Quake

by Richard Laymon

  ***

  Heather stayed well ahead of Barbara and Pete. The pranced along beside her as she hurried through the alley energy that Barbara had never seen in her. She rushed side to side, peering over rear fences and gates, walkways to search for a swimming pool. After ten or eleven tries, she bounded back into the alley from the shadows of an apartment complex's parking area and shouted, 'Found one!' Susie darted past her feet. 'Come on! Looks great!' She whirled around and rushed out of sight. The cat swiveled its head to watch her, then looked at Barbara. It blinked a couple of times, twitched its tail, then slowly turned and followed Heather.

  'If she goes in that pool before us,' Barbara said, 'I'm not going in.'

  'She'd better not,' Pete said.

  'She found it.'

  Pete made a face. 'If she goes in and gets it bloody, we'll just have to find our own.'

  'I'm with you.'

  From the rear, the two-story apartment building looked as if it hadn't been damaged by the quake. Barbara didn't even see any cracks in the stucco wall or balconies above the parking area. There were parking spaces for twelve vehicles. Three were occupied. If this was like most apartment houses, additional spaces could probably be found at the front. Barbara wondered how many cars might be parked there. Too bad we can't have the place to ourselves, she thought. She followed Pete across the parking area and through a narrow passageway to a wrought iron gate. The gate was shut. Pete pulled it open, stepping backward, watching Barbara and nodding for her to go ahead of him.

  'Thanks.' She stepped past him and entered the pool area. Heather was waiting, just off to the side. With Susie cradled in her arms.

  She smiled at Barbara. 'How about this?' she asked. Her voice sounded too loud.

  'Not bad,' Barbara said, unable to look at anything except Heather and the cat. The bodice of Heather's tan dress was smeared with rust-colored blood. So was the skin of her throat, as if the cat had been nuzzling her with its gory head. The gate clanked shut, and Pete came to her side. He met her eyes, then looked at Heather. His lips peeled back. 'You're getting it all over you,' he said.

  'No big deal. It's only a little blood.'

  Mrs Klein's blood, Barbara thought. Blood from a dead woman. A woman killed by the very cat that Heather was hugging to her chest and caressing.

  'You'd better hope Susie doesn't decide to rip your throat open,' Barbara said.

  'Aw, she's a nice kitty.'

  'My butt,' Barbara said.

  'You'd better be careful with that thing,' Pete warned. 'Maybe it just went temporarily insane, or something, but it did kill her, and maybe it - you know - wouldn't mind doing something like that again.'

  Heather gently kissed the top of Susie's head.

  'Oh!' Pete blurted in disgust. 'Man!'

  She grinned at him. Her lips now had more color than before.

  Barbara grimaced. 'I'm going in the pool.'

  'Same here,' Pete said. She waited by his side.

  He faced Heather. 'You'll stay out till we're done, won't you?' he asked.

  'Maybe will, and maybe won't.'

  'Hey. Please?'

  'I found it, you know.'

  'We know, but…'

  'What'll you give me?'

  'Let's not play stupid games,' Barbara said. 'Come on. Before somebody shows up and kicks us out of here and none of us gets to go in the water.'

  'Susie and I both need a swim,' Heather explained.

  'Just wait till we're out,' Pete told her. 'All right.'

  'Thanks. It's not you. It's just that we don't want to be in the blood.'

  'But I will require a small favor.'

  Barbara considered punching her in the face. If slug her, I'll probably get some of that blood on my fist. And that damn cat'll probably rip my face off-

  'Okay,' Pete said. 'What do you want?’

  'One favor.'

  'What?'

  Heather tilted her head. 'Anything I ask.'

  'Let's just get in the pool,' Barbara muttered, turning her scowl toward Pete.

  He ignored her. 'What favor?’

  'I haven't decided yet.’

  'Oh, I'm supposed to…'

  'The hell with all this,' Barbara said. She left them where they stood, and walked toward the pool. The surface of the water glimmered with sunlight. At the edge, she stopped. She turned slowly, scanning the windows and doors of the apartments surrounding the courtyard. All the doors were shut. The draperies appeared to be drawn behind most of the windows. Through a few windows, however, she could see the dim interiors of rooms. Everybody can't be gone, she thought. Somebody almost has to be home. Home, and watching us. Why do they have to be sneaky about it? she wondered. Maybe afraid of us. Scared we might be dangerous, or something. What if they're the dangerous ones? 'Just stay out,' Pete said to Heather. 'I will. But you owe me.’

