Radio Nowhere

by Lee Beard

  When she reached the campsite, it was way past dark. Eric and Louis sat on logs opposite one another around the fire, bickering about something. They suddenly stopped when they noticed her approaching.

  “Gina?” Louis asked. “What…why do you have feathers on you?”

  “No reason.” Gina plucked one off her shoulder and tossed it into the fire.

  “I was starting to worry,” Eric said earnestly.

  “No need.” Gina replied, dropping her bag to the ground.

  “Where did you go?”

  “Let’s get one thing straight,” Gina said firmly, sitting down hard on a log. “I don’t answer to you.” She stared into the fire, ignoring the stunned expressions on the boys’ faces. “I’m in charge of me and Hank. I don’t have to tell you where I’m going or where I’ve been.” She paused to breathe for a moment. “I appreciate the concern, but it’s none of your business what I do.”

  “…understood.” Louis said softly, sitting quietly on the log and watching Gina with a curious expression. Eric’s eyebrows knitted together as he stared at the ground. “Well…anyone hungry?”

  Chapter Thirty

  Alma, OK

  "Do you have any...kings?"

  Joey shook his head. The rain pounded mercilessly on the ceiling of the gas station where Zach, Millie, and the twins had taken up refuge.

  "Dang," Zach said, drawing a new card. "I was sure I had that one."

  Joey smiled and stuck his tongue out of his mouth slightly as he sorted through his cards. He tapped his chin thoughtfully, and held up three fingers.

  "Any threes?" Zach glanced at his cards. "Sh-"

  Millie looked up from where she and Ella sat on a picnic blanket on the floor making friendship bracelets, catching Zach's eye.

  "...Oot." Zach finished. "Shoot." He held out the three of clubs, and Joey took it gleefully.

  "Good job, Joey!" Ella called, giving him a thumbs-up. Joey grinned again and set the pair of threes aside. Ella held up the bracelet she was working on for Millie to inspect. "Is it done?"

  Millie looked the sloppy blue-and-red braid over, comparing it to her own purple and green one, and smiled. "Yes ma'am, that looks done to me!" She took it from Ella and tied it into a knot. Ella took that one and the green-and-blue bracelet she'd finished previously and hopped up, running over to Zach and Joey's card table.

  "Here, Joey!" Ella said, wrapping the green and blue bracelet around his wrist. "This one's yours." She twisted it under, making a loosely folded knot. She then turned to Zach, and grabbed his wrist. "And this one's yours!" She looped the blue and red bracelet around his wrist and tied it off similarly. "Now we're gonna be friends forever ‘cause I got one too." She held up her arm, showing off her red-and-purple bracelet.

  Zach grinned and admired her handiwork. "That looks very nice, thank you."

  Millie stood and crossed to the counter, reaching into her backpack. She pulled out her map and pencil and laid them out on the countertop.

  Zach glanced at Millie, and beckoned to Ella. "Hey kiddo, take my spot for a minute, will ya?" He handed over his cards and stood, going to the counter to look at the map with Millie. "What's the mileage today?"

  Millie sighed, charting their progress. "Half of yesterday, which is two-thirds of the day before."

  "Damn. We've got to find a better mode of transportation."

  "No kidding." Millie crossed to the front door and looked out, glancing down the road at the city in the distance. "We should get bikes again, I'm sure they've got some in town somewhere."

  "The twins can't ride, though."

  "We can pick up some of those kid seats that fit behind the adult seats." Millie turned around to face him again. "We'll have to figure something out for supplies, but maybe we can find really big baskets to attach to the front."

  Zach's face lit up. "I've got an idea." He looked out the window, assessing the rain. It had slowed considerably in the past ten minutes, and the clouds seemed to be breaking finally. "Alright, everybody," he said, wheeling to face the twins, "Who's ready to get smuggled?"

  Ella squealed and Joey clapped his hands, dropping the cards to the foldout table. They ran over to the wagon and jumped in, laying as flat as they could in between the other supplies. Millie picked up and folded the picnic blanket, nestling it in beside them. Zach unhooked the tarp he'd attached to the back and pulled it tightly over the twins and supplies.

