Sorrow's Gift (Eternal Sorrows Book 2)

by Sarra Cannon

  She decided she would make a terrible blind person. She couldn’t even trust her hands to tell her what she was holding.

  She shoved the fabric back inside the bag and moved along the floor until she found another backpack.

  She unzipped it and sighed in relief, pulling her flashlight from the bag and switching it on, so grateful for the light.

  Karmen shone the light on the fabric she’d been touching inside the other bag and her eyes widened. Wow. It was gorgeous. The material glittered in the light, as if diamonds had been woven into its fabric.

  She looked around for a place to prop the flashlight up so she could get a better look.

  Whatever it was, it was long. She stood and held it up so the fabric draped across the floor. Was it a cloak? Who wore cloaks anymore? It looked like a costume from some fancy play or masquerade ball.

  She looked down at the bag she’d pulled it from, glancing guiltily toward the abandoned sleeping bags.

  She hadn’t meant to go rifling through the new girl’s bag, but damn. This was one serious piece of clothing.

  Karmen couldn’t help but wonder why in the world anyone who knew they could only carry one single bag full of possessions with them into the apocalypse would choose something so bulky and extravagant.

  She shook her head and carefully stuffed the cloak back into the girl’s bag, zipping it closed as best she could.

  This chick was weird. She didn’t really seem to fit into their group.

  But even so, Crash had somehow known she was there. He said he’d dreamed of her and that somehow, she was meant to be a part of their group. He seemed to believe the five of them had some kind of mystical purpose in the world now that everything had gone nightmare-mode.

  Whatever.

  Karmen wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.

  Maybe they were all losing their minds. Or maybe they were all already dead and this was hell.

  There was no use sitting around here trying to figure it out. Everyone else was obviously already awake and moving around, and she wanted to know what had caused that loud noise.

  She rummaged through her own bag real quick and grabbed her makeup case and her hairbrush then picked up the flashlight and headed out to find the others.

  She hated that there would be no warm water, because she’d been dying for a hot shower.

  As soon as she opened the door, she could hear Parrish and Noah talking in the living room. She passed the open door to the bathroom and looked longingly at the shower. She’d take a cold one if she had to, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  Despite the way he’d been teasing her, she prayed he was going to be okay.

  Noah and Parrish had set up a battery-powered camping lantern on a TV tray beside the couch. The apartment was very sparse. A definite bachelor pad if she’d ever seen one.

  She kept meaning to ask Crash about his family, but hadn’t had the chance yet. She didn’t see him at first, but as she moved into the room, she noticed that he was still asleep on the couch. Parrish and Noah were sitting together on the floor. They both looked up as she walked in.

  “Hey,” she said. “What time is it? Did you guys hear that noise?”

  Without a single window here below ground, she was constantly disoriented.

  “About four-thirty,” Noah said. “There was some kind of explosion on the other side of the city.”

  “Oh my God, what caused it?”

  “We’re not sure,” Parrish said. “But from the looks of it, most of that side of town is now on fire.”

  “Is that going to be dangerous for us here?” she asked.

  “Maybe,” Parrish said. “We’ll be able to tell more when Crash wakes up. We need to keep an eye on it, though. Just in case.”

  “Did you get some rest?” Noah asked.

  Karmen shrugged. “I guess,” she said. “It’s a sleeping bag on the floor. Not exactly an ideal situation.”

  “Better than sleeping on the street,” Parrish said, a forced smile on her face and sarcasm dripping from her tone.

  Karmen narrowed her eyes at her. “I didn’t say I wasn’t grateful to be here,” she said. “I just don’t like sleeping on a hard concrete floor.”

  She looked around the room.

  “Where’s the new girl?”

  Parrish frowned. “She’s not asleep in the bedroom?”

  “No. When I got up she was already gone.”

  She didn’t mention that she’d opened the girl’s bag and rummaged through her stuff. Or that the girl apparently thought they were on their way to a Renaissance Fair.

  “Weird,” Noah said, his eyebrows scrunched together. “Maybe she’s in the bathroom.”

  “The door was open,” Karmen said, hooking her thumb back toward the hallway. “I didn’t see her in there.”

  Parrish stood. “Where else could she be? It’s not like there are a lot of places to hide in here.”

  Noah and Parrish pushed past her toward the bedroom and Karmen rolled her eyes. She’d just told them the girl wasn’t in there. They never took anything she had to say seriously.

  She followed them out into the hallway, shining her flashlight into the bathroom. Empty.

  “She’s not here,” Noah said.

  “Duh,” she said. “I already told you that.”

  “Maybe she went in the other bedroom since Crash was out here?” Noah asked.

  Karmen pushed past them and opened the door to Crash’s bedroom.

  The room was empty.

  “Where else could she be?” Parrish asked, a touch of panic to her voice. “You don’t think she went outside, do you?”

  “Maybe she went out for eggs and pancakes.”

  Parrish turned around and gave her an ugly look. “Don’t make jokes,” she said. “This is serious.”