  'Yeah, sure.'

  Hearing Pete's footsteps behind her, Barbara slipped her purse strap off her shoulder. She set the purse down by her feet, then started to take off her shoes and socks. The concrete was very hot. After taking off her socks, she stood on them and twisted sideways to watch Pete get ready. As he unfastened the buttons of his shirt, Barbara said, 'Did you bring your suit?'

  He threw her a nervous smile and shook his head. 'Guess I'll just empty my pockets and go in the way am.'

  'Same here.' She nodded at the bandage on his forearm. 'You'd better try to keep that dry.'

  'It's not really much of a cut.' He let his shirt fall, then started to take off his shoes.

  'Oh!' Heather called, looking over her shoulder as she walked toward the far end of the pool. 'I forgot to tell you about the jacuzzi!'

  Barbara saw it now - a low circle of tiles at the pool's corner. 'I wasn't even gonna get in your pool. Not till I was clean. So, ha! But you still owe me a favor, anyhow, Pete. A deal's a deal.'

  'Fine,' Pete muttered. 'We'll see.'

  'Watch this!' Heather called.

  Still a few strides from the spa, she hurled Susie through the air. The cat cried, 'Rowwwwww!' as it tumbled. In mid-air, it flipped over. It dropped paws-first into the spa. Water splashed high. Heather clapped her hands and hopped with delight.

  An instant later, the cat sprang out of the spa. In a blur of speed, it scampered across the concrete away from Heather, away from the pool, and under the gate at the front entrance to the courtyard.

  'Susie!' Heather shouted.

  'Quiet down!' Barbara snapped. 'Do you wanta get us kicked out of here?'

  'She's running away!'

  'What did you expect? You don't throw cats into water like that.'

  'Oh.' Heather looked agonized. 'I just wanted to wash the blood off her.' She glanced toward the gate, then turned to Barbara. 'Will she come back?'

  'I doubt it.'

  'Maybe you'd better go and find her,' Pete suggested. 'If you don't, that's probably the last you'll ever see of Susie.’

  'Will you come and help?'

  'We'd better not,' Barbara said. 'Cats get spooked awfully easily. If Pete and come, we'd probably scare it off. You'd have more luck by yourself.'

  'You'd better hurry,' Pete added.

  Heather started jogging toward the front gate. She looked back. 'You guys won't leave…'

  'We'll wait right here,' Pete said.

  'Promise?’

  'Cross my heart.'

  'Okay, then.' She reached the gate, opened it, and walked quickly out of sight.

  Barbara and Pete looked at each other. They both smiled. Barbara shrugged.

  Pete said, 'Well…'

  'Did you see her throw that cat?' Pete laughed.

  'I couldn't believe it.’

  'I could. The girl's odd.'

  Pete's smile vanished. 'Well… yeah. She's had a tough life, though. You know?'

  'I know, I know. All she does is talk about it. Like she's bragging about it.'

  'Yeah. Sort of. I guess she does get annoying but… I feel kind of sorry for her.'

  'Th
at's what she wants.'

  'You think so?'

  Barbara shrugged. She wished she hadn't started in on the girl. Now, Pete probably figured that she was heartless. 'I don't know,' she said. 'I've got nothing much against her, guess. I'm going in.'

  With that, she dived into the pool. It didn't look quite as full as it should be, so she didn't dive deep. The water seemed to hit her everywhere at once, shocking her with its cold. She felt as if every inch of her body had suddenly been clamped by icy pliers. Almost immediately, however, the pain faded. She glided through the water, just beneath the surface, relishing the coldness. It caressed her. It licked away her heat. Surfacing, she rolled onto her back. She floated and watched Pete. He still stood above the other end of the pool. He was barefoot and shiftless. His pants looked big and hot. She wondered if he would change his mind and take them off. No, not Pete. Even if he was wearing perfectly decent underwear, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would take his pants of in public, in broad daylight. Not that I'd want him to, Barbara thought. Not that I'd mind, as long as he keeps his underwear on. Might be kind of neat. Maybe he doesn't even wear any underwear. Of course he does, she told herself. Don't be ridiculous.

