Time Lost: Teenage Survivalist II

by Casey, Julie L.

  — What happened?

  — Nothing.

  Her voice sounded flat.

  — Come on. I know something’s wrong. You can tell me, you know.

  — Yeah, I know.

  Abruptly, she changed the subject and started pulling things out of the bag to show me. Her expression brightened somewhat, but I could tell something was still troubling her.

  — Look. I got seeds: lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, tomatoes. And look at this: I got a lockset so we can replace the lock on our door and keep our stuff here.

  — Hmm, that’s cool. Do you know how to do it?

  — No, but it has instructions. We’ll figure it out. I got a couple of screwdrivers.

  — How’d you get all that? Was it in the food cache?

  — No, Jason’s parents own a hardware store. Well, I guess Jason owns it now. Anyway, the food cache is in the basement. Today he let me go upstairs and shop for some stuff we needed. The windows and doors of the store are all boarded up, so it hasn’t been looted.

  — He just let you have it?

  — No…

  When she saw the worried look on my face, she quickly added,

  — I gave him one of my hundred dollar bills.

  Something in her voice sounded a little off. Like maybe she was upset about having to give him so much money. Or maybe she was lying. That thought bothered me more than her paying him so much. Maybe she gave him something much more precious. I didn’t want to think about it, so instead I took the lockset from her and started looking at it. As I concentrated on it, a thought came to my mind.

  — Maybe we should look at the other apartments and see if we can find a better one.

  — Why? I like this one.

  — Well, maybe there’s a two-bedroom, so I can have a bed to sleep in. And maybe we could find one with a microwave and more stuff.

  — Okay. Maybe we should get one on the top floor so we can keep an eye on the roof and our garden and traps and stuff.

  — Good idea. Let’s go check them out. We can go up and plant your seeds, too.

  Sara smiled at that and for a few seconds the haunted look left her eyes. I was pleased that I was able to make her happy, if only for a moment.

  Chapter 13

  Surviving

  The apartment building had six floors and the top floor was completely unoccupied. We found a two-bedroom apartment across the hall from the stairway that led to the roof. Luckily, this apartment had a microwave, quite a few pots and pans, a large bookcase full of books, and even closets and dressers full of clothes. Maybe its previous owners had died or hadn’t wanted to come back to get their stuff after the fire. In either case, we felt lucky to have found it. Of course, we could have gone to each apartment and raided them to add to our stuff, but that seemed somehow wrong—like stealing or depriving someone else of the chance to survive.

  We worked on changing the locks all the next morning. It was a bit of a struggle, trying to follow the instructions that came with the lockset, but we finally got it figured out. We felt such a sense of accomplishment that we celebrated that evening by eating two cans of vegetables and the last can of peaches for dinner. Afterwards, we went to the roof to plant Sara’s seeds. She planted one row of carrots, one of spinach, one of lettuce, and the last one of cucumbers. She planted the tomato seeds in a large pot of soil she had found in the apartment with a dead houseplant in it and I had carried up to the roof for her. There were lots of seeds left over from each pack and these she carefully saved. After she was done planting, I helped her carry up pots of water to thoroughly wet the soil.

  In the meantime, I worked on perfecting my bird trap. Instead of laying it on its side, I stood it up and wedged it between the parts of a huge air conditioning unit. I put several grains of rice in the bottom of it and hoped that birds would be lured down into it. I reasoned that the smooth sides wouldn’t allow them to climb back out and it was too narrow to spread their wings to fly. I was happy that I could keep a watch over who went up to the roof through the peephole on our apartment door, so that I could be sure that no one was messing with our stuff on the roof. At least, when we were home.

  Sara and I were proud and pleased with our accomplishments that day. It seemed that we were in control of our lives and I felt, for the first time in ages, that it was possible for me to gain an advantage over Time. School was supposed to start in two weeks and we would not be able to be out on the streets during the day, so having a way to survive without leaving the apartment was vital. We would have at least two months, though, before some of the vegetables Sara planted would be ready for harvest, according to the packages of seed, so a few trips to Jason’s stash would be unavoidable.

  The next morning, I woke early with the sun streaming through my east-facing bedroom windows. I hadn’t had that problem with the other apartment, which was on the opposite side of the building. I tried to pull my pillow over my eyes and go back to sleep, but it was no use—I was too excited about life for the first time in a long time, so I jumped out of bed and pulled on my clothes. Sara was apparently still asleep so I decided to check on my bird trap, thinking that maybe the old saying, the early bird gets the worm, was true, although in this case, I was trying to get the bird.

  As I neared the door, pulling on my shoes as I went, I heard footsteps in the hallway. Thinking it odd for someone to be clear up on the sixth floor this early in the morning, I peered through the peephole. It took a few seconds for the person to come into view and a few more for my eyes to adjust to the strange distortion of the viewer. I could tell the person was a man and that he looked vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t until he paused at the door to the roof and looked around furtively, that I realized it was Gerald. By the time I had finished putting on my shoes, he had disappeared through the door to the roof. I slipped out of the apartment, checking to make sure I had the key and being careful to lock the door behind me so that Sara could sleep safely.