  Millie rolled her eyes, laughing quietly as he tucked the tarp around the bottom and tied it down with a small rope.

  "Alright spies, you ready for your secret mission?" Zach called to the twins.

  "Yeah!" Ella chirped.

  Zach picked his poncho and backpack up off of the floor and slipped them on as Millie did the same. He wheeled the heavy wagon to the front door and charged out into the weather.

  Thirty minutes and four stops for fresh air later, they reached a sporting goods store in a strip mall. The front door hung open, allowing Zach to wheel the wagon directly inside. He dropped his backpack to the ground and Millie set hers next to it.

  “Alrighty,” Zach said, bending to unhook the tarp, “Release the Kraken!”

  Joey and Ella popped up from under the tarp with a “ROOOAR!” Zach clutched his chest and stumbled backwards.

  “Holy cow,” he said, eyes wide, “Those are the scariest Krakens we’ve ever found!”

  “We’re hungry,” Ella said, baring her teeth, “We’re gonna eat you!” The twins hopped out of the wagon and ran at him, prompting a chase around the entrance of the store. Millie laughed and shook her head as Zach skidded around a checkout counter and headed back for the wagon with Ella right on his tail and Joey not far behind her. Zach ducked behind Millie.

  “Take her!” He yelled to the ‘Krakens,’ giving Millie a small push forward.

  “Hey!” Millie protested as the twins advanced, ‘claws’ at the ready and about to pounce. “Hold on,” she said, holding her hands out, “Don’t Krakens eat Spaghetti-O’s?”

  The twins stopped and looked at each other.

  “Yes,” Ella said.

  “Do the Krakens want some Spaghetti-O’s?”

  The twins nodded, and Millie told them to get out the picnic blanket and they could have some. The ‘Krakens’ did as they were told, and Millie dug out two cans of Spaghetti-O’s and a protein shake for herself; Zach took a can of alphabet soup and sat on the edge of the picnic blanket. Handing the cans off with two spoons to the twins, Millie noted that they were running low on food and water.

  When the hasty meal was done, Millie stood. “Hey,” she told Zach, “If you don’t need my help here, I think I’ll run down the road and see if I can restock our food supplies at the grocery store down the way.”

  Zach nodded, reaching into his backpack to grab the wind-up lamp. “Sounds good to me. I was going to go to the bike section and see what I could find to fix up a couple of bikes. I may need the wagon, though.”

  “Cool.” Millie pulled her utility belt out of her backpack and snapped it around her waist, glancing at the twins. “Do you want me to take them with me or are you good?”

  Ella, overhearing, piped up. “I want to help!”

  Zach shrugged. “I guess that answers that question.”

  Joey set his can down, got to his feet and walked over to Millie, slipping his hand into hers.

  “Do you want to come with me?” Millie asked. The boy looked at Ella, who gave him a thumbs-up, and looked back at Millie with a nod. “Well then, let’s go!”

  By the time Millie and Joey made it to the other side of the parking lot, the sun was out. Joey let go of Millie’s hand and ran to the sliding glass doors, which were, refreshingly, intact and tightly shut. Millie took her flathead screwdriver off her tool belt and raised its handle to break the glass; she stopped after noticing the “emergency procedure” sign by the door.

  “Why make a mess when we don’t have to?” She told Joey. Crossing to the middle of the door, she wedged the dul
l flat end between the doors, jimmying them apart so she could get her hands in between. She pulled outwards and the door opened toward her like a normal door would. They stepped inside the grocery store and Millie grabbed two buggies, one to carry things and the other to wedge in between the doors to keep them open. Joey grabbed her leg, hiding behind her. “It’s okay,” she reassured him, “There’s no monsters in here.” She glanced around and saw a row of small LED flashlights on the checkout counter nearest her, and took two black ones. She handed one to Joey and told him, “This is your own flashlight so you can see in the dark.” He whispered a small “thank you” and they were off.

  Millie was pleasantly surprised to find that the aisles seemed mostly intact. The looting that they’d seen through the rest of their journey for some reason hadn’t happened here. Millie removed her flashlight from her belt and clicked it on. She aimed it at the signs at the ends of each aisle, heading for the aisle that listed “nuts, jerky, and snacks.” Sure enough, the aisle was packed with canned and bagged nuts of every kind, and a wide assortment of jerky. She smiled and reached out to take some packages of jerky.

