Kumbaya Much

by Bella Street

  When they arrived at Eugene's door, Trent twisted the knob before knocking. It opened and he stepped inside.

  “Eugene, we need to talk.”

  The room was dark and the usual clutter took on ominous shapes in the gloom. Seffy stayed close to Trent, wondering why the hairs stood up on the back of her neck.

  “Eugene, are you here?”

  “Maybe he's in the computer lab?” Seffy looked for a light switch, but boxes and piles of books on chairs made it difficult to locate.

  “Meow.”

  She stiffened, flailing in the dark for Trent. “Did you hear that?” she asked, making contact with his arm.

  “Yeah.”

  “Meooow.”

  “Okay, that's just weird.” Seffy widened her eyes, trying to see in the shadows. “Eugene said the cat was dead. Did he get a new one to kill?”

  “Here, kitty kitty.”

  They picked their way through the room, stumbling on books. A rustling came from the closet. As Trent reached for the knob, Seffy held her breath. Was the orange tabby alive after all?

  He opened the door, which revealed a blacker space than the room. Trent's hand slid on the wall looking for a switch. Finally a light bulb flickered to life from above, revealing Eugene, curled up in the corner, sucking his thumb. He blinked myopically up at them, unstoppered his mouth and mewed again.

  Trent grimaced. “Seffy, will you please spit on Eugene?”

  Knowing he wanted her to call the scientist's bluff if he was pretending—and he was a way better actor than she because he was damn convincing—she stepped over him and made motions to spit. Eugene pawed the air at her like a kitten, but was otherwise unconcerned.

  “Okay, he's under the spell, too, apparently. Let's get out of here.”

  Once they were in the hall, Trent narrowed his eyes. “This is very bad, Sef.”

  “You mean because the principals have been affected and are therefore not responsible for what's happening? And that Eugene obviously feels guilty for offing an innocent cat?”

  “Both. So who is it?”

  “Like you said, there must be a rogue faction at work.”

  She slumped against the wall. “Are you sure your Brenda really died? Maybe she's behind this. She's the type.”

  Trent sent her a look. “She's not 'my Brenda' and Olga said she died at the scene.”

  “Olga. I forgot about her—!” Seffy didn't finish the sentence. Because I was too busy shagging my boyfriend didn't seem a timely or necessary statement.

  “Let's check on her, but if she's under the influence, we're done here.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Exactly what it sounds like.”

  It was a tense walk to the nurse's residence. Seffy knocked lightly, getting a bit gun shy lately about what she'd find behind closed doors. The door suddenly opened and Olga's weathered face broke into a smile. “I remember you!”

  “Yep, it's me. How are you doing, Olga?”

  “I'm great.” She leaned close, releasing the scent of alcohol. “I have a beau.”

  Seffy glanced back at Trent and nodded. She faced Olga again. “Is he here?”

  “No, not at the moment. He went to get more wine.”

  “Ah. Who is he?”

  “That nice doctor fellow I've worked with. Can't remember his name, but he's a damn sight better than that bastard I was married to.”

  Seffy's eyes widened. “Okay then. Sounds great. We'll just be letting you get back to your...wine.”

  And they did.

  Trent led the way the garage while Seffy struggled with what was going on around them. “Why are there such different reactions to the drug?”

  He peered around a corner to make sure it was clear before glancing back at her. “What?”

  “Why do some people become violent and others...randy?”

  Trent regarded her for a moment. “I don't know. Probably has something to do with whatever they've been repressing.”

  “Ew.”

  He took her hand. “C'mon.”

  They went into the still-empty garage. The heavy smell of grease and gasoline and lack of proper personnel turned her stomach. “So what's the plan?”

  “We're leaving.”

  “Leaving.”

  Trent went over and checked the supplies on a jeep.

  She watched him lift the gas cans. Seffy cleared her throat. “Um, I thought there were bad things out there and no place to go and all that.”

  “This time we'll have a map and gas and supplies.”

  “What about the others?”