  'What are you waiting for?' she asked. He shrugged. 'I don't know.'

  Lowering her legs, she found the bottom of the pool. She stood up. The water covered her to the waist. Pete stood motionless and stared at her.

  'Are you gonna take off your pants?' Barbara asked.

  He didn't answer. He acted as if he hadn't even heard the question. He simply stood there, mouth hanging open, and continued to stare at Barbara. She glanced down at herself. Her blouse had come unbuttoned all the way. It was open, showing a lot of tanned, wet skin. And showing too much of her bra. This time, the cup on the right side was exposed. It held her breast like a white, flimsy pouch. It was almost transparent. Her nipple pushed at the clinging fabric like a stiff, dark cone. Oh my God! Her heart slammed and heat flooded through her. She felt as if her breath had been stolen. Her hand trembled as she raised it out of the water and fumbled with the right side of her blouse and covered her breast. It's no big deal, she told herself. It's nothing. So what if he saw…?

  'How's the water?' Pete asked. He sounded awfully nervous.

  Sure he's nervous. He's been staring at my boob. And he knows saw him.

  'The water's fine. Are you coming in?’

  'Should I?’

  'Yeah. Come on.'

  'Okay. Okay, sure.' Bobbing his head, he rubbed his hands together. 'Here come, ready or not.' He dived off the edge.

  Obviously, he was used to easier methods of entering pools. Barbara found herself grinning, but trembling, as he came down flat and smacked the water hard.

  'Ouch!' she gasped.

  Water from his huge splash rained down. She stayed where she was, and watched him swim closer. He stopped just out of reach, and stood. The water was halfway up his chest. He blinked and wiped his eyes. 'It's cold!' he gasped.

  'Yeah. Are you okay? You sure did a belly-whomper.' He smiled. 'I'm not the greatest diver in the world.’

  'You're okay, though?'

  'Sure.' He nodded. His gaze darted down from her face, but he looked away fast.

  Suddenly very aware that she was standing higher than Pete and in water just to her waist, she squatted down until the water lapped over her shoulders. Letting go of her blouse, she raised her arms away from her sides and moved them slowly to keep herself steady. Pete went lower, too. Only his head was above the water, but Barbara could see his neck and shoulders and arms and chest and belly below the surface. The way the water bent the light, his bare skin seemed to wiggle and shimmy.

  Barbara supposed that she must look the same, to him. Except I'm wearing stuff on top. With her arms out, her blouse had probably drifted open. She didn't check to find out. What I don't know won't hurt me. Pete seemed to be sneaking glances and looking away fast, meeting her eyes for a second, trying to smile, looking all around, finding her eyes again.

  'This is pretty neat,' he said after a while.

  'It's probably the best place to be. Under the circumstances.'

  'A hot day like this,' Pete added.

  'Yeah. And safe. There's nothing much that can fall on us here.'

  'And if nothing falls on you, you're okay.'

  'Unless a cat gets you,' Barbara said.

  He laughed softly, glanced down through the water at her, then turned his head away and appeared to study the upper level of the apartment building. 'I wonder where everyone is,' he said.

  'It's kind of spooky.'

  'Yeah,' Pete said. 'I'm glad, though. That nobody's around. I mean, we're sort of trespassing. We could get kicked out if anybody cared.'

  'I know.'

  'But where are they all?'

  'Who knows?' Barbara said. 'Mostly at work, maybe. But there were cars back by the alley.'

  'Yeah. Somebody must be here.'

  'Probably spying on us.'

  Pete wrinkled his nose. He slowly turned all the way around. His nose was still wrinkled when he faced Barbara again.

  'Maybe we oughta get out of here.'

  'We have to wait for Heather.’

  'Yeah. But…'

  'We might as well stay in the water till she shows up.’

  'I guess so.'

  She smiled. 'Scared?'

  'Nah.'