  “Oh, I think you’re plenty serious for all of us,” Karmen said. She both loved and hated that she could get under Parrish’s skin so fast. She knew she should be taking it easy on her since she’d just found out her sister was zombie food, but Karmen hated the fact that Parrish had spent the night alone with Noah while she had spent it on the cold concrete floor, alone.

  “Stop it,” Noah said. He moved toward Karmen and motioned for her to head back to the living room.

  The three of them froze as the locks on the main door clicked open simultaneously. The door to the apartment opened and the girl walked through, her head down as she carefully backed into the room and closed the door behind her.

  She turned as if she was going to sneak back toward the bedroom, but stopped short and looked at them.

  “What the hell?” Karmen said, holding a hand to her heart. “You just scared the crap out of us. Where did you go?”

  “I’m sorry,” the girl said. “I went to check the doors and the entrances to the building. Crash usually does it in the mornings, but he’s still asleep. I thought someone should still do it. Did I mess up?”

  Beside her, Noah sighed and shook his head. “No, that was probably a good idea,” he said. “Just next time let us know before you leave. We were worried sick.”

  “I didn’t think you guys would be awake yet,” she said. “I’m sorry. I came back when I heard that loud noise. What happened?”

  “How did you open those locks so easily from the outside?” Karmen asked. What she really wanted to ask was why the heck do you have a Shakespearean cloak in your backpack like a traveling minstrel, but she held her tongue. “You don’t have the keys.”

  The girl shrugged. “I don’t know. I placed my hand on the door and they opened.”

  “You controlled them with your mind?” she asked.

  “I guess,” the girl said. “I don’t know how it works.”

  “All that matters is you’re safe,” Parrish said. “Let’s all grab something to eat and drink. We need to talk about that explosion.”

  All they ever did anymore was talk. Karmen was sick of talking. She was sick of being trapped in this apartment. And she d
idn’t like the new girl’s explanation of where she’d been. Something about it stank like week-old bullshit. Just recently, she’d claimed she had no powers that she was aware of, but now she was confident enough to leave the basement without the keys? How did she know she’d be able to lock or unlock the doors so easily?

  “There was an explosion?” the girl’s eyes widened.

  “Can our conversation wait until I’ve at least had a shower?” she asked. “I need a minute to wake up before we get into it. Besides, we’ve done nothing but talk for days. Can’t we at least hang out here for a while and enjoy the fact that we’re safe? Maybe play some cards or something fun?”

  “You can’t take a hot shower without any power,” Parrish said.

  Karmen glanced at the guy sleeping on the couch. He was kind of cute when he wasn’t running his mouth.

  “Has anyone tried to wake him up?”

  “You’re not waking him up just so you can have hot water,” Parrish said, her hand on her hip like she owned this place and everyone in it.

  “I wasn’t suggesting we wake him up,” Karmen said. “God, you always suspect the worst from me. I’m not a total asshole, you know.”

  “Could have fooled me,” Parrish mumbled.

  Karmen wanted to scream. Why did she have to be so difficult? It was going to be an awfully long apocalypse if the two of them had to stay cooped up in this apartment for the rest of their lives.

  “Why don’t we just eat some breakfast?” Noah asked. “Crash has some stuff in the fridge that’s still cold. Karmen, can I get you anything?”

  “Any diet Coke or something with caffeine?” Karmen asked, perking up. What she really wanted was a huge cup of coffee, but there was no hope of that any time soon.

  Noah crouched down by the mini-fridge and opened it up. “Let’s see, there’s Red Bull, Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. And there’s water.”

  He looked up at her expectantly, and she wrinkled her nose. Was this guy some kind of sugar and caffeine addict or what? She wished he had at least one diet drink in there, but she knew she was being difficult. She probably ought to get used to settling for whatever was available.

  “I’ll take a Dr. Pepper,” she said.

  Noah handed it to her and she popped it open and took a sip. It was still ice cold from the fridge and the bubbles tingled against her throat.

  Screw diet drinks. Sugar was delicious. She’d gotten so used to dieting all the time, trying to stay thin so her dad wouldn’t yell at her. He liked her thin, he said.

  She shuddered as she thought of the way he’d wink and tell her how pretty she was before he touched her arm in that way—

  No, she wouldn’t think about that right now. That was over. For good. She would never have to see that man again.

  She took another sip of her Dr. Pepper and sat down on the rug near the couch. She took several deep breaths and slowly, her shoulders began to relax.

  Her father was dead now and she would never again have to hear him call her his pretty little girl.

  Crash opened his eyes, a camping lantern the only source of light in the room. The group sat around the light, playing a game of cards. He smiled and sat up, rubbing a hand over his face.

  “How long was I out?” he asked. His brain was in a fog.

  Everyone gasped and stood, coming to stand or sit beside him. Noah grabbed a bottle of cold water from the mini-fridge and handed it to him.

  “About sixteen hours,” Noah said. “How are you feeling?”

  The cold water was so nice on his dry throat. He felt like he’d been run over by a truck.

  He’d been running the power and computers for weeks without any real side effects. Sure, he sometimes got tired and had to down a few energy drinks to keep going. Sometimes in the early days of the virus, he’d slept for twelve or thirteen hours at a stretch after staying up all night working, but he’d never passed out like that before.