  He dug through the glove compartment, apparently finding what he wanted. “What about them?”

  “Trent, we can't just leave them to whatever is going down here. And if there is some other group responsible for what's happening, the compound is wide open and vulnerable.”

  He looked at her, his expression inscrutable. “Fine, if they want to come, they can come. But I'm not waiting around.”

  Seffy went over to a phone on the wall and attempted to reach Lani's room—she was the one most likely to be in a good mood and receptive. But the line was dead. She replaced the receiver. This can't be good. “Um, I'll just go back to the rooms and tell them, okay?”

  Trent loaded additional gas cans into a second jeep. “I'm not letting you out of my sight.”

  “But it'll take extra time we probably don't have.”

  He walked over to her and put his hands on her arms. “You're right.”

  She gazed up at him, knowing he was upset, but knowing she couldn't leave her friends this time around. She'd need them when the drug wore off...and when Trent was done with her, despite her assertions to the contrary.

  He dropped his hands and quickly finished outfitting two jeeps. Shoving the keys in his pockets, he led the way back into the compound. As they jogged through the hallways, she felt the tension mount. On one hand she knew he was proving his affection by taking the time to get her friends. On the other, she knew he was aggravated that she needed the assurance.

  A door next to her shuddered against some unseen impact, making her jump. They picked up the pace. Seffy saw blood smeared on the concrete block as they neared their rooms and realized how risky it was to come back. When they turned the last corner, Trent staggered, nearly stumbling over a body lying splayed on the floor tiles.

  “Oh, God.” Seffy pressed her hand to her mouth. It was a forty-something man with a large knife sticking out of his chest. She slipped in the blood as they passed, struggling to keep her balance.

  Trent pounded on Gareth's door, then went down the line to the others. Lani poked her head out, her face radiant. “What's up?”

  Seffy hurried to her door. “Grab Malone. We're leaving.”

  “No, he's asleep—”

  “Wake him up! It's an emergency!”

  Something in her tone changed the look in Lani's eyes. She went back inside the room, presumably to get Malone moving. Seffy went to Addison's room and tried the door. Locked. “Addison, open up. Fire drill. C'mon!”

  Suddenly, she felt the air move and a shadow hover above. Seffy looked up to see a man with an ax swinging at her. She screamed and dodged. The blade shattered Addison's door. Seffy crawled on the floor, trying to get away. A shot sounded nearby. She watched as a spray of blood arched from the man's thigh. He crashed down, nearly landing in her lap. Grabbing the ax from his hands, she clambered to her feet and saw Trent lowering his gun.

  “Are you okay?”

  Lip trembling, she nodded.

  The commotion brought Gareth into the hall. Seffy went into Addison's room and found her asleep. Shaking her roughly, she begged her to wake up and get moving. Gareth appeared, and seeming to understand on some level, picked Addy up in his arms. When Seffy went back into the hall, she saw the other girls and Jared, congregating and looking annoyed.

  “Seffy and I are leaving the compound. If you want to come, follow us. Otherwise—”

  “Please co
me with us, guys,” Seffy said. “We're heading to the garage and need you to hurry. It's not safe here.”

  Malone came out of Lani's room, bleary-eyed, hanging onto Lani for support.

  Trent surveyed the motley group. “Okay, let's go. I'll need to stop by Fenn's and let him know what we're doing.” Seffy wondered why he'd bother, but she wasn't in a position to complain.

  After a ten minute counsel with the compound leader, the trip back to the garage was fraught with running residents, screams that echoed from adjacent halls, and slowed by those affected who didn't understand the need for haste. Twenty minutes later, Trent hit the garage door button as Seffy got the others loaded into the jeeps. As the door creaked upwards, he looked at her.

  “You'll need to drive the other one.”

  She nodded and climbed into the driver's seat. Trent handed her a key, then jumped into the second jeep. Seffy watched him for a moment, her heart in her throat, before glancing down and becoming cognizant of a new disaster.

