by Fitch, E. M.
“To be eye candy for you and your friend? Oh sure, I’d just love to,” she answered, hoping the sarcasm dripping from her voice would put him off. She could hear his laughter as he descended the stairs.
Kaylee turned back to Andrew and noticed his raised eyebrows, his look of agitation.
“Sorry,” she offered, shrugging through her blush. “He’s kind of an, an…”
“Yeah, he’s an ass,” Andrew supplied through grit teeth. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we’re not alone. But, I mean seriously! After all this waiting we get some jackass eighteen-year-old and a grisly old man with plans of world domination. You should hear them talk! According to them there’s an underground force somewhere up north that they’re escaping to, some place where the infected never penetrated and you can live free and clear of all this shit.”
Andrew kicked the edge of a tomato planter and grunted before turning to the edge of the rooftop and staring into the masses. Kaylee knew from the set of his shoulders and the force at which he spewed his words he was angry. Jack’s arrival had seriously shaken him.
“I just don’t believe it,” he continued, his voice more steady and calm than before. “This isn’t some big, huge city. We’re nobody’s, nothing, here. If we can’t even keep them out of this little space, how’s anyone doing it anywhere else? I don’t think that we’re all that’s left, but a whole colony? A whole town of people eating, sleeping at night, going to school, running business, and all that? It’s not possible.”
“But if that’s not possible, why should we even try?” Kaylee whispered, almost regretting it as she saw Andrew tense further. “Isn’t that what we’re trying to do? Live normally? With more people it would get easier, wouldn’t it?”
“It would; if it were possible, if it were true. I just don’t think it is.”
Kaylee bit her lip, feeling tears of frustration well in the corners of her eyes. If it weren’t possible, then what was the point? She wanted to scream at Andrew, ask him why they should even consider having children if this was the only life they could offer them. Even Andrew’s dream of finding a home in the country and setting up a camp there, farming for food and living night and day to protect it seemed weak and unappealing next to the fantasy of a whole town to live in. Kaylee dragged her sleeve over her eyes, ensuring that no moisture clung to her lashes before she looked back to Andrew.
He was watching her intently and his gaze faltered as she met it.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he whispered, his eyes traveling over her in a way that made her feel very warm.
“Was everyone in a frenzy last night?”
He rolled his eyes and offered a weak laugh, leaning back against the rail and crossing his arms. “It was ridiculous! Here you come, getting carried in by some guy we’ve never seen. Emma’s rambling in your wake. He’s insisting it’s ‘just a scratch’ and you’re barely moving. Anna was caught between glee and professional mode. She was tending to you and barking orders to Emma and then boasting and gloating over the fact that she was right to my dad.”
Kaylee laughed at the scene Andrew presented, mostly because she somehow knew this was exactly what had happened. “How was my dad?”
Andrew’s gaze faltered just a bit. “He was not as excited as Anna was. Actually, I think he was just… terrified.”
Kaylee bit her lip and looked to the rooftop. Ever since her mother had been infected, both girls had been treated as porcelain dolls: precious, breakable. They were barely allowed out of the building and even then only to enclosed courtyards and secured fields and only at night when the chance of encountering an infected was the least. Last night would have been the first injury either of the girls sustained and Kaylee could only guess at the level of fear that must have pierced her father.
“Anna reassured him,” Andrew said hesitantly, “said you’d be fine. He wanted to stay with you all night—”
“Right next to you, I’m sure,” Kaylee interrupted, grinning slightly. Andrew blushed but nodded.
“Yeah, but Anna kicked us out, said we were overreacting,” he mumbled. Kaylee felt the strain of the shift in her relationship with Andrew fill the space between them. In times past she would have joked that he needed to get over her, nudge him and wink and try to tease his blush deeper, something that was never that hard to do. But now she felt frozen, unsure how to tread in the light of these new days.
“What’s Quinton like?” she asked in a jumbled rush after a few tense moments, wanting to break through the uncomfortable haze that had settled. Andrew perked up immediately.
