Black Rain

by William R Hunt

  Kay stared at him, trying to identify something strange in his tone. She was surprised not just because he was jumping to conclusions so soon, but also because she would have expected him to act differently, to not resign himself to failure so quickly. It was as if he had prepared himself for this eventuality before even entering the basement.

  Pete plucked a plastic lunchbox off the ground and stared at it, frowning. No one spoke. Kay pressed her lips together in a firm line, a dam to hold back the flood of emotion trying to push its way out. They had failed—she had failed. Luna was not here. The children must have been loaded onto a bus just after the attack and driven away, but where? And wouldn’t it be safer to take them down here, into the basement?

  She crossed to the stairs and began to climb back up.

  “Where are you going?” Pete demanded.

  “Away from this place,” she answered, turning back on the stairs and blinking away the tears. “There’s nothing here. My daughter’s gone.”

  “That’s not a very good idea, Kay,” he said dangerously.

  Kay, however, was past the point of heeding warnings. “I don’t care, Pete. I don’t care. If someone put those kids in a bus and drove them off, if they were still outside when the radiation hit—” She lowered herself to the stairs and let the tears break through, unleashing the pent-up feelings she had been carrying ever since seeing the strange text on the TV back at the office. Susanna sat beside her and silently wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  Pete watched this scene with interest for a few moments before turning to Nigel. “What do you think, Spaceman? Where do we go from here?”

  Nigel picked up an old softball and turned it in his hands. “We used to play ball sometimes,” he said quietly. “At the park…”

  “Spare me,” Pete muttered, moving toward the stairs. He paused in front of the two women. “Well, ladies, it looks like I was right. The end is upon us. We’ll have to find a new place to start over, somewhere with clean water, a good supply of food, protection from the radiation. A bunker would be ideal, though it’s not likely we’ll manage to find—” He stopped abruptly and cocked his head.

  Kay had heard it, too—a faint, percussive beat like rain on an oil drum. But they were too far underground to hear the rain falling outside.

  “What is it?” Susanna asked.

  “Shh.” Pete held a finger to his lips as he drifted to the wall. “Nigel?”

  Reluctantly, Nigel turned the flashlight in Pete’s direction. Pete made a slow circuit of the room. After a few moments, he paused at a door along the back wall—a door Nigel had been careful to pass over.

  Pete laughed softly. “Very clever, Nigel. You’d rather give up the chance to see your daughter than let me near her. You must think I’m a monster. Come on, people, you know the routine.”

  Kay rose on numb legs, holding Susanna’s hand as they approached the door. Defeated, Nigel opened the door and stepped into a long hall. Now the percussion was a little louder, and Kay thought she could make out a few notes from a guitar.

  At the end of the hall was another door, and beneath this door a thread of light cut through the darkness. As Kay stared at the door, she saw it for everything it was, her greatest hope and her greatest fear joined together like a pair of congenital twins. She was going to her daughter, and she was bringing a monster with her.

  Nigel reached the door and turned back. “Decontamination?” he whispered.

  “Don’t have the means,” Pete answered indifferently. “Think of it as giving your daughter a stomach bug. That’s all it will be. Probably.”

  Nigel shook his head. “No, I won’t do that to my daughter. I can’t. She doesn’t deserve that.”

  “I’m starting to think you deserve a bullet in your teeth,” Pete growled. “Now open the door before I lose my temper.”

  “Who’s there?” a voice called from within the room—female, frail, sickly. The voice fell to coughing.

  Nigel opened the door and stepped into the room, followed by the other three. It was a cramped boiler room with two large machines at the center surrounded by thick pipes that coursed along the ceiling and disappeared through the walls. A beat-up shop vac held together by duct tape stood in the corner like the unwanted relative at a reunion, and in the opposite corner a shape lay on a bed made of stacked wooden pallets covered with blankets, a portable stereo playing nearby. A girl with golden hair sat on the edge of the bed with a picture book in her lap. She looked up as the group entered.

  “Luna?” Kay whispered. She tried to move forward, but Susanna caught her arm and held her back, giving her a warning look. Kay knew what that look meant: We’re not out of the woods yet. Even if it was her daughter, she would still have to find a way to decontaminate herself. And then, even if she accomplished that miracle, there would still be Pete to deal with, the overweight adolescent with the gun and the dream of starting civilization over. In Pete’s mind, he was Noah and this nuclear holocaust was just a modern-day flood, and he alone would decide who got into the boat.

  It was dream-like, seeing her daughter dressed in the same clothes she had been wearing a full day ago, pressing her finger to the book she had been reading moments earlier. She could have been sitting in the living room at home while Kay and John talked in the kitchen or watched a movie on the couch together—at home, where the world and its dangers remained outside the walls, where every fear could be shut out with a click of the door and a turn of the latch. Until this moment, Kay had not noticed the knot of anxiety inside herself as she braced for the possibility - the dim, remote, unconscionable possibility - that she would never meet her daughter’s gaze again, never hear her voice or see her smile. But now that knot suddenly relaxed and a flood of relief pushed through her, choking her voice as she called her daughter’s name and rushed across the room. She stopped herself several paces away, but Luna - her eyes wrinkling now, her mouth trembling - left the bed and raced toward her, sobbing.

