Mo and Farina exchange a glance. “We actually wanted to talk to you about that,” Farina says slowly. “We have plenty of food, but we’re running out of fuel for heat. I don’t know if you want company at The Standard, but—”
“We have plenty of heat and plenty of room,” Jorge says. “It’s a match made in Heaven.”
“Bet,” Mo says, his smile wide. “That means no more looking for food today, so you can come with us to meet up with Carmen. Can we round up the rest of you? They’re gonna to want to see this, too.”
We stand on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I would’ve balked at the trek up eighty-six flights of stairs, but a generator-powered elevator brought us to the eightieth floor. Six flights is nothing these days. Thankfully, my knee has stopped aching for now, unlike my feet.
We observe the city through large diamond-shaped openings in the silver Art Deco fence, which curves inward at the top to discourage jumpers. “We only come up here every once in a while,” Mo says.
“Trying to impress us?” Kate asks.
“Maybe.” He bends to Leo. “You impressed yet?”
“Yes!” Leo says. He lost his shit in the elevator, which he deemed as exciting as a roller coaster. If anyone’s alive decades from now, he’ll be able to tell his grandkids about taking one of the last elevator rides in the old world.
Indy lifts him to the fence for a better view, and Leo nestles in while she points out various locations. Paul allowed him to come after Mo’s assurance it was safe, and after Indy and I badgered him relentlessly for fifteen minutes.
“I’m glad he came,” Paul says. I raise my eyebrows. “Yeah, yeah, you two were right. You want a medal?”
“He’ll remember this forever. It’s like the Disney World of the apocalypse.”
I think of Roger after I say it. He left at dawn the morning after the kiss incident, and, except for a little initial awkwardness that abated in minutes, things were fine. It’s not the first time I’ve been on the receiving end of an ill-timed drunken kiss one shrugs off the next day, which is how I hope Roger sees it. If he doesn’t, I think it’ll be a while before he tries it again. By then, this will be over, and I’ll let him down easy.
Mo shows us the sights, pointing out buildings with gardens on the roofs. He tells us which have full water towers, the locations of caches spread throughout the city, and where they hide their spare weapons. Maybe he didn’t bring us solely for the view—this is his way of saying he trusts us.
“We have a cheese cave, too,” he says. “We found another one in Crown Heights last year and brought the cheeses back here. We run it on solar.”
“Cheese?” I ask. “This is going to be a beautiful friendship.”
“We’ll bring you some soon.”
Indy has left for another corner of the deck, but I still whisper, “Do you have any blue cheese? Indy’s been dying for it.”
“Sure, the moldy ones are still good.”
“They’re never good,” I say with a grimace. “But I’ll trade you for a chunk. I must have something you want.”
My face heats when I realize how that sounded. Mo’s got a sexy dashing thing going on, but I’m off the market, and I’m sure his wife would agree that he is, too. He winks. “How about this one’s on the house?”
“Thanks.” I point behind me. “I’m just going to go crawl under a rock somewhere.”
Mo laughs. I turn to find Carmen smiling, which transforms her from petrifying to friendly. “You knew about Mo,” she says.
“We suspected. You’re good at scaring people. What’s your secret?”
Her eyes gleam with amusement. Farina joins us, linking her arm through Carmen’s. “She meditates on her hate for Teddy every morning.”
“Medihation instead of meditation?” I ask. “I can do that.”
“It’s tiring,” Carmen warns. Farina rests her head on Carmen’s shoulder, and Carmen presses her cheek to Farina’s hair. She’s relaxed now, though there’s strain in the lines around her eyes. “It’d be impossible without knowing they’re safe out here, and without Kieran’s help.”
He’s here, practicing swordplay with Casper on the other side of the building’s observation deck. Once steel started clashing, we silently and unanimously decided to steer clear.
“Guess what Carmen did before this,” Farina says. Her eagerness makes me think this is a game she likes to play.
Carmen is solidly built, her hair straight and dark, and her out-of-Central-Park expression is pleasant. She could’ve been anything from a graphic designer to a longshorewoman to a pediatrician. “Cheesemonger?” I ask, thinking it random enough that I won’t offend.
