Project Airborne

by Johnson, Cassandra

  There was a soft nudge on her shoulder, it was testing to see if she would move and give herself away. Every bone, muscle and fiber of her body became tense for the attack. It nudged her again, now it was tapping on her shoulder gently.

  “Kaige. Kaige, I need to pee-pee.” It was a tiny voice whispering and suddenly Kaige remembered the events of the day. It was Tobey.

  Her eyes sprang open, his face was pinched in distress in the dimly glowing firelight and Kaige sat up immediately. Everyone else seemed to still be sleeping.

  “Oh sweetie. Of course, hold on just one second.” Kaige sat up, her body felt sore from laying on the floor, getting the lantern she turned it on.

  “Follow me.” Standing up, Kaige held the lantern out in front of them so that they could see their way around the apartment, leading him through the kitchen and down a small hallway. Three doors were closed off, one to the left, one in the middle of the hall against the wall and another to the right. They took the door to the left. Kaige kept those doors closed because there were windows in two of the rooms and it helped keep out the draft that tried to come in from them. Opening the door on the left, she sat the lantern down on the counter and picked up a plastic coffee can and sat it down on the lid of the toilet, prying the lid off. Kaige emptied it each time she pee’d and washed it down the bathtub drain. You could flush the toilet all day long, but there was no water to wash it down the pipes. She only poured water into the toilet when she needed to do something else and she had no idea what to do with poop and she wasn’t going to waste a perfectly good can each time she had a bowl movement, plus Kaige had tried and failed to hover over the can to go number two, it just wasn’t worth it.

  “There you go, honey. I’ll be right outside the door if you need anything.” Kaige left Tobey with the lantern and stepped outside, closing the door behind her. She wouldn’t leave him alone. Even though there was nothing that could hurt him here, it was a new place and he was a small boy. If it was scary to her and she was a grown up, how much more terrifying was it for a little kid?

  From the living room, she heard rustling, it sounded like someone else was waking up too.

  “Tobey?” It was Megan. Of course, a mother would sense her child wasn’t beside her anymore.

  Holding onto the wall in the dark, Kaige moved through the kitchen, peaking into the doorway that lead into the living room.

  “He’s just using the restroom,” Kaige told her.

  Megan was stretching and scooting up off the couch. The apartment was chilly, but not uncomfortably so and when you were in the living room it was comfortable. Megan crept into the darkened kitchen, her eyes blinking, trying to adjust to the lack of light as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

  “When I couldn’t see him, my mind went to the worst possible scenario.” Megan sighed folding her arms over her chest.

  “Mine probably would too.” Kaige told her. “How are you feeling?”

  “A little shaky, but that’s nothing new.” Megan had been on shaky ground since the day this all started and not a second went by where she wasn’t fearing what would come next.

  “When Tobey comes back from the bathroom, would you like to see the other apartments?” Kaige asked as the bathroom door edged open and she heard Tobey.

  “Kaige, what do I do with my pee?” Tobey asked, his voice a little hesitant in the crack of the door.

  Turning back to Megan, she gave her a sign that she would be right back before she felt along the walls, getting to the small light from the lantern in the bathroom.

  “What I do is, I just pour it down the drain in the bath tub. It seems gross, I know, but there isn’t really anywhere else for it to go.” Kaige told him, showing him what she did before nodding up and down that he understood what to do now.

  “We poured it down the bathroom sinks at the other building.” Tobey told her before they both came back out of the bathroom together.

  “I’d love to see them, and possibly use the bathroom as well.” Megan told her with a somewhat sheepish laugh. It was a crazy different world that they were living in now and they still hadn’t quite gotten used to it, no matter how many days, weeks and months went by.

  By the time Megan was finishing up in the bathroom, Tom and Logan were awake and rubbing their eyes before Tobey gave a small cry when he was looking through his backpack.

  “What is it, buddy?” Tom asked, coming to see what the matter was.

