by Cara Coe
If the tension in the cab wasn’t pushing down on us like the great weight that it was, I’d have made a game out of it. How Many One Word Answers is Alex Capable Of? As it was, neither of us were in a game-y mood.
Luckily, his store in Portland was exactly as he’d left it (in a nursing home) and he loaded the box under the driver’s side seat after downing two vials. And then we were once again on the road, this time making a beeline for Seattle. No more languid stops. No more meandering. We were racing to my crossroads.
“I’ve never gotten to that point,” Alex said suddenly after a long stretch of silence on the drive.
“Mmmm?”
I gave him one syllable back. I’d spent the early morning trying to lighten the mood and he’d snapped at my attempts more than once so I was feeling quite sullen and had no desire to talk to him.
“I didn’t realize how quickly blood depletion happens. I mean, I knew about it. But I’d never experienced it. I felt woozy once. After a party. We went to the beach and had a bonfire. I hadn’t eaten the day before. The girl I told you about? Melinda? My first time? She was there. She was also a vamp. When she saw my state, she called her best friend over. Apparently, her best friend was a human and thought it was a riot to let Melinda bite her sometimes. Anyway, she offered her arm to me and I was already kind of drunk and I bit her…”
I kept my eyes on the window outside but my ears were captivated.
“Anyway, I immediately felt better. And sickened. I hated drinking from someone. It was the first and last time I ever did. I told you one day I’d tell you about the time I drank someone’s blood. I’m sorry that last night I doubled my count. More than sorry. So you’ll forgive me if I’m having trouble with what happened between us.”
I snorted. “Whatever. There’s nothing to forgive. Your guilt is suffocating.”
“Quit making light of this, Tasha,” he growled.
I rolled my eyes and he fell silent again.
We said nothing more other than me giving him clipped directions from Ike’s map.
The terrain went from concrete to dusty curves as we drove through Yakima and up north out of town. Mountains greeted us then crunchy, dirt roads and finally thin patches of dirt grown over with forest as we went deeper into the wilderness. I told Alex to make a sharp left at a cabin up ahead and the truck started climbing. Higher and higher we went, leaving the base of the mountain and winding up while the green around us grew thicker and seemed to entomb the vehicle.
Alex stopped the car several yards away from the clearing. I could see the thickest part of the forest on the north side of the river, the way Ike had described it. Less than a mile walk from here, if the directions were correct.
I hadn’t seen another human face in four years.
My eyes roamed over the spot where I’d walk in amazement until they were pulled away by the sound of Alex clearing his throat.
When I turned to look at him, I was blasted with the feeling in his eyes. A mix of hope for me and sadness for us. And underneath all of that were traces of determination.
“Maybe you could keep your vamp status a secret,” I said meekly. I felt sick. Now that the moment had come, I wasn’t sure if I could get out of the car.
Alex smiled sadly and ran a finger under my chin. “Ike trusted us. That’s his family in there and even he won’t cross over the lake.”
I shook my head, not wanting to believe this was it.
“How will we see each other again?”
He didn’t answer. His eyes misted a little and he coughed to drive them away as he busied himself with gathering my pack.
“I thought about that a great deal,” he confessed. “And I’ve come up with a solution.”
I waited expectantly.
“We don’t.”
I deflated. What a stupid solution.
“It’s a different world,” Alex explained. “The Sweep changed everything. It really did make us enemies. I understand why Ike doesn’t mingle with his human family. The temptation is too great.”
I rolled my eyes. “Alex-”
“I fed from you,” he said solemnly, cutting me off.
I growled impatiently. Were we still on this? “I let you,” I snapped.
Alex closed his eyes. “I swore to myself I never would and when things got tough and I came near to death, I fed. That is why you will go in there alone. And why this is where we say goodbye.”
“This is just a case of hurt pride. Quit licking your wounded ego.”
He didn’t smile with me. Joke with me. His face remained serious. I felt a stone growing in the pit of my stomach. “Alex.”
“That cabin we passed at the base of the mountain? I’ll wait there until nightfall. To make sure you made it in. If anything happens, if you don’t find it, whatever, I’ll be there. Okay? And then…I’ll go.”
“Alex,” I said again, only this time it was a pleading whisper.
“I’m going to stay in the truck. If that’s all right. I just…take care of yourself, T-bone.”
I reached out to touch his arm, but he was rigid. Like if he moved at all, he’d puddle out from his resolve and lose himself. His determination pushed against me like a cold wind and I settled on giving him a tight peck on the cheek before sliding out of the truck and banging closed the passenger door.
I went around to the back and hugged each of my dogs. When I told Alex I wanted them to stay with him, he smiled to himself. I’d seen how attached they’d grown to each other and I felt he needed them more than I. They saved me when I was all alone in Tucson. Now that I had found a home again, they needed to save Alex who had a long stretch of solitude before him.
Self-imposed solitude.
I felt my sadness harden into anger. I turned from the back of the truck and went to the driver’s side where Alex was still staring rigidly at the tree line. I pounded on the window but he didn’t turn towards me. If anything, he became more still.
“It’s not fair!” I yelled through the glass. “You can’t just shut everything off! If our places were switched you would have done the same thing!”
