by Connor Mccoy
Domino smiled. “A little camping out for Zell and Evander?”
“It’s only logical. What if tomorrow someone else shows up bleeding all over the place? I only have so much room in this tiny little house, don’t I? Besides, it’ll be easier to protect you inside the house in case…” Doc Sam huffed. “…well, in case something goes wrong.”
“I know. I’ll be sure to tell Brandon and Jubilee before they get too settled into the tent.”
She spun around—and nearly stepped right into Brandon.
“Brandon! My God!” Domino retreated backward and nearly hit Doc Sam. Her son had opened the bedroom door and she had not even heard it.
“Mom!” Brandon took a moment to catch his breath. “I was looking all around the house and outside for you. Evander, he dropped something.” He pulled out the vial and showed it to the two adults. “This.”
Doc Sam took it. “I don’t think I need to test this to know what it is.” His eyes locked with Domino’s. “I think we’d better show our guests out, and quickly.”
Domino approached the treatment room, keeping her footsteps as quiet as possible. Knowing that these two were druggies set her on full alert. As she stopped short of the door, she heard humming. It sounded like a song, but she couldn’t quite get the name of it.
As she peeked into the doorway, she was surprised to see it was not Evander, but Zell, now awake, humming the tune. Evander was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, lady.”
Domino spun around, her hand flying to the gun on her belt. Evander was there, smiling goofily, holding up his hand. “Had to take a whiz.” He giggled. “Just opened the door and let ‘er fly.”
Domino backed up against the wall, allowing Evander to pass through the door to return to Zell. “Right,” she said, “I just wanted to let you know that we’ve set up a tent outside for you. The doctor says he expects more patients showing up soon and since Zell’s awake, he thinks you two are safe to stay in the…” She fished for the right word. “…recovery tent.”
“Recovery tent?” Evander shrugged. “Well, fine, I guess so.”
“Great.” Domino did her best to put on a smile. “I’ll help the doctor get it ready before the sun sets. You just let us know if you need anything.”
“Sure,” Evander said.
“Hey.” Now it was Zell who finally spoke up. The voice, with its dry, gurgling tone, chilled Domino to the bone. “Thanks.” He smiled, showing off a mouth missing half of its teeth.
“You’re welcome.” Domino smiled at him before she turned to leave.
As she walked off, she heard Zell’s humming again. It drove Domino mad. She had heard that song before on the radio.
Finally, while she pushed open the house’s front door to step outside, she remembered the song. “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” she whispered.
Chapter Nine
“Baby, you’re pushing yourself too hard.” Domino wrapped her arm around Jubilee to stabilize her. “You need to rest.”
“I’m…okay…” Jubilee’s legs, however, told a different story. They still were wobbling. They nearly caused her to trip and fall flat on her face if Brandon had not caught her. She had been on her feet for much of the afternoon and into the early evening. But as night fell, she suddenly grew weaker and nearly tripped onto the living room floor.
“C’mon, sit here.” Domino, along with Brandon, helped Jubilee onto the sofa. “Relax. You’re pushing yourself too hard. Thank God we decided to move those two men into the tent instead of us. I think this might have been too sudden for you.”
“Maybe it’s a good thing.” Jubilee smiled. “Maybe we can do our camping tomorrow, and then Dad will be here.”
Domino nodded. “Maybe so.” She hoped Jacob would be back soon. His continued absence worried her to the point where it started to make her a little sick to her stomach, in spite of Doc Sam’s assurances that two days still was a reasonable amount of time for him to be gone.
Speaking of Doc Sam, their host strolled up to them with a big smile. “Well, now that we have cleansed the house of possible unsavory influences.” He paused to chuckle. “Perhaps it’s time we enjoy ourselves.” Turning to Jubilee, he said, “It’s natural to feel weak when it’s nighttime, so perhaps you shouldn’t walk unless you have to. Say, how about you use my shower? I think you’d feel better after you cleaned up.”
“But I thought the water doesn’t work anymore,” Jubilee said.