  “Tony isn’t here.” Tobey was taking things out of his backpack, digging like a mad man for whoever Tony was.

  “It’s okay, we’ll find him.” Tom said, smoothing Tobey’s hair back from his face.

  “But I know I put him in here, Daddy.” Tobey whined, looking inside the bag as if somehow the Tony would magically appear from the dark caverns of the backpack.

  “Don’t worry, Tobey. If he isn’t in your bag, he might be packed in one of the other bags.” Tom said, going over to check their bags.

  While the hunt for Tony commenced, Kaige got her flashlight and her keys and walked across the hallway to her old landlords’ unit with Megan. Outside of her unit, it was bitter cold in the stairwell.

  “I have more firewood down in the basement, if you want to stay here tonight, we can go down and get some or we can all bunk together tonight.” Kaige told her, the apartment itself was the same layout as her own, there wasn’t much difference except for the scent of stale air and the people who once inhabited those rooms, their bodies and souls having moved on to hopefully a place much better than this.

  “There are two bedrooms just like mine. Both beds are full size, so Tobey will have a big boy bed.” Kaige smiled softly, trying to think optimistically and why shouldn’t she? Not even twenty-four hours ago, she thought she might be the last living person on the planet and now she knew that she wasn’t. “It’s yours to make your own, if you want it that is. All the units are exactly the same except for the furniture inside them.”

  “It will be nice to feel like we have a home again.” Megan told her from the door of the living room, looking around. She could tell that it must have belonged to an older couple because there was no tv, and in one corner there was a magazine rack that was littered with old newspapers. Everything seemed to have an older feel to it, right along with the pictures in the picture frames.

  “I’m sure it will.” Kaige agreed. She could still see Mr. Walter in his chair reading his paper, he was obsessive about his paper and didn’t like them being thrown away. He would read them over and over until eventually he fell asleep in that chair by the window. Sometimes Kaige would be on her way home from work or going to the store on the weekends and pass by the window and look up and see Mr. Walter sound asleep with his head cocked to one side in his chair. He was a sweet man, soft spoken, what you would call a real southern gentleman. It would be nice to have someone across the hall that she could hear moving around and doing this. Voices gently carrying through the house. Kaige was alone for so long that sometimes she sang to herself just to have a bit of noise.

  “We’ll take it.” Megan jokingly said, giving Kaige a smile.

  “I’ll draw up the lease then Mrs. Greenely.” Kaige joked in return. “I’ll get the guys to help us bring up some firewood to keep it nice and warm in here. I looked all over the basement for a generator, but I should have known that there wasn’t one. My landlords were penny pinchers and they never invested in one, but they all run on gas anyway.” Kaige shrugged slowly as they went back to the apartment across the hall.

  “We’ve got a problem.” Tom said as they entered the apartment. Tobey was crying on the couch with Logan trying to comfort him.

  “What’s wrong?” Megan asked, looking at her son quickly.

  “I guess while we were packing, we must have forgotten Tobey’s stuffed Tony Stark and he is inconsolable about leaving him behind.” Tom explained, scratching his head.

  Kaige pursed her lips softly as she followed Tom and Megan into the living room, the two of them mo
ved to sit on either side of their son while Kaige disappeared into her bedroom, the beam of her flashlight rolling around while she looked for something buried under the piles of blankets on her bed, coming up with something tan and floppy. It was an old stuffed rabbit that had seen much better days, but Kaige had been sleeping with it since she was around Tobey’s age, so Mr. Bennington had seen a lot in his time. Looking at the stuffed animal she carried it out with her into the living room and tipped her head somewhat looking at Tobey.

  “Do you think you could let Mr. Bennington look after you tonight and tomorrow we will see if we can’t go back and get your Tony?” Kaige asked, holding the rabbit out to Tobey.

  Wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve Tobey looked at the rabbit for a second before his hand tentatively reached out and took it, looking it over curiously before he lifted his eyes up to Kaige and nodded quietly, tucking the stuffed animal up to his chest.

