Until... | Book 3 | Until The End

by Hamill, Ike

  Ricky glanced around the kitchen before he asked, “Did your cousin live here long?”

  Amber followed his gaze and saw the kitchen with fresh eyes. The walls were bare. There was hardly any color in the room. It was just appliances and cabinets, almost like nobody lived there.

  “Evelyn was blind and she hated dusting, so she refused to put anything on the walls.”

  “I wasn’t…”

  “But to answer your question, yes. She and her husband bought this house in the sixties.”

  “It’s lovely,” Alan said. “Perfectly maintained.”

  Amber laughed. “Nice of you to say.”

  “Is this your first time in North Carolina, Joe?” Ricky asked.

  Joe was staring at his phone. He shook his head without looking up until his father kicked him under the table. After that, Joe put his phone away and said, “Nope. I was here when I was two.”

  “You weren’t two,” Liz said. “I think you were… Nine?”

  “Two,” Joe said. “They claim that I went all around the world when I was too young to remember.”

  “This is my first time in North Carolina. It’s a nice break from the snow back home,” Ricky said. “I haven’t left Maine very much, not even when I was two.”

  “How do you like it so far?” Amber asked. She brought mugs to the table and then got the cream from the refrigerator.

  “If this as bad as the winter gets,” Ricky said, “I might consider moving down this way.”

  “You would regret it in a couple of months,” Amber said. “It’s pretty hot and sticky. The Maine summer was wonderful in comparison.”

  “I don’t know,” Ricky said. “It gets pretty hot up our way too.”

  Amber laughed at him. “My uncle’s idea of air conditioning was a seventy-year-old fan he put in the window. I don’t think you know what hot is.”

  Ricky blushed. “You’re probably right.”

  Amber poured coffee. Joe only wanted half a cup and then added so much cream and sugar that it was almost white. His hands fidgeted without his phone to occupy them.

  Nobody said anything for a couple of minutes.

  Amber opened her mouth to tell Ricky that she was through with his book and then she stopped herself. She didn’t want to bring up the subject in front of Joe. There was no telling how much his parents had said to him.

  Alan broke the silence. “I should go check in at the hotel. Joe, you want to come with me?”

  “Yes,” Joe said. He was up and out of his chair before he even finished answering.

  Alan smiled. “You need anything while we’re out?”

  Amber shook her head. “I can’t think of anything.”

  “You mind if we stay?” Liz asked, pointing to herself and Ricky.

  “No, of course,” Amber said.

  “Good. We’ll figure out something to get for takeout, if that’s okay. Honey, I’ll message you where and you can pick it up on your way back over here.”

  “Got it,” Alan said. He ushered his son towards the door.

  Amber relaxed a little in her chair. It was nice to have someone else taking charge. She had been managing all the details of everything for several days.

  “Do you have a handle on all the bills, Amber?” Liz asked as Alan and Joe left.

  “Financially?” Amber asked.

  “Or otherwise,” Liz said. “Sometimes people get lost just trying to figure out what’s due when. It can be such a mess to transition all that stuff in the…”

  “I’m fine,” Amber said, waving her hand. “My cousin was blind, so she had her bank paying most of the bills. When I contacted her lawyer he told me that she had an account that would still have funds until everything is settled. It should be all good.”

  “She was a planner, as you said.”

  “Right,” Amber said.

  There were long gaps in the conversation.

  “And you trust the lawyer? Do you want me to vet him through my contacts?”

  “I’ll give you the name, but I think he’s trustworthy. He has been around a long time. If you find any red flags, I’d like to know, but I don’t think you will.”

  “Fair enough,” Liz said.

  Amber sighed. She appreciated the company, but at the same time hoped that they wouldn’t stay long. Looking at the clock, she tried to estimate how much time it would take for Alan to get to the hotel, check in, and then make it back.