“Not the town’s water, but I did build my own pumping system that runs into my home from a well outside. It should be enough for a short bath.” Glancing at Domino, Doc Sam added, “You may have to give her a hand. I worry about leaving her alone amid a slippery surface in her condition.”
“Absolutely,” Domino said.
Doc Sam clapped his hands together. “And while you’re doing that, I’m going to borrow your son to help me cook dinner.”
Evander scratched the back of his head. The tent was comfortable enough. The doc, that woman Domino, and that other girl Janice had set up a flat plastic tarp for a floor, blankets to sleep under, and water and food rations. In all, this was a much better fate than dragging their wounded asses down the road under the hot sun, looking for aid.
So why didn’t Evander like it? His legs told the tale. He was too anxious. His limbs twitched. His old house was a “shotgun” house, a residence where he could walk straight from the back door through each room all the way to the front door without making a turn.
He rubbed his nose. The meth had made his anxiety worse. Ingesting the stuff was nirvana for late night parties. He could go from sundown to sunup without keeling over. He used to say noon was his nighttime. He would sleep all the way to seven in the evening. It wasn’t a bad way to live. He never even learned that he had been fired from his job until two weeks afterward.
The big bummer was a day later when the police showed up, raided his house and slapped cuffs on him. As it turned out, possessing crystal meth was a crime. Hey, when Zell had offered some of it to him as a favor, who was Evander to complain?
Damn Middleburg police. Well, I’m never going back there.
“Hey,” Zell said, “settle down. Your pacing is driving me up the friggin’ wall.”
Zell was reclining on the ground, covered to his upper shoulders with a blue blanket. His eyes, though half closed, conveyed a lot of annoyance. Evander scowled. He was fond of Zell for providing him with the meth but did not like how his older cousin looked at him. He thinks I’m a dumbass, Evander thought. He’s always looking down on me. Still, he was family, but more important, Zell was useful. Evander needed Zell’s brains if they were going to survive whatever the hell was going on.
Evander’s thoughts turned to more pleasant matters. “Say, you think that Domino chick was pretty hot?”
Zell cleared his throat. “A little too skinny. And I don’t like how she looks at us.”
Evander chuckled. “Well, I think we could fix that.” He winked. “You know…”
“She’s always wearing that gun, you idiot. And that knife she’s got could gut you like a fish. Forget about her. You’re not getting anywhere with her.”
Evander chortled. “Maybe not. But you know, everything gone under and all, we could do anything we want. Anything—”
Zell sat up. The sound of crunching soil outside drew Evander and Zell’s attention to the right side of the tent. A dark shadow was approaching. It was too tall and muscular to be either Domino or Janice.
“Doc?” Evander asked, “Hey, is that you?”
Suddenly, a large hand pulled open the tent flap. Evander tripped and fell on his back. The rest of the man quickly emerged. The Lutz cousins yelped.
“Holy shit!” Evander cried.
The man stood to full height, nearly bumping his head against the ceiling of the tent. “Well, look at what I found.” The invader held a gun in his hand.
Of all the people in the world to run into, Evander hoped they never would encounter this man
again. His tall frame, steely eyes and leathery tanned skin would cut an intimidating figure for anyone who ran into him, but this newcomer held special terror for the Lutz cousins.
“Diablo!” Evander laughed. “Hey, nice seeing you again, man. How’s it going? I hope you didn’t, you know, take that whole thing too personally, with me clobbering you over the head…”
“Diablo” aimed his gun at Evander. Evander raised his hands. “I guess you did!” he said with a laugh. “So, how’d you find us?”
“The people around here talked about finding two guys barely alive off the road. From the sound of it, I guessed it was you two shitheads,” Diablo answered. “I came here for some water, but it looks like I get to finish you two off. It’s definitely my night.”
“Whoa, hold on!” Evander laughed, though he sounded like he was sobbing a little, too. “I mean, why kill us now? We’re not going back to Middleburg! You want us gone, we’re gone. I mean, it’s a waste of bullets, isn’t it?”
