“You feeling better?” Adam asked after a stretch of time.
Ella nodded. “I’m all right. A lot better than I was before dinner.”
“Okay. Why don’t you guard our things, then, and I’ll go and get us a couple of room keys.”
“Oh,” Ella said softly.
“What?”
“Well, I just thought…nothing.”
“What is it?” he insisted.
“Wouldn’t it be, you know, safer, if we were to share a room?” she asked. “Even if we didn’t sleep in shifts, wouldn’t it make sense for us to be in the same place as one another?”
She had found it an awkward question to ask, he could tell, and Adam found it an awkward question to answer. Of course, there was sense in what she was saying. A hotel room on the sixth floor in a wealthy resort town was probably as safe as things got nowadays, but if someone did break into his room, he would definitely feel better to have a partner watching his back.
And it wasn’t as if they hadn’t shared sleeping quarters before. But before it had been by necessity. And there was something different about sleeping in the same warehouse or sleeping outside under the same stars versus sleeping in a relatively small room together.
There might be running water up there. Adam had actually begun to think about the possibility of taking a shower, something he hadn’t done in days.
How could he still be so shy in front of Ella? It didn’t make sense. She had seen him through literally the worst episodes of his life. She had stood by his side while he’d killed a man. She had rescued him when he’d been thrown in a basement, convicted without trial of a crime he hadn’t committed and sentenced to death.
Surely he could sleep in the bed next to hers.
“Did you hear that?” Ella interrupted Adam’s thoughts.
A loud and distant clatter echoed. It was as if something very heavy and cumbersome had been dropped far above them.
Adam held up a hand to keep Ella from speaking so that he could listen. A moment later, he heard the sound again. “It’s coming from the roof,” he said.
“How can we even hear something that’s that high above us?” Ella asked.
“I don’t know,” Adam said. “Something weird about the acoustics, maybe, or”—he looked off to his left. “Maybe that’s where that staircase goes,” he said, pointing to an open door. “Maybe that’s where the sound is coming from.”
“We’ve got to go check it out,” Ella said.
“You stay here,” he told her.
“Like hell.” She was already getting to her feet, and to her credit, she did seem much more steady than she had when they’d arrived. “If there’s something up there, I want to know about it. And you’re not leaving me alone in the lobby.”
“You’re injured.”
“For God’s sake, Adam. It’s just a little cut. I’m perfectly fine now.” She adjusted her gun in her pocket. “I’ll get your back. Let’s go.”
He could see that there was no dissuading her, so he made his way to the staircase and ascended slowly, careful not to let his footfalls make too much noise. If he and Ella had been able to hear whatever was going on up there, that meant that whoever was on the roof would be able to hear them coming too.
When they had reached the top, he rested his hand on the butt of his gun and looked back at Ella, gesturing that she should do the same. She nodded and pulled her own pistol just slightly free of her pocket, indicating that she was ready to draw.
Adam pushed open the door and stepped out, leveling the gun ahead of him. He felt more than saw Ella move into position behind him, her shoulder an inch away from his back.
“Don’t shoot!” a voice shrieked.
At first, Adam thought it belonged to a woman, but then his gaze caught on the figure of a teenage boy. The kid couldn’t have been older than sixteen, coltish and gangly, and he looked absolutely terrified.
“Stay back,” the boy said. To Adam’s horror, he realized the kid was edging toward the railing that ran around the roof’s perimeter. “Just stay back.”
“Are you armed?” Ella called over his shoulder.
The boy grabbed the railing and hauled himself over. Now he stood on the narrow ledge, with nothing left behind him but a six-story drop. He clung to the railing, but he would only need to let go for a second… Adam closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think about it.
“Come on back over here,” Adam said. “We’re not going to hurt you. We’ve got food and water, and we’ll share—”
He stopped mid-sentence as a memory forced its way into his mind, a memory of the last time he had offered to share what he had. Of what had happened to John.
No. I’m not going to shoot this kid. He’s not a threat to me or to Ella. We can help him.
“Who are you with?” the boy demanded.
“What?” Adam asked, perplexed.
“Which one of them are you with?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me!” the boy screamed. “You were here earlier today, weren’t you? I heard someone nosing around outside, and I came up here. Why couldn’t you just take what you wanted and get out? Why couldn’t you leave me alone? The Ocean View was mine!”
“Wait, calm down,” Ella said. “We weren’t here earlier today. We just came into town a little bit ago.”
The boy was shaking like a leaf. “You’re lying. I heard you. You’re with those other guys. You’re with that gang.”
“We’re not with anybody,” Adam said. “We’re just the two of us. Look, I’m going to put my gun away, okay?” He hoped Ella would have the sense to keep a hand on hers. Trusting that she would, he slowly slid his own weapon back into his pocket. “What’s your name?” he asked the boy.
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” the boy said.
Undeterred, Adam pressed on. “I’m Adam,” he said. “I’m up from San Francisco, on my way to Napa Bay. I just stopped here for the night because I needed a place to sleep.”
The boy shook his head. “You can’t. This is my hotel.”
“What’s your name?”
“Tucker.”
