by Nikita Eden
She picked up her shoes and grabbed the door handle. She swung open the door and looked back at him. His cold eyes silently begged her to stay with him, but she knew he was only asking her to stay out of his grief over Peter. She gave him a small wave with her fingers and hurried out the door almost walking into the wall, ignoring him when he called her name.
CHAPTER SIX
The walk home was longer than Audrey remembered. When she got to the tiny red brick house she lived in she made a beeline to her bedroom. She closed the door and frowned at her ratty hair and running mascara in the full length mirror on the back of the door.
“I should have taken an umbrella with me,” she murmured.
She picked her phone up off of her pillow and tapped on it to start a playlist of her favorite songs. She opened her night stand and grabbed the small white headphones and plugged them into her phone. She slipped them into her ears and started dancing next to her bed while lip-syncing.
She rummaged through her drawers and grabbed a pair of grey and green running capris and a tank top out of her dresser. She changed her clothes quickly, only pausing to do an air guitar solo that helped her stress melt away.
She pulled her hair back into her usual ponytail and grabbed a bottle of facial cleaner off her dresser before leaving her room.
She walked into the only bathroom of the small four bedroom house. It smelled like lavender and vanilla thanks to one of the other girls who lived there and she liked it.
She grabbed a washcloth off the shelf above the toilet, wetted it, and cleaned around her nose and mouth.
The schedule she had as a Runner kept her busy most days, so she didn’t spend much time with the girls she lived with. She knew they were orphaned like she was and two of them didn’t like when she played her music. She never spent much time in the small red-brick house, but after what just happened with Dean she wanted to linger at home.
She meandered from room to room, taking a few minutes in each of them to try to get an idea of what the other girls were like.
The first bedroom smelled the same as the bathroom and belonged to Jennifer who worked at the library as a childcare provider and librarian. In high school Jennifer was a grade above her and, although she was a nice girl, she was quiet. Since Audrey had started reading to the kids every Tuesday they spent more time together. Jennifer’s room was much like Jennifer, neat and carefully organized. It had straight lines and was mostly decorated with pink.
The small room next to Jennifer’s was just as pink, but it belonged to a girl named Charlotte. It was decorated in a mass of ribbons and lace that Audrey had brought to the house for Charlotte in her early days as a Runner.
As a training exercise all the Runners had been required to go to the former houses of the people they would be living with to retrieve things for them. It was supposed to help the roommates appreciate the Runners. Charlotte’s list had been full of things like “the white lamp in the upstairs bedroom with light pink heart ribbons” and “the pale pink corset top with white laces up the back”.
Being in Charlotte’s old bedroom had been much more uncomfortable than the room of pink vomit the girl lived in now.
The last girl that lived in the house with Audrey was named Sadie. She was older than Audrey and over the previous three months Audrey had learned that Sadie used to live in Nebraska, but when the infection got to her parents they both died and left her behind. She was sent to live with her grandparents in Roswell, but days after her arrival her grandparents got sick and started treatment for the virus. It wasn’t long after that before she was completely alone in the world. Just like Audrey.
Audrey was looking in Sadie’s room when the other girl startled her, “Hey oddball, creeping through my stuff?”
“Sorry,” Audrey stepped out of Sadie’s way. “I was just looking around after I got dressed.”
“You have training again today?” Sadie looked at her running attire and shook her head.
“Yeah. Well, kind of, but not really,” Audrey shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m supposed to go to the greeting at the south gate to take the new people to their houses.”
Sadie smiled, revealing her two rather large front teeth, “Oh, I see. So, who are you avoiding?”
Audrey sighed and looked at the ground, “Dean.”
“Mr. Best Friend of the Year?” Sadie looked confused. “What’s going on with him?”
Audrey had talked about Dean a lot when she spoke with Sadie at night after training and dinner. Sadie usually had advice for her and made her feel good about her life in general.
Audrey sighed and leaned against the hallway wall, “He’s been under some stress lately and I think it’s just gotten to him.”
“What happened?” Sadie walked into her room and sat on her bed.
“He told me he wants to be more than friends,” Audrey grimaced.
Sadie whistled low, “I’ve seen Dean around town with the Runners. He’s one guy I wouldn’t mind being more than friends with.”
Audrey laughed and relaxed a little at her friend’s attitude towards the situation.
“I just don’t know how I feel about it,” Audrey explained. “I think he’s trying to jump into something because of everything that’s happened.”
“Maybe,” Sadie sat on her bed. “You guys have known each other a long time, right? Maybe he really feels that way.”
“Maybe,” Audrey walked into the room and grabbed an old, stained baseball off Sadie’s dresser. “I don’t know what to do though.”
“I think you should make sure you don’t avoid him. Talk it out,” Sadie held her hand up and Audrey tossed her the ball.
“It would be easier to avoid him,” she grumbled and looked around the room.
“Just think about it,” Sadie pointed at her digital clock, “You should probably go for now though. You’re late for the greeting already.”