  “I think so, yes.” Tobey replied, swallowing down the rest of his tears though Kaige imagined that to Tobey, his toy kept him safe, it was his playmate, the person he talked to and told his fears when he couldn’t bring himself to tell his parents what he was thinking. There were no other children around for him to talk to or play with. It was probably the only source of enjoyment that the small boy had in these dark days.

  “What do you say to Kaige, Tobey?” Tom asked, giving Tobey a little pat on the shoulder.

  “Thank you.” Tobey climbed up from the couch, wrapping one arm around her waist in a hug.

  Kaige inhaled slowly, a small smile curling the corners of her lips as she patted the little boy on the back. She hated seeing anyone crying, especially a kid. Kaige never had any little cousins because her mom was an only child and most of her friends were single so she never had much interaction with kids, with this world the way it was, Kaige wasn’t going to find someone to fall in love with much less have children with, so in a way Tobey was the closest thing to having that experience and she wanted to do whatever she could to shield him from what was happening, to give him some kind of life.

  “You’re welcome, Tobey.” Kaige leaned down, giving him a look once over. “No more crying okay? Everything is going to work out, I promise. And I don’t break my promises, remember? We made it here.” Kaige used her thumb to wipe away a few tears that continued to cling to his cheek. “We’re going to go down to the basement to get some more firewood, do you think you will be okay up here for a little while without us?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He nodded up and down before he turned, climbing back onto the couch, holding the rabbit against his belly, looking into its glass eyes.

  “Okay then.” Kaige took a deep breath once more before she emptied what was left in the sack she kept her firewood in into the grate. Leading the three of them out of the apartment and down to ground level, Kaige unlatched the basement door. “Be careful going down the steps, they are a little further apart from each other in certain sections and I’ve fallen down them before, not a good feeling.” She warned as she held the railing, slowly making her descent down into the bowels of the house, shining the flashlight on the steps for the rest of them once she was at the bottom. Kaige wouldn’t show them the whole basement tonight, this was just a mission for firewood, everything else could wait until morning as she led them through the almost maze-like quarters to the pile of firewood that she had stacked against the back wall where the doors to the outside entrance was located. Filling her sack, she grabbed up another one and began to fill it for Tom and Megan.

  “I wish I had more bags.” Kaige sighed slowly as she gave one of them to Tom because she had a feeling they were going to be going through a lot more wood now that there were more people living in the house.

  “Bags? Kaige, remember we brought like five extra bags with us.” Logan commented, filling his arms with firewood before they carefully climbed back up the stairs to the apartment next door.

  “Geez, you're right.” Kaige shook her head slowly. She was so used to doing everything on her own and having to make double the trips that she completely forgot.

  “It’s ok. It’s been a long day.” Tom shrugged as he leaned down, filling the empty grate with firewood and cheeked to see that the flu to the fireplace was open, the last thing he wanted was to fill the room with smoke. Ripping up an old newspaper he stuck it in between the pieces of wood and flicked a match with his thumb, lighting the paper on fire watching it lick up the dry wood.

  “It should be nice and warm in here soon.” Megan said, rubbing her arms over her jacket, noticing how the room looked much different now that it wasn’t being lit by a flashlight alone. There was a small desk in the corner with a woman’s sweater hung over the chair. It must have been where the old landlord did all their paperwork because she could see folders lying on one side of the desk.

  “I’m going to fix some supper in a minute, by the time y’all are ready to come to go to sleep it will be almost like central heating in here.” Kaige smiled, rubbing her hands together slightly before they all went back to the apartment next door. “Logan, do you want to see the apartments upstairs or crash on my couch for tonight? We’ll need to go back down for firewood.”

  “I can sleep on the couch for tonight.” Logan replied, his breath turning to vapor in front of his face.

  “Okay, let’s get out of here and let it warm up and eat some dinner.” Kaige wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was dark outside, and she could still hear rain or sleet coming down, bouncing off the windows.