  'Let 'em spy all they want. As long as they stay in their apartments and don't come out to get us.'

  'Oh, real nice.'

  She started to scan the apartments, herself. As she moved her eyes slowly past doors and windows, she noticed that he seemed to be looking straight ahead - at her. Now that I'm not watching him… Let him, she thought. It's fine. It's nice. Let him look all he wants.

  'I really do wonder where everyone is,' she said, and kept her eyes away from Pete. 'It isn't just here, either. It's all over the place, ever since we got away from the main streets, I mean, it's not that nobody is around. But there just don't seem to be as many people as there should be. We're in the middle of Los Angeles. There oughta be people everywhere. They can't all be at work. Have they gone into hiding or something? They can't be dead. I guess some are. Maybe a couple of hundred? But that's not so many. Even though that wouldn't be enough to account for everyone being gone like this. It's sort of like they vanished.' She glanced at Pete.

  He was watching her, all right. Staring at her. At her face, not at the areas below the water line. She wasn't sure whether she ought to feel pleased or disappointed. And she found that she felt a little bit of both.

  'What do you think?' she asked.

  'It's sure funny,' he said. 'Maybe the monsters got them.'

  His face broke into a smile. 'That's probably it.'

  'I wonder where Heather is.’

  'Maybe the cat ate her,' Pete said.

  And Barbara laughed. 'Oh, that's real nice. A minute you were sticking up for her.'

  'Actually, I like it better when she isn't around.'

  'Me, too.'

  Pete's eyes seemed to be searching her eyes, almost as if trying to get into them.

  'I really…' His voice quit. 'What?'

  He shook his head and looked away. 'I don't know. It's… just I wanta… I mean, it's really awful, all this stuff that's happened. And how we're kind of stuck out here and things are sort of dangerous. And we don't know if our families are okay or anything. But… it's just that… I'm not glad any of it happened, nothing like that, but… I'm sort of glad we got a chance to… I've had a chance to, you know, be with you like this.'

  'Me, too,' Barbara said.

  Pete looked stunned. 'Really?'

  'Really.'

  'Oh, man.'

  'Yeah,' Barbara said.

  'Cause, what I mean to say… I really sort of like you, you know?'

  'I really sort of like you, too.'

  'You do?'

  Barbara reached out through the water. Pete's arm swept forward and he took her h
and. She gave his hand a gentle pull that brought him toward her, walking up the slope of the pool's floor but staying low and keeping his head level with Barbara's.

  A single stride away from her, he stopped. He had a very strange look on his face. Barbara couldn't tell whether he was terrified or ecstatic.

  'Oh, man,' he said, his voice shaky.

  Barbara's lips felt dry. She licked them.

  'I can't believe this is happening,' Pete said.

  'What?'

  'This. You. Would it be… is it okay if I… Do you want to kiss?'

  'Yeah.'

  Still holding her hand, he put his other hand against the back of her head. His face came closer. It was sprinkled with tiny bright sparkles of water. His eyelashes came together in tiny, dark points. His eyes jumped a little bit from side to side as if he couldn't make up his mind which of her eyes to look at. He licked his lips. And Barbara shut her eyes. And waited. And wondered why he wasn't kissing her yet. This'll be my first, she realized. My first real kiss - not Mom or Dad or a relative or a friend of the family or whatever but a boy. A real boy kissing me. And now she felt his mouth against her lips. Moist and cool, then warm, pressing gently as he held the back of her head. This is it, she thought. This is really it. My first kiss, and I'm almost sixteen and it's Pete in a swimming pool on the day of the big quake. And here am thinking about it instead of just enjoying it - but it's nice. Nice because of how it feels, she wondered, or nice because it's Pete? Stop thinking! He's being very much a gentleman, she thought. Just a nice kiss, no funny stuff. She wondered if anyone was watching. From one of the apartments, maybe. It's not like we're doing something wrong. Our bodies aren't even touching, she realized. Just our mouths and hands, and his other hand back there in my hair. It'd be nice to be up against him. Just as she thought about moving in closer and maybe hugging him, he took his mouth away.

  'Maybe we'd better stop,' he whispered. He lowered his hand from the back of her head. It went silently down toward his side.