Audrey smacked her lips together and hurried out of the house with quick good-bye shouted over her shoulder. She grabbed her bicycle and twelve minutes later she was at the south gate.
There was a small crowd looking at a group of people standing uncomfortably close to each other on a small raised platform behind Mr. Davies, Mr. Ruthers, and Mrs. Jimenez. They were probably the new people from Artesia. Audrey anxiously looked at their as she rode around the edge of the crowd. She focused on each of the men carefully and smiled to herself when she saw Lincoln at the back of the group. She didn’t know if she should wave at him or not, so she drummed her fingers on her chin.
I wonder if he remembers me, she thought to herself, biting on the corner of her thumbnail before turning her attention to the speech Mr. Davies was giving.
“There will be work for each of you to do and we hope that as the world shifts back into normality. We hope you’ll be able to appreciate the time you have here,” Mr. Davies looked affectionately at Mrs. Davies, who was standing by his side, and put his arm around her shoulder. “We have a group of Runners who have graciously taken it upon themselves in the middle of a new training regimen to take you to your new residences and answer any questions you may have. We welcome you to your new home!”
The crowd clapped and hollered their welcomes. Mr. Davies stepped down from the podium signaling the end of the spectacle and everyone broke into small groups to talk.
Audrey mounted her bike again and pedaled towards the platform at a leisurely pace.
“Hey!” Dean said running catch up with her. He jogged next to her bicycle momentarily until she put her feet down and walked her bike while she was on it. “Why did you leave earlier?”
Because you were in my personal bubble and I didn’t know what to do, she thought. “I just wanted to make sure I could get ready and not be late to this.”
“And yet you still missed the whole thing,” Dean teased her. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable I—”
“Just forget about it for now, okay?” she said a bit more harshly than she meant to. “You k
now, I wasn’t that late. I still saw some of it.”
“Getting here for the closing sentence of my father’s dry speech about community values and how welcome the new people are doesn’t really count as making it,” Dean stopped and looked at his feet, kicking a pebble. “Look, I’m really sorry for what happened.”
Audrey wanted to scream at him for bringing it up again. At the same time she wanted to give him a hug and apologize for being so sharp with him before, “We can talk about stuff later if you really want to. We have a job to do right now though.”
Dean considered it for a second and nodded his head, “I can do later if you’ll promise to actually talk about it.”
Audrey rolled her eyes and groaned, “Yeah, yeah. Okay I promise.”
Dean smiled and pulled a paper out of his pocket, “Good. I have a present. It’s your list of people from Artesia to help today.”
He handed her the half sheet of yellow lined paper with a short list of names and addresses scrawled in his handwriting and grinned smugly.
Audrey read the names:
Roslyn and Jordy Bates
Jacob Trainor
Julianne Merkely
Anna George
Lincoln Hall
“You put Lincoln in my group?” She said excitedly and playfully punched Dean in the shoulder.
He gave her a broad smile that showed all his perfectly straight white teeth, “I remember you asked about him a few days ago. I want you to be happy, so I put him in your group when I saw his name. We’ll talk about stuff later. Have fun with your route.”
She nodded and walked her bike over to the other Runners who were having a hard time finding the people on their lists, “Hey guys, let’s have everyone from Artesia stand by the platform and we can go one by one and to get our groups together.”
“Sure,” Marcella said from the front of the group. “Should we just go in order like normal?”
“Yeah. Dean is talking to Mr. Davies right now, so I guess it’s me now.”
Marcella frowned and looked down at the ground. Audrey knew training might be rough for her with Peter’s death being so recent. It wasn’t something that many people knew about, but she and Peter had recently started dating each other. It was right before Audrey’s last run to Carlsbad.
“You okay Marcy?” she asked the girl.
Marcella nodded and stared intently at her paper, “Yeah, let’s get this done.”
After the Artesians were standing on the platform again and the Runners formed a line in front of them.
The people Audrey called hastily gathered around her as she read their names.
The woman named Roslyn Bates was old and was pushed in a wheelchair, smiled at her when she stuttered a bit on Lincoln’s name.
“Bit nervous are you, dear?” she asked.
Audrey’s cheeks turned pink in response and she folded the paper without saying a thing.
“Don’t be nervous,” Mrs. Bates continued. “Lincoln is such a nice boy. Tall, dark, and handsome is how I like them too.”
Audrey’s eyes widened and she smiled at the woman before turning her attention to Lincoln.
He waved happily at her while he walked around the back of platform and joined her group.
“Hey Runner Three,” he stopped by her side. “Pretty convenient seeing you here.”
She blushed and unfolded her paper again and hid her face while peered at the addresses so Lincoln wouldn’t see the goofy grin she couldn’t get rid of.
The list was already in order according to how far away the dwelling was away from the south gate.
Dean’s mom must have done the lists, Audrey thought.
Sometimes she felt sorry for Mrs. Davies. She had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and sometimes had a hard time functioning normally from day to day, but when she wanted to help with something it was always appreciated and the astounding level of care and effort she put into every task was impressive.
