The machine had been covered with a plastic tarp but it hadn’t prevented dirt from getting into the mechanics. He was hoping that a good cleaning would be enough to get the machine up and running.
Beneath the shade of the tree he had spread out a drop cloth and laid out the various parts of the ATV engine. He had taken a couple toothbrushes from the supply cabinets in the lodge and had gotten to work on cleaning the parts to the sound of the others sawing the lumber nearby.
By the look of things, the engine hadn’t been run in a couple years but most of the parts were in good shape. There were a few bits that were rusted out but he’d already found an old lawnmower in the pumphouse that had parts he could jerry rig.
The pumphouse had been a treasure trove of strange things. The pump to the well took up a good piece of the square building but whoever designed it had maximized the space. Deep shelves lined all the walls, stocked with all sorts of tools and building materials. Lumber and plywood was stored up on the open rafters beneath the pitched roof. There were a couple gas-powered generators, stacks of car batteries and a bunch of things that looked like they were spare parts for the solar panels.
He’d barely made it through looking at a quarter of the stuff when they’d found the ATV out back he’d been recruited to get it up and running.
“You need some help?”
He looked up to see Mendez leaning against the corner of the pumphouse. “Sure, but gotta warn ya, ain’t exactly stimulatin’ work.”
She pushed off the corner and walked over to the sheet. “Better than gardening and they’ve got too many hands working on the platform.”
“Ya can start cleaning the pistons,” he said. “It’s the one by--”
Before he could finish she was squatting down to pick one up.
“Good eye,” he said.
“My papa and three older brothers were mechanics. There was always at least one car or bike being rebuilt in our garage. They had me on flashlight duty by the time I was old enough to stand and I learned watching them.”
“Well, then pull on up,” he said, tossing her a toothbrush after she sat down.
“Were you a mechanic before?” she asked.
“Yeah, worked at a shop. Mostly oil changes and busted transmissions,” he said.
She nodded and then slipped into silence as she focused on cleaning and he was surprised to find himself feeling edgy.
Once upon a time he preferred silence but he had gotten used to being around Veronica and the girls who talked up a storm. Their days in the car had always been filled with the three of them chatting away and playing games. Hell, he’d gotten into it himself, telling them about his favourite movies. Silence felt weird to him now, which was a bit of a change.
“So, what do ya think of this place?” he asked her, lifting an arm to gesture to the island around them.
“Better than I thought it would be,” she said. “I figured it would be like our base back in Ohio. We’d all be crammed in barracks, spending our time running around doing the bidding of superior officers.”
“I expected all of us to get locked up in some quarantine by guys in those white spacesuit things from E.T.”
She laughed at that. “Yours is much more depressing than mine. At least we were both wrong.”
“Yeah, not so sure the kids woulda been happy with either scenario.”
She paused her scrubbing and looked up at him. “I’ve been meaning to ask, and if it isn’t my business, just tell me and I won’t take offence, but Audrey and Hannah call you and Veronica by your first names, so you aren’t their parents. Are you related to them?”
“Nobody told ya that story?” he asked, surprised that she hadn’t heard it at some point after they joined the group.
“I didn’t feel right asking other people about it,” she explained. “It felt too much like gossiping and I’m not much for gossip.”
He had to agree with her on that. Gossip was for people who used other people’s misery to feel better about their own shitty lives.
“Me and the girls were neighbours in the same trailer park. Eventually freaks showed up there and everybody was tryin’ to get out. Their pops got hit by a truck and the freaks got their mama. Didn’t feel right to leave ‘em on their own so I got ‘em outta the park. We tried to make it to one of those evacuation centres but it was overrun. They didn’t have any family here, just an aunt out in California, so decided we’d stick together and head to the ocean.”
“Those girls were damn lucky to have you.”
He shook his head, uncomfortable with the praise. “Ain’t nobody who’d leave a coupla little girls to fend for ‘emselves. I just did what anybody woulda done.”
“No, you didn’t, trust me,” she said, her smile gone and her eyes darkening. “I saw adults pushing children into the freaks to save themselves. I saw people knock over a woman holding a newborn and trample them both to death. Chaos doesn’t bring out the good in most people.”
He could see how much those memories troubled Mendez and he couldn’t blame her. He considered himself lucky that he hadn’t seen anything like that. He couldn’t imagine closing his eyes and seeing that shit play out over and over again on the back of his eyelids.
“I’m sorry ya had to go through that,” he told her.
“Yeah, well, can’t feel too sorry for myself,” she said, starting to scrub again. “So, was Veronica at the trailer park too?”
He chuckled. “Nah, we ran into her on the road. She tried to steal our van. Snuck up when we were stopped and put a shotgun to my head.”
Mendez looked up, her dark eyes wide with surprise. “Veronica did that? The sweet woman who’s always smiling and clucking over those girls?”
He smiled. “She can get the job done when she needs to.”
“I’m surprised that you’d forgive her for something like that,” Mendez said. “You don’t strike me as the kind of guy to let a gun to the temple go.”