  “Stop!” Kay shouted sharply. She hated to speak to her daughter like that, but it was the only way she could think of to keep her at a distance.

  Luna stopped, her arms hanging limp and useless at her sides. She stared in confusion at her mother, then at the other three strangers. Finally her gaze went back to her mother again. Tears were spilling down her cheeks and dropping from her chin.

  Kay dropped to her knees. “Listen, honey, you have to stay back. Do you understand? You can’t touch me.” Her voice broke on the words.

  Luna sniffed. It took a few moments for her to manage to speak. “I’m scared, Mommy.”

  “I know. So am I, sweetie. But it’s going to be alright.”

  Luna looked at the woman lying on the pallets. “Miss Georgia is sick. She went outside.”

  “But you didn’t go outside, did you?”

  Luna pressed her lips together and shook her head.

  “That’s my girl,” Kay said.

  “Luna,” Nigel broke in, “where’s Ada? Have you seen Ada, sweetie? Where are all the other kids?”

  “Gone,” Georgia croaked. “They wanted to keep them here, but when the windows broke, they realized they wouldn’t be safe aboveground.” She coughed—a dry, rasping sound that immediately reminded Kay of Al.

  “So they just left?” Nigel asked, incredulous. “They just took my daughter and left, without even telling me?”

  Georgia’s face gleamed palely with sweat. With an effort, she lifted herself and propped her back against the wall. “They couldn’t keep everyone down here, so someone made the decision it would be better to get the children out while they could. They tried calling everyone, but most of the calls didn’t go through.”

  Nigel nodded slowly, processing all this. “Where’d they take them?”

  Georgia only shook her head. “Fort Collins, maybe—I don’t know. They were just going to drive and keep on driving until they got out of the path of that radiation. Looks like the four of you found another way to cope with the conditions
, though.”

  “So why didn’t you and Luna leave?” Kay asked. “Did you get left behind?”

  Georgia shook her head again. “Not exactly. After most of the buses had already left, they sent me looking for a missing girl. Found Luna hiding in the bathroom. She refused to leave, said she wanted to be with her parents. The last bus had left by then, anyway, so we hid down here instead.”

  Pete, who had been perusing a duffel bag during most of the conversation, turned around and cleared his throat. “This is all very touching, but we’re wasting our time here. We’re gonna have to be busy bees the next few days—setting up a new home, gathering supplies and weapons, establishing a routine so none of us ends up like...well, like her.” He jabbed a fat finger in Georgia’s direction. “So we’d better get going.”

  Kay tried to keep her voice calm and even. “What about my daughter, Pete? I can’t leave her.”

  “So bring her outside. See what happens.” He gave her a boyish grin.

  She thought desperately how to convince him to help. What was it he wanted? To repopulate the human race, that much was obvious, but what was the root of that desire?

  To be important, she thought. To feel he’s needed because he can do things no one else can.

  “Okay,” Pete announced. “Time to get moving.” He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder. “Looks like we’ve got some snacks for the road, so this stop wasn’t a total waste of time.”

  Nigel sank to the floor and cradled his head in his hands, moaning words Kay could not hear.

  “Get up, Nigel,” Pete said. “No, on second thought, stay right where you are. Less competition for me.” He grinned, then swung his head toward Kay and Susanna. “Ladies?”

  Kay and Susanna exchanged a glance.

  “I’m staying here, Pete,” Kay said.

  Pete’s eyes glittered. “Are you? You’re pretty, Kay, but sometimes you’re kind of dense. The only reason we made this little stop was that I knew you’d go crazy if we didn’t. But now you know your daughter is safe and sound, so say your goodbyes and let’s get moving. You too, Su.”

  Pete lowered his head, watching them bullishly to see how they would respond. Kay’s heart beat violently in her chest. She could not leave Luna, especially not without knowing someone was taking care of her, but how could she take Luna with them? There was too much radiation above ground. Even if she wanted to give Luna her own suit, the transfer would be too dangerous: For all she knew, her suit was coated with radioactive particles that stirred through the air every time she moved.

  “You won’t shoot,” she said softly. Susanna said her name, warning her, but she did not need the warning. She supposed it had been coming to this ever since they had taken shelter in that basement. Pete had killed off Al, and now he would abandon Nigel so that he had the two women to himself. For a brief moment Kay imagined what that future might look like, and it disgusted her.

  “Fine,” Pete answered, nodding. He aimed the pistol at Nigel. “Any last words, Blackie?”

  Kay saw Pete’s finger slip to the trigger and knew he was serious. “Stop, just stop! I’ll go with you. Just please...I can’t leave my daughter. Do you understand, Pete? If I leave her here…” Think, damn it! Think, Kay, think! “If I leave her here, I’ll try to escape at every opportunity. You know I will. But if you take both of us with you…” She paused, swallowed. “I won’t fight.” She stopped there, unable to elaborate further.