“Opera singer!” Farina says.
I’m impressed, though Carmen shrugs. “As you can imagine, it helped when the zombies came.”
“Advertising was the same.”
Carmen snorts. “Kieran and I have to get back soon. If I see you when you’re with StuyTown, forgive me for being a bitch.”
“If you forgive me,” I say. “Though I’m not sure I can pull it off the way you do.”
“You’ll be fine.” She takes me in, nods as if agreeing with her assessment, and then she and Farina leave for the observation room.
I watch the big rectangle of Central Park for a while, then walk to the south, where Indy views the geometric pattern of StuyTown’s buildings. They’re sturdy and red amid streets with burnt buildings dotted throughout. “We’ll be there soon,” she says.
“Are you scared?” I ask.
“Lucky is in there. That makes me feel better. And we have your quasi-boyfriend to protect us, as long as he keeps his tongue in his mouth.”
“I knew I’d regret telling you that.”
“Sorry,” she says, not at all apologetically. “But it can only help, right?”
“I suppose.” I wrap my fingers around the bars that prevent us from plunging to our deaths. “Did you notice Paul’s ring is off?”
“Is it?” she asks, although I’ve caught her staring at the band of pale flesh on his ring finger six times today. “Maybe he took it off to clean it.”
These two are worse than Eli and Grace. I’m almost at the point of resorting to a vision board to make it happen. “Yeah, I’m sure he brought it to the jeweler. Would you just do this already? You might have to make the first move.”
“And have him say no?” she asks. “Unh-uh. I don’t do that.”
“He won’t say no. I promise.”
“Nope.” She hugs her waist. “I can’t stop thinking about how different things would be if they’d known about Hugh and Walt back then. We might still be in Sunset Park.”
At her subject change, I give up on matchmaking for the day. “Maybe,” I say. “Though Kearney was there, too.”
“I know,” she says. “I guess it was fate.”
I run my finger along the leather holster at my hip. Maybe all the missed connections, the missed notes, are fate. Grace might’ve said it’s all fate, and the universe put us here because it’s where we’re supposed to be. If that’s the case, the universe is an asshole.
“Fuck fate,” I say. “That bitch is drunk and needs to go home.”
Indy turns from the view to me, eyes fierce. “Fuck fate. And fuck Walt and Teddy and anyone else who stands in our way.”
I take her too-skinny arm in mine. “Amen.”
An icy gust blows. Mo leads us into the enclosed observatory, where tables sit covered with radio equipment. Cords run along the floor and disappear into the elevator bank in the center of the space. “Those go down to the generators on the 85th floor,” Mo says. “This is why we come up here. Not that there’s much to hear anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Kate asks.
“We talked to the Safe Zones up north a few times,” Farina says. “And some in other places, when we could. Now we can’t reach anyone. Maybe a month ago, we heard that Quebec radioed to warn about a giant pod of zombies moving north. Kingdom Come and Wh
itefield were hit, and only a few survivors made it to Quebec. The last thing anyone heard was that some of them were heading for northern Quebec, and some for Alaska. But we haven’t heard from any of them, and we can’t get through to Alaska.”
“Kingdom Come?” Paul asks.
“The Safe Zone in Vermont.” Farina pats the radio. “There are only certain times of the day we can transmit that far, and Alaska hasn’t answered us yet. We’re not here much.”
“How do you know all this radio stuff?” Indy asks.
“Our dad was a ham radio operator. I picked it up.”
“She’s the smart one,” Mo says. “I’m the good looks of the family.”
Farina rolls her eyes. “If they did go to Alaska, they had a long ride.”
The country is full of zombies, and there’s close to no chance they drove three thousand miles across it without being eaten. With Lexers from here to Quebec, there’s no leaving for us, either. That fact could make me despair, but I resolve to use it as all the more reason to fight.
74
Some of Mo’s group came for a visit, and The Box is full of people. I suppose ten people doesn’t actually constitute full, but I need a break. No sooner do I sit on my bed to read than someone knocks at my door. “Come in,” I say.