  I followed Gerald, being as quiet as I could. I don’t know why I felt the need to be secretive. Something about his manner made me suspicious, although I didn’t know what I could possibly be distrustful of. Nevertheless, I hid behind the door at the top of the stairwell, cracking it open just a bit so I could see what Gerald was doing. At first he seemed confused, looking around for something that obviously wasn’t where it should have been. It dawned on me that he was looking where I had originally placed my bird trap.

  I watched Gerald scurry all over the roof until he finally found the pipe stuck in the air conditioning unit. He had a silly grin on his face as he looked into the pipe, then reached in and pulled out a plump, blue-black Grackle, which began squawking loudly. Its panicked cries stopped abruptly, as Gerald wrung its neck with a quick flick of his hand.

  I thought about leaving then and just letting him have the bird—after all, he was kind enough to let us remain, unharassed, in the building—but the thought of being able to provide meat for Sara, bringing forth that proud smile from her beautiful lips, was enough to change my mind, and I stepped out of the doorway. Gerald looked up, startled, then smiled as he stuffed the bird into a crumpled plastic grocery bag he had pulled out of his pocket.

  — Oh hi, Ben. You’re up early.

  — Yeah, I was just coming up to check on my bird trap. I guess you beat me to it.

  I tried to look perturbed, but either Gerald didn’t notice or he chose to ignore it.

  — Oh? Where’s that?

  — That pipe over there where you found the bird.

  — I’m not following you. How is a random pipe “your” bird trap?

  I pulled the pipe out of the crevice and showed Gerald the wire mesh. I also tipped it over and a few grains of rice dribbled out into my hand. I stared at him, challenging him to deny that I had made and baited it. He simply smiled again.

  — Ah, so it is. I didn’t notice all that before. Well, here: I guess this is yours then.

  I hadn’t expected him to give it up so easily
and it caught me a little off guard. I didn’t quite believe his claim that he hadn’t noticed the construction, since it had been quite visible when it was laid flat on the roof, but I let it go.

  — That’s okay. You can keep that one, but in the future…

  — Of course. Now that I know it’s yours, I’ll leave the birds for you and Sara.

  He smiled again as he held up the bag.

  — Thanks for the bird.

  I nodded and smiled slightly back. He quickly changed the subject.

  — Speaking of Sara, how is she? I haven’t seen her around much lately.

  — We’ve been staying in our room mostly. Trying to avoid trouble. She got some seeds from Jason—I mean Sonny—and planted some vegetables in that pallet there.

  I wanted Gerald to know without a doubt that the pallet garden belonged to us as well. Gerald looked at it, intrigued.

  — I wondered what that was. How ingenious.

  He peered at me intensely then and I felt like his eyes were piercing into my soul.

  — What’d she have to do to get seeds?

  His words seemed innocent enough, but the way he said them implied something dirty and I was struck by a sudden thrust of anger and jealousy. I spat out my next words from between my teeth.

  — What do you mean by that?

  — Calm down, son. I didn’t mean anything by it; just, well, you know—a girl that pretty…

  Gerald was doing some serious backpedaling, trying to make amends, but I wasn’t going to cut him any slack. I just kept staring at him, concentrating on shooting venom out of my eyes at him.

  — Look, son, sooner or later, her beauty’s going to be a liability, you know, especially with all the gangs hanging around downtown. Sometime someone’s gonna force her to do something she doesn’t want to.

  I balled up my fists, thinking about punching Gerald, but something down inside me told me he was probably right, so I kept them by my side. While I stood rigid, trying to keep my anger in check, Gerald chose to leave. As he started toward the door, he turned back and offered me the bird with a look of sympathy.

  — Here, take this. Sara’ll be real proud of you.

  When I refused to reach out and take it from his hand, he carefully laid it on the ground a few feet in front of me. Then he left without another word. I stood there for several minutes, fuming and thinking about what he’d said. It was undeniable that the thought had already entered my mind, but I had pushed it away every time. Now I was forced to face it with my heart pounding and my brain feeling like it was about to explode. After the rage started to subside, it was replaced by anguish and torment.

  How was I going to keep her safe? I couldn’t make her stay in the apartment all day, especially with the blistering summer heat coming soon. I couldn’t even make her stay with me all the time—she would want to go to the food cache with Jason occasionally. I couldn’t trust Jason to keep her safe; hell, I couldn’t even be sure he wasn’t already having his way with her. The memory of the sad, haunted look in her eyes the last time she returned from the cache seemed to give me the answer to the question that I hadn’t even wanted to ask in the first place. I was ashamed of my cowardice.

  Now that the question was forced upon me, I had to find the answer to it. I knew Sara would just deny everything, so I decided to confront Jason later that morning. Even though Sara kept saying he was a nice guy, I never completely trusted him. It would be a little difficult to get Jason alone to talk to him, as Sara was almost always with one or the other of us. I knew I should take advantage of the time alone right then to try to set things straight with him. At that moment, however, all I felt was a sudden and total exhaustion, like all the adrenalin that surged through my veins in anger a few moments before was immediately drained from my body, leaving me feeling weak and hopeless.