  “You’d do that for your daughter?” Pete asked, looking genuinely surprised.

  “I’d do anything for her.”

  Pete nodded slowly as a smile spread across his face. “I guess it’s a good thing I brought a spare suit, then.”

  10

  It was difficult talking Luna through the process of putting on the suit. Kay remained with the others on the opposite side of the room, giving her daughter instructions while trying to keep her calm. Luna’s eyes kept darting to Pete, who watched her with that dull, vacant expression Kay was coming to know so well.

  Georgia’s cough worsened—it was becoming apparent with every passing moment that her sickness was severe and she would not last much longer. Susanna spoke to her comfortingly, but it was impossible to help her without exposing her to more radiation.

  Before Luna had finished donning the suit, Georgia called her over and held out a zip-up sweatshirt. “You should wear this. It might be cold up there.”

  Luna looked to her mother for guidance. Kay nodded.

  “Can we hurry this up?” Pete said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before the day is over.”

  Once Luna had finished putting on the suit, Kay approached her and applied the duct tape. Her daughter’s face was wide-eyed, almost moonlike. She was in shock. She did not, however, look like she was about to break down and cry again, which was a good sign. There was no telling how Pete would respond if Luna got emotional.

  Kay embraced Luna as hard as she dared. “I love you so much, Luna. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner, but you took care of yourself. I couldn’t be prouder.”

  “Come on!” Pete said, annoyed.

  With an arm around her daughter’s shoulders, Kay led Luna out from the room. Luna paused to wave goodbye to Georgia, who feebly smiled in return, and then Susanna followed them out.

  “What about Nigel?” Kay asked.

  “Nigel stays,” Pete answered. “And good riddance.”

  _____

  They walked in silence up the stairs and then back to the front of the school. Kay’s heart was a tumult of conflicting emotions. She felt tremendously relieved to have found her daughter, but she also dreaded what would happen as soon as they found a place to take shelter for the night. Pete would have...expectations. As confident as she was that she and Susanna could overpower him together, it was not likely he would put himself into a situation where that could happen. He was cunning, and even though he could be profoundly naive at times, Kay didn’t think for a second that he believed they wanted to be with him.

  “Are we going to find Daddy?” Luna asked.

  “Soon,” Kay answered. “Soon, sweetheart.”

  “Are we going on another trip with Daddy?”

  “Yes. Another trip. Just like that.”

  “Pete!” Nigel’s voice resounded down the long hallway, dimmed by the rain.

  Pete pointed the flashlight behind them. “Well,” he said, “it looks like Blackie wants back into the club. It’s a little late for that, though. We really don’t need you.”

  “Are you sure?” Nigel asked, stepping closer. Kay, Luna, and Susanna pressed their backs against a row of lockers. Kay felt as if she were about to witness a shootout in a spaghetti western. She noticed that Nigel kept his right hand hidden behind his suit.

  “I could be helpful,” Nigel continued as he moved closer. “Think of all the work you’ll need to do: finding a new place to live, decontaminating it as best you can, hunting for supplies, maybe even fighting off other survivors.”

  “There aren’t other survivors,” Pete said flatly.

  “Okay. Maybe not. All the more reason why we should stick together.”

  “You didn’t seem to have any problem leaving the teacher behind.”

  Nigel nodded, considering. “Yes, well, she wasn’t going to make it. She would have only slowed us down—just like Al. That’s why you got rid of Al, isn’t it?”

  Pete stared at him, his face unreadable above the flashlight.

  “I’m not blaming you,” Nigel added. He was now close enough to reach out and touch Kay. “I’m applauding you, actually. You did what had to be done. Not everyone has the stomach for that.”

  “No closer,” Pete warned, leveling the revolver.

  Nigel stopped. “Okay. No problem. I’m just trying to say that it’s important to be ready for whatever might happen, because we all know anything could happen, especially now. But it’s important not to waste the opportunities we get.”

  Pete did not answer. For a moment, Kay shar
ed his confusion. Then she saw the object in Nigel’s right hand and understood he was speaking directly to her, preparing her for what was about to happen. She began edging away from Pete and Nigel, pulling Luna with her. She tugged at Susanna’s arm, but Susanna only stared at her, uncomprehending.

  Pete aimed the revolver at Nigel’s chest. “You’re a talker, alright, but I see the angle you’re pushing. You want in on the action. As soon as I turn my back, you’ll be at my throat, happy to kill me and take my place.” He grunted. “Well, not today.”

  “There’s something else,” Nigel added quickly. “Something Georgia said. The walk-in refrigerator here is loaded with food, enough to last a small group a long time. They took some fruit and juice packs, sure, but the rest - the meats, the vegetables, the canned and dried goods - it’s all still there. Shame to let it go to waste.”