Red Hill

by Jamie McGuire

  It felt good to laugh and remember things that didn't mean anything at the time. Any good memories were everything now.

  Joey's eyes began to redden and droop, and I was finally feeling the effects of exhaustion myself, so I stood and headed for the stairs. Something stopped me, and I turned.

  "Joey?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Why did it make you so happy to know that Scarlet did Dana's exam? Wasn't she really sick then?"

  Joey nodded. "Yeah, but . . . I don't know. Talking to someone else who knew Dana when she was alive makes her real, you know? It's easy to forget that our lives before weren't a dream. This isn't the reality, how we're meant to live, or who we are. The people we were seven days ago . . . that is who we are, and Scarlet remembering Dana when she was alive makes that true."

  I shook my head. I still didn't understand.

  Joey shrugged. "It feels good to know she lives in someone else's memory, too."

  I offered a small smile, and shoved my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. "Goodnight."

  Nathan

  MY EYES PEELED OPEN, AND it took a moment for me to recall where I was and why. Simultaneously, I remembered that Zoe was supposed to be asleep next to me, and realized that her side of the bed was empty. In a panic, I scrambled over the bed and ran through the French doors to the living room. Zoe was sitting at the head of the dining room table, chomping away on Frosted Mini-Wheats and chatting Scarlet's ear off.

  Scarlet was sitting in the chair next to Zoe, her chin resting in her hand, listening intently to every word my daughter uttered. Zoe and Scarlet mirrored each other's happiness in that moment, and I got a little choked up at the sight of them. Zoe's sweet smile had returned, and Scarlet's fiery red hair glowed in the morning sun that poured through cracks in the wooden slats on the window. I wasn't sure I'd seen anything more beautiful.

  Once Scarlet caught a glimpse of me, she pushed away from the table and went outside. Zoe took another bite, and I winked at her before joining Scarlet on the porch. She was staring down the dirt road, longing for her daughters, I imagined.

  "My daughter Halle isn't much older than Zoe," she said, covering her mouth with a few of her fingers. Her pink nail polish was nearly completely chipped away, but her fingers were still elegant.

  "How old is the other one? You have two, right?"

  Scarlet cast a curious glance in my direction.

  "The picture on the wall."

  "Just the two," she said with a guarded smile. "Jenna is thirteen." I laughed once, and Scarlet nodded. "Boy, is she ever."

  "I can't imagine."

  "You will," she said. Her smile faded. "They were supposed to meet me here if something happened. They were with their father when . . . I couldn't get to them."

  "They know their way?"

  She nodded. "Halle made up a song. She makes up a song for everything. It used to drive me crazy. I try to remember some of them, but I can't," she whispered the last bit. "Having all of Halle's artwork from school all over my Suburban was maddening. I remember getting on her case for it so many times. I wish to God I had just one piece of that now. That picture is all I have of them."

  Her blue eyes glistened, and I fought the urge to wrap my arms around her. Before that thought was complete, her soft, red hair was under my chin, and her hands were interlocked at the small of my back. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, but then I rested my cheek against her hair and squeezed her tight. She wept quietly in my arms, and I waited patiently until she stopped shaking.

  She let go first, and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry. That was probably a weird thing to do."

  "Nothing is weird anymore," I said with a half-smile.

  She laughed, for maybe the first time since this all started. It sounded like music and sunshine. "That's true." Her eyes wandered back to the crest of the hill, and we waited in silence for a while until Zoe called for me. I left her alone to tend to my daughter. After an hour, Zoe tugged on my slacks.

  "Is she going to stay out there all day?"

  "I don't know," I said. Scarlet hadn't moved. She watched the road like she was expecting her children to come over the hill at any moment.

  Minutes later, Scarlet tore herself away and came back in, immediately checking the nails in the slats, and then finding things to organize or clean.

  Miranda and Bryce emerged from their bedroom. Miranda's eyes were swollen. It looked like she'd been crying again. Bryce was holding her hand, and squeezed it once before letting go to make them some breakfast.

  "We should be careful what we consume," Joey said. "We'll probably have to go back to Shallot eventually for supplies."