  Stick-shift.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  They rolled out into the desert—in Seffy's case it was more lurching than rolling—just as the sun sank below the ridge line. Seffy wished she could appreciate the bizarre pinkish-green colors undulating across the sky, but she was still trying to get the jeep into third gear. It didn't help that Malone sat in the back, barking advice while Lani giggled from the front.

  She looked in the rear-view mirror and saw Gareth studying her with a confused expression. Addison sat hunched against a door, her face pinched and miserable.

  Seffy stared at the gearshift, willing it to cooperate as Trent got further and further ahead. Where the hell were they going? Why at dusk? What were the bad things out here Fenn had hinted at?

  While she could understand the need to get out of the compound, she didn't like having nowhere to go. Of course that was an alteration in her attitude from just a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing how things could change so quickly.

  One they got onto something resembling a road, the trip became easier. But as darkness fell, Seffy's fears increased. She could only assume Trent was heading for the tiny town—now apparently terrorized by something. She didn't know what to tell the groggy Malone or giddy Lani. She sensed Gareth's questions emanating from behind her, but didn't know how far gone the drug had made him.

  The air grew colder and soon Seffy was shaking as she bounced along the rotten road. Lani had crawled in the back seat where she huddled with the others for warmth, increasing Seffy's feeling of desertion. She mindlessly followed the pair of faded red taillights in front of her, having no clue when or where Trent planned on stopping.

  She assumed this time he had a plan.

  As they cleared yet another rise in the rugged landscape, she saw a dim light shining in the distance. Hopefully this time it wasn't a spaceship. When they got nearer, she recognized it as a streetlight, leaking a bit of muddled light onto the derelict gas station.

  Oh, great.

  Trent pulled in front of the disco and came to a jerky stop. Seffy stopped behind him and crawled out of the jeep with stiff limbs. He approached her, his face an expressionless mask, and handed her a pistol.

  “I'm going to check inside the store for any viable foodstuffs. Keep watch and shoot anything that moves.”

  Seffy automatically lifted her face, expecting a kiss, but he walked away without acknowledging the moment. Despite the understanding that he was keeping their relationship under wraps like she wanted, it still stung. She gripped the cold firearm and scanned the dark shadows, wondering why the hell she was stranded out in the middle of the desert with a bunch of strung-out people instead of cuddled under a blanket with Trent.

  The sound of a shot made her jump. She twisted and looked toward the gas station, her heart careening in her chest.

  “It's nothing.” Trent yelled after a moment. He emerged from the store with a plastic bag full of non-perishables and came to her side. “A rat surprised me. Sorry.”

  “Way to keep our presence on the down low,” Gareth said, his eyes heavy-lidded with fatigue.

  Seffy wondered if the bracing air was cleansing the drug from their systems. Trent ignored him and walked cautiously over to the disco. Readying an industrial flashlight, he pushed open the trap door and flooded the inside with light. After scanning the interior, he looked back at the jeeps, waving everyone over.

  “We'll stay here tonight, then hit the road in the morning.”

  Jared clambered from the jeep, not bothering to assist Eva and Cynthia, who sent him dark looks, and staggered after Trent. “Are we there yet?”

  “Nope,” Seffy said, motioning for him to follow the others to the building.

  Once they were all congregated inside, Trent flipped on the power, then went to the trap door behind the bar. She heard him lift the door and slowly make his way downstairs. Despite the chilly air, perspiration dotted her upper lip as she nervously listened for his every move.

  “Where is this place?” Cynthia said in a bored voice.

  “Looks like an old divey disco.”

  “It is an old divey disco,” Lani said, her eyes twinkling with interest. “Let's fix it up and turn it into a groovin' hot spot, like Zannytu.”

  “Let's not,” Addison snapped, speaking for the first time since they'd left.

  Lani frowned, looking hurt. Malone slung his arm around her and whispered something in her ear that made her smile.

  Seffy heard footsteps coming back up the ladder and breathed a sigh of relief. Trent appeared and came back around the bar. “There's a safe room down there and it's clear. We'll sleep down there for the night. Malone, can you get everyone situated?”

