“I believe him.” Olivia stared at Lissa with something close to hostility. “And I saw it too. Why would we lie?”
“I’m not saying anyone is lying.” Lissa met her glare with a steady gaze. “Call me the resident skeptic.”
Olivia said, “Whatever,” under her breath, and looked away, giving an angry little motion with one hand.
“So.” Zolzaya tried to keep her voice light, “are you going to keep heading north?”
Gary looked at her in surprise, then turned to Jackson. “Dude, you should stay here. Safety in numbers. Especially if some weird thing is stalking you.”
“Yeah.” Jackson drew the word out. “But it sounds like you’ve had your share of creepy crawlies to deal with, too.”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Lissa said.
“Let Olivia and Jackson make their own decision,” Zolzaya said. Why did she suddenly want them to leave? Was it because they didn’t need this new monster added to the ones they’d already seen?
Jackson looked at each of them in turn. Olivia watched him closely.
“We might stay a day or two. Probably not more than that.”
Zolzaya relaxed, and stopped herself right before she said, “Good.” It wasn’t because of whatever they claimed was stalking them. It was more that she instinctively didn’t like either Jackson Royce or Olivia Carr. Jackson was someone who would insist on being in charge. Lissa, especially, wouldn’t take kindly to that, and she sensed that sooner or later Gary’s innate Alpha Dog would resurface, too. Plus, there was something grim about him, something beyond his army training and take-control personality. She was afraid of Jackson, for no reason she could easily put her finger on.
As for Olivia, there was nothing overtly odd about her, either in her words or her demeanor, but there was something off in her, too, like a jangling, off-key note in a symphony performance. Cross her, and the claws would come out mighty quick. There’d been a flash of it with Lissa, but now she was back to smiling, dark curls bouncing as she moved, white teeth flashing in a quick smile whenever she looked toward Jackson.
“Where are you staying?” Jackson asked.
“In my house,” Ben said. “It’s only a few blocks away.”
“Probably a little crowded, with all of you.” Olivia slipped an arm through Jackson’s. “It’s not like there aren’t lots of houses available. We’ll find one nearby.”
So that was part of it. Olivia had already staked her claim. She was almost certainly sleeping with him, probably since the first night. Maybe he wasn’t really in charge after all, even if she let him think so.
Ben jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “There’s a nice house next door. It belonged to my friend Jimmy.”
“That’d be fine, son,” Jackson said. “Like I said. Probably only for a couple of days. I think we want to keep going, see what else and who else is out there. It’s a big old empty country now.”
“Empty,” Ben echoed.
“Open’s a better word. I’m not afraid of space. There are thousands of grocery stores and millions of houses out there, each with enough dry goods and canned food to last us years. By then, we’ll figure something out.”
Gary pointed down the street. “Someone else is coming.”
All of them turned, Olivia still with her hand on Jackson’s arm. A slim, small figure sauntered up First Street toward them. It was a girl of perhaps seventeen, with Asian features, her hair dyed a bright flame orange, wearing a ragged red t-shirt with a white stripe of sequins down the front, skin-tight jeans with torn-out knees, and her feet in garish pink flip-flops that matched her lipstick.
She came up to the assembled group and smiled coquettishly. “Hi.”
“Where the fuck did you come from?” Gary blurted out.
“I heard the car,” she said in a high-pitched little girl’s voice that probably was as much of an affectation as her clothes and hair color. “So I went to see who it was. Then I heard you talking.”
“Where were you yesterday?” Lissa said. “And the day before? You didn’t hear Gary’s motorcycle?”
The girl looked at Lissa with thinly-veiled distaste. “I was hiding because I was afraid. Everyone’s gone, you know? I was scared. But I’m running out of food and water, so when I heard the car I came to look.”
“That makes sense,” Gary said.
Zolzaya frowned. It did?
But Gary continued. “We’re in the same boat. But we’re scavenging for food, so we’ll be okay for a while, even with an extra person.”
“Three of them,” Ben said.