“Can we talk about it, Tucker?” he asked. “It’s a really big hotel, and we only want to stay here for one night. Maybe you could let us have a room. If so, we’ll be out of your hair first thing in the morning, we promise.”
“You’re lying,” Tucker said. “You’re going to let all your friends in in the morning, and you’ll take everything that’s mine, and you’ll do something horrible to me…I know what you do! I’ve seen what you do! You’re psychotic!”
“Tucker, please just come back on the other side of the railing and let’s talk.” Ella sounded like she was about to cry. “Please.”
“No,” Tucker said, his voice shaking every bit as badly as Ella’s was. “I’ve kept away from you people for this long. I’m not going to let you take me now.” He let go of the railing he was clinging to with one hand and swung out over the city. “You might take my hotel away from me,” he said. “But you’re never going to take me. I’ll die before I’ll let that happen.”
Adam looked desperately over his shoulder at Ella. He didn’t want to let this kid die. But he could see from the look at her face that she was just as much at a loss for how to handle this new horror as he was.
Chapter 15
“Just wait, Tucker,” Adam said. “Just wait one minute. Okay? One minute.”
He was panicking, grasping at straws. He had no idea what he could say or do that might help this kid. But right now, the whole universe seemed to have boiled down to the few minutes since they’d emerged onto the roof. Everything that had come before—the bloody encounter with John, the dead bodies they’d found, the sinister graffiti—it all receded into the distance. Saving this kid was the only thing that mattered.
“Put your hand back on the railing,” Adam said. “That’s all I’m asking. That’s it. Just bring your hand back, okay?”
“You’ll come over here if I do.” But Tucker was already pivoting inward, his hand reaching for the railing. Something that had tightened deep within Adam relaxed a little as he saw the boy cooperating. He wants to be saved.
“I’m not coming over there,” Adam assured him. “What would make you feel better? Tell me what you want me to do so that we can talk.”
Tucker hesitated. “Sit down. Both of you.”
Adam sat immediately. Ella sank down behind him.
“Get rid of your guns,” Tucker said. “Toss them out of reach.”
Adam sent his gun skidding across the surface of the roof, making sure to toss it away from Tucker instead of toward him. Ella did the same.
“Better?” he asked.
Tucker didn’t answer. He adjusted his grip on the guard rail.
“Will you climb back over?” Adam asked. “I wouldn’t want you to fall in the middle of our conversation.”
Tucker didn’t speak, but after a moment he eased his way back over to their side of the railing. He didn’t approach them—he stayed at the edge of the roof, and he didn’t seem to want to sit down. But it’s a start, Adam thought.
“Who did you think we were?” Adam asked. “You ran from us because you were afraid someone had found you, right? Who was that?”
“Are you really not with them?” Tucker asked.
“We’re not with anyone,” Ella said. “We just got into town, like we told you. We don’t know anybody here, and we don’t know what the situation here is.”
“Not safe,” Tucker said. “That’s how the situation is. Not safe.” He banged a fist against the railing and didn’t even seem to register the pain of the impact. Not for the first time, it occurred to Adam that this poor kid was as crazy as John had been, in his own way.
“You know the nanobots are gone, right?” he asked Tucker.
Tucker gave him a pitying look. “Right. The nanobots are gone, and so is everything else. The gangs love it. It’s perfect for them. Exactly the kind of environment they love.”
“What gangs?” Ella asked him.
“Rogue soldiers. Escaped prisoners. Real bad guys.” Tucker shuddered. “All the bad people from before the nanobots are still around, you know. Some of them are worse than ever. Some of them are crazy. Some of them are just twisted. But they’re dangerous. I’ve seen things…”
“What kind of things?” Adam asked.
But Tucker clamped his lips shut and shook his head. Adam got the feeling he’d already said more than he wanted to.
“You can tell us about it, Tucker,” Ella said. “Tell us what you’ve seen. You can trust us, I promise. We’re not going to hurt you.”
Tucker shook his head again.
Adam edged closer. He saw scars on the boy’s forearms that looked as if they’d come from defending himself against an attack. But it looked more like a mauling than anything else, as if a rabid animal had been set on him. What had happened to this kid?
Tucker’s eyes flicked back and forth. He looked frantic, panicky. Paranoid, Adam thought. Whatever had happened to him, it had left him fearful that an attack could come at any moment.
“We can work together, Tucker,” Adam said. “We can help each other. You and me and Ella.”
“Help each other?” Tucker repeated, as if the concept were foreign to him. Maybe it was. How long had it been since someone had actually tried to help him, Adam wondered. How long had it been since someone had made Tucker feel safe?
“If there are dangerous people around here, we’ll all be safer if we stick together,” Adam said. “We can watch each other’s backs. That’s much safer than trying to go it alone, right? Ella and I have been looking for more people to team up with, people we can trust. Wouldn’t you like to have someone you can trust? Wouldn’t that make this whole situation feel a little bit better?”
“I—I don’t know.” Tucker sounded terrified.
Of course he does, Adam thought. He’s clearly been through hell, and now I show up out of the blue and start asking him to trust me. Of course that’s going to be hard.