  Malone saluted, then burst out laughing. It was weird to see someone so villainous looking so jovial. Maybe the earth really was tilted off its axis. He cheerfully herded the grumbling group toward the stairs.

  “Sef,” Trent said in a low voice, “why don't you help me unload the jeeps?”

  She nodded to him and followed him out the door, wondering if anyone noticed them leaving together.

  “I don't want to leave the gear and gas cans outside all night, just in case,” he said, reaching for two cans from the back of the first jeep.

  Seffy grabbed the other two and headed back to the disco with them. Once all the gear was stowed inside, Trent went to the safe room and checked on everyone. Seffy closed the main door and put a metal bar in the holds on either side of the door frame. It was an odd fixture that added to the general menacing air of the building.

  She surveyed the space, trying to imagine it filled with disco dancers, revelry...probably drug deals and knife fights as well. The idea of roller skaters in color coordinated leg warmers doing intricate routines to 80s music was a scheme only Hollywood could come up with. And yet, Seffy remembered the thrill of watching that scene in the movie. She remembered thinking she was the star in the glittering costumes, with kickin' finale dance moves...and the eye of the hero.

  She closed her eyes. God, I hate the past.

  A few minutes later, Trent came up from the safe room.

  He offered her a weary smile as he approached her. “Everyone's pretty much crashed down there.”

  “Just on a concrete floor?”

  “Actually, there were pads and sleeping bags stored. The girls shook them out to check for bugs and pretty soon the room was filled with snores.”

  She smiled as he came to stand in front of her. “I think I got the main door locked up.”

  Trent glanced across the room and nodded. “You did good.” He touched her arm. “How are you holding up?”

  She shrugged. “I'm standing.”

  Blowing out a breath, he looked around the room. “I think this place looks worse than the last time we were here.”

  Seffy had to agree. The disco ball from the center of the ceiling lay shattered on the floor, pieces of mirrored glass sparkling at their feet. She let out a small laugh. “Lani saw it and immediately fantas
ized about fixing the place up and opening it as a club.”

  Trent smiled, seeming to consider the idea.

  “Do you think it's possible?” she asked. “Take something so destroyed, so shattered, and make it...viable again?”

  He took another step and placed his hands at her waist. His eyes were dark, reflecting the glittering light in the room. “I think it's absolutely possible.”

  She stared up at him, mesmerized by the look in his eyes, by the silly longing in her heart. “Would you—?” Seffy shook the thought away and hugged him instead.

  Trent tipped her chin up. “Would I what?”

  Heat rose in her cheeks. “It's stupid.”

  “Tell me.”

  She was sure her face glowed incandescent. “Would you...sing that song to me again? The one you did last time?”

  The tension left his face as he smiled. “That's all? Geez, you had me worried.”

  “You probably think I've lost it.”

  His arms tightened around her. “I actually think it's nice...as long as you're not dreaming about Mr. Feathered Hair when I sing it.”

  Seffy let out a soft laugh. “I promise I'll just dream about you.”

  His eyes became caressing as he began the song. Seffy gazed up at him, trapped by the subtle spell his voice wove around her. She'd been too uptight and mocking to enjoy it last time. So many wasted opportunities. Stupid, stupid girl.

  The soft rumble of his voice lifting in sappy melody made her melt against him. She tried to absorb every bit of his warmth and presence, knowing there would be no zipped-together sleeping bags tonight.

  As the song ended, Trent gave her a long squeeze and looked down at her with a grin. “It was nice having you hum along.”

  She raised her brows. “I hummed?”

  He nodded.

  “I wasn't aware of that. Weird.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “It just is.”

  Trent brushed a lock of hair from her face, letting his fingers leave a trail of heat down her cheek. When he lowered his head to kiss her, her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation.

  A step on the stair below made her stiffen and pull away. Shooting him a regretful glance, she walked over to the bar and waited for whoever it was to show their face.