“He’s pretty cool,” he offered with a shrug. “Grizzly and sort of rough but in a safe kind of way.”
Kaylee knew exactly what Andrew meant. He must be someone you’d be able to rely on in a fight and these days that translated to being safe.
Andrew suddenly barked out a laugh. “I went out to look for him," he said, "Jack set off a flare on the roof and said Quinton would know to follow it so I was waiting for him on the road. Well, he wears really dark clothes, kind of blends in with the night. The guy appeared out of nowhere, I couldn’t see him coming and he scared the life out of me. I jumped and yelped like a girl!”
Kaylee stuck her tongue out at him at the jab to her gender but he just grinned.
“But seriously, this guy knows what he’s doing. I think he must have been military back in the day. You have to see—” Andrew broke off as he peered over the side of the roof to the pavement. “Actually, wait, come here.”
Kaylee joined him at the railing and followed his pointing arm. It wasn’t hard to see what he was pointing at. When your landscape doesn’t change in two years expect for the occasional kicked over trashcan and broken window, any new object is bound to catch your eye.
A large dark object the shape of a Hummer was parked outside their building. Kaylee couldn’t be sure if it was truly a Hummer because almost every inch of it was covered in sheet metal that had been fused to the various parts. The metal was twisted and dented and in places looked burnt but it seemed to serve its’ purpose. Layers and layers of chicken wire and grates covered the windshield and windows and though it would have made it very difficult to see, it would also have been nearly impossible to smash.
“You see how the top is higher than it should be?” Andrew asked, pointing again. Kaylee nodded although she had not initially noticed that. “They tore the roof off and built it up, leaving space for Jack to stand and shoot if he needs to. And all the seats were torn out for extra storage space. They’ve been driving that thing all over the country and nothing’s taken it down yet.” Andrew seemed grudgingly excited by their creation.
“It’s impressive,” Kaylee conceded, not so much at the car but at the fact that they had indeed made it this far without getting bitten.
“I keep telling Dad I could do something like that with one of the fire engines, but he doesn’t listen,” Andrew grumbled, pushing away from the wall and moving towards the stairs. “C’mon, let’s get downstairs and maybe get some more sleep. It’s going to be a long night tonight, believe me.”
Kaylee nodded and followed, but she knew there was no way she’d be getting back to sleep.
Chapter Five
A soft knock brought Kaylee out of her light doze. She stirred and mumbled for whomever it was to enter, pushing her warm blanket away from her and sitting up.
After she had left Andrew on the stairwell, turning away from the smirk Jack shot her from the supply room where he must have camped the previous night, she had opted out of returning to Anna in the infirmary. Instead she tiptoed down the hall to her own room. Emma was snoring lightly, curled up into a tight ball with her blankets twisted all around her. Kaylee had decided to let her sleep.
And though she had initially thought sleep would evade her, as she lay on her side staring towards the bright sunlight filtering through her window she felt her eyes drift close. The warm sensation of safety, security, washed over her and she was pulled unwittingly
into slumber.
“Kaylee? Emma? Who’s up?” The soft voice that followed the knock sounded unsure and nervous.
“I’m up Dad,” Kaylee answered as his head peeked into the room. Emma gave a loud snort and rolled over. Nick seemed to sag as he strode into the room and he very nearly pulled Kaylee out of her bed as he hugged her.
“I thought you were with Anna and I went there and you were gone and I didn’t know what that meant or if you were okay or—”
She laughed into his shoulder, interrupting him in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I’m okay,” she reassured him and she heard him inhale quickly before he let her go. He looked tired, even more so than usual. His eyes were drawn and heavy lidded and he closed them as he rubbed his fingertips into his forehead, his thumb holding anchor by his temple.
“You’re not picking corn ever again,” he breathed as he sat next to her on her rumpled covers. Kaylee rolled her eyes and chuckled.
“Normally I’d jump at the chance to get out of a bit of work, but it’s really not necessary, Dad.”