The girl turned toward Ben, and smiled fetchingly. “Hi, little blond boy. What’s your name?”
“Ben Ingersoll,” he said, bristling. “What’s yours?”
“I’m Mikiko Kitsunebi.”
“Do you go to Furness High School?”
She gave a girlish laugh. “No. I’m way too old for that.” She reached out and ruffled his hair, and he recoiled, scowling. “Let’s get food, okay? Okay!” She turned and walked back down First Street, hands in her pockets, her flip-flop-clad feet mincing their way down the sidewalk.
“What the hell was that?” Lissa didn’t bother to modulate her volume even though Mikiko was still well within earshot.
“Beats me,” Jackson said.
He looked uninterested, as if he’d already forgotten about the girl entirely. Gary, on the other hand, was staring at Mikiko’s ass as she walked away, his expression so obviously lustful it was nearly comical. But what was appealing about that kid? She was barely legal, and she looked like she’d walked out of a badly-drawn manga.
“Are we going to follow her?” Ben sounded like he didn’t want to.
“Why not?” Gary said.
Lissa rolled her eyes. “Go take a swim, Gary Suarez, so you can cool off that boner. You’re gonna pop the button off your jeans.”
Ben stared at Lissa for a moment, dumbfounded, then cackled laughter.
Gary’s face colored. “We can’t let her wander off.” He marched off after her. “Hey, Mikiko! Wait up!”
Jackson looked at him, frowning as if he’d just realized something, and then he followed as well, leaving Olivia glaring at his back.
“Men.” Z’s tone was one of complete female understanding. “Always thinking with their other head.”
But Olivia didn’t smile. Her lips thinned, and she looked back at Jackson without saying anything, then strode off after him, calling, “Jackson, wait for me!” in a voice like poisoned honey.
“Pity we couldn’t pick the people we were gonna get stuck with forever.” Lissa flexed her fingers, popping her knuckles.
“We’re a weird crew, that’s for sure,” Zolzaya responded.
“And getting weirder.” Lissa put her hand on Ben’s shoulder. “At least we have one sensible male in our midst.”
Ben didn’t smile. He still stared after Mikiko, who had reached the parking lot of Pete’s Groceries, the little market they had raided the previous day, and was waiting for the others to catch up, smiling fetchingly. “I wish we hadn’t met any of them. I’m sorry I ran when I heard the car.”
Zolzaya gave him a curious look. Did he have the same sense about them she did?
But when Z, Lissa, and Ben caught up to them, there was nothing amiss. Gary was in earnest conversation with Mikiko about motorcycles. Olivia had her arm around Jackson’s waist in a fashion that was more proprietary than amorous.
“It’s a Twelve-hundred Custom,” Gary said. “I got it last year. I can give you a ride, if you want.”
“Awesome,” Mikiko said.
“I was thinking last night, at least I don’t have to make no more payments on it. I still owe six thousand on it, but I don’t think the bank is gonna come collecting any time soon.”
“You’re right about that.” She gave a girlish laugh.
“It’s got a sixty-two-horsepower engine. It’s not the biggest one in the line, but you can feel the power between your legs, you know?”
Lissa rolled her eyes again.
Mikiko said, “I’d love to go for a ride.”
“What happened to being careful about accidents, Gary?”
Gary shrugged, without looking at her. “I left it a block that way,” he said to Mikiko. “Come on.”
She giggled, and followed him.
“Jesus Christ.” Lissa shook her head.
They crossed the parking lot toward the store, Olivia still holding Jackson’s waist in a death grip. A moment later, there was the coughing roar of an engine, and Zolzaya turned to see Gary riding down First Street, a loopy grin on his face. Mikiko was behind him, both arms around his waist, one hand under his shirt, her front pressed up tight against him.
“Listen for a crash in about thirty seconds,” Lissa said, in a disgusted voice. “Hard to steer while you’re having an orgasm.”
