eat besides the bread they had left over, and after it was gone, they both silently realized that they were out of food, and money, and smack dab in the middle of the Midwest with nothing but the salvaged clothes on their backs.

  Chapter 12

  February 2002

  Los Angeles, West

  “You got your tool kit?” Connor asked, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary from the driver’s seat of his father’s now very dented red Audi. “You’re going to need it.”

  It was a hot day for February. It had been unseasonably warm for most of the winter, and as Tal peered up at the sun, he knew it was a better day to tend the garden than go on whatever fool’s errand Connor had in mind.

  “Just tell me where we’re going,” Tal muttered, his hand on the doorknob to his house. “I have stuff to do.”

  “Leah can do your fucking laundry. It’s her job anyway.”

  “Toilet’s clogged downstairs. And laundry isn’t her job, and if you keep talking like that, you’re never going to get laid.”

  “I already got laid, for your information,” Connor said snidely. “She was a couple years older, big old boobies—”

  “I hope you didn’t call them boobies,” Tal replied dryly. “Because there’s no way you got laid when there were still people a couple of years older, if you called them that.”

  “Just because your balls haven’t dropped—”

  “What? You’ve been spying in my room?” Tal raised his eyebrows, pleased with his retort. “Gross, man. Don’t look at my balls.”

  Connor rolled his eyes. “Grow up. Anyway,” he pulled into the Warner Bros. studio lot. “I got my hands on the master key.”

  “So we’re going on a tour?”

  “No,” Connor snapped. “We’re going to see if we can use what’s in there to make ourselves gods. Film gods.”

  “Film gods?” Tal scoffed. “Neither of us know anything about making movies.”

  They made their way through the offices looking for anything of interest, dumping a couple of laptops in the trunk of Connor’s car before moving towards what looked like a production building. Connor picked the lock with a hairpin, and a minute later, they were in a long hallway, lined with doors. Connor picked one at random and they walked in.

  Tal looked at the wire and button-filled sound board in front of him skeptically. “We don’t know how to work any of these things.”

  “But we can learn,” Connor said, as they closed the door behind them and flicked on a few light switches. “This is it. This is how we get ahead.”

  “I’m not following,” Tal said flatly.

  “I’ve got enough money to finish some of these movies that are probably almost done, and then we release them, and make more money. The more money we have, the more power. Follow?”

  When they looked around, they realized that they weren’t the first ones there. A lot of things had been stripped, including costumes and memorabilia, but most of the equipment was intact.

  Behind further locked doors were the film reels and discs.

  “Hard Sell?” Tal said, turning one over in his hands. “What the fuck is Hard Sell? I haven’t even heard of it.”

  Connor took the film from Tal and poked around until he found a projector. “Let’s find out.”

  October 2012

  Somewhere in Old Oklahoma

  The field behind the house wasn’t new to Lucy and Tal. There were just too many bodies and they had to go somewhere. Seeing them on the surface though, hundreds of them, skeletal, dry fall grass popping up through the rotted clothing they’d likely died in—unless someone had cared enough to dress them in something more appropriate—left Tal both awestruck and drained. Being left behind when most of the people he’d known had died hadn’t been easy, especially in the beginning. Now, it was impossible not to see it as an incredible bit of luck when there was a spare minute to think about it, no matter how hard things were.

  When he saw a burial sprawl, Tal mostly felt relief that none of his people were a part of one. He and Connor had worked hard to mandate mass burials after the fact, so there were few heaps like this in West. They walked past it silently, both of them relieved that they hadn’t noticed it the night before. Everyone knew you stayed away from burial sprawls. In the beginning, older kids had told the younger ones stories about them being haunted so they wouldn’t get infections from the rotting flesh, or go looking for their parents, but now that that stage was over, kids still avoided them. There was a certain sacrosanct quality to most of the sites. They were eerie. Lucy and Tal both walked quietly past it, careful not to disturb the site in any way.

  “I fell into one of those once,” Lucy whispered, once they were a safe distance down the road. “Maybe five years ago. It had grown over and I was up north and I didn’t know where they were. I was right in the middle before I realized.” She shivered. “They lasted a long time up there because of the winter. A couple of years at least. We burned a lot of ours.”

  “We dug big holes a couple of years after and covered up all the ones we could,” Tal whispered back. “There are these giant pits just outside the city.”

  “That’s better,” Lucy nodded. “We’ve got one in town, but none of those people mean anything to me.”

  “Imagine if we were in university right now, if the world was right. Junior year, I think it was called.”

  “I’d probably not be in university,” Lucy said, a grim smile on her face. “I’d probably be dead, or in jail.”

  “Why?” Tal asked curiously, before realizing what she meant. “Oh.”

  “Medicated to an inch of my life, I’m sure,” she said wryly. “It’d be great. I’d have my own cell, and not a care in the world.”