  "Not for a while," Bryce said, opening the cabinet. It was stocked full. "There is a pantry, too. A big one."

  "What about the water situation?" Joey asked.

  "Well," Ashley said, following Cooper out of her room. They were more affectionate toward one another than Bryce and Miranda. They reached out to touch each other recurrently, like a dolphin rising to the surface for air.

  "Well what?" Joey said.

  Ashley smiled. "Water well."

  "Is it electric?" Joey asked.

  "The pump is," Scarlet said. "Why?"

  "How much longer will we have electricity, and what will we do for water when we don't?" Joey said matter-of-factly.

  Everyone traded glances. I felt the same way. It hadn't occurred to me that it was only a matter of time before we were without power.

  Ashley looked to Joey. "How much longer do you think we have?"

  "It depends on if the operators and utilities had enough warning to take measures to keep things running for a while," I said. "I'm pretty sure this area is run by a hydroelectric power station, otherwise we would have been off by now."

  "How do you know all of that?" Miranda asked.

  "It's what I do," I said. "Or what I used to do. If operators had time to isolate key portions of the grid to reduce connections, and then terminate power delivery altogether to areas prone to potential drains, a hydro plant could easily function for weeks or months. In theory, they have an unlimited fuel supply, assuming normal rainfall. We'd basically be waiting for an essential component to fail or wear out."

  "So we should prepare," Joey said. "We have food, we have weapons, but they won't mean anything if we don't have water."

  "Should we find containers and start filling them?" Cooper asked.

  Joey nodded. "That will work for a while, but we'll eventually need something more long-term. We need some kind of a water filtration system."

  Ashley sat at the table. "How much longer is this going to go on? It's not permanent . . . is it? They'll fix it."

  "Who's they?" Joey asked.

  "The government," Cooper said.

  Joey shook his head. "We shouldn't assume this is temporary. We should take measures now to . . ."

  "I'd just like to know who the fuck died and left you running the show," Bryce said, cutting Joey off.

  "Bryce . . . ," Miranda said.

  "Okay," I said, holding up my hands. "We're all tired and stressed. I'm sure with the storm last night not many of us got much rest. Bryce, you've got a point. We need to work together and come up with a plan. Joey, you seem like you know what you're talking about. You've had training?"

  "He just got back from Afghanistan," Miranda said. Her input only agitated Bryce more.

  "Okay, then," I said, trying to avoid a scene. "Joey, why don't you look around and see what you can come up with? We'll need to fashion some sort of water-holding cistern, and we'll need to go into town for a hand-pumped water filter, replacement filters, and some purification tablets if we can find them."

  "That's asking a lot," Miranda said. "You would find all of that at a large camping outlet. The closest one I can think of is over two hours away."

  "I used to watch those preparation shows on TV," Scarlet said. "They showed someone pouring water through sand once, and then putting cloth at the bottom. Sand is a real
ly good filtration system. There is charcoal out back. We just need a large jug or barrel, gravel, sand, and charcoal and put some cloth at the mouth. Turn it upside down and voila! Water filter . . . that is, in theory."

  "That's a pretty good theory," I said with a small smile. She smiled back.

  "It's still a theory," Bryce grumbled.

  Joey glanced over at Bryce, his jaws working, and then nodded, leaving out the side door.

  Miranda glared at Bryce, and then continued making her cereal.

  Bryce held out his hands. "What?"

  I noticed Scarlet had quietly excused herself to the porch, standing in the same place she had that morning, staring at the road. She wore a man's T-shirt that swallowed her and a pair of navy scrub pants.

  "Now I know why the bedroom is a mess," I teased. "You raided the doctor's wardrobe."

  Scarlet looked down at her haphazard appearance and absently pulled a lock of stray hair behind her ear and then smoothed the rest. "Just the one T-shirt," she said. "I actually didn't ransack his room. It was like that. I was going to clean it--I actually needed to after I'd cleaned everything else and ran out of things to do--but I decided it was his room, and for some reason I had to leave it the way it was. Maybe for the girls."

  "His girls?"

  She nodded to confirm, but soon her eyebrows pulled together and I realized too late my casual question for clarification reminded her of who she was waiting for.