  “Oh, takeout,” Amber said. “Be right back.” In her bedroom, she had a stash of menus. Evelyn hated anything that wasn’t home cooked, but sometimes Amber got her own food delivered. She brought the menus back and splayed them out. “There’s pizza and Chinese.”

  “Anything more local?” Ricky asked. “Is there food particular to the area?”

  “There is one place that does barbecue and salad. It might sound strange, but it’s a good combination.”

  Liz took the menu when Amber found it in the pile. Based on Amber’s recommendation, she wrote down what they wanted and got up to place the order and call Alan. When she returned, Amber and Ricky had barely spoken.

  Amber realized that she had nearly missed her chance.

  “Oh, the book.”

  When she came back with it, Ricky waved his hand.

  “That’s okay. I don’t need it back.”

  “I don’t want it,” Amber said.

  “Oh. Okay.” Ricky took it. Amber had put it back in the mailing envelope. He set it on the floor, leaning against his chair leg. “Did you read the part that I marked?“

  Amber nodded. “It was interesting. Listen, Ricky…”

  “No, I understand that you don’t want to be involved.”

  Ricky blushed again, looking into his coffee mug instead of meeting her eyes.

  “What am I missing?” Liz asked.

  “Ricky has been researching the things that attacked us in the hotel.”

  “Trying to,” Ricky said.

  “And he thinks maybe he found the origin of the things. It’s an account from a hundred years ago.”

  “A biologist who lived a bit north of us,” Ricky said. “He found and catalogued these salamanders that seem to have something in common with the things that came after us.”

  Liz’s forehead wrinkled as she looked back and forth between them.

  “Salamanders?”

  “He thought that maybe the characteristics of the things were contagious in a way,” Amber said.

  “Ricky did? Or the biologist did?”

  “Both,” Ricky said.

  “Maybe,” Amber said.

  “I was just thinking that maybe if we understood the origin better, we could start to answer some questions,” Ricky said.

  “Such as?” Liz asked.

  “Like, is this phenomenon new? Why did they attack us? Should we be concerned that they’ll infect the whole world?” Ricky listed.

  Liz nodded.

  “And I also found someone else who survived an encounter. I asked Amber if she would come interview him with me.”

  “Where is he?” Liz asked.

  “Up north of us,” Ricky said.

  “But Amber lives here,” Liz said. “You wanted her to come all the way back to Maine for an interview?”

  Amber stared at Ricky, hoping that he would understand the point of Liz’s rhetorical question—Ricky was being ridiculous.

  “I was hoping that she would feel as strongly as I do that this puzzle needs to be solved,” Ricky said.

  “Take Alan with you,” Liz said. “He can make the time and he doesn’t have to travel to do it.”

  “Okay,” Ricky said.

  “Unless you think that Amber brings something to the table that Alan doesn’t. You’re looking for someone who you don’t have to convince that there’s a problem, right?”

  “Yes,” Ricky said.

  “Then I think Alan is the right person.”

  “Okay,” Ricky said. He was back to staring at his coffee.

  Ambe
r felt bad for him.

  “Tell me what you find out,” Amber said. “In a letter, okay? That way I can read it when I’m ready.”

  “Yeah, okay. Yes,” Ricky said.

  “Good,” Liz said. “Alan will tell me too. Can we all agree that we’ll compare notes when Amber is ready to talk about this?”

  Ricky glanced quickly to Liz and then over to Amber.

  Amber was surprised by the question as well.

  “Okay, yes. I suppose that would be okay.”

  “Great,” Liz said. “And I’ll borrow the book, if that’s okay. I think we should all have all the available information.”

  Amber nodded.

  “In that case,” Ricky said. “I should tell you about the experiment that my brother and I are doing.”

  # # #

  The mood was much more casual when Alan and Joe returned with the food. They spread everything out in the living room on the coffee table and Amber told them how her cousin liked the smell of the food just as much as eating it. Evelyn had kept a picture album that her husband had put together. Amber flipped through it, introducing them to her family members through the photographs.