  Tal wasn’t sure he believed that, but he did understand why she had to. “I’d probably be looking to law school in a couple of years. My brothers would probably be married, thinking about kids. It would be very different.”

  “Girls who are sexually abused as children often grow up with self-esteem issues,” Lucy replied, like she was reading a textbook. “They often suffer from depression, and try to take control of their lives in unhealthy ways, including eating disorders and promiscuity, and—”

  “Trying to take over the world?”

  “I doubt the study found that result very often.”

  “I’m glad he’s dead,” Tal said thoughtfully. “I bet he is too, especially if he could see you now.”

  Lucy nodded in agreement. “I think I’d always kill him, in every life, every scenario. I think it was either me or him.”

  “Is he in a field like that?”

  “He’s in a hundred pieces scattered far enough apart that they’d never find each other. A field like that was too easy.” She glanced at Tal carefully. “I don’t…remember it all. I think so much happened after that other memories took the p
lace of some of it.” She looked down at her body. “When I think about it, it’s like it happened to a different person. I didn’t look like me then.”

  “That’s probably better.”

  “I think so,” she nodded sharply. “We need to eat.”

  “And find water.”

  “Water’s easy,” Lucy shrugged. “We’ve walked by lots of water. Apparently enough that we’re close to Miami, according to that sign.” She pointed to a road sign with a faded casino billboard a few feet away. “You got your Speedo?”

  “I don’t think it’s that Miami,” Tal said with a grin, before he realized that she was joking.

  The next water came in the form of a wide river with a shallow, rocky bank that the road crossed, and Lucy scrambled down to it without a second thought, desperate for a drink and to wash her face. Tal was glad it wasn’t hot enough for either of them to smell offensive, but he knew the stench of body odor would be unavoidable after a couple of days.

  “We need to steal a truck or something,” she grumbled, as they both slipped their shoes to dip their feet in the river. Tal’s ached from all the walking. “And we need a map.”

  “In the middle of butt-fuck nowhere?” Tal muttered back, splashing a little. “I don’t know where we’re going to find either of those things.”

  “We must be almost there. We made it pretty far in the car.”

  “I can’t believe no one lives anywhere out here.” Tal shook his head. “It’s not like this in the city.”

  “There are lots of empty places like this in Campbell. Kids like living with other kids.”

  “Yeah, it’s like that in LA too. There aren’t a lot of empty spaces though. Lots of kids moved into the city from the country after it happened, so it’s pretty crowded. Lots of groups though. Some of them make sense, and some are really random.”

  Lucy nodded, splashing her feet in the cool water. “We’ve got our groups too. There’s something so lovely about being free to find your own pack.”

  “We need a boat,” Tal said, thinking about his small group. A pang of guilt hit him when he realized he hadn’t called them. “I bet the stream leads into those lakes where we’re supposed to go.”

  “I wish I knew geography better,” Lucy sighed. “I guess it is flowing south.”

  “It’s probably a more direct route than the road.”

  “With better odds of getting lost,” Lucy looked at Tal thoughtfully. “But we’re pretty lost anyway.”

  “We’ll just follow the road a little longer. See what this casino is.”

  Instead of the casino, they found a road south, and some indication that they were already in Oklahoma. In fact, before long they began seeing signs for Grove. Twenty-five miles.

  “At least we’re going in the right direction,” Lucy mused. “That’s something.”

  “It’s going to take us two days,” Tal grumbled. “Which means we’ll really need to get some food.”

  They continued along, ignoring the sounds the other’s stomach as a deep hunger set in. An hour later, something caught Tal’s eye that Lucy had missed. A bike, discarded in a ditch. They both paused as they heard playful laughter off in the distance. Tal narrowed his eyes and took in the first people they’d encountered all day.

  “This is a park,” Lucy said enthusiastically, as Tal climbed down and fished the bike out. “Look. Picnic tables, and a playground. We’re somewhere.”

  “You want to have a picnic?” Tal chuckled. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before they realize we stole it.”

  Fear crossed Lucy’s face, and she stammered, “There’s only one. What are we going to do?”

  Tal took the bike and started walking quickly, until they were what he deemed to be a safe distance away. “You’re going to climb on the handlebars and we’re going to get where we’re going.”

  Lucy raised her eyebrows. “We are, are we?”

  “Yep. I’ve done it a million times. You’ve just got to keep your balance, and I’ll keep mine. Just keep your feet off the wheel.” He swung his leg over the low center bar and held it in place. “Of course, it’s a girl’s bike, and too small,” he grumbled. “It’ll do.”

  “So I just climb up?”

  “You’ve never ridden on the handlebars before?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t do it. Ride one.”

  Tal grinned at her, his eyes twinkling. “We’ll have to fix that.”

  It took them a while to get their movements in sync and Tal quickly discovered that Lucy had terrible balance, after landing on the ground twice. Once they got going, she figured it out and they started making progress, though much slower than they would have without her on the front.