Mo enters with a small paper-wrapped package in his hand, which he deposits on my table. “Cheese, as requested.”
“Thank you so much,” I say. “She’s going to be thrilled. Too bad we didn’t know about that cheese cave when we lived in Brooklyn. We could’ve beaten you to it.”
He grins and leans a shoulder against the wall. “Oh, you know what I’ve been meaning to ask one of you? Did you ever meet someone named Maria in Brooklyn? She was a nurse. I can’t remember her last name, but I have it written down somewhere.”
My heart thuds. “Diaz?” I whisper.
“That’s it. You do know her?”
“She—” My lungs cut out, and I try again. “We met her at the hospital that first night, and we lived together until Walt came to Sunset Park. She was bitten and…”
I can’t go on without crying. I want to tell him how much I loved her. That she wasn’t only someone I knew—she was a mother and a friend to me, a grandma to Leo, and a partner to Jorge. But the way Mo takes a seat at my table with an understanding nod, I think he can tell.
“How did you know her?” I ask.
“I didn’t. That Safe Zone, Kingdom Come, they were asking about her when we spoke in the spring. Someone named Cassie, and she said if I ever met Maria, to tell her that she and Maria’s two daughters were there. They asked me to get in touch if I heard anything.”
If I weren’t sitting, I would fall. My head spins. I clutch my blankets. “Cassie Forrest?”
“Yeah. Forrest. I remember because she said, Forrest, like trees.” He leans forward in his chair. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head. Eric and I were likely halfway there when we traveled upstate, if not closer. If we’d checked the Safe Zones, we’d have found them. We would’ve come home to tell an overjoyed Maria and then set out from the city when the Lexers were frozen. Maria could’ve delivered those letters in person. They still sit at the bottom of my BOB because I can’t bring myself to throw them away.
But, had we been at Kingdom Come, we would’ve been caught in the giant mob that likely killed them all. In an instant, Mo’s given me Cassie, Ana, and Penny, and then snatched them from reach. The only bright spot is that Eric and Maria won’t ever know how close we came only to lose them again.
“Cassie was Eric’s sister,” I say. “We tried to find her. He thought she was dead.”
“Maybe she was one of the people who went north or to Alaska,” Mo says.
Eric mentioned Talkeetna a few times, mainly because of his deranged belief that climbing icy mountains was fun. If she went anywhere, I think she would’ve gone there. The trip would be arduous, but if she managed to escape the mob, anything is possible.
“We’ll keep trying to get through to Talkeetna.” Mo gets to his feet. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Thank you for the cheese.”
After he leaves, I stand at the window and watch the garbage on the Hudson while I try to sort out how I feel. Melancholy, partly hopeful, angry at the universe for pulling this shit for the zillionth time. Emotion stew.
Below on the High Line, Paul sits on a wooden bench. He doesn’t look lonely, but he looks alone. I refuse to stand by and witness another missed connection when it could be avoided. I grab my coat and the cheese, then stomp out of the hotel and down the High Line. Paul straightens as I march forward. I pick up his hand and plunk the cheese into his palm without a word.
“What the hell is that?” he asks.
“Blue cheese. For Indy.”
“I’m not Indy, genius.”
I whack the side of his head. “Do you want to be with Indy? Answer me truthfully. Yes or no.”
“Ow,” he complains, rubbing his temple. I wait for his reply with my hands on my hips. Paul rubs his thumb on the inside of his empty ring finger, then lets his hand fall open, though his mouth stays shut.
“I know you don’t want to answer,” I say, “but you can’t leave it up to fate. Indy and I are leaving at some point, and you don’t have long to make it happen. Either you want to be with her or you don’t. Yes or no?”
He turns his head. Finally, he says, “Yes.”
“Then you need to give her the cheese.”
“And why do I need to give her moldy cheese?” he asks, sarcasm creeping back into his voice.
“Because you do. Tell her Sylvie told you to give it to her, and that I promise you won’t say no.”