—
THEY LOADED UP three shopping carts with bottled water and food, and at Lissa’s suggestion raided the pharmacy aisle for antiseptic, antibiotic salve, and bandages. Olivia picked up some flour, baking powder, and a package of butter cubes that was soft but still smelled all right, and promised to make stove-top biscuits for lunch. After that they broke into a hardware store three doors down to get batteries and two extra electric lanterns and some propane cartridges for the camp stove. Gary and Mikiko came zooming back up the street as they turned back onto Denton, past the corner where Zolzaya had seen the old hag the previous day. But today the street was empty of everything but abandoned cars.
The tension all of them had felt relaxed as the sun arced toward the zenith, the warm, familiar smell of salt and seaweed carried to them on a gentle breeze, and no other sounds but the birds and the soft movement of leaves and the increasingly distant growl of Gary’s motorcycle.
Jackson went to retrieve his truck, after receiving directions for how to find Ben’s house, but Olivia walked with the others, pushing grocery carts laden with supplies.
“That’s Jimmy Acosta’s house.” Ben pointed as they approached his own home. “You and Jackson could live there if you want. His whole family disappeared.”
“I’m sorry you lost your friend, Ben.” Olivia scuffed the concrete with her toe. “I lost my best friend, too.”
“What was her name?”
“Brittany. Brittany Deiser. We’d known each other since kindergarten.”
“Me and Jimmy, too.”
“Maybe we’ll have lunch with you, though, if that’s okay.”
“All right.”
As they had the day before, they took turns carrying the groceries and other supplies up the stairs and into Ben’s house. Zolzaya was coming down for her third trip when the sound of Gary’s engine increased suddenly, and she saw him cornering onto Ben’s street at a nearly 45-degree angle, Mikiko still holding him tightly. Her peals of laughter could be heard over the noise of the motorcycle.
He braked to a halt right in front of the house, shut off the engine, and swung his leg over the seat. Then he put his hands on Mikiko’s waist and lifted her off the motorcycle as easily as if she was a child.
Which she was.
But at least they didn’t get into an accident.
They hauled the remaining groceries up the stairs, and walked in through the front door to find that Jeff had come down into the living room. Jackson and Olivia had already introduced themselves, apparently, and all of them turned when Gary walked in with Mikiko following, a single grocery bag dangling from her hand.
“Hi.” She waggled her free hand at Jeff.
Jeff didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed, and he looked at Z questioningly.
“Jeff, this is Mikiko. She found us after we ran into Jackson and Olivia.” She set the bags she was carrying on the floor. “How’s Margo doing?”
“No change. I’ve been praying all morning, but she’s still asleep.”
“I’m getting really worried about her dehydrating. She can’t drink anything. We’d drown her if we tried to pour water into her mouth, even if it was slowly. Has she… has she urinated?”
Jeff nodded, and to Zolzaya’s surprise, he acted completely unconcerned by this. “I picked her up so I could change the sheets. Fortunately there was a mattress cover on. I cleaned her up and changed her pajamas. There were some sweat pants and a t-shirt in Ben’s parents’ room that fit.”
“That was sweet of you, Jeff. You hope never to have to do that for another adult. I can help you next time, if you need it.”
“I don’t mind. I helped to care for Brother Earl’s grandpa, when he was old and senile and couldn’t do for himself. I would want someone to help me, if that was me, right? Not leave me there, wet and cold and sad. Old Mister Lippencott was six months bedridden before he was called to Jesus. At his funeral, Brother Earl told me that no doctor or nurse or blood relative could have done better by him, and he was eternally grateful for what I’d done.” His dour face softened into a smile. “‘Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’” He paused. “It’s no different with Margo. Until God cures her or takes her home, it’s our duty to care for her.”
“You’re right. Do you have any ideas about getting water into her?”
“I gave Mister Lippencott ice chips to suck on. He had trouble keeping food down, even water, near the end. Eventually he went into the hospital, and they gave him an IV, but we don’t have any needles or stuff to do that with.”
“We don’t have any ice, either.”
“I could give her a little water at a time. Maybe she’ll still swallow. You swallow when you sleep, and she’s kind of asleep.”