  Returning to her apartment she cleaned up the dishes from before and checked her watch to see what time it was, it was five o’clock, but they had made it to their new home, eaten and promptly crashed from exhaustion. Kaige couldn’t remember the last time she had a day as good as this one, at least not since the outbreak happened.

  9.

  Kaige could hear movement from inside the apartment, this time she remembered that there were people here with her, she remembered finding her co-workers. Grinding her teeth somewhat, she sat up in bed slowly, looking at her watch. It was eight and the only reason she hadn’t woken sooner was because it wasn’t freezing cold inside the apartment, Kaige could tell that the fire was still roaring in the living room and the heat was drifting into her bedroom. Rolling onto her side, she took a pain pill and forced herself to sit up and push the covers back, shuffling out of her room with blurry eyes and messy hair.

  Logan was squatting next to the fire, nudging some of the logs around with the fireplace poker while Tobey was playing with the Monopoly pieces from the board game they played last night until they were tired enough to go to sleep since they apparently slept most of the day.

  “Hey.” Kaige gave them a hoarse greeting as Tom and Megan came back inside, carrying firewood from the basement.

  “Good morning,” Megan chirped. Something about the sound of her voice, it took Kaige back to better days. The other woman sounded more like her old self.

  “Morning.” Kaige nodded a little bit, shuffling in her robe with stiff pained limbs to the mantel and grabbed her cigarettes, shaking one out and lighting it.

  “You don’t look so good are you okay?” Tom looked up at her from where he was crouched, staking up the firewood next to the brick inlay of the fireplace.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. This is just how the morning normally starts off. I haven’t taken any of my medicine yet and my pain pill hasn’t kicked in yet, this is actually good compared to most mornings.” Kaige explained, moving over to the couch and taking a seat while Logan was filling the kettle with water.

  “We’ll get you some more hot chocolate today, Tobey.” Kaige smiled since he had coffee for the first-time last night and the little man was almost bouncing off the walls until he finally crashed.

  “He slept really good last night.” Megan laughed, helping Logan get the coffee ready while Kaige put together all her pills. If anything, she’d learned she couldn’t take that prednisone on an empty stomach. Her mom had always warned he
r, and Kaige had seen the effects, but once she forgot and she spent that entire day spewing from both ends and it was no fun trying to clean all of that up, Kaige wasn’t able to leave the apartment for three days and all she actually did was lay on the couch sipping water until she was finally able to move again.

  Rubbing her face, Kaige sniffed slightly not sure what to do with the group here, doing all the things that she normally did in the morning. The water was boiling, there was food being prepped, and within a few minutes it was sitting in front of her.

  “How was your night in the apartment?” Kaige asked, swallowing her pills after she’d taken a few bites from the bowl of hot steak and potato soup that was placed in front of her.

  “Strange and good.” Tom looked up, bouncing his leg rapidly as he ate, his ADHD was severely triggered now that he’d had a good night's sleep. “It was weird actually sleeping in a bed,” he added finishing his meal before everyone else and glancing at the pack of cigarettes sitting on the coffee table. He’d abstained since yesterday because he’d gotten so used to not smoking, but now, he felt those old triggers shifting.

  Kaige smiled and passed him the pack and her lighter. She was getting warmer now that her medication was beginning to kick in and she shouldered her robe off.

  “Tobey slept between us.” Megan told them, her arm wrapping around Tobey and squeezing him closer to her. It was obvious that she wasn’t too keen to let her son out of her sight and Kaige saw that clearly.

  “Why are you taking medicine?” Tobey asked, tilting his head while he watched Kaige slightly fan herself. “Are you sick?”

  “Sort of, but I’m okay. I don’t want you to be worried about me, little dude. My mom had lupus and since I have all the same symptoms that she had, I kind of self-diagnosed and took some of her old medicine and it really helped so, when I ran out, I raided the Walgreens.” Kaige explained, pushing her hair back from her face.