“Who won’t say no?”
“You. Paul.”
“Indy won’t say no to me? Or you, meaning me?”
“Okay, say it like this: Sylvie said I should give this to you, and she promises I won’t say n—” I break off at the gleam in his eye. “You’re such a dick. You know exactly what I mean.” Paul laughs, slapping the bench beside him.
“I give Indy a day before she kicks your ass,” I say, which only makes his smile grow. “But, for tonight, Leo will sleep in my room. You can thank me later.”
I take my leave. When I’m ten feet away, Paul calls, “Moldy cheese? For real?”
“Trust me,” I call back.
I wake in the morning with Leo the Barnacle stuck to my side. At bedtime last night, I sent Paul to Indy with the cheese and brought Leo to my room for a sleepover, which meant I had to resist peeping down the hall and listening at the wall that separates my and Indy’s rooms.
It was nice to have company, even if it was a six-year-old who hogs the covers. I slide out from under said six-year-old and brush my teeth in the bathroom while I watch him through the opening over the tub. Why they made it impossible to have a private bathing experience in the hotel is beyond me, but I’m so desperate for a shower or bath I’d shower in the middle of The Box at this point. Artie says he has a hot water plan, and I pray it’s a good one.
There’s a soft knock on the door before Indy steps into the foyer outside the bathroom. I stop brushing when I see her watery eyes. “Wha appen?” I spit out my foam and repeat, “What happened?”
“Why did you think that would work?” she asks. “I told you he wasn’t into me.”
My stomach drops. I’m going to kill Paul, and then I’m going to resuscitate him and kill him again. “But he—”
The door opens, and Paul steps in. “Gotcha.”
Indy claps her hands. Paul hoots. I watch them crack themselves up, shaking my head, though it’s impossible not to smile. “You two deserve each other. You really do.”
Paul takes Indy’s hand, still grinning. Indy leans in slightly, her shoulder brushing his chest. It’s sweet and affectionate, and I turn to rinse my mouth at the sink while I compose myself. I’m happy for them, but I’m sad for me. Grace said that a while ago about herself, and now I know exact
ly what she meant.
I dry my face on my towel and focus on the happy. When I exit the bathroom, they’re by my closet, lips locked. Leo stands at the end of the bed, eyebrows at the top of his forehead.
“You’d better get used to that,” I say to him. “Your dad and Indy like each other.”
Indy and Paul break apart. Indy fusses with her hair and Paul pulls at his clothing, as though that’ll make Leo forget their tongues were down each other’s throats two seconds ago.
“I know,” Leo says, and pads past to the bathroom. “Gross.”
75
A few days later, Roger enters The Box. He sets his pack of food down and sits in a chair at my table. “What’s up?”
“Hi,” I say, instead of asking what he means. Only Eric finds that amusing. Found that amusing. “Nothing. What’s up with you?”
“Walt and I are going to Central Park for few days, so I was thinking you and Indy should come next Friday. We’ll be back by then, and I’m working the gate all day.”
“Okay.”
I hear the tremor in my voice, so he must. He raises a hand as if to comfort me, then drops it to his knee instead. “Don’t worry. I’ll be waiting, and I’ll take you to Quarantine. You spend three days there, then you’ll be in the building with everyone else. I already have an apartment picked out for you near Rissa and Micah. I’ll do what I can to get you both on guard, and we’ll make a plan after that.”
Out on the High Line, Leo kicks a ball to Paul, which Indy dodges forward to steal. Paul tickles her sides until she spins and kisses him for the forty-millionth time today.
“What is that?” Roger asks.
“That is alternately annoying and endearing,” I say. “But mostly endearing.”
I’ve seen more kissing than anyone needs to see in the past days, though it’s tempered with their usual comments. Leo slept with me another night, but Indy insisted Paul not ditch Leo for her, and that led to the three of them moving to a corner room to have what Leo has termed an every night sleepover. I’d feel bad for their lack of privacy, but they manage to sneak away and get it on during the day while I distract Leo.
The City Series (Book 3): Instauration Page 51