“I tried to leave her behind after I got the gun away from her but the girls felt bad for her. Truth is, I felt bad for her too. She said she was lookin’ for her brother and sister and when we left her, she looked like a lost little girl.”
“So you saved her,” Mendez said and the teasing tone of her voice had his head jerking up. She was smirking at him, one eyebrow raised like she was waiting for him to say something.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked in a gruff voice, feeling the hair on his neck stand up and he realized that maybe it would have been better to just ignore her.
“Oh, nothing, just that it explains why she’s stuck close to you,” she told him, that smirk still on her face. “You were the hero who saved her. Hard for a girl not to fall in love with that.”
He silently cursed to himself as he felt heat climb up his neck to his face. “She ain’t in love with me.”
Mendez pressed her lips together and he could tell it was to stop herself from smiling.
“She ain’t,” he repeated. “She loves those girls, not me. Both of us promised them that we’d take care of ‘em. She’s just keepin’ that promise.”
“So you two aren’t involved?” He shook his head and she smiled. “Interesting.”
The way she was eyeing him had his stomach sinking. Oh hell no. He knew that look. He remembered it from the times the boys he worked with at the shop would bug him to go out for a drink with them after work and he’d agree just to shut them up. There would always be some woman who’d had one too many drinks and look at him like that. She’d slink over and start her attempt at seducing him. There were a few times he’d let it work and taken them home but most of the time he’d ignored them.
He didn’t want the drama or the mess that came with hooking up with someone in a small town, especially if she thought it meant the start of some relationship. You’d always end up seeing them at the grocery store or the drug store and things got awkward.
Now he was living on an island with a total population of twenty two.
It didn’t get much smaller than that. Hook ups weren’t going to fly here. But how did he let Mendez down so there wouldn’t be any bad blood?
“Do you know if Veronica is involved with anyone else?” she asked.
He stared at her, totally thrown by that question. “Don’t think so.”
Mendez pursed her lips and nodded. “Do you know if she was involved with anyone before all this started?”
“Uh...she mentioned an ex-boyfriend a few times,” he said, thinking back over the conversations they’d had in the car. “They broke up a while ‘fore all this shit started.”
Mendez frowned. “She ever mention a girlfriend?”
Everything clicked into place with that question. Thank God he hadn’t blurted out some pre-emptive rejection. That would have been humiliating.
“Nah, she ain’t ever mentioned a girlfriend,” he told her. “Not sayin’ she ain’t into that but she never said anythin’ ‘bout it.”
“It was a long shot anyway, you usually get a vibe,” Mendez said. “I just think she’s hot.”
The burning was back in his face and he ducked his head, focusing back on his brush. Stupid to be wasting their time going on about this shit. They had a job to do.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to say anything,” Mendez said, her voice cheery. “I’ve already caught you checking out her ass so I know you think the same.”
His head shot up and he glared at her. Who the hell did she think she was? She started laughing, not at all intimidated by the burning look in his eyes.
“Oh relax, I’m just teasing you. I wouldn’t say anything.” He gave her a measured look and realized that she meant it. She was just having fun with him and didn’t mean anything by it. “Besides, it’s a nice ass, I’m pretty sure everybody has checked it out.”
He actually laughed at that. “Ya best not let her brother hear ya say that. He’s appointed himself protector of his sister’s virtue.”
“I take it you’ve tangled with him about this before.”
It felt like their fight at the church had been a lifetime ago, not just a little over a week. It amazed him that he’d not only been able to forgive but forget too. He was proud of himself for that. Letting go had always been difficult in the past. Guess he was growing as a person.
“Full disclosure, I’m a recoverin’ addict and I did time in prison for armed robbery and attempted murder. Been sober ten years and outta prison two years. Quinton didn’t quite trust me at first but we worked it out.”
Her eyes were unreadable as she stared at him. He realized that he didn’t feel the same fear now that he had when the others had found out. It didn’t matter if the truth changed her opinion of him. He’d lost that insecurity on the road when he’d earned the acceptance of the others. He’d proved to them he was someone useful, someone they could depend on and if Mendez didn’t think so, well, there would be plenty of time to prove her wrong.
His newfound confidence had him looking her straight in the eyes and daring her to say something.
“Good on you for getting sober,” she said, a sad smile touching her lips. “My older brother Raul was an alcoholic and we tried to get him help but he wouldn’t stick with it. He died when he was driving home from the bar and wrapped his truck around a telephone pole.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” she said and then shook her head. “You know what, we should probably change the subject, get away from this depressing shit. So, now that the world has ended--”
“Not so sure that’s not depressing shit,” he quipped and she laughed.
“Trust me, I’m getting to the fun part. Now, at this point the world is our oyster. No cops, no money, we can take whatever we want. So, if you could go out there and find your dream car, what would it be?”
Now this he could get into.
“Ferrari Spyder,” he told her and she laughed, “And not just any of ‘em. I want the one that they used in Ferris Bueller.”
“Seriously?”
He shrugged his shoulder and smiled. “It’s a great movie.”
“I wouldn’t peg you as a John Hughes fan,” Mendez said.