The only reaction I got from him was the slow closing of his eyes and his deep exhale. I shook my head in disbelief and snatched my pack off the ground. “Hypocrite!”
I marched away, letting my anger make my departure much easier than it should have been. I afforded Alex one last look back at the truck when I came to the bank of the river, but his gaze was fixed on the horizon to the east. Okay, then. I tightened the sack on my back and began taking my last steps away from him.
Chapter 42
Him
I watched her melt into the thick greenery. And I gasped as my heart lurched out of my chest. As she took it with her.
Chapter 43
Her
The path off the edge of the river took a steep downward turn. I followed a light trail until it disappeared under the thick carpet of plants and roots. Then I pulled out the map. Squinting at it, I tried to make out the landmarks. Ike had drawn it in mere minutes but I was still impressed with his accuracy. My head cocked at a boulder “shaped like a pineapple” and a surprised “oh!” left my lips. The stacked rocks on top and the round tear-drop bottom did indeed resemble the tropical fruit. I passed by it mumbling the words to the Spongebob Squarepants theme song in my head.
The way down kept steepening until it was less hiking and more climbing.
I kept the map stuffed in my back pocket as I used my fingers to grip the face of the rock and hold me as the angles became sharper. I didn’t look down as I climbed. Ike had warned me that the river was the harder path to the colony but I didn’t trust myself with a long swim. I wasn’t a strong swimmer and if I could survive The Sweep and a group of vamps interested in mining my body, I wasn’t going to waste all that luck by drowning in the final act.
When at last a shaky leg touched bottom, I exhaled a tired sigh and turned to survey my surroundings. The trees were thinner here. A mist sprayed through the we
ave of tree trunks as the river next to me made a much faster, noisier, splashier descent down the rock face into the lake below.
My body was achy from the climb but I adjusted my sack and pressed on.
The path was much easier now. Well used. The tracks of many beat down the foliage so that I could clearly see the way to the colony.
I was close.
Not even five minutes on the trail and my foot snagged on a prickly vine, sending me stumbling and scraping thin lines into my ankles where I was tangled. I’d fallen into a blackberry patch. And turned the berries it held turned into a purple juice on my ass.
Two women emerged from behind the trees and stood over me to assess me. My breath caught in my throat. One of them was clearly Ike’s sister. I knew her immediately by her gray eyes and fiery hair and familiar thin mouth turned down in a serious expression.
I stood up and wiped bits of grass from my arms.
“Hi.”
That word was all I offered. My name froze in my throat. These two were still frowning at me and I didn’t wholly trust them.
The smaller of the two women, the one who looked about my age, pulled a gun from the back of her waistband, cocked it, and pressed it to my forehead in a motion so fluid it was obvious she’d done it before. Several times.
And from the look on her face, she’d killed before.
Several times.
I spoke quickly. “I’m not a vamp and I haven’t led anyone here. Ike sent me. Ike…army vamp Ike.” I wished for a last name now to add weight to the proof that I knew their relative.
The gun’s barrel released a slight amount of pressure from my skin but held steady.
“Ike?”
“Yes. I was in Houston when he came through with a bunch of vamps. They captured me but he pulled me aside and gave me directions to this place and the opportunity to run.”
The gun lowered but the woman still looked at me doubtfully.
Ike’s parting words suddenly struck me. “Oh! Um, he loves all things Elvis except for the song Suspicious Minds.”
The older woman shrugged and holstered her weapon.
“Okay, come on.”
I give a silent “thank you very much” to the King and follow her through the brush. The older woman stayed behind to continue the berry picking.
“I’m Marla,” the younger one, Ike’s sister, said crisply without turning around.
“Hey,” I responded. “So, wow. It’s been a while since I’ve seen another human.”
When she twisted around to glance at me, her face was grim and her lips were pressed together. “I have a feeling there aren’t many left. The last newcomer to join us was eight months ago and the one before him was six months.”
We rounded the bend and came to a clearing. It was like the scene out of some movie set in the wild west. Cabins like the one at the base of the mountain were erected around the area. Structures built by hammers and nails and hands. No architectural software or factory line pieces or construction trucks. I half expected to see men dressed in worn shirts and suspenders and women in long sleeve dresses and bonnets but the handful I saw moving around were dressed similarly to Marla in t-shirts and pants and sensible shoes.
She motioned for me to follow and we headed for the biggest cabin at the end of the row.
“Jack’s kind of like the leader here,” she said. “He was one of the original settlers. It was his idea to find an obscure lake so we’d have a source of water without risking exposure.”
She rapped on the door before turning back to me. “Ike is my brother. He and Jack were in the army together. This whole thing-” she gestures around the settlement. “This was their idea.”
A very, very large man opened the door just then. Not just Ike-large. Ike was tall. The head-scraping-door-frame tall. He had a lean body with coiled muscles on a large frame. No. This man was just large. Also tall, but with even larger bones and a gut that made his belt buckle work. How he found the calories to support his belly spoke volumes to me about the settlement’s success in provisions.
Marla jabbed a thumb in my direction as she addressed him. “Newbie. Ike found her. He used Elvis.”