“That’s a good idea, Jeff. At least it might keep her alive, until we can… we figure out something else to do for her.”
“I’ll start right now.” He took a water bottle out of the bag that Zolzaya had set on the floor.
“Slow and steady, remember.”
Jeff nodded. “I don’t mind how long it takes. I’ve got nothing else to do but sit with her, and pray.”
“I have a feeling that’s enough.”
—
OVER LUNCH, MIKIKO told her story. They sat around the dinner table, eating fruit and cheese while Olivia’s biscuits cooked in a cast-iron skillet over the camp stove, filling the room with the warm fragrance of baking bread.
Mikiko’s tale was substantially like the others. She’d led a fairly normal life—until a few days ago.
“I lived in a house about five miles up Highway One. My parents came from Japan with me when I was a baby. I was born in Shiroishi, in Miyagi Prefecture, but I don’t remember it at all. My dad was a professor of Asian history at the University of San Francisco, but he’s been on a sabbatical for the past year. My mother was an artist. They were gone all the time. I’ve been left alone for days at a time since I was twelve or so. So it wasn’t strange to wake up to an empty house. When I woke up and realized that they were gone, I called around, and I figured out pretty quickly that it wasn’t only them, that everyone was gone. So I started walking. I spent the night in a house on the north end of town.”
“Weren’t you afraid?” Zolzaya asked.
“I’m used to being alone. Like I said, my parents were gone a lot.”
“No siblings? Significant others?” Lissa asked.
“Nope,” Mikiko answered cheerfully. “Only me. All alone.”
“Until now,” Gary said.
“Yup. It’s nice to have new friends.” She grinned. “Hey, I bet the biscuits are ready. I’m starving.”
“It’s all fine to sit around chatting,” Jackson said, his voice impatient, as Olivia brought the pan of biscuits to the table and set it on a trivet. “But we should come up with a game plan.”
“Why?” Mikiko lifted a biscuit out of the skillet and set it on her plate.
“We’re not accomplishing anything sitting around here doing nothing.”
“What is there to accomplish?”
“She’s got a point,” Gar
y said.
Jackson looked around at the others, as if they were new inductees having their first day of boot camp. “How long do you intend to wait?”
“Wait?” Zolzaya snorted. “We’re not waiting. The last few days, we’ve been focusing on doing what it takes to survive.”
“And wait for what?” Lissa said.
“One of your group gets put into a coma by something, we’ve now seen three different things stalking around the place, and you’ve got no other plans than to eat, sleep and trade stories about the way things used to be?” He stuffed half a biscuit slathered with raspberry preserves into his mouth. “Not much of a strategy. Let’s find out what we’re up against, before anyone else gets hurt.”
“Okay,” Zolzaya said. “I’m not saying that’s a bad idea. How do you propose to do it?”
“We should see if there’s a clinic or doctor’s office nearby first. Get some supplies for your friend. You can’t keep feeding her drops of water around the clock, indefinitely. She needs more fluids than that, and some nutrients, too, or she’ll starve. I don’t know how to give an IV, but I can learn as well as the next guy. I learned some battle triage and first aid in the Army, including how to do a tracheotomy. If I can do that, I can do this.”
“Did you ever actually do one?”
Z’s question seemed to needle Jackson, and his voice was tight when he answered. “No. But I could. If there’s a doctor’s office around here, there’s gonna be medical texts. Probably other medical supplies we could use. We’re a big enough group to split up, as long as there’s one armed person in each group. Lissa, you said you knew how to fire a gun?”
“Yes,” Lissa said without looking up.
“Then we need to get Lissa a gun. It doesn’t matter who goes with which group other than that. Is there a hospital in Furness?”
Z nodded.“A good-sized one, yes. It’s north, up the coast. Too far to walk.”
“Then we take a car. You said you drove in, right?”
“Yes.”
“How much gas do you have left?”
“Half a tank, I think.”
“That’s enough to get us there and back.” He looked around. “Anyone have a better idea?”
The Fifth Day Page 18