“Oh this is personal now.” Diablo turned his head a little, exposing a black and blue bruise on the side of his face. “Don’t think I’m going to let you dogshits off the hook now.”
Zell sat up a little straighter. When he spoke, he did not sound as intimidated as Evander. “Hold the hell up. You hit us first. You tried to kill us.” Zell bared his remaining teeth. “We did what you said! We got those supplies! We got them and then you pulled the gun on us!”
“Just doing what has to be done. The world doesn’t need a couple of retards like you any longer. The boss may have sprung you two from jail, but that was only to borrow your muscles for a short time. A bunch of druggies weren’t going to amount to anything in the new world,” Diablo responded coolly. “Besides, we lost most of those supplies in the river when we were fighting. The boss man isn’t going to like it if I come back empty handed, so that’s another reason I’m going to do you two in.”
“Wait!” Evander struggled to spit out the words amid his hyperventilating. “Wait! Okay, I get that you’re pissed. What if you got new supplies? I mean, medical supplies. The doctor in that house, he patched up Zell even after you shot him! The boss would like it if you came back with that, wouldn’t he?”
Diablo raised his chin. “Medical supplies? Go on, I’m listening.”
“Yeah. Zell and I saw them.” Evander jabbed his fingers repeatedly in the direction of Doc Sam’s house. “We can carry a lot out of there in bags. You could get back to Middleburg with them. I know you can! All you got to do is promise not to kill us! We help you, you don’t kill us.”
“Is that all you got to offer? Is this doctor armed? Is he guarded?” Diablo asked.
“There’s just this woman and her kids,” Evander replied, “But she’s got a gun, too.”
“Sorry, buddy. I’m all for ransacking for medical supplies, but not if a bitch is shooting back at me,” Diablo said.
“We can get you in there.” Zell cleared his throat. “I know how. You promise to let us go after this, and we’ll make it worth your while.”
For the first time since his visit here, Diablo cracked a smile. “This I gotta hear.”
Jubilee licked her lips. “This was great.” She set down her spoon in the bowl for the final time. She had scooped practically every last bit of chowder out of the dish.
Doc Sam, his arms folded behind his back, smiled. “I think someone may be ready for solid food soon.” He laughed. “I didn’t want to stuff you full of cooked lamb. But it is wonderful that you have a healthy appetite.”
Brandon took the dish from Jubilee and set it on the TV tray, then slid the tray away from her bed. Domino, standing over the teen, asked, “You want anything more to eat? Or water, anything to drink?”
Jubilee looked at the empty dish on the tray, sitting next to a smaller bowl devoid of anything but a little orange film. The teen had dined well tonight on fruits and corn chowder. “I’m okay.” She squirmed a little. “I wish I could watch TV.” She chuckled. “I guess I can’t do that anymore.”
“I’m afraid the world of imagination is confined to the printed page for now.” Doc Sam scratched his chin. “But I do have some books. Perhaps you’d care to lose yourself in a nice story. It’ll take your mind off the pain.”
Jubilee nodded. “Thanks.”
“I can’t guarantee that I’ll have anything from, oh, the past twenty years.” Doc Sam looked to the doorway leading to the living room. “I suppose it’s the curse of not having had children.”
“It’s okay,” Jubilee said. “I think I’ll read a phone book. It might even bore me to sleep.”
Brandon yawned. Domino took hold of the tray. “Here, I’ll take care of this. You should get ready for bed. You’ve done a lot today.”
After Brandon left the room, Domino let out a long breath. “Thank God. I know I’ll be able to sleep well tonight.”
“I imagine knowing your daughter is going to be fine is a good reason why,” Doc Sam said as Domino picked up the tray and carried it out of the room.
Domino held her tongue until she crossed the door threshold and made it deep enough into the living room to talk without Jubilee picking up on their conversation. “I’m thrilled to see Jubilee doing better, but I’m also glad we moved our two patients outside so we still could sleep in the house.” She tilted her head toward the front door. “They didn’t put up a big fight about it, thank God.”