  "I can't imagine waiting for Zoe, wondering if she was okay, or if she was coming at all."

  Scarlet laughed once. "You're not helping."

  "But you have to believe that they're coming."

  She closed her eyes and a tear slipped from beneath one of her eyelids. "I do." She looked at me. "Trust me, I believe it. Andrew was a terrible husband, and to be honest, he wasn't that great of a father, but what he lacked in compassion and patience, he more than made up for in efficiency and sense. He's smart. Quick witted, you know? He could think on his feet. If anyone can get my girls here, to me, it's him."

  "I'm sure you're right."

  She looked down her feet for a moment, fighting a hopeful smile, and then stared back at the road. We stood together in silence, watching the road together, until Zoe called for me. She was playing with small plastic horses, and Cooper was standing over her with a proud smile.

  "They were Ashley's."

  I nodded. "That was very kind of you."

  "She reminds me a lot of my little sister." Cooper looked up at me. "Ashley was majoring in early childhood education. She's good at it. I bet she could work with Zoe a little every day."

  Ashley walked by, on her way somewhere, and reached out for Cooper. Without looking back, he reached his hand behind him, and their fingertips grazed as she walked by. I wasn't even sure how he knew she was coming.

  "I can," she said as she walked through the dining room to the back hallway. Her bedroom was back there somewhere, so I assumed that's where she was headed.

  "That will be so good for her. You have no idea. I can't thank you enough." I said the words to Cooper, even though it was for Ashley. Speaking to one was like speaking to both.

  It was odd watching them interact and move about, orbiting each other, like an old couple who'd been married fifty years or more. If reincarnation was possible, these kids had to have found their way to each other again, many times over.

  After an hour, Scarlet returned inside. She smiled at Zoe. "Do you have horses?" she asked.

  Zoe held up a tiny horse in each hand. "Just these."

  Scarlet nodded her head, her expression absent of condescension. "Better than that bull out there, that's for sure."

  "Butch?" Cooper said. "He's not a bad guy. He's just sick of being cooped up in that pen. You've been feeding him, haven't you?"

  "He has hay," Scarlet said, "and water. I'm worried he's going to attract shufflers, though."

  "Attract what?" Cooper said, chuckling.

  Scarlet glanced at me, and then back at Cooper, clearly taken off guard by the question. "Shufflers. I can't call them zombies," she said, rolling her eyes at the word. "Zombies are from Hollywood. Zombies aren't real. Those things need a name that's real."

  "Yeah, but shufflers?" Cooper said, making a face.

  "They shuffle!" Scarlet said, mildly defensive.

  The conversation had drawn the attention of the rest of the group, and everyone else was congregating in the living room, too.

  "I've been calling them sick, or infected," I said.

  "Those things," Ashley said. Everyone craned their neck in her direction. She shrugged. "That's what I call them: those things."

  Miranda crossed her arms. "I can't call them zombies, either. I call them dead ones."

  "Biters," Joey said.

  "I like biters," Miranda said, nodding.

  "Well, I like shufflers. They shuffle," Scarlet said.

  Joey laughed once without humor. "They also bite."

  Scarlet frowned, but everyone seemed to be amused with the conversation.

  "I think we should call them cows," Zoe said, still playing with her horses. "They sound like cows."

  I laughed. "They groan."

  "Hmmm . . . ," Zoe said, thinking very hard. "What about ted? It rhymes with dead. 'Oh, no! There is a ted! Hide! Run, Cooper! Shoot the ted, Scarlet!' " She made all sorts of faces while she acted out the different scenarios in which we might yell ted. Everyone was smiling, everyone but Scarlet.

  "Why me? Why do I have to shoot the ted?" Scarlet asked.

  "Because you're the best shot," Zoe said.

  "I like you," Scarlet said, smiling only with her eyes.

  "I like you, too," Zoe replied.

  Scarlet lifted her arms and let them fall to her thighs. "All right, I'm sold on ted. Anyone disagree?"

  Everyone shook their heads.

  "Good choice, Zoe," Cooper said.

  Zoe smiled wider than I'd seen in years, and in that moment, it was easy to believe everything was going to be okay.