The large man, Jack I’m assuming, chuckled.
“My favorite,” he said, stepping aside while gesturing for me to enter.
I did. I suddenly wished I had a sidearm with me. Not that these people seemed threatening. I always thought once I was among other humans again, I’d finally feel safe. But in fact, I felt just the opposite. I kept searching their faces for insincerity. And I was highly curious about what kind of pecking order they’ve established. How much freedom will I have in my decisions?
Rejoining society means my lone ranger days may be long gone.
“Welcome, welcome,” Jack greeted me, pulling out a chair. Hand crafted wood. These people learned well or there was a someone here who rocked A’s in shop class killing time.
I sat.
“So you had a run in with Ike, huh?” Jack had a twinkle in his eye. His mouth was curved up in a jolly grin. I relaxed my shoulders a bit.
“Run in is appropriate,” I answered. “I knew the vamp for all of fifteen minutes before he decided I was trustworthy and sent me here.”
“He doesn’t bullshit with drawn out decisions,” Jack agreed. “It’s his talent. Weeding the decent folk from the bad. Where do you come from?”
“I was in Houston. I didn’t even know there were other people. It had just been me for years. The place I was crashing was attacked by vamps. Ike was among them. When they turned their backs, he drew a map for me and had me take off in their truck.”
“You look healthy,” Jack noticed.
“I’ve done all right for myself.”
“What’s your specialty?”
“What?”
“How did you spend your days?”
“Oh.” I scrunched my eyebrows. Everyone here seemed so productive. Hand made furniture to use. Well built cabins. Meat on everybody’s bones. Would they kick me out if all I could contribute were painted portraits?
I remembered Alex’s face when he saw the one I did for his family and a pinch of hurt squeezed my chest. “I paint,” I declared. “That’s how I spent my days. Painting the ghosts of the people that once inhabited a home.”
Jack leaned back a bit. His eyes widened in surprise and his hand stroked the stubble on his chin. “That’s one I haven’t heard before. What’d you say your name was?”
“I didn’t. And I’m not going to.”
I tested out my first lone ranger act to gauge his reaction but he merely nodded.
“Perhaps in time,” he said. “For now, we’ll call you Elvis.”
I learned there were one hundred and seventeen people in this small home grown colony. Ike and Jack kept moving a small herd of people from city to city anytime they caught wind of vamps in the area. Alex wasn’t kidding. People were getting eaten for breakfast. I shuddered as I heard the accounts and wondered how I’d been missed in Tucson. It’s true I pretty much became a recluse as the population dwindled down but I never witnessed anything like what they described. It seemed everybody here knew somebody who knew somebody that was taken out by a vamp.
“The virus did a number on everyone, vamps and humans,” Jack explained as we strolled through the compound. “I used to like vamps as much as the next liberal. I thought The Sweep was a barbaric idea and protested against Containment efforts. But we’re in a new world now and humans and vamps can no longer coexist. You can’t shut off survival. Eventually, every vamp turns. So in this post-apocalyptic world, vamps will wipe us out. Which is why we stay hidden.”
“Not every vamp would resort to that,” I countered, thinking of Alex.
Jack pinned me with a look. “Whoever you befriended out there would turn on you when their body started giving out. Reasoning shuts off and animalistic instincts take over. Ike won’t even cross the lake and he started this group. He wants to be sure he’s good and depleted of any energy
before he tries to eat any of us. He put us between a lake and a rock face for a reason.”
There was nothing more on the argument and I didn’t see any reason to continue it. Jack and the others have witnessed horrible acts. I got it. I did too and not just from vamps. But I remembered Alex’s blood shot eyes and his shallow breathing and the gray tint to his skin.
I remembered his determination. The smell of my blood under his nose and the way he turned and cringed from it. I knew in my soul no matter how wasted away he became, he wouldn’t have taken it without my consent. Hell, he almost didn’t with my full blown blessing.
I bit my tongue and shielded my eyes from the sun as I looked around.
“So what can I do to help?” I asked.
Jack smiled and clapped a heavy hand on my upper arm. “That’s the spirit. But take the day to relax. Get to know a few folks. Marla will set you up in her cabin until you find a roommate or build one of your own.”
I nodded. “So, uh, thanks for taking me in.”
Jack nodded back. “We have to look out for our own now.”
The way he said that reminded me of my father. Whereas before that would have given me comfort, today standing under the warm sun in pioneer land with Jack smiling at me with welcome eyes, it ran cold through my bones. Despite everything I’d just been through with Vince and the vamp raiders, I still couldn’t agree with him. Even now, I was wondering who was looking out for Alex. Someone most certainly not “my own.”
I walked with Marla to one of the cabins on the right, situated back towards the front of the colony. “I might need help with, uh, the whole erecting my own cabin thing,” I told her as we passed by a group of children laughing and trying to nail each other with water balloons. I successfully dodged a watery missile aimed at a curly headed kid zipping behind us.
Marla smiled. “Everyone does. Hugo’s the go-to guy. You and a few others will help, but he’ll take you through the process. You do collect the wood though and that takes a bit of time. But that’s what this place is for.”