  Suddenly, something clattered loudly behind the aisle in front of them. Joey’s eyes grew wide and he clung to Millie’s leg. She put a finger to her lips and moved quietly down the aisle to see what had made the noise. Leaning slowly out of the aisle, she came face-to-face with a pair of twitching, bloodshot and jaundiced eyes. She screamed and jumped back, pushing Joey behind her. The man who the eyes belonged to followed them around the corner, his jaw open wide but no sound coming out. Millie’s hair stood on end as she realized he was wearing only boxers.

  “Stay back,” Millie uttered, terror constricting her vocal chords. The man took another step forward, clamping his teeth together. Millie suddenly remembered the mace on her belt and grabbed it, flipping the unlock latch with her thumb. She pointed it at him, pressed the button, and...nothing. The man let out a bloodcurdling scream, and Millie threw the defective mace at his head. She grabbed Joey under the armpits and hauled him down the aisle, beelining for the front of the store. She slipped and almost fell on top of Joey before regaining her footing and running for the door. Suddenly, the man skidded out from behind an aisle, blocking their path. Millie swerved to avoid him and bolted for the back of the store, hoisting Joey onto her hip as she ran. The man howled like a dog and tore after them, making all sorts of terrifying sounds as he went. The man was too fast, circling around and cutting Millie and Joey off again. Millie stopped short and backed up as the man walked slowly toward them, drool leaking from the corners of his mouth. Millie looked around wildly for something, anything to stop him with. A row of salsa jars to her left caught her eye, and she seized one, throwing it at the man. It bounced off of him and shattered on the ground. His mouth broke into a wild, crazed grin as he continued forward, stepping over the broken glass. Millie dropped Joey to the ground and pushed him behind her, pushing an entire row of salsa jars with all her might, shattering them in front of her.

  “Joey, run, get help!” Millie cried, grabbing more jars to throw as the man walked right through the glass as if it were playground sand. The boy took off wobbly toward the front door, and the man’s head snapped toward him, honing in. Millie’s heart pounded as the man stalked across the glass without a wince, his eyes threatening to pop out of his head as he leered after Joey.

  “Hey!” Millie yelled, making the man’s head snap back toward her. He made a horrid shrieking sound and reared back to pounce on Millie, who grabbed a can of cheese sauce and heaved it at him, striking him square in the forehead. He howled and she spun, tearing down the aisle. She turned the corner, heading for the front door, where she saw Joey clumsily trying to clamber over the cart wedged in the door. The man shrieked again and Millie looked over her shoulder, horrified as the man headed straight for Joey. Joey looked behind him and cried out, freezing in fear. Millie skidded to a stop and grabbed the nearest thing on the aisle end, a can of soda.

  “HEY!” She screamed, running at the man. He glanced at her right as the can struck his shoulder. He shrieked, skidding on his bloodied feet. “I’m over here, you bastard.” The man’s jaw dropped open again and his head jerked to one side as he charged toward her. Millie’s eyes widened and she took off down an aisle marked “Pest Control and Emergency.” The aisle dead-ended into a corner, where Millie spotted a can of Raid. She grabbed in and spun to face her attacker – who wasn’t there. She whirled around, looking down the aisle next to her, and spinning back again. The man tore around the corner, arms outstretched. Millie squeezed the trigger, unleashing a stream of white foam directly into the man’s bloodshot eyes as he leapt toward her. His hand closed into a fist and socked her in the mouth as he fell, taking her down as well. He screamed and flailed around, bloodied feet keeping him from standing properly, as Millie scrambled in a daze to get away from him.

  He grabbed her ankle and began to drag himself up her body. She screamed and kicked with her free foot, hitting him square in the face; he barely flinched as his nose began to gush blood. Millie reached behind her for something, anything to hit him with, and found a hammer. Millie sobbed and brought it down on his head as hard as she could.

  A spray of blood, a sickening crack, and the man’s shrieks garbled. He convulsed for a minute, then finally lay still. Millie drug herself away, the pain in her jaw finally hitting her. She wept bitterly as she got to her feet and stumbled toward the door, tears and pain blurring her vision.