“Listen, we don’t need to make a decision about it right now,” Adam said. “Why don’t we take a little time and get to know each other a little better? Maybe then we can figure out a way to move forward as a team. How does that sound?”
“Get to know each other?”
“Yeah. I’ll bet you’ve got a hell of a story, right?” Adam said, venturing a smile. “I’d say anyone who’s managed to stay alive as long as you have would have a story to tell. And Ella and I would love to hear all about it. Why don’t we all go inside? It’s pretty cold up on this roof, and we’ve got some food. We can make dinner, and we’ll lock ourselves in one of the hotel rooms, where we know we’ll be safe from outsiders, and you can tell us about it.”
Tucker still looked hesitant.
“And then you can get some sleep,” Adam added. He knew from his experiences over the past few weeks that there was almost nothing in the world that didn’t seem a little more manageable with a few hours’ sleep under your belt. Maybe a nap would help stabilize Tucker’s mood and his mind.
And for a few moments, Adam actually thought he had convinced the kid. Tucker stepped away from the guard rail and closer to Adam and Ella. Ella clearly thought the case had been made, because she started to get to her feet.
But then Tucker’s body started to shake like a leaf in the wind. “No,” he said. “No, no, no, I can’t, I—”
“Tucker—” Adam said sharply.
“There’s no point,” the kid said, voice trembling just as badly as the rest of him. “Everyone’s bad in the end. You can’t trust people. They let you down. Always.” He looked up at the sky. “You want me to think you’re different. Maybe you think you’re different. But you’re as bad as everyone else.”
“Tucker, I’m not with them. I told you.”
“It doesn’t matter who anyone is with. No one is with anyone. We only have ourselves.” He let out a manic laugh. “Don’t you get that? Don’t either of you get that? You want me to trust you, but you’d have to be crazy to trust. And I see the way you’re both looking at me,” he added. “You think I am crazy. Well, let me tell you, I’m the sanest one here, because I’m the only one who’s really facing the truth.”
“What truth?” Adam asked.
“The truth that everyone is going to tear themselves apart. Yeah, even you and her. One day you’re going to have to choose between your life and hers, and you know what you’re going to pick. Deep in the core of yourself, you know, even if you can’t admit it to yourself yet. And she’ll do exactly the same thing. Everyone’s always going to choose themselves. No one loves anyone anymore. No one can afford to.” He let out a sound that was halfway between a moan and a sob.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Adam insisted, getting to his feet.
“It is that way. That’s why the gangs are thriving. People are finding the darkness in themselves and embracing it. There’s nothing else we can do. It’s live dark or die, and I just don’t see the point in it anymore.”
Adam understood what Tucker was about to do—it seemed to happen in slow motion—but he couldn’t prevent it. In fact, he couldn’t even seem to move. It was as if his feet were suddenly cinder blocks.
Tucker turned and vaulted over the railing, planting one foot on the lip of the roof on the far side. He flung himself out over empty space, looking for all the world as if he intended to fly away.
Then he vanished, dropping like a stone.
Ella let out a scream as Tucker disappeared from sight. Adam was vaguely aware of her dropping too, going limp behind him, collapsing to the ground. His stomach heaved as he sprinted forward to the edge of the roof and leaned over, looking down—
He immediately wished he hadn’t. One look at the mangled body below told him all he needed to know. It was dark, and he couldn’t see much, but he could see enough to pick out the way Tucker’s skull had cracked, a
nd the spattering around his head of an array of viscera that Adam didn’t want to think too hard about.
He pulled back from the roof’s edge, feeling nauseous. I couldn’t save him, he thought. One more person dead because I didn’t act.
But this time, it didn’t feel like his fault in the same way it had when Cody had died, or when the man and woman in the rowboat had asked to be taken aboard the yacht. This time it was harder to see anything he could have done differently. He supposed Tucker would still be alive if he and Ella hadn’t come into the Ocean View, but Adam wasn’t going to beat himself up about that. He couldn’t just not go anywhere on the off chance that his mere presence would drive someone to jump off a roof.
I’m getting tough, he marveled as he assessed his own emotional climate. A month ago this would have wrecked me. Now I’m going to be able to shrug it off. For better or worse, the post-nanovirus world had turned Adam Parkhead into someone who could cope with things like this.
He retreated from the edge of the roof, his heart rate already returning to normal, and turned to face Ella. She was on her hands and knees, her breathing rapid. Adam was surprised. She was usually tougher than he was.
But she was the one who panicked when she saw the man hanging from the streetlight, he remembered. She was the one who wanted to run away from this town even though it’s a bad idea to travel by night. Something about this place is undoing her a little.
Maybe it was just the fact that they were so close to Napa Bay now. So close to her sister. Maybe seeing violence in this place weighed more heavily on her than it did anywhere else.
“Ella,” he said quietly.
She didn’t look up.
“Are you okay?”
No response.
“That was fucked up, I know,” he said, moving to kneel beside her on the roof. “We did everything we could to help him, though. You know we did. We tried our best.” He reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.
She shrugged him off, jerking away. “Don’t touch me.”
Her breathing was coming in short, sharp gasps. Adam regarded her, concerned.
Escape The Dark (Book 3): Into The Ruins Page 12