“You have to be more careful, Kay,” he continued, his voice hardening as his eyes flashed open. “It’s not a joke and it’s not like we can just take a drive to an E.R. any old time we like.”
“I know,” Kaylee mumbled, getting up from the bed and crossing to the shelf on which she kept her few belongings. Emma mumbled under her breath before heaving a sigh. “I’m always careful. It’s not like I was expecting some guy to jump out at me.”
“You should always be expecting it. You were just lucky that he happened to be uninfected,” Nick pressed. “It’s against my better judgment to let you and your sister out at all, when I do I expect you to watch out for Emma. She’s young and—”
“She’s not that young, Dad,” Kaylee interrupted with a frown. She understood her father’s overprotective tendencies, she really did, but hearing him talk like this scared her. Their confined little space could become downright suffocating at times and to be told that she may be restricted even further would be intolerable. Besides, she didn’t think her father would talk about Emma in quite that way if he had seen her in action. After all, Emma had responded much more effectively than she had, knocking Jack to the ground and nearly braining him with that rock.
Sure, I got in a good right hook, but after that I just slammed into the ground… stupid sharp rock…
“I was going to say she’s too reckless,” Nick continued, eyeing Kaylee from his perch on her bed. “She doesn’t take this any more seriously than you.”
“I’m taking it seriously, Dad,” Kaylee argued, gritting her teeth as she twist her hair into a ponytail. “But you can’t keep me locked up in here, Emma neither. We’re fifteen and seventeen—”
“Youngest people on the planet,” came Emma’s scratchy voice. “I take it from the annoyingly loud irritation that is your voice that you’re okay?”
“We are not the youngest people on the planet,” Kaylee corrected her sister. “We might be the youngest uninfected. And yeah, I’m okay.”
Emma grinned from beneath her blanket. “Good. I wouldn’t want to have to do all the washing around here.”
“It’s not funny, Emma,” Nick said, his jaw muscles tensing as he stood from the bed and faced both his daughters. “You and your sister are entirely too relaxed about this whole thing! If it weren’t for Jack you might not have gotten Kaylee back here.”
“If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place!” Emma returned, shaking her head in disbelief of her father’s argument.
“The point is you’re both too irresponsible! This could have been very bad; Kaylee could have been seriously injured. A head injury is not a laughing matter—”
Emma rolled her eyes and hopped out of her bed.
“Don’t you roll your eyes Emma Marie!” Nick said, his voice rising steadily in volume.
“Dad, wait,” Kaylee interrupted, her hands raised. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I should have been more careful.” Nick turned towards her and Kaylee shot a warning glance to her sister, who was making a face and rolling her eyes again though this time it was in reaction to Kaylee’s words. “I’ll watch out for Emma, I will. And we won’t have to go out for a few days anyway so I’ll have time to make sure I’m really okay before I try it. It’ll be okay, really.”
Nick seemed to calm as Kaylee spoke, his hands relaxed and his shoulders sagged again. It was not the father that she remembered from her youth, the days before the infection. As a young girl she remembered thinking her father was invincible, comparing him in her mind to an old picture of Atlas that she had seen once in the back of some textbook, the entire world sitting on his shoulders and he not even seeming the least bit effected. Nick wasn’t like that any longer. There was a permanent sag to his shoulders now that seemed to weigh down his whole frame. His eyes very rarely left the floor and often when they did they were flashing in anger or grief. And he didn’t talk so much anymore, not like he used to. He was never a conversationalist, not in the least, but he was a storyteller. It was always he who tucked his girls into bed, regaling them with fairytales and fables, most of his own creation. But he wasn’t that father any longer, the infection had taken just as much of him as it had of their mother. They were both empty shells now.
“Just the same,” Nick continued, now looking at both girls. “Maybe you should stay in your room tonight.”
“Why, what’s tonight?” Emma asked, looking up from the footlocker she was now pawing through.