  I dragged myself off the roof and went back to bed, leaving the bird where it lay and ignoring Time once again.

  Chapter 14

  Suspicion

  Later that morning, Sara woke me up with a concerned look on her beautiful face. The sun was well up by then and it was getting hot in the apartment even though the windows were open. I hadn’t realized that I had been asleep that long.

  — Are you okay, Ben?

  — Yeah, just tired, I guess.

  — I thought we might go down to the river today since it’s so hot.

  I perked up immediately at the thought of spending the day at the river with her instead of alone. I felt much happier than just a few hours before. I smiled and jumped out of bed.

  — Yeah, that’d be nice.

  We took our fishing gear in a gym bag, happy that we could leave the rest of our stuff locked in our apartment and therefore would not have to share any of our catch with Janice. We walked hand in hand as we rounded the corner of the apartment building with big smiles on both our faces. We stopped short, however, at the sight of a police car driving slowly down the street toward us.

  Our first instinct was to run, but I was sure that would just make the cops suspicious and cause them to chase us, so we decided to play it cool and just keep walking down the sidewalk toward the river. The cruiser slowed down and pulled over beside us. The officer in the passenger seat leaned out the window and called to me.

  — Hey, aren’t you Ethan Michaels’ son?

  I answered nervously.

  — Yeah.

  It was Officer Ortiz. I wasn’t sure if that would help us or hurt us that he knew me and my background.

  — Did you ever find your dad after the fire?

  — Yeah, he was okay.

  I decided to lie so Officer Ortiz wouldn’t suspect that I was an orphan. Sara looked at me questioningly, but stayed silent.

  — Oh, good. I worried about you after that night. You looked pretty lost when I last saw you.

  I smiled to show my appreciation of his concern for me even though inside I still held it against him that he didn’t try harder to save my dad.

  — What are you guys doing downtown? It isn’t safe here, you know.

  — My girlfriend wanted me to show her the destruction of the fire.

  — Well, you should really be getting out of here now. There’s been a lot of gang activity since the prisons were forced to release all the inmates after PF Day— looting, assaults, rapes, even murders. In fact, a girl was murdered day before yesterday just a few blocks from here. I’m telling you, it ain’t safe out here. You better be getting home.

  Sara glanced at me with a startled look in her eyes, but looked away quickly. Was that fear I saw in her eyes or some sort of guilt? I couldn’t help thinking it was the latter. I stared at her for a few moments before I realized that Officer Ortiz was waiting for me to respond.

  — We were heading home just now.

  — Where do you live?

  — Up north, across the river.

  Officer Ortiz leaned back in and consulted with his partner about something. After a few seconds, he leaned back out the window to talk to us again.

  — I was going to offer you guys a ride, but Henry says we got orders to continue south.

  — That’s okay. It’s not too far.

  — Well you two be careful. Stay on the main roads and don’t stop until you get home, okay?

  — Yes sir.

  The officers drove off, leaving me to wonder about Sara’s strange reaction to the grim news we had just been given. I took her hand and pulled her around to face me.

  — What was that all about?

  — What do you mean?

  — That look you gave me after he told us about the murder.

  — I don’t know. It just freaked me out, I guess.

  Sara seemed prickly and defensive. It just didn’t add up in my mind. What did she have to feel guilty and defensive about? Unless she had something to do with it. A sick feeling started in the pit of my stomach, and then got worse after I realized what I was suspecting her of. I had to find out.

  — You’re acting weir
d, like you’re guilty or something.

  — Guilty?

  Sara’s voice got angry and loud as she continued,

  — What do you think I am? Some kind of murderer or something? How could you think that?

  She yanked her hand out of mine and started walking fast. I jogged to catch up to her and when I did, I could see her wiping tears off her cheeks.

  — Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Of course I don’t think you’re a murderer.

  — Just leave me alone!

  Her voice was thin and shrill. She broke into a run to try to distance herself from me. I could tell that I had hurt her feelings. I cursed myself under my breath as I ran to catch up with her again.

  — Sara, please slow down. I didn’t mean it, really. Please believe me. I’m an idiot. Please, Sara.

  I was pleading with her by then. I reached out and grabbed her hand and she let me use it to stop her and draw her to me. She buried her face in my shoulder and started sobbing, her entire body shaking in my arms. We stood there like that for several minutes and it occurred to me that this seemed an extreme reaction for the situation. Things still didn’t add up, but I’d learned my lesson about sticking my foot in my mouth, so I said nothing more about it.

  We walked on to the river in silence. I was now worried about these murderous gangs that Officer Ortiz had told us about and I was constantly looking around us as we walked. For the second time that day, my adrenalin level was elevated and I felt as jumpy as one of the stray cats or dogs that had become fair game for starving people in the past few months. We made it to the river without incident but were too bummed out to fish or enjoy the day, so we headed home after a half hour or so.