“Pretty sure everybody is a John Hughes fan. I mean, Breakfast Club, John Bender?” He deepened his voice in his best Judd Hirsch impression. “No, Dad, what about you?”
That sent Mendez into a fit of laughter and he joined her.
“Excuse me.”
He turned at the tentative voice and found Audrey standing behind him, watching the two of them with a confused look. “Ya alright?”
Her eyes lingered on Mendez for a moment before she spoke. “Elaine asked me to get some wood stakes for the tomatoes. She said they were in the pumphouse but I can’t find them.”
“Think I saw what ya need on one of the shelves,” he said, pushing himself to the feet. “I’ll help ya.”
She glanced at Mendez again and then followed him around to the front of the pumphouse. He hadn’t even noticed that the sound of the power tools had stopped until he saw the abandoned saw on the ground next to the sawhorse. The others must have finished cutting the lumber and taken it out to the point. He and Mendez were going to have to focus on their work instead of chatting if they were going to get that ATV to be of any use.
When they went inside he pulled on the chain of the bare light bulb that hung from the ceiling and lit up the dim room. He moved to the back shelves where he was sure he had spotted what Audrey was searching for and sure enough there they were on the top of the shelf. No wonder the girl hadn’t found them, they were well out of her eye line.
“What were you two talking about?” Audrey asked him.
“Movies and cars,” he said as he stretched up to grab the stakes. “Just shootin’ the shit.”
“Why are you shootin’ the shit with her?”
The undertone of anger was clear in her words and he turned to look at her with a frown. “What’s wrong with Mendez? Ya don’t like her?”
She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, her eyes hidden beneath the brim of her cap. Something was going on with her and a sinking feeling started in the pit of his stomach.
“Did she do somethin’ to ya, Audrey?”
She shook her head. “No, she didn’t do anything to me. Mendez is nice and everything, it’s just you usually hang out with Veronica. Are you mad at her or something?”
He let out a sigh of relief, his stomach righting itself. It made sense the girl would be afraid that he wasn’t around Veronica.
Out on the road, they’d been together almost 24/7 by necessity. Now that they were here, they had the opportunity to be apart. She had been upset yesterday at the possibility of Veronica staying in a separate cabin. With her abandonment issues, made sense she was extra sensitive to the idea of him and Veronica spending time apart.
“I ain’t mad at anybody. Veronica’s on watch and I gotta fix that ATV out there. Mendez is helpin’ ‘cause she knows stuff about engines.”
“Oh,” the girl said and he turned back to grab the last of the stakes from the shelf.
“Here,” he said and handed her the stakes. “Be careful with these, don’t run with ‘em. Don’t want ya trippin’ and ended up on the sharp end of one of ‘em. And don’t worry ‘bout me bein’ mad at anybody, okay? I ain’t. Me and Veronica are friends.”
Audrey nodded but her eyes were still troubled as she looked up at him. “You and Veronica are friends?”
“Yep and we always will be so ya don’t hafta worry,” he said, reaching up to give a gentle tug to her ponytail. “‘Fraid yer stuck with us.”
She smiled at him but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I better get back.”
Before he could say anything she was walking out of the pumphouse and by the time he had turned off the light and shut the door, she was already disappearing between the trees as she headed back to the garden.
He thought about following her, bugging at her until she told him exactly what was bothering her but he kne
w that wouldn’t work. In a lot of ways Audrey was like him. If someone tried to badger the truth out of him when he wasn’t ready to share, he’d shut down even more. He’d learned that it was the same with Audrey. She would only speak on it when she was ready and not a minute before.
He’d keep an eye on her though, make sure whatever was going on wasn’t hurting her. Like he told Mendez, he’d promised to look after those girls and that was a promise he didn’t intend to break.
Subject File # 749
Administrator: Do you think about a future with Quinton?
Subject: No, but that’s a good thing. Everything is always about the future. We spend most of our time worrying about what’s coming. When I’m with him, all of that stuff just goes away. I can be in the moment with him.
“Are you sure you have to?”
Mark eyed the needle on the blood vial that Quinton had unwrapped from its sterile packaging.
“Afraid so,” Quinton replied, tying a thin rubber tube around his arm, “But after I’m done you can get a bandaid that matches your brother’s.”
Mark looked over at Matthew, who held up his arm to show him the camouflage patterned bandaid that was stuck to the crook of his elbow.
“It doesn’t hurt that bad,” Matthew reassured his brother. Mark swallowed sharply before he pursed his lips and nodded at Quinton.
“Okay, you can do it.”
Janet was proud of him. He hated needles but now he sat there, determined to grit his way through it. It had probably helped that Ruthie and Matthew had already gone through their blood draws and were fine.
“Make a tough guy fist for me,” Quinton told him, demonstrating with his own hand and Mark mirrored him, clenching his fist tight. Quinton rubbed Mark’s skin with an alcohol swab and tapped at the veins in the crook of his elbow.
“Okay, take a deep breath,” Quinton told him and Janet watched as Mark did as he was asked and squeezed his eyes shut.
Sanctuary Page 41