“Nothing, really,” he answered evasively, his eyes darting from the door behind him to his shoes. “But it’s not really for you girls.”
“It’s a meeting, isn’t it?” Emma demanded, slamming the lid to her trunk and glaring at her father.
“Emma,” Kaylee whispered in admonishment.
“No Kaylee,” Emma growled, rounding on her. “This isn’t right, he does this to us all the time!”
“Emma!”
“We might be young, and we may be occasionally irresponsible, I wouldn’t argue you that,” Emma plowed on. “But we’re two eights of the remaining human population and our opinion counts too! You can’t keep cutting us out of this, Dad,” she shouted, pointing at him angrily, “even if you think you’re protecting us!”
“Emma that’s enough,” Nick said, his voice level and cold. “This is exactly why you should be kept in your room. You’re careless and rash—”
“I’m interested! And opinionated and I care about what happens to me! And,” she paused for breath before continuing, “and I’m coming tonight, whether you like it or not.”
“Emma,” Kaylee hissed, scowling at her sister. Nick was staring out the window, his expression blank but his jaw set.
“You’re not to talk to me like that Emma,” he said but his voice had lost its’ edge; it was still cold but he was distant now, far away. “I’m still your father.” He looked back at the girls and his forehead was wrinkled beyond his years. “I’m glad you’re okay, Kay.”
And he walked out of the room.
“You push him too hard!” Kaylee scolded her sister once the door had shut behind their father.
“And you don’t push him hard enough!” Emma countered, exchanging her old sweatshirt for the tee shirt that she had clenched in her hand. “I mean, for heaven’s sake, did you not hear the conversation they were having about you the other day? Do you want them planning out your sex life with no input from you? Don’t you care?”
“You know why he’s like this,” Kaylee said softly, ignoring her sister’s outburst as she plopped down on her bed. “He’s terrified he’s going to lose one of us ever since Mom…” she trailed off as she saw Emma try to hide her cringe behind the folds of the hooded sweatshirt she pulled from a hook by her bed.
“I know,” Emma said. She rounded on Kaylee, pulling on the hoodie and yanking up the zipper angrily. “But how long are we supposed to play the helpless, little children for his benefit? You said
yourself we aren’t so young anymore. We deserve a say in this! You know why he won’t even consider leaving this place?”
Kaylee had several theories about that actually. The most prominent one involved the fact that her father spent most of his days staring out the living room onto West 223rd street. He didn’t want to leave his wife.
“It’s not because of her,” Emma sneered, throwing a contemptuous look out the window.
“He doesn’t want to leave Mom,” Kaylee insisted, looking imploringly at her sister.
“That’s. Not. Mom,” Emma spat, her face twisting in disgust. Kaylee felt the muscles of her jaw clench in anger but she tamped it down.
“Then why?” she asked through grit teeth.
“It’s us,” Emma answered shimmying out of her sweats before sinking onto her bed and bending to pick her jeans up off the floor. “He doesn’t think we can handle it.”
“Or he doesn’t want to expose us any further,” Kaylee offered.
“Either way,” Emma allowed, shoving her legs into her jeans and standing to tug them up. “I’m sick of being an excuse for him. We can’t stay here forever. I don’t want to stay here forever. Quinton and Jack are heading north. I think we should go with them.”
“Dad won’t want to.”
“I say majority rules,” Emma said, shrugging. Kaylee frowned.
“You should apologize to him, you know,” Kaylee said after a minute during which Emma brushed out her hair and pulled on her boots.
“I will,” Emma said softly. “But I’m going to that meeting.”
“Me too.”
Emma paused in the act of re-tying her laces to look up at Kaylee. “I really am glad you’re okay,” she said around a bit lip.
“I guess I haven’t thanked you yet for tackling Jack,” Kaylee returned, grinning towards Emma. There was a light flush stealing up Emma’s neck.
“Yeah, well that jerk deserves more than a split lip and a bruised hip if you ask me, or Andrew for that matter,” Emma muttered, frowning.