  “As bad as I look, I’m guessing,” he said. “Sorry about the power. Is everything okay?”

  He looked at Parrish, remembering everything that happened last night. Damn. He had really hoped they’d find out the girl was still alive. They needed some good news these days.

  “I’m sorry about your sister,” he said.

  She nodded. “Thanks,” she said. “And thank you for doing what you did. I know it took a lot out of you to stretch your powers so far. At least now I know the truth.”

  “I wish it had been a better truth,” he said.

  “Me too.”

  Silence filled the room at the mention of the little girl who had lost her life in New York. He didn’t know her, but no child should have to die like that. The world was seriously messed up.

  “So are we going to talk about that explosion now?” Karmen asked.

  His mouth dropped open. “What’s going on?”

  He tried to stand, but the room spun and his stomach lurched.

  “Whoa, buddy, take it easy,” Noah said. “You might want to just chill on the couch for a little while. Can I get you something to eat?”

  Crash took a deep breath and blinked several times to clear his vision. “Wow, I guess that call took more out of me than I expected,” he said. “Yeah, if you could grab some crackers out of the cabinet, that would be great. They’re in the kitchen on the far left.”

  Noah returned in a minute with a sleeve of plain saltine crackers. Crash’s mom used to make him eat these when he was sick, and they always made him feel better. Man, he really missed his mom.

  She had passed away several years ago, leaving him alone in the world at the age of fifteen.

  The state put him in foster care, but it wasn’t too long before he ran away. He took some of the money his mom had stashed in the bottom of her dresser and paid for a fake ID that said he was eighteen. He dropped out of high school and disappeared before anyone could come looking for him.

  He hadn’t had much back then, but he’d eventually rented this crappy apartment, bought a used computer, and hooked up with a couple other gamers online. When you were desperate, there were ways to make a decent living gaming if you knew the right tricks. He’d grown really good at creating characters on popular MMORPG’s like World of Warcraft and Everquest II. He’d grind them up to max level and then sell the accounts on ebay for good cash.

  He’d gotten by, investing any extra money he had in new computers and monitors. When the dreams had started, he’d switched to spending his money on building a supply of bottled water and food.

  He ate his crackers and downed another bottle of water, feeling better already.

  “So tell me about this explosion,” he said. “What happened?”

  Noah moved to stand beside Parrish. “Early this morning when we were on the roof, we saw some kind of explosion to the west, possibly near the White House.”

  “What was it?” Crash asked. Crap, an explosion was not good. With no active fire department, a fire could spread through the entire city.

  “We couldn’t tell,” Noah said. “It could have been anything. Probably a smaller fire reached something explosive like a gas station? I don’t know. But it was big.”

  “That’s not good,” Crash said.

  “What does it mean?” the girl asked. “If it’s on the other side of town, we should be safe here, right?”

  “It depends,” he said. He set his water bottle on the floor and walked to the computer, taking each step with care. His head didn’t spin when he stood this time, so that was progress. He sat down in his computer chair and took a deep breath. He didn’t want to push himself too hard, but they needed to see what was going on out there.

  He concentrated on connecting with the computer’s power. He could feel it there right on the edge of his awareness, but the connection was fuzzy. The CPU kicked on with a whir and a sharp pain pierced his temple. The computer shut down again and he brought a hand to his forehead.

  “Hey, man, don’t push yourself,” Noah said. “We can check it out later
after you’ve had more rest.”

  “What could happen?” Karmen said. “Could it spread here to us? How long would that take?”

  “I’m sorry, guys,” he said. “I wanted to pull up some surveillance cameras, but I just can’t do it right now.”

  “It’s okay,” Parrish said. She brought his water and crackers to him and patted his arm. “We can always go back up to the roof to see if it’s moving this way.”

  “If the wind is just right, it could spread through the city pretty fast, I would think,” Crash said. “And what’s worse, it could push all the undead toward us in herds.”

  “Herds?” Karmen asked. She was sitting on the couch, and she pulled her legs up toward her chest. She was wearing a pair of shorts that showed off her legs, and Crash had to force his eyes away.

  That girl was too hot for her own good.

  “Huge groups,” he said. “Maybe thousands in a group.”

  “Oh my God,” she said. “Could they break through the gate in the parking garage, you think?”

  “If a group that large was able to tell we were alive in here somehow, that’s totally possible. With large enough numbers, they could destroy an entire block.”

  “What are we going to do?” Noah asked.

  “I think Parrish’s suggestion about going to the roof is a good one,” he said. “We need to know if the fire is pushing them our way. I have a feeling we’ll be facing either fire or thousands of rotters by the end of the week.”

  “That’s not good,” Parrish said. “Noah and I will go up and take a look in a few minutes. Do you have a printed map of the city? Maybe we could try to mark the areas that look bad.”

  “I can go with you,” he said, but when he tried to stand, the spinning was back. How long was he going to be out of it? He needed to get back on his computers. “Or not. I guess I need more rest before I can be of any help.”

  “Go back to your bedroom and get some more sleep,” Noah said. “We’ll wake you up in a few hours if it looks bad. We’ll figure this out.”