  “I like to look at them when they were younger,” Amber said.

  “Everyone is so serious,” Ricky said, pointing at one photo. It looked like a big family reunion. Everyone was gathered on the lawn in the back yard of a huge house. The kids were kneeling or sitting on the grass and the adults were standing.

  “Just the adults,” Alan said. “The kids look like they were having a good time.”

  “That’s the way it always was,” Amber said. She flipped to the next page of the album. “This is me the first time I came to stay with Evelyn and Barry.”

  “In that one, they look happy and you look nervous.”

  “I didn’t know them at all. In fact, I don’t even remember this photo. As far as I knew, I didn’t really meet her until after Barry died. So I only know him from these photos.”

  “He looks like a very nice man,” Liz said.

  Amber nodded. “I’m not sentimental or really religious or anything, but I hope they’re together again. She didn’t talk about him much, but I know that she loved him. It was difficult for Evelyn to trust people and she trusted him completely.”

  “Why did you come stay with them?” Ricky asked. “The time you can’t remember, I mean.”

  Amber shut the photo album.

  “You said your flight back to Maine is tomorrow? What time? Do you have enough time to get breakfast?” Amber asked as she stood up.

  They all got the hint and stood up with her. Alan pulled on Joe’s arm until he stood up as well.

  “Absolutely,” Liz said. “We’d like to have the rental car back by ten-thirty and that gives us plenty of time with security and boarding.”

  “I know a wonderful breakfast place,” Amber said. “I’ll text you the address. We can meet there, say, seven-thirty? We’ll get you on your way with time to spare.”

  “Perfect,” Liz said. She was herding everyone towards the door, but Ricky managed to slip around her.

  “Hey,” Ricky said. “Are you going to be okay tonight? I know you said that you’ve been working at night, so were you planning to stay up?”

  “I am, actually,” Amber said. “I have to get back on my night schedule so, yes, I was going to stay up tonight and sleep after breakfast in the morning.”

  “Then why are we going?” Ricky asked. “We can stay up with you. We can watch movies or something, right?”

  Liz shook her head. “I’m sure Amber has plenty to do, and none of us can afford to switch over to a night schedule. Joe has school the day after tomorrow.”

  Joe moaned at the mention of school.

  “My schedule rotates, actually,” Ricky said. “I work nights just as often as days. I’m low man on the totem pole. Wait, forget I said that. We’re not supposed to say that.”

  “Let’s go, Ricky,” Alan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Time for you to experience the luxury of the Courtyard by Marriott.”

  “Free wi-fi. Slow, but free,” Joe said.

  “You’ll live,” Alan said.

  Amber laughed and held the door for them. They waved as they got into the car.

  Ricky put a hand up as he stared through the window at her. Amber nodded to him and shut the door.

  She was alone in Evelyn’s house again. Liz was right—she had plenty to do. Some of the clothes could be boxed up and donated. There was a women’s shelter that was always on the lookout for basic items like shirts and sweaters. Some of the things were a bit ratty—those would go in the trash. Amber was washing everything before she decided. There were still a few more loads of laundry to do.

  Before she could start the laundry, she wanted to put away the album and realized that it didn’t make sense to do it. She shouldn’t be putting things away. She should be figuring out where they would go. The lawyer had shared with her that only the big items were covered in the will. Things like photos, dishes, and clothes were going to be her responsibility to keep or distribute. She had no idea who would get the album. It seemed wrong to keep all those photos to herself. There were pages of photos that Barry had put together where he hadn’t written down any names on the backs. Amber had no idea who some of those people were.

  With her uncle’s house, she had tried to be completely transparent and fair. Since she was the only one who went up to see to his things, she had felt the need to document everything, sending lists and pictures of the items to anyone who might be interested. She suggested a lottery system where people could decide on what was important to them and then they could pick a thing each time their number came up in the order.