“I think telling them that I would have new patients coming helped prevent any suspicions on their part,” Doc Sam said. “Besides, it was the truth. I have no doubt that many more people will be paying me a visit in the days to come.”
Domino shook her head. “I hope you’re going to be able to handle it. I know you’ve got some help, but you still live here all alone.” Her face burned. “It’s not going to be easy leaving you here knowing that no one’s around.”
“I appreciate you worrying over me. Actually, I must confess I’ve rarely heard anyone be so concerned for my well-being.” He gazed around his living room. “I’ve never had a family. I’ve spent years in the company of friends or colleagues, but one by one they’ve departed my life, mostly due to distance or death. The people I know now are mostly younger than me, except for Moses. I’ve been trying to pass on what I know to them before it’s time to cash in my own chips.”
Domino chuckled. “Which won’t be for a long time.”
Doc Sam chuckled with her. “Hey, you’re probably right.” Then he sighed. “Still, I sometimes wonder what I’ve given up. I could have had a much different life.” Sam glanced through the open doorway at the reclining Jubilee. “But not everyone is cut out for a family, I suppose. But it is nice to have a taste of it.”
He straightened up. “Well, enough of that. Let’s go find your daughter some appropriate reading material.” He turned toward the rear of his living room, to a small shelf that contained several old books. One of them caught his eye. “Ah!” He pulled it loose. “The Moffats, by Eleanor Estes.” The book was old, with a worn brown cover. “Should be a lot more delightful than reading the phone book at least.”
Domino took the book. “Thanks.”
“No problem. In fact, if she wishes, she can keep it.”
Domino grimaced. “Doctor, you don’t have to.”
“It’s fine. In fact, I think I’d be happier passing it along to a youngster.”
Domino hugged the book against her chest. “You’ve done so much for us. I don’t have words to express how grateful we are. If you need anything else, anything at all—”
Doc Sam shook his head. “What I’ve asked of your husband is perfectly fine. I won’t ask anything more.” His face grew a little more solemn. “I think your daughter is waiting.”
“Of course.” Domino, with a last smile, turned and hurried back to the guest room where Jubilee laid.
Domino laid in bed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. She couldn’t sleep. She wanted to. Hell, with all the good things that had happened today, she ought to be
snoozing peacefully.
Maybe it was because the space beside her lay empty.
She slept easier last night because she had been exhausted from caring for Jubilee, taking down that armed thief, and still feeling burdened from adjusting to the post-EMP world. But now that she felt comfortable again, her mind raced with the one missing piece in her life.
Jay, are you alright?
Doc Sam was correct that Jacob might be fine out there. A day’s delay might mean nothing. Without a vehicle to drive, something as ordinary as a rainstorm could have hindered Jacob from traveling.
What are you doing right now, Jay? Did you make camp? Are you sleeping in a tent in the woods? Or are you in Middleburg in Doctor Nguyen’s home?
She shifted on her side. I hope you’re sleeping better than I am, Jay.
Chapter Ten
Jacob huffed. His stomach felt tight. He was sure he was far more exhausted, but he had managed to disconnect much of the feeling from his body. He had entered a mental state that he only could describe as being on autopilot. He didn’t exert any effort or thought. His body just pedaled and pedaled as if it was a machine.
Perhaps he knew that if he stopped, he feared he could not start up again for a long while. He had foregone rest and food to push himself this far. He was close to Trapp, too close to stop.
However, it was more than simple longing for his family. Feelings of foreboding came over him. He feared for his family. He felt Domino and his children were in trouble or were about to be.
His first inklings came when the sun was setting. As the sun hit the horizon, it turned the clouds a blood red color that shook his nerves. It reminded him of a nightmare he had had the night before he embarked on his trip to Middleburg. He had dreamed that he was just outside his home. He spotted spots of blood on the grass, a trail that he followed to his wounded daughter. In the sky, terrifying giants formed out of the cloud cover. They were like fearsome angels or gods. Jacob didn’t know what they wanted. Perhaps they were judging the world, or maybe Jacob’s own failure to protect his daughter.