  Tal was hungry, and tired, but Lucy up there, on the handlebars, the wind in her hair, the fresh air from the lake revitalizing her, was the most beautiful thing Tal had ever seen. He rode steadily, dodging the massive cracks in the road emerging after ten years of disrepair. Once in a while he’d catch Lucy’s infectious smile when she’d turn her face to look at something, and he felt a small bit of satisfaction knowing that he’d had a part in it. He’d seen her smile before, but not with such abandon.

  “Ten miles!” she shouted, nodding at a sign. “Good work, Tallie!”

  “I’m so hungry I could eat a fucking horse!” he shouted. “There better be food in Grove!”

  “They’ll have food!” the girl on the handlebars shouted back. “I bet good food. Look, you can see the fish jumping!”

  Tal put the brakes on and they slowed down to look at the fish, leaping everywhere, creating intersecting ripples as far as they could see. “If Grove sucks, we’re coming back here!” Tal exclaimed, his eyes darting between the splashes. “I love fishing.”

  “You love fishing?” Lucy said in a tone that insinuated that she unable to imagine it. “You’re a city boy.”

  “I used to go with my dad and brothers. I mean, we’d need sticks, and string—”

  “We’ll come back anyway,” Lucy said, smiling brightly. “I like it too.”

  They made it to Grove as the setting sun lit the sky on fire over the lake, and the late fall leaves made it hard to tell where the sky ended. Grove was a ghost town; no signs of life anywhere. They walked the bike for a while and once they crossed Main Street when they saw a person in the distance. As they grew nearer, both Tal and Lucy’s posture stiffened, unsure if they were encountering a friend or a foe.

  The boy that approached them was probably fifteen, with a shaggy mop of brown hair and a pair of sweatpants that matched his grey t-shirt. He looked nonplussed at the two of them, offering a small grin.

  “‘Sup,’” he said, with a nod.

  “Do you know Red Cloud?” Lucy asked. “We’re here to see him.”

  “He’s at the site already. Always goes early.”

  “What site?” she replied coolly. “How do we get there?”

  “First timers?” The kid nodded, looking them up and down. “Cool. It’s out at Honey Creek Park. Just keep going along here and turn at the sign. Can’t miss it.”

  “Is there food there?”

  “We got a pig going,” the kid chuckled, a huge grin on his face. “Lots of food. Got to keep your energy up.”

  Tal glanced at Lucy, wondering if she’d left out some important information. “For—”

  She cut Tal off. “Right!” she laughed. “Okay, well, thanks.”

  “Maybe I’ll see you there,” he said, giving them a nod as he continued on his way.

  Although they both noticed, they ignored the fact that the boy’s eyes had lingered on Lucy for a little too long. “Back on the bike?” Lucy asked, with a grin. “I mean, if we’re going a little way. It’ll be faster.”

  “If you want a ride, just ask,” Tal smirked.

  “Keep your hands off my ass this time.”

  He shook his head. “Can’t. Your ass is on the handlebars. It’s the price you pay.”

  “Well,” she frowned playfully. “I hope yo
u’re not enjoying it.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” Tal replied, coolly raising his eyebrows at her as he climbed on the bike, unwilling to admit that he was enjoying it very much. “Let’s get wherever we’re going before dark.”

  The path to the park was covered with colorful leaves, and Tal found himself questioning why Lucy’s friend was sending them there. It felt like they were being lead to the middle of nowhere, and it unnerved him after the few days they’d had.

  “What do you think they’re doing there?” he asked when they turned onto the road with signs for the park. “Some sort of party?”

  “Could be anything,” Lucy said, turning as much as she could on the handlebars to look at Tal in the fading light. “I don’t know much about Red Cloud. He’s someone Bull knows from when they were young.”

  Tal pulled over as the headlights from a truck lit up the road. The driver gave a wave, bottle of something in hand.

  “Probably a party, huh?” Tal noted, as they resumed.

  “The question is, what kind of party?” Lucy countered, as they made their way towards light and a chatter that grew louder by the minute. “Ever been to a rave?”

  “I don’t really do drugs,” Tal replied, hopping off the bike to walk. “I’ve gone, but I usually make it like, an hour before I’m bored and annoyed.”

  “There’s no club music, so it’s probably not a rave,” Lucy said, curious, as people started walking past. A few at first, then more. Older kids, younger kids, babies. “Everyone’s dressed, so it’s not an orgy.”

  Tal’s nose twitched as he started to smell food. Barbecue if he had to guess. “Let’s find your friend’s guy and get settled in.”

  Minutes later, they were pointed in direction of an individual who was not what either of them were expecting. Red Cloud was about Tal’s age, if he had to guess, slight, with a shock of rough ginger hair and crooked teeth. He stood about Lucy’s height.

  “My grandfather was Cherokee,” he shrugged, taking in Lucy’s amused expression as he introduced himself. “I thought Red Cloud was ironic.”