  Zach ran up, gun drawn and pointed at the ground, as Millie pushed past the buggy holding the door open. His eyes grew wide as he took in her blood-spattered clothes and bleeding mouth.

  “Oh my God.”

  “I killed him, I-I killed him,” Millie choked out, staggering toward him. “I’m sorry, I killed him.”

  Zach holstered the gun and grabbed her in an embrace, lowering them both to the ground as her legs gave out. “Are you sure he’s…”

  Millie nodded into his shoulder, clutching him for dear life. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

  “Hey, look at me,” Zach pulled back, taking her head in his hands. “Don’t you ever apologize for defending your own. You hear me?”

  Millie nodded, tears cascading down her cheeks. Her eyes suddenly grew wide and she looked past him. “Where are they?”

  “Safe. They’re hiding in a cabinet,” Zach replied, pulling her slowly to her feet. He looked past her, spotting a pool of blood leaking out of one of the store aisles. He slipped an arm around her and led her toward the sporting goods store. “Come on.”

  Sitting in the sporting good store's camping display, Zach silently dabbed at Millie’s busted lip with a dampened cloth. The room was deathly silent, outside of the quiet hum coming from the wind-up light. The twins sat huddled in a tent a few feet away, quietly coloring by flashlight. Millie stared at the ground, the image of the man writhing and the crack of the hammer splitting his skull replaying over and over in her mind. A tear rolled down her cheek, and Zach instinctively wiped it away with his thumb. Their eyes connected for a moment, and his hand lingered on her face.

  "Does it hurt?" He asked quietly.

  "Less now, but still a bit."

  Zach absentmindedly brushed his thumb over the corner of her bruised lip, cupping her jaw. Millie unconsciously started to lean into his hand, heart fluttering as he moved in as well.

  Suddenly, the tent unzipped loudly, breaking the moment. They both pulled back and looked at the tent. Joey rubbed his eye with his fist as he crossed to Millie and climbed into her lap. Ella followed closely behind him, stopping beside the plastic campfire.

  "Joey's scared that the bad man is going to come back," she said, looking at Zach.

  Zach set the cloth on the armrest of his camping chair and looked at Joey. "You don't have to worry about that anymore, Bud," he said gently as Millie cradled the small boy. "The bad guy is gone forever."

  "As long as we are around," Millie said, looking at Zach, "Nobody
is ever going to hurt you. We'll make sure of that."

  "Can we finish the bikes now?" Ella asked, switching gears quickly, as only a child can.

  "What bikes?" Millie asked.

  "That idea I told you about," Zach replied, straightening up. "The one I stole from Oleson."

  "Tricycles!" Ella sang, throwing her hands into the air. "Over there!" She pointed to the back of the store, beaming.

  "I found a few boxes of adult tricycles that need to be assembled; it sounds dopey, but they've got big baskets in the back and we could easily attach kid-seats as well," Zach explained.

  "I think that's a very good idea." Millie glanced at Ella and at Joey, who slowly nodded off in her arms. "I think it might be naptime for the twins.”

  "No," Ella whined, "I want to help!"

  "Stop it and do as I say," Millie said, more firmly than she'd meant to. Ella pouted and stomped over to the tent, climbing inside with a huff. Millie put a hand to her forehead, her eyebrows knitting together.

  "Here," Zach offered, standing and reaching out to take Joey from her. The boy tightened his grip, clinging to Millie's bloodied t-shirt.

  She sighed feebly, the withdrawal of adrenaline making her suddenly exhausted.

  "Hey," Zach said gently, "Why don't you get some sleep, too? I'll bring the trikes over and start putting together everything that doesn't require a second set of hands." He glanced to the large empty space beside the camping display. "I'll be right here."

  Millie didn't even try to argue. "Thank you." She stood, cradling Joey and taking him over to the tent. Once she and both twins were zipped inside, Zach went over to the bike section. He leaned on one of the trike boxes, closing his eyes a moment. He shook the fear from his head and hoisted the box from the ground, carrying it back to the tent. Dropping the box by the tent, he headed for a different aisle.