  Chapter Twenty

  Nathan

  ZOE HAD BEEN SPENDING A lot of time outside on the porch before and after her studies with Ashley. Scarlet may have inspired her, I couldn't be sure. When Zoe was asked what she was doing, she would barely explain.

  "Waiting," she would say. She alternated between examining her fingers as they rested in her lap and squinting to see beyond the hill.

  I'd learned not to ask what she was waiting for. She wouldn't tell me. I worried that she was missing her mother, but if Aubrey wasn't who or what she was waiting for, I didn't want to upset Zoe by bringing it to her attention. I worried that being safe wasn't enough for my daughter. Then again, she seemed happy and hadn't had an episode in over a week, so maybe I was so used to having something to worry about with her that I was overthinking things.

  "Zoe?" I said, joining her on the porch. She'd been waiting quietly for nearly half an hour, and Ashley was waiting for her at the table. "Miss Ashley has made up some multiplication flash cards for you to try."

  "I don't really like math," she said.

  I smiled. "I don't really like math, either, but sometimes we have to do things that aren't fun."

  Her expression was thoughtful. "We have to do that a lot."

  "Some days more than others. Are you ready?"

  Zoe shook her head. That took me off guard. Zoe had never flat-out told me no before. I wasn't sure how to react.

  "Why not?"

  She pointed at the road. I turned, seeing a man and a girl just clearing the hill. At first I was startled, but then I realized they weren't sick.

  "Is that Scarlet's family?" Zoe asked.

  "No. I mean, it doesn't look like them." The man was very tall and lanky, with his bald spot obvious from and vulnerable to the morning sun. His arms were abnormally long, and the closer they came, the longer they seemed to be.

  "Scarlet!" I called, wanting to mentally slap myself the second I yelled her name. Just like I feared, she came ru
nning out the door, already breathing hard from hope and anticipation.

  "Is it them?" she asked, just as they came running for the farmhouse.

  "Oh, God, no, I'm sorry," I said, feeling like a complete ass.

  Scarlet kept her eyes on the pair, swallowing loud as they approached. Her whole body tensed and leaned in such a way that it looked like her heart was breaking on the outside of her body.

  I reached out and grabbed her hand, unsure of what else to do.

  "Hey," the man said, holding the girl's hand loosely in his. His head, lips, and nose were badly sunburned, his eyes were sunken, and his cheekbones had just begun to protrude. The girl didn't seem as affected by the elements or hunger as he did, but she didn't lift her eyes from the ground. Even though she was tethered to the man by the hand, she didn't stand close to him.

  "I'm Kevin. This is my daughter, Elleny," he said, breathing hard through his smiling lips.

  "Hi, Elleny," Scarlet said, her smooth mom voice automatic and natural.

  When Elleny didn't acknowledge her, Kevin shrugged. "She's been through a lot."

  Scarlet tilted her head. "How old are you, Elleny?"

  "She's fourteen," Kevin said. "Is this your place?"

  Scarlet looked at Kevin, and then at me. He was a little weird, but Scarlet and I both knew we wouldn't turn away a child. "Pretty much. There's water and food inside," she said, gesturing toward the door. "But you'll have to leave your weapon outside." Scarlet looked down to the fire poker in his right hand.

  Kevin wasted no time, laying down the poker and pulling Elleny along with him.

  Scarlet showed them around the kitchen while I got Zoe situated at the table with Ashley.

  "Who is that?" Ashley whispered.

  "Survivors," I said. "A father and daughter."

  Ashley made a face. I knew what she was thinking. Kevin looked like a skeleton, and Elleny was nearly plump, the baby fat still bulging her cheeks just enough to make her look younger than fourteen. Her green eyes and chestnut hair were opposite Kevin's ice-blue eyes. Her round features stood out from his boney face and pointy nose.

  "Zoe doesn't look like me, either."

  "Yes she does," Ashley said, smiling down at my daughter, who smiled back.

  Ashley and Zoe worked on her times tables and read for about half an hour, and then they worked on an old puzzle of Ashley's, putting together all fifty of the United States. Once they were finished, Zoe returned to the porch again.