  Accusations flew. One of Bill’s half-sisters had claimed that she should have first dibs because she had spent the most time with him. People decided the process was unfair and they all blamed Amber. There was no way she was going to put herself through that again. As far as she was concerned, she could burn Evelyn’s house to the ground with everything in it.

  Sorrow poured through her at that thought.

  Amber sat down with the photo album in her lap. The colors in some of the photos had faded, and in the same way her cousin was already fading from the world. In a short time, there would be nothing left to remember.

  Amber put down the album and picked up her phone.

  She sent a message.

  “Meet me out front of your hotel.”

  Six: Ricky

  Ricky jogged over to her vehicle.

  “How did you know where I was staying?”

  “Get in,” she said.

  “Oh. Right. Alan said it. What made you change your mind about being alone?”

  She didn’t say anything.

  “Don’t want to talk? Just don’t want to be alone? I get it,” Ricky said. “I get that way sometimes. Actually, that’s not true. When I get nervous or lonely, I guess I always talk more. But you like to not talk at all.”

  Amber sighed and Ricky finally was able to keep his mouth shut for more than two seconds.

  He thought about when they had first met, during the crisis after the wedding. Amber had seemed cool and capable then—the way he wanted to be in a crisis. By the end of the night, they had both been terrified and barely hanging on. Somehow, since then, Amber had managed to regain her composure. Ricky still felt a bit panicky. It was probably a function of distance. Amber was down in North Carolina, hundreds of miles away from the incidents. Ricky was still living in their shadow every day.

  He thought about saying as much and then decided that it was probably safer to keep his mouth shut. It felt like every time he said something, he risked pushing her towards anger.

  “I didn’t want to be alone,” she said eventually. “Too many thoughts intruding on me and I wanted to go somewhere quiet. I know a place, but it’s a bit of a drive. I hope you were serious about staying up all night.”

  “I am if you know somewhere we can stop for a c
offee,” he said.

  “Of course.”

  Ricky looked through his window and watched the passing landscape. It wasn’t too much different than Maine. Of course the weather was vastly different. There were no snow drifts, but it almost looked the way Maine would look in a few months. They got all four seasons in Maine, it was just that some of them were incredibly short. Winter was a good half of the year. Spring went until June and then it was summer for a week or two before autumn started. He thought about saying as much to Amber, but she probably wouldn’t think it was funny.

  They had the same stores for the most part. He watched a McDonald’s and a Best Buy go by his window. She pulled into a convenience store that would have been a Cumberland Farms up near him. Down here it was called Croc and Shop.

  “Best coffee is here,” she said.

  Ricky got out when she did.

  # # #

  They got back in, sipping from plastic lids, and Ricky figured he could risk a question.

  “So, where are we headed?”

  “The ocean,” she said. “I know a place.”

  “Cool,” he said. “This is good coffee.”

  Amber nodded.

  Once they merged onto the highway headed east, something occurred to Ricky. If they were talking on the phone and he asked a question that she didn’t want to answer, she could just hang up. Now that they were in the car, driving down the highway, they were both captive to the trip. He might be able to get an answer out of her that she normally wouldn’t give.

  “I’ve been wanting to ask,” he said.

  She didn’t look over at him, but she didn’t immediately change the subject either.

  “What happened to you?”

  “Sorry?” she asked.

  “Well, your neighbor attacked you, right?”

  Amber didn’t reply.

  “John, right? He was your uncle’s neighbor briefly and then your neighbor very briefly.”

  “Sure.”

  “Well, if I’m right, then that means that there was something in your blood that made you attractive to him. I think that suggests that there’s something in your past—like a paranormal trauma or whatever. With me, it was a demon. With the Harpers, it was those creatures that move through their property every October. Everyone had a different event. I’ve talked to friends and family of the victims at the wedding. It seemed that everyone had a story, even if they didn’t believe it. What’s your story?”