“Sorry everyone, but there will be a bit of walking,” Audrey apologized to her people. “Roswell is a zero public transit community and everyone here either walks or rides a bicycle—if you have them.”
Mrs. Bates sighed in frustration and slapped her hand on the armrest of her wheelchair, “Good thing I have this chair and my great-nephew Jordy to take care of me.”
Audrey frowned, “I really am sorry Mrs. Bates. There are a lot of people around who will be readily available to help you anytime you need them.”
“She’ll be fine,” Jordy said. “She had relied heavily on public transit before the outbreaks and has been restless since most of it has shut down.”
“What will the people who can assist us be able to do anyway?” she asked grumpily.
“The Runners help people in the community every day,” Audrey explained. “We can have someone assigned to help you get around whenever you would like to go on errands or do something fun like go to the library or a movie. Your house is actually really close to the local markets and the cinema.”
“You still have movies here?” the young man named Jacob asked excitedly.
“We do. The theater only shows reruns of the old reels it owns, but yeah, we have movies,” Audrey grinned. “Keeps things nice and kind of relaxed.”
When everyone was done asking questions Audrey lead the way from the gate to a small house three blocks away from the Casa Maria Healthcare Center where the greeting had taken place.
The cozy house was simple on the outside. There was a large window in the living room that stood over an empty rectangular planter box. The door was a simple wooden one with a black screen door in front of it. In place of a lawn was a simple rock garden made from different colored rocks and cacti.
“Oh my, this is beautiful. This is more than I could have asked for,” Roslyn beamed at the simple house with tears in her eyes. “Jordy here did his best in Artesia, but with my needs we couldn’t stay in the base where there were only tents to live in. He barricaded our home during the nights, but it was still horrifying.”
“The screeches and screams all night were almost more than we could handle. Especially when they were so close,” Jordy set their bags on the front step and turned to shake Audrey’s hand. “We can’t thank you guys here enough for taking us in.”
“You won’t have to worry about safety behind the walls,” Audrey assured them. “The Howlers will still come out at night and you’ll be able to hear them at night from a distance, but inside Roswell we’re safe.”
Mrs. Bates took Audrey’s hand and held it to her soft, wrinkled cheek, “Thank you so much for making my final weeks on this Earth bearable, sweetheart.”
Audrey gave Mrs. Bates and Jordy their house keys and simple instructions to places like the market and the library.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you guys. You can put in requests with the Runners at the City Council’s office in the Fairfield Inn on Main Street,” she said before leaving them to get comfortable in their new home.
The group marched on to the next two houses, which were close to the Bates’s house. They were where Jacob and Julianne were going to live.
Jacob was placed in a large yellow split-level house that housed a few other single men.
“This is nice,” he said to Julianne with a sad smile.
She nodded and looked around the yard wistfully, “It’s got a nice feel to it. I’m sure you’ll like it.”
Jacob inched closer to Julianne, “Do you think you’d like to visit me some time?”
“Absolutely,” she said shyly.
Audrey fidgeted uncomfortably watching their exchange, “Um, there’s an old Albertson’s just a block away from here. We usually have a small market set up there on Saturdays.”
“That’s convenient,” Jacob put his arm around Julianne’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” Audrey agreed. “Julianne, you actually live really close to here. You’re just a street over.”
“Really?” The woman asked, her eyes brightening.<
br />
“Yeah, your house is just…” Audrey looked at the paper and then pointed down the street. “Three houses down on the other side of the street.”
“That’s awesome,” Jacob said squeezed the girl’s shoulder. “We could hang out a lot more often, Jules.”
“I’d like that,” she said and blushed when she looked at everyone watching their public display of affection.
They didn’t have come out and say it for Audrey to figure out they were excited by the arrangement because they were dating.
It made Audrey happy to know that there were people out there who could still do something as simple as dating someone they like.
Anna was a chatty girl and she was next on Audrey’s list. She had talked to Lincoln the entire walk with few breaks in her endless stream of useless information while they were dropping people off at their new homes.
“I used to play girls’ lacrosse,” she told Lincoln with a big smile. “I was super into sports.”
“That’s cool,” he said politely.
“What about you?” She looked him up and down. “You look like you were a sports player.”
“I played a little football in high school,” he admitted. “Whenever I went to family gatherings I would play rugby with my cousins.”
“Oh, is rugby like an ethnic kind of football?” she asked.
Lincoln stared at her with an open mouth, “What? No, not really. Is that a real question?”
“Well, I mean, I’m not racist or anything, but I’ve never heard of rugby until now. I figured it’s a black guy thing,” she said in her high-pitched voice that irritated Audrey.
Lincoln looked away from and focused his gaze on the sky, “Saying you’re not racist doesn’t mean you can say something racist. I’m not black either, I’m Tongan.”
Anna didn’t seem to have anything else to say until they got closer to her house and Audrey was grateful for that. The sound of the girl’s voice was enough to make her want to purchase ear plugs or a gag.
“Your house is near the old Sears,” Audrey informed the girl.
“Oh, is it still open?” Anna asked excitedly.
